Looks like ebates dropped down to a 2% rebate on Priceline bids sometime over the past few days. But Fatwallet has bumped its rebate up to 3%, so for the moment that appears to be the preferred portal for Priceline bids.
I can’t believe…
Can’t believe that the penny rate is still available at the Holiday Inn Resort Phuket. But it does seem that it’s currently bookable, these things don’t usually last so long.
Free Hotel Nights at Holidy Inn Phuket
The Holiday Inn Resort Phuket has THB0.01 rates available for a standard room. That’s basically ‘free’. Rate appears to be available beginning May 1 through the end of October, 2006.Property seems very well regarded for a Holiday Inn. You can find the rate at the Holiday Inn website. As always, your mileage may vary on whether the hotel honors this. So don’t book any non-refundable airfare until we learn for sure. Related Flyertalk.com thread is here. Update 2:26pm Eastern: The rate is still available. It is also bookable at Travelocity. Some rates are prepaid, others are not, in either case there’s not a huge change of this being honored in my view but it might be. One approach would be to make prepaid reservations at both sites. Additionally, the online booking guarantee on the Holiday…
$29 at the Regent Kuala Lumpur
Courtesy of Free Traveling, the Regent Kuala Lumper — a very nice property — is available for $29 a night $29/night – The Regent Kuala Lumpur The Regent Kuala Lumpur, 160 Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. $29/night. Feb 13, 17, 20, 23, 25, 27, March 2, 7, 12, 15, 17, 22, Apr 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, May 1, 6, 11, and other dates. Book on travelocity.com. Now, the hotel is usually available for just under $100 usually, so this one isn’t worth making a special trip for. Still, a great value!
Do Air Marshalls Make Us More Secure, Episode 352
Air Marshalls as drug couriers. Now I feel even better about them bumping me out of my first class seat. Apparently all it took was a few thousand dollars to get the air marshalls involved to do this. As one commentator asked, “If a few grand gets one to smuggle some cocaine, I wonder how much it would cost to get someone to “forget” their firearm or an explosive device underneath a seat or in some other concealed place? After all, these guys bypass the checkpoints…”
Is this timeshare honest? As honest as the day is long!
Joe Turner attends a timeshare pitch with the promise of a free vacation, and walks away with a single gas coupon. I’m not a fan of timeshares because I get most of my vacationing free on points anyway, and can get deals that make the rest of my travels less expensive than a timeshare anyway. I can imagine scenarios where “vacation ownership” might make sense for some people, in part as a planning tool and in part to economize on the knowledge gathering necessary to do better than a timeshare offer. But the sales tactics of many operators suggest that the deals they’re offering may not be that compelling on their own, and at the very least it’s important to recognize that you need to get all the facts and dig through the fine print…
Rigging the Online Review Sites
Chris Elliott looked into hotel rating sites like TripAdvisor.com and found that hotels are sometimes cooking the books, posting fake reviews themselves or offering discounts to travelers in exchange for positive reviews posted online. This is in addition to all of the other problems with using broad-based experiences of travelers posted online, such as that only the best and worst experiences tend to get posted, that hotels do change and renovate over time (so recent stays are key), and that each guest has a somewhat different filter. Numerical rankings aren’t going to be consistent across individual travelers. All of this is true, but I’m not sure how much it really matters. It’s important obscure and lesser-traveled destinations, where hotels may have only a couple reviews at most. But it’s difficult to overwhelm the vast majority…
What Power Converters/Transformers/Adapters Do I Need?
InflightHQ points to a neat online offering from Magellans that helps you determine what you’ll need in order to use your electric and electronic appliances abroad. My super-duper all-purpose converter/adapter burned out a few months ago when my wife used it with her curling iron. After 6 years, may she rest in peace. The online guides I’ve looked at have been helpful, but this one is better because it’s both user friendly and comprehensive — I was looking for information on Rwanda yesterday but couldn’t find it. This one has it. (Note, ebates offers 7% cash back at Magellan’s, and you can also earn miles via the online malls of Alaska and Delta there.)
Up to 15,000 Bonus Miles to Australia
Feb
11
2006
United is offering up to 15,000 bonus miles for roundtrip flights to Australia from the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico or U.S. Virgin Islands from March 1 through April 30, 2006. Registration is required. 15,000 bonus miles for purchasing and flying a paid, qualifying roundtrip in United First® (F fare only) 10,000 bonus miles in qualifying United Business® (C, D fares only) 7,500 bonus miles in qualifying United Economy® (Y, B, M, H fares only) 5,000 bonus miles in qualifying United Economy (Q, V, W fares only) (No bonus miles are offered on the absolute lowest — S and T — fares.) Partner and code share flights don’t qualify for the offer. Tickets must be electronic. Miles should post 6 to 8 weeks after completing the return flight.
USAirways/America West Extends Elite Status
Feb
11
2006
USAirways and America West haven’t quite gotten their act together combining their two frequent flyer programs. They don’t want to send out new elite membership cards under the old programs and can’t send out new cards under the combined programs (which count status from having flown both airlines) until they’re further along with integration. So they’re extending everyone’s elite status in the meantime. If your status was set to expire or be downgraded on February 28th, you have a reprieve. If you were counting on combining last year’s flying from both carriers to boost your status, you’ll have to wait. An email like the following was sent to current elite members: As a valued Gold Elite member, we want to make you aware of some important information about your membership. The new Dividend Miles program…
