Intercontinental’s Royal Ambassador elite level is in some ways the best elite status of any hotel program. It’s also one of the most vexing. The positives are remarkable. On top of the usual elite level benefits one finds with the major chains, they offer: Guaranteed 8am check-in, not just 4pm late checkout Complimentary free drinks from the mini-bar The minibar thing is ultra-cool. But after a few times over-indulging, and hosting parties in your suite, at least I find that you really just appreciate it for always having a bottle of water handy. 8 a.m. check-in is huge for arrivals in Europe and even some parts of Asia — knowing you’ll have a room after a long flight and without having to pay for the previous night.
A Credit Card Signup Bonus So Convoluted It Needs an Infographic!
Through August 31 — less than two weeks left! — ANA’s co-brand credit card a whopping 10,000 bonus miles for signing up. Now, ANA has a pretty good frequent flyer program. It’s distance-based. Chicago-Tokyo roundtrip, for instance, is just 90,000 miles in business class. New York – London roundtrip is 63,000 miles roundtrip in business. They do add fuel surcharges to most awards. Here’s the thing. Just to get 10,000 miles has to be the most convoluted process I’ve seen. It involves signing up for a TV subscription. And you have to submit your first bill to get credit. It’s so complicated, in fact, that they’ve developed an infographic to try to make sense out of it. Personally I think you’d be better off churning DirecTV subscriptions across different members of your household. But I…
The Monumental Importance of Hotel Coffee
Lots of hotel coffee in the U.S. is bad, but tends to be so much better in Asia. Coffee is important to me, a basic that I expect to be well provided-for by any full service hotel. I was frustrated when the Andaz Wall Street got rid of their 24 hour complimentary espresso machine in the lobby as a cost-cutting measure. Without coffee machines in the room, and without 24 hour room service even that can be a big deal when you wake up at 5 a.m. I always thought that the W brand’s ‘Whatever, Whenever’ concept was a good one though execution hasn’t often measured up. Like when the Whatever, Whenever line at the W San Diego couldn’t get me coffee at 5 am. The whatever part should have been easy since all I…
Uber Will Now Bring You Condoms
In some markets, Uber is introducing Corner Store. They’ve just sent an email out in the DC market, for instance. They’ll bring you what you want from about 100 items so far. Items include things like sleeping aids, pain relievers, envelopes, Clorox, tissues, batteries, candy, baby wipes, and condoms: If they’re in your market, here’s how it works: Toggle to the CORNER STORE option Mon-Fri, 9am-9pm Set your delivery location within our coverage area and confirm your address Be prepared when your driver calls to take your order from our inventory list below Upon arrival, meet your driver outside & confirm your order As always, no cash required! Only the items you ordered will be charged to your Uber account (no additional fees) Clearly Uber has to extend itself to other industries if they’re going…
The #1 Requested Free Airline Amenity Is…
Complimentary deodorant is apparently the number one wish from airlines by UK travelers. * I think this is misguided. Most people don’t smell because others fail to give them deodorant. Very few people who say they want deodorant are the same people who smell. We don’t really want to be given free deodorant. We want other people to be given free deodorant. Deoderant is cheap. Price — at least for those with incomes to support air travel — really isn’t a barrier. According to the CheapFlights UK survey, 40% of English adults have flown business or first class. If that were true, British Airways’ financial performance would be stronger. This is simply a reason to doubt the survey. Along with the following claim: Passengers who have received a free upgrade from economy are more likely…
Accor Hotels Top Tier Platinum Status — Free For Stockholders
Today is free hotel status day here at View from the Wing. To add onto earlier posts about signing up for accounts that start off with elite status, it’s worth highlighting that you can still get Le club Accorhotels top tier Platinum status without actually staying at Accor Hotel properties. It turns out that Frequent Flyer Italia (yes, the blog is written in Italian but Google translates) flags that you can get this status when you own 50 shares of Accor hotels. You used to be able to
Picking Your Onboard Meal in Advance, Cooking in Your Hotel Room, and Earning the Most Points Eating Out
News and notes from around the interweb: I’m pretty sure I once posted a video of a flight attendant making grilled cheese sandwiches with the iron in their hotel room. What about hot dogs, hamburgers, eggs, and toasted marshmallows? (HT: Liz M.) I’d prefer to order room service. Leveraging your dining out: How to earn miles when you dine out at restaurants. The Ins and Outs of OpenTable for reservations. And the best card to use at restaurants to pay your bill. British Airways will introduce pre-order meals in business and first class. This is more like what American Airlines has, where you order from what would be on the plane anyway (and thus make sure you get your first choice) rather than what Singapore Airlines and others (like Thai) offer where you can pick…
Free Langham Hotels Elite Status
The free mid-tier elite status offer has been extended through the end of 2014 for Visa Infinite cardholders and HSBC Premier members and perhaps others. Langham Hotels 1865 Voyager status normally requires 5 stays within 12 months. Key benefits are: complimentary room upgrade subject to room availability) free internet access 6pm late checkout welcome amenity Use this link to go to the enrollment page. Then enter the invitation code 453826123 into the top box and click ‘enter’. Membership tier should change to ‘Voyager’. The offer is valid through December 31, and status is scheduled to last for 12 months once you register. Status should get renewed with just two stays per year. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just…
Free Marriott Silver Status
A Ritz-Carlton Rewards credit card comes with Gold status and United MileagePlus Gold members and above get free Marriott Gold status. But if you don’t have any Marriott status, then the company you work for may give you Silver just for showing up. I’ve covered this before, two years later the advice is the same. Here’s how Marriott signs up people at the Silver status level from a variety of companies that they have corporate agreements with. There’s a simple link, the format is http://www.joinmarriottrewards.com/account/silver/default.aspx?source=COMPANYNAME So the link for Accenture is http://www.joinmarriottrewards.com/account/silver/default.aspx?source=ACCENTURE And the link for the University of California is http://joinmarriottrewards.com/account/silver/default.aspx?source=UniversityofCalifornia … to give a few examples, each of which open new accounts at the Silver level. You can try to enter your own company name to see what’s offered, if anything. (For instance,…
Delta Hates Their Customers, But You Can Earn Tons of Points With GoBank
More big news out today in frequent flyer-world: Expertflyer, a pay service I subscribe to, has been forced by Delta to stop displaying upgrade inventory on the site. An educated consumer is Skymiles’ worst customer. Some customers may again sign up for GoBank, an account with a robust bill pay feature that you can load with gift cards at Walmart. Hyatt has a targeted promotion out for up to 50,000 bonus points. I wasn’t targeted, lots of Diamond members I know were. More nights, more points – while 5 nights earns 5000 points, 20 nights through November 30 earns a total of 50,000. The bad news: I’d guess this won’t stack with — and thus could take the place of — a fall promotion. How much does a union drive up hotel costs? I’ve heard…
