Expedia’s getting its money’s worth out of its government relations folks, who have managed to have their 10th anniversary named a national holiday. [I]n order to encourage Americans to take some time off, Congressman Jon Porter (R-NV) has announced a House Resolution declaring October 23rd “National Plan Your Vacation” Day. The new holiday falls on Expedia.com’s tenth anniversary.
Yearly Archives
Yearly Archives for 2006.
Outstanding Redemption Opportunity for Priority Club Points
Oct
20
2006
Since the hotel’s opening, the Intercontinental Thalasso on Bora Bora has shown no award availability. As reported on Flyertalk, they’ve finally loaded their award inventory — and apparently accidentally made all room types bookable as awards. Priority Club has a fairly anachronistic award structure. Most hotels of a given brand come at the same cost. Intercontinental hotels cost 30,000 points a night (unless they’re an all-inclusive property, in which case it’s 40,000 points). So the two Intercontinentals in Cleveland, which can sometimes be had for as little as $99, cost the same number of points on an award as the Intercontinentals in French Polynesia. The $900+ a night Overwater Diamond Bungalows are currently redeemable for 30,000 points… 100 SQM OVERWATER VILLA FACING THE MAIN ISLAND OF BORA BORAVIEW OF OTEMANU MOUNTAIN TERRACE SUN DECK GLASS…
Travelocity’s new VIP program
Travelocity issued a release officially announcing their VIP customer program. The benefits are:Special customer service line with ‘seasoned agents specifically educated in VIP benefits’ Bonus points for Travelocity bookings made with the Travelocity co-branded credit card. Discounts, especially on “GoodBuy” hotels They claim to offer a first of its kind program, though of course Orbitz and Expedia already have VIP programs (and I assume Travelocity did as well — I only know about the Expedia and Orbitz programs from first-hand experience). Those programs offer special dedicated customer service lines which I’ve found to (1) not be outsourced abroad, thus providing well-spoken English (2) to be answered quite quickly (3) to be staffed with agents empowered to solve problems more easily than standard agents. What appears to be different about the Travelocity program is that it’s…
United’s Website 2.0
United’s new website is available in beta test. There appear to be some improvements on the way, but hardly a panacea. Me, I’ll be happy if the my itineraries function will be able to display, well, my itineraries – without timing out that is.
$119 non-mistake rate at the Venetian
For those that missed out on this morning’s $20 rate at Caesar’s Palace, the Venetian has a published special of $119 per night on weeknights. Meanwhile New York New York is offering rooms from $69 which, to me, doesn’t seem like nearly as nice a deal.
Air Canada’s New Draconian Mileage Expiration Policy
There are the Southwest’s of the world with expiring credits every 24 months (used to be 12 months, but there were no capacity controls on awards — so in that case the tradeoff was well worth it). But then there are the major carriers, where the rough standard on mileage expiration is that you need account activity every 36 months, otherwise your miles don’t expire. But Air Canada is introducing new rules, as explained on Flyertalk but an official from Aeroplan:Change #1: Effective January 1, 2007, Aeroplan will begin date-stamping Aeroplan Miles. This means that Aeroplan Miles issued on or after January 1, 2007, will have a date-stamp of 7 years (84-months) from the month the mile is accumulated. Miles in an account that exceed 84-months without being redeemed will be automatically deducted from members’…
Earn Money By Flying
Via the Upgrade Travel Blog, SkyEurope has become the first airline to pay you to fly. Through Sunday you can book flights for as little as -₤1 .. taxes and fees are extra of course so you don’t actually put money in your pocket. But it’s still a neat gimick.
Las Vegas – Caesars Palace – $20/night
Priceline has Caesars Palace at $20. I assume it was intended to be $200. This is not their ‘name your own price’ product — when you go to Priceline.com and search for Las Vegas hotels the system first brings up a conventional booking engine. Look uder four star properties in the “Strip – Fremont Area” and you’ll see Caesars Palace at $20. It’s prepaid, but you can cancel for a refund minus $25 fee. If you don’t see the rate for the date(s) you’re looking for try different dates, the ‘priceline special rate’ may be sold out. Being discussed on Flyertalk.
This Avis Chairman’s Member May Start Renting from Enterprise
I know, I know. I hate Enterprise, too. The hard sell on the collision damage waiver, the walkaround the car with the Enterprise agent, the utterly pedestrian vehicles… until now, that is Lotus announced plans today to distribute 50 Elise roadsters to select Enterprise Rent-A-Car locations in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego and south Florida Given Enterprise’s penchant for dinging customers for minor damage, I’d definitely take the CDW coverage, even if I’m renting with a credit card offering primary insurance coverage. The car will apparently cost $199 a day — but it’s a rental as it should be, the opportunity to try something new and out of the ordinary.
5000 Northwest Bonus Miles for Next Roundtrip
Oct
14
2006
Register by October 17 and earn 5000 bonus miles on your next Northwest roundtrip completed by November 30.
