News and Notes from Around the Interweb:

• Accor Hotels 50% Off Sale: Accor is running one of its semi-regular (prepaid non-refundable) 50% off sale. Log in to your Leclub Accorhotels account and you should be able to see the private sale page (HT: Loyalty Lobby).

  These rates are stackable with TopCashBack’s rebates, currently at 10% of the room rate. Accor Platinum status doesn’t get you a ton but many folks have it from frequent free signup offers I’ve posted in the past.

• Uber’s Extra Charge is Worth it in the Rain: It was raining in New York on a Friday afternoon, just before shift change and the start of rush hour. There were no cabs to be found anywhere. I whipped out my phone and powered up the Uber app.

  They’ve got a solution to make sure a limited supply of cars matches up with spikes in demand — they charge more. I got a popup that said due to heavy demand that a higher price was in effect, and did I accept being charged 50% more than normal? Since it was raining, this was a no-brainer. Yes. Three minutes later a black sedan pulls up for me. The ride was $36 all-in, at least twice what a cab would have cost if I could have found one. I waited just three minutes, though, and could track the watch the car approaching on my screen.

  (See also: Why Taxis Suck and What You Can Do About It)

• Aeroplan Bonus for Converting Hotel Points: Aeroplan is offering up to 40,000 bonus points for transfers in from hotel programs. The more airline miles you receive by converting hotel points, the bigger the bonus you’ll get.

  

  You can make as many transfers as you like, the bonus is calculated on the total miles transferred in between April 15 and May 13. Aeroplan has a reasonable award chart to some destinations like nearer Europe, and an expensive one for places like South Asia and Africa. And fuel surcharges on many of their Star partners. (HT: Rewards Canada)