Book wholesale rather than retail.
Club1 Hotels is a membership site, and that lets them sell rooms at a discount, offering lower rates to consumers instead of taking their booking commission. They report that they make money on membership fees rather than individual bookings. (Since they’re a membership site hotel best rate guarantees for direct booking on a hotel chain’s website don’t apply.)
Plastiq is a great way to turn bills you have to pay (even rent or mortgage) into miles, albeit for a fee. Right now there’s a promotion with discount rates for paying rent or mortgage with a MasterCard or American Express.
This week there was a bit of a stir when bill payment service Plastiq — which charges your credit card and mails checks for you — started warning customers that Visa may classify charges with them as a cash advance.
Register and book by the end of the year and travel on non-stops between the US and Australia or New Zealand between February 1 and May 31, 2017 and you can earn bonus miles for each flight segment.
Governor Cuomo has signed the Rosenthal / Lanza bill imposing fines of up to $7500 per advertisement of an ‘illegal unit’ on home sharing sites like Airbnb, which is likely to mean a fine for anyone who advertises short-term accomodations through Airbnb. This legislation was predicted to end Airbnb in New York.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Delta opened their new SkyClub in Seattle minutes ago. I couldn’t make it to the preview event yesterday (believe me, I was shocked to be invited to a Delta event!) but I asked for photos and the lounge’s food menu. And I’m really impressed.
The club is near gate A1 at the intersection of the A and B concourses. This is one of Delta’s largest clubs at 21,000 square feet and with seating for over 400. And it’s stunning.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
The basics of loyalty programs are recognize and reward. Earn and burn are the reward part, but the recognition you get — the ‘VIP status’ — for focusing on the goal of staying with a single chain 25 times or 50 nights, or flying an airline 50,000 or 100,000 miles a year gets you treatment orders of magnitude better than the average person walking through the doors or onto the plane.
But there are limits that the marketing sometimes makes it easy to forget. And sometimes employees take elite status too far, also.
Ritz-Carlton clubs aren’t like the club lounges you may be used with at major chain hotels. They’ll frequently have up to 5 food presentations daily, and adult beverages throughout the day along with great service to take care of any needs you have during your stay.
You’ll find delicious, substantive food from breakfast to light snacks, afternoon tee, evening Hors d’Oeuvres and desserts. But elite status doesn’t get you in.
Last year I wrote about a homeless man who used credit card signup bonuses and reselling to live in hotel rooms. He was brand-loyal to Marriott, and ultimately caught buying and reselling Amtrak tickets.
Of course he might have just stayed at the Radisson JFK which New York had been using to house the homeless.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
