Ted commented on a recent trip report post, Gary I share your passion for aspirational travel in Asia. I followed your lead and went to the Conrad Koh Samui, Maldives and Hong Kong. Have you found anything else that compares? I am looking to book my next trip. This reminds me a little bit of a classic line from a classic 1980s movie, and a more philosophical take on the same problem — the problem of actually doing everything you set out to do. In the movie Die Hard, the villain Hans Gruber (played by Alan Rickman) declares, And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer. Benefits of a classical education. This turns out to be a misquote, perhaps of Plutarch, and Alexander the…
General
Category Archives for General.
What’s Your Biggest Hotel Pet Peeve?
When writing about the Charleston Place Hotel, I could nearly feel the month-old aching of my shin. My biggest hotel pet peeve is a bed frame that extends out significantly past the mattress. It’s one thing to have this at home, you know it’s there, you’re used to it. But when you’re not expecting it? Well, I walked into it. I bled. And.. I walked into it again hours later. No hotel should have bedframes like this. Oh, there are plenty of things that irk me in a hotel, I have a whole list of hotel must-haves. But this is my biggest pet peeve. What is your biggest hotel pet peeve? You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one…
American Express Preparing to Open Their San Francisco Airport Centurion Lounge
Regular readers know that I consider the American Express Centurion lounge in Dallas to be among the best lounges in the United States. There’s a Centurion Lounge in Las Vegas, and two more have been announced — San Francisco and New York LaGuardia — with more expected to come as well. The San Francisco location has been reported to have an expected opening sometime this summer (although construction projects often fall behind). It will be located on on the mezzanine level above security in the United terminal 3. The lounge must be close because they’re hiring. konoyaro on Milepoint flags a job posting for Member Services Desk Team Leader at the San Francisco airport Centurion lounge. A successful Team Leader in the American Express Centurion Lounge has a passion for delivering extraordinary service and demonstrated…
Mistake Rate on a Suite With Club Access at the Intercontinental Madrid
The Intercontinental Madrid has an interesting rate, a club access suite for the price of a base room. (HT: Reader Ralf who points to this Flyertalk thread) A King Bed Business Suite which comes with club lounge access is ~ €595 when searching the IHG Rewards website with country set to U.S. and language English. Change the setting to Germany and German, and the rate drops to €185. This is available across a huge variety of dates. Fortunately Google Chrome has built-in translation. The room is also available on points. 40,000 points per night 35,000 points + € 40 . 00 EUR per night 30,000 points + € 70 . 00 EUR per night Other lesser room types are more expensive. A double bed Executive Deluxe room is €185 on the date I searched. A…
A Possible Way to Earn Miles for Paying Off Your Credit Card or to Unload Gift Cards
Citibank’s collections department takes payment for credit card balances via debit card. That’s a rare feature, and can be extremely useful. Call the number on the back of your card. However not all customer service agents that you get can do it, and not all know that Citi does it. They may tell you it isn’t possible. Hang up, call back. They may have to transfer you to a specialist or even to collections to process the payment. You’ll generally be asked whether the name on the debit card is that same as on the credit card account, and also whether the address on the debit card matches as well. That’s a Citibank requirement for taking payment via debit. They will only permit one payment per day this way. Not all cards seem to work.…
US Airways Is NOT Adopting the American AAdvantage Award Chart When It Enters oneworld
US Airways departs Star Alliance on March 30th, and enters the oneworld alliance on March 31. They sent out an update message yesterday and linked to a page on their website that contained some confusing information. Lucky pointed out this page about how the merger and transition to oneworld will change the US Airways Dividend Miles program. And he noted in particular this section: How to redeem Check the American Airlines award chart to see how many miles you need to reach your desired destination. Book award travel on American with your Dividend Miles on usairways.com or call 800-428-4322. Miles cannot be combined between the Dividend Miles and AAdvantage programs to redeem flight awards. American Airlines award travel chart (pdf) The line, “Check the American Airlines award chart” seemed to suggest that US Airways award…
Bank of America Introduces New Existential Credit Card Rewards
From The Onion: ..Bank of America unveiled its new Existential Rewards credit card program at a press event Friday, which will reportedly allow cardholders to accrue a deep sense of fulfillment and purpose on all purchases. …the more they spend with their Existential Rewards credit card, the more meaning they gain in their lives,” said Bank of America spokeswoman Miranda Behr, who added that with no foreign transaction fees and an introductory zero-percent APR, racking up an abiding sense of purpose was as easy as earning three self-realization points for every dollar spent, plus double fulfillment at grocery stores and restaurants. …60,000 points is all you need to attain everlasting enlightenment.” I don’t know, I still prefer points that transfer to American AAdvantage miles. Because I can attain a whole lot of enlightenment if I…
Richard Branson’s Life Advice to Have a Sofa in Your Kitchen, Which Bags Will Get Stolen, and Go Hungry on United (Bits ‘n Pieces for March 21, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: A sneak peak at the Park Hyatt Vienna which opens this summer The new list of IHG Rewards PointBreaks hotels is available, with booking starting on Monday. Starwood has a promotion for meeting planners who book by September 30 for events through the end of 2014: a 2% discount on the master bill, 1000 bonus Starpoints for every 10 room nights, plus either a complimentary welcome reception or free room or upgrade for every 35 rooms booked. That’s on top of the usual points earned. I much like Starwood’s meeting planning program which – like Marriott’s – will let you earn elite status through your coompany’s meeting spend. Your first class priority tag might make your bag more attractive to a sticky-fingered baggage handler. And ‘most thefts occur…
Earning Lifetime Star Gold Status About to Get a Little Harder (But Just a Little)
I have lifetime Star Alliance Gold status and I didn’t even have to fly to earn it. (And note that since I wrote that post Aegean has improved its award ticket change policies.) When british midland was acquired by British Airways and left the Star Alliance, Star member Aegean Airlines offered status matches to bmi elite members. I was a bmi Gold member, and Aegean Airlines gave me Gold status in their Miles&Bonus program. Once you’ve reached Aegean Gold status, it’s lifetime as long as you keep your account active — activity at least once every three years. Of course the rule could change in the future. I used to think I had lifetime Airtran A+ Elite status (based on a status match), but after several years they took that status away. Nonetheless, right now…
How Throwaway Tickets and Hidden Cities Can Save You Big Money on Airfare
It’s been awhile since I explained how to use hidden city and throwaway ticketing to save big money on airfare, and it’s such an integral part of an arsenal to save money on airline tickets that it’s worth repeating. Airlines often price tickets from one city to another through a hub cheaper than flights that terminate at the hub. Flying United New York to Milwaukee through Chicago is often much cheaper than just flying New York to Chicago. If you get off the plane in Chicago and don’t board your connection to Milwaukee, you’ve potentially saved yourself a lot of money. This is called hidden city ticketing. Most people think they’ve purchased two flights, New York to Chicago and Chicago to Milwaukee. They only take one, but the airlines still got paid for both. The…
