Review: The New York EDITION

I was in New York last week for work and stayed at The New York Edition.  The hotel's located right off Madison Square Park which is a great area and close to our office.  The property has only been open for three months and is quickly becoming one of the hottest hotels in the city.  There are only four EDITION properties (Istanbul, Miami, New York, and London) around the world but at least 8 in the pipeline.  We stayed at The London Edition in late 2013 and I was excited to check out the New York outpost.

I arrived at the hotel on Tuesday at 2:30 PM and was checked in and on my way to my room in less than five minutes.  I had booked a standard room but been upgraded (not sure of the category) to a higher floor corner room.  The hotel has been selling for $700+ per night (They have Krug in the mini bar!!) but August (slow time in Manhattan) brought the rate WAY down and offered the third night free.  Doubt it will work again for business or leisure travel but it was great to check out at least once.

I made my way up to the 34th floor and the room/view were both stunning.  In signature Ian Schrager style (even though this is a collaboration with Marriott) everything was clean and in neutral tones.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Backlight King size bed 

My Favorite Trip Reports

One of my favorite parts of ATRP is writing trip reports.  I'm by no means the best or most thorough trip reporter but I try to review most of our travels both for myself and for all of you.  I've written nearly 50 reports to date with another 10 or so to complete this year.

Since many of you are new to the blog, I figured I'd recap some of my favorites.  You can see all trip reports by year on the trip report page.

Singapore Airlines 777 First Class

Flights:

In 2013, my first international first class experience was a 18.5 hour, two segment journey from Singapore to Seoul to San Francisco.  Chelsea Clinton flew with us which was a pretty cool experience.

Asiana 777 First Class

In 2014, our first "suite experience" took us from New York to Seoul on Asiana's 777.  On the way back, we flew Singapore Suites for the first time - both pretty epic flights.

Earlier in 2015, we flew Cathay Pacific First Class for the first time and it was spectacular.

Hotels:

Two of my favorite trip reports were from hotel stays in Bali.  At the St. Regis and Four Seasons. 

Four Seasons Bali at Sayan

Most recently, the Fairmont Pacific Rim in Vancouver made for a pretty epic report.

Lounges:

In 2013, we visited the Lufthansa First Class Terminal.  In 2014, The Singapore Airlines Private Room in Singapore and 2015, Cathay Pacific's The Wing lounge at HKG.

Singapore Airlines Private Room "Golden Tickets"

5 Steps to a (Nearly) Free Trip: Craft a Strategy

Each time I return from a trip, I get a dozen questions from friends, colleagues, neighbors, etc... about how I was able to put the trip together with points and miles.  While I always write about the planning process for each individual trip, (recent trips to Europe & Asia) I've yet to write a more comprehensive series about how to easily "pay" for a trip with points and miles.  So here it goes.

Step One:    Have a Goal
Step Two:    Craft a Strategy
Step Three:  Point Accumulation
Step Four:    Search for Award Availability
Step Five:    Book Flights & Hotels

First, let's recap the goal we covered in step one.

"You want to fly to Europe next summer in business class.  You're flexible on the timing and the destination.  You want to stay in decent hotels for a week.  You currently have a great credit score, payoff your balance each month, and spend about $3,000 per month as a couple.  And you want to minimize your cash outlay for the trip."

The easiest/fastest way to accumulate points and miles for a dream trip is through credit card sign-up bonuses.  You can also pad your balances without getting on a plane by shopping online and dining out.  I also recommend you sign-up for an AwardWallet account to keep track of your hard earned points and miles.  But signing up for a handful of credit cards will be the fastest way to get your trip booked.  

Park Hyatt Vendome

Review: Le Meridien Bangkok

Introduction
Planning & Booking
Qantas First Class Lounge LAX
Cathay Pacific 777-300 ER First Class Los Angeles to Hong Kong
The Pier Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge
Le Meridien Bangkok
Thai Airways First Class Lounge & Spa
Thai Airways 747-400 First Class Bangkok to Hong Kong
Conrad Hong Kong
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge Hong Kong
Air India 787-8 Business Class Hong Kong to Seoul
Asiana First Class Lounge Seoul
Asiana A380 First Class Seoul to Los Angeles

After a few amazing hours in Cathay Pacific's new First Class Lounge (The Pier) we made our way down to the gate for our quick hop to Bangkok.  A bus gate meant an awesome ride across the tarmac to our waiting A330 - so many planes to check out!  We boarded and waited for a large tour group to arrive.  And waited.  And then it started to pour.  We ended up sitting on the tarmac for about an hour before we finally got going.  Not a huge deal - it just made a long travel day even longer.

Le Meridien Bangkok lobby

We arrived in Bangkok around 10:30 PM local time.  We cleared immigration in about 5 minutes thanks to fast track passes and our bags were waiting on the carousel when we arrived.  I hit the ATM and were quickly in a cab heading towards Bangkok.  Our nearly 40 minute (thanks to Bangkok traffic) ride cost less than $13 USD.  Pretty amazing.

Review: The Pier Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge

Introduction
Planning & Booking
Qantas First Class Lounge LAX
Cathay Pacific 777-300 ER First Class Los Angeles to Hong Kong
The Pier Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge
Le Meridien Bangkok
Thai Airways First Class Lounge & Spa
Thai Airways 747-400 First Class Bangkok to Hong Kong
Conrad Hong Kong
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge Hong Kong
Air India 787-8 Business Class Hong Kong to Seoul
Asiana First Class Lounge Seoul
Asiana A380 First Class Seoul to Los Angeles

After clearing transit security, we made our way to The Wing for a quick shower.  While The Wing is totally awesome, I was excited to check out The Pier which had just opened a few days earlier.  The shower felt great and I caught up on email while rehydrating and downing yet another cappuccino.  We still had a few hours to go until our flight to Bangkok so we made our way down to The Pier.

The Hallway at The Pier

Our boarding passes were scanned and we were shown into the lounge. WOW.  My new favorite lounge at HKG.

Taking the Show on the Road

We're moving to New York!  Well not me - I love Denver.  My company (PaySimple) is opening an office in Manhattan in August.  I don't usually post about job stuff on ATRP but this is somewhat travel related - who doesn't love traveling to New York?

We're looking to hire 3-4 inside sales representatives to help us launch our NYC office.  We currently have 80 employees in Denver, a great product, over 12,000 customers and a phenomenal culture.

I've worked at PaySimple for over 7 years and have been afforded a ton of opportunity to grow myself as a person and a professional, work with a great team, and help grow the business into one of the biggest technology companies in Denver.  Check out some more thoughts from current/former employees on Glassdoor.

PaySimple provides some of the best t-shirts I own.  If you've been reading the blog for awhile, you've seen me rocking PaySimple tees all over the world.  Come work with us as we take over New York!!

If you or someone you know is interested in this type of opportunity, feel free to email me directly.

PaySimple on the way to Seoul

PaySimple in Singapore

PaySimple in Taipei

PaySimple on the way to Vancouver

Review: Cathay Pacific First Class 777-300ER LAX to Hong Kong

Introduction
Planning & Booking
Qantas First Class Lounge LAX
Cathay Pacific 777-300 ER First Class Los Angeles to Hong Kong
The Pier Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge
Le Meridien Bangkok
Thai Airways First Class Lounge & Spa
Thai Airways 747-400 First Class Bangkok to Hong Kong
Conrad Hong Kong
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge Hong Kong
Air India 787-8 Business Class Hong Kong to Seoul
Asiana First Class Lounge Seoul
Asiana A380 First Class Seoul to Los Angeles

We headed down to the gate around 30 minutes prior to boarding.  Morning at TBIT on Monday is quiet - there were only a handful of flights departing so the terminal was mostly empty.  We snapped a few pictures of the 777 that would be taking us to Asia and soon enough, boarding was called.

Cathay Pacific 777-300ER

This would be my third first class ride on Cathay's 777-300ER in 2015 (Hong Kong to LAX and New York to Vancouver) and I was looking forward to some Krug, a great meal, and one of the best beds in the sky.