Wild About Travel asks, “Ever gazed with envy on the European citizen lines at European aiporst while waitimg in line with a non-EU passport?” (sic) You may soon be able to obtain one, in exchange for an investing in European government bonds. The ruling party in Hungary has proposed offering citizenship to anyone willing to invest 250,000 euros in their government’s bonds. It’s one strategy for rolling over massive government debt, and it’s expected to appeal mostly to wealthy Chinese who would gain the ability to travel freely and live anywhere within the European Union. While this is not outright sale of citizenship, it’s ‘preferential treatment’ for foreign investors seeking to become Hungarian citizens, it has predictably brought near-universal ire from the rest of Europe. This initiative was met with criticism. A number of members…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for November 2012.
One Day Left to Give My Money to Charity
Over the past several days there has been some down time for this blog, the servers that host it have had a few hiccups and some of the downtime was planned as well as I understand it as the backend system gets tweaked so that we don’t have problems in the future. One of the unfortunate things, though, is that it was down shortly after I posted a request for you to help decide how much money I give away to support hurricane relief. It’s especially timely because not only are several Northeastern states still recovering from Sandy, but things may take another turn for the worse (at least plenty of flights are cancelled today) as a result of more storms which won’t be as bad as the last one, but seriously — the weather…
Can You Convert a Paid Hotel Reservation to an Award Night at a Sold Out Hotel?
On Monday I explained when hotels make reward nights available, essentially most chains have gone to a model where if there is a standard room available then you can claim that room night on points — although occasionally some hotel properties will play games with the definition of a ‘standard’ room. Lucas has a question about what constitutes ‘available’ in the Hilton HHonors program. I had a question I’ve been running into a problem trying to book a honeymoon trip for the Conrad Maldives. To keep it short I didn’t have all the points I needed to book the hotel and the first night I wanted was already sold out so I contacted the hotel about booking the stay and they were able to process it. I booked the refundable rate. When I received the…
Up to 30,000 American Miles for a New Citibank Checking Account
American is offering miles for different kinds of checking accounts opened by November 30th. Sign up with offer code CY9S at http://offer.citibank.com/, or by phone at 1-800-254-8790. Once you’ve opened an account, within 60 days of account opening make at least one direct deposit a month for two consecutive months, and make purchases as follows with your accounts debit card: A Citigold checking account, $750 in charges for 30,000 American AAdvantage miles. A Citibank checking account, $375 in charges for 15,000 American AAdvantage miles. A Basic Banking checking account, $125 in charges for 5,000 American AAdvantage miles. Back in the day Citibank checking accounts were amazing for earning miles because you could make your initial account funding via credit card, with no limit up to your credit limit, and the transaction would post with most…
20% Discount on United Coach Awards to Europe
United is offering a 20% discount on coach awards to Europe, that’s roundtrip for 48,000 miles. And availability is about the best that it gets, because the travel period is for the off-season: book by November 15 for travel between January 15 and March 13. The discount applies to saver award inventory on United and United Express only, and for travel between Europe and the 48 contiguous U.S. states plus Alaska and also Canada. The rules require a 21-day advance purchase, which is odd since by definition the discount can only be obtained with a minimum two month advance purchase. Open jaws are permitted, and the strange example given is flying into New York-JFK and out of Newark — I say that’s strange because those are usually considered to be ‘co-terminals’ and the same city,…
More Speakers Announced for Frequent Traveler University in April and More Rooms Available at the Host Hotel
On Saturday I shared that registration and special hotel rate booking opened for Frequent Traveler University, April 26-28 in Northern Virginia. I’m helping to organize the event, in particular the program, and I’ve also mentioned that I’m not locking down speakers and topics until after the Los Angeles Frequent Traveler University event November 30 – December 2. However, I’ve already shared that Mommy Points, One Mile at a Time, and I are going to be on the program. I’ve since received a commitment from The Points Guy and Million Mile Secrets to participate as well. Already I’ve had some great feedback about differentiating the program from past events — there’s a desire for much of the same core content because many people haven’t had a chance to attend similar events in the past, at several…
Another Le Club Accorhotels Instant Platinum Status Offer
Instant Platinum (top tier) status in the Accor Hotels loyalty program comes around with some frequency, each time it does the signup link won’t stay active for long. But there’s almost always another offer right around the corner. I posted one yesterday afternoon that was live for about 18 hours, as far as I’m aware. Yesterday’s signup link is no longer active. Now there’s already another one. This even has a landing page which offers the status. It’s in Norwegian Dutch but Google Chrome has built in translations which works nicely. Here’s the offer for instant Platinum status. You must open a new account, it cannot be applied to existing accounts. And when you do so you must use an email address that’s not currently on file with them. (As was pointed out in the…
Bits ‘n Pieces for November 6, 2012
News and notes from around the interweb: Loyalty Traveler says that online travel booking sites like Expedia and Orbitz are getting lower commissions from hotels than they used to — down from 20% – 25% from the major chains to closer to 15%. It’s these high commissions that cause the chains to restrict points and elite benefits on reservations made through these sites, in order to encourage direct booking. While non-chain hotels pay more (due to less negotiating power), apparently the commissions they’re paying are down too — though I’ve certainly seen some properties which have to cough up close to 40% of a room night to the booking sites. One Mile at a Time highlights the new frequent flyer partnership between Bangkok Airways and Japan Airlines. That sounds obscure, but it’s really useful —…
50% Bonus on American Express Transfers to Virgin America
Through November 21, American Express Membership Rewards is offering a 50% bonus on points transferred to Virgin America. Virgin America is one of the lowest value points transfers that American Express offers. A 50% bonus doesn’t materially change that. But, if you need to make a modest top off of a Virgin America account for a specific award, doing so while the 50% bonus is in effect makes good sense.
I Need Your Help: You Decide How Much I Donate to Storm Relief
I was supposed to be in New York this past weekend, and it was a pleasure trip, so I cancelled it (for obvious reasons). I grew up on Long Island, and have family on Staten Island. My uncle there, a first-responder, has been a part of search and rescue efforts. My family is fortunate to all be ok and to have just property damaged. The storm there is shocking in so many ways, and almost a week later they’ve only just scratched the surface of recovery. Mommy Points came up with an idea of ‘Comments for Contributions.’ The original idea was something like ‘100 for $100’ where a blogger would donate $1 per comment, up to $100. But bloggers can be a competitive bunch, and a collaborative bunch too, and we’ve challenged each other to…
