Update:  February 21, 2013.   mas Rewards is now MeliáRewards.  Additions include a new level, free Internet in many brands, and contests and prizes during the re-branding.   More emphasis on (recently added) discounts for members booking directly.  First reaction  —  only a few downgrades:  lower breakfast discounts and expiration dates on points.

Even the basic Blue MAS Rewards card is cool for a number of reasons:

• 50% off breakfast
• free newspaper
• Late check-out
• More benefits if you stay often
• Signing up is free
• Melia has great hotels in Spain

I first stayed with them over a week-end in Barcelona, then a week around Thanksgiving in Madrid, and this year in Bilbao when we went to see the Guggenheim museum.  I usually avoid chains, but Melia employees have won me over.

Three stays over three years does not Platinum make.  I did accumulate 17,286 MAS points in my rewards account — never enough for  the Melia room I wanted.   I was pleased to find I could transfer miles to a number of airline partners.  The transfer ratios defied any logic I could come up with:

• AA 6 MAS points : 1 AAdvantage Mile
• Air France 6:1
• Iberia 100:15 Avios (about 6:1)
• Delta 3:1
• Lufthansa 2:1

I’m liable to see patterns where they don’t exist, but I was seeing a lot of 6:1 ratios.  Rather than wake up some day to find that the Delta Skymiles ratio had gone to 6:1, I exchanged 15,000 MAS Rewards points for 5,000 Skymiles.  (I might have picked Lufthansa if I lived anywhere except Cincinnati.)  The transfer happened overnight.  Once again, I was very pleased with Melia’s service.