Good Deal Alert

November 5, 2014

How to Save Over 10% on Hyatt Hotels in the US, Canada & the Caribbean!

Hyatt has announced a new promotion in which you can use promo code GPGIFT14 to save 10% on the purchase of physical Hyatt gift cards. The only requirement to use the promotion code is to be a member of Hyatt’s rewards program, Gold Passport, which is free to join (click here to signup if you haven’t already).

Use Promo Code GPGIFT14

Use Promo Code GPGIFT14

Here are the quick and easy ways to maximize this deal:

  • First off, please be aware of which hotels accept Hyatt gift cards for payment. Almost all Hyatt Hotels in the USA, Canada and the Caribbean accept them but certainly not all of them. Please check the full list of participating properties here and only purchase the gift card if you plan on visiting one of these resorts. I will be returning to the Andaz Maui in April next year (which is noted as a participating property) so this promotion helps me save 10% on all my incidental costs (meals, drinks, activities). Do not buy these gift cards for Hyatts located abroad – they won’t work!
  • There is a $6 dollar shipping fee per order and each order is capped at $10,000. I doubt this will be an issue for anyone but try to just make one order to save on multiple $6 shipping fees.
  • Gift cards never expire. I would purchase these gift cards now based on your expected spending on future Hyatt stays in the next year or so to save 10%.In the event your plans change, there is only minimal risk as these gift cards do not expire so you can always use them in the future on a Hyatt stay or dinner at a Hyatt restaurant (see next bullet point)
  • You do not have to be a guest at the hotel to redeem gift cards. I interpret this as a way to eat at a Hyatt restaurant and you should be able to pay with a Hyatt gift card to save 10% on your meal. Anyone down for 10% off dinner at Morimoto Maui at the Andaz Maui or Wall & Water in NYC?

I noted in the title you can save over 10% on this promotion, which is true if you have an American Express Business Card that is affiliated with OPEN savings program. Hyatt is a member of the OPEN savings and if you pay for Hyatt stays with an eligible Amex Business card (Amex Business Platinum, Business Gold and Business Starwood), you can save an extra 5% off!

Now it is listed that only certain brands of Hyatt hotels qualify for this additional 5% off – it excludes the lower end Hyatt House, Hyatt Place and Hyatt Residences but Hyatt has confirmed on Flyertalk that buying physical gifts will trigger the 5% additional discount via the Amex OPEN Program! This is a great workaround to get the Amex OPEN 5% discount at non-participating hotels that don’t work with Amex OPEN. Stacking that 5% discount with the 10% discount leads to a 15% discount on Hyatt hotels in the US, Canada and the Caribbean!

I certainly plan on buying a sizeable balance of Hyatt Gift cards to take almost 15% off my stay at the Andaz Maui next year. I am staying on a Points & Cash reward so my co-pay is $150 a night but with this promotion, is reduced to essentially $127.50 plus I’ll get 10% off every time I eat, drink or buy anything at the Andaz. That’s pretty hard to beat!

 

 

October 26, 2014

Point & Center: Use Marriott Points at Atlantis, No More 7,500 AA Miles at Cadillac & $300-$400 Airfare to Europe

*For my new readers, Point & Center is a weekly series (with a witty play on words) that rounds up some of the biggest news in the points and miles space. These posts are generally well-received though some argue my witty play on words is not. You be the judge.*

Here’s a quick recap of what happened in the points & miles world this week.

1. Use Marriott Points at Atlantis Resorts in the Bahamas – I received an email this week from Marriott letting me know that I can now book certain rooms at Atlantis with Marriott Rewards Points. I’ll be the first to admit out of all the major hotel loyalty programs I care least about Marriott – before getting the 140,000 point Ritz credit card I never earned any Marriott points – so it is certainly nice to have a more “inspirational property” available for redemption for Marriott members. That said, I don’t think the values are great as the base level rooms cost 35,000 points. Here is a summary of the points cost per room depending on what tower you are in.

Atlantis

I’ve seen prices for the Beach & Coral Tower hover around $199/night except during prime season or holidays. Outside of times when the room rates are exceptionally higher, I would not use points as I would only be getting $.0057 cents a point when the room rate is around $200. On a different note, if you do pay cash for your room you will only receive Marriott points on the room rate only. In most cases with other hotels chains (and Marriott’s other hotels), you receive points on anything that posts to your hotel bill before checkout. With food and drink quite being quite expensive at Atlantis, this restriction will cost you a fair amount of Marriott points.

2. No More Free & Easy 7,500 American Airline Miles for Test Driving a Cadillac – I posted about this last week but per View From The Wing, Cadillac is no longer allowing any new registrations for its promotion in which customers that test a Cadillac could received 7,500 American Airline miles. If you registered for the promotion but haven’t taken the test drive yet, you should still go forward with it as you will still receive the miles for the promotion.

Cadillac ending this promotion most likely means they have scheduled enough test drives to cover the amount of miles they purchased from AA. The bigger takeaway from all of this is the old mantra of if you snooze, you lose. If you’ve ever seen a mistake fare (scroll to the bottom for the list of fares I’ve taken advantage of) or a promotion “too good to be true”, you know it has a limited shelf life. Especially nowadays, when there is much more attention on some of these deals as blogs, websites and forums are reaching more people, quicker than ever. In this case, there was no downside to registering so hopefully you registered for it and it was not one of the things you decided “to put off”.

3. Wow Air Still Has Cheap Fares to Iceland, London & Copenhagen – I wrote about this deal earlier and suggested to book your flights as soon as possible as I assumed Wow Air only released a handful of seats at the low prices ($99 to London, $300 roundtrip to Iceland etc..) and then would have much higher fares. Well, I’m happy to report I am still seeing some extraordinary airfares to Europe between $319 – $400 roundtrip which is still phenomenal for summer travel to Europe. Here are some fares I pulled at 11pm EST on 10/25. 

WowAir10_25 WowAir10_25Fare2WowAir10_25Fare3

I’ve seen several people disregard this sale because Wow Air is ” just like Spirit”  and they won’t get suckered into all the extra fees. I think this is a bad assumption to make. Even including a fee for a seat reservation and carry-on luggage that’s only an additional $32 to $43 each way so you might be looking at $350-$400 roundtrip with fees included. At these prices, it would be a waste to use miles for Europe. Remember the highlight of a vacation is the destination itself – I’ve read Iceland is absolutely stunning in the summer and at these prices, I’m finding it very difficult to pass up.

October 23, 2014

Deal Alert! $250-$300 Roundtrip Flights to Iceland, London or Copenhagen!

Wow Air, an Icelandic low cost carrier, is launching new service from Iceland to the United States with flights to Boston and Baltimore (listed as Washington on their website) starting at $250 roundtrip! You can also tack on additional flights to either London or Copenhagen in some cases for the same price or little bit more!

Before you write off WOW Air just because they are low cost and you most likely never heard of them, they actually have a bunch of positive reviews on at Airline Equality and a newer fleet of Airbus A320 planes that average only 5 years old. As a low cost carrier, they will tack on fees for carry on luggage (except for a personal item), checked baggage, food/drinks and seat assignments. However, with roundtrip flights starting at $250!, even if you paid another $50-$100 in fees, you still come out way ahead.

Here is what you need to know:

  • To search for flights and dates go to their website at wowair.us
  • For flights from Boston, search for flights after March 26, 2015.
  • For flights from Baltimore (which again is listed as Washington on their site), search for flights after June 3, 2015
  • You can book flights up to a year in advance so almost through the end of October 2015.
  • Please make sure to check their fee schedule here and include that as a cost when factoring in the total price of your flight
  • You will not earn any frequent flyer miles as Wow Air does not have a program and is not affiliated with any other loyalty program

I am finding the best availability to be for the summer months when flights typically skyrocket to Iceland (and Europe in general). Prices can be well over a $1000 for these flights on Icelandic Air, so this is an absolute bargain! Even if you don’t live in Boston or Washington, consider taking a train or positioning flight (great use of Avios for short, direct flights) to take advantage of these fares. Here are some screenshots of some fares I was available to find at 11:30pm on 10/22.

Under $300 Roundtrip!

Under $300 Roundtrip!

$99 to London One Way!!

$99 to London One Way!!

The flight to Iceland from Boston is only 4.5 hours while its closer to 5.5 hours from Washington so even if I’m not fed a subpar meal like I would on Delta or Icelandic Air, I don’t care if it saves me several hundred dollars or miles that I could use for another trip. Iceland in the summer is supposedly gorgeous and I’m trying to find a way to spend my birthday there next June. Feel free to meet me there but book these fares NOW as I guarantee this will not last much longer!

(H/T The Points Guy)

October 3, 2014

AMAZING DEAL ALERT: Roundtrip flights from the US to Australia, India, Africa & the Middle East for $251 to $700 Roundtrip!!

Update: Now Dead.

The Flight Deal just discovered an amazing mistake fare that most US cities are pricing Roundtrip travel to Australia, India, the Middle East & more for only $251 to $700!!!

It works from most major US cities for flights on Etihad. This is without a doubt a systemwide glitch at Etihad so this will get pulled any minute.

I’m about to board a flight so for the latest info and working city paris PLEASE go to this site for details and how to book!

The Flight Deal Link

September 10, 2014

One Way Award Flights to Europe: 13,125 Virgin Atlantic Miles + $134!

Virgin Atlantic is having a promotion in which they are discounting all award flights by 25% off which makes one way flights to Europe only 13,125 miles + $134! The best part is this promotion is valid for all dates of travel that you could currently book Virgin flights for, including next summer! You must book by September 23rd and this applies to economy & premium economy bookings only. 

Prices listed are for roundtrip travel

Prices listed are for roundtrip travel

As I’ve written previously, using Virgin Atlantic miles for travel on Virgin Atlantic is generally not an amazing use of miles due to the large fuel surcharges Virgin passes on, especially when departing London since the British government tacks on a large tax on departing flights. However, there is one great use of these miles for travel on Virgin Atlantic: One Way Travel To Europe for only 13,125 miles + $134. Most other airlines charge 30,000 miles one way to Europe so this is a pretty solid deal.

With this promotion, economy roundtrip flights are discounted to only 26,250 miles but with hefty taxes of $400 per person. The workaround to make this promotion worthwhile is to book just a one way award to London which causes half the amount of miles, 13,125, but only $134 in surcharges. The surcharges are not evenly split between flights to and from London so it makes sense to take advantage of the lower surcharges simply by flying to London but not home from London.

NY to London...Reasonable

NY to London – Good Deal.

London to NY

London to NY – Not As Good.

I think the real advantage of this promotion is that it covers flights into next summer, when airfares SKYROCKET to Europe. Even better, Virgin Atlantic has amazing availability for award flights for next summer. I personally would fly Virgin Atlantic to London and return home from a different city in Europe using miles. Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam are all easy train rides from London and you can explore several cities before returning home.  This promotion ends September 23rd, so you could book flights for next year up until August 23rd by waiting for the last day of the promotion.

I think the promotion has sneaky good value. Is anyone taking advantage of this promotion?

(H/T to View From the Wing)