Hilton targeted offers: 4,000 or double points
Hilton hasn’t had targeted offers for a while, but now they are back.
There are two versions that I know:
You must register by December 31st, 2024. Remember these are targeted offers, so most people won’t be eligible.
Park Hyatt London to open as Category 5?!
In terms of the most anticipated hotels in 2024, Park Hyatt London River Thames has to have one seat. To be honest I find its choice of location a bit odd, but a Park Hyatt is long overdue in London, and I’m curious to see how it pans out.
On their website it is still “opening in late 2024”. When you search for hotels in London, the Park Hyatt is listed already, but not bookable yet.
Shockingly it is suggested as a Category 5 hotel. To put in into context, there are two Category-5 Hyatt Regencies in London, whereas the Churchill, Great Scotland Yard and Andaz are all in Category 6.
It’s hard to believe if Park Hyatt comes out as anything below Category 7. I will definitely watch closely though, and ifs it becomes bookable as Category 5 I need to bag a few nights as soon as possible…
Get instant Diamond status with Sandman / Sutton Place hotels
RSVP Rewards is a Canadian hotel rewards program. Two brands operate under the scheme: Sandman which is midscale and The Sutton Place which is upscale. Outside Canada they run two hotels in Texas and four hotels in the UK: London Gatwick, Newcastle, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
RSVP Rewards have four membership tiers: Red, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Both Platinum and Diamond tiers have the following benefits:
- Room upgrade
- Early check-in
- Late check-out
- Breakfast box or credit
- Corporate lounge access
The breakfast benefit seems to apply in Canada only. I didn’t figure out what the “corporate lounge” is – I thought it’s like the club lounge at other hotel chains, but couldn’t find any relevant information although I checked quite a few hotels.
RSVP Rewards has a partnership with Visa Canada:
- Visa Infinite cardholders receive instant Platinum status
- Visa Infinite Privilege cardholders receive instant Diamond status
Only cards issued in Canada are eligible. The gifted status seems to be valid as long as the partnership lasts, not just limited to the first year.
On the sign-up page there’s a Check Eligibility button, and you’ll need to verify with the full 16-digit number. A hint for you: both 451504 and 450003 are valid bins, although I don’t know whether they are Privilege cards or not.
If you are based in Canada, or have a plan to visit their hotels in the UK, the status might be useful.
My review of Fairmont Amman
For my visit to Jordan I’m spending most of my time in the capital Amman – unorthodox I know but I’m just too lazy! My original plan was to spend four nights at the InterContinental, costing a total of less than 70k points thanks to my Chase card.
I decided in favour of the Fairmont in the end, because:
- It is ranked #1 on TripAdvisor
- I’ve never stayed at a Fairmont hotel before
- The Accor Step rate is very attractive: 3-for-2 + breakfast + $100 spend and more
I booked a Fairmont Gold room for three nights for less than £500.
I arrived in Royal Jordanian’s chauffeur. Ride from the airport takes about 40 minutes.
Lots of festive decorations in the hotel, and many “Merry Christmas” greetings from the staff.
The lady at the front desk explained to me about the breakfast, welcome drink, and $100 credit. They don’t have a brochure about restaurants and facilities, which I think can be improved.
Safety is taken seriously in this country. Vehicles and guests must go through security check when entering the hotel. The key card is programmed to work for the public floor and your floor only.
Floor 14, 15 and 16 are Fairmont Gold floors.
I got no upgrade at all, despite being an Accor Gold member booking the Step rate. Considering I probably paid less than most standard-room guests, I will not complain.
It is a corner room though, so might be slightly bigger.
It’s got a small vestibule and wardrobe. They use the space fairly well and the room is very well appointed.
There’s even a small office at the back.
The TV set supports Miracast, not as good as Chromecast but usable.
The bathroom is spacious with separate toilet and shower cabins.
There are two nuisances though. Cover on the flush button is falling off, and there’s only one set of body wash and shampoo fixated to the wall in the shower cabin, which is a hassle when you are bathing in the tub.
Fairmont, Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons and Sheraton occupies the four corners of the intersection. It is probably one of the most affluent areas of Amman.
Welcome amenity:
I was told about the closure of the Fairmont Gold lounge (for renovation) at check-in. It was neither communicated on their website or prior to my stay, which feels unprofessional.
Breakfast is served in the Lebanese restaurant Nur.
It is all buffet and no a-la-carte dining. I haven’t had the best experience in terms of breakfast in the Middle East, and Fairmont Amman didn’t change that. There are some international options such as chow mien and fried rice, but I’m not impressed by the quality either.
The egg station:
Afternoon tea is served at the Crystal Lounge, between 2pm and 4pm.
Happy Hour is hosted at the Caprice restaurant, between 5pm and 7pm.
The menu this time is very solid!
You’ve got multiple options for appetisers, mains and desserts. You won’t be short of alcohol supply either.
This kind of dinner easily sets you back £50+ pp in London, so Fairmont Gold pays off.
To spend the $100 credit I had two lunches in the hotel too. First one is Lebanese at Nur.
The lamb wrap is decent. Another meal is at the Asian restaurant Tsuki. The Korean fried chicken and lobster laksa are pretty good.
Spa and gym is at floor 3.
The outdoor swimming pool is closed in the winter, and the only spa facility most guests can use is a steam room. If you staying at the Gold floor however, there’s an exclusive VIP area reserved for you. You’ll find a jacuzzi, sauna and steam room in the changing room.
In the public area there’s another jacuzzi and a swimming pool.
There’s a also relaxation room with snacks and tea.
The spa (for Fairmont Gold) is great. Weather was pretty bad for my first two days so I mostly stayed in except for purchasing some essentials, and I spent a lot of time here.
The staff on the other hand, are lacking in profession. No one mentioned the Fairmont Gold spa to me at all, even when I inquired they mentioned only the regular steam room to me, without considering the possibility that I was on the Gold floor. Thankfully I asked a cleaner who was very keen on showing it to me.
When I asked about late check-out the front desk was also very rigid, saying that it would be upon availability on the day of checking out. On the last day however it was the (suspected) deputy manager who served me, and she was much more friendly and professional. She didn’t even look in the system before agreeing to my late check-out request, and proactively gave me half an hour more to “enjoy the lunch”.
When I saw a #1 hotel with top TripAdvisor rating I was expecting a flawless experience, but Fairmont Amman didn’t live up to that expectation. It is however still an upscale and decent property, on a par with some of the Waldorf Astoria and St Regis hotels that I’ve stayed at.
Mispriced promotion: Hyatt points 36%-off sale
(Update: deal dead)
Hyatt launched a promotion on buying points, but they’ve mispriced the offer, to your benefit.
You can view the buy points page here. Until April 9th, you’re entitled to 20% discount when buying at least 3,000 Hyatt points. The regular price is 2.4c per point so the sale price should be 1.92c per point.
Hyatt has however, applied the discount twice in their system. At the time being you are paying only 1.536c (1.22p) per point. This is effectively 36% off, the best offer Hyatt has ever had.
There are many successful data points where the points were deposited instantly after purchase. Hyatt might withdraw (correct) the offer soon, but I doubt they could claw back the points if they’ve already arrived into your account.
30% bonus on buying Melia points
Melia is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and they’ve launched a bonus on points purchase.
Until March 3rd, all purchases will come with a 30% bonus. It usually costs a flat €5 to purchase 1,000 points, and with this promotion the cost is reduced to €3.84. On the buy points page I don’t see the bonus reflected, but I trust Melia for not lying…
Bad news is, Melia quietly devalued their program one or two years ago and it’s near impossible to find standard reward availability now, so redeeming points for hotel stays fully rarely makes sense. Good news is, cash + points (paying 2,000 points only) is still very good value.
As you can see, 2,000 points (costing €7.69) can usually offset €10+, sometimes €20+ of the hotel bill. Stacked with the app discount and Gold 20%-off vouchers, it’s easy to find very attractive deals. I just stayed at a Melia hotel at Madrid last night – it’s priced at around €100 on third-party websites, and I paid €58.
If you have Melia Gold membership (through Amex Platinum), you might want to buy a handful of points for cash + points on occasional Melia stays.
HK Express Full Miles offer, redemption from 2,000 Cathay miles
Hong Kong Express, a budget airline which is now a subsidiary of Cathay Pacific, has a regular-ish promotion named Full Miles, where you can redeem award tickets at a very low cost.
A new iteration just came live:
- Valid between Hong Kong and Beijing / Ningbo (China)
- One-way redemption costs 3,500 miles / 2,000 miles respectively
- Book by February 22
- Travel between March 12 and July 11
You’ll need to pay ~400 HKD in fees per way. Availability is decent:
To book, create a new HK express account by linking your Cathay Pacific account, so that it has access to your Cathay miles.
It is not a continuous promotion, and I’m not sure when the next round will start, but probably in one or two months. If I remember correctly they included some routes to Southeast Asia (Thailand?) last time.
The catch is, as it’s a budget airline no baggage allowance is included. Your Oneworld benefits also won’t apply.
My review of Royal Jordanian’s A321 business class
I’m going to Jordan to see the Dead Sea! I did my homework, and decided to travel on Royal Jordanian from Frankfurt. Cost-wise it’s only 22,000 Avios + £179 (business class), comparing to 38,750 Avios + £312 from London. Don’t even get me started on BA: for this 6-hour flight they operate a narrow-body, so expect the pathetic Club Europe seats if you paid for business class!
I arrived into Frankfurt (on BA) the night before, but not my bag. Frankfurt might somehow be my nemesis – in 2018 I was also here to transfer before Christmas, and my RJ flight was cancelled due to poor weather conditions in Amman. They rebooked me to Qatar’s QSuite though, so some silver lining there.
The check-in desk was opened three hours before departure, where I got my boarding pass and lounge invitation.
All passengers at Frankfurt T2 pass emigration first, and security check is near the boarding gates. The only Oneworld Lounge here is Japans Airlines’ Sakura Lounge, which is small but decent. The Goulash and Japanese Katsu Curry are quite good, but forgive my camera shot…
Time to board:
It is also a narrow-body (A321), but they’ve installed proper incliner seats in business class unlike the European airlines. There are 20 seats in five rows.
I’ve got the 1A seat.
The cushion and throw are already set up, and the leather seat is comfortable. Amenity bag:
Not too shabby for a short four-hour flight. I didn’t get a chance to take a proper photo of the recliner mode, but here it is:
As you may have noticed, there’s no IFE at the back of the seat. Each business class passenger is handed an iPad instead.
You can also connect to the in-flight wifi to access the same entertainment system. The wifi is only an Intranet, so you can’t really browse other things.
Let’s check out the menu, which has got a festive design for Christmas.
There are traditional local specialties such as Mansaf, but also Asian cuisine including rice curry and chow mien. Curiously there’s no pasta or steak, which are probably the most common dishes you see on an airplane.
How they serve the food is true novelty – from starter to dessert everything is served out of a trolley, and you basically mix and match whatever you want. I saw a trolley on Gulf Air too but it was only for dessert.
It is quite interesting, and convenient if you want to try a bit of everything. I had the Mansaf (lamb with yellow rice) but it’s quite different to what I had in my mind.
In all honesty, food quality is below average to my preference although I like the dessert and cheese. But they’ve really put their heart into serving the food, and the whole “ritual” took one hour and a half, a big chunk of the flight time.
There’s no fast track for premium passengers on arrival, but there were very few foreigners passing immigration anyway. Landing visa costs 40 dirhams, and the staff picked DCC without my consent so be wary. I booked airport pickup via Royal Jordanian, very reasonable at 19 dirhams.
Although it is a short flight and there’s no lie-flat seat, it is a very wholesome experience and definitely in a totally different league with BA’s alternative.