Starwood has announced their annual hotel category changes (.pdf) and it’s pretty much as expected, maybe a little bit better tan expected. Starwood Preferred Guest determines the price of a hotel in points based on the hotel’s average daily room rate. The rate puts each hotel into a redemption category. And each year they adjust hotel categories based on room rates for the previous year. Over the past year room rates, overall, have seemed to be on the rise. And so I expected a bunch more hotels to go up in category than to go down in category. That’s what happened, but not to nearly the imbalance that I expected. On eyeballing the list it looks like about 185 go up in category and 144 go down in category. Some of the Thailand properties finally…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for February 2012.
Reader Question: Miles for Credit Cards and Investment Accounts
Reader Addicted to Travel writes: Please advise on which cards we should ditch and which we should convert, etc. without hurting our credit rating by making too many moves too quickly. We’ve used Amex Gold Business Membership Rewards because in the past there have been excellent promos to convert points to Delta SkyPesos, sometimes 40% or even 50% bonuses. These accrued quickly enough to cover 2 r/t flights via AF to South Africa in business class this past summer. However, we’ve noticed that there haven’t been any promos lately, so we are edging away from Amex and wondering what else we should consider. BTW, we already have Chase Sapphire (and earned the 50K points last summer). Currently we also have a Mastercard with FIA CardServices.(zero balance, seldom used, members since ’76, credit limit 5K). We…
Milepoint iPad Giveaway
Each week during the Freddie Awards voting period (balloting opened today and runs through March 31), Milepoint.com will be giving away an iPad to a registered member. All you need to do to be entered to win is register at Milepoint. And since we don’t have that many members, odds of winning are pretty good.
Freddie Awards Voting Now Open!
Voting is now open! The Freddie Awards have been the airline, hotel, and credit card loyalty program awards since 1988. They’re voted on by the traveling public rather than chosen by a panel of experts, so they represent ‘what the members think’ about their frequent flyer and frequent guest programs. After 2009, Randy Petersen decided to close down the Freddies. But honoring the programs that deliver the most value to their members remained an important goal. And recognizing that at the margins the sunlight the awards place on the best (and by implication, the not-so-best) has influenced program decision-making in the past, it remained important for frequent flyers to have a collective voice. So I was proud for two years – 2010 and 2011 – to help Tommy Danielsen and a group of others keep…
Giving Yourself Plenty of Time to Make It To Your International Gateway City
A new blog with promise, Heels First Travel, describes using a Starwood award night for a day room by the Charlotte airport during a 6 hour layover. I’m a fan of this exact thing, back in August during some terrible storms my flight back home from Florida was cancelled and US Airways was offering me travel only two days later. I finally constructed a three-segment 12 hour travel day that included several hours in Raleigh, rather than killing time at the airport I grabbed a few hours at the Four Points and was far more comfortable. Heels First created the long layover to start an international award ticket. Sometimes you want to get to your international gateway city with plenty of space to cover for delays and cancellations, if you miss that international flight it…
In Which I Actually Defend Travel Coverage in the New York Times
I rail at media stories about travel all of the time. I get the most exorcised when stories get facts wrong and imply things about travel that are plain untrue. I try not to get too excited by stories that miss what I consider to be important nuance. The elements of a story that matter to me are likely different than those of a general reader, and most publications aren’t really writing with me as the audience. I get that. And I do try to offer a little slack to general interest publications. There are writers who should know better, but on the whole travel coverage approximates what consumers want it to be, and I can’t really complain too loudly if broad audience articles don’t suit my particular taste. And with that frame, I think…
USA Today Coverage of the oneworld MegaDO
Today’s USA Today carries a story on late January’s oneworld MegaDO. Readers who followed along with the adventure as I blogged it each day will find few surprises in the piece, but it captures some of the crazy antics of the group. They also have an accompanying summary of each day’s activities and photo gallery. If you went on the trip, you’ll enjoy the read. If you’re considering going on a future trip, it’s worth perusing the piece to get a sense for what’s in store. Next up? Another Star Alliance MegaDO in the fall. Check out the MegaDO forums over on Milepoint to stay on top of the activities.
Reader Question: Fuel Surcharges
Caraline writes: BRITISH Air charged me just this week over 400.00 in fuel charges for an American Air flight from Boston to Paris. My friend who booked the same flight on American did not have a fuel surcharge. We both used our frequent flier miles. Something is wrong. What can be done. I wanted to be on same flight as friend so I booked it. BA said no fuel charges on domestic flights or flights to far east. I used 45000 miles and still had to pay 601.00 in total. My friend only had to pay 87.00 On domestic awards inside the U.S., frequent flyer programs like American’s and United’s will only charge you the $2.50 per segment (not to exceed $10 roundtrip) “September 11th Security Fee.” Until 10 years ago domestic awards really were…
Winners Announced in Hyatt Gold Passport Point Giveaway
Hyatt Gold Passport generously provided 66,000 points for me to give away this week in celebration of their new promotion (register here). There are two prizes – 44,000 points, enough for two nights at any Hyatt in the world (or more nights if you aren’t redeeming for their most expensive properties) and 22,000 points. The first prize winner, with thanks to random.org, is #17,086. Alicia wants to stay at the Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris. She’ll win 44,000 points, enough for two nights there. The second prize winner is #14,350. Crash wants to stay at the Hyatt House Fort Lauderdale Airport – South. S/he’ll win 22,000 points, enough for two nights there with 6000 left over. Congratulations to you both, and thanks to everyone who entered, nearly 19,000 eligible entries was truly unprecedented!
On the Decline of Domestic First Class
The New York Times ran a piece yesterday on the decline of US domestic first class. Now, US premium cabin products are much better than their European counterparts where there’s no extra legroom most of the time and usually just a blocked middle seat (MegaDOers refer to this as “Tommy Class” as discussed by the Wall Street Journal‘s Scott McCartney), often with upgraded catering. But the offerings up front pale in comparison to bygone years. And the Times investigates both the current state of affairs and why things have declined. Modern first class is summed up in the piece by Joe Brancatelli: “You go into first class,” said Joe Brancatelli, the editor of JoeSentMe.com, a Web site for business travelers, “because it’s less horrible than coach.” The piece quotes me on the role of deregulation…
