W Hotels

Hotel Review: Old Clare Hotel, Sydney. Design Hotels (SPG Redemption)

September 8, 2016By Edward Pizzarello2 Comments

The Old Clare Hotel is an eclectic little property, one of the newest places you can redeem Starpoints. More options to redeem your points, especially in popular places like Sydney, is always a plus for frequent travelers.

BIG List of SPG Hot Escapes This Week!

November 11, 2015By Edward Pizzarello0 Comments

Lots of great deals this week in North America, Caribbean, Europe and Asia

Rome, Vancouver, Toronto On Sale Through September 26, 2015 With SPG Hot Escapes

September 24, 2015By Edward Pizzarello0 Comments

Some interesting hotels discounted for the next 6 weeks on SPG Hot Escapes.

Big Discounts In Asia This Week For SPG Hot Escapes Through September 19, 2015

September 16, 2015By Edward Pizzarello0 Comments

SPG Hot Escapes this week includes hotels from San Juan, Puerto Rico, Atlanta, Chicago, Portugal, Heathrow, Mallorca and more.

SPG Hot Escapes Hotels On Sale Until September 5, 2015

September 3, 2015By Edward Pizzarello0 Comments

Take a look at what SPG has on sale this week in Hot Escapes.

Hotel Review: W Seattle

July 18, 2015By Edward Pizzarello2 Comments

The W Seattle is a typical, cosmopolitan hotel located in downtown Seattle. If I’m choosing a hotel on points, here are the reasons to select it over the Westin and Sheraton….

Tons of Good Deals in SPG Hot Escapes Through July 11, 2015

July 9, 2015By Edward Pizzarello7 Comments

SPG Hot Escapes feature Fort Lauderdale, Washington DC, Montreal, New York City, Thailand, Alexandria, Amsterdam, Heathrow, Bulgaria and more….

SPG Hot Escapes Through June 20th, 2015

June 18, 2015By Edward Pizzarello1 Comment

This week’s SPG Hot Escapes includes big discounts in Vermont, Puerto Rico, Spain, Hamburg, Chicago, Cancun, Aspen, St. John, Montreal, Los Cabos

SPG Hot Escapes For Wednesday, May 27th, 2015

May 28, 2015By Edward Pizzarello2 Comments

SPG Hot Escapes are discounts off of bargain and luxury hotels around the world, a minimum 20% discount for travel over the next 6 weeks. Read on for this week’s list.

2022 Hotel Elite Status Recap And 2023 Goals

I recapped my airline status achievements for 2022 last week. I finally got a free moment to talk about where I ended up in regards to hotel elite status last year. The title of this post is only a little deceptive, in that at most I have one hotel status goal for 2023. But, let’s take a look back at 2022 first. You can also hear us discuss hotel elite status on a recent podcast episode. Hyatt Globalist Status This is probably the lowest night count I’ve had at Hyatt […]

TODAY ONLY: 100% Transfer Bonus To Hawaiian Airlines And Double Points On All Spending Except Rent!

I earn affiliate credit if you sign up for the Bilt Rewards Mastercard using links in this story. Today I’m emptying my Bilt Rewards account. My only regret is that I only have 130,000 Bilt Rewards points to transfer. For one day only Bilt Rewards is partnering up with Hawaiian Airlines to offer the most lucrative transfer bonus I’ve taken advantage of in years (maybe decades). Today, February 1st, all transfer from Bilt Rewards are not the normal 1:1 ratio. For every Bilt Rewards Point you transfer you’ll get two […]

Great Rent Day Promo: 100% Transfer Bonus To Hawaiian Airlines, One Day Only

I earn affiliate credit if you sign up for the Bilt Rewards Mastercard using links in this story. In 2022 Bilt Rewards introduced the concept of bonus earning on the first of each month, referred to as “Rent Day”. It started with double points on all transactions (except for rent) on the first day of the month for Bilt Rewards Mastercard holders. Now, Bilt has started announcing additional promotions for Rent Day, and this month is excellent. In fact, I’m debating draining my entire Bilt Rewards account for this one. […]

EXTREME? I Had Five Different Tickets Booked For Our Flight Home This Week

It still amazes me how much a seemingly small change during the pandemic has come to my rescue so many times. Near the beginning of the pandemic virtually all US airlines eliminated change fees. United went first, Delta and American quickly followed suit. At the time it wasn’t something that moved the needle because nobody was traveling. But, I had the sense then that this would be a big deal. One of the biggest benefit to elite status was the ability to reduce or waive some fees that airlines typically […]

2022 Airline Status Recap & 2023 Status Goals

I’m finally getting a moment to breathe and look back on my 2022 year in travel. Let’s start with airline status. If you want to hear more about my airline status goals we had a detailed discussion this week on the pod. At a high level, 2022 was a year where I continued to choose whatever airline offered me the best itinerary to maximize my time. A nod was paid to cheap first class fares since it’s virtually impossible to be at peak productivity. It was also about trying to […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]