We have a trip to Spain coming up where I was able to use 4 free nights from the Hilton Q1 Free Night & Q2 Free Night Promotion, 4 free nights from the Starwood Q2 Free Night Promotion, 3 night on Starwood points, and 3 nights at a Ritz Carlton with Marriott Points. Booking the Flight…
Trip Reports
Category Archives for Trip Reports.
Hotel Palomar Philadelphia – Trip Report
We wanted to try something different on a recent business trip to Philadelphia so we chose the Hotel Palomar. Its known as a small botique hotel and is part of the Kimpton hotel group. Hotel The hotel definitely felt very botique. Arriving at the hotel we pulled up and were directly across from the Sofitel…
St Regis Atlanta Trip Report
This past weekend we had the opportunity to use the cash & points option to stay 3 nights at the St Regis Atlanta. I would say it was above my expectations. We paid a rate of $90 and 4800 points per night when standard rates for our days were going for $243. So we used…
Hyatt Lake Tahoe Trip Report
This past fall I earned 12 Next Big Thing award nights with Hyatt’s stay 2 nights get 1 award night promotion.  This is by far my favorite promotion because you can redeem the nights at any category hotel during the promotion redemption period. Other programs such as SPG offer similar promotions but cap the category of hotel you may…
How I Redeemed US Airways Miles for 2 First Class Lufthansa Tickets
This past weekend I used a total of 250,000 (125,000 x2) US Airways miles for two round trip First class tickets to Europe on Lufthansa airlines. I’ll explain how I found availability, and transferred & bought miles to get enough to redeem for the First class tickets. Finding Availability on Star Alliance Since US Airways…
When in Rome! See the Vatican Excavations Tour
There is a little known tour at the Vatican that we were fortunate enough to go a while ago. It’s the Excavations tour at the Vatican. How to Reserve the Tour Email the Vatican in advance and request the Excavations tour in your language of choice. Follow the directions and you’ll see an amazing tour experienced by…
W Hotel San Francisco – Trip Report
Recently a friend asked about Starwood hotels in San Francisco. Since I’ve stayed in two of the eleven Starwood hotels in San Francisco I thought it would be a good idea to share the reports here. My first review is of the W Hotel San Francisco. Checkin When you enter the hotel you are entering…
W Times Square – Hotel Trip Report
This past weekend we took a trip to New York on a NW operated flight and stayed at the W Times Square. We stayed at the hotel using the Starwood Free Nights promotion for 3 nights. W Times Square Hotel Trip Report Check In We arrived late from our delayed NW flight from Tampa at…
Tampa to New York – NW Flight Trip Report
This past weekend we flew on a Northwest flight from Tampa to New York LaGuardia to stay at the W Times Square. I paid for the ticket from Tampa to LaGuardia, since the flight was only $199 we thought we could get better use of our miles elsewhere. The Northwest flight was on an A320…
The Park Hyatt Paris Trip Report
To complete the trip report series of our trip to the Seychelles, Mauritius, and Paris I’ll provide a review of the Park Hyatt in Paris. The Park Hyatt Paris Trip Report Trip Intenerary 1) Hilton Seychelles – Mahe, Seychelles 2) Grand Mauritian Resort & Spa – Turtle Bay, Mauritius 3) Park Hyatt Paris – Paris,…
Grand Mauritian Resort Trip Report
This is the 2nd stop on our trip to the Seychelles, Mauritius, and Paris. Trip Intenerary 1) Hilton Seychelles – Mahe, Seychelles 2) Grand Mauritian Resort & Spa – Turtle Bay, Mauritius 3) Park Hyatt Paris – Paris, France 4) Anse Major Day Trip 5) La Digue Day Trip Grand Mauritian Resort Trip Report We…
Hilton Seychelles Trip Report
In this post I’ll describe the overall experience from our stay at the Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort and Spa during our trip to the Seychelles, Mauritius, and Paris. Hilton Seychelles Trip Report Trip Intenerary 1) Hilton Seychelles – Mahe, Seychelles 2) Grand Mauritian Resort & Spa – Turtle Bay, Mauritius 3) Park Hyatt Paris –…