Rewards Network (ok, I’ll call it that) is offering a ‘fast track to VIP’ with their co-branded American Airlines program. If you dine four times by February 28th, spending $25 or more at qualifying restaurants, they’ll upgrade your account and give you 500 bonus miles. Registration required.
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Lima Restaurant: Good Food, Abominable Service
Last night I had dinner with a small group of Flyertalkers. At my suggestion we ate at Lima Restaurant. They had availability for our sized group, they offer a pre-theatre menu (3 courses, $35 dollars) until 7 p.m., and I’ve been meaning to go back and try them since they re-opened after a renovation. The food was surprisingly good. The service was appallingly bad. It was the worst service I’ve had since brunch at Poste. The waiter came over to take orders but the person he started with wasn’t ready. He refused to start with someone else at the table, and hovered over the member of our party who wasn’t ready instead. He said that he had to rotate in the specific order he was asking for, and couldn’t rotate beginning at a different spot…
Citibank Ending Fixed Point Flight Redemption?
According to Frugal Travel Guy Citibank’s Thank You Points will no longer offer ‘fixed point redemption’ come March 1, 2009. This is a huge blow to the program. It allowed points to be worth 2-3 cents apiece, instead of the standard 1. Truly a disappointing development. Variable point redemption lets you use points to buy flights, with the points worth a penny apiece. Fixed point redemption lets you buy tickets up to a specified dollar value for a set number of points. Ending this option makes Citibank credit cards earning these points that much less valuable. I will be putting a bunch of money on my current Citi Platinum American Express (which is pooled with a fixed-point redemption-eligible account) to get up to 90,000 points in order to make my next redemption level. And I’ll…
$10 Weekend Rates at Alamo
Through May 31, Alamo is offering $10 per day weekend rates on rental cars that are kept for a Saturday night. This works for economy through premium cars, one day minimum and four day maximum rental. You can pick up as early as Thursday at 9 a.m., and must return by Monday. The rates are capacity controlled, so always try to book early as you can cancel (or not..) if you don’t need the car.
Northwest Introduces Award Booking Fees
Northwest announced several more changes to their WorldPerks program as they proceed with their merger with Delta Skymiles. They’ve introduced elite qualification by flight segments (good) and are removing Saturday stay requirements for saver-level redemption bookings beginning January 15 (also good). As I’ve previously suggested, it will become possible to move miles between a WorldPerks and Skymiles account in February (good). And they’re introducing a three-tiered award structure like Delta and raising the price of many awards (very bad). But here’s the whammy from today’s e-mail: Also effective January 15, 2009, Northwest will introduce a new award ticket redemption fee and will increase our award reissue and redeposit fees from $50 to $100. Award Ticket Redemption Timeframes (WorldPerks Platinum Elites are exempt from this fee) Award Ticket Fees 3 days or less prior to departure…
The Frustrations of Booking United Awards Before Their Gutted Award Chart Went Into Effect
Yesterday was another “award booking day,” where I spend a bit of time helping various friends with their award travel. One managed a Bali trip in first class on Asiana and Singapore. Another started off with a Thailand trip, ran into a bit of difficulty, and settled on Bali as wlel. Both were using United miles. Yesterday, it turns out, was actually award booking day on United for much of the frequent flyer world. That’s because as the New Year struck, so did United’s bloody award chart increase. In fact, at one point yesterday the regular international awards phone number featured hold times in excess of 90 minutes. That’s the number I usually favor, instead of elite agents, because the international call centers are frequently very helpful. Domestic agents can sometimes be helpful, and sure…
More Suite Photos — the Westin Arlington
The Westin Arlington is a lovely hotel. The lobby is just outstanding, I’m a big fan of their lighting concept. The gym and pool are nice. It’s still new construction, I first visited with a hard hat and then attended opening day less than three years ago. My only real beef about the hotel is that their standard rooms feel small, and there are very few suites. Fortunately I managed to snag one for five days recently. The hotel was a virtual ghost town, occupancy was so low that they had closed off the top four floors. No suites available at checkin but they were happy to prompt just as soon as one became available and switched rooms without difficulty. The club lounge was closed for renovation, which is a bummer because the lounge has always…
Intercontinental Barclay Suite Photos
The Intercontinental Barclay is a great Royal Ambassador hotel. The agent at the dedicated Ambassador check-in desk (where you may be seated, instead of standing in the sometimes long lines at reception) explained, “Royal Ambassadors are supposed to get suites.” And so I did. This is not a truly world class hotel, by any means. Turndown service is performed and they… turn down your bed and turn on the CD player. They didn’t deliver any chocolates or bottled waters, fortunately Royal Ambassadors receive complimentary drinks from the minibar so it hardly mattered. The bathrooms, even in a suite, are tiny and virtually identical to bathrooms in standard rooms. The closets, however, both in suites and regular rooms are quite large for New York City. In fact, rooms here generally are large by New York…
$50 for Test Driving a Dodge
Via Frugal Travel Guy, Dodge is offering $50 for taking a test drive. And dealerships in New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee and Maryland can’t even make you take the test drive to qualify.
Marriott MegaBonus Returns
In my Christmas Day post on hotel bonuses, I noted that I wasn’t aware of what Marriott was offering. Carol emails to let me know that they’ve got their ‘MegaBonus’ back up and running (you’ll be prompted to log into your account in order to see the details, and registration is required to earn the bonus). The offer is 2,500 points for every paid stay with Marriott, starting with your second stay, between February 1 and April 30, 2009 — up to 25,000 points maximum for the promotion. And of course you have to be choosing to earn Marriott points instead of airline miles in order to earn the Marriott points bonus. Update: As pointed out in the comments — and I should know this is how Marriott does it! — different members will receive…
