Once again you can earn double Starwood points for paying your taxes by credit card (up to $5,000). The bonus applies to payments made between March 15 and April 17 and the bonus should post sometime between June 10 and July 8. I fully expect that all of the usual suspect double miles for tax payment offers will resurface again this year. Double miles are necessary to make this a somewhat attractive offer because paying by credit card incurs a 2.49% “convenience fee.” Alas, lucrative offers from the past like 5000 bonus miles for making any tax payment with the United Visa (I paid $5 online in 2003 and paid the rest by check) are probably not in the cards.
New USAToday Hotel Blog
USA Today‘s Megg Mueller who writes the “Hotel Hotsheet” column now has a blog by the same name. She’s generally pretty good, but since it’s part of the McPaper I expect it to remain pretty non-controversial. Still worth checking out, though. I’ve already added the RSS feed to my blogreader.
Underwater Hotel Set to Begin Construction
Dubai’s Hydropolis underwater hotel project is set to begin construction next month. Financing remains a bit of a questionmark with banks “so far .. very reluctant.” The shallow water hotel will be shaped as a bowl and will be positioned on the sea ground, according to Hohmann. The deep water version is floating in the sea with anchors on the ground. The bowl will be constructed externally and then positioned on the location. It will then be emptied of the water and equipped with huge aquariums as an attraction for the guests. “At the shallow water hotel, guests are exposed to big fish tanks that contain controlled water and fish, since shallow water is muddy and not transparent. At the deep water hotel, visitors are looking directly into the sea,” he said. The construction of…
So how many miles do YOU have?
Jan
11
2006
Randy Petersen reported some fascinating pieces of data about Delta frequent flyers: The largest current SkyMiles balance is 21,846,145 miles. …Most transoceanic segments in 2005: 61 Most miles flowm: 519,676 I have miles in my accounts. And I’m known to fly occasionally. But I’m a nobody. Nothing. A gnat. No, not even a gnat. Gnats have wings and can fly.
New United Visa Offer
Jan
11
2006
Chase is offering the United Visa free the first year with a 20,000 mile signup bonus and an additional 5000 bonus miles when you fly a paid United roundtrip by March 15. Certainly the first purchase bonus will post for everyone, and the fee will be waived for anyone using the link. The 5000 mile bonus for a paid roundtrip is something of a question mark — since the fine print of the offer indicates a United promotion code (MPGJ15) it may be only for members whose Mileage Plus accounts have been pre-registered. So your mileage may vary on this piece. (Hat tip to Don.)
Quik Trak Bonus
Amtrak is offering 250 Guest Rewards points for picking up a ticket at a QuikTrak machine by March 31. Log into your Amtrak Guest Rewards account and then register for the promo using code 11906.Alas the bonus is limited to one per member. Update: The promo didn’t say anything about being targeted, but a reader emails a response that it’s in invalid offer so it might just be targeted. You’d think that Guest Rewards would say that if it is, but the folks running this program are among the worst in the industry so nothing surprises me at all.
30k Signup Bonus for Priority Club Visa
Jan
11
2006
The Priority Club Visa is available through February 28 offering 30,000 points with first purchase and fee waived the first year. Since it only offers one point per dollar spent it’s not a great place to put spending. The offer is three points per dollar at Priority Club hotel properties, however, and there’s a 10,000 point bonus for spending $15,000 on the card in a year.
Starwood West Coast Bonus
Starwood is offering a bonus for stays on the West Coast through April 30. Registration is required. Earn up to 6,000 bonus Starpoints® for repeat stays at participating Westin, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, Luxury Collection, St. Regis and W Hotels in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Sacramento. Simply register and stay at one of the participating hotels now through April 30, 2006, and you’ll earn 1,000 Starpoints for your first stay, 2,000 for your second and 3,000 for your third stay — up to 6,000 bonus Starpoints.
E-Bates Works Well on Priceline Bids
E-Bates does seem to be the best portal to use when making Priceline bids, it offers 3% cash back which doesn’t compare to the old eBay Anything Points program but is the best offer standing. And best part is that rebates post quickly. You don’t have to wait until the hotel stay to see the 3% in your account. A successful bid on Wednesday yielded a rebate in my account Thursday night. Plus if you sign up for eBates they’ll give you $5 added on to your first rebate credit.
USAirways Award Chart Inflation
Jan
05
2006
USAirways quietly increased the number of miles required for a first class award seat from North America to Europe (.pdf) from 100,000 to 125,000 miles — a 25% jump. Oddly enough, a first class seat from New York to London is now more miles than a first class seat from New York to Bangkok. There may be other changes to the chart, I haven’t looked closely yet…
