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Emily: The Spa Grande is the nicest spa I have been to after the baths in Budapest, Hungary. The Spa Grande is the largest spa in Hawaii and had a variety of Roman tub, saunas, cascading waterfalls, Swiss jet showers, a Japanese furo and five specialty baths.
The Spa Grande is expensive, but you can save 20% by buying Spa Finder gift certificates from Costco online or in the store. Here’s a link to the treatment menu.
Posted in Hilton HHonors, Trip Reports
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Emily: Daraius surprised me with a stay at the Grand Wailea, a Waldorf Astoria Resort. I had never stayed in a Waldorf Astoria hotel (part of the Hilton chain), and was looking forward to our visit to see what the fuss was about!
Daraius: The Rough Guide says that “…minimalism is a dirty word” at the Grand Wailea. And, boy, were they correct!
Poolside at The Grand Wailea
Posted in Hilton HHonors, Trip Reports
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Loyalty Lobby reports that Club Carlson has a 10,000 points bonus for each stay of 2 or more consecutive nights, from May 13, 2013 to July 21, 2013. Registration is required before the stay, and can be done here.
Club Carlson Two Nights 10,000 Points Promotion
Per the Terms and Conditions, the rate booked must be eligible for earning points, so reservations made through third-party sites like Priceline or Orbitz may not be eligible.
Club Carlson is the hotel loyalty program for Country Inns and Suites, Radisson, Radisson Blu, Park Inn by Radisson, and Park Plaza, so points you earn can be redeemed at any of these hotels.
Deals We Like highlights a boatload carload of current rental promotions for Avis, Budget, Enterprise, and Hertz. Continue reading
Posted in American Express, Avis, British Airways, Budget, Credit Cards, Enterprise, Rental Cars, Starwood (SPG)
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Southwest extended their schedule and you can book flights up to January 5, 2014.
Christmas in Michigan!
There is no penalty for cancelling a Southwest flight made with points (the points go back to your account when you cancel), so it doesn’t hurt to book your fall & holiday trips before you firm up your plans. You can always cancel and rebook your ticket for no fee if the number of points required for the award drops since you booked the ticket or if your plans change. Continue reading
Posted in Airlines, Hyatt, Southwest, Travel Tips
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Emily: We used our Hilton points and the free nights from the Hilton Reserve card to book a room at the Grand Wailea.
Unfortunately, Daraius could not get an ocean view room because the hotel was full (it was spring break). We still had a nice terrace room with two queen beds, but I preferred the rooms at the Hyatt Regency in Maui.
Daraius: I normally email the hotel in advance, explain how excited we are to visit the hotel, and politely ask for an upgrade (if available). But I slacked off this time and didn’t contact the hotel until only 1 week from our trip. And instead of emailing, I used Twitter to contact the hotel, since I was curious to see how responsive the Hilton twitter account was.
Grand Wailea Terrace Room
I wasn’t able to confirm an upgrade or to get 1 king bed instead of 2 queen beds before check-in. But the check-in agent spent at least 15 minutes furiously banging away on the computer trying to see if we could get an upgrade or a king bed, but nothing was available since the hotel was sold-out.
Posted in Hilton HHonors, Trip Reports
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1. Fewer Miles with BankDirect Checking Accounts
I’ve written previously about earning American Airlines miles with a checking account with BankDirect. You earn 100 miles (per month) for every $1,000 in your account, up to $200,000 in your account. For every $1,000 above $200,000 you would earn 25 American Airlines miles per month.
This meant that a deposit of $200,000 would earn 240,000 American Airlines miles in a year!
That said there is monthly service fee of $12, but it is well worth it for folks (note: I’m not an investment advisor, so consult yours!) with large deposits of liquid cash who leave the money in other bank accounts. That’s because you don’t pay tax on the miles (but you do pay tax on interest earned at other banks) and also because the American Airlines miles are worth more than the small amounts of interest which banks pay.
Posted in American Airlines, Marriott, US Air
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Dan’s Deals reports that Hyatt has added two new French hotels which can be booked using points, the Hotel du Louvre, in Paris, and the Grand Hyatt Cannes Hotel Martinez overlooking the Mediterranean.
Paris Hotel du Louvre
Grand Hyatt Cannes Hotel Martinez
In addition, the Concorde Lafayette, Paris and Palais de la Mediterranee, Nice will soon be added to this list. Continue reading
Posted in American Airlines, British Airways, Hyatt, Priority Club
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Over Spring Break in March, Emily and I visited Maui in Hawaii. This was our first time to Hawaii so we were very excited! We spent only $570 dollars for a trip which has a retail cost of $8,731 for some Big Travel with Small Money!
Of course we wouldn’t pay the retail price ourselves, which is why we collect miles and points.
Can’t Wait to Go Back!
I always thought that I’d “save” Hawaii for when I retire because it would be relatively easy to visit and explore later in life. But one of the most common reader questions is “How do I get to Hawaii?”
And almost everyone who has visited Hawaii wants to go back (if that isn’t a ringing endorsement, what is?) so we decided to go! As luck would have it, I fell sick the first 2 or 3 days, but still had a wonderful time. Continue reading
Million Mile Secrets reader Brent teaches English in a public high school in Reno, Nevada. He’s been selected as one of 30 finalists of the Hilton HHonors Teacher Trek competition!
Hilton Teacher Trek
The final 30 were selected by both teachers as well as education experts at the Institute of International Education (which helped institute the Fulbright Scholars program).
The winning teachers get:
Brent plans on staying in Hilton hotels and couch-surfing in Tokyo, Moscow, Prague, London, and Stratford-upon-Avon. He’ll watch different Shakespeare productions and discuss with both the actors and audience how the plays resonate within that culture. Continue reading
Posted in Hilton HHonors
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1. 1,000 Free Marriott Points for Your Baseball Stories
According to NotiFlyer, Marriott is giving away points for submitting stories of your baseball memories.
Submit your baseball memories and stories to Marriott’s Rewards Insiders Forum, between now and April 14th, and you will earn 500 Marriott Rewards points per story, up to a maximum of 1,000 points in honor of the movie 42.
The terms say that stories have to be at least 50 words and not longer then 1,000 words.
2. 4x JetBlue TrueBlue Points Continue reading
Posted in Hilton HHonors, Jet Blue, Marriott, Starwood (SPG)
I have earned and redeemed millions of airline miles and hotel points to travel the world for free. Now I'm blogging to help more people do the same! Find out more.
