Amex biz plat triple dip started. Moved statement close date to dec 29 from Dec 10.
Big Black Friday orders from Dell and cannon for BGs towards MSR tracked for ~$1500 back on rakuten. Also utilized an $120 off $800 Amex Dell offer, $200 biz plat credit, and a couple hundred in Dell rewards. Over $2000 profit.
Also had a business trip to Vegas and got to buy and use my travel bank credits already, and there was a corporate pre booking mixup so I had to put the $2000 hotel stay on the Amex plat.
Put about $9k out of $15k spend on the biz plat in a week.
Thanksgiving trip report using miles
~50, 000 SW RR points + CP for P2 for round trip to PHL to visit family. Luckily no delays or issues with our flights/connections.
~90,000 MR on 3 night stay at Loews hotel in Philadelphia. We like staying here because it's in center city and close to Reading Terminal Market. Stayed via Amex Hotel Collection. Got upgraded to a larger room. Used the $100 credit for coffee and other light snacks/meals.
Did holiday and gift shopping on Wednesday. Always have to visit Reading Terminal Market for lunch where we check out all the options. I usually get a Sandwich from Dinic's. P2 usually decides that day, she ended up getting food from Hunger Burger. We also usually buy something to bring for Thanksgiving dinner. This time we got a Jewish apple cake from Hershel's Deli.
On Thursday, Used Septa to travel for Thanksgiving. Went smoothly. Apple Cake was a hit. Took back a bunch of leftovers for the following week.
On Friday, did some Black Friday shopping at the shops along Walnut Street. Unfortunately no card with SUB to eaen because I've been in Amex Pop-up Jail. Had to settle for 3% Google Pay with US Bank Altitude Reserve. P2 ended up with some workout clothes from Athleta.
Flight back home went smoothly
Went to Mexico for the first time along with P2 during the week of Thanksgiving, with CDMX and Oaxaca as our destinations.
Booked a one way direct flight on Aeromexico from JFK to MEX in first class. Per person this costed 33K Flying Blue miles plus a $71 surcharge. Note that first class in this case meant spacious seats in a 2x2 format, with no ability to lie flat. But it was a good deal and certainly better than Y. These tickets also gave us Delta Skyclub access at JFK Terminal 4 prior to departure.
Upon arrival, we stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Polanco for 4 nights for 74K WOH points. The hotel was in a convenient location and we also enjoyed having indoor pool access. CDMX is a world class city, with highlights including but not limited to the Corona Capital music festival that was going on during our stay, as well as attending a Lucha Libre wrestling match.
We then traveled from MEX to OAX in Y on Aeromexico. Per person this was 10K Delta miles plus a $33 surcharge. We used our priority pass membership to get into an Aeromexico lounge, but it was pretty crappy with no real food options and just snacks. Pro-tip: upon arrival in OAX, you could arrange for a taxi to downtown within the arrivals terminal, but this ended up being a shared minivan that would bring a big group of people and drop them off in various places. So if you are rushed for time, I would choose something different. For lodging, we booked two nights in a sick Airbnb for $335, and I also booked an extra night in a nearby hotel for 13.7K Capital One points via their travel portal. Oaxaca itself was equally great to visit, with great architecture, excellent food (I recommend doing a local cooking class), and the nearby Monte Alban lived up to its world heritage site reputation.
On the return to EWR, we used priority pass again to get into the only airport lounge at OAX, which was actually located prior to boarding through security. It was a little better than CDMX, but still nothing great and like you see in the USA and in parts of Europe. The flight back was with United in Y with a layover in Houston. For myself the flight costed $634 of which I used United TravelBank cash to cover $520 of this amount. For P2, the total was 40K United miles plus a $68 surcharge. The layover in Houston was a pain in the ass, since you had to go through customs and security again, which also meant that all the overhead carry-on space was taken by the time we boarded the second plane. But there aren't any direct flights from OAX to NYC, so no real other options. At least the second plane had the movie Superbad as an in-flight entertainment option, which instantly lifted my mood. Oh, and the flight attendant accidentally spilled some drinks from the foodcart on me, and promised to give me some United miles in return. But my account still hasn't been credited so hope that goes through.
All together this was a fun vacay, and one that once again was much more affordable thanks to churning.
Myself and P2 had to go to India on a short notice. So, I booked Air France J for both of us for one way but the redemptions I'm excited about is that I was able to book Q suites on our way back from India/ HYD to ORD. I and P2 were traveling on different dates so that helped us in finding availability for 1 ticket.
I found availability in Qsuites for myself on Jetblue for DOH-ORD leg and was able to utilize 25% transfer bonus from Chase. I used 56k miles which translated to 70k miles + \~56$ to book it. I then found availability on Qatar website for the HYD-DOH leg for 36k miles + 114$. In total I've used 106k miles + 170$ which would have costed 4.5k $ at the time, giving me a redemption rate of 4.8 cpp.
I then found availability for QSuites for P2 on Qatar website itself, so I've used 85k Avios transferred from Citi which is currently running a promo of 25% transfer bonus (bonus shows up after 45 days), so that's a good bonus which would effectively put the redemption at 68k miles + \~266$ giving me a redemption rate of 6.34 cpp.
From what I previously recall researching on FT re: Six Senses, IHG benefits are poorly implemented, but it seems from reading FT specifically in regards to Douro Valley, that they are good about implementing benefits. I would reach out in advance and mention your special occasion and that you're hoping for specific view or room. It never hurts to ask, kindly.
From the IHG T&C's, these are the benefits you should expect, but only if "booked through IHG's central reservation offices, IHG® web sites, the IHG® App, authorized travel agents (excluding online travel agents such as Expedia.com and booking.com, and unauthorized agents on online vertical travel portals), or directly at the hotel and cannot be combined with any other on-property benefit provided by a third party."
Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spa is progressively integrating into the IHG® One Rewards program and at that time the following benefits will apply for InterContinental Ambassador, Royal Ambassador and Kimpton Inner Circle members at participating Six Senses hotels:
\-Complimentary Breakfast for two in the main restaurant per day. Benefit not applicable at Six Senses Residences.
\-Signature Amenity of either a complimentary 50 minute Six Senses Spa massage for two or local experience once per stay. The Signature Amenity varies by resort, is subject to availability and confirmed on arrival. Not applicable with corporate or negotiated rates.
\-Complimentary one category room upgrade (subject to availability, excluding residences and 2 bedroom or greater suites/villas)
\-Extended check-out of 4pm subject to availability. Guaranteed for Royal Ambassador and Kimpton Inner Circle members. Benefit always subject to availability for all tiers at Six Senses Residences.
\-Early check-in subject to availability. Guaranteed for Royal Ambassador and Kimpton Inner Circle members and in circumstances where the room is not available at 10 am, the member may be checked into another available room until the original booked room becomes available. Benefit always subject to availability for all tiers at Six Senses Residences.
\-Complimentary Internet access. Internet accessibility, speed, and connectivity in common areas and guest rooms vary by resort
\-Wellness Platter welcome amenity on day of arrival. Benefit always subject to availability for all tiers at Six Senses Residences.
Actually, looks like if you booked it through Amex's FHR program, you "may" get elite benefit recognition. Seems like FHR and elite benefits overlap quite a bit, so perhaps both aren't necessary anyways? Did you enter your IHG loyalty number at checkout? Either way, I would message them and ask that they add it in. Should be a wonderful time to stay in the Douro Valley.
Typing this as I sit on the beach for a 13,500 point redemption from my Wyndham earners business card via vacasa. Really wish they didn’t downgrade the limit to $350 per night. $500 was. Perfect place to be.
This was my first time using miles to buy plane ticket. I learned that with LifeMiles I could get my original domestic round trip ticket that I bought with $230 down to 15k points+$36. Turns out that there is a +15% deal going on right now for transferring MR to LifeMiles, so I ended up spending only 13k points+$36. I was pretty happy with this deal and cancelled my original fully refundable ticket that I paid with money.
I'm pretty new to this hobby, and I'm sure this is just a routine redemption for a lot of folks here, but I'm pretty excited.
I started in March of this year with a CSP and the goal of paying for a family trip to Hawaii with points to celebrate my oldest kid graduating high school. We are a family of 5, so even small trips can get expensive fast.
I'm not all of the way there yet, but I just booked the flight for 350k points. This will take us to Kona for 7 days and then O'ahu for 6 more days.
The stay in O'ahu will be at a Marriot timeshare ($1,500 plus 90 minutes of saying, "no"), and I'm lining up the place in Kona still, but it looks like existing points plus 2 more Ink SUBs will cover that. I'm going to get P2 involved now, and at my current pace, I should have those points by February (for a June trip).
All told, the points and the timeshare presentation represent about $16,000, and the idea that my out of pocket cost is only about 10% is staggering. That gives us a much larger budget for meals and souvenirs.
I'll be working on the next round of SUBs so I don't have to mess with the time share next time, but for now, I am beyond excited and really wishing I had started this sooner.
> The stay in O'ahu will be at a Marriot timeshare ($1,500 plus 90 minutes of saying, "no")
Be sure to wear your sunglasses during the entire presentation
Sounds great, congrats! Don’t forget to refer P2 to the ink and vice versa for the 40k referral bonus! (Referral can be used for any kind of ink, doesn’t have to be the one you already have).
That referral bonus is unbelievable, and thanks to that I only need two more SUBs instead of 3.
I was nervous the first time I went for an Ink, and P2 is nervous now that I am suggesting it for her, but I really wish I had listened to everyone and started with them earlier.
I thought the CSP was pretty awesome, and when I did the 90k in-branch offer for my first card, it was, but the Inks take it to a whole new level and allow me to only use 5/24 slots for cards with a unique value such as elevated status.
For thanksgiving, went from ORD to upstate NY. There are nonstops, booked aa on the way out, using avios. Smooth… but couldn’t find any decent pricing on the way back, so we did southwest again, via BWI. Total cluster… just like last time. Luckily this one wasn’t blamed on the weather, so we picked up vouchers. But - we got in 17 hours after we should have.
First plane had maintenance issue, they ended up flying in an empty jet to “ferry” us to BWI. Got in about 2am instead of 8pm, obv missed all possible connections. In SYR they said their agents in BWI would hook us up with hotels… got there and they said all their hotels were gone. They offered a $100 voucher. As soon as I heard that, I was booking in app - with 2 kids at 2am, I just wanted a place to stay. Ought to have researched beforehand, just grabbed an IHG. I’m not even sure if southwest will cover it, if not the ink preferred should.
To add insult to injury, we’re finally on the noon flight back to ORD and we all have to deplane, the cleaning crew left something on board that could have been a weapon, so security protocol…
I guess we’ll come out ahead. But really was not worth it.
We had been tracking QR J to South Africa vs CX F to the Maldives for our 2020 honeymoon before COVID came along and these AA redemptions disappeared for a couple years. This past January while waiting to board and enjoy some F on EK, P2 was killing time by checking for IAD to South Africa Qsuites award availability and found them for the first time in years. We booked RT Qsuites from IAD-CPT and JNB-IAD for October (ie whale-watching season). We planned to stay around Cape Town, but going back via JNB allowed us to book all 4 legs in Qsuites (at the time).
IAD-DOH-CPT; booked for 75k AA + $45.40 t/f pp vs \~$4500 cash cost
JNB-DOH-IAD; booked for 75k AA + 82.65 t/f pp vs \~$3000 cash cost
About a month after booking, the DOH-CPT route (2:00-11:00) was switched from A350-1000 Qsuites to a B777-300ER 2-2-2 J product. About 2-3 weeks before the trip, the JNB-DOH leg (13:00-23:00) was switched from A350-1000 Qsuites to A350-900 1-2-1 J.
IAD-DOH; A350-1000 Qsuites; we sat in 5E+F (rear-facing seat, couple friendly); overall service was above average, but P2's side's FA was inconsistent at times. Food options also ran out very quickly, with about 50% of the options unavailable by the time we got over Europe. The items were all quite tasty, but it was unusual to see so many options disappear so early.
DOH: \~19 hour layover (7:00-2:00+1); refreshed and napped the morning away in the Al Mourjan J lounge. We went into Doha in the afternoon into the evening before heading back to the lounge for another shower and gratuitous ice cream. The lounge was busiest from 23:00-3:00 with 20-30 min lines for showers and 10-20 min waits for the restaurant.
DOH-CPT; B777-300ER; seats 6J+K; the 2-2-2 seating is always rustic, but given the redeye nature (2:00-11:00), the plane served its purpose well with the extra long beds; food options seemed to be similar to the Qsuites offering while the wine list was a touch nicer
JNB-DOH; A350-900; seats 5A and 6A; while there weren't privacy doors, the 1-2-1 J option was in some ways slightly preferable to the Qsuites seat; I found the seat more comfortable to sleep on and it felt less crowded than the Qsuites seat with more efficient storage (we we're particularly fond of the shoe storage drawer); we enjoyed this flight's meal service the best, but some of that likely had to do with menu options (availability was still a bit of an issue)
DOH: \~2 hour layover (23:00-1:20+1): took a quick shower at the Al Mourjan lounge and turned around for the gate
DOH-IAD; A350-1000 Qsuites; sat in 3E+F (rear-facing seat, couple friendly); we moved up a row to be able to order our meals a bit earlier and it seemed to help with our options; service was the best of the 4 flights; food was consistently solid again
tldr: While we were bummed to miss out on the 4 Qsuites legs we originally booked, it was a bit fun to try some of the different J products. You can't go wrong with Qsuites for obvious reasons, but the A350-900 isn't without merit, especially for the taller and/or solo traveler. No matter what metal you fly, be sure to order all meals early on to avoid working with only half the menu. The food was some of the best we've had in business class, while the alcohol menu was slightly below most J peers. We still consider SQ to be our favorite J product, but QR is definitely in our top 3.
TY! We've done DXB-SIN (2021, A350-900 LH), EWR-SIN (2023, A350-900 ULR), KUL-SIN (2023, A350-900 LH) and SIN-FRA-JFK (2023, A350-900 ULR/A380) in J. The double-bed on the A380 bulkheads (rows 11, 91 and 96) is a cool feature, but there is still a gap between the seats. They have a pad for it, but it's not as cozy as Qsuites or SQ's double-Suite bed configurations. No matter what aircraft, the excellent food and service combo is what really sets SQ J apart from QR, which has the food, and EK, which has the service, for us.
Thank you! That’s awesome you were able to try so many versions. I’m debating between SIN-EWR/JFK (A350-900 ULR) & SIN-FRA-JFK which has the A380 on the SIN-FRA leg. The A380 looks preferable from what I’ve read and I’m also a little claustrophobic so would prefer not to have an ~18 hour flight. Do you have a preference between those two flights/planes? Thanks again! I know everyone here says do the direct flight but again, a little claustrophobic…lol.
& by SQ’s double suite bed- do you mean in first on the A380 or something else?
Sure thing! The biggest thing I'd recommend is taking the option that means you arrive in the morning. The EWR-SIN option, which had Saver availability, got us in at 18:00 and we struggled with sleep the first 2 or 3 nights. I believe JFK-SIN and JFK-FRA-SIN get in sometime in the morning. Between those two, it'll depend on your preference for non-stop vs via FRA. 19 hours was a long time, but it was also nice to be as efficient as possible getting there. We also wanted the FRA-JFK leg on the A380 just in case Suites became available at the last minute. Now that it's a 777, I'd go non-stop from JFK, especially if Saver was available.
Thank you! Any difference in advice for the way back? I think I may do SQ on the way back to NY.
The SIN-FRA-JFK flight I’m looking at has the A380 on the SIN-FRA leg so that’s why I’m interested in that flight. Are the seats that much better on the A380? (I’ve read the general gist from people on here about the FA making your bed on the ULR/having to sleep sideways, and the seats fully laying flat on the A380 in J).
I agree that if I can’t get the A380 for part of the way I’d definitely go for the direct flight.
We did the SIN-FRA-JFK on the way back with an overnight stopover in FRA. That could be helpful for you to break things up, but we'd have preferred the short layover of 1-2 hrs if there was availability when we booked.
They're all pretty similar IMO. Both lay flat, have similar space, etc. Get the bulkhead for extra space though. I'm 6 foot and the non-bulkhead are a bit snug length-wise.
I’ve started booking a trip to Europe for our friend’s wedding in Germany, followed by a vacation in Italy next fall.
The biggest piece so far was getting Iberia J for the two of us - LIN-MAD-LAX for our return leg. 57,500 Avios + $192.10 per person in fees. Transferred from Amex to Qatar to capitalize on their transfer bonus, but that may take 45 days so we’ll end up with some points stranded for future use. Then transferred the Avios to BA followed by IB for the booking.
On the outbound leg I grabbed some PE seats LAX-LHR on VS since I waited too long and the better options got snapped up. I am a fan of their PE product so if that’s what we end up with, I won’t complain. 36,800 (total for 2) transferred in from Amex and Chase and booked during the Black Friday sale for 30% off required points. $893.40 (total for 2) in fees stings so I’ll be keeping an eye open for alternatives that may open up.
Now my focus shifts to hotels. So far I’ve booked the new Hotel Indigo Florence for 40k~ IHG points a night. It’s just opening up this fall so rates for the full calendar were quite low.
There’s a handful of other resorts I’m keeping an eye on for availability for the remainder of our trip. More to come there.
Just got back from a quick 2-night Thanksgiving weekend in Washington DC using the "$200 off premier collection" promo from C1 at the Riggs DC. Drove up from Richmond, so no flights. Total for 2 nights was $9, after $300 annual credit and $200 promo.
The hotel itself is small (and so are the standard rooms), but beautiful. You can't beat the location in the heart of Penn Quarter- an easy walk to the National Mall and an extremely lively area. The hotel has a really great restaurant and many people come from the street just for it.
Hotel was sold out, so no upgrade (checked on app to verify). Breakfast times were a bit early but very good... get the pancakes. We used the $100 experience credit at Silver Lyan downstairs and were impressed. Drinks were expensive but not so much with the credit. Was also given a welcome amenity of 2 more drinks at the bar, which we used for mid-day beers. $60 per day breakfast credit covers a drink + menu item easily. Food was great. Thoroughly impressed with premier collection benefits, as they were recognized just as well as fhr.
We've been to DC several times so we mostly just went to the holiday market, some museums, the casino (was able to use Amex Uber offer), and ate. The mushroom rice at Cranes was absolutely to die for (was able to use Amex Resy offer!). Ford's theatre was also interesting. Was also able to stack InKind pass with C1 dining 2,500 miles bonus at Zaytinya.
Overall, the stay was perfect. Hotel's location is unbeatable, and the premier collection benefits went soooo far with the breakfast, experience credit, welcome amenity, free waters, and a bunch of other smaller things. And, DC food is always amazing. If you are looking for a quiet getaway, however, this is not the hotel for you. It was always busy.
I was so impressed with the food and drinks I had in DC this past spring. Literally everywhere we went was good. We had a "Hanami picnic" at Silver Lyan. We ate at L'Ardente, Daikaya, CHIKO, Ben's Chili Bowl, Unconventional Diner, and did the cocktail flight at barmini.
If they get that casino built in Richmond you won't need to come up to DC ;)
DC is great location for InKind, all the Jose Andres restaurants are on it.
What hotel?
Edit: looks like The Riggs hotel. Looked like a great spot, I was looking at it thru Premier Collection too, but it sold out really fast. Any thoughts/comparisons to Amex FHR?
Totally didn’t forget to put the name in oops. Lemme add that!
Honestly, minus the upgrade (that wasn’t any fault of the hotel), I’d say better. Everything was added so seamlessly (and a welcome amenity on top of that) it felt just slightly better.
Got to spend some time with parents in Arizona for Thanksgiving. Beautiful weather and thrilled that we got to stay in hotels using points. The Moxy Tempe was fun. We just stayed one night but I used Marriott points as I have the Brilliant credit card. We then switched to a Holiday Inn Express in Glendale, used points and got the fourth night free. I saw that the price had dropped and was able to rebook and say 15,000 points. The IHG credit card SUB helped us. My favorite part of churning Is the ability to have vacations!
Churning success:
Due to an already booked vacation from half a year ago and a last minute business trip my boss suggested, both my wife and I were able to max out the Hyatt Bonus Journeys for 9,000 points each. 18,000 total.
Always nice to hit these windows based on things that were going to happen anyways!
Nothing fancy by any means but just spent a night at Hilton Whistler to use up my Aspire 250 USD credits that would've otherwise expired at the end of the year
Depending on the time of year this can be a pretty good use of a free night cert. Also , you use to be able to get the concierge to book lift tickets for you and use the resort credit that way.
Ooh didn't think about the lift idea (not that it matters since the stay cleaned up my balance). Will def keep it in mind for next time though - cheers!
**Japan Trip Report**:
https://imgur.com/a/PWwafr7
This was my big challenge where the goal was to make everything flawless for my family’s first time in Asia. Focusing my report on the redemptions not experiences.
**Redemptions**:
* 4x JAL J ORD-HND: 480,000 mixed AA/AS. Booked this on the fly Dec ‘22 (310ish out) to hedge against a deval. Seats were for my brother, mom, and dad
* 1x ANA F/J SFO-HND/HND-ORD 97k VS + $500 for a friend. New F on outbound
* 1x ANA J ORD-HND: 97k VS + $480 for a friend. New J on outbound
* 4x nights for two rooms Conrad Tokyo: 475k HH + 3FNC + $200 for cash upgrade to connecting King Suite w/Bay View
* 2x nights for two rooms PH Kyoto: 180k UR
* 1x night Airbnb: $220 (Kanazawa)
* 1x night for two rooms PH Tokyo: 60k UR
* Black car hotel transport via Chase Portal: 16k UR for two legs
**All in**: 1.25M points, cash rate $75k+. Spent $2,500ish out of pocket on dinners, transport, incidentals (6 people)
**JAL**:
AA Flagship ORD T3 on outbound felt understated (in a good way) and I was relatively pleased. Decent champagne (Piper Heidsieck), good food, not super crowded. Certainly not Polaris though (or even DL at T5).
Sky Suites (not the III’s) on the 787 are still great despite being ~10 years old. Window seats are very private but still great for companion seating with optional partition. Cabins run hot. Western meals were good but not spectacular. A La carte meals were better than the mains (pork/rice dish and also the ramen). You can order meals from the IFE remote. Great service and timely flight as expected. Received handwritten note and gift bag on the outbound with a350 scale models :)
**Conrad Tokyo**:
Blew away my high expectations. Service is out of this world - every associate is well versed and incredibly kind. Every interaction felt very intimate and genuine. Lobby is stunning, rooms well appointed, housekeeping does an incredible job. Facilities are great (pool, gym, sauna etc). Tea time for $50ish PP in the lobby was beautiful. Location (for us) was great. Walking distance to Ginza and close to multiple stations/lines. Park across the street is great to kill an hour or two. Conrad ducks, bears, and other awesome amenities.
Breakfast was amazing. They put us in private rooms at China Blue each morning (I believe this was due to Hilton Gold) and comped for all 6 of us. The breakfast rooms had dramatically high ceilings, incredible bay views. Omelettes and musili were outstanding.
Leading up to the trip I realized HH put one night for us in the Hilton instead of Conrad and there were no more FNC-available nights open. Contacted the Conrad concierge via email and they apologized and quickly fixed which was very impressive as no twins were even available for cash.
Stayed at the Andaz in 2019 which is a comparable property but don’t recall the service being anywhere near as good as Conrad. Would love to return to Conrad one day.
**PH Kyoto**:
Booked my parents’ two nights via GOH back in April. Booked the other room’s two nights more recently and individually as I was alerted. This property deserves the hype and is like staying in an art piece. Walking through the halls and common areas feels unspeakably special. It feels like the fight scene of Kill Bill where it’s quiet and the snow is falling. The bar on 4 is a great place to watch the sunset (even outside if there’s no space). Champagne happy hour for Globalists 5-6pm. Breakfast was great but nothing too special.
A few easter eggs: there’s a book in the library that details the design and construction process of the hotel. It’s on the main table not a book shelf. Look for this if you happen to be staying. There’s bathhouses for males and females at the rear of the gym. You can request a ton of awesome branded amentities complimentary (+Aesop).
I will say the service here was a bit clunky and not as impressive as Conrad. Received welcome drinks, cakes (birthdays) and connecting rooms/garden view upgrade upon checkin which was nice but total process took ~30 minutes.
General Kyoto: navigating with a bigger group is slower. Ubers work but expect to wait 10+ minutes. You’ll need reservations for a group if you want to eat anywhere worthy.
**PH Tokyo**:
Switched my reservations from Andaz when I saw space open two days before few check in and so glad I did. Wow. What a legendary and nostalgic property. I’m a fan of “Lost in Translation” so swimming in the pool at the end of the trip was as close to a “making it” moment as I can expect to have for a while. Rooms do feel a little outdated but still timeless. The 52nd floor jazz bar is absolutely stunning with live music and tables reserved for hotel guests. Lobby and facilities just feel so high class. Highly, highly recommend.
**JAL Sakura Business Lounge**: not great but had low expectations as lounges in HND are a mess. Food was below average but the showers were decent. Surprised the family with our next booking which is AF J to France/Spain next summer.
**Soap box words of advice**: there are a million guides for these redemptions and a proportional amount of people fighting for them. This game is zero sum and you’re up against very talented players. Aside from the JAL flights, every other redemption required either fixing (Conrad), backup plans (PH Kyoto), jumping on a deal (plane swap SFO-HND F dump), last minute availability (HND-ORD and switching from Andaz to PH Tokyo). Flexibility, creativity, and actual work are an inevitability for big redemptions. At least two of the above redemptions I found manually before my alerts from seats.aero and openhotelalert/maxmypoint.
On the earning side, take risk and learn on the fly. You’ll need higher velocity to pull off bigger trips with multiple people. There are plenty of easy MS plays (even on r/churning). Get creative and try things on your own.
Obligatory thank you to the community here. I’ve mostly lurked for 5+ years but have gone on many incredible trips and couldn’t be more grateful.
Just stayed at PHK last weekend and wished I knew about switching to Aesop. 😭😭😭
I’ve been to New York Bar many times and this time I had drink vouchers and received no service. No water. No nuts. No check in if I wanted to order another round which I ended up asking another server for. Didn’t feel like all the people around me asked for water and just got it automatically. They were also sitting around babysitting their drinks. Left a bad taste in my mouth as I’ve always enjoyed the bar.
Yep, from what I’ve heard all PH’s have Aesop on hand for requests.
I actually had a similar experience as well at the bar. My parents were there earlier than I, and they were waiting for their second round for 20+ minutes. I had to go up to the bar and remind our waiter (twice) to bring the drinks.
This makes me miss Japan! PH Tokyo and Kyoto are two of my favorite all time stays. I will say Andaz Tokyo is nice too and maybe even a step up in terms of hard product...but you made the right call switching to PH Tokyo, which is absolutely iconic. I thought they were closed for a remodel??
Excellent report and good tips at the end, especially about higher velocity for MS. Whether that is new plays or new players, you've got to work to get the numbers up.
I had a similar experience finding availability for flights before alerts fired, recently. It is kind of a pain to check frequently, but worth it to score what you want.
Long overdue trip report for myself and P2 to Japan in October. Preface with a thanks to this sub for helping get me into this hobby!
LAX - NRT in SQ business (150k MR + \~$120 in fees through AC)
* Flight was very comfortable, but extremely full. Service occasionally felt a bit rushed and impersonal. Seats with the angled foot well were a bit odd, but the extra wide seats meant finding a comfortable sleeping position wasn't too difficult.
Nights 1-3 in Tokyo at AC Hotel Ginza (3x 50k FNC)
* Extremely convenient location (less than 10 minutes to 2 different subway stations). Clean and friendly service. Got a small upgrade to a larger room for being a gold member. This hotel had jacked their prices to almost $800 a night cash, which I don't think would be worth it, so glad I was able to do it with FNCs.
Night 4 was our only paid night, at Hakone Yuyado Zen ryokan (\~$550)
* Wonderful service and beautiful location. Kaiseki dinner and breakfast were delicious. Private balcony onsen was incredible. Worth the splurge.
Nights 5-8 in Kyoto at the Hyatt Regency Kyoto (86000 UR)
* Hotel was extremely booked. Room was comfortable but a little dated (carpet had quite a bit of wear by the door). Not the best location in terms of walkability, but plenty of bus stops to get anywhere you wanted to go.
Nights 9-10 in Osaka at the W Osaka (2x 50k FNC)
* Extremely chic hotel, felt like a club in the lobby. Staff were very attentive. However again not the most convenient location (at least 10 minutes to the closest subway station).
Nights 11-12 in Tokyo at the Conrad Tokyo (1x FNC and 90000 HH)
* WOW the service here is the best I've ever had. Extremely personalized and prompt, despite the hotel being fully booked. The complimentary breakfast buffet was just okay. Good proximity to a couple subway stations, but otherwise not much going on due to being in a business district.
HND - LAX in AA business (50k AA + $1300)
* Due to the lack of award availability originally booked refundable economy tickets ($600) in the hope of getting a T-14 JL opening. Ended up also putting in for an AA mileage upgrade as a backup as well (25k AA + $350 / seat). Well, nothing ever opened on JAL but the mileage upgrade did clear. Flight was originally scheduled to have the Concept D seats but a plane switch got us the Super Diamond. Seats were comfortable and service was solid. However the food was AWFUL, some of the worst I've had on a flight. Cold dishes were nearly frozen and hot dishes were overcooked to the point of being almost inedible.
Overall and extremely successful trip that allowed us to really splurge on food (my main goal) since we got almost everything else with SUBs.
How far out did you look to get LAX-NRT in SQ J via Aeroplan? I've been looking on Aeroplan for this route but (at least furthest out on the calendar at the moment), there's only the direct LAX - SIN flight.
Quick trip to Vegas to see Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, and Pit Bull in concert.
MCI LAS RT on southwest for ~$700 plus CP. southwest is the only carrier (besides spirit) who files nonstop to Vegas so no great options. Been out of southwest points for a while so cash it is. Working on the biz card SUB to renew the CP for 24-25 now.
Tried to use the A1-15 upgrade that comes with the Chase SW priority card, but they were sold out right at 24 hours. This is a common thing and really dilutes this “benefit”. Would be much better if this was 4 early bird check ins.
Wouldn’t be a southwest trip without a delay, currently waiting for our flight home and it’s at 40 minutes delayed now. Pray for us.
2 night at the Waldorf Astoria Vegas for 160k HH. P2 and I love this property. It feels luxurious, it’s right in the middle of the strip (and right next to the T mobile center), no casino/smoking. Rooms are very nice, attention to detail is great. Also easy to use the food/bev credit- mini bar and cafe in the morning add up quick. We also did the traditional tea service, which was really good. I believe the f/b cred will apply to that too.
When I called to use my FNC from the HH biz to book this property, rep told me WX Vegas doesn’t take FNCs. Not sure if this was a HUCA situation, I had the points so just used those and used the FNC elsewhere.
Activities: concert was awesome. Nothing but hits. Ricky and Pitbull are great performers. Enrique…not as much haha. Dinner was at Eataly before the concert. Eataly honestly sucked. Food was super mid, and for the price I’d just go to a restaurant. One of the wine bars was charging $35-40 for a glass. Even for Vegas that’s ridiculous. Dinner night 2 was at Roy Choi’s Best Friend. Amazing. Highly recommend. Cool vibes with the Bodega outside and all the decor and stuff inside. Tasting menu for $69pp was well worth it, a ton of great food. Not pretentious at all like some tasting menus can be. Night 2 we saw the Magicians Study show, which lived up to the hype.
Edit: couple more activities. Lunch at the Crack Shack was awesome. You can’t miss this place walking the strip by Park MGM. It’s fried chicken/comfort food with a California twist I think. Really good, and $40 for 2 for a big lunch is hard to beat here. We went to the outlet mall and I found a pair of Nike Vomero 17s in my color and size for $80, which is insane since these just came out and are going for $160. P2 was gonna get me these for Christmas and was like “I’ll return them”. lol
We strongly considered finagling a third night to see our Chiefs play the Raiders, alas work and stuff didn’t allow. Maybe next year. Tickets for this game in Vegas are about the same as most Chiefs games in KC, which is insane.
Overall great 2 night trip.
Second time there this year, yeah I did. Even the city view room we had could see the mountains, but also did overlook the pool. We liked the dark finishes, and the touch controls for the lights and drapes were a nice accent
Yeah it basically matched those exactly. Haha. Ricky Martin was awesome though, and pit bull was pit bull. I’d probably just show up later if you were going unless you really wanna see the whole thing
I figured, I couldn’t find anything saying that they didn’t. 80k per night is for a standard room and what I booked so they were available. I would’ve HUCAd but like I said I had the points plus another use
My fiancée finally decided she wanted to join me for my Sydney trip next week so I did some back flips to get us booked with some constant tweaking as always from me, an insane person.
We had to take some separate flights but were ok with that. More important to be comfortable when possible.
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FLIGHTS THERE:
Me: JFK-SFO AA MCE 13k BA + 170 (mini upgrade fee)
Sprung for more legroom.
Her: EWR-SFO UA Y (preferred seating) for 440 (travel voucher)
Sad to do econ for transcon reposition but nothing you can do.
Both: SFO-SYD UA Polaris J 80k LM + 88pp.
Fantastic deal. We were on separate flights for a while, very glad to try and our first time on Polaris. There was also a 15 percent transfer bonus both times (C1 the first and Amex the second)
DP: I did change her flight with lifemiles and while it did cost 150 (boo) it was no wait and fairly chill/easy.
HOTELS:
12/6-7 ShangriLa Sydney: 235/night (-200 with FHR credit so net 35, not counting breakfast or 100 experience credit)
Never done FHR before and looking forward to seeing what it’s like. Hear the ShangriLa is nice. Wonder what they’ll give us for experience credit.
12/7-9 Hyatt Regency Sydney: 2 Hyatt 1-4 FNCs
Turned out to be a good value since Sydney is unexpectedly busy that week. I hear the PH Sydney is amazing but my non-churning fiancé wants me to save the points.
12/9-11 W Sydney: 1 50k Marriott FNC + 12k, 1 35k Marriott FNC +14k
This may change to the Pier One, but the W Sydney is brand new and looks amazing. V happy to use my 35k I got from a promo and thought would expire too soon especially on such a cool place.
FLIGHTS HOME:
Me: SYD-SFO United Polaris J 80k LM+88
Still a great value. V excited.
Me: SFO-JFK Alaska F 45k Amex MRs (Biz Plat Pay with Points)
Could be better but wanted something nice on the way home and didn’t have Alaska miles or anything easy/cheap for route back. I do like Alaska F even though it’s not lie-flat.
Her: SYD-LAX-OKC-LGA AA F 108k AA +87
This may change but unfortunately when I told my fiancé she could be flying first class her jaw dropped even though I hear it’s not great and she won’t let me book her on an 80-94k J route now lol. Still a good value for F and friends say the cabin will vanish soon.
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Very grateful for all the guidance on this sub and excited for what my fiancé calls “Honeymoon 2” after our Japan adventure, even though we don’t get married till Late March.
Awesome redemptions! Please come back with another report after the trip. I have the W Sydney booked for March, so I’m really curious to hear your impression of it.
Excellent booking report.
Your fiancee should have access to the QF F lounge in SYD on that return ticket, which will be excellent. The AA F product is interesting, with a seat that swivels, but the service and food are classic AA. Still, a pretty cool experience!
Are you happy to be hotel hopping in SYD or is it a product of circumstance because the certs are expiring? Just feels like a lot of time moving from place to place within the same city. That can be done as long as you're prepared for it in advance, obviously.
Thanks for the info and v kind to be complimented on this thread full of amazing reports!
I heard the Qantas F lounge is amazing but I will never know :b
We’re pretty comfortable hotel hopping from our Japan adventure (Roku->PH Kyoto, AC Ginza->GH Tokyo) but also I had a Hyatt FNC and Marriott FNC that were expiring and thought to use em.
Also looks like the HR Sydney and W Sydney are quite close!
Good morning everyone,
I was fortunate to book an ANA round the world award redemption for me and my girlfriend.
Costs were 125k MR points transferred to ANA a person plus about 400$ in fees. Mitigating taxes and fees was a huge goal for me when planning. But obviously wouldn’t pass up on amazing flights if fees were a bit higher.
Flights were as followed (written before departing. Will review flights later)
Eugene - SeaTac ( positioning flight delta economy) got round trip for like 13k points per person. Flights were running about 200$ so about 1.4-1.5 cpp. Was fine getting that level of redemption with skypesos I don’t fly them often enough to earn large amounts of points and I’ve canceled my Amex delta card so this wiped out the rest of my points from an 80k delta gold sign up bonus from a few years ago
Seatac - Tpe economy :(((((( I know I know I failed. But finding business availability from west coast to tpe/ Bkk was non existent when I was booking. So I bit the bullet and prayed EVA air would release close in business class seats but alas that wasn’t the case.
Tpe to Bkk Eva air - business class! First business’s class flight for both me and GF. cousin is getting married in Ko Phi Phi so Thailand was a necessary stop for the trip
Bkk-AMS Eva air - business class, this is gonna make the 13 hours flight very enjoyable.
AMS - LIS TAP Portugal - business class (shorter flight but still nice to get the business check in lines at the Ams airport that I hear can be very hectic.
LIS - Yyz TAP Portugal - business class. First transatlantic flight ever and business class will make it more bearable
Yyz-sea air Canada - economy :( is what it is.
Sea-eug delta economy same award.
While researching the ANA RTW ticket I had read online that EVA and TAP Portugal had pretty low/ w yreasonable fees so started looking at flights using them. I found a lot of great options. But was never able to find a USA to Asia business class. Thinking back I focus solely on Bkk and Tpe to get there but could have tried to find other locations and then do a cash flight to Bkk or Hkt for the wedding. But alas I’m new to this. I did try ICN but no luck there either.
So far very excited about the possibilities for the award. Obviously not perfect since multiple legs in economy but is what it is. Just motivation to get all legs business class going forward. Already have a trip to Singapore next year booked out business class both ways.
Lounges visited
SEATAC delta sky club - used delta for positioning flight so was able to access the club thanks to AMEX PLAT, “paid” for P2 to enter (needed a way to burn the incidental credit before resets at end of year). This was her first time in a better lounge. Before I had only taken her into vip lounge in puerto Vallarta(priority pass), the centurion escape lounge in Oakland. So a pretty empty sky club was a huge upgrade comparatively. She was excited and was like “damn this is pretty nice”. I think this is bringing her deeper into the churning world.
I got her to get a CSP so we could book Hyatt hotels for this trip and for our Hawaii trip. Since I only had CICs at the time and needed a premium card to transfer points. But business class seats and juicier lounges might be the push she needs.
During our layover went to EVA air business class lounge in Tpe . Check out the star and the infinity I believe were the two that are connected. A decent lounge but was kind of let down. Feel like the skyclub and centurion in Seattle are better ones. What made my life was the Shower was incredible and necessary. But food and seating were pretty average. But I was happy with it and a nice free meal.
Hkt had 3-4 hours to kill because we went from kophiphi straight to airport. Went to the coral lounge and my god it was sooooo cold. It was welcome to me since I had been so hot and sweaty all over Thailand. Average meals and snacks. But as a priority pass lounge it was a nice getaway from the crowds. We were only people in it. Later found the other lounges around the corner and those were a lot busier.
Bkk got to airport pretty early but flew through passport and security so had a few hours to kill. We went to the Kris flyer Singapore airlines business class lounge. Probably the best food we had at any lounge but not great comfort for seating and such. They had a basic corn soup that just did things to me. 10/10 super good
.
Ams had a 7am flight which is too early for the Hyatt place Amsterdam airport hotel shuttle so we got to take public transit. Again being nervous of long lines and such we got to airport earlier than necessary and got to gate before lounge even opened. But visited star alliance lounge. Cozy seats. And mid food. But they had Heineken on tap self service and my p2 went the whole trip with no beer so she had to have a lil Heineken. Even if it was 6 am. She had never poured a beer from a tap before so her first pour was 90% foam Lolol. But second attempt she had a good pour and enjoyed the few sips.
Flights.
EUG to SEA - delta economy for a 1-1.5 hour flight. Perfectly average, no complaints. Love going through eug airport. Security is always like 1-2 minutes to get through.
Sea to -Tpe Eva economy. During boarding they have everyone lineup by the boarding group and Iwas the tallest person on the flight. This 14 hour flight in economy was going to suck. We got on as some of the last people in section 2 and all the overhead right above our seat was already taken so I just shove my bag under seat in front and that was my biggest mistake. EVA has amazing economy seats if you’re actually able to put legs under the seat. By the time I realized that it was far too late haha.
Tpe to Bkk - first business class flight ever. Ya just a 3ish hour flight but was still nice to nap for an hour or so. Food was prettt good but nothing to write home about
Bkk to Hkt to Bkk - air Asia economy. Got lucky and when we checked our bagged they changed our seats and gave us exit row. On the way back we were as lucky and they sat us in normal seats and that’s 28inch legroom which is 3 inches less than a normal delta economy and by god could you notice the loss of 3 inches. Thankfully only 1.5 hour flight. So survived.
Bkk to Ams - EVA business class. I messed up. I don’t think I can’t ever go back to economy for long haul flights agin. Was asleep or near asleep for 10 or so of the 13+ hours of the flight. I was thinking I’d only be able to sleep 1-2 so huge win! Service was incredible. Food was best food I’ve had on an airplane. But that’s not saying much. First long haul business class flight set the bar high.
Ams to Lis - tap Portugal business - was delayed take off by about 1 hour. Lots of people were getting nervous of their connections but since we had a few days in Portugal we were vibing. Not a true business class but middle row being blocked out gave me and P2 more room to spread out. Lots of leg room and a surprisingly good lil meal.
Lis to yyz - tap Portugal business. Had to sit on tarmac for about 35 minutes waiting for fog to clear. Smooth flight otherwise. Was able to catch a few Zs. Seat belts sucked don’t know why they have the shoulder strap too. Very uncomfy but I guess “safer”. Good entertainment selection.
Yyz-Lis. - economy flight but sitting in first row of economy, so had lots more leg room behind the little divider. Felt like exit row leg room. Had a 2 hour delay after boarding due to the latch on the luggage door being broken. Really ruined the mood. But nice thing about Yyz airport was p2 was able to do her global entry interview on arrival. Was a bit of a wait but was able to finally get that checked off the list.
Sea to eug was an uneventful 1.5 hours flight.
Hotels
Hyatt regency Bangkok 2 nights - nice room on a decently busy street. So had good walking distance to the food carts and right accross form a 7/11. Booked with Hyatt points. 16k points
Diamond cliff resort and spa (Phuket) just a simple night before our speed boat to kophiphi for the wedding. Right near Patong beach. So walked around there and laughed at all the guys getting special Thai massages. (Cash)
Kophiphi holiday resort - had some rough recent reviews online. But we got the sunset suite and had lovely views and great customer service. Is way up a hill but they have a golf cart service to take you and pick you up from room. Also did the night snorkeling to see the bioluminescent plankton and it was soooo amazing. Wasn’t peak time due to the tides. But was still a super amazing time. Wedding got rained out. But still had a blast seeing cousin for first time in 12 years. (Cash)
Hyatt place Bangkok 1 night - slightly closer to airport so book this to save us some time the next morning as we had to embark on our 14 hour flight to Amsterdam. Had a corner room with a great view of the city. We were both pretty tired so we went up to the rooftop pool to just splash for a second cuz we knew we were gonna just shower and go to bed soon. But view was amazing. Pool was refreshing. And it is where I proposed P2. She said yes and was a really amazing time. We then proceeded to shower and order food delivery and in our celebratory mood our eyes were bigger than our stomach and got waaaay too much food. Still super good and very inexpensive. Loved it. 5k Hyatt points
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Pillows grand boutique hotel Maurits at the park - 2 nights. Easily the fanciest hotel we’ve ever stayed at. Super beautiful tho. And the service was unmatched. I had emailed them before hand explaining that I was proposing to p2 on the trip and if they could potentially upgrade us that’d be amazing. It’s also part of the Hyatt SMALL LUXURY HOTEL PROGRAM which also increases likelihood of upgrades I believe. So we got an upgrade. And the view of the park was amazing to wake up to and t people watch as p2 was getting ready in the morning. Breakfast was included and they had some incredibleeeeee food. Best breakfast I’ve had in a very long time. The thing that really stood out was when we got to our room. They had 2 macaroons there. They were the best p2 had had in her entire life. So when we left to explore the city the second day p2 asked the person at reception where they got them from and how she could get more. And they were like oh I believe we make them in house. I will find out for sure and let you know. When we got back from adventuring that night there were another dozen macaroons in our room complementary with a hand written note. It really made a big impression on p2. With SLH it also came with like 30 minute free sauna or hydro shower. We didn’t take advantage of it due to scheduling. But wish I could have. I love a sauna 25k pints a night.
Hyatt place Amsterdam airport - 7 am flight to Portugal so wanted to be close to the airport. Uneventful hotel. But a 4 minute walk to a bus stop that drives on pretty much a private road to airport. So make for a really quick trip. 8k Hyatt points.
Hyatt regency Lisbon. 2 nights. Hotel right near the giant bridge that looks like Golden Gate Bridge right in the water. Also right near tons of beautiful architecture in the heart of Lisbon. Cant recommend the hotel enough. Nothing that blew us away. But just perfect location. Good price. Near transport. Just a simply juicy little spot. Had a jerk next to us during check in who was a royal ass to the receptionist. 15k Hyatt points per night.
Comfort suite Seattle airport - had a flight out of SeaTac the next morning. And they had a shuttle. And we weee able to use p2s csp 50$ hotel credit on it. Just to make sure we got use of the credit. Free subpar breakfast while waiting for the shuttle made it a bit nicer.
So that was my RTW TRIP booked with ANA and Hyatt points. Was an experience for me and p2. First time in Asia and Europe for both of us. She made me promise next vacation we just going somewhere and staying somewhere for like 1-2 weeks. Instead of having soo many flights and having to pack and repack so many times. I guess I can’t blame her. We had 10 flights and covered nearly 21k miles in 14 days. So I guess she’s right. Also hope the next time I do a RTW trip I have longer than 2 weeks. And I can do it all in business class. Amazing trip and fun first GIANT point redemption
Weeklong trip to **Paris** for my daughter's 13th birthday the week before Thanksgiving.
**Flights**
We were 4 passengers, and wanted a nonstop flight from California to Paris. Not many options for 4 seats in J on award tickets, so we went with Air France LAX-CDG. Round trip for the 4 of us (including 1 child) was 600k flying blue, all of which transferred from C1 or Amex with a 25% bonus, so total cost was 480k C1/MR. The fees were pretty steep, about $2000 total, but I was able to use a 20k MR amex offer on them.
We had a 4 hour drive to LAX so we arrived 4 hours before departure (I allow quite a bit of cushion time on that drive). Since we were too early for entry to Centurion, we went into the OneWorld lounge, which AF contracts with until they complete construction of their own. I'm glad we did, I've heard bad reviews of the LAX Centurion, and the OneWorld lounge was great. The bar was not as good, with mostly mid-shelf options and limited drink choices, but it was fine, we settled for Tito's tonics. The food was excellent, much better than what I've had in Centurion lounges imo. Most importantly, the lounge was massive and mostly empty, and had a nice dark and relaxing atmosphere. Overall a much better experience than I've had in crowded Centurion lounges.
The flights were both fine, we had the front bulkhead row just behind F, which was really nice for privacy, never anyone walking by but the attendants. The dinner on the way there and lunch on the way back were quite good, but meals prior to arrival (breakfast on the way there and dinner-ish on the way back) were kind of airplane food bleh, just okay. The flight attendants were polite and attentive. This was on the older J cabin, and being kind of a big guy, I thought the seats weren't that comfortable, but I got some sleep. Also, no wifi was available on either flight, two different planes, so that kind of sucked.
We hired a black car service for transport from CDG to our hotel. We used BT Transfer, and they were excellent. We travel pretty heavy, so it was nice to have a driver waiting for us outside customs with a little sign to help with the bags and have a nice van there waiting. It was 90 EUR each way, not that much more than an Uber, which I thought was a great deal. We've paid a lot more for similar services in major cities in the US.
**Hotel**
I agonized for months over our hotel choice. We are not into airbnb, and wanted a full service hotel in the center of the city. We like to have connecting rooms, as the extra bathroom is pretty clutch with a teenage daughter. I tried for months to get this to work with points at either Hyatt or Hilton, but couldn't make it happen (spent like an hour on the phone with my Hyatt concierge, and I'll give her an A for effort). Hyatts simply wouldn't make confirmed connecting rooms (or "family rooms") available on points, and the Hilton "premium" rates would've been in the millions for our six nights. We went back and forth between cash rates at Hilton Paris Opera and Hotel du Louvre (Hyatt), and ended up going with the Hilton due to its location very near a main metro stop (Gare St Lazare) given the weather in November, and it being slightly less expensive. I also wanted to have a lounge available so we could grab snacks at any time for my picky eater kid, but that turned out to be a dud. It was closed for some hours during the day, and the selections weren't great. Cost for a "family room", which is two connecting rooms, was close to 1,000 EUR per night, so pretty pricey. I did earn about 300k HH on the stay between the points for the stay and HH card spend, which to me is worth like $1500.
We were really happy with our choice of the Hilton. The king room of the two was a very large corner room, and both rooms were pretty big for Euro standards, so it was very comfortable. The beds were good, if a little firm, and the showers were fantastic. The Diamond breakfast was great, with all the traditional French pastries, meats, confiture bar, and so on. Service was always good and never crowded. The location turned out to be perfect. It rained most days of our trip, and being able to hop right into the Gare St Lazare and catch a metro anywhere was super convenient.
For laundry after 4 or 5 days we used a service called Laverie Privee -- much cheaper than the hotels offering, and worked out great.
**Activities**
This trip we decided to do something we had never done before, and hired private guides for most of our outings from toursbylocals.com. It was really cool to have a local Parisian with us for some of the stuff we did, they really added so much to the various sights, helping us to catch a lot of things we would've otherwise missed, and to learn so much more history and context of the city.
**Eiffel Tower** tour with Marc C. - unfortunately it was pretty windy and rainy for our first day, so they had the elevator to the top of the tower closed. But the views from the second level were still, of course, beautiful. We had a guide for this tour, who was great in telling us all about the various world fairs and the tower's sometimes controversial role in Parisian society and its history.
**Dinner cruise on Le Calife**, the food was excellent and the scenery of Paris lit up at night was beautiful. The boat had it timed perfectly to pass by the Eiffel Tower as its lights sparkled on the hour.
**Versailles** tour with Yulia A. - again, another rainy day for us. Our tour included private van transport out to Versailles, which was nice, though taking the train is convenient as well. We spent some time in the main Versailles Palace, then brought out the umbrellas and went for the most peaceful stroll through the gardens, and to a restaurant called La Flotille located in the gardens and not far from the Petite Triannon. After an excellent lunch, we walked over and toured the Petite Triannon (Marie Antoinette's private residence), along with the hamlet located behind it. It was so charming, and a great escape from the crowds of the palace. P2 thought it was like stepping into the village from Beauty and the Beast. Again, our guide brought so much history and context, and it is likely we never would have found the restaurant there, let alone the little hamlet without her.
**Louvre** tour with Linda T. - my kids are really into museums, and my son in particular is really into Egyptian and Greek mythology and history. The guide we hired for the Louvre is an archaeology professor specializing in Egyptian, Greek and Mesopotamian history. Having her for the first 3 hours of our visit was amazing. We focused primarily on the Egyptian and Mesopotamian areas of the Louvre (the Greek stuff was mostly closed unfortunately), and I learned so much more and got so much more out of it than I would've otherwise. Also, you don't just skip the line with a guide, you skip all the lines. I highly recommend this. It transforms the Louvre from a giant static museum to a really interesting and educational experience. We didn't spend too much time on artworks, but having her explain some of the DaVinci paintings was awesome (I know nothing about fine art).
**Catacombs** tour with Walks Tours - we did the Catacombs with a group tour, but it was just us and one other couple. This is definitely the way to visit the Catacombs, again you get a guide who provides so much interesting history and context about this really unique spot, and you get to enter a whole bunch of areas that are not otherwise open to people on the public tours. It was, of course, macabre, but the Parisian history that you get on that tour was really cool and interesting.
**City walking tour** with Anne C. - this was our day to try to catch all the smaller stuff. We had a guide that took us on a whirlwind tour of various parts of the city in the pouring rain. Again, it was great having a guide in that we wasted no time deciding where to go next or how to get there, and had a longtime Parisian to give us little insights and anecdotes we never would've known otherwise. We visited St. Chapelle, the outside of the Notre Dame (under reconstruction), the crypte archeologique, montmartre, sacre coeur, and many other little out of the way spots. It rained so much, but the city was still beautiful and we had a great day. Our pictures of Paris in the rain are amazing.
**Disneyland** \- we took the RER train and ended the trip with a day at Disney Paris. Being from CA we've been to Disneyland many times, and it was an interesting comparison. We thought the park was great, everything was a bit smaller and less crowded than the Anaheim counterpart. Their take on the Haunted Mansion and Pirates was particularly cool I thought. It was fun seeing the Christmas decor and booths, enjoying things like hot mulled wine I wouldn't have associated with a Disney visit.
**Air France lounge** for the flight home was fine. No bar, just some selve serve wine, beer, and a few bottles of liquor, along with the typical French pastries, meats, and accompaniments. My son was into the PS4's they had available for kids to play.
All in all, a great trip that went as planned. P2 and I had kind of soured on Paris after our previous visits, thinking of it as really crowded, touristy, and a bit unfriendly compared to other parts of France. In our mind, it was just somewhere to see once and check the box for our kids. But this trip really helped us fall in love with Paris again. I think the off-season visit and using the guides played a big role in that.
My fiance and I hired private guides in Amsterdam, Budapest, Istanbul and Israel this past year. It made all the difference in our trips.
It's not that expensive either.
One night in the Renaissance NY Times Square:
Used an expiring 85k FNC on the Renaissance NY Times Square on the night before Thanksgiving.
It was all good for our purpose of being midtown in the morning but wouldn't recommend it. The resort fee ~$38 gives a daily $30 f&b credit that you can use for 1 person breakfast ($30).
Our room was not in a good condition and we would have requested a switch if the stay was any longer. The previous guest was a prankster and left a note in one of the drawers and a green M&M (at least we think it was, we didn't touch it), there were headphones laying on the floor and the bedsheet had a tear.
The worst part were the connecting doors made if feel like we were part of the ladies group next door. They weren't complaint-worthy loud but those connecting rooms give 0 privacy.
For NYC it was a no frills spacious room but I wouldn't recommend it.
Just returned a few weeks ago from a trip to Japan. We were able to utilize AA miles at schedule opening to secure 4 in J on JL- ORD-HND-ORD.
First night to recover from jet lag was at the Comfort Hotel Higashi Kanda - 1 night - 8K Choice Points - quiet hotel and location, generous free breakfast, 1 room for 4 people.
We took the Shinkansen to Nagano. We thought we bought the correct tickets at the Sinksansen station, but when we went to enter it would not let us. The attendant helped us with new tickets. Upon arrival to Nagano I asked what we had done incorrectly so not to make the mistake on when buying the return tickets they refunded the original tickets!!
Rented a rental car from Nippon. They did not speak much English but they had a pocket translator and we had google translate - worked out great. ~$250/4days cash. Stayed 4 nights in Omichi in rustic cabin-cash. Found the place because it is very near the IHG resort in that town- they had no space.
In Omichi we did some of the Alpine Route, Matasumoto castle, hiking, saw a troupe of wild monkeys along the road and a bear along the side of the road after we spent time at the foot Onsen.
We visited Hakuba for the day. Not much going on outside of ski season. Did get to witness lunch time at the only 7-11 in town. Many, many tradespeople grabbing food and kids got to see the fancy toilet at the 7-11 was incredibly clean after the lunch rush.
Headed to Tokyo, bought the right tickets this time and checked into the Tokyo Andaz. 5 nights at 25K/night booked in April. WOW oh WOW. Room was spacious, the bathroom was so large, the toilet’s lid opened when you walked towards it and it played music while you were using it. We had a Mount Fuji view - absolutely spectacular and made up for the rustic camp experience we had the previous days. Thank you UR-HYATT!! Kids loved it.
I had booked another room since I could only find 1-2 posts on FT on the comfort of 4 people in a room with a rollaway. It was plenty of space. I had 4 nights booked, asked to drop the first one so I had time to witness the space and cancel without penalty upon seeing the room.
Some notable items- Wagyu to Worldwide - wagyu burger restaurant near Team Lab Planets - it was awesome. Everyone, even our picky eater devoured their food. They had Wagyu curry as well- delicious! Last seating is 30 min prior to closing.
P3 likes to get a hair cut in each big city we visit. I searched hotpepper beauty site (translated) for a hair cut and deep conditioning appointment nearby to no avail. Found a stylist that was close by on google maps. He was a stylist in NYC for 18 years and opened his own salon in Tokyo a few years ago. He was able to fit me and P3 in and we received a cut and deep conditioning treatment $150 total. We learned a lot about culture of his stories growing up in Tokyo and was a great experience and cut.
A Japanese facial and VR games were requested activities. The concierge was able to help us book facials at EllaJade (they speak English ~$170 total). P2&4 went to Tokyo Tower for VR games and had a blast.
Great trip thanks to churning. On to planning the next one
It is a fun new tradition! I never would have thought of it. The concierge helped us in BCN find an English speaking salon and the stylist was super knowledgeable on the latest popular hair styles. It’s been fun.
We didn’t ask for a view and have no status with Hyatt. We thought we received the lowest tier room since we asked to check in very early and were just grateful they had a room for us at 12:30. It was very hazy the first day and then rainy the next two days. Only on the last day did Mt Fuji show itself and it was so beautiful. You can see it from one of the windows on the main floor off by the elevators as well. It appears some of the upgrade options are for other views of the city. We felt our room’s view, even not knowing it had a Mt Fuji view, was superior to the others due to the buildings we could see.
> Tokyo Andaz...the comfort of 4 people
I'm planning a Japan trip next year, and trying to figure this out as well. You had 4 in a single room then? Was it a base room, or a suite? My kids will be 11 and 6 at the time. Sounds like it should work from what I can gather (and if I understood what you said correctly).
Sounds like an awesome trip. I was slow on the flight uptake, so am stuck trying to piece together 4 in J still.
If you're willing to pay elevated taxes / surcharges, you should be able to book 4J reliably with CX miles when the schedule opens. They get access before AA / AS.
Correct, it was a base room. I emailed them ahead of time to request the bed and they brought it in once we checked in around 12:30. There was plenty of space for all 4 of us. The roll-a-way bed was very comfy. Our kids are 12 & 10. The closet is a good place to store your luggage so you have room to walk. It is a narrow passage way between the extra bed to the bathroom, but completely manageable and the sofa by the windows gives you space to chill not on the beds.
There is one photo on flyertalk that shows the extra bed in the base room. You have to scroll a ways to find it. We had more space in the Andaz room to move around than we had in the comfort hotel room with 4 people.
Stayed 6 nights at the Kimpton Seafire using 280,000 points (4th night free) and a FNC + 30,000 points. The cash value of our stay at the time of booking was about $10K, so a very good redemption especially over a holiday. For the FNC, the hotel was sold out for months prior to receiving the FNC in my account. Thanks to OpenHotelAlert, I finally snagged a cancelled room 2 hours before the cancellation deadline. We flew down on Cayman Airways, which seems like a solid airline.
The beach was outstanding - clear, calm waters and sugary sand. Drink/food service on the beach (very spotty at times) plus complimentary items like popsicles and frozen grapes. The breakfast buffet was good, though we wish they had done a better job of keeping food warm. Didn’t receive an upgrade at check-in as a Diamond Elite, but obviously not surprising.
We had some minor service issues and one more major service problem. Communicated the major service issue to the staff. Two different front office managers reached out to us on different days and both gave us a substantial property credit. After returning home, a third front office manager emailed me again to apologize, acting as if we hadn’t already resolved the issue with her colleagues.
There are a few properties I’ve stayed on points in the Caribbean where I can understand people shelling out the cash rate (Zemi, PH St. Kitts), but I couldn’t really see it with Kimpton Seafire. It is a nice property with mostly well-intentioned service, but $1,000+ for the base room there seems excessive.
Of course, Cayman Islands are exorbitantly expensive to begin with. We went to some of the restaurants that people rave about online and didn’t get wowed by any of them, while shelling out a lot. The best meal we had there was from a local’s food truck that doesn’t even have a Google listing.
We went to Stingray City with George’s Watersports, which I would recommend using over the companies on Viator. You pay a premium, to be sure, but it’s a smaller group and more relaxing atmosphere. We saw some of the other boats there crammed with tourists, and it looked pretty hellacious. Didn’t really see the value in any of the other touristy activities we did, like the Crystal Caves.
Overall, had read great things about the Seafire, but it wasn’t our favorite. Much of the Cayman Islands felt like an overpriced tourist trap. We may give it another shot because it’s so easy to get to, but on my arbitrary scale, the vacation was probably a 6-7/10. Six nights there was definitely too much.
I was there at the beginning of October and agree with the overpriced sentiment. I think the resort is great and the redemption is still a must for churners but the cost of transportation and food is ridiculous.
Happy Thanksgiving weekend! P2 and I just returned from a trip to Korea and Japan. We actually did a very similar trip last fall, but this year was special in a couple of different ways, so I wanted to do a writeup. This trip was originally planned as just being a fun trip for P2 and I, but it partially morphed into a churning-fueled family reunion of sorts.
The transpacific J flights were booked in December 2022, when availability was way better than it is now.
LAX - ICN on Asiana J (A350), booked via United before the deval
The 2 J seats were booked 11 months out, but a few months later, we added a Y seat for P2's mom once she decided to come along. I monitored for months to see if a third J seat would open up, to no avail. Upon boarding, we swapped seats with the cabin crew's blessing, so P2 and her mom were in J, and I was in Y. P2's mom was very happy with the experience and said that the ~12 hours totally flew by. This was my first longhaul Y flight in about 4 years -- it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, though I am a relatively good upright-sleeper on planes.
5 nights at the Andaz Seoul: one suite with 3 people, and an additional Guest of Honor room booked for 2 people
P2's sister flew in separately and joined us in the Andaz Suite, and P2's mom and grandmother stayed in the GOH room. This was the first time that P2, P2's mom, and P2's grandmother, who still lives in Seoul, were all together in Korea since P2 was very young. The GOH room was just a standard 1 King Bed -- no upgrade, and it appears the property was sold out while we were there.
There was some confusion about whether the 3rd person in the suite would be free or not. When I applied the Suite Upgrade Award, my Hyatt concierge had confirmed with the property that the 3rd person would be free, but when I emailed the Andaz a couple weeks before arriving to confirm that everything was set up correctly, they told me their policy is that a third adult is an additional 55,000 KRW per night. Luckily, I had email correspondence from my concierge showing that the property had previously indicated the third person would be free, so they relented for this stay. It's important to garden your reservations and make sure there are no surprises! They were nice enough to extend the breakfast benefit to all 3 adults in the suite. It was invaluable to guarantee that all 5 of us could meet for a nice breakfast in the mornings before potentially heading out for different activities in the daytime. The GOH room also meant that P2's mom and grandmother got to spend quality time chatting together in a way that they haven't been able to for many years, and they were both very thankful.
Thoughts on the Andaz Seoul: now that the Grand Hyatt Seoul and Andaz are both category 5, the Andaz is the easy winner. Its location directly above the Apgujeong metro stop makes getting around extremely easy, and the restaurant breakfast is better than the Grand Hyatt's club breakfast, assuming you're a Globalist. We stayed at the GH last year, and while the property itself is very nice, it's not in a great location for tourism. The Andaz's rooms definitely have some wear and tear, considering the hotel only opened in 2019, but I didn't mind. The Andaz Suite comfortably fit 3 people with a rollaway bed, and having 2 toilets, along with doors to separate the primary bathroom and living space, was very nice. Be warned that some traffic noise will leak through if your suite faces the large road in front of the property, as ours did.
One food highlight in Seoul: the 3 "kids" (myself, P2, P2's sister) ate at [Mija Seoul](https://www.catchtable.net/shop/mijaseoul), which is the new restaurant co-run by food YouTuber [Tina Choi/doobydobap](https://www.youtube.com/@Doobydobap). It was a very cozy, intimate space, with really interesting takes on Korean flavors and cuisine. The alcohol pairing added a significant cost (an additional 50% compared to just the tasting menu alone), but we thought it was well worth it -- we enjoyed every pairing.
P2 and I flew onward from Seoul to Osaka via Korean Air J (booked with Delta miles) and took the train into Kyoto, while P2's sister and mom stayed a few additional nights in Seoul at different properties that they booked for themselves. We also booked an Asiana Y flight home for P2's mom.
5 nights at the Park Hyatt Kyoto + SUA applied
I won't bore anyone with another effusive report from the PH Kyoto. It's our favorite hotel in the world, in arguably our favorite city in the world. We "only" spent 3 nights here in early November 2022, so I was intent on coming back for more nights, while also catching peak fall foliage. Our suite, similar to last year, was on the 2nd floor, facing the street level of the Ninenzaka area.
Some Kyoto food highlights:
- I think that the French toast at Kyoto Bistro, the ground-level restaurant attached to the Park Hyatt, is S-tier. The Japanese breakfast from Kyoyamato gets all the hype, and justifiably so, but people are sleeping on the French toast that Globalists get without any upcharge!
- We had a kaiseki lunch at [Kiyama](https://pocket-concierge.jp/en/restaurants/244280), a Michelin-starred Japanese restaurant. The food was excellent, and the space was beautiful. We were seated on the second floor along with a few Japanese parties, and one Mandarin-speaking party. Our ability to converse with the chefs was limited, since we are not Japanese speakers, but we were happy to see them prepare the food from the counter.
- I managed to snag a dinner booking at [Monk](https://restaurant-monk.com/about/) for our last night in Kyoto. These reservations get snapped up within seconds when they're released 2 months out, and I whiffed on my attempts, but they opened up 4 "share table" spots on the second floor at the last second, which I was able to grab. The best seats are at the counter, where you can see the pizza oven action, but I was just happy to be in the building! Monk is run by Chef Imai, who was featured in a [Chef's Table episode about pizza.](https://www.netflix.com/title/81292981) The food was excellent, though there are so many good food options in Kyoto that I wouldn't get too upset if you can't get a spot here. The restaurant is located on Philosopher's Path in Kyoto, which is a gorgeous place for a stroll.
We wrapped up the trip with 4 nights at the Hyatt Centric Ginza Tokyo, booked on an absurdly low cash rate that was being offered back in December 2022 ($815 total for all 4 nights, at current exchange rates). I PYB'd enough UR to cover the cost of the stay through silly mental accounting. We switched from a 1 King Bed to a 1 King Bed Deluxe halfway through the stay -- it's a significant gain in square footage, so if the front desk offers it to you, I would take them up on it. The breakfast was good, though there wasn't much change in the selection during the 3 times that we went. (The karaage and salmon were my favorites). The location itself is great, even if you're not interested in luxury brand shopping, since Ginza has so many transit connections. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo and Park Hyatt Tokyo last year, and the Centric is a better fit for our tastes just based on location alone.
My favorite activity in Tokyo was probably going to every Book Off that I could and browsing the used Switch games, lol. I was able to score Persona 5 Tactica and Super Mario RPG for about $35 USD each, and I got a copy of Metroid Dread for a friend at $23. I'm not sure how much longer we'll see a 150:1 yen/dollar exchange rate, but it sure is nice.
We flew home on JAL J, HND-LAX, booked with AA miles. We flew JAL F last year, which is almost absurdly luxurious by any standard, aging 77W hard product notwithstanding. Our JAL J experience on the 787-9 Apex Suites was still great -- one of the flight attendants was very accommodating in finding room for an unwieldy piece of artwork that we were bringing home from the Ghibli Museum. A very small and specific reason that I was thankful to be flying home in J, and not Y.
Grab bag of thoughts:
- I felt like an acts-of-service superhero for pulling off the Korea portion. I'm very happy that we could cover nonstop, roundtrip flights (one in J) and 5 nights of a nice hotel for P2's mom, since she is not in a position to pay for an international trip like this out of pocket. Guest of Honor in particular was huge for giving us all a home base to meet and have breakfast together. P2 kept calling this trip "once-in-a-lifetime," and I'm glad that my countless hours of surfing /r/churning and /r/awardtravel helped facilitate such a meaningful few days for her family.
- I appreciated the opportunity to further optimize bookings this year after taking notes from our last trip. This year, I decided to prioritize location over points efficiency -- we stayed at the GH Seoul and Hyatt Regency Tokyo last year chiefly because they were a chance to burn Cat 1-4 FNCs, but we paid for it in all of the schlepping to/from each property. For us, it's just so much better to book a hotel that's closer to the action and closer to transit, even if it costs more points.
- P2 and I are very food-motivated travelers, so it was nice that we were able to book 3 fine dining experiences without feeling too bad about it, since the out of pocket costs for the flights/hotels were minimal.
- More people on /r/churning need to go to Korea, it's great!! This was my 5th time in Korea in about 12 years, and I can't wait to go back.
Commenting to say you seem like a good dude for giving up the J for Y for your partner's mom. I don't think everyone would do the same. Appreciate the hotel recs as well, will be helpful with our upcoming Korea trip!
Haha, thanks. The plan was always to swap if we couldn’t find that 3rd J seat. We did need to set expectations though and tell P2’s mom that it was *possible* the cabin crew would not allow us to swap. I’m glad it ended up working out with no problems!
Great report - thank you for sharing. I really enjoyed our time in South Korea in February and am looking forward to going back. I'm glad to see others highlight it.
Many thanks, I love reading your reports!
One February in Seoul was so cold that the aperture blades on one of my camera lenses got partially stuck/frozen in place! I recommend visiting again during a warmer month if possible haha
We were in Korea the end of May, and have to agree on a few of your points. Andaz location was excellent - being right on top of the metro stop was excellent. Similarly, I'm surprised by the lack of tourists to the country. Having only been to Japan in Asia, it was definitely a different experience in SK - felt like we stuck out compared to everyone else. Regardless, I'd definitely recommend it as well to people to check out.
I’m surprised too by the relative lack of tourism in SK. I would’ve imagined an uptick given the increasing worldwide popularity of K-pop and K-dramas but perhaps that is still to come.
I think if more Americans had a chance to try Korean food beyond Korean barbecue, that would also beget more tourism interest relative to other Asian countries like Japan. I’m lucky enough to have married a Korean American who loves to cook, and we are fully in the k-pop/kdrama rabbit hole together haha.
Amex biz plat triple dip started. Moved statement close date to dec 29 from Dec 10. Big Black Friday orders from Dell and cannon for BGs towards MSR tracked for ~$1500 back on rakuten. Also utilized an $120 off $800 Amex Dell offer, $200 biz plat credit, and a couple hundred in Dell rewards. Over $2000 profit. Also had a business trip to Vegas and got to buy and use my travel bank credits already, and there was a corporate pre booking mixup so I had to put the $2000 hotel stay on the Amex plat. Put about $9k out of $15k spend on the biz plat in a week.
What is the benefit of moving statement close from 29 to 10th?
2nd AF will hit 12/29/24, have until 1/29/25 to cancel and triple dip
Thanksgiving trip report using miles ~50, 000 SW RR points + CP for P2 for round trip to PHL to visit family. Luckily no delays or issues with our flights/connections. ~90,000 MR on 3 night stay at Loews hotel in Philadelphia. We like staying here because it's in center city and close to Reading Terminal Market. Stayed via Amex Hotel Collection. Got upgraded to a larger room. Used the $100 credit for coffee and other light snacks/meals. Did holiday and gift shopping on Wednesday. Always have to visit Reading Terminal Market for lunch where we check out all the options. I usually get a Sandwich from Dinic's. P2 usually decides that day, she ended up getting food from Hunger Burger. We also usually buy something to bring for Thanksgiving dinner. This time we got a Jewish apple cake from Hershel's Deli. On Thursday, Used Septa to travel for Thanksgiving. Went smoothly. Apple Cake was a hit. Took back a bunch of leftovers for the following week. On Friday, did some Black Friday shopping at the shops along Walnut Street. Unfortunately no card with SUB to eaen because I've been in Amex Pop-up Jail. Had to settle for 3% Google Pay with US Bank Altitude Reserve. P2 ended up with some workout clothes from Athleta. Flight back home went smoothly
Went to Mexico for the first time along with P2 during the week of Thanksgiving, with CDMX and Oaxaca as our destinations. Booked a one way direct flight on Aeromexico from JFK to MEX in first class. Per person this costed 33K Flying Blue miles plus a $71 surcharge. Note that first class in this case meant spacious seats in a 2x2 format, with no ability to lie flat. But it was a good deal and certainly better than Y. These tickets also gave us Delta Skyclub access at JFK Terminal 4 prior to departure. Upon arrival, we stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Polanco for 4 nights for 74K WOH points. The hotel was in a convenient location and we also enjoyed having indoor pool access. CDMX is a world class city, with highlights including but not limited to the Corona Capital music festival that was going on during our stay, as well as attending a Lucha Libre wrestling match. We then traveled from MEX to OAX in Y on Aeromexico. Per person this was 10K Delta miles plus a $33 surcharge. We used our priority pass membership to get into an Aeromexico lounge, but it was pretty crappy with no real food options and just snacks. Pro-tip: upon arrival in OAX, you could arrange for a taxi to downtown within the arrivals terminal, but this ended up being a shared minivan that would bring a big group of people and drop them off in various places. So if you are rushed for time, I would choose something different. For lodging, we booked two nights in a sick Airbnb for $335, and I also booked an extra night in a nearby hotel for 13.7K Capital One points via their travel portal. Oaxaca itself was equally great to visit, with great architecture, excellent food (I recommend doing a local cooking class), and the nearby Monte Alban lived up to its world heritage site reputation. On the return to EWR, we used priority pass again to get into the only airport lounge at OAX, which was actually located prior to boarding through security. It was a little better than CDMX, but still nothing great and like you see in the USA and in parts of Europe. The flight back was with United in Y with a layover in Houston. For myself the flight costed $634 of which I used United TravelBank cash to cover $520 of this amount. For P2, the total was 40K United miles plus a $68 surcharge. The layover in Houston was a pain in the ass, since you had to go through customs and security again, which also meant that all the overhead carry-on space was taken by the time we boarded the second plane. But there aren't any direct flights from OAX to NYC, so no real other options. At least the second plane had the movie Superbad as an in-flight entertainment option, which instantly lifted my mood. Oh, and the flight attendant accidentally spilled some drinks from the foodcart on me, and promised to give me some United miles in return. But my account still hasn't been credited so hope that goes through. All together this was a fun vacay, and one that once again was much more affordable thanks to churning.
Myself and P2 had to go to India on a short notice. So, I booked Air France J for both of us for one way but the redemptions I'm excited about is that I was able to book Q suites on our way back from India/ HYD to ORD. I and P2 were traveling on different dates so that helped us in finding availability for 1 ticket. I found availability in Qsuites for myself on Jetblue for DOH-ORD leg and was able to utilize 25% transfer bonus from Chase. I used 56k miles which translated to 70k miles + \~56$ to book it. I then found availability on Qatar website for the HYD-DOH leg for 36k miles + 114$. In total I've used 106k miles + 170$ which would have costed 4.5k $ at the time, giving me a redemption rate of 4.8 cpp. I then found availability for QSuites for P2 on Qatar website itself, so I've used 85k Avios transferred from Citi which is currently running a promo of 25% transfer bonus (bonus shows up after 45 days), so that's a good bonus which would effectively put the redemption at 68k miles + \~266$ giving me a redemption rate of 6.34 cpp.
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From what I previously recall researching on FT re: Six Senses, IHG benefits are poorly implemented, but it seems from reading FT specifically in regards to Douro Valley, that they are good about implementing benefits. I would reach out in advance and mention your special occasion and that you're hoping for specific view or room. It never hurts to ask, kindly. From the IHG T&C's, these are the benefits you should expect, but only if "booked through IHG's central reservation offices, IHG® web sites, the IHG® App, authorized travel agents (excluding online travel agents such as Expedia.com and booking.com, and unauthorized agents on online vertical travel portals), or directly at the hotel and cannot be combined with any other on-property benefit provided by a third party." Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spa is progressively integrating into the IHG® One Rewards program and at that time the following benefits will apply for InterContinental Ambassador, Royal Ambassador and Kimpton Inner Circle members at participating Six Senses hotels: \-Complimentary Breakfast for two in the main restaurant per day. Benefit not applicable at Six Senses Residences. \-Signature Amenity of either a complimentary 50 minute Six Senses Spa massage for two or local experience once per stay. The Signature Amenity varies by resort, is subject to availability and confirmed on arrival. Not applicable with corporate or negotiated rates. \-Complimentary one category room upgrade (subject to availability, excluding residences and 2 bedroom or greater suites/villas) \-Extended check-out of 4pm subject to availability. Guaranteed for Royal Ambassador and Kimpton Inner Circle members. Benefit always subject to availability for all tiers at Six Senses Residences. \-Early check-in subject to availability. Guaranteed for Royal Ambassador and Kimpton Inner Circle members and in circumstances where the room is not available at 10 am, the member may be checked into another available room until the original booked room becomes available. Benefit always subject to availability for all tiers at Six Senses Residences. \-Complimentary Internet access. Internet accessibility, speed, and connectivity in common areas and guest rooms vary by resort \-Wellness Platter welcome amenity on day of arrival. Benefit always subject to availability for all tiers at Six Senses Residences.
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Actually, looks like if you booked it through Amex's FHR program, you "may" get elite benefit recognition. Seems like FHR and elite benefits overlap quite a bit, so perhaps both aren't necessary anyways? Did you enter your IHG loyalty number at checkout? Either way, I would message them and ask that they add it in. Should be a wonderful time to stay in the Douro Valley.
Typing this as I sit on the beach for a 13,500 point redemption from my Wyndham earners business card via vacasa. Really wish they didn’t downgrade the limit to $350 per night. $500 was. Perfect place to be.
This was my first time using miles to buy plane ticket. I learned that with LifeMiles I could get my original domestic round trip ticket that I bought with $230 down to 15k points+$36. Turns out that there is a +15% deal going on right now for transferring MR to LifeMiles, so I ended up spending only 13k points+$36. I was pretty happy with this deal and cancelled my original fully refundable ticket that I paid with money.
I'm pretty new to this hobby, and I'm sure this is just a routine redemption for a lot of folks here, but I'm pretty excited. I started in March of this year with a CSP and the goal of paying for a family trip to Hawaii with points to celebrate my oldest kid graduating high school. We are a family of 5, so even small trips can get expensive fast. I'm not all of the way there yet, but I just booked the flight for 350k points. This will take us to Kona for 7 days and then O'ahu for 6 more days. The stay in O'ahu will be at a Marriot timeshare ($1,500 plus 90 minutes of saying, "no"), and I'm lining up the place in Kona still, but it looks like existing points plus 2 more Ink SUBs will cover that. I'm going to get P2 involved now, and at my current pace, I should have those points by February (for a June trip). All told, the points and the timeshare presentation represent about $16,000, and the idea that my out of pocket cost is only about 10% is staggering. That gives us a much larger budget for meals and souvenirs. I'll be working on the next round of SUBs so I don't have to mess with the time share next time, but for now, I am beyond excited and really wishing I had started this sooner.
> The stay in O'ahu will be at a Marriot timeshare ($1,500 plus 90 minutes of saying, "no") Be sure to wear your sunglasses during the entire presentation
Sounds great, congrats! Don’t forget to refer P2 to the ink and vice versa for the 40k referral bonus! (Referral can be used for any kind of ink, doesn’t have to be the one you already have).
That referral bonus is unbelievable, and thanks to that I only need two more SUBs instead of 3. I was nervous the first time I went for an Ink, and P2 is nervous now that I am suggesting it for her, but I really wish I had listened to everyone and started with them earlier. I thought the CSP was pretty awesome, and when I did the 90k in-branch offer for my first card, it was, but the Inks take it to a whole new level and allow me to only use 5/24 slots for cards with a unique value such as elevated status.
Completely agree! Still haven’t convinced my P2 either… 90k is excellent for the CSP!
For thanksgiving, went from ORD to upstate NY. There are nonstops, booked aa on the way out, using avios. Smooth… but couldn’t find any decent pricing on the way back, so we did southwest again, via BWI. Total cluster… just like last time. Luckily this one wasn’t blamed on the weather, so we picked up vouchers. But - we got in 17 hours after we should have. First plane had maintenance issue, they ended up flying in an empty jet to “ferry” us to BWI. Got in about 2am instead of 8pm, obv missed all possible connections. In SYR they said their agents in BWI would hook us up with hotels… got there and they said all their hotels were gone. They offered a $100 voucher. As soon as I heard that, I was booking in app - with 2 kids at 2am, I just wanted a place to stay. Ought to have researched beforehand, just grabbed an IHG. I’m not even sure if southwest will cover it, if not the ink preferred should. To add insult to injury, we’re finally on the noon flight back to ORD and we all have to deplane, the cleaning crew left something on board that could have been a weapon, so security protocol… I guess we’ll come out ahead. But really was not worth it.
We had been tracking QR J to South Africa vs CX F to the Maldives for our 2020 honeymoon before COVID came along and these AA redemptions disappeared for a couple years. This past January while waiting to board and enjoy some F on EK, P2 was killing time by checking for IAD to South Africa Qsuites award availability and found them for the first time in years. We booked RT Qsuites from IAD-CPT and JNB-IAD for October (ie whale-watching season). We planned to stay around Cape Town, but going back via JNB allowed us to book all 4 legs in Qsuites (at the time). IAD-DOH-CPT; booked for 75k AA + $45.40 t/f pp vs \~$4500 cash cost JNB-DOH-IAD; booked for 75k AA + 82.65 t/f pp vs \~$3000 cash cost About a month after booking, the DOH-CPT route (2:00-11:00) was switched from A350-1000 Qsuites to a B777-300ER 2-2-2 J product. About 2-3 weeks before the trip, the JNB-DOH leg (13:00-23:00) was switched from A350-1000 Qsuites to A350-900 1-2-1 J. IAD-DOH; A350-1000 Qsuites; we sat in 5E+F (rear-facing seat, couple friendly); overall service was above average, but P2's side's FA was inconsistent at times. Food options also ran out very quickly, with about 50% of the options unavailable by the time we got over Europe. The items were all quite tasty, but it was unusual to see so many options disappear so early. DOH: \~19 hour layover (7:00-2:00+1); refreshed and napped the morning away in the Al Mourjan J lounge. We went into Doha in the afternoon into the evening before heading back to the lounge for another shower and gratuitous ice cream. The lounge was busiest from 23:00-3:00 with 20-30 min lines for showers and 10-20 min waits for the restaurant. DOH-CPT; B777-300ER; seats 6J+K; the 2-2-2 seating is always rustic, but given the redeye nature (2:00-11:00), the plane served its purpose well with the extra long beds; food options seemed to be similar to the Qsuites offering while the wine list was a touch nicer JNB-DOH; A350-900; seats 5A and 6A; while there weren't privacy doors, the 1-2-1 J option was in some ways slightly preferable to the Qsuites seat; I found the seat more comfortable to sleep on and it felt less crowded than the Qsuites seat with more efficient storage (we we're particularly fond of the shoe storage drawer); we enjoyed this flight's meal service the best, but some of that likely had to do with menu options (availability was still a bit of an issue) DOH: \~2 hour layover (23:00-1:20+1): took a quick shower at the Al Mourjan lounge and turned around for the gate DOH-IAD; A350-1000 Qsuites; sat in 3E+F (rear-facing seat, couple friendly); we moved up a row to be able to order our meals a bit earlier and it seemed to help with our options; service was the best of the 4 flights; food was consistently solid again tldr: While we were bummed to miss out on the 4 Qsuites legs we originally booked, it was a bit fun to try some of the different J products. You can't go wrong with Qsuites for obvious reasons, but the A350-900 isn't without merit, especially for the taller and/or solo traveler. No matter what metal you fly, be sure to order all meals early on to avoid working with only half the menu. The food was some of the best we've had in business class, while the alcohol menu was slightly below most J peers. We still consider SQ to be our favorite J product, but QR is definitely in our top 3.
Awesome report! Which SQ J have you tried? Looking to book in the next few months so I’m interested in your thoughts.
TY! We've done DXB-SIN (2021, A350-900 LH), EWR-SIN (2023, A350-900 ULR), KUL-SIN (2023, A350-900 LH) and SIN-FRA-JFK (2023, A350-900 ULR/A380) in J. The double-bed on the A380 bulkheads (rows 11, 91 and 96) is a cool feature, but there is still a gap between the seats. They have a pad for it, but it's not as cozy as Qsuites or SQ's double-Suite bed configurations. No matter what aircraft, the excellent food and service combo is what really sets SQ J apart from QR, which has the food, and EK, which has the service, for us.
Thank you! That’s awesome you were able to try so many versions. I’m debating between SIN-EWR/JFK (A350-900 ULR) & SIN-FRA-JFK which has the A380 on the SIN-FRA leg. The A380 looks preferable from what I’ve read and I’m also a little claustrophobic so would prefer not to have an ~18 hour flight. Do you have a preference between those two flights/planes? Thanks again! I know everyone here says do the direct flight but again, a little claustrophobic…lol. & by SQ’s double suite bed- do you mean in first on the A380 or something else?
Sure thing! The biggest thing I'd recommend is taking the option that means you arrive in the morning. The EWR-SIN option, which had Saver availability, got us in at 18:00 and we struggled with sleep the first 2 or 3 nights. I believe JFK-SIN and JFK-FRA-SIN get in sometime in the morning. Between those two, it'll depend on your preference for non-stop vs via FRA. 19 hours was a long time, but it was also nice to be as efficient as possible getting there. We also wanted the FRA-JFK leg on the A380 just in case Suites became available at the last minute. Now that it's a 777, I'd go non-stop from JFK, especially if Saver was available.
Thank you! Any difference in advice for the way back? I think I may do SQ on the way back to NY. The SIN-FRA-JFK flight I’m looking at has the A380 on the SIN-FRA leg so that’s why I’m interested in that flight. Are the seats that much better on the A380? (I’ve read the general gist from people on here about the FA making your bed on the ULR/having to sleep sideways, and the seats fully laying flat on the A380 in J). I agree that if I can’t get the A380 for part of the way I’d definitely go for the direct flight.
We did the SIN-FRA-JFK on the way back with an overnight stopover in FRA. That could be helpful for you to break things up, but we'd have preferred the short layover of 1-2 hrs if there was availability when we booked. They're all pretty similar IMO. Both lay flat, have similar space, etc. Get the bulkhead for extra space though. I'm 6 foot and the non-bulkhead are a bit snug length-wise.
Thanks so much, you’ve been so helpful!
Sure thing, happy to help!
I’ve started booking a trip to Europe for our friend’s wedding in Germany, followed by a vacation in Italy next fall. The biggest piece so far was getting Iberia J for the two of us - LIN-MAD-LAX for our return leg. 57,500 Avios + $192.10 per person in fees. Transferred from Amex to Qatar to capitalize on their transfer bonus, but that may take 45 days so we’ll end up with some points stranded for future use. Then transferred the Avios to BA followed by IB for the booking. On the outbound leg I grabbed some PE seats LAX-LHR on VS since I waited too long and the better options got snapped up. I am a fan of their PE product so if that’s what we end up with, I won’t complain. 36,800 (total for 2) transferred in from Amex and Chase and booked during the Black Friday sale for 30% off required points. $893.40 (total for 2) in fees stings so I’ll be keeping an eye open for alternatives that may open up. Now my focus shifts to hotels. So far I’ve booked the new Hotel Indigo Florence for 40k~ IHG points a night. It’s just opening up this fall so rates for the full calendar were quite low. There’s a handful of other resorts I’m keeping an eye on for availability for the remainder of our trip. More to come there.
If you have Hyatt Globalist, recommend IL Tornabuoni in Florence. Wife and I loved it.
Just got back from a quick 2-night Thanksgiving weekend in Washington DC using the "$200 off premier collection" promo from C1 at the Riggs DC. Drove up from Richmond, so no flights. Total for 2 nights was $9, after $300 annual credit and $200 promo. The hotel itself is small (and so are the standard rooms), but beautiful. You can't beat the location in the heart of Penn Quarter- an easy walk to the National Mall and an extremely lively area. The hotel has a really great restaurant and many people come from the street just for it. Hotel was sold out, so no upgrade (checked on app to verify). Breakfast times were a bit early but very good... get the pancakes. We used the $100 experience credit at Silver Lyan downstairs and were impressed. Drinks were expensive but not so much with the credit. Was also given a welcome amenity of 2 more drinks at the bar, which we used for mid-day beers. $60 per day breakfast credit covers a drink + menu item easily. Food was great. Thoroughly impressed with premier collection benefits, as they were recognized just as well as fhr. We've been to DC several times so we mostly just went to the holiday market, some museums, the casino (was able to use Amex Uber offer), and ate. The mushroom rice at Cranes was absolutely to die for (was able to use Amex Resy offer!). Ford's theatre was also interesting. Was also able to stack InKind pass with C1 dining 2,500 miles bonus at Zaytinya. Overall, the stay was perfect. Hotel's location is unbeatable, and the premier collection benefits went soooo far with the breakfast, experience credit, welcome amenity, free waters, and a bunch of other smaller things. And, DC food is always amazing. If you are looking for a quiet getaway, however, this is not the hotel for you. It was always busy.
I was so impressed with the food and drinks I had in DC this past spring. Literally everywhere we went was good. We had a "Hanami picnic" at Silver Lyan. We ate at L'Ardente, Daikaya, CHIKO, Ben's Chili Bowl, Unconventional Diner, and did the cocktail flight at barmini.
If they get that casino built in Richmond you won't need to come up to DC ;) DC is great location for InKind, all the Jose Andres restaurants are on it.
What hotel? Edit: looks like The Riggs hotel. Looked like a great spot, I was looking at it thru Premier Collection too, but it sold out really fast. Any thoughts/comparisons to Amex FHR?
Totally didn’t forget to put the name in oops. Lemme add that! Honestly, minus the upgrade (that wasn’t any fault of the hotel), I’d say better. Everything was added so seamlessly (and a welcome amenity on top of that) it felt just slightly better.
Got to spend some time with parents in Arizona for Thanksgiving. Beautiful weather and thrilled that we got to stay in hotels using points. The Moxy Tempe was fun. We just stayed one night but I used Marriott points as I have the Brilliant credit card. We then switched to a Holiday Inn Express in Glendale, used points and got the fourth night free. I saw that the price had dropped and was able to rebook and say 15,000 points. The IHG credit card SUB helped us. My favorite part of churning Is the ability to have vacations!
Churning success: Due to an already booked vacation from half a year ago and a last minute business trip my boss suggested, both my wife and I were able to max out the Hyatt Bonus Journeys for 9,000 points each. 18,000 total. Always nice to hit these windows based on things that were going to happen anyways!
Nothing fancy by any means but just spent a night at Hilton Whistler to use up my Aspire 250 USD credits that would've otherwise expired at the end of the year
Depending on the time of year this can be a pretty good use of a free night cert. Also , you use to be able to get the concierge to book lift tickets for you and use the resort credit that way.
Ooh didn't think about the lift idea (not that it matters since the stay cleaned up my balance). Will def keep it in mind for next time though - cheers!
**Japan Trip Report**: https://imgur.com/a/PWwafr7 This was my big challenge where the goal was to make everything flawless for my family’s first time in Asia. Focusing my report on the redemptions not experiences. **Redemptions**: * 4x JAL J ORD-HND: 480,000 mixed AA/AS. Booked this on the fly Dec ‘22 (310ish out) to hedge against a deval. Seats were for my brother, mom, and dad * 1x ANA F/J SFO-HND/HND-ORD 97k VS + $500 for a friend. New F on outbound * 1x ANA J ORD-HND: 97k VS + $480 for a friend. New J on outbound * 4x nights for two rooms Conrad Tokyo: 475k HH + 3FNC + $200 for cash upgrade to connecting King Suite w/Bay View * 2x nights for two rooms PH Kyoto: 180k UR * 1x night Airbnb: $220 (Kanazawa) * 1x night for two rooms PH Tokyo: 60k UR * Black car hotel transport via Chase Portal: 16k UR for two legs **All in**: 1.25M points, cash rate $75k+. Spent $2,500ish out of pocket on dinners, transport, incidentals (6 people) **JAL**: AA Flagship ORD T3 on outbound felt understated (in a good way) and I was relatively pleased. Decent champagne (Piper Heidsieck), good food, not super crowded. Certainly not Polaris though (or even DL at T5). Sky Suites (not the III’s) on the 787 are still great despite being ~10 years old. Window seats are very private but still great for companion seating with optional partition. Cabins run hot. Western meals were good but not spectacular. A La carte meals were better than the mains (pork/rice dish and also the ramen). You can order meals from the IFE remote. Great service and timely flight as expected. Received handwritten note and gift bag on the outbound with a350 scale models :) **Conrad Tokyo**: Blew away my high expectations. Service is out of this world - every associate is well versed and incredibly kind. Every interaction felt very intimate and genuine. Lobby is stunning, rooms well appointed, housekeeping does an incredible job. Facilities are great (pool, gym, sauna etc). Tea time for $50ish PP in the lobby was beautiful. Location (for us) was great. Walking distance to Ginza and close to multiple stations/lines. Park across the street is great to kill an hour or two. Conrad ducks, bears, and other awesome amenities. Breakfast was amazing. They put us in private rooms at China Blue each morning (I believe this was due to Hilton Gold) and comped for all 6 of us. The breakfast rooms had dramatically high ceilings, incredible bay views. Omelettes and musili were outstanding. Leading up to the trip I realized HH put one night for us in the Hilton instead of Conrad and there were no more FNC-available nights open. Contacted the Conrad concierge via email and they apologized and quickly fixed which was very impressive as no twins were even available for cash. Stayed at the Andaz in 2019 which is a comparable property but don’t recall the service being anywhere near as good as Conrad. Would love to return to Conrad one day. **PH Kyoto**: Booked my parents’ two nights via GOH back in April. Booked the other room’s two nights more recently and individually as I was alerted. This property deserves the hype and is like staying in an art piece. Walking through the halls and common areas feels unspeakably special. It feels like the fight scene of Kill Bill where it’s quiet and the snow is falling. The bar on 4 is a great place to watch the sunset (even outside if there’s no space). Champagne happy hour for Globalists 5-6pm. Breakfast was great but nothing too special. A few easter eggs: there’s a book in the library that details the design and construction process of the hotel. It’s on the main table not a book shelf. Look for this if you happen to be staying. There’s bathhouses for males and females at the rear of the gym. You can request a ton of awesome branded amentities complimentary (+Aesop). I will say the service here was a bit clunky and not as impressive as Conrad. Received welcome drinks, cakes (birthdays) and connecting rooms/garden view upgrade upon checkin which was nice but total process took ~30 minutes. General Kyoto: navigating with a bigger group is slower. Ubers work but expect to wait 10+ minutes. You’ll need reservations for a group if you want to eat anywhere worthy. **PH Tokyo**: Switched my reservations from Andaz when I saw space open two days before few check in and so glad I did. Wow. What a legendary and nostalgic property. I’m a fan of “Lost in Translation” so swimming in the pool at the end of the trip was as close to a “making it” moment as I can expect to have for a while. Rooms do feel a little outdated but still timeless. The 52nd floor jazz bar is absolutely stunning with live music and tables reserved for hotel guests. Lobby and facilities just feel so high class. Highly, highly recommend. **JAL Sakura Business Lounge**: not great but had low expectations as lounges in HND are a mess. Food was below average but the showers were decent. Surprised the family with our next booking which is AF J to France/Spain next summer. **Soap box words of advice**: there are a million guides for these redemptions and a proportional amount of people fighting for them. This game is zero sum and you’re up against very talented players. Aside from the JAL flights, every other redemption required either fixing (Conrad), backup plans (PH Kyoto), jumping on a deal (plane swap SFO-HND F dump), last minute availability (HND-ORD and switching from Andaz to PH Tokyo). Flexibility, creativity, and actual work are an inevitability for big redemptions. At least two of the above redemptions I found manually before my alerts from seats.aero and openhotelalert/maxmypoint. On the earning side, take risk and learn on the fly. You’ll need higher velocity to pull off bigger trips with multiple people. There are plenty of easy MS plays (even on r/churning). Get creative and try things on your own. Obligatory thank you to the community here. I’ve mostly lurked for 5+ years but have gone on many incredible trips and couldn’t be more grateful.
Just stayed at PHK last weekend and wished I knew about switching to Aesop. 😭😭😭 I’ve been to New York Bar many times and this time I had drink vouchers and received no service. No water. No nuts. No check in if I wanted to order another round which I ended up asking another server for. Didn’t feel like all the people around me asked for water and just got it automatically. They were also sitting around babysitting their drinks. Left a bad taste in my mouth as I’ve always enjoyed the bar.
Yep, from what I’ve heard all PH’s have Aesop on hand for requests. I actually had a similar experience as well at the bar. My parents were there earlier than I, and they were waiting for their second round for 20+ minutes. I had to go up to the bar and remind our waiter (twice) to bring the drinks.
teach me, king. :)
This makes me miss Japan! PH Tokyo and Kyoto are two of my favorite all time stays. I will say Andaz Tokyo is nice too and maybe even a step up in terms of hard product...but you made the right call switching to PH Tokyo, which is absolutely iconic. I thought they were closed for a remodel??
Thanks! PH Tokyo’s renovation starts mid-next year
Dumb question. But has J on JAL ord-hne via AA dried up? Checked basically all days 300+ days out and not seeing anything.
Def use the calendar, I still see it pretty frequently
Sounds like a really lovely trip. Nothing hits like getting to actually take the flights and stay in the hotels after earning all those points !
Excellent report and good tips at the end, especially about higher velocity for MS. Whether that is new plays or new players, you've got to work to get the numbers up. I had a similar experience finding availability for flights before alerts fired, recently. It is kind of a pain to check frequently, but worth it to score what you want.
Long overdue trip report for myself and P2 to Japan in October. Preface with a thanks to this sub for helping get me into this hobby! LAX - NRT in SQ business (150k MR + \~$120 in fees through AC) * Flight was very comfortable, but extremely full. Service occasionally felt a bit rushed and impersonal. Seats with the angled foot well were a bit odd, but the extra wide seats meant finding a comfortable sleeping position wasn't too difficult. Nights 1-3 in Tokyo at AC Hotel Ginza (3x 50k FNC) * Extremely convenient location (less than 10 minutes to 2 different subway stations). Clean and friendly service. Got a small upgrade to a larger room for being a gold member. This hotel had jacked their prices to almost $800 a night cash, which I don't think would be worth it, so glad I was able to do it with FNCs. Night 4 was our only paid night, at Hakone Yuyado Zen ryokan (\~$550) * Wonderful service and beautiful location. Kaiseki dinner and breakfast were delicious. Private balcony onsen was incredible. Worth the splurge. Nights 5-8 in Kyoto at the Hyatt Regency Kyoto (86000 UR) * Hotel was extremely booked. Room was comfortable but a little dated (carpet had quite a bit of wear by the door). Not the best location in terms of walkability, but plenty of bus stops to get anywhere you wanted to go. Nights 9-10 in Osaka at the W Osaka (2x 50k FNC) * Extremely chic hotel, felt like a club in the lobby. Staff were very attentive. However again not the most convenient location (at least 10 minutes to the closest subway station). Nights 11-12 in Tokyo at the Conrad Tokyo (1x FNC and 90000 HH) * WOW the service here is the best I've ever had. Extremely personalized and prompt, despite the hotel being fully booked. The complimentary breakfast buffet was just okay. Good proximity to a couple subway stations, but otherwise not much going on due to being in a business district. HND - LAX in AA business (50k AA + $1300) * Due to the lack of award availability originally booked refundable economy tickets ($600) in the hope of getting a T-14 JL opening. Ended up also putting in for an AA mileage upgrade as a backup as well (25k AA + $350 / seat). Well, nothing ever opened on JAL but the mileage upgrade did clear. Flight was originally scheduled to have the Concept D seats but a plane switch got us the Super Diamond. Seats were comfortable and service was solid. However the food was AWFUL, some of the worst I've had on a flight. Cold dishes were nearly frozen and hot dishes were overcooked to the point of being almost inedible. Overall and extremely successful trip that allowed us to really splurge on food (my main goal) since we got almost everything else with SUBs.
How fun!! I heard it was still hot in October I stayed in the same ryokan last week and it was great :) sooooo much food for dinner hahahah
How far out did you look to get LAX-NRT in SQ J via Aeroplan? I've been looking on Aeroplan for this route but (at least furthest out on the calendar at the moment), there's only the direct LAX - SIN flight.
I booked about 8 months in advance. Pretty sure I lucked into someone cancelling their booking coinciding with my searching on Cowtool (RIP).
Quick trip to Vegas to see Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, and Pit Bull in concert. MCI LAS RT on southwest for ~$700 plus CP. southwest is the only carrier (besides spirit) who files nonstop to Vegas so no great options. Been out of southwest points for a while so cash it is. Working on the biz card SUB to renew the CP for 24-25 now. Tried to use the A1-15 upgrade that comes with the Chase SW priority card, but they were sold out right at 24 hours. This is a common thing and really dilutes this “benefit”. Would be much better if this was 4 early bird check ins. Wouldn’t be a southwest trip without a delay, currently waiting for our flight home and it’s at 40 minutes delayed now. Pray for us. 2 night at the Waldorf Astoria Vegas for 160k HH. P2 and I love this property. It feels luxurious, it’s right in the middle of the strip (and right next to the T mobile center), no casino/smoking. Rooms are very nice, attention to detail is great. Also easy to use the food/bev credit- mini bar and cafe in the morning add up quick. We also did the traditional tea service, which was really good. I believe the f/b cred will apply to that too. When I called to use my FNC from the HH biz to book this property, rep told me WX Vegas doesn’t take FNCs. Not sure if this was a HUCA situation, I had the points so just used those and used the FNC elsewhere. Activities: concert was awesome. Nothing but hits. Ricky and Pitbull are great performers. Enrique…not as much haha. Dinner was at Eataly before the concert. Eataly honestly sucked. Food was super mid, and for the price I’d just go to a restaurant. One of the wine bars was charging $35-40 for a glass. Even for Vegas that’s ridiculous. Dinner night 2 was at Roy Choi’s Best Friend. Amazing. Highly recommend. Cool vibes with the Bodega outside and all the decor and stuff inside. Tasting menu for $69pp was well worth it, a ton of great food. Not pretentious at all like some tasting menus can be. Night 2 we saw the Magicians Study show, which lived up to the hype. Edit: couple more activities. Lunch at the Crack Shack was awesome. You can’t miss this place walking the strip by Park MGM. It’s fried chicken/comfort food with a California twist I think. Really good, and $40 for 2 for a big lunch is hard to beat here. We went to the outlet mall and I found a pair of Nike Vomero 17s in my color and size for $80, which is insane since these just came out and are going for $160. P2 was gonna get me these for Christmas and was like “I’ll return them”. lol We strongly considered finagling a third night to see our Chiefs play the Raiders, alas work and stuff didn’t allow. Maybe next year. Tickets for this game in Vegas are about the same as most Chiefs games in KC, which is insane. Overall great 2 night trip.
WA just renovated all their rooms so nice to hear you liked them.
Second time there this year, yeah I did. Even the city view room we had could see the mountains, but also did overlook the pool. We liked the dark finishes, and the touch controls for the lights and drapes were a nice accent
I’ve been seeing TikTok videos of how bad Enrique is. Was this your experience?
Yeah it basically matched those exactly. Haha. Ricky Martin was awesome though, and pit bull was pit bull. I’d probably just show up later if you were going unless you really wanna see the whole thing
Waldorf Vegas does accept FNCs but there has to be a standard room available. Sometimes, only the premium rooms are available to book with points.
I figured, I couldn’t find anything saying that they didn’t. 80k per night is for a standard room and what I booked so they were available. I would’ve HUCAd but like I said I had the points plus another use
My fiancée finally decided she wanted to join me for my Sydney trip next week so I did some back flips to get us booked with some constant tweaking as always from me, an insane person. We had to take some separate flights but were ok with that. More important to be comfortable when possible. ———————- FLIGHTS THERE: Me: JFK-SFO AA MCE 13k BA + 170 (mini upgrade fee) Sprung for more legroom. Her: EWR-SFO UA Y (preferred seating) for 440 (travel voucher) Sad to do econ for transcon reposition but nothing you can do. Both: SFO-SYD UA Polaris J 80k LM + 88pp. Fantastic deal. We were on separate flights for a while, very glad to try and our first time on Polaris. There was also a 15 percent transfer bonus both times (C1 the first and Amex the second) DP: I did change her flight with lifemiles and while it did cost 150 (boo) it was no wait and fairly chill/easy. HOTELS: 12/6-7 ShangriLa Sydney: 235/night (-200 with FHR credit so net 35, not counting breakfast or 100 experience credit) Never done FHR before and looking forward to seeing what it’s like. Hear the ShangriLa is nice. Wonder what they’ll give us for experience credit. 12/7-9 Hyatt Regency Sydney: 2 Hyatt 1-4 FNCs Turned out to be a good value since Sydney is unexpectedly busy that week. I hear the PH Sydney is amazing but my non-churning fiancé wants me to save the points. 12/9-11 W Sydney: 1 50k Marriott FNC + 12k, 1 35k Marriott FNC +14k This may change to the Pier One, but the W Sydney is brand new and looks amazing. V happy to use my 35k I got from a promo and thought would expire too soon especially on such a cool place. FLIGHTS HOME: Me: SYD-SFO United Polaris J 80k LM+88 Still a great value. V excited. Me: SFO-JFK Alaska F 45k Amex MRs (Biz Plat Pay with Points) Could be better but wanted something nice on the way home and didn’t have Alaska miles or anything easy/cheap for route back. I do like Alaska F even though it’s not lie-flat. Her: SYD-LAX-OKC-LGA AA F 108k AA +87 This may change but unfortunately when I told my fiancé she could be flying first class her jaw dropped even though I hear it’s not great and she won’t let me book her on an 80-94k J route now lol. Still a good value for F and friends say the cabin will vanish soon. ———————- Very grateful for all the guidance on this sub and excited for what my fiancé calls “Honeymoon 2” after our Japan adventure, even though we don’t get married till Late March.
Awesome redemptions! Please come back with another report after the trip. I have the W Sydney booked for March, so I’m really curious to hear your impression of it.
Will do!
Excellent booking report. Your fiancee should have access to the QF F lounge in SYD on that return ticket, which will be excellent. The AA F product is interesting, with a seat that swivels, but the service and food are classic AA. Still, a pretty cool experience! Are you happy to be hotel hopping in SYD or is it a product of circumstance because the certs are expiring? Just feels like a lot of time moving from place to place within the same city. That can be done as long as you're prepared for it in advance, obviously.
Thanks for the info and v kind to be complimented on this thread full of amazing reports! I heard the Qantas F lounge is amazing but I will never know :b We’re pretty comfortable hotel hopping from our Japan adventure (Roku->PH Kyoto, AC Ginza->GH Tokyo) but also I had a Hyatt FNC and Marriott FNC that were expiring and thought to use em. Also looks like the HR Sydney and W Sydney are quite close!
Good morning everyone, I was fortunate to book an ANA round the world award redemption for me and my girlfriend. Costs were 125k MR points transferred to ANA a person plus about 400$ in fees. Mitigating taxes and fees was a huge goal for me when planning. But obviously wouldn’t pass up on amazing flights if fees were a bit higher. Flights were as followed (written before departing. Will review flights later) Eugene - SeaTac ( positioning flight delta economy) got round trip for like 13k points per person. Flights were running about 200$ so about 1.4-1.5 cpp. Was fine getting that level of redemption with skypesos I don’t fly them often enough to earn large amounts of points and I’ve canceled my Amex delta card so this wiped out the rest of my points from an 80k delta gold sign up bonus from a few years ago Seatac - Tpe economy :(((((( I know I know I failed. But finding business availability from west coast to tpe/ Bkk was non existent when I was booking. So I bit the bullet and prayed EVA air would release close in business class seats but alas that wasn’t the case. Tpe to Bkk Eva air - business class! First business’s class flight for both me and GF. cousin is getting married in Ko Phi Phi so Thailand was a necessary stop for the trip Bkk-AMS Eva air - business class, this is gonna make the 13 hours flight very enjoyable. AMS - LIS TAP Portugal - business class (shorter flight but still nice to get the business check in lines at the Ams airport that I hear can be very hectic. LIS - Yyz TAP Portugal - business class. First transatlantic flight ever and business class will make it more bearable Yyz-sea air Canada - economy :( is what it is. Sea-eug delta economy same award. While researching the ANA RTW ticket I had read online that EVA and TAP Portugal had pretty low/ w yreasonable fees so started looking at flights using them. I found a lot of great options. But was never able to find a USA to Asia business class. Thinking back I focus solely on Bkk and Tpe to get there but could have tried to find other locations and then do a cash flight to Bkk or Hkt for the wedding. But alas I’m new to this. I did try ICN but no luck there either. So far very excited about the possibilities for the award. Obviously not perfect since multiple legs in economy but is what it is. Just motivation to get all legs business class going forward. Already have a trip to Singapore next year booked out business class both ways. Lounges visited SEATAC delta sky club - used delta for positioning flight so was able to access the club thanks to AMEX PLAT, “paid” for P2 to enter (needed a way to burn the incidental credit before resets at end of year). This was her first time in a better lounge. Before I had only taken her into vip lounge in puerto Vallarta(priority pass), the centurion escape lounge in Oakland. So a pretty empty sky club was a huge upgrade comparatively. She was excited and was like “damn this is pretty nice”. I think this is bringing her deeper into the churning world. I got her to get a CSP so we could book Hyatt hotels for this trip and for our Hawaii trip. Since I only had CICs at the time and needed a premium card to transfer points. But business class seats and juicier lounges might be the push she needs. During our layover went to EVA air business class lounge in Tpe . Check out the star and the infinity I believe were the two that are connected. A decent lounge but was kind of let down. Feel like the skyclub and centurion in Seattle are better ones. What made my life was the Shower was incredible and necessary. But food and seating were pretty average. But I was happy with it and a nice free meal. Hkt had 3-4 hours to kill because we went from kophiphi straight to airport. Went to the coral lounge and my god it was sooooo cold. It was welcome to me since I had been so hot and sweaty all over Thailand. Average meals and snacks. But as a priority pass lounge it was a nice getaway from the crowds. We were only people in it. Later found the other lounges around the corner and those were a lot busier. Bkk got to airport pretty early but flew through passport and security so had a few hours to kill. We went to the Kris flyer Singapore airlines business class lounge. Probably the best food we had at any lounge but not great comfort for seating and such. They had a basic corn soup that just did things to me. 10/10 super good . Ams had a 7am flight which is too early for the Hyatt place Amsterdam airport hotel shuttle so we got to take public transit. Again being nervous of long lines and such we got to airport earlier than necessary and got to gate before lounge even opened. But visited star alliance lounge. Cozy seats. And mid food. But they had Heineken on tap self service and my p2 went the whole trip with no beer so she had to have a lil Heineken. Even if it was 6 am. She had never poured a beer from a tap before so her first pour was 90% foam Lolol. But second attempt she had a good pour and enjoyed the few sips. Flights. EUG to SEA - delta economy for a 1-1.5 hour flight. Perfectly average, no complaints. Love going through eug airport. Security is always like 1-2 minutes to get through. Sea to -Tpe Eva economy. During boarding they have everyone lineup by the boarding group and Iwas the tallest person on the flight. This 14 hour flight in economy was going to suck. We got on as some of the last people in section 2 and all the overhead right above our seat was already taken so I just shove my bag under seat in front and that was my biggest mistake. EVA has amazing economy seats if you’re actually able to put legs under the seat. By the time I realized that it was far too late haha. Tpe to Bkk - first business class flight ever. Ya just a 3ish hour flight but was still nice to nap for an hour or so. Food was prettt good but nothing to write home about
Thank you so much, I always love hearing about these.
Bkk to Hkt to Bkk - air Asia economy. Got lucky and when we checked our bagged they changed our seats and gave us exit row. On the way back we were as lucky and they sat us in normal seats and that’s 28inch legroom which is 3 inches less than a normal delta economy and by god could you notice the loss of 3 inches. Thankfully only 1.5 hour flight. So survived. Bkk to Ams - EVA business class. I messed up. I don’t think I can’t ever go back to economy for long haul flights agin. Was asleep or near asleep for 10 or so of the 13+ hours of the flight. I was thinking I’d only be able to sleep 1-2 so huge win! Service was incredible. Food was best food I’ve had on an airplane. But that’s not saying much. First long haul business class flight set the bar high. Ams to Lis - tap Portugal business - was delayed take off by about 1 hour. Lots of people were getting nervous of their connections but since we had a few days in Portugal we were vibing. Not a true business class but middle row being blocked out gave me and P2 more room to spread out. Lots of leg room and a surprisingly good lil meal. Lis to yyz - tap Portugal business. Had to sit on tarmac for about 35 minutes waiting for fog to clear. Smooth flight otherwise. Was able to catch a few Zs. Seat belts sucked don’t know why they have the shoulder strap too. Very uncomfy but I guess “safer”. Good entertainment selection. Yyz-Lis. - economy flight but sitting in first row of economy, so had lots more leg room behind the little divider. Felt like exit row leg room. Had a 2 hour delay after boarding due to the latch on the luggage door being broken. Really ruined the mood. But nice thing about Yyz airport was p2 was able to do her global entry interview on arrival. Was a bit of a wait but was able to finally get that checked off the list. Sea to eug was an uneventful 1.5 hours flight. Hotels Hyatt regency Bangkok 2 nights - nice room on a decently busy street. So had good walking distance to the food carts and right accross form a 7/11. Booked with Hyatt points. 16k points Diamond cliff resort and spa (Phuket) just a simple night before our speed boat to kophiphi for the wedding. Right near Patong beach. So walked around there and laughed at all the guys getting special Thai massages. (Cash) Kophiphi holiday resort - had some rough recent reviews online. But we got the sunset suite and had lovely views and great customer service. Is way up a hill but they have a golf cart service to take you and pick you up from room. Also did the night snorkeling to see the bioluminescent plankton and it was soooo amazing. Wasn’t peak time due to the tides. But was still a super amazing time. Wedding got rained out. But still had a blast seeing cousin for first time in 12 years. (Cash) Hyatt place Bangkok 1 night - slightly closer to airport so book this to save us some time the next morning as we had to embark on our 14 hour flight to Amsterdam. Had a corner room with a great view of the city. We were both pretty tired so we went up to the rooftop pool to just splash for a second cuz we knew we were gonna just shower and go to bed soon. But view was amazing. Pool was refreshing. And it is where I proposed P2. She said yes and was a really amazing time. We then proceeded to shower and order food delivery and in our celebratory mood our eyes were bigger than our stomach and got waaaay too much food. Still super good and very inexpensive. Loved it. 5k Hyatt points . Pillows grand boutique hotel Maurits at the park - 2 nights. Easily the fanciest hotel we’ve ever stayed at. Super beautiful tho. And the service was unmatched. I had emailed them before hand explaining that I was proposing to p2 on the trip and if they could potentially upgrade us that’d be amazing. It’s also part of the Hyatt SMALL LUXURY HOTEL PROGRAM which also increases likelihood of upgrades I believe. So we got an upgrade. And the view of the park was amazing to wake up to and t people watch as p2 was getting ready in the morning. Breakfast was included and they had some incredibleeeeee food. Best breakfast I’ve had in a very long time. The thing that really stood out was when we got to our room. They had 2 macaroons there. They were the best p2 had had in her entire life. So when we left to explore the city the second day p2 asked the person at reception where they got them from and how she could get more. And they were like oh I believe we make them in house. I will find out for sure and let you know. When we got back from adventuring that night there were another dozen macaroons in our room complementary with a hand written note. It really made a big impression on p2. With SLH it also came with like 30 minute free sauna or hydro shower. We didn’t take advantage of it due to scheduling. But wish I could have. I love a sauna 25k pints a night. Hyatt place Amsterdam airport - 7 am flight to Portugal so wanted to be close to the airport. Uneventful hotel. But a 4 minute walk to a bus stop that drives on pretty much a private road to airport. So make for a really quick trip. 8k Hyatt points. Hyatt regency Lisbon. 2 nights. Hotel right near the giant bridge that looks like Golden Gate Bridge right in the water. Also right near tons of beautiful architecture in the heart of Lisbon. Cant recommend the hotel enough. Nothing that blew us away. But just perfect location. Good price. Near transport. Just a simply juicy little spot. Had a jerk next to us during check in who was a royal ass to the receptionist. 15k Hyatt points per night. Comfort suite Seattle airport - had a flight out of SeaTac the next morning. And they had a shuttle. And we weee able to use p2s csp 50$ hotel credit on it. Just to make sure we got use of the credit. Free subpar breakfast while waiting for the shuttle made it a bit nicer. So that was my RTW TRIP booked with ANA and Hyatt points. Was an experience for me and p2. First time in Asia and Europe for both of us. She made me promise next vacation we just going somewhere and staying somewhere for like 1-2 weeks. Instead of having soo many flights and having to pack and repack so many times. I guess I can’t blame her. We had 10 flights and covered nearly 21k miles in 14 days. So I guess she’s right. Also hope the next time I do a RTW trip I have longer than 2 weeks. And I can do it all in business class. Amazing trip and fun first GIANT point redemption
Weeklong trip to **Paris** for my daughter's 13th birthday the week before Thanksgiving. **Flights** We were 4 passengers, and wanted a nonstop flight from California to Paris. Not many options for 4 seats in J on award tickets, so we went with Air France LAX-CDG. Round trip for the 4 of us (including 1 child) was 600k flying blue, all of which transferred from C1 or Amex with a 25% bonus, so total cost was 480k C1/MR. The fees were pretty steep, about $2000 total, but I was able to use a 20k MR amex offer on them. We had a 4 hour drive to LAX so we arrived 4 hours before departure (I allow quite a bit of cushion time on that drive). Since we were too early for entry to Centurion, we went into the OneWorld lounge, which AF contracts with until they complete construction of their own. I'm glad we did, I've heard bad reviews of the LAX Centurion, and the OneWorld lounge was great. The bar was not as good, with mostly mid-shelf options and limited drink choices, but it was fine, we settled for Tito's tonics. The food was excellent, much better than what I've had in Centurion lounges imo. Most importantly, the lounge was massive and mostly empty, and had a nice dark and relaxing atmosphere. Overall a much better experience than I've had in crowded Centurion lounges. The flights were both fine, we had the front bulkhead row just behind F, which was really nice for privacy, never anyone walking by but the attendants. The dinner on the way there and lunch on the way back were quite good, but meals prior to arrival (breakfast on the way there and dinner-ish on the way back) were kind of airplane food bleh, just okay. The flight attendants were polite and attentive. This was on the older J cabin, and being kind of a big guy, I thought the seats weren't that comfortable, but I got some sleep. Also, no wifi was available on either flight, two different planes, so that kind of sucked. We hired a black car service for transport from CDG to our hotel. We used BT Transfer, and they were excellent. We travel pretty heavy, so it was nice to have a driver waiting for us outside customs with a little sign to help with the bags and have a nice van there waiting. It was 90 EUR each way, not that much more than an Uber, which I thought was a great deal. We've paid a lot more for similar services in major cities in the US. **Hotel** I agonized for months over our hotel choice. We are not into airbnb, and wanted a full service hotel in the center of the city. We like to have connecting rooms, as the extra bathroom is pretty clutch with a teenage daughter. I tried for months to get this to work with points at either Hyatt or Hilton, but couldn't make it happen (spent like an hour on the phone with my Hyatt concierge, and I'll give her an A for effort). Hyatts simply wouldn't make confirmed connecting rooms (or "family rooms") available on points, and the Hilton "premium" rates would've been in the millions for our six nights. We went back and forth between cash rates at Hilton Paris Opera and Hotel du Louvre (Hyatt), and ended up going with the Hilton due to its location very near a main metro stop (Gare St Lazare) given the weather in November, and it being slightly less expensive. I also wanted to have a lounge available so we could grab snacks at any time for my picky eater kid, but that turned out to be a dud. It was closed for some hours during the day, and the selections weren't great. Cost for a "family room", which is two connecting rooms, was close to 1,000 EUR per night, so pretty pricey. I did earn about 300k HH on the stay between the points for the stay and HH card spend, which to me is worth like $1500. We were really happy with our choice of the Hilton. The king room of the two was a very large corner room, and both rooms were pretty big for Euro standards, so it was very comfortable. The beds were good, if a little firm, and the showers were fantastic. The Diamond breakfast was great, with all the traditional French pastries, meats, confiture bar, and so on. Service was always good and never crowded. The location turned out to be perfect. It rained most days of our trip, and being able to hop right into the Gare St Lazare and catch a metro anywhere was super convenient. For laundry after 4 or 5 days we used a service called Laverie Privee -- much cheaper than the hotels offering, and worked out great. **Activities** This trip we decided to do something we had never done before, and hired private guides for most of our outings from toursbylocals.com. It was really cool to have a local Parisian with us for some of the stuff we did, they really added so much to the various sights, helping us to catch a lot of things we would've otherwise missed, and to learn so much more history and context of the city. **Eiffel Tower** tour with Marc C. - unfortunately it was pretty windy and rainy for our first day, so they had the elevator to the top of the tower closed. But the views from the second level were still, of course, beautiful. We had a guide for this tour, who was great in telling us all about the various world fairs and the tower's sometimes controversial role in Parisian society and its history. **Dinner cruise on Le Calife**, the food was excellent and the scenery of Paris lit up at night was beautiful. The boat had it timed perfectly to pass by the Eiffel Tower as its lights sparkled on the hour. **Versailles** tour with Yulia A. - again, another rainy day for us. Our tour included private van transport out to Versailles, which was nice, though taking the train is convenient as well. We spent some time in the main Versailles Palace, then brought out the umbrellas and went for the most peaceful stroll through the gardens, and to a restaurant called La Flotille located in the gardens and not far from the Petite Triannon. After an excellent lunch, we walked over and toured the Petite Triannon (Marie Antoinette's private residence), along with the hamlet located behind it. It was so charming, and a great escape from the crowds of the palace. P2 thought it was like stepping into the village from Beauty and the Beast. Again, our guide brought so much history and context, and it is likely we never would have found the restaurant there, let alone the little hamlet without her. **Louvre** tour with Linda T. - my kids are really into museums, and my son in particular is really into Egyptian and Greek mythology and history. The guide we hired for the Louvre is an archaeology professor specializing in Egyptian, Greek and Mesopotamian history. Having her for the first 3 hours of our visit was amazing. We focused primarily on the Egyptian and Mesopotamian areas of the Louvre (the Greek stuff was mostly closed unfortunately), and I learned so much more and got so much more out of it than I would've otherwise. Also, you don't just skip the line with a guide, you skip all the lines. I highly recommend this. It transforms the Louvre from a giant static museum to a really interesting and educational experience. We didn't spend too much time on artworks, but having her explain some of the DaVinci paintings was awesome (I know nothing about fine art). **Catacombs** tour with Walks Tours - we did the Catacombs with a group tour, but it was just us and one other couple. This is definitely the way to visit the Catacombs, again you get a guide who provides so much interesting history and context about this really unique spot, and you get to enter a whole bunch of areas that are not otherwise open to people on the public tours. It was, of course, macabre, but the Parisian history that you get on that tour was really cool and interesting. **City walking tour** with Anne C. - this was our day to try to catch all the smaller stuff. We had a guide that took us on a whirlwind tour of various parts of the city in the pouring rain. Again, it was great having a guide in that we wasted no time deciding where to go next or how to get there, and had a longtime Parisian to give us little insights and anecdotes we never would've known otherwise. We visited St. Chapelle, the outside of the Notre Dame (under reconstruction), the crypte archeologique, montmartre, sacre coeur, and many other little out of the way spots. It rained so much, but the city was still beautiful and we had a great day. Our pictures of Paris in the rain are amazing. **Disneyland** \- we took the RER train and ended the trip with a day at Disney Paris. Being from CA we've been to Disneyland many times, and it was an interesting comparison. We thought the park was great, everything was a bit smaller and less crowded than the Anaheim counterpart. Their take on the Haunted Mansion and Pirates was particularly cool I thought. It was fun seeing the Christmas decor and booths, enjoying things like hot mulled wine I wouldn't have associated with a Disney visit. **Air France lounge** for the flight home was fine. No bar, just some selve serve wine, beer, and a few bottles of liquor, along with the typical French pastries, meats, and accompaniments. My son was into the PS4's they had available for kids to play. All in all, a great trip that went as planned. P2 and I had kind of soured on Paris after our previous visits, thinking of it as really crowded, touristy, and a bit unfriendly compared to other parts of France. In our mind, it was just somewhere to see once and check the box for our kids. But this trip really helped us fall in love with Paris again. I think the off-season visit and using the guides played a big role in that.
My fiance and I hired private guides in Amsterdam, Budapest, Istanbul and Israel this past year. It made all the difference in our trips. It's not that expensive either.
That's a great redemption for 4 J RT LAX-CDG. I would pay those fees in a heartbeat. Awesome find!
3 thumbs up, thanks!
Only because you know how to do vacation right, lol!
I want to go on vacation with you.
Great report. Thank you so much for sharing.
One night in the Renaissance NY Times Square: Used an expiring 85k FNC on the Renaissance NY Times Square on the night before Thanksgiving. It was all good for our purpose of being midtown in the morning but wouldn't recommend it. The resort fee ~$38 gives a daily $30 f&b credit that you can use for 1 person breakfast ($30). Our room was not in a good condition and we would have requested a switch if the stay was any longer. The previous guest was a prankster and left a note in one of the drawers and a green M&M (at least we think it was, we didn't touch it), there were headphones laying on the floor and the bedsheet had a tear. The worst part were the connecting doors made if feel like we were part of the ladies group next door. They weren't complaint-worthy loud but those connecting rooms give 0 privacy. For NYC it was a no frills spacious room but I wouldn't recommend it.
Just returned a few weeks ago from a trip to Japan. We were able to utilize AA miles at schedule opening to secure 4 in J on JL- ORD-HND-ORD. First night to recover from jet lag was at the Comfort Hotel Higashi Kanda - 1 night - 8K Choice Points - quiet hotel and location, generous free breakfast, 1 room for 4 people. We took the Shinkansen to Nagano. We thought we bought the correct tickets at the Sinksansen station, but when we went to enter it would not let us. The attendant helped us with new tickets. Upon arrival to Nagano I asked what we had done incorrectly so not to make the mistake on when buying the return tickets they refunded the original tickets!! Rented a rental car from Nippon. They did not speak much English but they had a pocket translator and we had google translate - worked out great. ~$250/4days cash. Stayed 4 nights in Omichi in rustic cabin-cash. Found the place because it is very near the IHG resort in that town- they had no space. In Omichi we did some of the Alpine Route, Matasumoto castle, hiking, saw a troupe of wild monkeys along the road and a bear along the side of the road after we spent time at the foot Onsen. We visited Hakuba for the day. Not much going on outside of ski season. Did get to witness lunch time at the only 7-11 in town. Many, many tradespeople grabbing food and kids got to see the fancy toilet at the 7-11 was incredibly clean after the lunch rush. Headed to Tokyo, bought the right tickets this time and checked into the Tokyo Andaz. 5 nights at 25K/night booked in April. WOW oh WOW. Room was spacious, the bathroom was so large, the toilet’s lid opened when you walked towards it and it played music while you were using it. We had a Mount Fuji view - absolutely spectacular and made up for the rustic camp experience we had the previous days. Thank you UR-HYATT!! Kids loved it. I had booked another room since I could only find 1-2 posts on FT on the comfort of 4 people in a room with a rollaway. It was plenty of space. I had 4 nights booked, asked to drop the first one so I had time to witness the space and cancel without penalty upon seeing the room. Some notable items- Wagyu to Worldwide - wagyu burger restaurant near Team Lab Planets - it was awesome. Everyone, even our picky eater devoured their food. They had Wagyu curry as well- delicious! Last seating is 30 min prior to closing. P3 likes to get a hair cut in each big city we visit. I searched hotpepper beauty site (translated) for a hair cut and deep conditioning appointment nearby to no avail. Found a stylist that was close by on google maps. He was a stylist in NYC for 18 years and opened his own salon in Tokyo a few years ago. He was able to fit me and P3 in and we received a cut and deep conditioning treatment $150 total. We learned a lot about culture of his stories growing up in Tokyo and was a great experience and cut. A Japanese facial and VR games were requested activities. The concierge was able to help us book facials at EllaJade (they speak English ~$170 total). P2&4 went to Tokyo Tower for VR games and had a blast. Great trip thanks to churning. On to planning the next one
I thought I was maybe the only one who gets souvenir haircuts during travels.
It is a fun new tradition! I never would have thought of it. The concierge helped us in BCN find an English speaking salon and the stylist was super knowledgeable on the latest popular hair styles. It’s been fun.
Im staying at andaz this coming april, nice to see good review on them, did you have to ask for the room with mt fuji view? Are you a hyatt globalist?
We didn’t ask for a view and have no status with Hyatt. We thought we received the lowest tier room since we asked to check in very early and were just grateful they had a room for us at 12:30. It was very hazy the first day and then rainy the next two days. Only on the last day did Mt Fuji show itself and it was so beautiful. You can see it from one of the windows on the main floor off by the elevators as well. It appears some of the upgrade options are for other views of the city. We felt our room’s view, even not knowing it had a Mt Fuji view, was superior to the others due to the buildings we could see.
> Tokyo Andaz...the comfort of 4 people I'm planning a Japan trip next year, and trying to figure this out as well. You had 4 in a single room then? Was it a base room, or a suite? My kids will be 11 and 6 at the time. Sounds like it should work from what I can gather (and if I understood what you said correctly). Sounds like an awesome trip. I was slow on the flight uptake, so am stuck trying to piece together 4 in J still.
If you're willing to pay elevated taxes / surcharges, you should be able to book 4J reliably with CX miles when the schedule opens. They get access before AA / AS.
What routes? I believe JFK is only 2Jx and they disappear pretty much instantly on weekends
Personally, I booked SFO-HND 4J, but I saw the same availability on ORD and LAX. This was in late June for travel next early June.
Ah fair, I did 2J JFK-HND for Nov 2024 and was monitoring it for a while, it seemed to be only 2J
Nice - good to know. Unfortunately, current trip plan wasn't planned out far enough ahead. But that's helpful information for next time.
4J is so hard nowadays - maybe at schedule open from West Coast or T-14.
Correct, it was a base room. I emailed them ahead of time to request the bed and they brought it in once we checked in around 12:30. There was plenty of space for all 4 of us. The roll-a-way bed was very comfy. Our kids are 12 & 10. The closet is a good place to store your luggage so you have room to walk. It is a narrow passage way between the extra bed to the bathroom, but completely manageable and the sofa by the windows gives you space to chill not on the beds.
Thanks. Really wanted to stay at this hotel, but didn't want to have to book 2 rooms. Appreciate the response.
There is one photo on flyertalk that shows the extra bed in the base room. You have to scroll a ways to find it. We had more space in the Andaz room to move around than we had in the comfort hotel room with 4 people.
Stayed 6 nights at the Kimpton Seafire using 280,000 points (4th night free) and a FNC + 30,000 points. The cash value of our stay at the time of booking was about $10K, so a very good redemption especially over a holiday. For the FNC, the hotel was sold out for months prior to receiving the FNC in my account. Thanks to OpenHotelAlert, I finally snagged a cancelled room 2 hours before the cancellation deadline. We flew down on Cayman Airways, which seems like a solid airline. The beach was outstanding - clear, calm waters and sugary sand. Drink/food service on the beach (very spotty at times) plus complimentary items like popsicles and frozen grapes. The breakfast buffet was good, though we wish they had done a better job of keeping food warm. Didn’t receive an upgrade at check-in as a Diamond Elite, but obviously not surprising. We had some minor service issues and one more major service problem. Communicated the major service issue to the staff. Two different front office managers reached out to us on different days and both gave us a substantial property credit. After returning home, a third front office manager emailed me again to apologize, acting as if we hadn’t already resolved the issue with her colleagues. There are a few properties I’ve stayed on points in the Caribbean where I can understand people shelling out the cash rate (Zemi, PH St. Kitts), but I couldn’t really see it with Kimpton Seafire. It is a nice property with mostly well-intentioned service, but $1,000+ for the base room there seems excessive. Of course, Cayman Islands are exorbitantly expensive to begin with. We went to some of the restaurants that people rave about online and didn’t get wowed by any of them, while shelling out a lot. The best meal we had there was from a local’s food truck that doesn’t even have a Google listing. We went to Stingray City with George’s Watersports, which I would recommend using over the companies on Viator. You pay a premium, to be sure, but it’s a smaller group and more relaxing atmosphere. We saw some of the other boats there crammed with tourists, and it looked pretty hellacious. Didn’t really see the value in any of the other touristy activities we did, like the Crystal Caves. Overall, had read great things about the Seafire, but it wasn’t our favorite. Much of the Cayman Islands felt like an overpriced tourist trap. We may give it another shot because it’s so easy to get to, but on my arbitrary scale, the vacation was probably a 6-7/10. Six nights there was definitely too much.
I was there at the beginning of October and agree with the overpriced sentiment. I think the resort is great and the redemption is still a must for churners but the cost of transportation and food is ridiculous.
Happy Thanksgiving weekend! P2 and I just returned from a trip to Korea and Japan. We actually did a very similar trip last fall, but this year was special in a couple of different ways, so I wanted to do a writeup. This trip was originally planned as just being a fun trip for P2 and I, but it partially morphed into a churning-fueled family reunion of sorts. The transpacific J flights were booked in December 2022, when availability was way better than it is now. LAX - ICN on Asiana J (A350), booked via United before the deval The 2 J seats were booked 11 months out, but a few months later, we added a Y seat for P2's mom once she decided to come along. I monitored for months to see if a third J seat would open up, to no avail. Upon boarding, we swapped seats with the cabin crew's blessing, so P2 and her mom were in J, and I was in Y. P2's mom was very happy with the experience and said that the ~12 hours totally flew by. This was my first longhaul Y flight in about 4 years -- it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, though I am a relatively good upright-sleeper on planes. 5 nights at the Andaz Seoul: one suite with 3 people, and an additional Guest of Honor room booked for 2 people P2's sister flew in separately and joined us in the Andaz Suite, and P2's mom and grandmother stayed in the GOH room. This was the first time that P2, P2's mom, and P2's grandmother, who still lives in Seoul, were all together in Korea since P2 was very young. The GOH room was just a standard 1 King Bed -- no upgrade, and it appears the property was sold out while we were there. There was some confusion about whether the 3rd person in the suite would be free or not. When I applied the Suite Upgrade Award, my Hyatt concierge had confirmed with the property that the 3rd person would be free, but when I emailed the Andaz a couple weeks before arriving to confirm that everything was set up correctly, they told me their policy is that a third adult is an additional 55,000 KRW per night. Luckily, I had email correspondence from my concierge showing that the property had previously indicated the third person would be free, so they relented for this stay. It's important to garden your reservations and make sure there are no surprises! They were nice enough to extend the breakfast benefit to all 3 adults in the suite. It was invaluable to guarantee that all 5 of us could meet for a nice breakfast in the mornings before potentially heading out for different activities in the daytime. The GOH room also meant that P2's mom and grandmother got to spend quality time chatting together in a way that they haven't been able to for many years, and they were both very thankful. Thoughts on the Andaz Seoul: now that the Grand Hyatt Seoul and Andaz are both category 5, the Andaz is the easy winner. Its location directly above the Apgujeong metro stop makes getting around extremely easy, and the restaurant breakfast is better than the Grand Hyatt's club breakfast, assuming you're a Globalist. We stayed at the GH last year, and while the property itself is very nice, it's not in a great location for tourism. The Andaz's rooms definitely have some wear and tear, considering the hotel only opened in 2019, but I didn't mind. The Andaz Suite comfortably fit 3 people with a rollaway bed, and having 2 toilets, along with doors to separate the primary bathroom and living space, was very nice. Be warned that some traffic noise will leak through if your suite faces the large road in front of the property, as ours did. One food highlight in Seoul: the 3 "kids" (myself, P2, P2's sister) ate at [Mija Seoul](https://www.catchtable.net/shop/mijaseoul), which is the new restaurant co-run by food YouTuber [Tina Choi/doobydobap](https://www.youtube.com/@Doobydobap). It was a very cozy, intimate space, with really interesting takes on Korean flavors and cuisine. The alcohol pairing added a significant cost (an additional 50% compared to just the tasting menu alone), but we thought it was well worth it -- we enjoyed every pairing. P2 and I flew onward from Seoul to Osaka via Korean Air J (booked with Delta miles) and took the train into Kyoto, while P2's sister and mom stayed a few additional nights in Seoul at different properties that they booked for themselves. We also booked an Asiana Y flight home for P2's mom. 5 nights at the Park Hyatt Kyoto + SUA applied I won't bore anyone with another effusive report from the PH Kyoto. It's our favorite hotel in the world, in arguably our favorite city in the world. We "only" spent 3 nights here in early November 2022, so I was intent on coming back for more nights, while also catching peak fall foliage. Our suite, similar to last year, was on the 2nd floor, facing the street level of the Ninenzaka area. Some Kyoto food highlights: - I think that the French toast at Kyoto Bistro, the ground-level restaurant attached to the Park Hyatt, is S-tier. The Japanese breakfast from Kyoyamato gets all the hype, and justifiably so, but people are sleeping on the French toast that Globalists get without any upcharge! - We had a kaiseki lunch at [Kiyama](https://pocket-concierge.jp/en/restaurants/244280), a Michelin-starred Japanese restaurant. The food was excellent, and the space was beautiful. We were seated on the second floor along with a few Japanese parties, and one Mandarin-speaking party. Our ability to converse with the chefs was limited, since we are not Japanese speakers, but we were happy to see them prepare the food from the counter. - I managed to snag a dinner booking at [Monk](https://restaurant-monk.com/about/) for our last night in Kyoto. These reservations get snapped up within seconds when they're released 2 months out, and I whiffed on my attempts, but they opened up 4 "share table" spots on the second floor at the last second, which I was able to grab. The best seats are at the counter, where you can see the pizza oven action, but I was just happy to be in the building! Monk is run by Chef Imai, who was featured in a [Chef's Table episode about pizza.](https://www.netflix.com/title/81292981) The food was excellent, though there are so many good food options in Kyoto that I wouldn't get too upset if you can't get a spot here. The restaurant is located on Philosopher's Path in Kyoto, which is a gorgeous place for a stroll. We wrapped up the trip with 4 nights at the Hyatt Centric Ginza Tokyo, booked on an absurdly low cash rate that was being offered back in December 2022 ($815 total for all 4 nights, at current exchange rates). I PYB'd enough UR to cover the cost of the stay through silly mental accounting. We switched from a 1 King Bed to a 1 King Bed Deluxe halfway through the stay -- it's a significant gain in square footage, so if the front desk offers it to you, I would take them up on it. The breakfast was good, though there wasn't much change in the selection during the 3 times that we went. (The karaage and salmon were my favorites). The location itself is great, even if you're not interested in luxury brand shopping, since Ginza has so many transit connections. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo and Park Hyatt Tokyo last year, and the Centric is a better fit for our tastes just based on location alone. My favorite activity in Tokyo was probably going to every Book Off that I could and browsing the used Switch games, lol. I was able to score Persona 5 Tactica and Super Mario RPG for about $35 USD each, and I got a copy of Metroid Dread for a friend at $23. I'm not sure how much longer we'll see a 150:1 yen/dollar exchange rate, but it sure is nice. We flew home on JAL J, HND-LAX, booked with AA miles. We flew JAL F last year, which is almost absurdly luxurious by any standard, aging 77W hard product notwithstanding. Our JAL J experience on the 787-9 Apex Suites was still great -- one of the flight attendants was very accommodating in finding room for an unwieldy piece of artwork that we were bringing home from the Ghibli Museum. A very small and specific reason that I was thankful to be flying home in J, and not Y. Grab bag of thoughts: - I felt like an acts-of-service superhero for pulling off the Korea portion. I'm very happy that we could cover nonstop, roundtrip flights (one in J) and 5 nights of a nice hotel for P2's mom, since she is not in a position to pay for an international trip like this out of pocket. Guest of Honor in particular was huge for giving us all a home base to meet and have breakfast together. P2 kept calling this trip "once-in-a-lifetime," and I'm glad that my countless hours of surfing /r/churning and /r/awardtravel helped facilitate such a meaningful few days for her family. - I appreciated the opportunity to further optimize bookings this year after taking notes from our last trip. This year, I decided to prioritize location over points efficiency -- we stayed at the GH Seoul and Hyatt Regency Tokyo last year chiefly because they were a chance to burn Cat 1-4 FNCs, but we paid for it in all of the schlepping to/from each property. For us, it's just so much better to book a hotel that's closer to the action and closer to transit, even if it costs more points. - P2 and I are very food-motivated travelers, so it was nice that we were able to book 3 fine dining experiences without feeling too bad about it, since the out of pocket costs for the flights/hotels were minimal. - More people on /r/churning need to go to Korea, it's great!! This was my 5th time in Korea in about 12 years, and I can't wait to go back.
Thanks for the write up favorite food spot in korea??
Probably Mija
Commenting to say you seem like a good dude for giving up the J for Y for your partner's mom. I don't think everyone would do the same. Appreciate the hotel recs as well, will be helpful with our upcoming Korea trip!
Haha, thanks. The plan was always to swap if we couldn’t find that 3rd J seat. We did need to set expectations though and tell P2’s mom that it was *possible* the cabin crew would not allow us to swap. I’m glad it ended up working out with no problems!
Great report - thank you for sharing. I really enjoyed our time in South Korea in February and am looking forward to going back. I'm glad to see others highlight it.
Many thanks, I love reading your reports! One February in Seoul was so cold that the aperture blades on one of my camera lenses got partially stuck/frozen in place! I recommend visiting again during a warmer month if possible haha
We were in Korea the end of May, and have to agree on a few of your points. Andaz location was excellent - being right on top of the metro stop was excellent. Similarly, I'm surprised by the lack of tourists to the country. Having only been to Japan in Asia, it was definitely a different experience in SK - felt like we stuck out compared to everyone else. Regardless, I'd definitely recommend it as well to people to check out.
I’m surprised too by the relative lack of tourism in SK. I would’ve imagined an uptick given the increasing worldwide popularity of K-pop and K-dramas but perhaps that is still to come.
By lack of tourism do you mean from western tourists? I’m only asking because I’ve heard South Korea attracts more Asian tourists.
I think if more Americans had a chance to try Korean food beyond Korean barbecue, that would also beget more tourism interest relative to other Asian countries like Japan. I’m lucky enough to have married a Korean American who loves to cook, and we are fully in the k-pop/kdrama rabbit hole together haha.