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Category Archives for General.

What Would it Mean for Starwood to Acquire Another Chain.. Or Be Acquired?

by Gary Leff

When IHG swallowed Kimpton, I wrote: “I want to be an IHG Rewards Club Platinum” said no Kimpton elite member, ever…

Conventional wisdom is that Starwood is going to do a deal, and the most likely candidate is IHG. Some say Starwood could buy IHG. I could see IHG buying Starwood. IHG is the bigger hotel chain, though Starwood’s market cap is much higher (nearly $15 billion versus ~ $10 billion).

Starwood has struggled to generate growth and Wall Street isn’t happy. Fundamentally that’s why their CEO Frits van Paasschen was out in February…

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American Airlines Mileage-Earning Debit Card Devalues June 1

by Gary Leff

May 02 2015

UFB Direct’s American AAdvantage-earning debit card will reduce earnings effective June 1. Instead of 1 mile per $2 spent on the card, it will offer 1 mile per $3 spent on the card. In addition they will no longer reward miles for “supermarkets, grocery stores, super stores, wholesale stores, discount stores, USPS, and financial or money transfer institutions.” I already found the card and account not to be especially compelling at 1:2. This effectively takes it off the table in my view. That isn’t surprising. Debit cards are no longer financial windfalls for banks. It’s no longer worth incentivizing transactions since the Durbin amendment to Dodd Frank financial reform eliminated the profit for banks from debit transactions. The rewards debit card is almost entirely a thing of the past. Oddly, though the Suntrust Delta debit…

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Stack Hyatt’s 40% Bonus on Purchased Points With 20% Rebate on Redemptions

by Gary Leff

May 02 2015

Hyatt Gold Passport is offering up to a 40% bonus on purchased points through May 31. It doesn’t appear to be one of their usual tiered offers: instead it’s a 40% bonus on purchases of 10,000 points or more. You don’t have to max out the offer to get the highest bonus. With a 40% bonus Hyatt is selling you points at 1.71 cents apiece. I personally value them at about 1.4 cents apiece so this doesn’t make me a buyer (points would have to be priced at less than 1.4 cents for that). You can get more than 2 cents apiece out of your points so if you were going to pay cash for a room anyway buying points can be used to get a room discount. And topping off an account could make…

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Starwood Offering Some Members Double Elite Credit

by Gary Leff

Starwood is targeting certain members for double elite qualifying nights and stays between May 1 and July 31. Interestingly they are clear that if you only earn status through this offer, then the year of status will not count towards lifetime elite qualification. I hadn’t realized that Starwood had the ability to parse their data that finely for their lifetime status benefit, and didn’t realize that they would want to complicate systems and messaging enough to bother. Sadly I wasn’t targeted, but @THEmiketown was. He does not have elite status presently with Starwood.

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“Trick Routings” Using American Miles to Get to Asia

by Gary Leff

Reader Adam asks, I’m always using AA miles on CX awards to Hong Kong/ SE Asia. What are other options that may not be obvious? Like, are there possible routes through Europe, or HNL? Using American miles for Cathay Pacific awards is an outstanding use of points. Cathay Pacific has a great product The awards are relatively cheap at 55,000 miles one-way for business class and 67,500 miles one-way for first. In fact, I expect that Asia awards are the most likely to become more expensive when AAdvantage next makes changes to their award chart. Cathay Pacific First Class Seat Cathay Pacific Business Class Seat

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Which Miles are Best for Different Destinations?

by Gary Leff

Reader Karin asked, If you had to pick one type of miles to amass for specific trips, what would it be? For instance, what gets you to Asia easiest? Western Europe? South America? Thank you! Europe: Star Alliance has the most partners that will get you to Europe. United miles will get you flights on these airlines without fuel surcharges. Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer to United. Air Canada’s Aeroplan has good award pricing to Europe and you can avoid fuel surcharges. American Express Membership Rewards points transfer to Aeroplan. (See also How to Book Award Tickets on Star Alliance Partners). If you want awards in first class though you probably want Lufthansa Miles & More miles for a combination of access to quality first class product and better availability than is offered to Star…

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Will Restaurants Begin Adopting Airline-Style Pricing?

by Gary Leff

Apr 30 2015

Restaurants are like airlines in that they have seats which – if unused at a given meal – can never be resold. It’s spoiling inventory.

And they want to earn as much per table as possible, a diner spending less than they might is money foregone that can’t even be made back.

So like airlines they should want to vary prices with sophisticated yield management… varying prices based on time of day, day of week, whether or not it’s a holiday, weather, and overall demand.

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A Modest Proposal for How Airlines Should Be Required to Handle Mistake Fares

by Gary Leff

Apr 30 2015

Mistake fares pose tough moral and ethical questions. Here’s why I think it’s perfectly acceptable to book them, but that airlines shouldn’t be required to honor them.

Nevertheless there need to be guidelines that airlines follow if they choose not to honor these tickets. The Department of Transportation hates the rule they adopted three years ago that pretty much says mistake fares have to be honored. They’ve found ways to ignore their own rules as a result. That’s not good.

Instead I propose a new approach to mistake fares that protects consumers, is fair to airlines, and allows for smooth functioning of the nation’s air transport system.

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