Hurry! InterContinental Da Nang for 16,000 points
IHG’s IT has been playing up again recently. A couple of days ago InterContinental Bora Bora was up for grabs for only 16,000 points per night but when I learned about it it was too late.
InterContinental Da Nang, Vietnam is now running the same “flash sale”:
It appears that all reward nights are priced at only 16,000 points. You can find scattering dates in April and October, and scarcer availability in other months. For the last-minutes dates in December, the rate goes as low as 14,000 points.
I booked four nights to take advantage of my Chase benefit:
InterContinental Da Nang is generally regarded as one of the best InterContinental resorts in the world, and its nightly rate is usually $500+. Hurry up!!
SLH gift card 20% bonus sale
SLH (Small Luxury Hotels of the World) is running a pre-Christmas sale on gift cards, which is worth considering if you plan to stay at their hotels.
The offer page is here. You won’t see any promotional message but the bonus is shown on the purchase page. You earn a 20% bonus for any face value purchased until December 18.
- Gift card is valid at all SLH hotels
- Can be redeemed online by entering the gift card number at special requests when booking, or at the hotel front desk
- Can be redeemed against hotel accommodation or accompanying food & drinks purchase
- Valid for 12 months
SLH has more than 500 hotels worldwide, some London properties including:
- DUKES London
- The Academy
- The LaLiT
- The Franklin
- Flemings Mayfair
- St James’s Hotel and Club
Many of the SLH hotels can be booked via Hyatt with cash or points, and some of them are part of the Amex FHR program too. It’s unclear whether such bookings are eligible for gift card redemption though, and I suggest you clarify with the hotel first.
My review of Courtyard Santa Monica
My US trip begins with Los Angeles and I’m gonna stay here for three nights. I’ve chosen Courtyard Santa Monica to spend my first night, reasons being:
- Santa Monica is an area recommended by my friends
- My flight arrives late, and Santa Monica is relatively close to the airport
- As it’s just a short transition before I head into the city, I don’t need a full-service hotel
It’s a quick 20-minute’s drive from the LAX-IT ride pick-up site. The hotel isn’t at the forefront of the waterside, but is only about 15 minutes to the beach and it’s easy to navigate on foot. Bus and metro can bring you to downtown LA and Beverley Hills easily.
The hotel has got a pretty big lobby and a business centre for browsing the Internet and printing.
I didn’t receive an upgrade this time. I could have used my suite night upgrade voucher for the Partial Sea View Suite, but redeeming it at a Courtyard seems to be a waste.
The room is simple but spacious. The corner sofa is a nice touch.
A Rest and Recharge kit is provided, containing a tea bag and some earplugs.
The Hampton Inn across the street appears to be a nicer property, as the exterior looks smarter and many rooms feature a balcony.
There is an outdoor swimming pool and jacuzzi. I didn’t get to try them out but they look decent enough.
Also a small gym.
There is a small Starbucks outlet inside the hotel which serves breakfast. I chose $10 as my welcome amenity and paid $13 in addition for this:
How stupid I am! I should have just accepted the points instead…
My 4pm late checkout was granted when I checked in, however the cleaner and manager still came to knock on my door twice knowing when I was going to depart. Anyway, if you are looking for just a room in Santa Monica, this hotel does its job.
IHG offering 3,000 birthday bonus points
I just celebrated my birthday in a quarantine hotel, for which I received a lot of spam commercial emails as usual. If I remember correctly, last year IHG offered me 1,000 straight points, but they are adding a twist this year.
I received an email inviting me to sign up to their birthday offer:
Once enrolled, I need to complete a paid weekend stay to earn 3,000 bonus points. A weekend stay is defined as a stay of minimum two nights, and at least one night is on Thursday, Friday or Saturday.
If your birthday just passed or is around the corner, try signing up to the offer here. It appears that many members that should be eligible failed to go through though, so I guess IHG still needs to sort out their IT.
Hilton Q1 promotion: double points & 1k new brand bonus
Hilton is the first one to reveal their 2023 Q1 promotion, and you can sign up here.
- Stay between January 1 and April 30
- Earn double points on all eligible stays
- Earn an additional 1,000 points for each brand you stay with
Note how the brand bonus is different to Marriott’s promotion: if you stay with 5 brands during the promotion period, you will earn 5,000 bonus points instead of 4,000.
Existing bookings count. If your check-in date if before January 1 but your check-out date is before April 30, you are still eligible for the bonus.
Aegean giving away up to 2 million free miles!
Aegean Airlines is the national carrier of Greece, best known for their easy-to-maintain Star Alliance Gold status. Additionally, they’ve also run a lot of promotions to give away free miles in the past.
- Ends December 23
- All Aegean Miles+Bonus members can participate
- Win an instant of prize of between 500 and 2,000,000 miles
It’s very simple to participate. Just pick one new-year resolution and a city to win the prize. My first three attempts ended up in IT errors though, but at the fourth time it paid out. I won 3,000 miles which is not bad.
Aegean miles never expire. A domestic flight in Greece costs 5,000 miles, and partner redemption starts from 12,500 miles. You can transfer miles between accounts at the cost of €15, the annual limit being 50,000 miles.
You can also convert Aegean miles into Accor points at the ratio of 2,000 : 500 (worth €10). It’s probably easier to redeem than flight tickets, although I’m not totally sure if there’s any restriction on new accounts.
My review of Virgin Atlantic’s A350 Upper Class Suite
I made Los Angeles the first stop of my U.S. trip, as it’s one the few routes that feature Virgin A350’s new Upper Class Suite. In terms of similar suite products, I’ve tried Qatar Airways’ Qsuite and was truly impressed, but I’m not expecting Virgin to match that experience.
With the upgrade voucher I paid only 27,500 points for LHR-LAX, and there was a promotion going on to get half of the points back. It may come across as being cheap, if you dismiss the fact that taxes and charges amount to more than £600…
I’ve reviewed Heathrow’s Upper Class Wing and Clubhouse recently. I didn’t bother with the Upper Class Wing this time but spent considerable time at the Clubhouse. Menu of the day is surprisingly good including Chicken Katsu Curry, Kimchi Fried Rice and Thai Curry. I attempted to visit the Amex Centurion Lounge as well, but unfortunately it already suffers serious overcrowding issue.
Time to board the plane! If you’ve flown with them before you must be familiar with the club lighting.
I didn’t anticipate angled seats, but the upper class cabin is still configured the reverse herringbone style. As usual middle seats are ideal if you are travelling with a companion, but window seats offer better privacy.
I pre-selected 2A (window seat), but for operational reasons the seat is no longer available when I check in, and I’m assigned 8D (middle seat) instead.
I start to feel uncomfortable the moment sitting down. There’s nowhere to rest my head or neck, and the foot rest is much lower than the seat. At 6′ my legs are just about to reaching the foot rest, and I don’t know whether to put my legs down or on it.
There are five buttons to adjust the seat position. It’s a puzzle and I can’t find a comfortable position after all.
After converting into a bed, the lie-flat seat looks like this:
I’m finally starting to get comfortable, then another anti-pattern design hits me. As you can see from the picture, because of the installation of the IFE, I cannot lift my right leg at all. It may not be a problem when you are sleeping, but I like to roll around when lying down.
What’s more, I’m shocked to learn the “door” doesn’t pull out for more than 10 inches – it doesn’t go beyond what the picture shows. The partition between two middle seats is quite short too. To be honest I don’t think it has the qualification of being called a suite.
The amenity kit is made from recycled materials.
The IFE pops out, and I find its angle awkward as well. The system is very new but movie selection is quite limited.
Menu:
The menu fails to whet my appetite, nor does the food. The chicken parfait is fine.
I ordered a sandwich before landing, which is… a cold sandwich as you’ll find in Tesco.
The bar is replaced by The Loft on A350. I didn’t notice it when I got on the plane and didn’t look for it so have no idea how it actually looks like.
I’m not a fan of Virgin’s old Upper Class, and the only motivation for me to fly with them again was to try out the new suite. Sadly it turned out to be a near-disaster and the Upper Class Suite feels worse than the older product. I’m not looking forward to flying Virgin again in the near future, but hopefully I’ll be able to redeem some Virgin points on ANA soon!
GHA Giveaway: D$, free night and Titanium status
GHA has started a new sweepstake. It’s easy to sign up and there are some good prizes.
Don’t be misled by languages such as Qualified Stay Dates on the promotion page. You don’t need any hotel stay to enter the draw, nor will it increase your chances of winning.
You earn one entry for simply registering, and additional entries by:
- Opting in to push messaging from the GHA DISCOVERY app and entering via promotional messaging sent the week of 12 December
- Following GHA DISCOVERY on Instagram and engaging in the competition that will take place the week of 26 December
Prizes include:
- 10 D$1,000 prizes
- 5 Titanium statuses and D$300
- 5 1-night stays and an Experience (D$550)
- 4 GHA DISCOVERY swag boxes and D$250
- 25 D$100 prizes
- 8 Platinum statuses and Experiences (D$250)
- 3 Titanium statuses and 1-night suite stays (D$3,000)
Personally I don’t value Titanium status much, as it’s very easy to qualify. Free night stays and D$ on the other hand are very worthwhile.