Hilton 30% Off Sale in Europe, Middle East & Africa + Bonus for Air France & KLM Fliers

by
John Ollila
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Hilton has a new 30% off of Bed & Breakfast/BAR for Hilton family of hotels in Europe, Middle East & Africa for stays/bookings made/consumed between November 1 and December 31, 2012. The discount at Hampton Inn locations (if you can find any) is 20%. You can access this sale here.

hilton-hhonors-fb-sale

There is a huge list of properties for this offer, but the discounted rate is NOT offered at all of them. I tried Hilton Helsinki Kalastajatorppa and Hilton Abu Dhabi and these two properties didn’t have this rate plan available on any day between now and December 31.

hilton-fb-sale-no-availability

Hilton Sofia did return discounted rates on some dates under this promo that were better than other rates available on Hilton.com. The discount also seems to apply for all room types.

hilton-fb-sale-sofia-suite

Note that this discounted price is prepaid, non-refundable, and non-cancelable.

The Flying Blue Twist

This sale offer was targeted to Flying Blue members, but you don’t have to be a member to take advantage of the discounted rates. You will, however, have to be a Flying Blue member if you want to receive the one time flight bonus that Air France-KLM is offering for members that make a booking using this offer.

You will receive some bonus miles for one flight during this period that is dependent of the class of service:

  • 1,500 Miles per seat booked in Economy Class
  • 2,000 Miles per seat booked in Premium Economy
  • 2,500 Miles per seat booked in Business Class

I have no idea how Flying Blue can be aware of the fact that you would have made a reservation under this Hilton offer unless you decide to Double Dip the stay with Flying Blue. Even then, I doubt that they can code the double dip to have information about booking through this offer.

Please be prepared to “fight” to get the bonus miles.

Conclusion

This is a good offer for a 30% off of a Bed & Breakfast rate if you can find a participating property. Just make sure that your plans are firm due to the prepaid rate.

Personally, I wouldn’t bother with the Flying Blue part of the offer. There are better Hilton airline related bonuses out there for the 4th quarter than this i.e. Virgin Atlantic one.

Here are the terms and conditions of this offer:

OFFER SPECIFIC TERMS & CONDITIONS

30% HOTEL DISCOUNT

1. To participate you must be a Hilton HHonors™ member and a Flying Blue member. To be eligible for earning Points & Miles™, Hilton HHonors™ members must select AIR FRANCE KLM (Flying Blue) as their preferred airline in their HHonors profile and select either HHonors Points and Variable Miles or HHonors Points and Fixed Miles as the Double Dip® Earnings Style option. Please visit HHonors.com/DoubleDip for more details. HHonors members choosing HHonors Points and Variable Miles earn 10 HHonors Base Points + 1 Flying Blue Award Mile per eligible U.S. dollar spent. HHonors members choosing HHonors Points and Fixed Miles earn 500 Flying Blue Award Miles per stay at Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, Hilton, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn and 100 Flying Blue Award Miles per stay at Hampton Inn.

2. Offer is subject to availability at participating hotels within the Hilton Worldwide portfolio in the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East & Africa. Book between 1 November 2012 and 31 December 2012 and stay between 4 November 2012 and 31 December 2012 to receive a discount of 30% off the Bed & Breakfast Best Available Rate at participating Conrad® Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton™, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Garden Inn™ and Waldorf Astoria™ Hotels & Resorts properties and a discount of 20% off the Best Available Rate at participating Hampton hotels.

3. Hotel stay must be booked online only at www.hilton.com/fbsale. Full non-refundable prepayment required at time of booking unless otherwise indicated by local law. Your payment card will be charged immediately for the total amount quoted for the entire stay as reserved and refunds or credits will not be issued. Charges cannot be applied to other stays, services or merchandise. Booking cannot be changed. Must book at least three (3) days in advance of arrival. Each hotel has a policy addressing blackout dates that may apply. Offer is not valid for group bookings. The Best Available Rate is a specific rate type that varies depending on time of purchase, is unrestricted, non-qualified and excludes discount or negotiated rates not available to the general public, including, but not limited to: membership, corporate, government, promotional, group, packages, unpublished or rates only available on auction websites. The Bed & Breakfast Rate is similarly a specific type of rate that includes breakfast for the registered guests. Unless otherwise stated, quoted rates are per room per night, based on double occupancy and do not include taxes, gratuities, resort fees or incidental charges. The Hilton Minibreaks offer, which includes a second room for children at half-price, cannot be combined with this offer.

4. Flying Blue Miles accrued and awards issued are subject to the Flying Blue Terms and Conditions issued by AIR FRANCE KLM, which can be found on the AIR FRANCE KLM website. Please note that your contract for Flying Blue Miles is with AIR FRANCE KLM and Hilton Worldwide do not accept any liability in relation to the membership scheme.

5. Hilton HHonors™ membership, earning of Points & Miles™ and redemption of Points are subject to HHonors Terms and Conditions, HHonors.com/Terms.

© 2012 Hilton Worldwide

EARN UP TO 5000 Flying Blue BONUS MILES ON FLIGHTS

1. The promotional period is: booking between 1 November and 31 December 2012 for a stay between 4 November and 31 December 2012.

2. To qualify for the Flying Blue Bonus Miles, you must complete a stay at any participating Hilton Worldwide property booked via www.hilton.com/fbsale the indicated promotional period, and make a flight with AIR FRANCE or KLM between applicable countries (see below for a full list).

3. You will earn the following Flying Blue Bonus Miles on a one-way flight:

  • 1,500 Miles per seat booked in Economy Class
  • 2,000 Miles per seat booked in Premium Economy
  • 2,500 Miles per seat booked in Business Class

4. The number of Flying Blue Bonus Miles you receive, in addition to the regular number of Level and Award Miles, will be the same whatever your membership level.

5. You will receive your Flying Blue Bonus Miles within 6 weeks of the promotion ending.

6. The applicable countries for this promotion are: Algeria, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates (Dubai) and the United Kingdom.

The Economist Magazine 1 Year Subscription for 1700 American, Delta, United or US Miles

by
John Ollila
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18 Comments

The Economist weekly magazine is by far my favorite news magazine. It is THE magazine for world politics, business & finance, economics etc. Now, you can get it for only 1700 miles for a year through MagsForMiles.  You can access this offer here.

magazines-for-miles

The 1700 miles offer is valid for American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and US Airways frequent flier members. They have higher rate available for Alaska, Frontier & Hawaiian miles, although still a stellar deal compared to the cash price of the subscription. The regular subscription to The Economist usually costs from $70 to $100 year depending of the deal that you can find.

magsformiles-economist

Reading the Economist is my favorite activity on the plane. There is no need to store it or turned it off during take-off and landing as is the case with all electronic devices. The print subscription also gives you the access to the electronic versions of the magazine. Once you subscribe through MagsForMiles, you can expect to receive the first issue in 3 to 4 weeks.

Please note that this offer is valid for new subscriptions (they cannot just extend your existing one) for addresses in the United States. You may be able to switch it to an international address once you have subscribed it with the US address first and the delivery has started.

You can also use it to extend your existing subscription but you need to call The Economist subscription department once the new subscription has been processed/started and request them to merge your subscriptions.

Conclusion

I have used miles for magazines and especially subscribing for the Economist several times. If you have orphaned miles in any of these programs, it is great way to both use them and to have activity in your account so that the miles don’t expire.

The Economist really is a world class magazine. You can easily spend couple of hours per week reading through the articles that you are interested in.

Last Minute Travel Club & Last Minute Travel

by
John Ollila
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18 Comments

Last week, I wrote a piece about Last Minute Travel Club (LMTC) that appeared to offer very nice discounts on chain hotels. The only drawback was that it requires you to join their club that normally sells for $49.99, but you can get it for free most of the time. They have another promotion for a free membership going on again.

lmtc-teaser

Their pricing really intrigues  me as it is so low at times compared to branded websites that it borderline makes no sense.

Here are examples from Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott & Starwood

Hilton, Hyatt and Starwood are for one night arriving on November 16. The Marriott property is for arriving on 20th for one night.

Hilton New Orleans Riverside $72.64 VS $224

lmtc-hilton-new-orleans

lmtc-hilton-new-orleans-hilton

Hyatt Regency New Orleans $72.96 VS $146.30

lmtc-hyatt-regency

lmtc-hyatt-regency-hyatt

W New Orleans $164.08 VS $219

lmtc-w

lmtc-w-spg

Ritz-Carlton New Orleans $128.79 VS $249

lmtc-ritz

lmtc-ritz-marriott

LMTC also has a “conventional” non-members website LastMinuteTravel.com. They do have some of these deals there as well, but they cannot display the name of the hotel and the price is bit higher. The hotels that they name are about the same price that you can find on other websites.

last-minute-travel

For the hotels that they cannot show the name, they give the above explanation.

They must have access to opaque prices for these hotels, but they are not allowed to display the name of the hotel.  It seems that they can get around this limitation by advertising their own club that requires a membership fee, but is essentially free to join. Once you have joined the club, they can display the lower prices and names of the hotels.

If you look at the prices for the hotels above and compare what they are going for on Priceline (betterbidding and biddingfortravel), LMTC is very close to the Priceline pricing. But why would you go the Priceline route if you can get the same price and confirmation about the hotel instantaneously?

Why hotels offer “opaque” pricing?

Hotels want to maximize the revenue they get in. It is difficult to offer much differentiated pricing on the branded website i.e. Hilton.com. If you have a higher price first and then start lowering it a lot, people who booked and maybe prepaid may get dissatisfied.

Also, if you would see Ritz-Carlton on Marriott.com for $129 it might “cheapen” the brand. People would expect to get it at the same price in the future.

Hotels can dump excess inventory and at the same time not lower their headline pricing by going the Priceline/Hotwire route.

Conclusion

The Last Minute Travel Club appears to work best in the markets that have excess inventory at times like New Orleans. I have always had very good luck with Priceline for booking hotels in the city even when the prices are “high”. Now, I can also check the prices on LMTC and be sure about the hotel that I will get as you can get instant confirmation.

Note that LMTC has some hotels that are on request i.e. the opaque inventory has been exhausted/not available, but they can send a request to the hotel.

Triple Korean Air Skypass Miles at Hilton Family of Hotels Worldwide

by
John Ollila
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Hilton has an offer for Korean Air Skypass members. You can earn triple miles between November 1 and December 31, 2012, at Hilton family of hotels worldwide. You need to register for this promotion prior to your stay.

hilton-hhonors-korean-air-skypass-triple-miles

You must have Korean Air Skypass as your Hilton HHonors Points + Miles Double Dip preferred airline partner and choose Points + Fixed Miles for your stay.

Note that Korean Air doesn’t participate to Hilton’s Points + Variable Miles offer. You will earn 500 miles (this is tripled) per stay at all Hilton locations. Stays at Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites, and Home 2 Suites will earn you fixed 100 miles (tripled).

Conclusion

This can be reasonable offer for cheap one night stays as you will get the fixed number of miles per stay. Korean Air doesn’t participate to the variable miles offer that is better for longer and more expensive stays.

Here are the terms and conditions of this offer:

Offer valid for eligible stays completed between November 1 to December 31, 2012 (“Promotion Period”) at any participating hotel in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio. Hilton HHonors™ members must first register atHHonors.com/tripleskypassmiles prior to check-out of your stay within the Promotion Period. Registered HHonors members will only receive bonus miles for nights completed during the Promotion Period, regardless of a check-in date before the Promotion Period begins or a check-out date after the Promotion Period ends. To be eligible for this offer, you must (1) be a Hilton HHonors member; (2) be a member of Skypass; (3) register for the promotion on this page; (4) select Korean Air as your preferred Double Dip partner. Ensure that you selected Points and Fixed Miles as your Double Dip™ Earning Style within your HHonors profile. A preferred airline must be selected in your HHonors profile.

Triple Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles at Hilton Family of Hotels Worldwide

by
John Ollila
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2 Comments

Hilton has an offer for Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer members as well. You can earn triple miles between October 24 and December 31, 2012, at Hilton family of hotels worldwide. You need to register for this promotion prior to your stay.

hilton-singapore-krisflyer-triple-miles

You must have KrisFlyer as your Hilton HHonors Points + Miles Double Dip preferred airline partner and choose either Points + Fixed Miles or Points + Variable Miles for your stay.

For stays that you eligible folio amount is greater than $500, you should choose the variable miles option unless your stay is at Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites or Home2 Suites. If the folio is less, choose fixed miles.

For stays at Hampton Inn or Homewood suites hotels, the variable miles option is better if your eligible folio amount is greater than $100. At Home2 Suites locations the best option is fixed miles (100) as the variable miles are capped at the same amount.

Conclusion

This is a reasonable offer if you are collection KrisFlyer miles out of your Hilton stays. Just make sure that you have your account set up correctly for variable or fixed miles, and switch between these two options depending of the property and eligible folio amount.

Here are the terms and conditions of this offer:

Offer valid for eligible stays completed between 24 October and 31 December 2012 (“Promotion Period”) at any participating hotel in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio. Hilton HHonors™ members must first register at HHonors.com/TripleKrisFlyerMiles prior to check-out of your stay within the Promotion Period. Registered HHonors members will only receive bonus miles for nights completed during the Promotion Period, regardless of a check-in date before the Promotion Period begins or a check-out date after the Promotion Period ends. To be eligible for this offer, you must (1) be both a member of Hilton HHonors™ and KrisFlyer; (2) select Singapore Airlines as your Double Dip earnings partner in your HHonors Profile, and (4) you must be a HHonors member to earn Points & Miles for hotel stays. Ensure that you select Points and Variable Miles or Points and Fixed Miles as your Double Dip™ Earning Style within your HHonors profile. A preferred airline must be selected in your HHonors profile.

Qatar Airways Global Sale November 7 to 9

by
John Ollila
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Qatar just announced their latest global sale for economy and business class tickets. The offers are valid for purchase from November 7 to November 9 and for travel until 31st of May 2013. You can access this sale here.

qatar-3-day-sale-november-2012

The offer is valid for travel between November 12 and May 31, 2013. Note that there are some blackout dates and this offer is not valid at all markets.

Conclusion

Qatar tends to have a similar sale very few months. They previous one was on September.

If you were contemplating of buying a ticket on Qatar, it makes a sense to check the prices during this promotion. I have bought several tickets during these sales and contemplating of buying one or two using this offer.

Here are the terms and conditions of this sale promotion:

  • Sales period: 7th – 9th November 2012
  • Travel period: 12th November 2012 – 31st May 2013. All travel must be completed by 31st May 2013.
  • Blackout dates (travel not allowed):
    • 14th – 23rd December 2012 and 2nd – 14th January 2013
  • Valid on Qatar Airways operated flights, with the following exceptions
    • All itineraries originating from Indonesia, Iran, Libya, and South Africa
    • Flights to and from Amritsar, Budapest, Geneva, Goa, Kozhikode, Manila, Montreal, and Zagreb
    • Flights between Denpasar/Bali and Singapore, Hanoi and Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires
    • All itineraries to Doha as a final destination (excluding transit in Doha), except itineraries originating from Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Itineraries requiring a transit in Doha are allowed.
  • Minimum stay: 3 days
  • Maximum stay: 1 month
  • Discount applies to instant purchases only
  • Discount applies to Economy and Business Class return tickets. For flights where Business Class is not operated, First Class is applicable
  • Seats are limited and are subject to availability of the relevant booking class
  • Sale applies to W, V, Z and A class fares
  • Fares include all applicable discounts, fees, taxes and airport charges. Service fees may apply for tickets purchased at Qatar Airways sales offices or through travel agents
  • Except for itineraries originating from Brazil or Korea, tickets are non-endorsable, non-refundable and non-transferable. Changes are permitted at USD 250 except for itineraries between Doha and Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen where changes are permitted at USD 100.
  • For itineraries originating from Brazil or Korea, tickets are non-endorsable and non-transferable. Cancellations before departures are refundable for a fee of USD 300 (Brazil) or KRW 200,000 (Korea). Cancellations after departure are non-refundable.
  • In case of no-show, ticket has no value for use on any other service, and it is non-refundable, non-changeable and non-bookable
  • Stopover is not permitted
  • Standard child/infant discount apply
  • Upgrades to higher class/cabin using frequent flyer miles are not permitted.
  • Please note that on selected dates and destinations, lower market–specific promotion fares may be available. All available options, together with the applicable terms & conditions for each fare will be displayed at time of booking for you to make your selection.
  • This promotion cannot be used in conjunction with other promotions.
  • Other terms & conditions apply. Please review at the time of booking

Triple Cathay Pacific Asia Miles with Hilton HHonors

by
John Ollila
-

Hilton HHonors is offering triple Cathay Pacific Asia Miles for stays at Hilton properties worldwide between November 1 and December 31, 2012. You need to register for this offer before your stay.

hilton-triple-asia-miles-offer

You must have Asia Miles as your Hilton HHonors Points + Miles Double Dip preferred airline partner and choose either Points + Fixed Miles or Points + Variable Miles for your stay.

For stays that you eligible folio amount is greater than $500, you should choose the variable miles option unless your stay is at Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites or Home2 Suites. If the folio is less, choose fixed miles.

For stays at Hampton Inn or Homewood suites hotels, the variable miles options is better if your eligible folio amount is greater than $100.

Note that you cannot earn Asia Miles for stays at Home2 Suites locations.

Conclusion

If you are Asia Miles member and looking for some extra miles, you could consider earning some miles from your Hilton stays. Just make sure that your Hilton HHonors account settings are correct and that you have either the variable or fixed miles options turned on/off for right stays.

Here are the terms and conditions of this offer:

Offer valid for eligible stays completed between November 1 and December 31, 2012 (“Promotion Period”) at any participating hotel in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio. Hilton HHonors™ members must first register at Hhonors.com/TripleAsiaMiles prior to check-out of your stay within the Promotion Period. Registered HHonors members will only receive bonus miles for nights completed during the Promotion Period, regardless of a check-in date before the Promotion Period begins or a check-out date after the Promotion Period ends.

To be eligible for this offer, you must (1) be a Hilton HHonors member; (2) be a member of Asia Miles; (3) register for the promotion on this page; (4) select Cathay Pacific as your preferred Double Dip™ partner. Ensure that you select Points and Variable Miles or Points and Fixed Miles as your Double Dip™ Earning Style within your HHonors profile. A preferred airline must be selected in your HHonors profile.

American Airlines Offer for Reactivating Expired Miles

by
John Ollila
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We all hate expiring miles & points. I dislike miles expiry as much as anybody else. Depending of the program, the miles expire if there is no activity for certain time (usually 18 to 24 months) or set number of years after earning them (normally 3 to 5).

american-airlines-reactivate-miles

Some programs allow you to reactivate expired miles by paying a fee for doing so. Now, American Airlines has launched a campaign that is valid until the end of 2012. Please note that you can only reactivate miles that expired on or after December 31, 2002. You can access the offer here.

You can reactivate your expired American Airlines miles for a set fee:

  • $200 to reactivate 1 to 50,000 expired miles
  • $400 to reactivate 50.001 to 75,000 expired miles
  • $600 to reactivate more than 75,000 expired miles

This offer is especially good if you had a large chunk of miles expired as the fee is capped at $600.

There is not an answer what an AA miles is worth because it depends entirely how you are using them. Conservatively, I normally use a figure about 1.5 cents for an AA mile. So, if you had more than 13K miles to expire that you could now reactivate, I would do it.

Conclusion

I know, it doesn’t sound right to having to pay to reactivate miles that you have earned. Sometimes it can make sense.

You can essentially consider this an offer to purchase American Airlines miles. Divide the fee by the miles you would reactivate. If the price is reasonable as it is if you had large number of miles to expire, just pay the fee and be done with it.

Here are AA’s frequently asked question about reactivating miles:

Reactivate Miles

Q: Can I reactivate all of the miles that expired from my account, even if they expired at different times?
A: As long as the miles expired on or after December 31, 2002, then there’s no limit to the number of miles you can reactivate. It doesn’t matter if your miles expired at different times. Rates are charged based on the total number of miles reactivated from one account at one time, regardless of when the miles expired. You can reactivate your entire expired mileage balance or just the portion you need. View complete details on Reactivating Miles.
Q: If it’s so easy to keep miles from expiring, why must I pay a charge to reactivate them?
A: Keeping miles from expiring and reactivating expired miles are two very different activities. The AAdvantage policy on mileage expiration is extremely liberal, in that members have the ability to extend the validity of their miles indefinitely provided they have qualifying activity at least once every 18 months. However, after 18 months of non-activity, miles will expire and can no longer be used. The limited time offer to reactivateAAmiles provides customers with a special opportunity to use their expired miles by paying a charge.
Q: If I reactivate my miles, how long will they be valid?
A: Reactivated miles are subject to expiration, which occurs if your account has no qualifying activity in any 18-month period. Since mileage reactivation counts as a qualifying activity, you will have at least 18 months in which to redeem your reactivated miles for an award.

Q:

How can I tell the expiration date for my current mileage balance, and how would I know if I’ve had miles expire from my account?

A:

Login to AA.com with your AAdvantage number and password, then select the “My Account” link at the top of the page. The date appearing in your Summary in the line “Miles with expiration deferred through…” tells you the number of miles set to expire on that date. As for expired miles, you can view your Mileage Summaries from the past six (6) months online to see if any miles expired. For additional details, please contact AAdvantage Customer Service at 1-800-882-8880 and select “AAdvantage Account” or select the “Contact AA” tab to send us an email.

Hilton HHonors: Third Look at Airline Related Promotions for the Fourth Quarter

by
John Ollila
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2 Comments

Hilton HHonors is running number of airline related offers for double and triple miles during the months of November & December. None of these promotions are listed on Hilton’s own website, but rather were targeted for frequent flier members of participating airlines.

If I have missed any Hilton (or any other hotel or airline related promo), you can always just send me an email to john@loyaltylobby.com. Just forward the promo email that you received from the program.

These are normally called airline acquisition promotions. Frequent fliers tend to stay quite a few nights hotels as well and they are thus very important group for hotel programs to attract.

Note that you need to change your Hilton earnings preference to Points + Fixed Miles or Points + Variable Miles. The preferable option is dependent of the airlines program, hotel brand you are staying at, and the folio amount.

My personal favorite that I have already maxed out is the  Hilton’s promotion with Virgin Atlantic. I won’t have that many stays with Hilton this quarter. Five stays earns 15K bonus + 5K base Virgin miles. I will transfer these back to Hilton for 40K Hilton HHonors points.

hilton-hhonors-virgin-atlantic-4th-quarter-offer

Hilton HHonors Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Bonus Offer – 15K Bonus Miles for 5 Stays

You can get bonus miles or points for American Airlines, JetBlue, United, US Airways or Virgin America for stays at Waldorf Astoria hotels. The bonus is based on nights and expire on December 31, 2012.

Waldorf Astoria: Nightly Bonus Miles & Points for American, JetBlue, United, US Airways and Virgin America

Conrad hotels are offering 1000 bonus miles per night for American Airways, United Airlines, and US Airways frequent fliers. Offer is valid until December 31, 2012.

Conrad Hotels: 1000 American, United, or US Airways Bonus Miles per Night

You can earn 250 Delta MQM’s and double SkyMiles for stays of 2 nights or longer between October 1 and December 15, 2012. This offer is available at select hotels.

250 Delta MQM’s and Double Miles for Stays of 2 Nights or Longer at Select Hilton Family of Hotels

Hilton is offering double airline miles for American, Aeromexico, AviancaTaca, MultiPlus(TAM) and United on select hotels in Latin America until December 31, 2012.

Double American Airlines, AviancaTaca, AeroMexico, TAM/Multiplus & United Airlines Miles in the Americas on Hilton Family of Hotels

Hilton is offering maximum of 15K bonus Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles for 5 stays. You can always transfer the bonus + base miles back to Hilton HHonors for total of 40K HH points. This promotion is valid until December 31, 2012

Hilton HHonors Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Bonus Offer – 15K Bonus Miles for 5 Stays

Hilton has a promotion with Miles & More (Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian etc) for up to quadruple miles until December 31, 2012.

Hilton HHonors Miles & More Promotion for Up To Quadruple Miles

You can earn 4000 bonus Emirates Skywards miles on your second stay. This offer is valid until December 31, 2012.

Hilton HHonors Emirates Skywards Promotion – 4000 Bonus Miles on Your Second Stay

Hilton is offering double points for Air Canada Aeroplan members until the end of December, 2012.

Hilton HHonors Aeroplan Offer: Double Miles Until December 31

Double Qantas points (2000) for Hilton stays between November 1 and December 31, 2012.

Double Qantas Points (2000) at Hilton Properties Worldwide

Hilton is offering triple miles for number of Asian airlines frequent flier members. They have variation of the offer for Thai, Singapore, Korean, Asiana, Malaysia, and Cathay Pacific.

Triple Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus Miles at Hilton Hotels Worldwide

Triple Asiana Miles at Hilton Family of Hotels Worldwide

Triple Malaysia Airlines Enrich Miles for Hilton Stays Worldwide

Triple Korean Air Skypass Miles at Hilton Family of Hotels Worldwide

Triple Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles at Hilton Family of Hotels Worldwide

Triple Cathay Pacific Asia Miles with Hilton HHonors

You can earn up to 3000 bonus Avios (for BA Gold member) for a Hilton stay by December 31, 2013.

Up To 3000 Bonus Avios (British Airways) for a Hilton Family Hotel Stay

Conclusion

Make sure that you have chosen the correct double dip option (fixed vs variable) and have the airline as your preferred double dip airline partner.

Some airlines don’t participate to both fixed and variable miles. Also, Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites don’t always earn fixed miles at the full level. Home2 Suites brand earns even less. You have to check these by the airline.

I have already done the Virgin Atlantic and British Airways versions of these airline promotions. I am not planning to have more Hilton stays this quarter.

Hilton HHonors Double Stay Credit Offer

by
John Ollila
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Hilton HHonors sent out an email earlier today about an “Elite Tier In Half The Stays” offer. Hilton will give the recipient of this email credit for two stays for each stay they complete between November 5 and December 31, 2012. Please note that you need to register for this promotion.

hilton-hhonors-elite-status-in-half-the-stays

You can qualify for Hilton HHonors Silver, Gold, or Diamond status based on stays, nights, or base points. I just wrote about an article about this that you can access here. You can use this double stay credit offer to maintain or elevate the current status that you have.

hilton-hhonors-targeted-offer-error

Note that this offer is most likely targeted. If you get the red error message, you are most likely not a recipient of this email offer.

There are number of offers for instant/fast track offer for Hilton HHonors Gold status; MVP, Visa Infinite card holders & airline related offer.

Conclusion

I have received something similar on the years when I have not had that many Hilton stays due to lackluster promotions. They normally have number of stays that you need to complete by year end to maintain your status.

This is the first time that I have seen Hilton sending out an offer for double stay credit. You could combine it with the current promotion of 40K HH for five stays (by taking advantage of Virgin Atlantic promo and transferring the miles back to Hilton HHonors points). That would be easy 10 stay credits!

Here are the terms and conditions of this offer:

Double Bonus Stay Credit – Terms & Conditions

This exclusive offer is open only to the Hilton HHonors™ member who received the email from Hilton HHonors™ announcing this promotion. Offer valid for eligible stays completed between November 5 and December 31, 2012 (“Promotion Period”). HHonors members must first register for the offer prior to the check-out of their stay within the Promotion Period. “Count double toward the number of stays” means each completed stay will count as two stays. This offer applies only to stays and will not double the HHonors member’s Base Points or nights during each stay. A “stay” is defined as the total number of consecutive nights spent at the same hotel, regardless of whether the guest checks out and checks back in again.

If an elite status upgrade is achieved or elite status is maintained through this offer, the status will be valid until March 31, 2014. An elite status upgrade means that the HHonors member qualifies to earn a higher elite status within a calendar year for the subsequent year. Maintaining elite status means that the HHonors Member qualifies to preserve that elite status within a calendar year for the subsequent year. Members must re-qualify for elite status each year.

Air New Zealand Axes Hong Kong to London flight and Forms a Partnership with Cathay Pacific

by
John Ollila
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There has been quite a turmoil recently with airlines making partnerships outside of alliances. Qantas stroke a deal with Emirates that is a rival of Qatar that is set to join Oneworld in late 2013/early 2013. AirBerlin is getting cosy with Air France-KLM, although it is a new oneworld member.

nz-drops-hkg-lhr

Now, Air New Zealand, Star Alliance carrier, is forming a strategic partnership with Cathay Pacific, oneworld alliance member, for flight between Auckland and Hong Kong. The airlines will codeshare each other’s flights on this route and will extend (some of) the frequent flier benefits regardless which airline operates the flight.

Also, the Air New Zealand will drop the Hong Kong to London flight, but continues to operate Auckland to London via Los Angeles.

The last flight from Hong Kong to London on Air New Zealand will depart on March 3 and the flight from London to Hong will depart March 3rd as well. Customers that are booked on Air New Zealand on that route beyond the March 3rd will be rebooked on Cathay Pacific flights.

Conclusion

It is very interesting to see all these partnerships popping up between airlines that are not within the same alliance. Hope that this arrangement works for Air New Zealand. If I would be flying from Auckland to London I would rather not go via Los Angeles due to the rather unpleasant transfer experience.

Triple Malaysia Airlines Enrich Miles for Hilton Stays Worldwide

by
John Ollila
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Hilton HHonors is offering triple Malaysia Airlines Enrich miles for Hilton hotel stays worldwide from November 1, 2012, to December 31, 2012. Hilton has number of other airline related offers during the same period as well.

hilton-hhonors-enrich

Note that you need to register for this promotion, choose Points + Fixed miles or Points + Variable as your double dip option, and has Malaysia Enrich program as your preferred double dip partner.

The choice between variable and fixed miles should be based on what would earn you the most miles

Most Hilton brands earn 600 fixed miles per stay, 120 miles at Hampton Inn & Homewood Suites brands, and 100 miles for stays at Home2 Suites.

The variable miles option earns you 1 mile per eligible dollar at all other besides Home2 Suites that max at 100 miles.

At full service properties you should choose variable miles if your eligible hotel folio is more than $600. At Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites this is only $120 and at Home2 suites you should choose fixed miles if your folio is less than $100.

Conclusion

This is a nice offer from Hilton to Malaysia Airlines Enrich members. Most of the airline offers are for double miles. It also helps that the number of fixed miles earned at 600 is bit higher than with most other airlines.

EasyJet – The Latest Emirates Redemption Partner!

by
John Ollila
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3 Comments

Starting on today (November 6, 2012), you can use your Emirates Skywards miles for flight award bookings on low cost carrier easyJet.  EasyJet flights within Europe and North Africa are covered under this agreement.

emirates-easyjet-announcement

The price that you see listed in miles covers all the taxes and fees associated with the booking.  Note that you need to purchase any additional extras like checked in bag(s) separate and you can use Skywards miles for them as well.

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10% Bonus + 5% Cashback for Buying Marriott Gift Cards

by
John Ollila
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10 Comments

Marriott often has promotions for buying gift cards. There is currently an offer for Southwest Rapid Rewards points or United Airlines miles, but this Amtrak offer for 10% bonus is better.

marriott-gift-cards-amt

You can get additional 10% loaded to your Marriott Gift card for using a promotional code (AMT). Just input the code (AMT) to the promotion code field at the check out.

marriott-gift-cards-amt-promo-field

The bonus 10% will show instantly on the receipt. If you want to save on shipping costs, make sure that the purchase is below $1000.

marriott-gift-cards-amt-bonus

Getting 5% Cashback for Gift Card Purchases

You can also get cashback for buying Marriott Gift Cards online. These cashback rates vary between online shopping malls. Currently the best offer is 5% and offered by TopCashback. If you are not yet a member, just sign up and click through to the Marriott’s gift card mall from TopCashback. You will receive the 5% cashback in a few months.

topcashback-marriott-gift-card

Note that purchasing Marriott gift cards through their online mall qualifies for Marriott spend. You will receive 5 points per dollar used if you are paying using the Marriott branded Chase credit card.

Conclusion

This is a great way to save money on Marriott hotel stays. These gift cards can be used at all Marriott properties. Just be prepared to some confusion at overseas locations that don’t see these cards often. They are processed through the Marriott’s internal system.

You will receive $990 gift card + $45.05 cashback for paying $901. Essentially this is a 14% discount of the hotel price.

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