View From The Wing: "Football fans booked themselves a room at the Detroit Club hotel months ago for April 25 to be near the NFL draft. The room rate was $350 ($427.50 with taxes and fees) per night. The hotel cancelled their reservation, and told them if they wanted to stay the night they’d have to pay an $1,100 room rate."
"The property didn’t claim there was any kind of mistake in the booking. They didn’t say they were regrettably oversold. First they just sent a cancellation ‘at the guest’s request’ (which wasn’t true). Now they aren’t even trying to offer a story for why they wouldn’t honor the booking at the price they’d advertised – other than that they now believe they can charge three times as much."
Points Wire Note:
If there's a lesson from this unethical practice, it's that hotel properties sometimes have seller's remorse. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do to prevent it other than knowing it's a possibility. Be ready to pivot if it happens to you and don't expect much from a hotel that is willing to treat customers like this.
There's an Amex Offer for stays at select Hilton properties. You can get $200 back as a statement credit if you spend $1,000+ at eligible properties until May 15, 2024.
Select properties in the following in the following countries are eligible: US, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, Belize, Peru, Honduras, French Polynesia. See the full list of eligible properties.
According to the terms & conditions, you need to book directly with Hilton. This should mean Hilton Impresario bookings at Conrad, LXR, and Waldorf Astoria properties are eligible.
Hilton Impresario benefits include: Daily breakfast for 2, $100 property credit, one category room upgrade, double Hilton Honors points, etc.
Properties that are both eligible for this Amex Offer and participate in Hilton Impresario include:
If you'd like to book via Hilton Impresario, you can do so via our self-serve booking portal or, if the property isn't available via the portal, by submitting a request here.
For Valentine's Day, Rosewood Hotels is running a gift card promo. If you buy a $500+ Rosewood gift card (or e-gift card) by midnight PST on February 19, 2024, you can get a 10% bonus e-gift card on top of it. For example, if you buy a $1,000 gift card, you'll get a bonus gift card worth $100. This comes out to ~9% off.
It's not a massive discount, but it's rare for luxury hotel brands to offer promos like this so it's a fun way to save a little.
For stays abroad, Rosewood uses Oanda to calculate the currency exchange rate.
If you plan to book a Rosewood stay, make sure you book through a travel advisor with access to Rosewood Elite - I'm on of these advisors. Just by booking a Rosewood Elite rate, you can get extra perks such as a room upgrade, daily breakfast for 2, a $100 property credit, etc.
Rosewood Elite is actually one of my favorite preferred booking programs because individual properties can tailor the benefits they offer. For example, Rosewood Mayakoba offers a $125 property credit while other properties offer special welcome amenities.
If you'd like to book, fill out my Rosewood request form.
Amex has released a great Amex Offer. You can get $100 back as a statement credit when you spend $500+ at Mandarin Oriental properties. I'll note that this Amex Offer seems to be targeted.
Important Terms
Points Wire Note:
Since MO Fan Club and Virtuoso bookings are direct bookings, you should be able to book through either of these preferred booking programs to get extra perks. Benefits can include: daily breakfast for 2, a room upgrade, a $100 property credit and more.
You need a travel advisor to help with your booking to use these programs. If you'd like to book, check out my hotel booking page.
Flyertalker eponymous_coward flagged that Alaska Airlines has changed how it handles checked bags through on other airlines when on separate tickets. Previously, Alaska was willing to do this. However, they've made the customer-unfriendly decision to stop.
For example, if you want to fly from Portland (PDX) to Hong Kong (HKG), but Alaska doesn't have award space on the flight from PDX to Los Angeles, too bad. Even though you're connecting on their oneowrld partner Cathay Pacific from LAX to HKG, you'll have to collect your bags at LAX and recheck them.
American Airlines has done this for years and it's an absolute pain.
Update: Doctor of Credit flagged a link to the offer.
A Redditor (u/dgdg1976) shared that there's a targeted Amex Business Platinum welcome offer for 200,000 Membership Rewards points showing up the mobile app. The minimum spend requirement is the usual $15,000 in 3 months. This is the best offer I can remember seeing on this card.
A couple of years ago there was an offer fro 250,000 Membership Rewards points, but the minimum spend required was $30,000.
If you're thinking about applying, you have this targeted offer, and you can hit the minimum spend, this is a great time to get the card.
One Mile At A Time: "An Amex Centurion Lounge is finally opening at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). The new lounge is roughly 26,000 square feet, making it the largest Centurion Lounge by far. As a point of comparison, the previous largest Centurion Lounge was in New York (JFK), and that lounge is around 15,000 square feet."
"The Amex Centurion Lounge Atlanta is located in Concourse E, near gate E11. All terminals in Atlanta are connected airside, so this lounge can be used by all passengers."
Points Wire Note:
A Centurion Lounge at the busiest airport in the US. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this lounge is going to be packed!
Update: This promo is live!
Marriott Bonvoy is out with a fantastic new promo. Between February 13 and April 29, 2024, every night you stay will earn 1,000 bonus points as well as an extra elite night credit. You have until April 15, 2024 to register. Only eligible cash stays will count for this promo. You must register before your stay for it to count.
This is a global promotion. If you don't see the promo, reach out to Marriott via phone or DM on Twitter/X and ask them to help you register.
Points Wire Note:
This is a fantastic promo if you have some Marriott stays coming up. For those hoping to earn Platinum Elite status (or higher) or even lifetime status, this could help get you there a lot faster and might make prioritizing Marriott worth it.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection: "Today, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority will start offering interviews to conditionally approved Global Entry applicants departing the United States from Washington Dulles International Airport."
"Dulles becomes the nation’s first airport to offer Global Entry 'Enrollment on Departure.'"
This option will be available at the new CBP office near gate B41 between 12:00pm ET until 8:00pm ET for passengers departing on an international flight.
Amex has been adding new welcome bonus restrictions to card families left and right recently. Recently, we saw the Amex Green get new restrictions. However, Travel on Points noticed the following language has been added to the Amex Platinum for Morgan Stanley:
"You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Platinum Card®, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab or previous versions of these Cards. You also may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer based on various factors, such as your history with credit card balance transfers, your history as an American Express Card Member, the number of credit cards that you have opened and closed and other factors. If you are not eligible for a welcome offer, we will notify you prior to processing your application so you have the option to withdraw your application."
Points Wire Note:
The recently card family rules from American Express have been rough. It makes putting a little thought into your your credit card choices even more important. Fortunately, there are still plenty of ways to earn lots of Amex Membership Rewards points. You just want to be intentional about how you go about doing so.
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