Turns out that the long-awaited Ritz-Carlton on Bora Bora is going to be a St. Regis instead. Louis Wane owns this property along with the Sheraton Tahiti, Sheraton Moorea, and Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa — all managed by Starwood. This latest property should be even more over-the-top luxurious than Bora Bora Nui, where I stayed in June. The Nui is already the most expensive points-redemption property in all of Starwood-dom. Will Starwood have to create a whole new redemption category for the St. Regis? Or will the hotel build a low-end ‘points room’ for SPG guests? Interestingly, Bora Bora Nui was originally intended to become a St. Regis. Two stories explained why this didn’t happen. One was that Louis Wane visited the St. Regis Monarch Beach and St. Regis Los Angeles and was…
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Ghost in the Motel
Are two hotels in Anchorage haunted?
Hardcore Mileage Runner
This morning I started reading the blog of an Air Canada Aeroplan member who has booked flights to earn one million miles in 60 days. He’s earned 135,000 miles after his first week.
USAirways-America West Program Merger Moves Forward
The America West-USAirways frequent flyer program merger is making progress. You can now earn and burn each airline’s miles on the other carrier. As summarized by the MilesLink newsletter:The programs are merging into a single “Dividend Miles” program, bringing some changes. For starters, a new four-tiered elite program will be implemented in both programs. The entry-level elite threshold will be set at 25,000 miles. Benefits include a 25-percent earning bonus, unlimited upgrades on full fares confirmable anytime, and unlimited upgrades on discounted fares confirmable up to two days in advance. Higher tier thresholds have been set at 50,000, 75,000 and 100,000 miles. America West Platinum Elite members will be elevated to Chairman’s Elite status by Feb. 28, 2006. Lower-level awards (FlightFund’s 15,000-mile short-hop and Dividend Miles 20,000-mile coach saver) are history. All awards will begin…
Megabonus for Expensive tickets to Europe
Roughly speaking, American has matched the British Airways offer of earning 50,000 miles on a business class ticket to Europe. United — and possibly other carriers — can’t be far behind, especially as this is more or less a redux of an offer from last year.
aloft: the new Starwood hotel chain
Starwood has announced the name of its new mid-market chain meant to build on the W style while competing with Marriott Courtyards and Hilton Garden Inns. The chain will be called aloft. These first aloft properties will be located in Lexington, Massachusetts, Tucson, Arizona, San Francisco Airport, Philadelphia Airport, and Cherry Creek, Colorado. The company also stated that its UFOC, or franchise offering circular, was effective as of today and that it would begin to offer aloft licenses to qualified hotel owners and operators. Starwood anticipates the first hotels to break ground in early 2006 and open in early 2007, with 500 properties worldwide expected by 2012. Here’s what we know about their plans so far: Design visionary David Rockwell and the Rockwell Group, whose award-winning projects include the Kodak Theater, Nobu and the W…
Most Expensive Resorts
Forbes runs a list of the world’s most expensive resorts. Unsurprisingly, Singita Private Game Reserve, Sandy Lane, and Eden Rock in St. Barts make the list. I knew there was a new One&Only property in the Maldives, and everything is pricey in the Maldives to begin with, but didn’t realize the rate class that it was in. It’s interesting that nothing in French Polynesia shows up on the list. Eden Rock checks in with a high season room rate of $888. Perhaps Bora Bora Nui (at $1000 to $1300 for an Overwater Bungalow) doesn’t make the list because it offers a handful of less expensive Beachside and Treetop Bungalows. I imagine that a new Ritz-Carlton or Four Seasons on Bora Bora will manage to crack this list. And where is Cala de Volpe? I can’t…
The New York Times carried a piece on the problem hotels face in trying to satisfy both Gen X and baby boomer business travelers. GenX wants hip (W) while boomers want classic (Ritz). GenX’ers are becoming increasingly important, the classic brands know this and are trying to graft onto their preferences without losing their core demographic. The gap isn’t just manifesting itself at the higher ends of business travel, either — Starwood is introducing a less-expensive version of a W to compete with the Hilton Garden Inn and Marriott Courtyard product (something that their Four Points brand fails at miserably).
10% Kickback on Priceline Bookings?
It’s now possible to stick Priceline’s booking engine on your own website and, naturally, earn a commission for hotels booked through the site. A bit of trouble to set up, perhaps, but for the adventuresome it should yield a better return than the 3% offered by eBates.(Hat tip to Tripso Daily.)
Improvement to the Merrill+ Visa
The Merrill+ Visa offers an interesting value proposition: a proprietary points program that can be used for coach airlines tickets or for merchandise, a la Worldpoints or a CapitalOne card. So far, not very interesting. But there are spending thresholds of $20,000 and $50,000 and at each threshold additional benefits kick in. $50,000 in spending on the card in a calendar year will earn 4 free nights at a Ritz-Carlton hotel. That’s a decent reward for $50,000 in spending, but since the proprietary points program wasn’t that useful to me I still preferred my Starwood American Express and Diners Club combo. Now they’ve introduced point transfers to British Airways on a 1:1 basis. So $50,000 in spending nets you 4 Ritz-Carlton nights and 50,000 British Airways miles. Not bad at all, actually an amazing return,…
