According to this thread on Flyertalk and this thread and others at Biddingfortravel.com, La Quinta Resort & Club is coming up on Priceline for $40 when bidding for a resort in the “Rancho Mirage-Indian Wells-Palm Desert” zone… and $25 when bidding for a three-star hotel in this same zone. Priceline has been known to set minimums for successful bids at a particular quality level. It looks like there’s a rate of as low as $25, but when bidding for a resort Priceline rejects bids under $40. There aren’t any three star properties willing to accept anything even close to $25, so Priceline ‘upgrades’ you to a resort when bidding on a three star property. My hunch is that La Quinta loaded a Priceline rate of $250, err they meant to load a $250 rate, and…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for July 2006.
$25 room nights at the La Quinta Resort & Club
According to this thread on Flyertalk and this thread and others at Biddingfortravel.com, La Quinta Resort & Club is coming up on Priceline for $40 when bidding for a resort in the “Rancho Mirage-Indian Wells-Palm Desert” zone… and $25 when bidding for a three-star hotel in this same zone. Priceline has been known to set minimums for successful bids at a particular quality level. It looks like there’s a rate of as low as $25, but when bidding for a resort Priceline rejects bids under $40. There aren’t any three star properties willing to accept anything even close to $25, so Priceline ‘upgrades’ you to a resort when bidding on a three star property. My hunch is that La Quinta loaded a Priceline rate of $250, err they meant to load a $250 rate, and…
$25 room nights at the La Quinta Resort & Club
According to this thread on Flyertalk and this thread and others at Biddingfortravel.com, La Quinta Resort & Club is coming up on Priceline for $40 when bidding for a resort in the “Rancho Mirage-Indian Wells-Palm Desert” zone… and $25 when bidding for a three-star hotel in this same zone. Priceline has been known to set minimums for successful bids at a particular quality level. It looks like there’s a rate of as low as $25, but when bidding for a resort Priceline rejects bids under $40. There aren’t any three star properties willing to accept anything even close to $25, so Priceline ‘upgrades’ you to a resort when bidding on a three star property. My hunch is that La Quinta loaded a Priceline rate of $250, err they meant to load a $250 rate, and…
Scoring an Upgrade at the Bellagio: a tip at checkin and a two-bedroom, five bath suite
I’m sitting at the Bellagio in Vegas, and while it’s certainly an impressive physical plant it isn’t really a ‘nice’ hotel. Every request takes probably 45 minutes or more to fulfill. (I wanted more towels, so I was sure to pull out my phone while I was down at the pool to call the hotel so that there would be towels in the room when I went up later… there weren’t, but fortunately housekeeping turned up within 20 minutes of my returning to the room.) Turndown service is inconsistent. Housekeeping is inconsistent. The lobby is a madhouse. Valet parking can take a couple minutes or 30. But that’s really a function of Vegas more generally. There are a few better service-oriented options. Certainly Skylofts at MGM Grand would provide better service (I haven’t stayed there…
Elite Security Lines Finally at Washington-Dulles!
I haven’t been through Dulles recently, so this email from United (which came this morning, despite forward-looking reference to July 18) was news to me:We are delighted to inform you that beginning July 18, 2006, Washington Dulles will offer two new security checkpoints exclusively for our First, Business and elite travelers, their families or travel companions. With the shorter lines and wait times, getting through security will be quicker and easier for you. Also for your convenience, one elite lane will be available on the east side of the terminal near the United® ticket counter. A second elite lane will be located on the west side of the terminal. Whichever lane you use, we ask that you please be prepared to show your Mileage Plus® card.
Starwood Won’t Devalue its Award Chart After All!
I broke the news back in May that Starwood was considering devaluing its award chart 25%. I don’t know the internal discussions or reasons why, perhaps because of the outcry that followed on Flyertalk or perhaps for entirely different reasons unknown, but apparently the devaluation has been called off — at least for now. Starwood Lurker posted the following on Flyertalk this afternoon: Just as an FYI, the word that I got from on high today was that there won’t be a devaluation of 25%. As far as it stands now, there will not be any major changes to the program’s award chart in the near future. Good news, or so it seems!
The TSA Protecting Us From Terrorist 4 Year Olds
This about sums up the TSA’s security watch list: “It is essentially comprised of individuals who are a threat to aviation security,” said Andrea McCauley, spokeswoman for the TSA. … A four-year-old tearfully told airport agents in Houston earlier this year he didn’t want to be on any list, he wanted to fly to see his grandma.
20,000 Miles for a Northwest Visa
Jul
22
2006
I may have mentioned this before, but I don’t think so. Via Free Frequent Flyer Miles, Northwest’s co-branded Visa product is matching the standard signup incentives offered by United and American — 20,000 miles with first purchase (though US Bank won’t waive the fee for the first year like Chase and Citibank will). Still, if you’re going to sign up for a Northwest Visa this looks like the best offer.
Deals and Miles for Cell Phones
United has been emailing out news of its new mileage for cell phone service partnership, Mileage Plus Wireless. The deals aren’t bad, they’re certainly better than what it seems you’ll get direct from the cell phone provider (either online or in-store), and you earn miles to boot. However, even with the miles the offers aren’t up to par with some of the independent websites out there such as Amazon, LetsTalk.com, and WireFly.com. I’m not a cell phone expert to be sure, but I’m moving and my new place really only gets reasonable reception with Cingular. I’ve been with SprintPCS for 10 years but their coverage is spotty in my area, and they don’t offer a Blackberry (my preference over the Treo). So I checked out Amazon and their offers were good enough, but they don’t…
A bit of news from Marriott
Jul
19
2006
Following on Westin’s move, Marriott announced today that it is going smoke-free in all of the Company’s lodging brands in the United States and Canada will become 100 percent smoke-free, beginning in September. So they’ve taken an idea pioneered elsewhere but expanded it beyond what its competitors are already offering — smokefree not just in a single brand but across brands. Bad for smokers, perhaps, and those renting rooms to throw parties (!) but good for most travelers whose worst nightmare is getting checked into a smoking room. Update: HotelChatter has more: At first, this sounds a little more drastic than it is since 90 percent Marriott’s guest rooms were already non-smoking. But the hotel chain goes one step further banning smoking from public spaces that includes restaurants, bars, meeting rooms and employee work areas.…
