As I mentioned the other day, having enjoyed giving away the free Hilton hotel night, I thought I’d try some other giveaways. And for variety, I’m testing out giveaways on Twitter. To see how it works out, I’m starting small, giving away a US Airways club pass. I just posted the following: RT this &follow @garyleff 4 chance 2win USAirways Club pass (exp July) on 3/1. Enter up2 5x/day. Follow @garyleff in order to keep up on my giveaways!
$69 Weekends at the Westin Dulles Including Breakfast
TravelZoo has the Westin Dulles Airport for $69 weekends including breakfast ($99 during the week) through May 22. Book by March 9. The deal is being promoted on the TravelZoo site through VistUSAHotels.com. Since the best rate during the week at spg.com seems to be $119, this $99 weekday rate should be good for a Best Rate Guarantee claim. The Best Rate Guarantee, which offers to match price and either beat by 10% or provide 2000 Starpoints as compensation (not to mention get you booked via the Starwood website for elite privileges), doesn’t apply to ‘package rates’ that include breakfast. So while the hotel offers a $69 rate without breakfast on weekends, and a more expensive breakfast-inclusive rate (where breakfast can be taken via room service or in the restaurant), there doesn’t appear to be…
Marriott Shuffles Hotel Redemption Categories Effective March 8
Loyalty Traveler details Marriott’s moving around hotels amongst various redemption categories. Bottom-line appears to be not bad at all. Approximately 350 hotels will decrease by one category and approximately 300 hotels will increase by one category. Ninety-five percent of the hotels changing categories are in categories 1-5. And clearly more hotels are moving down than up in categories 6, 7, and 8.
Continental Mastercard: No Fee the First Year, 30,000 Mile Bonus
I signed up for a Continental Mastercard back when there was a 46,000 mile signup offer. I considered that worth the price of an annual fee, especially considering that since Continental joined the Star Alliance their frequent flyer program has become one of my favorites. For the first time that I’m aware of, though, they’re now offering a no fee the first year deal which also comes with 25,000 bonus miles. Not 46,000 to be sure, but at no cost other than a hard pull on your credit it’s still pretty good. The biggest reason not to do it? Chase has become more and more difficult getting new credit cards if you’ve applied for other cards with them in the past six months. So if you’re considering in the future a Hyatt Visa from Chase,…
Overriding Your Hotel Room’s Thermostat Settings
Points, Miles, and Martinis describes how to override the settings of thermostats in many hotel rooms. INNCOM thermostats are quite common, and the blog has tested the technique at both Hilton and Hyatt properties successfully. You can make these thermostats go lower than their usual settings, and turn off motion sensors that turn off the air conditioning when you’re not in the room. While holding down “display” Press “off” Then Press “Up” arrow Release “display” button You’ll know it worked when … it says VIP! Good tip for those who like their hotel rooms cold..!
W Hotel Store Discounts
I have many times posted discounts for the W Hotel Store (such as here, here, here, and here). And I’m the happy owner of a W Hotel Bed (plush top with feather bed), purchased with a 40% discount code. This time, however, MilesQuest beats me to the punch: The W Store has a brand new promotion code for 35% off. Enter promo code QDG8Y Another promo code you can use is code Y6S2Q for 30% off bath towels and a free bath mat with a $50 order.
Iran Will Bar Airlines That Refer to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf
Ben Mutzabaugh covers the rather bizarre story that Iran has threatened to bar – and possibly impound – aircraft that fly into its airspace unless they use the name “Persian Gulf” on their in-flight monitors They’ve even revoked the immigration status of a Greek flight attendant working for an Iranian carrier who referred to the body of water as the Arabian Gulf — “Due to his inappropriate and irresponsible behavior.” Airlines have just a couple of weeks to comply, and if they repeat the offense they risk having their aircraft impounded when they reach Iran. The U.M. agrees with Iran’s naming convention, but this still rather smacks of a dictatorship’s enforcement of Newspeak.
Hyatt Co-Branded Credit Card Coming
It appears that Hyatt may finally be on the verge of introducing a credit card partnership. This has been rumored for years, it’s been seriously examined and worked on at Hyatt for years, and the chatter out of Hyatt’s offices has really picked up the past few months. Hyatt has been the only major chain without a credit card partner, although it is and has been possible to earn Hyatt points via credit card spend (Diners Club). There’s a current thread on Flyertalk discussing a survey about potential mixes of benefits for a Hyatt co-branded credit card. It’s naturally likely to come with a signup bonus and bonus points for Hyatt spend. Other possible benefits include: Confirmed suite upgrades, possibly valid on award stays not just paid stays (which makes sense, since card spend earns…
Re-booking Cancelled Flights During the Snowpocalypse
Wendy Perrin offers her lessons learned from a cancelled flight, the result of Snowpocalypse-induced cancellation of her flights to Hawaii. She sums up — don’t wait for the airline to inform you of the cancellation, be proactive (if you wait, alternate flight options will be gone), suggest alternate routes to the agent when rebooking (don’t just accept that nothing’s available), and ask your hotel to waive cancellation penalties if you don’t make it there on the intended check-in day. I did a major set of rebookings during the storm, it’s not really part of my job as such but I’m “the expert” and we had a major event on the West Coast with a large contingent traveling from DC across several days, myriad flights, and different airlines. I echo Wendy’s remarks about rebooking early. The…
Another Excellent Stay at the Westin Diplomat
Several folks asked me about this post from yesterday morning, the sunrise photo I was waking up to, where I was? It was another great stay at the Westin Diplomat. This isn’t the nicest or most refined property in Starwood, or even of theirs in South Florida. There’s a new W in Ft. Lauderdale that was tempting to check out. But this hotel offers the very best Platinum elite treatment of any property, anywhere. They have something like 86 suites in the upgrade pool, about three-quarters of which are “corner suites” — a bedroom and separate living room with small dining area and large bathroom. These suites have a wraparound balcony looking straight out at the Atlantic ocean, and to the side the ability to see the Intracoastal Waterway as well. With this many suites,…
