Virgin America and Joie de Vivre Hotels Hook Up to Offer Guests the Perfect Match for Travel to the West Coast

SAN FRANCISCO, July 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Virgin America, the California-based airline, today announces a partnership with another travel brand known for its one-of-a-kind service – Joie de Vivre Hotels.  Starting today, Virgin America's 1.4 million members of its Elevate™ frequent flyer program can earn points at Joie de Vivre properties when they join the boutique hotelier's Joy of Life Club loyalty program.  To celebrate the new partnership, Joie de Vivre is allowing members to "double dip" and earn both Elevate and Joy of Life Club member points now through the end of 2010 when they stay at a participating hotel.  Under the promotion, for every eligible $1 spent on the hotel room rate during their stay, Elevate members will earn one Elevate point as well as Joy of Life Club points.*  In 2011, members will have to designate which program they want to accrue points.

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Today, to celebrate the partnership, Virgin America and Joie de Vivre will also kick off a digital promotion to award one stylish traveler a roundtrip flight for two to either San Francisco or Los Angeles from anywhere Virgin America flies and a two-night hotel stay at a Joie de Vivre hotel in California.  To enter, tweet your idea of the "perfect match" using the #JoieDeVX hashtag to the airline that's been turning heads.  Virgin America will select their favorite answer to win.  For full contest details, visit http://www.virginamerica.com/social-media/contests/joiedevx/index.html.

"Californians are known for doing things differently and we're thrilled to partner with another innovative brand known for bringing West Coast style and value to travelers," said Porter Gale, Vice President of Marketing at Virgin America.  "Virgin America is sometimes described as a boutique airline, known for harnessing the best in design and service to create a flight experience unlike anything else in the North American skies.  We believe that travelers deserve a better experience for less, and we're proud to partner with Joie de Vivre to deliver on this with an affordable, boutique experience from take-off through landing at one of Joie de Vivre's unique properties."

San Francisco-based Joie de Vivre is the second largest independent boutique hotel company in the U.S. and manages the largest boutique hotel collection in California with 33 properties located throughout the state.  The company, which recently announced plans to expand outside of California, is known for inventive, one-of-a-kind properties that range from the rock 'n roll Phoenix Hotel in San Francisco to the surfer chic Shorebreak Hotel in Huntington Beach, from the Zen-inspired Gaige House in Sonoma to the graffiti art accented Hotel Erwin in Venice Beach, and from the rustically luxurious Ventana Inn & Spa in Big Sur to the retro-pop Dream Inn in Santa Cruz.

Virgin America's Elevate frequent flyer loyalty program offers one of the industry's most generous and easy-to-redeem flight reward programs, as few as four roundtrips or 2,500 points** can earn members a reward flight. The Elevate program offers Web-based redemption with no black-out dates and has grown to over 1.4 million members in just two years.  Virgin America is one of the only airlines to have launched its loyalty program prior to its own launch, so that guests could begin accruing points from the first day of flights.  Earlier this year, Virgin America rolled out changes to the Elevate program in order to give flyers more flexibility to earn and redeem points for travel on the airline. Elevate program members are now able to retain their points indefinitely, as long as they either earn or redeem points at least once every 18 months.  In addition, Elevate program members can now earn even more points for free flights by shopping at the Red store, which features 150 popular brand retailers.  Elevate program members receive exclusive offers that only the world-class Virgin brand could provide, such as tickets to the star-studded in-flight premiere of HBO's Entourage and the chance to compete to earn a seat on a Virgin Galactic sub-orbital space flight.

With industry-leading guest service, beautiful design and a host of high-tech amenities, Virgin America has captured a list of travel industry best-in-class awards since its launch.  Last week, Virgin America took top honors again as "Best Domestic Airline" in Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards for the third year in a row. The airline offers unrivalled value with low fares and innovative features like touch-screen seatback entertainment, power outlets, mood-lighting and custom-designed leather seating with a deeper, more comfortable pitch.  In May 2009, Virgin America became the first airline to offer guests in-flight internet on every flight.    Virgin America is the only airline in the U.S. with a touch-screen seatback menu that allows guests to order what they want, when they want it during a flight.  Virgin America offers one of the largest selections of fresh menu items, with a focus on lighter, more health-focused options in keeping with the airline's California roots.  

Virgin America flies to San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C., Seattle, Las Vegas, San Diego, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Toronto and starting in the fall of 2010 – Orlando.

EDITORS NOTE:  Virgin America is a U.S.-controlled and operated airline and is an entirely separate company from Virgin Atlantic. Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group is a minority share investor in Virgin America.

About Virgin America:  Headquartered in California and launched in 2007, Virgin America is one of the fastest growing start-up U.S. airlines of all time and currently employs over 1600 people.  Virgin America offers guests attractive fares and a host of innovative features aimed at reinventing air travel.  The airline's base of operations is San Francisco International Airport's ultra-modern International Terminal.  The airline's new aircraft offer interactive in-flight entertainment systems and power outlets near every seat for electronic gear.  Virgin America offers in-flight internet service on every flight and hosts the largest in-flight entertainment library in the North American skies via its touch-screen Red™ seatback platform.  In addition to a 20-film library including Oscar winners, foreign language films and Hollywood blockbusters, Red features live TV, videogames, seat-to-seat chat, 3,000 MP3s, music videos, interactive Google maps and more.  In just three years flying, Virgin America was named "Best Domestic Airline in the Conde Nast Traveler 2008 and 2009 Readers' Choice Awards and "Best Domestic Airline" in Travel + Leisure's 2008, 2009 and 2010 World's Best Awards.  For more: www.virginamerica.com

About Joie de Vivre: San Francisco-based Joie de Vivre (http://www.jdvhotels.com) is recognized for creating some of the most innovative hospitality services and designing one-of-a-kind boutique hotels. As California's largest boutique hotel collection with more than 30 properties, Joie de Vivre hotels offer a wide range of unique urban, suburban and waterfront boutique hotels that cater to leisure and business travelers in all market segments.  Joie de Vivre hotels are located in San Francisco, Marin County, Silicon Valley, San Francisco East Bay, Big Sur, Sonoma County, Santa Cruz, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Laguna Beach, and Venice Beach.

* TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR EARNING POINTS AT JOIE DE VIVRE

Virgin America is the official airline partner of Joie de Vivre.  Joy of Life Club members are eligible to earn one Virgin America Elevate point for every dollar spent on room revenue at participating Joie de Vivre hotels. Eligible room revenue will be generated from published rates that are booked through JOIE DE VIVRE's website jdvhotels.com or through its call center and by a Joy of Life Club member.

The following room rates will not qualify for Eligible Revenue:  Bookings made by an agent or third-party, such as tour operators, or bookings made via a third-party channels, including but not limited to, expedia.com, hotwire.com, orbtiz.com, and travelocity.com are not eligible for points. Group bookings, airline crew and/or contract rates, employee rates, complimentary rates, and friends and family rates are also not eligible for points.

Double points in your Joy of Life Club membership and towards Virgin America Elevate point status is valid for travel through December 31, 2010.  Starting January 1, 2011, Joy of Life Club members who are signed up to earn points towards Virgin America Elevate program, must specify in their preferences where they would like their points accrued.  If not specified in your preferences section by January 1, 2011, your earning status will default to Joy of Life Club. At check-in, you must provide your Virgin Elevate number if you would like to join our Joy of Life Club and are interested in earning Virgin America Elevate points.  If you do not have your Elevate number available at the time of check-in, you must provide this membership number within six months of your stay for your points to be recorded.  Please allow 6-8 weeks for points to be awarded.  For complete Terms and Conditions for Joie de Vivre's Joy of Life Club Click Here.  Non-participating hotel is Hotel Drisco, San Francisco.

**TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR REDEEMING ELEVATE POINTS:

Points required to redeem an Elevate travel reward on Virgin America will be publicly available on a seat and flight-specific basis and are subject to change. Domestic reward bookings are subject to a security fee of $2.50 per segment, payable by credit card or Virgin America credit file. The Passenger Facility Charge and Segment Fees are waived for domestic reward bookings. For international reward bookings, Virgin America guests are responsible for the taxes and fees incurred from international travel. These taxes and fees are subject to change at the discretion of each country's government and also vary from country to country depending on the origin and destination.

SOURCE Virgin America