Hilton HHonors has announced a huge improvement to its award redemption program — no blackout dates, and from the way that I read it what they actually mean is also no capacity controls, just like Starwood if a standard room is available you can redeem for it with points. The fine print here presumably is that each hotel will likely have some flexibility in determining what constitutes a standard room, this is a problem at the occasional Starwood property as well. Hilton has long offered the ‘diamond force’ for award nights for its top tier elite members. Presumably now all members will be able to redeem award nights just about any time they wish. This is a huge move for Hilton, and I’m waiting to see how this plays out in practice. Hilton HHonors points…
1000 Miles for Joining American AAdvantage
American is now offering 1000 miles for new member signup. Become a member instantly online – then, simply visit www.aa.com/offers and enter promo code BNR08 to earn 1,000 AAdvantage miles!
I Don’t Trust TripAdvisor’s Travelers’ Choice Award Picks
Frequent readers of this blog likely know the general disdain in which I hold most hotel ranking lists. The various ‘best of’ compilations are usually written by people who haven’t been to the properties, and many of the lists seem influenced by advertising buys. TripAdvisor has issued its new 2008 Travelers’ Choice Awards, which represent a slightly different take… it amounts to an amalgamation of traveler opinions. And while I find TripAdvisor to be a useful site for picking up very specific comments on properties and looking for consistent themes across reviews, picking the best properties from the masses of opinions on the internet doesn’t work very well in practice. Here are just a few of the oddities which show up at a quick glance: The Signature at MGM Grand is supposedly the best luxury…
New United Visa Offer – Up to 40,000 Bonus Miles
There’s a new United Visa offer, here are the salient details: first year free, 20,000 bonus miles with first purchase (note, no requirement for minimum spending) 10,000 bonus miles for spending $10,000 on the card in six months (if you hit the $10,000 spending threshold, it amounts to earning double miles for your first $10k in spend) 10,000 bonus miles on your first anniversary with the card (which will imply paying a $60 fee) Chase, the card issuer, is clearly trying to incentivize two things: getting new cardholders to start putting their spending on this card rather than existing cards, and getting those cardholders to keep the card a full year rather than pocketing the initial bonus and cancelling befor ethe fee comes due. For those who just want the quick mileage fix, then the…
Conflict of Interest Watch, or Where are My Free Perks??
The Times of London is reporting that British Airways is revoking Michael Winner‘s complimentary Gold status after Winner published negative comments about the airline in a newspaper piece. A spokesman for BA explains: “Mr Winner has a complimentary gold card from British Airways. Given his recent comments, we are sure he won’t be needing it. So we won’t be renewing it. Our message to Michael Winner is: ‘Don’t worry, dear, it’s only a gold card.’ ” Ok, fair enough, There’s no reason for British Airways to extend you special courtesies if you’re going to trash it in print. But… wait a minute! The airline is offering up status, presumably hoping that it will influence your public statements. Shouldn’t that sort of thing be disclosed when you’re commenting publicly on the airline? And more importantly, why…
$100 Rates at the Fairmont Empress, Vancouver Island
The Fairmont Empress Vancouver Island has $100 room rates bookable through 2008. They’re capacity controlled, of course, and you must book by January 31. But this represents an excellent deal, especially in summer when room nights can go for over $400. The rate is fully prepaid, but you can cancel 45 days or more prior to stay to receive all but one night’s accomodation back. Update: Yes, yes, of course, commenters are right, this hotel is not in Vancouver, British Columbia but rather in Victoria, on Vancouver Island. Good deal nonetheless, I guess “Canada” is just “Canada” to me (funny, since I can pick apart the nuances of geography across South Asia. Heh).
Enterprise Car Rental Discounts
I really dislike Enterprise Rent a Car. They don’t have any sort of expedited pickup process that I’ve ever experienced, the paperwork takes a long time, and the ritualistic walkaround of the rental car, the theatre to sell you additional insurance, is grating. And I’ve not personally seen any nice cars on their lots. Give me Avis or Hertz any time, and oft-overlooked rental car status, thank you very much. But if you must rent from Enterprise, I came across a couple of discount codes on Flyertalk recently, no notations as to when they expire. Code ESJ8A3 provides 25% off at neighborhood locations only (not airport locations). And code ERACFRE offers 20% off at all locations when paying by Discover Card.
$10 Signup Bonus at e-bates
One of my miles and points New Years resolutions is to be sure to earn miles or cashback for all your online purchases, and I recommended EV Reward to search for earning opportunities. For cash back sites, I used Fatwallet the most, followed by e-bates. Signing up blind for e-bates doesn’t come with any bonuses. Being referred by an existing member gets both the new member and referring member $5 most of the time (after the new member makes a qualifying purchase). Through the middle of February, though, e-bates is currently offering a $10 signup bonus (again, new members have to make a qualifying purchase — by February 14). So this is a good time to sign up and start using e-bates. To be clear, using the link about does earn credit for me as…
Hilton PointStretcher 2008 List Online
Hilton HHonors has posted its Point Stretcher participating hotels and dates for 2008. The page looks a bit funky (someone didn’t check the fonts on the left hand side of the page before publishing! perhaps that will be fixed before you click the link) and you have to search by US state or by country to see whether there’s any participating properties, rather than giving you a single comprehensive list, but it’s worth checking out before booking your next stay. Point Stretchers offer 40% off of standard redemption pricing, which in most cases is the way to go. Some participating hotels offer only a smattering of dates… like two weeks for the whole year.. and there’s no guarantee that they’ll have availability on those dates when you check! But saving 40% is worth the extra…
15% on American Flights FROM California
Jan
18
2008
Following yesterday’s 15% off on American flights to the Los Angeles area, American is also offering 15% off on flights from California to everywhere they fly with promotion code CALIGO. Flights must be booked before January 23, 2008 for travel through March 13, 2008, and cannot include flights on February 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24.
