Two nights ago, I had dinner at the Alain Ducasse restaurant, Adour, at the recently-renovated St. Regis in Washington, DC. The menu was liimted but the food was excellent. They served meringue cookies as petit fours alongside our desserts. This is my favorite type of cookie, and Adour’s rendition was quite good. But the very best meringue cookies I’ve ever eaten were the ones waiting in my room on checkin at the Le Meridien Chiang Rai. It’s really the little touches that make a memory.
About Gary Leff
Continental Offering Inflight Instant Elite Status Matching?
Upgrade: Travel Better reports on an in-flight status match offer on Continental. It’s only one data point, and many details are missing from the story, has anyone experienced anything similar?
Continental Partner Promo – Up to 100,000 Bonus Miles
Continental is revving up theiir Mileathon. You’ll need to register beginning on September 1. Qualifying activity will run through November 30. And like other similar partner and activity points-generating promos the more points you accumulate the more bonus points you earn. In this case the maximum bonus is 100,000 miles. I haven’t yet gone through the promo rules, they aren’t easily available on the website (but presumably will be on or about September 1) to know whether decent bonuses are attainable or how many quick, easy, and cheap points-generating activities there are. But this is a good heads up. Lots of partner activity bonuses around.
25% Off at Westin Store
Through September 7 Westin is running a 25% off sale across-the-board. The W Hotels Store frequently runs discounts, and discounts bedding up to 40% at times. But I rarely see discounts over at the Westin store. So for the subsection of you who prefer Westin items over their W counterparts, this is a decent opportunity.
New Easy, Lucrative Priority Club Partner Bonus
Priority Club has gotten in on the partner promo bonus offers. American pioneered it (in my mileage-awarness lifetime) with their 20/20 offer, 20,000 points for 20 partners to celebrate their 20th anniversary back in 2001. In recent times Delta has pushed these offers frequently, at least once a year. And US Airways just rolled out theirs for the second year in a row. But I can’t recall a hotel chain making a similar offer in the past. Personally I love them, the bonuses grow with greater levels of activity and both build excitement and broader awareness of all of a program’s partners. In turn, greater partner activity means more purchases of points from a program, which means ramping up that program’s revenue stream. I enjoy finding the quick, easy, and inexpensive ways to generate partner…
Priceline Travel Blog
I read this morning on both Frugal Travel Guy and on the Best Rate Guarantee Blog that they had added to the blogroll on Priceline’s blog. I’m there too. I didn’t even know that Priceline had a travel blog. And Frugal Travel Guy notes that a PR person contacted him to let him know. I didn’t get an email about it. But it’s a surprisingly good blogroll, limited to a bakers dozen, and in addition to the aforementioned blogs includes One Mile at a Time and the Budget Travel blog. Reading through recent posts, it was great to learn that the #1 choice in a recent poll for who you’d want negotiating on your behalf if you were imprisoned in a foreign country? William Shatnaer. NICE.
2 Free Southwest Rapid Reward Credits… and a Free Shipment of Cargo?
Through September 30, Southwest is offering 2 free Rapid Reward credits and a free 200 pound cargo shipment for signing up for a fee-waived cargo account.
US Airways Grand Slam Partner Promo
US Airways is running a partner bonus promotion from Sept. 1 through Nov. 15, 2009. Every 4 qualifying partner activities earn progressively more bonus miles. Registration is required. 4 partner credits yields 4000 miles. 8 partner credits yields 8000 miles. 12 partner credits yields 12000 miles and 4000 elite qualifying miles. 16 partner credits yeilds 20000 miles. 20 partner credits yields 30000 miles. 24 partner credits yields 40000 miles 28 partner credits yields 50000 miles. 50,000 miles is the maximum bonus under the promo. The rules specify that hotel points transfers constitute a partner credit, and you can earn up to 6 partner credits this way. As a Starwood Platinum member I can transfer a single mile. Sadly only one credit can be earned per hotel transfer partner! This will probably make me redeem some…
Milan “7-star” hotel mistake rate, 90% off the Town House Galleria
The Town House Galleria is one of the best hotels in Italy, and indeed in all of Europe. And it’s available for a fat finger discount of about 90% off right now, according to this Flyertalk thread. The deal won’t be for everyone as it’s still pricey even at 90% off. Here’s How to Book: 1. Go to Hotel.de 2. Search for hotels in Milan and then click on “hotel.de stars” to sort in descending quality level. 3. The first hotel choice that comes up should be the Town House Galleria – Chateaux et Hotels Collection which the site lists as 5 1/2 stars and which considers itself to be ‘7 stars’. 4. Depending on the dates, you’ll see lowest price of 1200 euros (regular price for regular room) or a lower rate of 270…
Crowne Plaza Venice East Mistake Rate Being Honored
The mistake rate at the Crowne Plaza Venice East that I posted about last weekend is being honored. Supposedly 228 people booked 1400 room nights, and the hotel claims it stands to lose $129,000. It won’t really cost them that at all. In fact, my best guess is $10,000. (1) Many of the nights won’t be consumed. (2) Most nights the hotel won’t be sold out. Now, if I were on the other end of this deail I would agree to honor the rate but add a stiff cancellation penalty for any booking cancelled after a week or so. In other words, I’d do it in a way that would shake loose any rooms at this rate that definitely won’t be used, or might not be used. Otherwise folks can keep their reservations and never…
