Most hotel chain ‘best rate guarantees’ are bogus marketing gimmicks, designed to give you confidence that you’ll get the best prices on their own websites whether this is accurate or not. The promised benefits to finding a lower rate elsewhere are often elusive, with complex and arcane rules and sometimes incompetent claims staff who deny otherwise valid submission. The one real exception to this is the TripRewards program, which regularly honors its one night free policy when you submit a competing lower price elsewhere. There’s an extensive Flyertalk post on the subject with nearly 500 replies. There’s also now a Best Rate Guarantee Blog dedicated to identifying hotels where lower prices are found on websites other than the Triprewards site, with the goal of allowing you to claim a free hotel night there.As a brand…
About Gary Leff
The Jewish Bankers and New World Order Steals My Frequent Flyer Miles and Keeps Travel Away from the Poor
In an otherwise not-funny news spoof (not even worth clicking on, really), I did enjoy the frequent flyer miles approach to parodying presidential candidates, with Ron Paul’s conspiracy theory and John Edwards’ class warfare approaches below. Paris, France – The Paris Hilton admitted today that it had screwed Congressman Ron Paul out of double-dipper frequent flyer miles by neglecting to properly process the bonus points to the congressman’s credit card. [Snip…} John Edwards had some comments for MSNBC about the recent Hilton, Ron Paul flap…”It seems a pity that those valuable miles will be wasted when there are so many homeless in America that would love to visit Paris.”
Double Miles or Points with TripRewards
TripRewards is offering double points or double miles (registration required) for your first four stays booked by May 15 and complete by June 15. (The registration page suggests that the offer is valid through May 15, but the terms and conditions clarify that stays must simply be booked by that date and can be consumed up until a month later.) I might use this at a Wyndham property, but beyond that it’s of little use to me as I really don’t frequent Baymont Inn, Days Inn, Ramada, Super 8, or HoJo properties…
Earning 100,000 Miles Renting Cars at 1.1 Cents a Mile?
Here’s a pretty intriguing idea on Flyertalk, it’s really not for everyone and likely not for me — too much effort involved! — but it’s one person’s story of how they’re earning over 100,000 frequent flyer miles through rental car bonuses. The best thing about the thread is that it pointed out to me a bonus I hadn’t realized was out there, 1700 bmi miles per rental at Hertz. bmi mileage isn’t the easiest to earn, and it’s really quite valuable. Several of the other promos have been mentioned here at View from the Wing in the past, but never with the idea of spending 45 days renting cars just for the miles!
Most Travel Awards Are Bogus or Made Up, Edition 3,241
Now this is just downright silly. American Airlines has been named Best International Airline for 2007 by readers of Travel Weekly in its annual Readers Choice Awards competition. Travel Weekly announced the award at a recent ceremony and will publish the results in its Jan. 21 issue. American was chosen from a list of five finalists that also included British Airways, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. American offers a better experience than Singapore Airlines. Someone said that with a straight face.
American Airlines London Bonuses
Jan
12
2008
American is offering progressive bonuses for London flights — each successive roundtrip of the same fare type earns more bonus miles than the last. Registration required. First/Business Class (booked in F, P, J, A, D, or I) Economy Class (booked in Y, B, H, or K) Discounted Economy Class (booked in L, M, N, S, or V) First Round Trip 10,000 miles 5,000 miles 2,500 miles Second Round Trip 20,000 more miles 10,000 more miles 5,000 more miles Third Round Trip 30,000 more miles 15,000 more miles 7,500 more miles Three business class roundtrips earn 60,000 bonus miles. Three lowest coach fare roundtrips earn 7500 bonus miles. One business class roundtrip and one discount coach roundtrip earns 12,500 miles (10,000 + 2500). Tickets must be purchased and flown between January 11, 2008, and May 15, 2008.
Up to 25,000 Bonus Delta Miles for Partner Activity
Delta just brought back 25,000 bonus miles for 25 partners as well as lower threshold bonuses for members who find that many partner activities a stretch. (Registration required.) Unique Partner Activity Bonus Miles Awarded 3 3,000 6 6,000 12 12,000 20 20,000 25 25,000 Partner credits need to be earned between January 15 and March 15. Only one activity per partner is allowed (and for hotels, that means one activity per chain not per individual hotel, you can’t go from Hilton to Hilton or Hilton to Doubletree to earn more than one partner), only one Buy Miles activity is allowed, only one SkyRewards partner (e.g., SkyMall, LATHER, Organic Bouquet, Vinesse, Great American Days, Samsonite and Java City) activity is allowed, and only one SkyMiles Credit Card activity is allowed. Partner airlines don’t count…
Delta Double Miles to Europe
Delta is offering double miles on the transatlantic flight portion of itineraries to several cities in Europe, for travel through March 15. (Triple miles for paid business class.) Registration required. From Atlanta (ATL), the following routes earn bonus miles: Dublin, Ireland (DUB) Munich, Germany (MUC) Prague, Czech Republic (PRG) Vienna, Austria (VIE) Zurich, Switzerland (ZRH) From New York-JFK, the following routes earn bonus miles: Accra, Ghana (ACC) Berlin, Germany (TXL) Bucharest, Romania (OTP) Budapest, Hungary (BUD) Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) London/Gatwick, England (LGW) Manchester, England (MAN) Pisa, Italy (PSA) Just to underscore, though, flights to Delta’s New York and Atlanta gateways don’t earn the bonus, and neither do any onward flights beyond the cities mentioned above. Still, worth mentioning nonetheless.
Airport Security Drinking Games
Via Online Travel Review, an example of how the loss of civil liberties through airport security led one writer to drink. It was pretty good port. At least, for 11 a.m. on a Saturday in an airport baggage claim. Dark, fruity, sticky and chocolatey and thick like murky dreams. After about the fifth sip, I had the profound insight that I was sharing this surreal moment with roughly one million other travelers worldwide who had equally (or rather, likely far more) obnoxious, annoying, unusual airport security tales to tell, from the profound to the silly to the stupid. Don’t try this yourself, kids. Because not only can’t you take that bottle of port through security, drinking it in public is also frequently illegal … a TSA Officer’s advice notwithstanding.
Up to 52,500 bonus points for Hilton American Express
Here’s a very nice offer for the free Hilton American Express: 10,000 points for getting the card 30,000 bonus points after spending only $1,500 within 3 months 2,500 points per stay for first four stays 2,500 addl points for getting an additional card for a spouse. Interestingly, cardmembers who receive instant approval also get an account number right away, but until you receive the card itself the account can only be used on Hilton websites. A very strange innovation.
