Missed Connection Tip

My three year old niece is trapped on a CRJ in CID (Cedar Rapids) because of weather.  Don't worry, she is with her parents and is possibly the best flyer of the bunch.  Heavy weather hit the airport this morning and stopped all flights in and out.  They will miss their connection in Chicago.  The key to this situation is when a missed connection is likely, get on the phone with the airline and have them hold seats for you on the next available flight. The airline computers don't always update frequently, so you may have better information.  Also talking to a person gives you more flexibility than the iPhone app.  Acting quickly is important too because it's a race against anyone else and once you secure the seats, they are yours.

CRJ's Waiting

Hilton Has Too Many Brands

What’s the Double Tree brand promise?  How is it different from Hilton’s brand promise?  How does Embassy Suites fit in between those two?  Also, what differentiates Waldorf Astoria from Conrad?  No one can know for sure.  Hilton confusingly tries to answer these questions, but does a poor job.  Let me clear things up:

Waldorf Astoria: Old luxury

Conrad: New luxury

Hilton: Business travelers

Double Tree: Shabby Hilton plus a cookie

Embassy Suites: Big room, free breakfast and beer

Hilton Garden Inn: Better roadside hotel

Hampton Inn: Basic roadside hotel

Homewood Suites: Basic extended stay

Home2 Suites: Basic extended stay with a touch of W

Hilton Grand Vacations: Timeshares

New York Skyline

It feels like Hilton can condense brands.  No one will miss the Double Tree brand if they are upgraded to Hiltons. Conrad can be rolled into Waldorf without any complaints either.  An additional problem is the range of quality Hilton provides.  Staying at one can really be a roll of the dice.  A clear understanding and differentiation of brands will help Hilton Hotels create specific expectations and deliver on those expectations to improve the customer experience.

Missed Branding Opportunity

Has anyone else noticed the Spanair plane on the United.com home page?  United has nine Star Alliance branded planes in their fleet; none are an A320.  The Star Alliance colors look outstanding and United should be able to grab a picture of one rather than an out of business Spanish airline best known for a crash in 2008.  Delta doesn't have a Malev plane on their site; United could do better, but this isn't United's first missed branding opportunity (the Continental colors and United name for example). 

Spanair A320 on United.com

Updated United Club in Denver

The United Club (nee Red Carpet Club) in Denver got new furniture last week and it is very comfortable.  I like the color palate too, it creates a relaxing environment.  The downside is there are still very few outlets and I think there are fewer total seats than before.  An improvement, but still not as good as it should be (see the new United Clubs at ORD for an example).

New United Club Look at DEN

Ultimate Rewards' Exceptional Hotel Points Transfer Values

Chase's Ultimate Rewards program is their in house rewards program that lets you redeem points for gift cards, merchandise, travel, cash back, and transfer into Chase partner points programs.  Point transfers are 1:1 to most programs.  Since points can also be cash back at 1 to $0.01, points transfers are like buying points at a penny each.  This is cheaper than airlines sell them and a great value when needing to top off an account for an award, except for Priority Club.  On the flip side of that coin, Hyatt is an outstanding value.

Unrelated United Airlines Picture

Exceptionally Good Value:  Hyatt
Top level hotels, like the Park Hyatt Tokyo, are only 22,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points.  That's $220 of Ultimate Rewards points (tax is included in points reservations) for rooms that are normally over $600.  This is one of the best deals available today.

Unrelated Blue1 717

Exceptionally Bad Value:  Priority Club
A mid-range Holiday Inn is 25,000 priority club points. That's $250 of Ultimate Rewards points for a room that is less than $200.  

Better Off Just Spending Cash

Fun Photo

I like this picture of an Allegiant Air jet taking off from LAS.  Quick tip too, when boarding CRJ's, board last.  There's no overhead bin space to fight over, so no reason to be cramped longer than needed.

Allegiant Air Take Off

I Burned Up My Priority Club Points Rather Quickly

I started this year with 166,000 Priority Club points.  I haven't earned points from a stay in about two years (just a few thousand here and there for opting into emails), but was feeling comfortable with my balance   The last time I used Priority Club points was for my trip to Santiago, Chile and a stay at the pathetic Intercontinental Santiago.  I booked it with a Points Break award, so it only cost 5,000 points a night.  I was planning on using my balance on Points Break hotels or cheap roadside Holiday Inn Expresses.  The math in my head worked out that my balance would buy 33 Points Break nights or 15 or so HIE nights.  Two to four weeks of hotel stays is a comfortable balance.  

SWISS Avro RJ100

It turns out my balance only buys five nights.  I'm taking a trip to Geneva next month for the EBACE aviation trade show and need five nights in the area (the trade show is three days, but a short notice miles booking required a slightly longer stay).  Three nights at the Intercontinental Geneva, one at the airport Holiday Inn, and one at a TBD hotel (all IHG hotels are booked on one night, so I'm waiting for a late cancellation).  After those reservations, I have only 11,000 points left.

Waiting For The Next Adventure

I'm fine with a small balance.  Priority Club points exist for when you travel somewhere without a Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Fairmont, or Startwood hotel.  Priority Club also does not require hotels to recognize elite benefits on award stays (contact the hotel in advance to see if they will honor your benefits, the Crowne Plaza Helsinki did), so points stays can make for a disappointing vacation.  I see it as a last resort currency only preferential to spending money and went two years without needing any points. You can also buy points from them at a rate of $60 per 10,000. It might be a while before I need to acquire more points.