Frequent flyer miles, hotel points, great travel sites and deals

1) What frequent traveler programs (airline, hotel, rental car, etc.) are you a member of, and which status? Starwood Preferred Guest (Platinum), Hyatt (Diamond), Continental/United (Silver Elite).

2) Your best travel tip. Whenever possible, stay loyal to one airline alliance and hotel. Points and miles can add up very quickly. Also, if you travel often, buy a nice suitcase. My favorite luggage brand right now is Rimowa (I'm pretty sure ATW will agree, as it's a German company).

3) Best deal/promotion you ever took advantage of...especially if it is ongoing! Free roundtrip flight from Chicago to Tokyo + 5 free nights at the Sheraton in Tokyo, all for 50,000 SPG points (with flights + nights deal).

 

Go here: http://www.flyertalk.com/

Their forums have lots of great tips/tricks as well as keeping you updated on the best deals out there.

 

I have a question regarding opening new credit accounts for frequent flier miles.

I see these deals all the time on FlyerTalk.com.

Now I know opening multiple lines of credit can't be good for your credit score, but my question is this:

What if you have essentially perfect credit, open a few of these new lines of credit just for the miles, pay your bill on time, and cancel 11 months later before they charge you an annual fee for year 2.

How much would this affect your credit score? I'd imagine hardly at all, but could be wrong.

 

Cancelling credit actually tends to lower your score, since you are basically giving up "available credit". Unless you intend on keeping/using a card, I wouldn't open up any that have fees.

 

what do you guys do to travel so much?

seems fun...

 

I'm not really sure what any of that means, but I am intrigued.

Do tell.

 

Another cool flight tool is Sidestep's Buzz feature, which allows you to enter a departure city, and see various roundtrip flight prices from that city to "World Cities", "Europe", "Asia", "South America", etc.

I just checked Houston as a departure city, and set the destination to Europe, and just found that someone booked a flight from Houston to Dublin, Ireland two days ago for $562, roundtrip, including taxes.

Not a bad deal at all.

 

best travel tip: give away your mileage points as gifts to your various mistresses so they can tag along on business trips

 

Apply for a Hyatt Credit Card and get 2 nights free anywhere in the world. No blackout dates. There is a $75 yearly fee on the card, so you're basically paying $75 for 2 nights. I don't see why you can't cancel it afterwards though.

Hyatt Credit Card

Hyatt Paris – $900 per night
Hyatt Dubai – $400 a night
Regency London – $500 a night
Park Hyatt Tokyo – $600 a night
Regency Maui – $400 a night
Hyatt Shanghai – $400 a night
Hyatt Sydney – $700 a night
Hyatt Regency London – $500 a night
Hyatt Buenos Aires – $500 + free tango lessons

Pugs

 

Sigh. I view status on airlines and hotels as completely not worth it. I'd rather work in town more often, not travel, and just pay for my vacations. I suppose this is a high class problem, emblematic of the executive lifestyle.

That being said, I've been platinum on Continental for years, and have varying levels of gold/silver on Delta and American, depending on the year. And of course, I earned the "buddy pass" on Southwest for taking 100 flights over the course of a year (talk about not worth it...).

For hotels, I stick to Starwood (platinum for probably 10 years straight) and Hilton (now diamond). Marriott and Hyatt can suck my balls.

I don't rent cars. I either take a town car service or have one of my subordinates rent the car and shuttle me around.

best travel tip -- take the armrest by force, and don't give it up, no matter the level of frustration from the worthless lifeform in the seat next to you.

 

The rest of your post reminded me of a short story I wrote once, but the last bit is good advice. ;-)-

 

How was the Sheraton in Tokyo (I'm guessing you mean Sheraton miyako). I'm planning to stay there in March with using some of my Starwood points. Is the hotel convenient?

 

I'm pretty loyal to American/one world. I'm exec platinum/emerald. Million miler

I'm gold on Starwood and Hilton.

The best deal I get is the Hilton in KL, Malaysia. Its 60 bucks a night and its nicer than all the Ritz Carltons, Four Seasons, and W's I've stayed at.

 

attorney28?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/members/attorney28.html

 

damn, we have our own little atw here!

 

Cleverly disguised anti-mormon post.

 

I liked the Sheraton Miyako a lot. Your choice of free buffet breakfast, or a la carte, is included if you're Platinum.

The Meguro metro station is a 15-20 minute walk, but there's a free shuttle that leaves the hotel every 15 minutes and takes 3 minutes to get to Meguro station.

There's a closer station (Shirokanedai), which is only a 5 minute walk, but it's not on the Yamanote line (the main circular line that goes around the city).

For redeeming SPG points in Tokyo, it's by far the most bang for your buck.