Hotel

SPB Hilton Fiji

Posted on April 1, 2016 by 2btravel

SPB Trip Planning
SPB Qantas First Class to Sydney
SPB Park Hyatt Sydney
SPB Sydney Opera House
SPB Around Sydney
SPB Flying to/from Uluru
SPB Emu Walk Apartments
SPB Uluru and Kata Tjuta
SPB Park Hyatt Melbourne
SPB Around Melbourne
SPB Flying to Fiji
SPB Hilton Fiji
SPB Snorkeling Trip
SPB Fiji Air Business Class to Los Angeles
SPB Hyatt Regency DFW

After our early morning arrival in Nadi we were whisked away to our home for the next few nights, the Hilton Fiji Resort and Spa. Check in took a little while as there were several folks on our flight checking in at the same time. The large open-air lobby has lots of comfortable seating and is a great place just to sit and relax.

Hilton Fiji Lobby Waiting Area

Hilton Fiji Lobby Waiting Area

Hilton Fiji Reception

Hilton Fiji Reception

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Categories: Fiji, Hilton, Hotel, Lodging Review | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

SPB Park Hyatt Melbourne

Posted on January 19, 2016 by 2btravel

SPB Trip Planning
SPB Qantas First Class to Sydney
SPB Park Hyatt Sydney
SPB Sydney Opera House
SPB Around Sydney
SPB Flying to/from Uluru
SPB Emu Walk Apartments
SPB Uluru and Kata Tjuta
SPB Park Hyatt Melbourne
SPB Around Melbourne
SPB Flying to Fiji
SPB Hilton Fiji
SPB Snorkeling Trip
SPB Fiji Air Business Class to Los Angeles
SPB Hyatt Regency DFW

Our flight landed mid-afternoon in Melbourne and while we’d expected it to be cooler than Uluru, it was a good bit cooler than Sydney too. Not cold, but long sleeves and a light jacket felt good in the evenings with the wind.

We took the Sunbus Melbourne from the airport to the Park Hyatt. Their representative showed up near baggage claim very shortly after we got our bags, which was great timing. We then had to traipse over to the international terminal to find the remaining passengers for our van and then we all played “follow the leader” out to our shuttle.

Naturally we were one of the last groups to be let off at our hotel but we were warmly greeted by the bellman at the Park Hyatt Melbourne. He took our big bags as we went inside to check in. The front desk is located to the right of the main entrance and is staffed by delightful, helpful folks. They confirmed our club room and that we would have breakfast included and gave us our keys.

Park Hyatt Melbourne From The Street

Park Hyatt Melbourne From The Street

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Categories: Australia, Hotel, Hyatt, Lodging Review | Tags: , | 2 Comments

SPB Park Hyatt Sydney

Posted on December 29, 2015 by 2btravel

SPB Trip Planning
SPB Qantas First Class to Sydney
SPB Park Hyatt Sydney
SPB Sydney Opera House
SPB Around Sydney
SPB Flying to/from Uluru
SPB Emu Walk Apartments
SPB Uluru and Kata Tjuta
SPB Park Hyatt Melbourne
SPB Around Melbourne
SPB Flying to Fiji
SPB Hilton Fiji
SPB Snorkeling Trip
SPB Fiji Air Business Class to Los Angeles
SPB Hyatt Regency DFW

 

When it comes to paying real money for things, I can be, er, frugal. So I like to use points to pay for things that I’d never pay cash for otherwise – or at least, not as much cash as the asking price! A standard Harbour View Twin room at the Park Hyatt retails for over $800 USD per night for dates in mid-October. No way would I ever pay that for any hotel but I will gladly fork over points and free night certificates for such a room.

Welcome to the Park Hyatt

Welcome to the Park Hyatt

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Categories: Australia, Hotel, Hyatt, Lodging Review, Oceania | Tags: , , | 3 Comments

A South Pacific Birthday Trip

Posted on December 20, 2015 by 2btravel

SPB Trip Planning
SPB Qantas First Class to Sydney
SPB Park Hyatt Sydney
SPB Sydney Opera House
SPB Around Sydney
SPB Flying to/from Uluru
SPB Emu Walk Apartments
SPB Uluru and Kata Tjuta
SPB Park Hyatt Melbourne
SPB Around Melbourne
SPB Flying to Fiji
SPB Hilton Fiji
SPB Snorkeling Trip
SPB Fiji Air Business Class to Los Angeles
SPB Hyatt Regency DFW

 

I have a couple of friends I like to travel with and over the years we’ve all had a birthday that ends in a zero (with different leading digits!). Our tradition has become whoever has the “zero birthday” gets to pick the vacation spot and we try to do it up right. About two years ago I first got into the miles and points game and it wasn’t long before I set a goal of celebrating my next “zero birthday” in Australia and using miles and points to pay for as much of it as possible.

My dad, who’s a 2 million miler on American, offered to give me whatever AA points I needed to make my trip happen. That left me a goal of helping my friends accumulate the miles they’d need to fly Down Under too. Then, of course, there would be points needed for hotel rooms. Lofty goals but with two years to get things planned, we were able to accomplish it relatively cheaply – well, cheaply as compared to what it COULD have cost!

The itinerary

I had visited Australia before, in 2006, and was eager to go back. One of my friends had been there as well but the other had not. So I knew that meant I’d need to re-visit some of the iconic places but I also wanted to be sure to visit some places I’d never been. My prior trip had involved stops in Sydney and Cairns, which is up near the Great Barrier Reef. While I would have loved to have gone back to the GBR, there were other places I wanted to visit as well, and with a total trip length of two weeks, we just couldn’t squeeze everything in this time around. In the end we flew from the US to Sydney and stayed there four days. Next we flew to the Red Centre of the country and visited Uluru (Ayers Rock) for a couple of days. Then it was down south to Melbourne for a bit more than two days.

During our trip planning we had talked about stopping off somewhere a little more exotic on the way back, somewhere we could just enjoy the beach, the sun and the surf. Since we’d be using primarily American Airlines miles, I quickly realized that due to their routing rules we’d need to stay in Oceania for our beach time. That led us to look at Fiji as our final stop before heading back to the US.

My friends and I each make our homes in different cities in the US so here is how our trip worked out:

The various routings for our trip. Map made on gcmap.com

The various routings for our trip. Map made on gcmap.com

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Categories: American Airlines, Australia, Award Travel, Chase, Fiji, Fiji Air, Hilton, Hotel, Hyatt, Oceania, OneWorld, Qantas, Sapphire Preferred | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Hyatt Points + Cash Now Bookable Online

Posted on November 15, 2015 by 2btravel

2015-11-15 Hyatt Points and Cash OnlineHyatt is definitely one of my favorite hotel chains. Just last month some friends and I spent nights in the Park Hyatt Sydney and Park Hyatt Melbourne. They are beautiful properties and the staff members were all fantastic. Look for the trip report in the coming days (or more likely, weeks).

Anyway, while we enjoyed our rooms thanks to the use of Hyatt Gold Passport points, there’s no question that it takes a lot of points for the higher category properties. If you don’t have quite enough points to cover your stay, Hyatt has now made it even easier to make Cash + Points bookings by opening up the booking process online. That’s both good and bad. For those who use P+C regularly, it makes it easier than ever – no more calling Hyatt to book your stay! On the downside, it makes the option more visible to those who might not have known it existed and cause award room availability to shrink. Only time will tell if it makes a major impact to award inventory.

P+C reservations can certainly help you stretch your points but do be aware that for the top-level category 7 rooms you’ll still be shelling out $300 cash in addition to the 15,000 points. For our stay at the Park Hyatt Sydney, the $300 would have been a little less than half the cost of the room if we’d paid cash. Here’s the Points + Cash chart from the Hyatt website:

Hyatt Points and Cash Chart Nov 2015

One more thing to remember about P+C nights is that they DO count as a paid stay. So if you’re chasing status and need paid stays, this is one way to stretch your cash.

In addition to the P+C changes, Hyatt made two more features available on the website:

  • Upgrading your room to a Regency Club or Grand Club room – room types that come with breakfast included
  • Canceling award night stays

All in all, these are good changes for the website and I’m glad Hyatt has made the upgrade.

Categories: Hotel, Hyatt | Tags: | Leave a comment

Need A Credit Card?

Posted on November 14, 2015 by 2btravel

I earn far more miles from credit cards than I do from flying or from hotel stays. Credit card sign-up bonuses can give a big boost to anyone’s account! While I’m not one of the big bloggers who gets a cash comission from the credit card issuers, the credit card companies will allow regular members to receive a referral fee (of points/miles) if they refer someone to the card.

Delta Gold CardI’m a little late putting this one out there, but from now through this Tuesday, November 17, 2015, if you’ll allow me to refer to to the Gold Delta Amex card, I’ll earn bonus miles if you’re approved. You’ll get 50,000 bonus miles after using the card to make $2000 in purchases within the first three months after the approval date (not the date you receive the card). If you make a Delta purchase with the first three months you’ll also get a $50 statement credit. To refer you, just send me your first name and your email address to 2btraveling@gmail.com.

NOTE: You may be able to get an offer for 60K miles + $50 statement credit. You can find instructions here. Also, it is not open to those who currently have this card or have had it in the past. I believe the $95 annual fee is waived for the first year but cannot guarantee that.

Marriott Credit Card
If you don’t need Delta SkyMiles, what about hotel points? I’m also allowed to refer folks for the Chase Marriott Visa. I value this card if only for the reason that it offers a free night stay each year that you renew the card. The free night is good at any category 1-5 Marriott, so that pays for the annual fee right there. This card does not have foreign transaction fees, making it a good one for international travel.

In addition, this card earns 2x points for purchases from airlines, car rental companies and restaurants and 5x points for Marriott purchases. Plus for every $3000 in purchases, you get one credit toward elite status – that’s in addition to the 15-night credit you get each year at your account anniversary!

You’ll get 50,000 bonus points if you spend $2000 in the first three months after account approval. The annual fee is waived the first year and is only $85 after that.

If you think you’d be interested in this card, just send me an email at the address above and I’ll send you the phone number and the codes you need to get this offer.

Note that there is an alternate version offering 80K after $3K spend, but the $85 annual fee is not waived. Application Link. I won’t get bonus miles for this but it is a better offer so I wanted to be sure it was out there. Neither of these offers is available to those who currently have the card or have received the new cardmember bonus in the last 24 months.

Categories: American Express, Chase, Delta, Delta Amex, Marriott, Marriott Rewards Card | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Free 500 IHG Points

Posted on September 24, 2015 by 2btravel

2015-09-24 IHG Promo

If you have the IHG® Rewards Club Credit Card you can get a free 500 points by adding the card to your Rewards Club profile by October 31, 2015.

Rewards Club is the loyalty program of the Intercontinental Hotel Groups, which owns the Holiday Inn, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, Crowne Plaza and Hotel Indigo brands, among others.

Just by owning the credit card you get Platinum status with IHG, though it’s not worth a whole lot – but can be used for status-matching to competing hotels. Best of all, the credit card gives you one free night per year at any IHG brand hotel, including their top-level Intercontinental hotels, all for a low annual fee of just $49. And the fee is even waived the first year! The card earns 5 points per dollar at IHG hotels and 2 points per dollar at gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants. So the card pays for itself.

IHG Credit CardIHG hotels do have a large world-wide footprint with over 4500 properties. If you want to apply for the card, check out this blog post from The Frequent Miler on how to get an 80K sign-up bonus AND a $50 statement credit.

Categories: Credit Card Promos, Credit Cards, IHG | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Free IHG Reward Points for Joining e-Rewards

Posted on August 22, 2015 by 2btravel

I recently received an email from IHG Rewards Club announcing that they’d award me 600 IHG points when I joined e-Rewards and completed two surveys within three months.  As it turns out, I’ve been an e-Rewards member for a long time so I’m not eligible for this promotion.

2015-08-22 IHG e-Rewards Promo

If you’re not familiar with e-Rewards, it’s an organization that sends out surveys and awards you currency for taking those surveys.  You can then use that currency to “buy” hotel points, airline miles or gift certificates.  For example, $25 in e-Rewards currency can be used to “purchase” 500 American Airlines AAdvantage miles, 1000 Club Carlson Gold Points or a gift certificate to Best Buy.  Once you’ve accumulated $25 in e-Rewards currency you can choose to spend your currency at one of 33 merchants (including a few charities).

Some partners have a straight redemption value.  For example, when redeeming e-Rewards currency for American Airlines miles, it’s $25 = 500 miles, $50 = 1000 miles and $100 = 2000 miles, so the redemption value is the same.  On the other hand, Club Carlson will give you a bonus for redeeming more currency. $25 in e-Rewards currency nets you 1000 Gold Points but $50 will bring 2500 points and with a $100 redemption you get 4500 Gold Points.  So you need to keep an eye on what currency is useful to you to know when it’s best to redeem.  Note that you are often limited to one redemption for a particular merchant within a certain time period so if you’re close to the next-higher-level award, it may make sense to wait to redeem.

You’ll be sent survey links and even if you don’t qualify for the survey, you’ll get a token amount of e-Rewards currency.  There are surveys that will award you $5 or more in currency but they are usually quite involved and take a fair amount of time.  I prefer the shorter surveys to fill in the time between doing other things at work.  The currency adds up before you realize it and soon enough you’ve got 500 frequent flyer miles ready to transfer to your account.  Note that the transfer sometimes takes a few days, so plan accordingly.

So if you’re an IHG Rewards Club member, check your email for a similar offer and your personalized link.

Categories: IHG | Tags: | Leave a comment

Bonuses When Purchasing Points or Miles

Posted on July 9, 2015 by 2btravel

Right now there are two loyalty programs offering a bonus on purchased points or miles. These are not new deals but will be expiring soon.

American Airlines Logo

American Airlines is offering both a discount and bonus miles if you purchase between now and Monday, July 13. You’ll get a 15% discount on the purchase price and a tiered bonus, depending on how many miles you buy.
2015-07-09 AA Bonus on Purchased Miles

Looking at the cost at a per point basis, here’s how that works out:
1,000 + 0 bonus = 1,000 for $25.08 = 2.50 cents per mile
15,000 + 0 bonus = 15,000 for $376.13 = 2.50 cents per mile
16,000 + 5,000 bonus = 21,000 for $401.20 = 1.91 cents per mile
30,000 + 5,000 bonus = 35,000 for $752.25 = 2.14 cents per mile
31,000 + 10,000 bonus = 41,000 for $777.33 = 1.89 cents per mile
45,000 + 10,000 bonus = 55,000 for $1128.38 = 2.05 cents per mile
46,000 + 15,000 bonus = 66,000 for $1153.45 = 1.74 cents per mile
60,000 + 15,000 bonus = 75,000 for $1504.50 = 2.00 cents per mile
61,000 + 20,000 bonus = 81,000 for $1529.58 = 1.88 cents per mile
75,000 + 20,000 bonus = 95,000 for $1880.63 = 1.97 cents per mile
76,000 + 27,500 bonus = 103,500 for $1905.70 = 1.84 cents per mile
100,000 + 27,500 bonus = 127,500 for $2507.50 = 1.96 cents per mile

(These prices do not include applicable taxes or a $30 processing fee.)

So the sweet spot – where you’d pay the least per mile – is at the 46,000 mile level.

You may purchase up to 100,000 miles in a calendar year.

Is this a good deal? Actually, it can be! As usual, I defer to Ben of One Mile At A Time and Brian, The Points Guy as to the current value of points and miles. Ben has AA miles valued at 1.8 cents apiece while Brian values them at 1.7 cents each. So if you buy 46,000 miles and get the 15,000 bonus miles you’ll be spot-on. If you only need a few miles to top off your account, it’s not a really great deal – unless you’re going to get more than 2.5 cents of value from the award ticket you’ll get.

 
2015-07-09 Hilton Discount on Purchased Points

Meanwhile, Hilton is offering a 25% discount when you purchase their points from now through Wednesday, July 15. The discount brings the price to 0.75 cents per point (plus applicable taxes and fees). It’s interesting that the website allows the user to choose to buy 80,000 points, but the terms and conditions state that an HHonors member may only buy 40,000 points in a calendar year.

Is this a good deal? Not really. Ben values HHonors points at 0.4 cents apiece and Brian values them at 0.5 cents each. But if you need just a few points to top off an award, it may be the route to go.

Categories: American Airlines, Hilton | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Earn 5000 Bonus Point Per Stay at Hilton

Posted on June 18, 2015 by 2btravel

2015-06-17 Hilton PromoToday Hilton announced a limited-time offer where you can earn 5000 bonus HHonors points for each stay between now and July 6. You must register for this promotion before you check out of your first eligible stay.

2015-06-17 Hilton Double Points Double Miles
When you stack this with the Double Points/Double Miles promotion, you can really rack up the miles quickly!

Categories: Hilton, Hotel Promos | Tags: , | Leave a comment

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