Hilton has been stepping up in the bath amenities game, making Peter Thomas Roth the standard. I’m a fan of the stuff, having gotten used to it at the Parker Meridien in New York years ago. And they’ve amped up a bit for their luxury Waldorf=Astoria brand, just got a press release that starting January they’ll be going with Ferragamo Tuscan Soul, which I admit I’ve only gotten in first class on Singapore Airlines but I’m a fan. The amenities are already in New York, Rome, New Orleans, Versailles, Shanghai, and London and will be in all 22 properties by January. Is it crazy to think this actually makes me consider staying at Waldorf properties? Here’s a search of Neiman Marcus online showing the Tuscan Soul products for sale. It’s a little bit beyond what…
Free SGD$20 for Use During Singapore Connections (Lounge Access Even in Coach!)
Through March 15, 2012, Singapore Airlines (and SilkAir) passengers arriving in Singapore from China, Egypt, India, Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey and the US, and connecting to another Singapore or SIlkAir flight, are eligible for a SGD$20 voucher. Information counters in terminals 2 and 3 have the vouchers, and require you to show a printout of your e-ticket receipt and the boarding pass from your arriving flight. The vouchers don’t have to be used on the same trip, they expire on March 15. Each is valid for one-time use at all retail, food and service outlets located at the transit and public areas of Terminals 1, 2 and 3 (but are not valid in the arrival baggage claim halls). Interestingly, that means they’re valid for access to the paid Ambassador Transit Lounge…
Free and Instant Accor A|Club Platinum Status
Via Milepoint, Accor is offering instant Platinum status just for enrolling (with this HSBC promo). Platinum status generally requires 60 nights (or 25,000 points earned) and comes with a 100% points bonus and then at Sofitel, Pullman, and MGallery hotels: room upgrades that the rules say you specifically have to ask for, 4pm late checkout, guaranteed availability, and a welcome drink and gift. I’ve always found it odd that A|Club elite status doesn’t get you recognition at Novotel properties, but still being Platinum which is their top tier is certainly better than a hole in the head as my grandfather used to say — especially when the status is instant and free.
$200 SniqueAway Hotel Credit Giveaway
SniqueAway is a new-ish site for discount hotel bookings. I don’t even know how long it’s been around, I’ve been vaguely aware of it for months but never took a closer look. I got an email from one of their PR folks wondering if I’d try it out if they gave me a $200 credit to use. Well, I haven’t done that, and I suggested we do a giveaway of a $200 credit here. If you sign up using my referral link I’ll get a $25 credit should you wind up also making a booking through the site. I’m giving away the $200 credit offered, but I’d just assume that someone wind up with the referral credits. I’ll bear no malice if you use someone else’s referral link, I’d just hate to see the $25…
Is Citibank Evil or Stupid for Ending Mileage Earning on Debit Cards?
Reader E.M. writes to pitch me on calling out Citibank for ending their mileage earning debit cards. Citi’s decision to discontinue the AA Advantage debit card program is incontrovertible evidence of a corporate ethos that puts profit before customer satisfaction. Their ending frequent flier mile earning opportunities may seem like a trivial issue compared with other crimes that banks are getting away with, but it is highly symbolic of the industry’s overall disregard for the consumer. This was not a free program ($65 dollar annual fee). The Dodd-Frank law is not to blame for creating this situation. Debit card interchange fees have not been eliminated, they have been reduced. Citi’s choice to end the program will result in the loss of untold millions of debit card transactions because customers will stop using their debit cards…
The Blogs this Blogger Can’t Do Without
Last month in Denver, Jeff Zidell asked me what my daily blog reads were and strangely enough I didn’t quite know because it’s so habitual, I have a ton of subscriptions in my Google Reader because I’ll look for tips of things to write about in the most unlikely of places, I actually had to think about the question of which blogs I prioritize, which are my first reads, which ones I actually anticipate reading. The question sort of stuck with me and I’ve paid more attention to which blog posts I click first to read, which ones I actually enjoy. So I thought I’d share with y’all my take, in case it introduces you to blogs that you’d be interested in checking out. I know I’ll ruffle some feathers with my comments on these…
Months of Shopping Portal Meltdowns: When Deals Are Too Good to Be True, Blame the Mileage Member?
Inside Flyer‘s October cover story (ungated) is on monster shopping portal mileage deals that didn’t work out for members. They were all deals that on many levels were ‘too good to be true’ but that at the same time shed light on the workings of the mileage malls which are very poorly understood — by design of the airlines and those outsourced companies running the shopping portals — and shed light on some of the questionable practices of those vendors, with at least tacit approval of the mileage programs. In August I wrote about what could have been the biggest mileage bonanza ever: an offer on the US Airways and Hawaiian Airlines shopping portal sites to earn miles for transactions with web hosting company EasyCGI. The offers were very explicit that there were no restrictions…
2500 Free US Airways Miles
Sharebuilder will offer you 2500 US Airways miles for registering. (Here’s the offer directly on the Sharebuilder site as well.) But here’s the kicker: I’ve had a Sharebuilder account in the past. I got the miles for ‘renewing’ my account, basically entering my login information, updating my contact information, and linking it up with the US Airways offer. I didn’t fund the account or engage in any transactions. I didn’t even link a bank account to do transfers into the Sharebuilder account, I skipped that part choosing to ‘return later’. A couple of minutes of online forms, not even a new customer, and no money spent … I opened the account on Saturday, October 1 and the miles were there on Tuesday, October 4. And a ‘hit’ in the US Airways Grand Slam promotion. The…
Rumored Bankruptcy for American Airlines May Mean Good Times for AAdvantage Frequent Flyers
SmartMoney ran a piece telling frequent flyers to go out and burn their American Airlines miles because the airline is so troubled. Attention, nervous flyers: It may be time to buckle up and use your American Airlines miles. Shares at the airline plummeted by one-third Monday amid fears that it will seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As investors panicked and sold their shares, its 67 million frequent flyer members around the world were also left with a worrying question: In a worst-case scenario, will all those hard-earned miles be lost? The bad news: When airlines file for liquidation, loyal customers are usually among the last on the long list of creditors to be reimbursed. Experts say nearly all other major debts will be paid before these rewards are redeemed. What a lead, eh? And the…
Aeroplan Will No Longer Include Domestic First Class with International Business Class Awards
I haven’t yet verified this myself, but via Matthew Klint, Aeroplan has a new devaluation (on top of the pretty brutal changes to their award chart in July). Aeroplan will no longer book domestic (and US-Canada transborder) first class seats as part of an international business class award. If you include domestic first class, they will price the whole award as first class. Most airlines will include domestic first class on a business class award. There are exceptions. British Midland treats first class as first class, business class as business class, even when the flight is just an hour-long ‘first class’ seat on a United Express regional jet. That’s how Aeroplan appears to be proceeding, as a way of cutting costs on their redemptions according to the memo that an Aeroplan supervisor read to Matthew.…
