Yesterday Club Carlson announced several changes to its program including reduced points-earning (lower elite bonuses, that the online booking bonus wouldn’t be permanent) and increased points costs (including a new top 70,000 point redemption tier). They also announced that award stays would count towards elite status (even as elite status will get you fewer bonus points). One element of the award chart price increases, though, was that they would be effective March 15 for stays for travel on or after May 1. In other words, you could still book at the old rates up to the date of travel if you’re going to stay prior to May 1. An April 15 hotel booking that you’d make on points the night before would still have been at the old rates, according to their announcement. So members…
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Starwood Changing Award Prices on 20% of Its Hotels
Starwood has announced its annual changes in award categories. The increases are centered in North America, the decreases in Asia, with more hotels going down than up but more hotels entering the upper redemption tiers than leaving those tiers. Ultimately changes we can live with. Please note that we are not adding new categories or changing category pricing. Just over 20% of hotels are changing category, of these 56% are moving down and 44% are moving up. Here’s the preliminary (‘subject to change’) list of hotels changing category. Hotels dropping in award category: 8 hotels are dropping in category in Africa/Middle East. 88 hotels are dropping in category in Asia/Pacific. This is great news for redemptions in China and India and across the region. Oddly with so many hotels dropping in the region, none are…
Redeem Your Points for a Hot Tub, Compensate for the Latest Devaluation, and Profit By Moving to Seattle (Bits ‘n Pieces for February 20, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: Taking the LCD toaster to a new level in terms of bad redemption value — Lufthansa’s Miles & More will let you redeem 2 million points for a whirlpool tub. At their inflated retail price offering, that’s still only half a cent per point in value. Delta doubles (or triples, quadruples, quintuples) down in Seattle again, with double miles and double elite qualifying miles for Washington State residents flying to and from Seattle through the end of the year. Now that they’ve devalued both earning and redemption, Club Carlson will offer you bonus points for staying at some of their hotels. The US government is offering $90,000 in prizes for developers who create apps which can help reduce the cost of federal travel. (HT: Carrie C.) United is…
New $35 Pay Lounge Opens at Newark Airport’s Terminal B
A new upscale pay-in lounge opened at Newark in Terminal B. It’s currently also available to El Al passengers as their premium pre-departure offering. The “Art & Lounge” is on the gate level of terminal B beside duty free. The art concept involves changing exhibitions of contemporary art — given the El Al arrangement, currently Israeli art. There’s also video art displayed on several tv’s of varying dimensions. There’s seating for 90 guests, free wifi, and Hebrew and English language newspapers and magazines. They cater Kosher refreshments, fruits, a vegetable salad bar, cheese, breads, and baked goods are offered. A “health corner” offers granola, dried fruit, yogurt and silan (dates and honey). The lounge is currently rented by El Al for their premium passengers, so open only around their departure times. It is available for…
It’s Worth It To Like Our Facebook Page. Trust Us. We’ll Tell You Why Later.
In an earlier career incarnation, I was a fundraiser. In fact, I wrote new donor acquisition letters (“direct mail prospecting”) under the signatures of two Majority Leaders of Congress and a future Vice Presidential candidate. About 15 years ago I attended a talk on direct mail fundraising, and remember the story of one of the most legendary and successful pieces of fundraising mail on either side of the aisle. It was written under the signature of then-North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms, and effectively just said something along the lines of: I’m locked in an important battle with liberals and don’t have time to write more. I need your help right away, I’d appreciate if you could send a gift and will update you with news soon. That was it. One thing learned in direct mail…
US Airways Will Raise the Price and Limit Your Ability to Buy Elite Status Starting March 1
Some pretty big news this afternoon. US Airways lets you straight-up buy elite quaifying miles or segments. With the Dividend Miles program there’s frequently no need to ‘mileage run’ or take extra flights just for the miles in order to reach status, it’s usually cheaper just to have them charge your credit card. In fact, you can go from 1 mile flown to top tier Chairmans Preferred (100,000 mile flyer) for a flat $2999. Compare that to Delta where they want you to fly 125,000 miles with minimum ticket revenue of $12,500. US Airways has a history of unconventional means of qualifying for elite status. At the end of 2006 they offered an ‘everything counts’ promo where even miles from sending flowers and renting cars counted towards elite status. That way they wouldn’t have mileage…
Points Make You More Attractive. Irresistible, Even.
Points make you really attractive to any potential romantic love interest. This hobby will clearly spice up your dating life. Everyone around you will swoon. It’s the perfect ice breaker at parties, and will make you the most interesting person in the room. Every time. Just watch the whole thing to the end: 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!
You May Have Already Won… The Results of My Gift Card Giveaway
On Monday I posted a giveaway of (2) $100 gift cards. I ran it for 24 hours, and had over 1000 entries — answering either what they would do with the prize, their best travel tip, or the most valuable thing they’ve gleaned from this blog. I drew the winners with the help of Random.org and have now contacted the two winners. The first winner is Sam: I would use the $100 gift card to have a steak dinner with my nephew who is a marine stationed in San Diego next week when I am visiting him. He just got back from Afghanistan. Before he went to Afghanistan, we had a great steak dinner (he had a 24 oz bone in rib eye) and I promised him that we would do this again when he…
Club Carlson Reduces Points-Earning, Increases Prices on Reward Nights, and Starts Counting Free Nights Towards Elite Status
2013 was the year of hotel devaluations, requiring more points to redeem reward nights. Hotels are generally full, and prices up, so hotel loyalty programs haven’t needed to be as generous. Devaluations took various forms — new award categories, wholesale point increases, shifting categories, and structural changes. And they were doing in varying degrees, at the extreme end was Hilton’s absolute bloodletting. Some gave notice, others did not. Meanwhile Club Carlson, the loyalty program for Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn, and Country Inns & Suites, didn’t make a move. Until now (HT: Hans) There are some positive changes, but the biggest change from my perspective is increased award prices for many hotels and a new top tier redemption category. Here’s the summary they sent by email: More Redemption Options Club Carlson is introducing premium room…
25% Off JetBlue Award Flights
Book by tomorrow and you can get 25% off JetBlue award tickets. You have to travel between March 4 and April 9, 2014.. but not on a Friday or Sunday. They won’t discount below 5000 points, so super cheap flights won’t benefit. If you were going to redeem JetBlue TrueBlue points in the near-term for qualifying flights, you’ll benefit by frontloading (as long as your plans are firm) and doing so over the next day. (HT: Everyone, but I think Wandering Aramean was first.) 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!
