When readers shared their own travel tips and several really stood out as worth highlighting. Chelsea said, Traveling to places during off peak times greatly increases the chance of getting an upgraded room and also usually allows the hotels to offer better service. Wee Willie Keeler was an early baseball great, and one of the best singles hitters of all time. His advice was to “hit where they ain’t.” I’m a big fan of ‘shoulder season’. I like to stay where they ain’t. Prices are lower, and often not just room rates — resorts will often run across-the-board discounts on food and beverage, and activities like spa. Most important to me, though, is that properties are less crowded. I hate the sort of resort where you have to go downstairs at 8am to try to…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for October 2013.
Where Will the Next American Express Centurion Lounge Be?
Now that American Express has opened a new lounge in Dallas that puts the offerings of US domestic airlines to shame, and opened up complimentary access to Platinum cardholders, there’s real anticipation of what the next lounge to join Dallas and Las Vegas will be. ShrewdTravel says that it’s going to be San Francisco. According to the construction managers working on the Boarding Area as well as numerous United and SFO employees, there is also work being done on a new American Express Centurion Lounge at SFO. This new lounge will not be on the new boarding pier (the lounge being built there is a United Club), but the new Centurion Lounge is currently under construction. Here’s what I was able to learn about the upcoming American Express Centurion Lounge at SFO. The lounge is…
Alaska Airlines Adding Korean Air Award Booking to Their Website
Back in March Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan introduced the ability to book one-way and mixed partner awards online and for some partners. Initially you could book one-way awards on American. You could also book one-way at full roundtrip price on Delta, or mix and match American and Delta in a roundtrip. Then in April they introduced one-way and online booking for British Airways awards. Most partners were added to the one-way option in June, with online booking possible. Then later in June one-way awards on Cathay Pacific became possible on the website. That left Alaska able to book all of its airline partners online except for Korean and LAN, and all of its partners allowable for one-way awards at half the roundtrip price except Delta. Now it appears the website is ready to go live…
Timing Is Everything When Booking Sold Out Hotels and Getting Into Suites
Wendy Perrin says that if you want to get into a sold out hotel, find out what the hotel’s standard cancellation deadline is and that’s when you can try to book a room. Call the hotel directly (not the 800 number) and ask on what date cancellation penalties kick in for the date you want to arrive. (Three weeks before? Three days?) Note the date, then call that morning to see if rooms have opened up as people cancel at the last minute to avoid being charged. Let me offer a modification, and an additional use for this technique. Major Events Cause Rooms to Open Up Early Find out if there are any big conferences going on at the hotel. If there are, the group contract usually specifies various deadlines for ‘attrition’ (reducing the group’s…
How to Earn 2500 Miles PER WEEK for Free With a Mileage-Earning Debit Card
Yesterday a reader tweeted me about a new mileage-earning opportunity. My initial reaction, that I still hold, is to be cautious. At the same time I’m also optimistic. The Wall Street Journal this week covered Square Cash, a new service that lets you send money to someone for free charged to your debit card. Here’s how Square Cash works. Say you want to send $47.12 to your sister. You just compose an email with her email address in the “To” field and, in the “CC” field, you enter “cash@square.com.” In the subject field, you enter the amount you’re sending—in this case, “$47.12.” You can leave the message body blank, or add a note explaining you’re sending the money and why. Then, you just press Send. If this is your first time using the service, Square…
Competition Is Disrupting Ground Transport Businesses: Lyft Bringing Low Cost Transportation to Orange County
Regular readers know I’m a fan of Uber. I wrote about the ‘car on demand’ via smart phone app for the first time last year in Why Taxis Suck and What You Can Do About It. The model isn’t limited to black cars, several companies are revolutionizing taxi service to be able to call them with a couple taps to the phone, track them on your screen, and complete the transaction with a simplified payment process. And some of these companies are letting anyone who passes safety and responsibility muster into the transportation business — taking their cars and free time and connecting them with people who need rides. In doing so, they’re driving down the cost of transport. I’ve written most about Uber but I love competition. I also love to see this space…
Bits ‘n Pieces for October 16, 2013
News and Notes from Around the Interweb: Doing well by doing good: generating spending and miles and points by making Kiva micro-loans (that should eventually get repaid). There’s an entire forum dedicated to discussing Kiva on Milepoint. Free points for taking various surveys Hotel advice (repost): How to Score the Best Hotel Room Upgrades Using Hotel Points for Suites and Upgraded Rooms How to Get a Suite Every Time at Hyatt Which Hotel Program is Most Rewarding for Your Spending? UberX is free in DC through Friday I didn’t have the chance to make it to the grand opening yesterday of the new American Express lounge at Dallas Fort-Worth airport, but Mommy Points snapped a few photos. Lufthansa now operates fifteen lounges at the Frankfurt airport and the airport itself is home to more than…
American Launching Dallas-Hong Kong and Shanghai, Nixing JFK-Tokyo, and Updating Old Planes with New Seats
American has come out with a bunch of announcements today, exciting news under the rubric of new routes and a timeline for new seats. I had the chance to talk to American’s Vice Presdent of Network Planning Chuck Schubert about the moves. American is launching two new routes from Dallas to Asia: Hong Kong and Shanghai. They’re applying for authority for daily flights to each, and flight times may ultimately change. Dallas – Shanghai, operated by a Boeing 777-200 10:55am Depart Dallas Fort Worth – Arrive Shanghai 2:55pm +1 4:55pm Depart Shanghai – Arrive Dallas Fort Worth 6:15pm Dallas – Hong Kong, operated by a Boeing 777-300ER 12:40pm Depart Dallas Fort Worth – -Arrive Hong Kong 6:00pm +1 1:30pm Depart Hong Kong – Arrive Dallas Fort Worth 4:30pm The launch date for both services is…
Buy American Miles at 2.3 Cents Apiece and Get Free Internet Security Software
You can get 44 American AAdvantage miles per dollar spent at McAfee.com on several products. That’s like buying miles at 2.3 cents apiece, which is less than American usually sells them for but not a price at which I would be a buyer (need to push under 2 cents per mile for sure to get me there, and of course shopping portal miles do not post instantly or within 48 hours). While hardly an expert in this space, I’m not a huge fan of McAfee internet security products, though they’re certainly better than being unprotected and I’d choose theirs over Norton. I view this as buying miles and getting security software free. My guess is there isn’t a great resale market for these items, so don’t expect to recoup your cost that way. (HT: The…
The Westin Seattle and How to Frustrate Me When Ordering Room Service #FirstWorldProblems
I used to stay at the Westin Seattle fairly frequently, but hadn’t been there in nearly three years until a one-night stay a few weeks ago. It’s still pretty much as I remember, of course. Rounded, two towers, some decent views. I prefer the location of the Sheraton usually, and also the W, within the Starwood space. And I love the breakfast at Hyatt Olive 8. So I don’t make it back often at to the Westin. Still, it works just fine. It’s an escalator ride upstairs to the large lobby. I’ll never forget Wandering Aramean opening about half a dozen bottles of wine in the lobby after the bar closed. Years ago there used to be a Roy’s restaurant off the lobby, but that’s long gone. I have no beef with the rooms, they’re…
