Posts

Bali — a synonym for the exotic, romantic and, of course, bestseller Eat, Pray, Love — is undergoing an unprecedented hotel boom from an international array of companies. In 2015 alone, 25 new hotels opened on the Indonesian island, including nine 5-star, 11 4-star and five 3-star hotels, according to global real estate firm Colliers International Indonesia. “If seen from the growth of hotel room numbers, the greatest growth is demonstrated by 5-star hotels at 14....

You’re looking at the brand new TPG site — a project we’ve been working on for many months. This is so much more than just a homepage refresh or logo evolution (though we did change both of these things). The new TPG is much faster, easier to navigate and full of new features.The first step: We wanted to make it easier to find things so the navigation is completely new. We organized the site into core content components: News, Reviews, Guides, Deals and Videos....

My four year old and I just took a flight I was someone anxious about, and didn’t think I was going on until a day or so before departure. This was a United operated flight to the great state of Alaska! We have all been pretty sick, so I thought we were going to miss the trip, but thankfully we got better enough just in time. Even before we came down with the crud, I had been a bit anxious about this flight since it is a long seven hours during the day confined to a seat....

If you live in the Southeast corner of the US, you are probably familiar with AirTran. If you live anywhere else, you are probably more familiar with ValuJet and it’s infamous 1996 crash in the Florida Everglades. Before the crash, ValuJet was cited many times for safety violations, so the negative publicity wave after the crash was enough to tarnish the brand forever.Since then, ValuJet has become AirTran- moving its home from Atlanta to Orlando, but still operating hubs in Atlanta and Orlando....

It’s about time there’s some good news coming from a US airline. The past couple of weeks, we’ve seen numerous incidents — from a passenger being dragged off a plane, to an entire family being kicked off a flight and a pilot slapping a woman. But this story will warm your heart.This week, Captain John Ritchie’s voice came over the loudspeaker on Southwest Flight 750 from Denver (DEN) to Pittsburgh (PIT)....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.I flew home very late last night from Dulles and the Frequent Traveler University/Randy Peterson Executive Summit/Freddie Awards whirlwind in order to spend at least part of the weekend with my family. I was sad to miss the last day of events, but it was time for me to shift the emphasis from points to mommy for a little bit....

Airplane manufacturer Boeing’s stock climbed 3% percent Wednesday morning after the company announced earnings that were much higher than expected for the first quarter of 2018.Boeing’s total revenue for the first three months of 2018 was $23.38 billion, which showed a 6% increase compared to the first quarter of 2017.The bump in revenue and share prices on Wall Street were especially good news for Boeing after weeks of swirling fears that a potential trade war between the US and China would negatively impact the aircraft builder’s bottom line....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.Airlines often ask passengers to follow safety instructions, not to tamper with smoke detectors and to put phones in airplane mode. However, in a surprising announcement, Virgin Atlantic is encouraging its passengers to steal its coveted salt and pepper shakers — in the classic VA red for the holidays — found on its flights from December 21-26, 2017....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.On Thursday American Airlines AAdvantage Shopping is offering a bonus earning structure for purchases made at Apple — 5x miles on your Apple purchases made through the AAdvatnage Shopping portal. Plus, you can earn even more with AA’s latest shopping portal promotion....

Today I want to share a story from TPG reader Beth, who got excellent value from booking hotel awards during ski season. Here’s what she had to say:My boyfriend and I are full-time consultants, part-time travel nerds. Realizing how many points we had accumulated and simultaneously itching to ski, we started looking into ski vacations in November of 2017. We realized the high prices at various Marriott and Starwood ski properties meant they would be great for redeeming points, so we picked a few places we wanted to go — Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, Vail, Tahoe — and then decided when to visit based on award availability....

We have until this coming Wednesday, November 16, 2011 to use our British Airways Executive Club miles before they turn into Avios points. For British Airways and short-distance flight awards, this new program is generally a neutral or slightly positive change.However, if you want to book one of the incredible South American/ Asia awards that I’ve covered over and over again, you need to do it by Wednesday. So I put together a 13 minute video explaining the basics of getting the most out of BA miles and I’m here this weekend to help you all burn as many miles as possible!...

A question we have received a very large number of times is which points-friendly resort is better, the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar or the Westin Grand Cayman. Both are beachfront Caribbean resorts where you can relax and play thanks to your hotel points. In the case of the Grand Hyatt, you will be using your World of Hyatt points to play in the Bahamas while your Starwood Preferred Guest/Marriott Rewards points will secure your spot at the Westin on Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman....

American Airlines made a major announcement about changes to its AAdvantage mileage program in November, including a huge overhaul of its award chart. As it turns out, there may be a silver lining for some flyers. TPG Special Contributor Eric Rosen takes a look at some of the redemptions that will actually get better (and a few that will stay the same) after the award chart changes go into effect on March 22, 2016....

Just a few weeks ago, Air Italy accepted its first 737 MAX aircraft from Boeing. June 1, the airline took another step forward by launching its first flight from New York (JFK) to Milan (MXP).“This is not just our first flight to Milan,” said Air Italy’s deputy executive chairman Marco Rigotti. “This is our first ever international flight under our new image and under this beautiful, striking livery.“Air Italy had its first official long-haul flight earlier in the day when it flew its retrofitted, former Qatar Airways A330 to New York....

As I wrote about on Friday, in light of its recent operational crisis, American Airlines decided to launch a promotion where elite AAdvantage members earn double EQM’s and points now through December 31. Originally I thought there was only this one promotion, but there’s in fact a separate one for current elite members that allows them to earn double AAdvantage miles during the entire promotion period- not just during November 16-26....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.If you’ve been patiently waiting for a welcome bonus to find its way onto The Blue Business®️ Plus Credit Card from American Express, you’re in luck. Amex just launched a limited-time offer of 10,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the card within your first 3 months. As a reminder, this is a no annual fee card that earns 2x points on everything under the sun up to $50,000 per calendar year (then 1x)....

On Thursday April 28th, frequent travelers and travel industry representatives from around the globe will converge for one night to honor the top loyalty points and miles programs. The awards are voted on by frequent travelers and if you haven’t done so already, submit your ballot here.Since the event is being held in NYC at Citi Field in Queens, I thought it would only be appropriate to get a table for thepointsguy....

Arguably one of the biggest pieces of news to rock the points and miles world this year (and the end of last year) has been the Starwood-Marriott merger saga. Last November, Marriott originally announced its intention to acquire Starwood — and who can forget when Chinese insurance company Anbang came out of left field with a bid for Starwood in March 2016? After some back and forth, Marriott eventually outbid Anbang to acquire Starwood and its beloved SPG program toward the end of March for a proposed $13....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.Travelers flying through Reagan National or Washington Dulles airports should budget plenty of extra time for their trip, as the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority anticipates an influx of passengers for Inauguration Weekend 2017. (As of this writing, Baltimore Washington International Airport had not released any travel precautions for those flying during the inauguration events....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.I’ve been waiting for this announcement for a while, so I can’t say I’m totally surprised. September 30, 2011 will be the last day to transfer your American Express Membership Rewards points to your Continental Onepass account. While this decreases the flexibility of Amex MR points, you can still transfer your points to Air Canada or ANA if you want to book Star Alliance awards....