Yesterday CNN.com ran a piece on overwater bungalows that led off with my stay at Bora Bora Nui, then a Starwood property and the newest on Bora Bora and now a Hilton property and one of the very best award redemption values out there. (A basic-level room redemption won’t get you the overwater bungalow but will get you a suite-size bungalow, and plenty of people get status upgrades or buy ups to overwater. Plus I’d expect Hilton’s new premium room redemption offerings to spread here and allow for overwater redemptions, though those are likely to be a less great value.) For many, Bora Bora represents the utmost in aspirational redemptions. The story’s author told me that Bora Bora Nui is now her screensaver. And indeed, it was absolutely stunning. As regular readers of this blog…
Aeroplan Ends 500 Mile Minimums
Via the MilesLink newsletter, Air Canada’s Aeroplan is ending 500 mile minimums for mileage earning on short flights, going to a 250 mile minimum, effective August 1. And of course, since actually flying Air Canada on discount fares doesn’t offer full mileage earning, flying a ‘Tango fare’ on a flight less than 250 miles will only earn 63 miles (25% of 250 minimum). Ouch. Try crediting that flight to british midland instead for 600 mile minimums. Aeroplan’s impending gutting of their award chart isn’t the only negative change on the horizon…
Are There Airport Restaurants Worth Flying To?
Airfare Watchdog has a post on the ‘top 10 restaurants worth flying for’. Now, there are plenty of restaurants worth flying for, at least I think so, I’ve written up my meals at El Bulli and the Fat Duck where those establishments were actually the point of the trip (as opposed to just an enjoyable meal I had along the way, such as this one). But I’ve never actually come across an airport restaurant that was worth flying to just to eat there. There are perfectly pleasant places in airports of course, and you wouldn’t be surprised to find that I think many airports themselves are perfectly pleasant places. Though there are of course many, many dumps … Chicago Midway, the A terminal ‘banjo’ at Washington National, St. Croix, the Tom Bradley terminal at LAX,…
Park Hyatt Aviara: Some of the Best Hotel Service in the United States
I spent last weekend at the Park Hyatt Aviara, a former Four Seasons property, and I was really excited to be there. The story as I understand it is that the ownership didn’t want to make the sort of capital investments necessary to maintain it as a Four Seasons given general economic conditions so they had a parting of the ways with their former flag and hence the re-branding. I tend to think of Park Hyatt as a modern brand, and Aviara was a Four Seasons in the ‘old school’ model, so other than the signage the place doesn’t really fit my mental model of a Park Hyatt. But what did strike me more than anything other than the old fashioned furniture and draperies was the service. Every single person that I encountered at the…
100,000 Miles for a New Citibank American Airlines Credit Card
Over the weekend I received an email from Citibank telling me that existing American Airlines co-branded cardholders would receive 1000 miles for registering for the promo this morning as part of American’s 30 Deals in 30 Days to celebrate 30 years of their frequent flyer program. So I blogged it and set it to be published early this morning, no sense posting the offer before it was live when it was about to go live, I figured folks would read it and register rather than having to remember to do it later. Well, the offer today is actually a signup bonus for new cardholders and the 1000 miles for current cardholders appears to be more of a consolation prize. Today’s card signup offer is: First time Citi® / AAdvantage® credit cardmembers can earn 30,000 AAdvantage…
1000 Free American Airlines Miles for Citibank AAdvantage Co-Branded Credit Card Holders
Register today to receive 1000 miles if you have a Citibank co-branded American Airlines credit card (personal or business card) as part of American’s 30 deals in 30 days to celebrate the program’s 30th anniversary.
How Valuable are Hilton’s New Cash and Points and Upgraded Room Award Redemptions?
Last month we learned that Hilton is rolling out new redemption options: cash and points and use of points towards room nights above just the standard entry-level rooms. Both of these seemed like big advances for Hilton, though I did say at the time the question of value would be in the details. How many points would we save by spending cash? ANd how many extra points would it take to get a better than basic room? Starwood pioneered cash and points, Priority Club followed a couple of years back. It’s a way to stretch the value of your points, and in both of those programs it’s generally better to use cash and points when available than it is to use just points for a standard room. For me, if I don’t have status with…
New Priority Club PointBreaks List is Out! They Haven’t Gotten Rid of PointBreaks! (Yet?)
Via Priority Club Insider, Priority Club’s PointBreaks aren’t gone yet! It’s been widely expected that that the introduction of last minute reward nights would spell the end of PointBreaks, Priority Club’s offer of room redemptions for just 5000 points per night at select hotels. Instead, a a new list of participating properties is out for stays through July 30. I had personally hoped that Priority Club winning a Frequent Traveler Awards for their PointBreaks promotion would encourage them to keep it or make it more dificult to eliminate it. It’s a great offering, even if the number of top end properties participating is limited. It’s great to get an Intercontinental for just 5000 points instead of 30,000 or 40,000. Here’s hoping they keep the PointBreaks component of the program, after all!
Are there Ethics to Booking Frequent Flyer Awards for Clients?
Are there some award trips that I just shouldn’t book for clients on moral grounds? I’m not talking about routing rules and whether to push the envelope with a program over what is allowable for getting a stopover. I’m talking about some awards that I just shouldn’t book because of who they are for or where they are going? I received a request this morning that made me uncomfortable, though I fully admit that I don’t yet have all of the information about what’s motivating the trip. A woman wants two award tickets from the U.S. to Iran — one roundtrip for herself, and one one-way ticket for her 8 year old daughter. I’ve spent the morning thinking about this, and here are some tentative thoughts: I’m not a public utility. I don’t have an…
And the Winner of the Five Free Car Rental Days is…
The winner of the five free rental days from National Car Rental is commenter # 482, Corey, as drawn by random.org. Corey is headed to Disney World and will spend the rental car savings on the kids. Congratulations, Corey, I’ve passed your contact information along to the folks working with National to arrange your free rental days. And a big thank you to National Car Rental for providing the free rental days, the Executive Elite status in their Emerald Club, and the Victorinox carry-on bag to give away here on this blog. Nothing to me, great opportunities for my readers, and hopefully also worthwhile to National to promote themselves as a choice for savvy travelers, as I’ve shared I’ve long been a fan of their Emerald Aisle concept where you choose the car you want…
