Whole Foods gift cards are now available at office supply stores. I found $25 and $50 cards at Staples. Some readers reported variable amount ($25 – $500) gift cards at Office Depot. The 5x bonus points you earn at office supply stores help take the sting out of (the Whole Foods reputation, deserved or not, as) “Whole Paycheck.” The store’s margins are apparently getting squeezed – by other specialty grocers on the one hand, and by major supermarket chains introducing high-quality organic produce on the other — and so they’re testing out a loyalty program in eight stores across three states. Austin, Texas based Whole Foods Market is currently testing a new loyalty program called Hello 365 in eight stores in Illinois, Indiana and Florida that offers a 10% discount on its private-label line of…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for November 2013.
Westin Austin at the Domain I Guess is Kinda Sorta in Austin
Westin Austin at the Domain isn’t downtown. If you need to be in Downtown Austin, you don’t want to stay here, you would face a 20 minute drive without traffic and heading into the city at peak business times it would be much more. But if you need to be north of downtown, it’s a good hotel that often prices much less than downtown alternatives. This four year old hotel is at the back of the Domain outdoor walking mall. There are plenty of restaurants, there’s shopping, and the staff are quite nice. In some ways it’s fairly non-descript, with standard Westin rooms. Here was my view waking up in the morning: The parking lot though gets very full, likely juiced by non-hotel guests. (Parking is free for everyone, as is internet.) Many readers know…
My Favorite Noodle Shop Now Has an A Rating from the Health Department — But is Still Good
I’ve written before about Lam Zhou Homemade Noodle on the edge of Chinatown in New York (here, and here). On a recent visit I was very nervous. The front window now displays an “A” rating from the health department. Ruh-roh. Was it going to be any good? What’s more, the refrigerator with drinks was no longer sitting outside. It was now actually in the restaurant. Not to worry, the interior of the restaurant looked as it ever has before. There’s still the same guy pounding noodles on a table between the dining room and kitchen with his bare hands. The menu is up on the wall. Very little English is spoken, but everyone knows what you mean when you ask for “Number 2, and a Number 11.” The nooodles – both as soup, and on…
The Top 5 Reasons Marriott Rewards Doesn’t Value its Platinum Elite Members
Marriott’s top elite tier requires the most nights to achieve at 75. In contrast, you can become a Starwood Platinum or a Hyatt Diamond after 50 nights (or 25 stays). And yet Marriott Rewards is less rewarding than Starwood and Hyatt — and arguably less rewarding than Hilton HHonors – for top tier elites. No guaranteed late checkout, late checkout is instead on request on day of departure. Award nights don’t count towards status. IHG Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest and Hilton HHonors do. Hyatt’s new cash and points awards will. (Marriott will even be alone in not offering cash and points awards.) No confirmed suite upgrades — not at booking or even a few days prior to check-in. Elites aren’t even entitled to standard suites that may be available when they arrive. No breakfast at…
Would You Know Which Restroom to Use at the Jacksonville Airport?
Jacksonville Airport’s concourse C uses artwork to tell passengers which restroom is for men and which is for women. Credit: Jacksonville International Airport If I was designing a restroom, I’ve just place a sign on the men’s side, “Don’t eat the big white mint.” (HT: MSYgirl on Milepoint) You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Amtrak’s Losses… and Abuse of Their Customers
There’s some interesting new data on Amtrak’s tremendous losses. Amtrak loses on average nearly $100 million per year on meal service. Much of Amtrak’s food spoils, and they maintain full dining car staffing even during periods where ridership is extremely low. The federal government has spent an average of over a billion dollars a year in capital expenditures for the Northeast corridor over the past 40 years. That spending isn’t included when Amtrak claims to make a profit (about about one-fifth that amount) on Northeast corridor services. Amtrak projects a need for $151 billion more for Northeast corridor high-speed rail. It turns out that the belief that Amtrak makes money in the Northeast corridor is based on faulty accounting. For critics who say Amtrak is starved for cash, and deserve greater subsidies, it actually gotten…
What Would You Give to Fly Emirates First Class With an Onboard Shower?
Perhaps the coolest thing in international commercial flight is the Emirates A380 first class… onboard shower. That’s got to be about the most aspirational inflight amenity there is, at least without getting into private or government aviation. Do you have a frequent flyer bucket list? Is there something at the absolute top of it? Have you ever said to yourself, “What I would give…” But would you come anywhere close to doing what this guy did to get what he wanted most? Many of us testicle owner/operators have often claimed that we’d happily donate our (usually left) testicle for something, usually some kind of car. So it shouldn’t be so shocking to hear that some loon is actually doing just that. One nut for $35,000. Which he’s using to buy a Nissan 370Z What’s your…
4500 Bonus Points for New Club Carlson Account Signup (And How to Get a Free Night With Every Other Stay)
Through November 26, if you register for a new Club Carlson account and then have a stay within 30 days of registration, you’ll earn 4500 bonus points. The single best thing about the Club Carlson program, I think, is the Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature® Card which gives you: Up to 85,000 bonus points for signup — 50,000 after first purchase and 35,000 more after $2,500 spend within 90 days. 40,000 renewal bonus points each year. Gold elite status in the Club Carlson program just for having the card (benefits such as upgrades, early check-ins, and late check-outs). Buy One Get One awards: A free award night with every award stay of two nights or longer. That means you only spend points for one night on a two night award stay, every time (up…
Nothing Gets Me More Excited Than a New Gift Card at an Office Supply Store!
Stopping by Staples to pick up Amazon and Starbucks gift cards (because I prefer to earn 5 points per dollar for my purchases rather than just 1 point), I noticed a store card I hadn’t seen before. I’m used to seeing Southwest Airlines, Marriott, various gas stations, iTunes, and cards for a bunch of restaurants I wouldn’t want to eat at. This was the first time I saw gift cards for Whole Foods: I went to a talk by John Mackey, co-CEO of Whole Foods, earlier in the year at the National Press Club. His interlocutor asked about Whole Foods prices, repeating the mockin name “Whole Paycheck” to which Mackey replied “I’ve never heard that one before.” And in fact there are some items that are much more expensive there, in some cases reflecting higher…
Citi Thank You Points Bonus for Hilton HHonors Transfers
After a year of speculation, Citibank finally introduced its first transfer partner to the Thank You Points program: Hilton back in January. Citi Thank You Points are worth a penny or 1.25 cents apiece. The transfer rate to Hilton is normally 1 Citi point to 1.5 Hilton points. Even before the March 28th Hilton HHonors devaluation massacre, I valued Hilton points at half a cent apiece. So I considered this to be a bad value – instead of getting at least a penny in nvalue, a transfer under most circumstances meant getting three-quarters of a cent. Of course topping off accounts for certain high value awards you could exceed that. Transfer partners are useful, more options are good, and the hope was that this would be the first of several transfer partners. But 10 months…
