Czech Mate!

Two interesting developments involving my red haired step child account with Czech Airlines recently. In an attempt to clean up their books the rules regarding their Ok+ mileage program are being amended in several unfriendly ways. Additionally I tried booking a revenue ticket with them on a fare that may or may not have been filed correctly and may or may not have been ticketed correctly.

I have ~19,000 Czech miles from my 2009 credit anywhere but Delta strategy. This was at best half baked at the time but I received a lot of impressive postal mail from Prague as a result. These miles were due to expire this summer due to nonactivity so I was going to throw a hotel stay at it to slowly grow to redemption levels. Last month CSA sent an email stating that terms were changing and all miles required an actual flight on their metal or the miles would be wiped from the books in May. This is not the easiest thing to do living 5,000 miles from their only hub.

The backup plan was to transfer a batch of miles to Hilton in preparation for Grand Slam 2012. I found that this option no longer exists. I am left with buying up to 25,000 miles and redeeming for a Delta roundtrip at 200 Euro, speculatively booking a intra-Europe oneway including a punitive fuel surcharge with them and hope my plans and their planes are still flying, or make a donation of my miles and hope they don't get disappeared.

In somewhat related news, I also snagged a international business class ticket from Bangkok to Prague and Paris for $268 that was coded as Czech flights with some Ethiad metal. I was greatly please to see that the purchase cleared and a ticket number issued but less so to find an email from Expedia stating the flights, but not the ticket, were cancelled by the airline. three calls and two hours on the phone with Expedia resulted in an empty apology and a "choice" of refunding the ticket or paying the extra $2000 that similar itineraries typically cost. I took the refund but did not actually have it appear for over a week.

250 Free Priority Club points

Priority Club has got to be one of the easiest ways of obtaining a no cost hotel stay and this promotion continues in that tradition. Through the end of March they are offering 250 points for taking a short survey on travel habits and brand perceptions, link here. It is not a secret, I and probably every other Priority Club member received an email selling the virtues of the program including the link. It is just quite easy for these nuggets to get lost in the spam of dining updates for every program under the sun and all the other email that comes in. Posting time was about a week in my case so this is not a magic fix for rounding up to redemption levels.

Reduced Mileage Awards

I carry the Citibank AAdvantage Mastercard so I can get miles for most of my everyday purchases. In addition to the mileage earning aspect of the card the other prime benefit is the option to redeem miles at reduced amounts for selected destinations. I have made use of this feature about once per year so my $85 annual fee is essentially buying me 7500 miles, not a bad deal by itself. The list for spring 2012 has been released and can be found here. As usual the Northeast US is lacking,represented exclusively by Charleston WV more southern/Applachia than Northeast. The upside I see is that my home airport, MSP, is again on the list as are my haunts on I-75. I may very well be attending March Madness in Lexington again to experience the UK riots.

Spirit!

After much teasing MSP unveiled Spirit's arrival.  It is not Jetblue or Virgin America, but I not totally sure I really wanted those. San Francisco is nice but already well served and I needed to see outer California and my East Coast travel is Philly centric, not JFK.

I knew there were hoops and fees involved in Spirit travel but did not really poke around until today.  It took me a good 45 minutes of clickful trial and error to release the advertised low fares.  Pro-tip: Roundtrip required. Baggage/carry on fees are still not totally clear so I think I will suck it up and prepay for a bag on my first adventure.

30" pitch in nonreclining seats does not bode well for my odds of appearing on the Vegas flight and their Chicago flights price out nearly identical to the others on non-sale days and the sale days don't really suit me.  I guess I am glad they are here, but am unlikely to actually use them beyond a fare match.

Amtrak Guest Rewards buy points bonus

Amtrak Guest Rewards (AGR) is a gem of a program and often overlooked primarily because riding the train is overlooked as a form of travel.  There are no capacity restrictions beyond ~15 holiday related blackout dates so if there is a seat available it is yours for points.  These loose limits matched with reasonable redemption levels make AGR one of the few programs where it makes sense to buy points.

AGR is currently running a buy points special offer of a 30% bonus on top of the purchased points.  The offer is good through March 31 and is subject to the program's cap of 10,000 points purchased per year, this cap excluded the bonus so it is possible to buy 13,000 points. Points are normally priced at 2.75 cents each and must be bought in blocks of 500.

This buy points promotion is special not for the offer, 30% or better was offered for about 4 months last year. The timing of the offer makes it special.  Guest Rewards is implementing a increase in redemption levels on most travel awards booked on or after April 1st.  Awards booked prior, even for dates beyond April 1, will be at the current lower level.  Amtrak's advanced notice of this increase and offering a buy points promotion prior to implementation make it a classy move compared to other programs' devaluation.

I am personally holding out for now on buying points.  My award redemption of choice is the roomette option, there is no increase in these levels.  Also I expect National Train Day to have a lucrative bonus for riding and I have 5 or 6 rides planned for that week.  Keeping the $275 in cash for now rather than convert to points is a bigger benefit as I have no plans to redeem in the immediate future but I do have bills. Am I gambling on the future repeating the past? Yes, but I feel odds are good.  Will I reconsider? Perhaps if National Train Day is lackluster.

San Francisco Melting!

This is a really cool photo I took from the top of the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway, at the eastern end of the California Street Cablecar. I have no idea how I achieved this result but the outcome is much more desirable than a boring hotel view scene would have been.

The hotel is a great combination of location and value but since this was at least 2 years ago I will halt my hotel review there and leave you with San Francisco Melting!

Crowne Plaza MInneapolis Northstar

This property was my first attempt at the IHG BRG.  As previously noted the hotel disagreed that the rate I located elsewhere was match despite them both kaving the same bedding option and cancellation policy.  I was expecting some pushback or lesser treatment from the property but received a warm welcome and was actually upgraded to the corner room pictured above.

The soundproofing left a lot to be desired, sirens on the street were heard clearly despite being 10+ floors up. The temperature control was confusing which led to myself alternatively freezing and cooking myself overnight, probably could be avoided had I read the guide prior to pressing buttons.  The bathroom had an odd aquamarine tile pattern and an odd shower seat setup.  Otherwise this was a standard issue Crowne.  Service at check-in and checkout was both efficient and extremely warm. 

Would I stay again?  Probably, I have little need for hotels within 20 miles of my residence and would rather have variety on my next need for one. The hotel's website is here for more photos and availability.  Disappointingly, depending on your perspective, the lowest rates are still found elsewhere.

2079 PC points expected to be earned plus 50 from a Foursquare check-in and I was surprised with 1000 points from the Visa commercial promo at checkout.  Total haul 3129 points at a cost of free.  As a serendipitous bonus, I received my confirmation email on my second BRG claim, the rate wad reduced by the property to $0.01. When IHG corporate comes through with the rebate I will once again be a dyed in the wool Priority Club promoter.

Backyard BRG

My dabbling in Best Rate Guarantees perked up my interest in seeing how easy it really was to claim in each of the chains.  IHG/Priority Club offers a first night free guarantee, meaning that if you find a lower rate on a one night stay the stay is free.  Sounds too good to be true right?

One of the airline websites seems to have about a 50% success rate in advertising lower hotel rates than the hotel directly so last weekend I found a property in my backyard ($67 vs $99).  I make my booking on priorityclub.com and immediately phoned the BRG hotline based out of the Phillipines.  20 minutes later, mostly on hold while the rep was verifying the rate I had a claim to a free hotel Saturday night.

I was told that they would contact the hotel to adjust the rate to complimentary and email me a confirmation.  Three days go by and it is getting close to the cancellation deadline and i have no email.  I call the claim hotline again and am toldthey are still waiting to hear from the hotel.  The following morning I receive an email stating that the hotel is challenging the rate and that I will have to pay for the stay and corporate would reimburse me in 4-6 weeks.

Well this isn't how I planned it.  I pondered cancelling the reservation as I did not really want to be without my $100 for 4-6 weeks for a hotel stay I had no need for and on the promise of an already shaky organization.  I decided to go through with it even after a strong series of doubts in the last hour of no penalty cancellation.  At minimum I am going to pickup 2200 Priority Club points thanks to a double point promotion and my lowly gold status, that is progress toward Grand Slam '12.  I also get the experience under my belt and if it is a positive one, I can repeat the experience.  More details of the actual stay soon.

Best Rate Guarantee

I am travelling again in May, Texas.  I booked flights before looking at hotel costs, and chose an alternate departure location based solely on airfare savings.  I really don't recommend doing this!  Lesson I learned is that Austin midweek is expensive. 

In picking hotels for this trip I am primarily deciding based on location and cost but secondarily to build up hotel point balances in anticipation of Grand Slam 2012.  I went to Kayak and found a Radisson property at the totally outrageous nightly price of $259+tax.  Kayak also pointed me to a second tier booking site that had the same room for $145+, both were refundable to points well in the future. I had heard of the wonders of best rate guarantees (BRG) where the provider insists the direct booking channel will always be the cheapest but had not actually dabbled personally. 

I made a reservation for the Radisson on their website and immediately submitted a claim based on the lower rate on the unknown to me site.  I did not hold out a lot of hope that it would break in my favor but the next morning I had an email approving it.  Radisson's BRG scheme is quite favorable, find a lower price within 24 hours of booking and they will not only match it but beat it by 20%.  My understanding is the property owner has to eat this difference for going outside of official chain channels.  My $259 find is now $108, quite a difference.  It should also be eligible for ~3,000 Club Carlson points or about half of what was needed for a GS11 hit.

Hey I have a travel blog!

I have been neglecting this for quite a while and don't want it closed on me. 2011 was the year of travel redemptions meaning I didn't qualify for status with pretty much anyone so I am a Kettle and subject to baggage fees, that changes the travel outlook.