Index: Introduction, Positioning Flight to New York, and the Hilton JFK British Airways First Class Lounge, New York JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York JFK – Hong Kong The Pier First Class Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Ho Chi Minh City Park Hyatt Saigon Lunch at Pho Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Airlines Business Class, Ho Chi Minh City – Danang Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa Vietnam Airlines Economy, Danang – Siem Reap Park Hyatt Siem Reap Angkor Wat and Other Temples Dragonair Business Class, Siem Reap – Hong Kong Turbojet, Hong Kong Airport – Macau and the Sheraton Macao Hotel The Venetian, Fernando’s, and the Ferry to Hong Kong Grand Hyatt Hong Kong Harbor View Suite Bo Innovation, Hong Kong Amber Restaurant, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific The…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for March 2014.
Effective April 8th: 1 in 5 Marriott Hotels Will Require More Points to Redeem a Free Night
Marriott announced upcoming changes to which hotels are assigned to different award categories effective April 8 — and it’s pretty ugly. 27% of Marriott hotels are going up or down in category. Of those, 22% are decreasing by one category and 78% are increasing by one category One in five Marriott hotels are going to cost more points to redeem a free room night award. This is after last year’s devaluation which included the creation of a new, more expensive category 9 redemption tier, and an increase in points prices for 36% of Marriott hotels (while ~ 1% went down in price). You can find the full list of changes here. Book award reservations no later than April 7 to get current pricing, for stays 50 weeks into the future. One Mile at a Time…
No Changes Are Planned to Hyatt’s Diamond Trials and Toothpaste Returns By March 31
Hyatt hosted a happy hour for Milepoint at the Hyatt Chicago Magnificent Mile last night. I’ll review the property shortly. Jeff Zidell and a couple of other people from the Gold Passport program were there, and they picked up open bar (!) for the group along with all sorts of snacks and appetizers. So a big thanks to Hyatt Gold Passport! Towards the end of the evening Jeff took questions. Two of the questions were about the Diamond status trial and challenge, and about toothpaste. And the answers to both contained good news. Jeff said that they have no plans to eliminate or change the Diamond status challenge. They “accept refugees from all programs.” Hyatt will give temporary top-tier Diamond status to elite members of other programs, and offer an expedited way to keep that…
Track Down Your Paramour Seatmate Online, Take Your Kids Out of School, and Max Out Prepaid Cards (Today’s Bits ‘n Pieces: Part Duex)
Mews and Notes from Around the Interweb: @AmericanAir helps make a love connection. (HT: Point Me to the Plane) Ski holiday company will pay parents’ fines for taking their kids out of school. Free-quent flyer investigates limits to the JH Preferred Prepaid Visa. You can do more than conventional wisdom has supposed. Air Baltic BalticMiles is joining coalition loyalty program PINS. Scott Mayerowitz tells us that there are legitimate reasons for a plane’s transponder to be able to be turned off. 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!
Two-For-One Club Carlson Points Redemptions Now Work On Many Suites, Too
While Club Carlson has increased the price of some room redemptions, they’ve also introduced premium room redemptions — using more points for a better room. And unlike at some chains, it’s only a modest increment over a standard room. In fact, a premium room is a 50% upcharge over a standard room — that’s what Hyatt Gold Passport used to do. (Starwood charges double for a suite, Hyatt 60% more, and Hilton based on a poor valuation per point and the going rate for the room. With IHG Rewards premium room redemptions aren’t an option.) What’s more, several hotels offer better-than-standard rooms for less than a ‘premium room’ award. These can include family rooms (at a 25% premium), junior suites, and even sometimes one bedroom suites. (HT: Mommy Points) A tip for searching for these…
JetBlue Offers Status Matches… And Status Challenges If You Aren’t Elite With a Competitor Airline at All
JetBlue is offering a status challenge through April 18. If you have eligible elite status with another airline now, they’ll give you status through the end of 2014 — and if you complete a challenge you’ll keep it for 2015. If you aren’t already an elite frequent flyer with a competitor, you can just do the challenge — complete it and you’ll receive status through the end of 2015. The ‘challenge’ criteria to earn status for all of 2015 is 3750 base flight points ($1250 spend in airfare excluding taxes) in 90 days. Status levels where they will offer an upgrade to the JetBlue Mosaic level: Alaska Airlines®: Mileage PlanTM MVP® Gold or MVP® Gold 75k American Airlines®: AAdvantage Platinum® or Executive Platinum® Delta®: SkyMiles Medallion® Gold, Platinum or Diamond Southwest®: Rapid Rewards® A-List Preferred…
Vietnam, Cambodia, Macau and Hong Kong Trip Report: Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa
Index: Introduction, Positioning Flight to New York, and the Hilton JFK British Airways First Class Lounge, New York JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York JFK – Hong Kong The Pier First Class Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Ho Chi Minh City Park Hyatt Saigon Lunch at Pho Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Airlines Business Class, Ho Chi Minh City – Danang Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa Vietnam Airlines Economy, Danang – Siem Reap Park Hyatt Siem Reap Angkor Wat and Other Temples Dragonair Business Class, Siem Reap – Hong Kong Turbojet, Hong Kong Airport – Macau and the Sheraton Macao Hotel The Venetian, Fernando’s, and the Ferry to Hong Kong Grand Hyatt Hong Kong Harbor View Suite Bo Innovation, Hong Kong Amber Restaurant, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific The…
3.2% Travel Rebate Card, Peer-to-Peer Hotel Rental Turns Into Sex Party, and Musicians Not Welcome at the U.S. Border (Bits ‘n Pieces for March 18, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: The perils of Airbnb: “Teman said his apartment was trashed by a group of nearly nude, overweight people” Citi Prestige card improvements: Apparently Citi Prestige will still offer to match ‘flight points,’ meaning that the card can earn 2 points per dollar, and redeeming those points for American or US Airways travel can be worth 1.6 cents apiece. A bit convoluted, but that means it’s possible to get an effective 3.2% rebate towards travel. The $450 card offers $200 in airline fee reimbursements. Far more straightforward, the Barclaycard Arrival PlusTM World Elite MasterCard® provides an effective rebate of 2.2% towards travel on all spending. (HT: A reader who emailed me on Sunday and asked to remain anonymous.) Hack My Trip compiles several hotel booking bonus offers from Rocketmiles.…
Malaysia MH370 Located… By Courtney Love
This morning I linked to what struck me as one of the more far-fetched theories on Malaysia Airlines flight 370 that didn’t involve space aliens. But we no longer need to speculate. Because Courtney Love has found the plane. Heck, and I’ve turned down media to talk about this because I consider myself a non-expert. Though as one commenter said… swear to god if courtney love finds the f!@#$ plane 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!
Dublin Airport’s St. Patrick’s Day Message For You
Dublin Airport posted an important message to their Facebook page. Don’t mess this up. It’s Dublin Airport’s contribution to cultural improvement. Here’s Munich’s, by the way. 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!
