The Andaz 5th Avenue is a bit of an enigma, I think the property is widely misunderstood and expectations were certainly high so when it opened a few months ago many of the reviews were lukewarm or negative. It’s not an inexpensive property, but it’s not an expensive property by New York standards either. It not ultra-hip trying to be cool W, but it’s still sleek and fun. And it’s a new brand trying to get out all of the kinks, there aren’t a whole lot of Andaz properties such that they’ve figured out exactly who their customers are (as opposed to what market research tells them to expect) and how those customers’ needs actually match pre-planning. So lots of misses being reported at the outset: people who feel like it’s not their style, trying…
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US Airways Awards Lifetime Silver Status After 1 Million Flown Miles
Wandering Aramean and One Mile at a Time both take notice of US Airways introducing a million miler program to Dividend Miles. They’re the only major US carrier that didn’t have one (hey, even Philippine Airlines Mabuhay Miles does!). Only flown miles on US Airways, and not on partner carriers, count towards status and one million miles nets you Silver. That makes US Airways the least rewarding million-miler program overall. United only counts flight miles on their own aircraft (including United Express, of course) but gives you mid-tier status. Delta only gives you lowest-tier status, but includes partners. American currently even includes non-flight activity, though that’s long been rumored to be on the chopping block. Fortunately I’ve crossed my 2 million mile threshold with American already! Pretty much across the board the reaction is that…
Hyatt Confirmed Suite Upgrades Can Now Be Used for Stays Past Their Expiration Date
Hyatt’s confirmable suite upgrades for Diamond members were new in 2010 and they did take a little while to figure out some of the wrinkles. At first the suite upgrades, which ‘expire’ February 28, had to be used by the expiration date. But that left requalifying Diamonds in an interesting pickle. They wouldn’t be receiving ‘new’ suite upgrade certificates (with expiration in February, 2012) until the new member year. Hyatt doesn’t award these when a member requalifies, they do a sweep each year to award them. So Diamonds who wanted to book early for stays past February 28 could not use these certificates. That turned into a strange incentive to wait and not make bookings. That’s clearly not what was intended, and there’s not any reason why there ought to be a gap in the…
Starwood’s First Quarter Promo: Double Points PLUS 500 Points for Each Weekend Night (Including Thursday Nights!)
Starwood is offering Great Weekends from January 3 through April 15, 2011: double Starpoints on all stays and 500 bonus Starpoints per night for every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night stayed. There’s no limit to the points earned under the promo. It looks like about 10% of Starwood’s properties aren’t participating in the promo. Registration will be required, but won’t be available until the start of the promo on January 3. A really nice points bonanza for folks making weekend stays, though not as potentially lucrative as free nights offers. Update: It turns out this promo was all that was ‘next’ — all the recent speculation about something big for SPG notwithstanding. C’mon, folks, don’t tease us that way!
Lotus of Siam’s Upscale New York Location
I tried the new Lotus of Siam in NYC this past weekend, it’s the outpost of the Vegas well-known and quite excellent staple. Opened just a month or so back and I’ve been very curious. In their original Vegas form, housed off the strip in a strip mall, they are an outstanding Thai restaurant. The New York version strives to be a more fine dining experience, and also it seems to adjust the food to the New York palette. While there are certainly Thai places in New York, they’re not known to be particularly outstanding by world standards. And having grown up in New York, I can say that New Yorkers don’t really do spice. At least not Thai spicey. So how would it translate? Not exceptionally well. The bottom line is that if the…
Weather Messes with Expedia’s Coupon Glitch Generosity
Sometimes travel is all about karma. I was fortuante enough to take advantage of an excellent opportunity in the Expeda.ca $300 off to New York, Vegas, and Cancun. Since travel had to be complete by the end of the year, I only managed to grab a trip to New York (shame, too, as it looks like I need to make a one day visit to Vegas next mont). I grabbed one ticket (with throwaway hostel stay) for myself and another vacation package on the same flights and different hostel for my wife. I didn’t have time to grab a third package with throwaway flights to get cash towards a nice hotel for the weekend. So I used points at the Andaz 5th Avenue where I’ve very much been wanting to stay, if only because it’s…
100% Bonus on Purchased Miles from Avianca
According to this Flyertalk thread Avianca is running a 100% bonus on purchased points through December 31st, and points purchase and full bonus post instantly. Details are here. For some this could be a reasonable way to purchase discounted business class travel between, say New York or Washington Dulles and South America (e.g. Lima, Caracas). Though in addition to the miles you’re also going to pay reasonably hefty taxes and fees. Flyertalk member AdamSouthFL offers the following advice: Be patient with website, it’s a little delicate and confusing. Buyers outside of Colombia should choose 1 as the Monthly Payments choice (quotas for payment) On the whole I’m not confident in my knowledge of the program to say I’m pulling the trigger, but the usefulness of the miles should tend to increase rather than decrease as…
Hyatt Gold Passport’s Award Night Hotel Reimbursement Rates
When I make a claim I’m certainly open to corrections in the comments, but also need to highlight my own self-corrections and self-doubts. I haven’t got a great deal of experience with Hyatt Gold Passport and award redemptions, but each and every time I’ve been on an award stay I’ve seen the internal rate that the hotel is charging Gold Passport for my stay. I’ve seen rates quite low, lower than what I would have expected Starwood Preferred Guest to pay on a similar redemption. So I thought that Hyatt was an example of figuring out how to get no capacity controls on awards like Starwood has long offered while pay less to their properties for the room nights. And perhaps that’s still true, but I question just how true after checking out of the…
Getting Marrried AAirside at Dallas-Fort Worth
A Flyertalk member saw a wedding going on in a Dallas Admiral’s Club yesterday morning. a group of about 10-20 people, including a woman in a wedding dress, the groom in a tux, an entourage [groomsmen, bridesmaids, and probably family], and what appeared to be a member of Clergy to officiate the ceremony quietly proceeded into one of the conference rooms If folks are coming in from all over, and already airside, it could be a very convenient place for the BridesmAAids and the rest of the entourAAge to meet up. American’s clubs now serve complimentary cocktails, so they’d save on the reception. And the happy couple is certainly well-positioned to take off on their honeymoon! But the best observation came from Flyertalk member ntamayo: I can just picture the wedding registry announcement from their…
Just How Effective Are the Nude-o-Scopes?
According to a paper in the Journal of Transportation Security: While carelessly placed contraband will be detected, the machines have glaring blind-spots and have difficulty distinguishing explosives from human tissue. As they write, ‘It is very likely that a large (15–20 cm in diameter), irregularly-shaped, cm-thick pancake [of PETN explosive] with beveled edges, taped to the abdomen, would be invisible to this technology. … It is also easy to see that an object such as a wire or a boxcutter blade, taped to the side of the body, or even a small gun in the same location, will be invisible. And that doesn’t even get at what you could tape to the bottoms of your feet. These machines are an expensive boondoggle, designed to benefit their manufacturers who lobby for the appropriations, not to actually…
