Explorist

Hyatt Place Is Rolling Out Early Check-In For More Elites And Ending Free Breakfast For Non-Members

June 4, 2018By Edward Pizzarello0 Comments

Hyatt announced some changes to their Hyatt Place brand this morning. We still need clarification on a few key points. We know an early check-in benefit is coming for Explorist members and that free breakfast will now require membership in World of Hyatt (and may require direct booking).

World Of Hyatt Is Offering A Top-Tier Status Fast Track Opportunity To Pretty Much Everyone

August 29, 2017By Edward Pizzarello10 Comments

If you weren’t sure you could achieve elite status with Hyatt this year, your prayers are probably answered. Pretty much everyone will qualify for this fast-track path to elite status.

Hyatt Status Fast Track! Stay 20 Nights To Earn Top-Tier Globalist (Targeted)

August 18, 2017By Edward Pizzarello17 Comments

The roll-out of Hyatt’s new loyalty program earlier this year made top-tier elite status harder to achieve and more rewarding. It appears we’re seeing one of the first opportunities to get there a bit quicker.

Bose Headphones, Earbuds and Speakers On Sale For Amazon Prime Day

Side note: you can find my master Amazon Prime day page that will contain a list of all the deals I find over the course of the two Amazon Prime days. I’m a big fan of Bose gear. To be more specific, I’m a big fan of Bose as a company. They stand behind their product, they have a phenomenal replacement plan. I washed my wireless bluetooth headset a few years ago and they still replaced it for a minimal fee. There are a handful of Bose items I recommend that are on […]

Briggs & Riley Luggage Deals On Prime Day

Briggs & Riley makes some great suitcases. They may not look as sexy as Tumi, but they’re much better built and very functional. And, they’ve slowly gotten a bit more stylish over the years. But, the rubber hits the road with a true lifetime warranty.

Anker Has A Charging Cable With A Lifetime Warranty, On Sale Today!

Cheap cables die quickly. They’re cheaper than an Anker cable, but you’ll replace them when they stop working. Why not buy a cable with a lifetime warranty from a company with an awesome reputation?

My Favorite Anker Gear On Sale For Amazon Prime Day

There’s a million posts out there about Amazon Prime Day. I won’t get nearly the amount of content out that others have. Instead, I’ll be focusing on the items I like best that are also priced aggressively today.

Flying Alaska Airlines In July? I’ve Got A Chance For You To Win A $100 Amazon Gift Card!

Pretty cool news I wanted to share with you guys! My little corner of the internet ended up with a bit of press this month. If you’re flying Alaska Airlines this month, you’ll see an article in the July issue of Alaska Beyond magazine, the in-flight magazine in every seat back pocket on every Alaska Airlines flight. Titled “Family-Travel Podcasts”, it features my Miles to Go podcast and a picture of me recording a podcast segment. Quoting from the article: Recently celebrating its one-year anniversary, Miles to Go is a […]

I Flew Frontier, Saved $400 And Didn’t Die. My Frontier Airlines Review

Those low-cost carriers always have very appetizing fare sales. Who wouldn’t want to pay $20 to fly somewhere? But, what does $20 really buy you? I found out exactly what Frontier does (and doesn’t) offer customers on my first flight with them recently.

How To Use New Metro Silver Line To Get Between Dulles and Reagan National Airports

People talk about how bad the traffic is in places like Los Angeles with plenty of adjectives. And, it is quite bad. But, the traffic in DC is what I refer to as “stealthy bad”. It doesn’t get the same press that LA traffic does, but a trip that normally takes an hour can easily turn into a 3-hour ordeal. With visiting dignitaries, protests and construction as variables, weather can also wreak havoc on a system that consistently backs up during rush hour. For those of us that live in […]

A Summary Of United Airlines Global Services Benefits

As travel has gotten more stressful the benefits of elite status are even more valuable. In some cases, what used to be free for everyone is now only free for those customers that fly most frequently. I value my American Airlines Executive Platinum status more highly than any status I’ve earned, including 1K service with United Airlines. However, Global Services is another matter. For those not aware, Global Services is an invitation-only status level that United bestows on their best customers. What defines a best customer? Well, United doesn’t list […]

Update: American Airlines Variable Choice Plus Pricing A Feature, Not A Bug

I have to admit, I was pretty pleased with the original announcement that American Airlines was creating bundled pricing that included change fees at a lower apparent cost. Things got a little better when American also announced they were expanding the timeframe you could request a same day change to your flight. And, then things started to get a bit screwy. It started with just one flight I couldn’t get to price right with Choice Plus as an add-on. But, then I did a bit more digging and found out […]

Is Foursquare Dead?

Venture Beat doesn’t think so, and I’m not 100% sure they’re wrong. But, before I discuss the article, a little background on why someone allergic to social media like me became a Foursquare nut. A few years ago, a company called TopGuest came up with this concept where you could earn airline miles and hotel points for checking in at various places on Foursquare. I can’t say I thought it was a terribly good business model, but they convinced a bunch of hotel chains to hand out miles for this. […]