The program for Frequent Traveler University in Tampa is now available. Tickets are available here, and includes the Friday evening cocktail reception and lunch on both Saturday and Sunday. This event will be held at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay. A hotel booking link is now available. The group room rate is $119 per night (and we’ve arranged double Hyatt Gold Passsport points as well). Summer and Ed offering an introductory session on miles and points You can find Milepoint.com discussion of the event here. Speakers include: Summer Hull, Mommy Points Ben Schlappig, One Mile at a Time Steve Belkin, aka beaubo, famous for going big on frequent flyer schemes to turn 100,000 mile opportunities into 40 million mile opportunities Daraius Dubash, Million Mile Secrets Hans Mast, of shopping portal fame, travel photographer and expert on generating miles at…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for July 2013.
35% Discount on Starwood Award Redemptions at 7 Top Resorts
Starwood is offering a 35% discount on award nights booked at 7 resorts which otherwise (and still!) cost a ton of points. Bookings must be made by March 1, 2014 and can be made for stays as far out as inventory is loaded (you have to book but not travel by that date). Pine Cliffs Residence, Portugal costs 26,000 points per night instead of 40,000 W Retreat Koh Samui, Thailand costs 26,000 points per night instead of 40,000 W Retreat and Spa Maldives costs 58,500 points per night instead of 90,000 Le Meridien Bora Bora costs 39,000 points per night instead of 60,000 Mystique, Santorini costs 39,000 points per night instead of 60,000 Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa, Dubai costs 39,000 points per night instead of 60,000 Vana Belle, Koh Samui, Thailand costs 26,000…
Bits ‘n Pieces for July 18, 2013
News and notes from around the interweb: Singapore Airlines introduces the option to spend their Krisflyer miles as cash towards a ticket. But at meaningfully less than a penny a point in value, the only reason ever to do this is if the miles are going to expire. While in some sense ‘more options are better,’ it represents a poor value, and underscores why I dislike “revenue-based” redemptions so much. From the ‘I wish they’d planned to remain a standalone airline’ file: American Airlines made money during the 2nd quarter of 2013 — $220 million even including bankruptcy expenses – the first second quarter profit for the airline since 2007. Chapter 11 cost cutting made a big difference for the airline. NBC covers United’s new Mercedes tarmac transfer test. The piece included a photo of…
The Toughest Travel Question I’ve Ever Been Asked to Answer
At first I thought the toughest questions came from Erich in my request for requests post. 1. Write a post in praise of Tyler Cowen (or another non-points inspiration who made you see things differently) 2. Give a Hansonian take on why Travel is not about vacation 3. How has your hobby modified your job or vice versa? 4. Write a post about how you think a smart but not involved person sees the points game (status chasing all the way down? Coupon clipping dressed in beach vacation dreams?) 5. Write a post on what the credit card game looks like 3 years from now. Don’t post it, but send it to a third party for a scheduled release 3 years hence 6. What are your best travel tips for introverts? 7. Invent a cynical…
Bits ‘n Pieces for July 16, 2013
News and notes from around the interweb: Back in March Alitalia was offering up to 6000 miles for joining. That offer is offer, but Jim N. points out that there’s still 2000 miles on offer just for signing up. Your tips about Fresno, California as an “underrate, overtraveled” destination could win you a prize pack from National Car Rental. This has likely the fewest entries of any contest I’ve run in the past years. Gee, I wonder why…? But it also means there isn’t as much competition to win! I’m honored to again be included in Conde’ Nast Traveler’s World’s Top Travel Specialists for my award booking service. They even have a page detailing the recommendation. My partner Steve and I have booked hundreds of millions of miles worth of premium cabin international awards at…
United Introduces Mercedes Tarmac Transfers in Houston
United has launched a pilot program to offer VIP tarmac transportation to some Global Services and international first class passengers via Mercedes. This new service started yesterday. So far this test program is limited to Houston only, and they have only two vehicles so it won’t be available to many customers at this point. Passengers will not know until they arrive at Houston whether they will receive the benefit. The airline says passengers will not know in advance whether they’ll be selected until they arrive in Houston. A Global First customer service representative will meet the passenger on the jet bridge and then escort them to a waiting Mercedes Benz sedan or SUV below. Then a chauffeur will drive them to their next gate. This follows a Delta playbook, they began tarmac transfers via Porsche…
Mark Your Calendar for a Live Chat with the Heads of Hyatt Gold Passport and MGM M Life
Milepoint is hosting a live chat on Tuesday, August 20 and 9pm Eastern (8pm Central, 7pm Mountain, 6pm Pacific). Joining will be Jeff Zidell (Hyatt) and Scott Voeller (MGM). Obviously of immediate relevant is Hyatt’s new partnership with M Life that allows Gold Passport members to earn and redeem — and receive status recognition at — 12 Las Vegas MGM properties (and allows M Life members to earn tier credits and receive recognition with Hyatt). But it’s a great opportunity as well to engage with two industry executives and get your questions answered. You can ask questions live, or pre-submit them online. The event will take place here, and you can also sign up for an email reminder. Thanks to Milepoint co-founder Ed Pizzarello of the Pizza in Motion blog for setting this up! You…
A Lesson About When to Use Miles and Points — And Why Award Charts are Good, Revenue-Based Awards are Bad
Dan’s Deals writes, “You Can Use Hyatt Points At 13 MGM Hotels In Las Vegas. No, It’s (Generally) Not A Good Deal” The Hyatt-MGM Deal Opens Up More of the Las Vegas Markets to Points Last month Hyatt announced a new partnership with MGM’s M Life program. You can earn and redeem Hyatt Gold Passport points at 12 MGM resorts in Las Vegas, and stays at those properties count towards Gold Passport status. (Stays at Hyatt properties can be used towards status at MGM properties for folks chasing that.) Beginning next month the two programs will start offering reciprocal status recognition, as well. Dan points out that Las Vegas hotels are often quite inexpensive, and that when rooms are cheap you won’t get a good value out of redeeming Gold Passport points. That’s true of…
Last Night I Defended Delta on The Colbert Report
Back in December I wrote up my stay at the Morgan’s Group’s The Hudson hotel, and explained I had stayed there the night before shooting a television show. The Colbert Report folks set up the reservation, so I was staying somewhere I didn’t have status, something I’m not used to. And while it was probably a great hotel for the price (under $300) on a night where hotels in the city generally were close to sold out, it was the first time I had stayed somewhere without status in Manhattan in a Very. Long. Time. I wasn’t used to what ‘normal-szed’ hotel rooms in the city are like (miniature furniture to make the room seem larger, and while there were two TVs they were close enough that the remote control would turn them both on…
Today Only: Buy Large Blocks of United Miles, Get Elite Status (and More)
Wall & Main is a new venture capital business that is crowdfunding itself, looking for initial investors that they’re going to reward with large numbers of miles. The project launches today, and there’s a news conference set for early afternoon Eastern time that I won’t be able to call into because of some pre-existing obligations. But Milepoint broke news of their deal a bit early in their e-mail newsletter, since the best deals are available only today. The offer page lists several benefits packages, but not including today’s additional premiums. In addition to a number of smaller value items, they show: 1 million United miles at the $30,000 level 500,000 United miles at the $15,000 level 250,000 United miles at the $7500 level 150,000 United miles at the $4500 level That’s a bit below what…
