The brand new Westin Dawn Beach on St. Maarten opened in December to much controversy on Flyertalk, both because some folks dislike ‘spoiling’ a public beach with a new resort, and because others claimed it had opened too early — rushing things to take advantage of the high season while not nearly ready for prime time. Since I was going to be in the Carribean anyway, I decided to check it out for myself. Turns out to be on the verge of becoming a lovely resort, but it certainly wasn’t ready — by a long shot — in the middle of this month. This is going to be a very beautiful property. Emphasis on going to be. The small strip of beach in front of the hotel has great white sand. The color of the…
About Gary Leff
Buy 3, Ride Free
Taking a cue from recent airline promotions, Amtrak is offering Buy 3, Ride Free on Acela. 3 roundtrips or even 6 one-ways on the Acela Express by May 19 earns an Acela Business class or Regional Coach class roundtrip. Registration is required. And in one of the more annoying clauses I’ve seen (for folks like me looking for every angle), they’ve pretty much ruled out the possibility of doing the promo cheaply or quickly: Minimum spend of $75 per qualifying trip one-way or $150 per roundtrip. Limit of one qualifying roundtrip or two one-ways per member per day. Grr.
Flying the St. Croix First Class Mistake Fare on USAirways
Jan
21
2007
Back in August I posted about a first class fare glitch to St. Croix and I took the trip earlier this month. The deal was Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to St. Croix, so I drove up the night before (could easily have done it same day, but the newly converted Wyndham is a Sheraton at just 3,000 points a night and they give breakfast in the restaurant to Platinums when the club lounge is closed on weekends). Satellite parking for the week ran $35. Shuttles very frequent in both directions. This is such a great airport, it’s almost laughable… huge, new, expansive, but only a handful of flights and gates. The old terminal still stands and there’s a banner encouraging people to suggest uses for it. Flights were standard domestic service. Harrisburg-Charlotte was booked as an Airbus,…
Starwood Commercials
I may get mad at Starwood Preferred Guest from time to time, such as because they’re adding a new highest level for redemptions starting February 1 and the points price of better than a quarter of all their hotels will be going up at the same time. But I do have an emotional attachment to them, and I’ve already scheduled redemptions for over 25 hotel nights so far in the first half of 2007. So it’s no surprise, perhaps, that I’m addicted to the What Color is Your Dream? video that I watch over and over in a loop on SPGtv in my room, stay after stay… And boy does that Sheraton “We Belong” commercial tug at the heartstrings! (Thanks to Flyertalk member tjk1976 for the YouTube links.)
250 Bonus Points on Hampton Inn Stays
Jan
20
2007
Book at Hampton.com by March 31, 2007 for stays completed by April 30, 2007 and earn an extra 250 Hilton HHonors points by entering promo code H250.
Amtrak Mastercard Update
The Amtrak Mastercard is on hold — no new applications are being accepted. Amtrak and Bank of America are ending their relationship. Only purchases that are posted prior to the closing date of the May 2007 statement will earn Amtrak points. Presumably a new bank will partner with Amtrak over the next few months, but there’s currently no new partner in place.
ANA offers 20% off of Partner Awards
ANA is offering 20% off the mileage required for awards with its partners as long as they’re booked via the ANA website. All Nippon Airways may seen obscure to some, but they’re a Star Alliance carrier so their partners are varied. And they’re an American Express Membership Rewards partner so if you have Amex points you can transfer them to ANA and redeem for fewer than the usual miles required.The ANA partner award mileage chart outlines the number of miles usually required for an award. Take 20% off with this promo. And after you’ve signed up for an ANA account their website is actually quite good at searching for award availability.
United Changes its Expiration Rules
Jan
19
2007
United announced today that its miles will now expire after 18 months of inactivity rather than the current 36 months. The worst part of the change, though, is that instead of giving useful advance notice of the change, it’s retroactive to July, 2006. Accounts without activity from July ’06 through December ’07 will be terminated at the end of the year.The press release contains some whoppers: By shortening the amount of time a Mileage Plus account can remain inactive, United’s most loyal customers will compete with fewer people for award seats, making it easier for them to redeem their miles. Sure, I compete every day for international first class awards with the median member with 17,000 miles in their account striving for 25,000. Heh. As though it’s the fault of members (rather than the airline…
Free Airtran Ticket for Money Market Deposit
Rippied from Free Frequent Flyer Miles, Suntrust is offering 16 Airtran credits (free domestic coach ticket) for a $10,000 or more deposit into a Premium Money Market Performance Account by March 9, 2007. The money needs to stay in the account for 90 days and you need to open or have an existing Smart Solution Plus or Signature Advantage checking account. I’m not an Airtran junkie (though I do have elite status in their program via a status match years ago), and their credits expire after 12 months (though I believe you can bounce credits back and forth between other elite members and thus extend their validity), plus I have other better uses for $10k so I’m not doing this one… but if you have interest in a money market and if Suntrust’s is attractive…
United reduces online booking bonus
Jan
19
2007
United’s online booking bonus has been reduced from 1000 miles to 500 – though on the upside, one-way itineraries now earn 250 miles rather than being ineligible. A sad day, truly, though certainly in line with the direction of the rest of the industry.
