SLH is a big win for Hilton hoarders
Years ago, Greg wrote an excellent post about the "Earn and burn" fallacy. In it, he suggests a better strategy is to "hoard and cherry pick". If you've been a Hilton hoarder for years,...
[Update: Search via app] Hilton / SLH partnership live with nearly 400 properties –...
Update 3:13pm Eastern time: If you're having trouble finding availability, try using the Hilton Honors app. I'm finding many properties available in the app that aren't available on desktop. Also, it appears that availability continues...
How to use Hyatt free night certificates on a multi-night stay
There are a many ways to get Hyatt free night certificates. The World of Hyatt card offers a category 1-4 cert each year upon renewal and again when you spend $15K within a calendar...
Best ways to get to South America using points and miles (2024)
Looking for the cheapest ways to get to South America? This post outlines the best options available to get there in using frequent flyer rewards programs available to the major US transferable currencies, including...
Necker Island awards now cost 630,000 points…and $5,700 in cash
Update 7/4/24: It appears that Necker Island can no longer booked for points alone and now require a substantial cash co-pay. The minimum stay is now down to three nights, but costs 630,000 Virgin...
Best uses for Virgin Points (Sweet Spot Spotlight)
Virgin points are super easy to accumulate. Points transfer 1 to 1 from most major transferable points programs. Even better, transfer bonuses are common such that transfers to Virgin Atlantic are often better than...
[Update] My frustrating, awesome experience with Greg’s trick to book Air France with Virgin...
Update: A day after publication, many readers reported being told by chat representatives that there is a known issue booking Air France / KLM and that it will be resolved on 7/9/24. Here's hoping...
Conrad Bora Bora: Great availability July-September 2024
Upgraded Points has discovered a ton of standard award availability at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui during the Summer/early-Fall of 2024. Rooms are available between June and October, including multiple 5-night blocks(meaning it will...
What are Sonesta points worth?
Sonesta is a hotel program that's tended to fly under the radar for most points and miles folks (including me). It's been around since the 1930's, but remained fairly small for several decades. That's...
Solved: Problem booking Air France/KLM with Virgin points
Virgin points are often the cheapest option for booking Air France or KLM flights. For example, for a trip to Paris I'm planning, I found a great Air France business class award that was...
KLM Business Class Review (Boeing 777, 787-9, and 787-10) “This is not Emirates”
I recently had the pleasure of flying KLM business class on three long haul flights: Vancouver to Amsterdam aboard a Boeing 777; Kuala Lumpur to Amsterdam aboard a Boeing 787-9; and Amsterdam to Chicago...
What are Marriott points worth?
It's been more than a year now since Marriott jettisoned the last remnants of their old award charts by removing top-end award price caps. When I checked the redemption value of Marriott points after...
No, Avianca LifeMiles isn’t adding new fuel surcharges to its awards
Recently, Avianca LifeMiles has been adding significant fuel surcharges to various award tickets. These are additional fees that, up 'til now, Avianca hasn't passed on to its customers. We've had numerous messages today from...
What are Hyatt points worth?
It's been a little over a year and a half since we did an analysis of the redemption value of Hyatt points. Our last one, in late 2022, was smack-dab in the middle of...
