Turns out that the long-awaited Ritz-Carlton on Bora Bora is going to be a St. Regis instead. Louis Wane owns this property along with the Sheraton Tahiti, Sheraton Moorea, and Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa — all managed by Starwood. This latest property should be even more over-the-top luxurious than Bora Bora Nui, where I stayed in June. The Nui is already the most expensive points-redemption property in all of Starwood-dom. Will Starwood have to create a whole new redemption category for the St. Regis? Or will the hotel build a low-end ‘points room’ for SPG guests? Interestingly, Bora Bora Nui was originally intended to become a St. Regis. Two stories explained why this didn’t happen. One was that Louis Wane visited the St. Regis Monarch Beach and St. Regis Los Angeles and was…
Ghost in the Motel
Are two hotels in Anchorage haunted?
More Proof Of the Tremendous Economic Value of Frequent Flyer Programs
Oct
10
2005
United’s Mileage Plus is such an important economic engine that JP Morgan Chase, which issues United’s co-branded credit card, has been the largest funder of the airline’s bankruptcy. It’s BankOne unit put up hundreds of millions of dollars in debtor-in-possession financing and JP Morgan is putting up a chunk of United’s $3 billion in bankruptcy exit financing. Now a deal to extend the co-branding relationship together with a large pre-purchase of airline miles is taking the place of hundreds of millions of dollars in reserves that United would have to post to its credit card processor (which is majority-owned by JP Morgan). As part of a deal extending United’s co-branding relationship with J. P. Morgan Chase through 2012, the bank agreed to make a “substantial” advance purchase of miles from United, according to an Oct.…
Hardcore Mileage Runner
This morning I started reading the blog of an Air Canada Aeroplan member who has booked flights to earn one million miles in 60 days. He’s earned 135,000 miles after his first week.
USAirways-America West Program Merger Moves Forward
The America West-USAirways frequent flyer program merger is making progress. You can now earn and burn each airline’s miles on the other carrier. As summarized by the MilesLink newsletter:The programs are merging into a single “Dividend Miles” program, bringing some changes. For starters, a new four-tiered elite program will be implemented in both programs. The entry-level elite threshold will be set at 25,000 miles. Benefits include a 25-percent earning bonus, unlimited upgrades on full fares confirmable anytime, and unlimited upgrades on discounted fares confirmable up to two days in advance. Higher tier thresholds have been set at 50,000, 75,000 and 100,000 miles. America West Platinum Elite members will be elevated to Chairman’s Elite status by Feb. 28, 2006. Lower-level awards (FlightFund’s 15,000-mile short-hop and Dividend Miles 20,000-mile coach saver) are history. All awards will begin…
30% Bonus for Transferring Membership Rewards to Delta
Oct
06
2005
Following up on last month’s 35% bonus, American Express is offering a 30% bonus for transfers of Membership Rewards points into Delta miles through November 30. Registration is required.
Megabonus for Expensive tickets to Europe
Roughly speaking, American has matched the British Airways offer of earning 50,000 miles on a business class ticket to Europe. United — and possibly other carriers — can’t be far behind, especially as this is more or less a redux of an offer from last year.
Dealing Directly with a Hotel for the Best Rates
There’s a decent article on getting the best prices for hotels up over at everything2.com. Don’t believe every claim 100%, but many of the general broad brushes are correct. Best Rate Guarantees notwithstanding, you often won’t get the best price possible for a room by booking on the internet or calling a chain’s 800 number. A hotel’s in-house reservations or revenue manager can certainly often provide a better deal. You usually won’t do better that way than on Priceline, contrary to what the article suggests, and the techniques involved are tedious and time-consuming… but there’s little downside, especially in just realizing that while some chains offer discounts to members of their loyalty programs, that’s not where to start when dealing directly with a hotel that sees the program as a tax rather than a benefit.…
New Ameniti Signup Bonus
Sep
29
2005
United’s generally worthless ‘luxury travel club’ is offering 50,000 United miles as a bonus when signing up for a 2-year membership ($500). That’s one cent per mile, plus you get 2 lounge passes and Starwood Gold status (and a couple other minor sundry items, like the ability to request a free leather travel wallet from one of their partners). The 3-month trial for $10, which still nets you the lounge passes and Starwood status but no miles, is still available.
aloft: the new Starwood hotel chain
Starwood has announced the name of its new mid-market chain meant to build on the W style while competing with Marriott Courtyards and Hilton Garden Inns. The chain will be called aloft. These first aloft properties will be located in Lexington, Massachusetts, Tucson, Arizona, San Francisco Airport, Philadelphia Airport, and Cherry Creek, Colorado. The company also stated that its UFOC, or franchise offering circular, was effective as of today and that it would begin to offer aloft licenses to qualified hotel owners and operators. Starwood anticipates the first hotels to break ground in early 2006 and open in early 2007, with 500 properties worldwide expected by 2012. Here’s what we know about their plans so far: Design visionary David Rockwell and the Rockwell Group, whose award-winning projects include the Kodak Theater, Nobu and the W…
