Booking Etihad Chauffeur Service

One of the great perks of flying Etihad's premium cabin service is the Etihad chauffeur service.  There are other airlines (i.e. Emirates) that provide complimentary chauffeur service on premium cabin bookings but not on certain award tickets.  Good news is that Etihad does provide complimentary chauffeur service on award tickets.  The service is even available to business class guests.  Here are the rules from Etihad's website:

1. Guests holding tickets with confirmed reservations in Business Saver, Business Freedom and First Freedom.
2. Etihad Chauffeur is available to Etihad Guest members redeeming their miles on First and Business class.
3. Guests travelling on Etihad Airways operated flights (although holding other airline tickets), are eligible for the  Etihad Chauffeur service.

We'll be flying two qualifying Etihad segments on our upcoming trip to London and Abu Dhabi.  That means we'll get complimentary car service four times:

1)  From the Andaz London to LHR
2)  From AUH to the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi
3)  From the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi to AUH
4)  From JFK to the New York EDITION

Review: Grand Hyatt Singapore

Introduction
Planning & Booking
American Express Centurion Lounge DFW
Emirates A380 First Class Dallas to Dubai
Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai
Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai
Emirates 777-300ER First Class Dubai to Male
Transfer to Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa
Park Hyatt Maldives - Resort & Park Villa
Park Hyatt Maldives - Water Villa
Transfer to Male
Singapore Airlines 777-200ER Business Class Male to Singapore
Grand Hyatt Singapore
Singapore Airlines The Private Room Singapore
Singapore Changi Airport 
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Singapore to Hong Kong
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Hong Kong to San Francisco

The cab from Singapore's Changi Airport took around 20 minutes with just light traffic.  We arrived at the Grand Hyatt just before 8AM.  We've previously been to Singapore a couple of times staying at the Conrad near Marina Bay both times.  We were eager to check out a different part of the city and the Grand Hyatt fit the bill.  Located on Orchard Road, there's amazing shopping right out the front door.  And the Singapore Botanical Gardens are about a 20 minute walk from the hotel so the location is ideal.

Grand Hyatt Singapore

I had booked the room using Hyatt Gold Passport points and booked us into a club room for some added comfort.  At 8AM, I figured we'd be dropping our bags and head out to get some fresh air and food until our room was ready.  We were both pleasantly surprised to learn that we had been upgraded to a club level suite and our room was ready!  We've had good luck checking in extremely early to Grand Hyatt's in Asia.

Grand Hyatt Singapore in the spirit

We made our way up to the 30th floor and entered the room.  While the hotel is in need of a renovation, the room was extremely spacious and nicely appointed.

Entrance to Grand Hyatt Singapore

Upon entering the main room, there was a weird wet bar type setup on the right, a working desk, couch, and television.

Grand Hyatt Singapore Suite

The bedroom was pretty standard.

Bedroom

The bathroom was decked out in green stone which we both thought was pretty unique.  There was both a bathtub and a standup shower.

After unpacking and cleaning up from the redeye, we headed up to the club (on the 31st floor) for some breakfast.  

While there were some decent food on offer in the mornings and evenings, bar service was only available between 6 and 8pm and the lounge essentially closed after that.  In addition, the club tended to get a bit crowded at peak times so go early if you want a quieter experience.  So the extra 7,000 points per night likely wasn't worth it although we did get upgraded to a suite...which likely wouldn't have happened had we not upgraded.

We didn't spend a ton of time in the hotel in places other than our room or the club lounge.  I hear there's a nice outdoor pool and that the hotel's restaurant (Straits Kitchen) is actually very good.  We spent our days walking around the city, shopping, and of course eating.  We had an excellent Thanksgiving dinner at FOC (Spanish tapas) which I would highly recommend.

Almost December - ready for Christmas!

The two days flew by and soon enough, it was time to head home.  We checked out of the hotel early Sunday morning with no charges on our bill.  One of the perks of the miles and points game. We grabbed a cab to Changi and arrived at the First Class check-in facility well before our flight.  I'm going to add a bonus trip report segment on Changi since there is so much fun stuff to see/do. I'll cover that after the Private Room segment.

Final Thoughts:

Singapore is a somewhat tricky hotel market.  Many of the upper upscale brands (i.e. Grand Hyatt, Conrad) are tired and in need of renovation.  We both enjoyed the location of the Grand Hyatt and would definitely return if the price (either cash or points) was right.  

St. Regis Singapore

We walked by the St. Regis which I would like to check out as it's in a bit quieter location still close to Orchard Road.  The Grand Hyatt's location is spot on though - right on Orchard Road and a 3 minute walk from the MRT.

First Class Birthday: Introduction

Introduction
Planning & Booking
Sheraton Gateway Hotel Toronto
Air Canada 767-300 Business Class Toronto To London (LHR)
Andaz Liverpool
Etihad Airways Lounge London
Etihad A380 Business Class London (LHR) to Abu Dhabi
Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways First Class Lounge Abu Dhabi
Etihad A380 First Class Apartments Abu Dhabi to New York (JFK)
The New York EDITION

I realize I still have a few trip report segments to finish for our last trip to Singapore but I'm so excited about this trip, I wanted to get the Introduction post out.

I've already posted about booking Etihad's First Class Apartment and will probably be posting about the experience several times before/after the trip.

Since the timing worked out, we decided to make this a trip to celebrate my birthday.  Emily's excited as this is a step up from last year's flying east to get west adventure.

Trip route - courtesy of the Great Circle Mapper

We'll leave after work Friday evening taking United's direct service to Toronto.  The flight arrives late and we have another flight the next morning to London so we'll spend the night at the Sheraton Gateway which is connected to the airport.

The next morning, we'll take Air Canada's day flight (often called the CEO flight) from Toronto to London.  The flight leaves around 8AM and arrives around 8PM.  Pretty perfectly timed to be able to minimize jet lag and get to sleep upon arrival.  I'm still hoping we'll be able to upgrade to a Lufthansa First Class flight (connecting through Frankfurt or Munich) but that would be a last minute change if at all.  If not, we'll be perfectly fine in AC business class and I'm excited to review an option that is widely available on points in advance.

We are both really excited to check out the Andaz Liverpool in London which is located in London's East Side.  We both loved the Andaz in Amsterdam and it will be great to check out another Andaz property in Europe.

After a few nights in London, we're off to Abu Dhabi via Etihad's A380 business class.  Again, I'm hopeful that a couple of First Class Apartment seats open up (only 10,000 more miles each) but it will be cool to review both the business and first class apartment cabins on the A380.  

In Abu Dhabi, we'll spend a couple of nights at the Park Hyatt before heading to the airport for 14 hours in our first class apartments!  We're mixing it up a bit - staying a couple nights in New York before returning home to Denver.

Nearly 17,000 miles of flying

All in, this will be nearly 17,000 miles of flying and a couple of new airlines to review!  I'll post the Planning & Booking segment prior to our departure as well as a couple other posts about Etihad.  Stay tuned for another great trip report!

Citi Prestige $250 Air Travel Credit Overview

I've periodically written about the Citi Prestige card but have yet to do a full overview (forthcoming). The card is probably the best "new" card on the market given the extensive list of benefits and directly competes with the American Express Platinum Card at the upper end of the market.

One of the best benefits of the card ($450 annual fee) is the $250 annual air travel credit.  This is a straight $250 reimbursement for air travel including airline tickets.  This differs from the Platinum Card which requires some finagling (i.e. buying gift cards in smaller increments) to get the $200 credit to trigger as "cash."

The credit is a (calendar year) annual benefit meaning you can signup for the card now and receive the $250 credit in 2016.  You're also entitled to the benefit in 2017.  So in theory you're paying $450 in fees to get $500 in air travel reimbursement - assuming you consider that close to cash which I do. Anecdotally(and it seems the example below supports this) you can actually get the credit for December spend as long as your December billing statement has closed.

Here's how Citi defines the Air Travel Credit:

"Airline Fees are defined as purchases made with airlines including Air fares, baggage fees, lounge access and some in-flight purchases. Please allow 1-2 billing cycles after the qualifying air travel expense is charged to your Card Account for statement credit(s) to be posted to the account."

I've had no trouble with the credit posting automatically much faster - usually in a handful of business days.

Last week, I booked a United domestic flight for our Etihad First Class Apartments trip and the credits have already posted!

Kudos to Citi for creating such a great benefit and supporting it with IT that actually works!

Review: Singapore Airlines 777-200ER Business Class Male to Singapore

Introduction
Planning & Booking
American Express Centurion Lounge DFW
Emirates A380 First Class Dallas to Dubai
Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai
Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai
Emirates 777-300ER First Class Dubai to Male
Transfer to Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa
Park Hyatt Maldives - Resort & Park Villa
Park Hyatt Maldives - Water Villa
Transfer to Male
Singapore Airlines 777-200ER Business Class Male to Singapore
Grand Hyatt Singapore
Singapore Airlines The Private Room Singapore
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Singapore to Hong Kong
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Hong Kong to San Francisco

I've reviewed Singapore Airlines a number of times over the past couple of years.  Before flying Emirates, they were my favorite airline and this was my 9th segment flying with them in a premium cabin.  Given the late departure (nearly 11:30 PM) and the fact that we were depressed tired after leaving the Park Hyatt, I didn't take a ton of pictures.  I had looked long and hard for a review of this flight to no avail.  So hopefully this review is helpful to some.

We arrived at the gate a few minutes before the scheduled boarding time.  We went through security again (like our 5th checkpoint of the day) just as boarding was called.  We made our way down the stairs to the waiting bus to take us to plane.

The bus ride was short and we were able to get up close and personal with the one of the giant Rolls-Royce Trent 892's.

Rolls-Royce Trent 892 behind the stairs

Singapore Airlines 777-200ER

Review: Transfer from Park Hyatt Maldives to Male

Introduction
Planning & Booking
American Express Centurion Lounge DFW
Emirates A380 First Class Dallas to Dubai
Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai
Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai
Emirates 777-300ER First Class Dubai to Male
Transfer to Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa
Park Hyatt Maldives - Resort & Park Villa
Park Hyatt Maldives - Water Villa
Transfer to Male
Singapore Airlines 777-200ER Business Class Male to Singapore
Grand Hyatt Singapore
Singapore Airlines The Private Room Singapore
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Singapore to Hong Kong
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Hong Kong to San Francisco

We were dragged kicking and screaming moved out of our water villa around noon and were drive over to our spa villa immediately adjacent to the spa pool where we had spent so much time during our stay.

The spa villa (Dhigga) was actually really nice and looked like a nice place to get a massage and relax for awhile.  There was an air conditioned room with two massage tables, and outdoor bathtub and covered sitting area, an outdoor shower, and an enclosed bathroom/shower.

Spa Villa Entrance

Spa Villa outdoor area

Spa Villa outdoor tub and shower

10,000 Mile AA Rebate Posted

I recently picked up the Citi American Airlines Advantage card for Emily after she received a sweet targeted offer in the mail.  The card offers a 10% (up to 10,000 miles) annual rebate on award tickets booked with American Airlines miles.  While the card hasn't even arrived yet, the 10,000 mile bonus for 2015 already posted!

10,000 Mile Rebate from AA

I booked our award on Etihad using miles from Emily's account and the rebate posted the same day!  I suspect that we'll be able to earn the rebate again in 2016 when we book our next award.  I didn't expect the rebate to trigger so fast - in the past it has definitely taken more like a week to post.  This is turning about to be quite the deal - 60,000 miles for meeting the minimum spend + a 10,000 mile rebate in both 2015 and 2016 with no annual fee for the first year!

How Much Did I Pay in Annual Fees in 2015?

The other day I posted a recap of the miles and points we earned in 2015.  The post turned out to be was popular so I'm going one step further today to explain the annual fees paid in 2015 and the rationale behind each fee.  You can read more about my credit card strategy as it relates to annual fees here.  For those of you bored by this topic, check out the trip report page.

In 2015, I paid approximately $1,300 in credit card annual fees.  I say approximately because there were some refunds against annual fees for cards cancelled that I didn't keep track of.  $1,300 isn't an insignificant amount of money.  But travel is our favorite thing to do together.  It enriches our lives in unimaginable ways and this is my hobby.  So given the value created, I think it is actually a pretty good deal.  Especially for Emily.

Now on to the recap.  Here's a list of all the credit card fees I paid last year.

1)  $300 for 2 Citi Prestige Cards

The annual fee for this card is actually $450 but given the $250 airline credit (pretty close to cash for me) I consider my out of pocket expense to be $200 each.  The credit is applied on a calendar year basis and I've already redeemed my credit for 2016.  I will likely cancel the card prior to my anniversary so that's like getting $500 in airline reimbursement for $450!  I also have a Citi Gold Checking Account which reduces the fee on my card by another $100.  We earned 100,000 Citi Thank You points for these two bonuses which helped us fly home in Singapore Airlines First Class.

Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class

2)  $95 for the Citi Thank You Premier Card

Emily applied for this card in 2013 when the bonus was 20K points at sign-up and 30K after $3K in spend after the first anniversary.  So we had to pay the $95 fee to get the 30K bonus.  I've since cancelled the card and received a pro-rated annual fee credit via check.

3)  $95 for the Chase Fairmont Card

$95 for two nights in a suite in an awesome Vancouver hotel?  I'll take it.  This was one of the best deals of the year.  Fairmont was recently purchased so this card will likely change at some point.  I would recommend taking advantage sooner rather than later if you're interested...especially for a quick weekend to Vancouver.

4)  $85 for the Chase Marriott Card

This bonus will net me over 90,000 Marriott points - good enough for 2 nights at an amazing amount of excellent properties around the world.  We'll use these points for a couple of nights at the New York EDITION in 2016.

New York EDITION views

5)  $95 for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

The perpetual keeper.  $95 is a steal for 2x points on travel and dining (the vast majority of my spend) with no foreign transaction fees.  Chase has earned my business with such an awesome card.

6)  $89 for the Barclays US Air Card

I picked up this card prior to the American/USAirways merger and have not been disjointed.  I earned 50,000 miles from the signup bonus and receive a 10,000 mile (annually) credit back American Airlines award redemptions.  I value the 10,000 miles around $200 so this is quite the deal.  As long as the 10,000 mile rebate exists and I'm still redeeming American miles, I'll keep this one along with the $89 fee.

7)  $275 for 4 Bank of America Alaska Personal/Business Cards

Emirates First Class.  Enough said.  These 4 cards earned more than enough points for a one-way first class ticket on Emirates.  It's amazing that BofA lets you "churn" these cards.  I'm hoping to pickup a few more in 2016!

8)  $250 for the American Express Business Platinum

The actual fee is $450 but with $200 in airline reimbursement (i.e. gift cards) the fee is only $250 out of pocket.  With a 100,000 point signup bonus, this was one of the best deals of 2015.

9)  $65 for the Starwood American Express Card

I've had this card in my wallet since 2004.  I'll likely keep the card just for the longevity on my credit report.  I'm also getting 2x points on SPG stays along with credits toward elite status.  It will be very interesting to see what happens after the Marriott/Starwood merger.  I would imagine this card goes away but we shall see.

I'm headed into 2016 with the majority of these cards still in my wallet/credit card box.  Some will stay, some will go, and I'll add 20-25 new ones across the year.  As long as travel remains a priority, I'll allocate a certain amount of money towards these fees. If/when it's no longer a priority, I'll definitely work on slimming this list down!

2015 Year in Review: Hotels

I recently posted about my 2015 year in flight.  You can also read about my hotel stays in 2014 (45 nights) and 2013 (55 nights) for comparison purposes.

In 2015, We stayed in really great hotels although didn't receive as many "upgrades" as in prior years.  I ended the year with 46 total nights.  Virtually identical to 2014.  Starwood (15 nights) and Hyatt (11 nights) brands made up the bulk of my stays.  Interesting to note that 15 of the 46 nights were related to business travel...vs. 0 in 2014.  5 of the nights were at independent properties where we were unable to earn/burn points.

None of the nights were business travel although 10 of the "nights" were credit from the Starwood American Express cards and two additional nights were "mistakes" credits.  So I actually stayed in hotels 45 nights during 2014.  I will be dropping from Starwood Platinum to Gold (lifetime) which I'm okay with.

Here's the full breakdown:

• 15 Starwood nights across 8 properties and 5 brands
• 11 Hyatt nights across 4 properties and 3 brands
• 7 Marriott nights across 3 properties and 3 brands
• 5 Hilton nights across 2 properties and 2 brands
• 5 Independent nights across 3 properties and 3 brands
• 2 Fairmont nights
• 1 Shangri-La night

I think 2016 will look pretty similar - large concentration on both Starwood and Hyatt with Marriott/Hilton as backups.  I don't expect the Starwood/Marriott merger to impact my stay habits at this point but we'll see how the merger/loyalty program integration goes.  That said, both of us are becoming very fond of Hyatt - especially the Park Hyatt and Andaz brands.  For the most part, Park Hyatt blows St. Regis out of the water and Andaz beats W hotels in terms of substance so I think we'll continue to ramp Hyatt stays when possible.  

We had some amazing stays across the year.  My favorite by far was the Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa.  Close second (same trip) would be Al Maha outside of Dubai.  Third would be the Waldorf Astoria in Amsterdam.

It was another great year in travel - we're both excited for a new year exploring new places!

How Many Miles Did We Earn in 2015?

Happy New Year!  As I've done in the past, here's an overview of miles earned last year.

I keep a pretty organized spreadsheet containing a ton of information about my mileage earning.  It also helps me keep track of our credit card applications, minimum spend required, etc...this is very much a team effort as Emily earned a little over 36% of the total in 2015 (down from 44% in 2014).  We earned a little over 1.3 million points/miles last year and nearly 1.7 million in 2013.

In looking at our 2015 earnings, we took home nearly 1.1 million miles and points from credit card signup bonuses/retention bonuses.  We applied for (and were approved for all) 26 credit cards in 2015 with an average signup bonus of 44,100 points.  For comparison purposes, in 2014 we earned 987,000 points from 20 sign-up bonuses.

This doesn't include the miles we earned by flying/staying which amounted to another 100,000.  We also purchased a British Airways and Alaska miles (50,000) during a couple of promotions across the year and earned around an additional 250,000 or so miles and points for our "everyday" spend including category bonuses and shopping portal bonuses.

All in, that is over 1.5 million miles and points generated during 2015!  It still amazes me that such a large portion (70%) comes from credit card sign-up bonuses.  Flying/staying (even at high volumes) won't earn you anywhere near what you can earn from a handful of sign-up bonuses across the year.

So where do things stand in terms of point balances now?  According to Award Wallet, we have 1.25 million miles "in the bank."  This time last year, we had 1.6M points and miles so we're doing a pretty good job of earning and burning!

In terms of burning, here's what 2015 looked like:

• 65,000 miles to Vancouver in April
• 514,000 points/miles to Europe in May
• 705,000 points/miles to Asia with my Brother in June
• 654,000 points/miles to the Maldives in November
• 180,000 miles to fly the Etihad First Class Apartment in March of 2016

That is 2.1 million points/miles burned (some trips were booked the year prior) in one year!!  We don't have anything booked in 2016 other than a trip to London and Abu Dhabi - I'm sure that will change as the year goes on.  Here's to a another great year of travel!!