As a followup to the Milepoint.com live chat with Hyatt Gold Passport’s Jeff ZIdell, Jeff went ahead and answered the questions that he didn’t get through during the live event. Jeff posted answers to 40 additional questions that had been submitted by travelers. A transcript of the live Q&A is also available.
American Offers Double Elite Qualifying Miles Through January 31!
Remember when I said that American’s bankruptcy would mean lots of additional generosity for frequent flyers, in order to encourage them to fly the airline? Here’s the first volley, registration required, American is offering double elite qualifying miles (to qualify for 2012 status) through December 31 and also (to get an early start on 2013 status) through January 31. Put a different way, the promotion starts today. It applies to tickets previously purchased as well as to new purchases. And it runs straight through to the end of January. Of course all flying by the end of December counts towards next year’s status, and all flying in January counts towards status the following year. I’m participating in the elite status challenge for the Oneworld MegaDO already, which means I have to fly 20,000 American Airlines…
Feature Article on the Benefits to Consumers and Hotels of Frequent Guest Programs
Gabriel Leigh covers hotel loyalty programs in DestinAsian magazine, explaining the lengths hotel programs will go to in order to win business from frequent guests. I’m quoted extensively in the piece, pointing out especially that hotel programs are lucrative, with points allowing members to redeem for truly aspirational properties they might not otherwise be able to afford. I note my own award stays at the Conrad Koh Samui (last month) and Park Hyatt Maldives (upcoming). At the same time the programs are lucrative for the chains themselves, since repeat customers are actually less costly to market to than new ones and elite customers can drive substantial revenue to a chain’s bottom line. I note that Hyatt Gold Passport and Intercontinental’s Ambassador program offer the most rewarding top tier elite levels. The article highlights free night…
30 Minutes Free Inflight Wireless on Delta through January 2
Delta’s domestic wireless coverage is excellent, and through January 2 thirty minutes of it is free thanks to a partnership with eBay. After your 30 minutes are up, you can still surf eBay for free. Or of course you can buy the service. It still mystifies me that inflight wifi adoption remains so limited, I’d think more travelers would want to be connected and furthermore during prime business travel hours would be expensing it to their employers. Of course, the more passengers that are using it the greater the service degradation seems to be, that’s going to be something of a curse for the service over time I think — as there becomes enough use to make the service economical, the quality of the service is going to deteriorate. So there will need to be…
Winners of Free Marriott Courtyard Nights Giveaway Announced
There were 3192 entries by the time the contest concluded at noon Eastern time today. So with thanks to assistance from Random.org, I drew two winners who will each receive two free nights at any Marriott Courtyard property in the Continental U.S. The first winner, kgk123: The second winner, Anthony H: You’ll both be hearing from me shortly on how to claim your room nights. Thanks to Marriott for providing the room nights in celebration of their new Courtyard lobbies, and thanks to everyone that had a good time with the contest, I appreciate your involvement!
A Weekend Stay at the New Hyatt 48 Lex
I spent this past weekend at the brand new Hyatt 48 Lex in New York. I’ve written about my stays at the Andaz 5th Avenue several times over the past year (see here, here, here, and about their pancakes here). That was the first place I searched. Standard rooms were sold out, which means no award nights available either. The Diamond Guaranteed Availability rate was about $750. So that wasn’t going to happen. Next up, I guess I do love the Andaz brand plus I figured that staying down on Wall Street would be much cheaper considering it was a weekend, I checked out the Andaz Wall Street where I stayed back in May. Also sold out of standard rooms, no award nights, and a Guaranteed Availability rate of ~ $650. Mind you, these hotels…
The Death of ITA Software’s Matrix1?
This is seriously inside baseball, but I had to share just to express my sadness and frustration. I used ITA Software‘s “Matrix 1” on Saturday. On Sunday it forwarded to their ‘new’ site, Matrix1 appears to be dead. Most of you are asking, what in the world does that mean? ITA Software is a company that handles the back end programming behind searching for airfare for several websites, both third party (like Orbitz) and airline sites. They search flights and pair those flights with fares, and the tools are really powerful although the most powerful search features aren’t offered on the consumer versions of their sites — since when you’re actually selling airfare you don’t want to offer complicated you want to offer simple, even though complicated can be more powerful. ITA, which was purchased…
Final Chance to Enter: Marriott Courtyard Free Nights Giveaway
At noon Eastern today, entry closes in my giveaway of two sets of two nights at any Marriott Courtyard in the continental U.S. Enter by leaving a comment in the giveaway thread.
Earning Double Points (and Elite Status!) at Starbucks
My wife was a Starbucks Gold card member before that was common, she had a Gold card when the ‘elite’ level Starbucks cards first came out (and there wasn’t even a reference yet at Starbucks.com). She and always got looks at the counter when she paid with it. I don’t know if that’s a mark of distinction or not. Probably it’s not… Well, it takes 30 transactions a year to reach Gold and 30 to retain it, I think it used to take only 15. And Gold status isn’t all that valuable. The “Green” level which used to be just for registering a card now takes 5 swipes and gets you free syrups, miles, and a brewed beverage when you buy whole beans (which I wouldn’t do from Starbucks since the beans are too oily).…
United Airlines Back Home: “Burn Avios, Burn” Cathay Pacific First Class and Amazing Conrad Suites
Index: Planning the trip US Airways Shuttle to New York and the Sheraton JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York – Hong Kong The Pier Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok Conrad Bangkok Deluxe Suite Bangkok Airways Business Class, Bangkok – Koh Samui Conrad Koh Samui, 2 Bedroom Ocean Pool Villa Conrad Koh Samui, Resort Bangkok Airways Business Class, Koh Samui – Bangkok Cathay Pacific Business Class, Bangkok – Hong Kong and Marriott SkyCity Hong Kong Cathay Pacific First Class Hong Kong – Chicago United Airlines Back Home We had arrived early on our flight from Hong Kong. Which is great as far as it goes — but I had rather planned for the opposite. Since I was on a British Airways-issued award, I was using Cathay Pacific flights only. Adding…
