The Dream Hotel in Bangkok is pricing out rooms starting at a bit over $3 a night beginning in January, 2009. I haven’t been there myself, but it’s very well-regarded on TripAdvisor. Now, hotel mistake rates are never guaranteed. And rates booked directly with a property’s website even less so. But this is a great opportunity nonetheless. Some nights will even include a junior suite on offer from ~ US$5/night. Rates are published in Thai Baht, so 100 Baht is about $3… (Hat tip to Flyertalk.) Update 9:08pm: A commenter notes the deal is gone.
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for September 2008.
United’s Award Filtering Makes the News
In what’s the first instance I know of the mainstream media picking up on United’s underhanded practice of refusing to book award tickets that their partners are offering, the Washington Times runs a piece that touches on United’s filtering and rebuts some common explanations for it. United Airlines, however, has decided that, in addition to its own award inventory, it should “manage” that of its partners as well – more precisely, seats made available for booking with United miles by fellow members of the Star Alliance, a global network of 24 carriers. “We manage award availability on our Star Alliance partners just as we do with United’s own saver awards,” said Jeff Kovick, a United spokesman. The piece outlines how it’s possible to use US Airways to book partner award seats that United won’t permit…
Airtran Elite Status: No Longer for Life
In late 2003, Airtran offered elite status matches. Not big news, most US airlines have offered something like that. Except that Airtran status was more or less ‘for life.’ Once you achieved elite status there was no requalification requirement. I haven’t seen Airtran offer status matches since then, and I was happy to have gotten in on the offer at the time five years ago. Unfortunately along with the introduction of new elite benefits, Aitran is apparently now Airtran elite status will start expiringgoing to require that elite members requalify or lose their status. Understandable, but personally disappointing.
United’s Domestic (Non-)Meal Service
I still remember my very first ever upgrade, to United’s business class from Los Angeles to Washington-Dulles on a Boeing 777 in March, 1998. There was a fabulous shrimp appetizer, and I had a perfectly nice steak. And that was a lunch flight. I wasn’t ready for the flight to end. It’s truly a different world today. Lucky summarizes domestic premum cabin meal cutbacks at United. Massive Premium Service (PS) cutbacks in first and business. Staffing in first goes from two FA’s to one, and as a result service is now done on trays. The business appetizer has been cut and the gourmet meals they now offer are along the lines of hot dogs and cheeseburgers. No more pre-arrival snack for breakfast flights. This service would now more appropriately be called POS. Hawaii catering has…
50% Off Purchase of TACA Miles Through September 30th
TACA is offering 50% off on the purchase of miles through September 30th. Only those with TACA accounts prior to September 7th are eligible. It’s a nice offer, miles cost 1.5 cents apiece. One Flyertalk member offers a fairly representative experience: I am unable to find any Clase Ejecutiva [business class] availability SJO-JFK [San Jose, Costa Rica – New York-JFK], so these miles are not worth much to me. The one good use I found was SJO-PTY [San Jose, Costa Rica – Panama City, Panama] a couple of weeks ago when the coach fare was $750 and I was able to redeem 14,000 miles. TACA does partner with United and Iberia, which presents some options, but my vague recollection from the last time I looked at this program many moons ago was that there’s some…
Goldpoints: Stay Three, Redeem 50% Off
I don’t write about goldpoints plus very often. They do sometimes have very nice bonuses, although I don’t often find myself frequenting their hotels (Radisson, Country Inns & Suites, etc). There are some quite nice Radisson properties but on the whole I find them rather inconsistent, and I’m a slave to my loyalty with Starwood and Priority Club. When the Goldpoints program was linked to the shopping portal and TGI Fridays rewards program it was especially flaky, although six years ago there were some amazing bonuses on offer and I purchased many many many magazines purely for the miles. Somehow I still have about 30,000 points in their program, leftover from when they cut the transfer to miles rate in half. Eventually I’ll use them for a single free night somewhere. For those more inclined…
250 Delta Miles for Online Booking and Online Checkin
One of my political blogger friends once scoffed at my miles and points blogging enterprise, suggesting that it’s not like I’m “curing cancer or anything.” Heh. While I’m a bit late in mentioning this (since it’s already been flagged by Lucky and Frugal Travel Guy), but Delta is offering 250 bonus miles for each online booking and online checkin through October 31. Each bonus activity also earns an equivalent number of miles for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Registration is required. In my experience, companies most often make a fixed contribution to a charity and only suggest that consumer behavior has some role in influencing the magnitude of the contribution. And the company does it because they believe it will generate more goodwill and ultimately revenue than the cost of the contribution. But that all…
United Turns Out to Have Been Scolding Themselves
Upgrade: Travel Better notes the irony in United’s expected $500 million loss from speculating on oil prices. Weren’t they among the ones telling us — just two months ago — that speculation was evil, the source of high fuel prices, and shouldn’t be permitted? All the while they were, umm, speculating. Badly. Now we know they were really just asking Congress to save them from themselves.
Singapore Ups Mileage Requirements for Unrestricted Awards
The Global Traveller outlines the new Singapore Airlines ‘Full’ Awards and compares it to other airline offerings. Although full awards still don’t permit redemption for first class (suiites) on the A380, a first class roundtrip from Australia to Europe can run as much as 1,558,000 miles for last seat availability. On the plus side, Singapore is introducing one-way awards for 50% of the roundtrip mileage, down from the current 70%.
Starwood’s 4th Quarter Bonus
Starwood’s 4th quarter promotion rolled out today, and it’s a winner. Lots of different points-earning options for different types of travelers, and instead of targeting the offers to make members stretch to earn anything they let you choose which one you want (but you get to choose once and you have to stick to it!). Registration is required before earning towards the promotion. Lucky bullets the options. Two stays earns you 2,000 bonus Starpoints Four nights earns you 2,000 bonus Starpoints Four stays earns you a free weekend night Six stays earns you 9,000 bonus Starpoints 12 nights earns you 9,000 bonus Starpoints Four nights earns you a US$25 Amazon.com gift card Eight nights earns you a free weekend night Double your Starpoints with no earning limit Two stays earns you a US$25 Amazon.com gift…
