Return to Al Maha: Introduction

Introduction
Planning & Booking
British Airways First Class 747-400 Denver to London
British Airways Concorde Room
British Airways First Class 747-400 London to Dubai
JW Marriott Marquis Dubai
Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai
Park Hyatt Dubai
Hyatt Capital Gate Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways First Class Lounge & Spa Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways First Class 777-200LR Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles

I'm still in the middle of writing trip reports from our RTW adventure in August, I'm getting excited about our next trip and wanted to get the introductory post out.  We spent a couple of days at Al Maha  last year and vowed to return as soon as possible.  Of all the hotels we've been around the world, Al Maha is the most unique, special, and we've both lusted after returning for a year.

Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai

Amex Platinum Travel Credit Amazon Trick Still Works

One of the great benefits of the Amex Platinum card is the annual $200 airline incidental credit.  This reduces the annual fee from $450 to $250 and in the first year, actually pays you back $50 since you'll get the credit twice (it's a calendar year credit) for one annual fee.  That only works if you value airline fees as cash.  You can go one step further and buy airline gift cards which are pretty darn close to as good as cash.

But there's another way to actually get Amazon gift cards reimbursed if United is your selected airline.  Wait, what?  That's way closer to actual cash than airline gift cards for most people.

I read about this trick in 2015 and was successfully used it earlier in the year.  We picked up another Amex Platinum card earlier in the month and gave it another shot to see if the trick still works.  I can confirm that it does!

Amazon Gift Card Purchases

Amex Platinum Travel Credit

Here are the steps:

Starwood 500 Point Brand Bonus

Starwood's SPG dashboard provides infographic information on past stays.  You can view your progress towards elite status as well as review your stays by brand and location.

It's been awhile since I checked out the dashboard and was surprised to see a 500 point bonus (which I've achieved) for staying at 5 different SPG brands.  So far the bonus is limited to Starwood brands and doesn't include Marriott's.

There's also an 11,000 point offer for staying at all 11 Starwood brands in a calendar year.  To achieve the bonus, we stayed at:

• St. Regis Istanbul
• The Parker Meridien Palm Springs
• W Union Square
• Sheraton Ann Arbor & Sheraton JFK
• Westin Beaver Creek

500 points isn't life changing, but still worth $12 based on my SPG point valuation.  Thanks, Starwood!

Review: Transfer from Male to Conrad Maldives

Introduction
Introduction Part Two
Planning & Booking
Sheraton JFK Airport
Lufthansa Business Class Lounge JFK
Turkish Airlines Business Class 777-300ER New York (JFK) to Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Istanbul Arrivals Lounge
St. Regis Istanbul
Turkish Airlines CIP Lounge Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Business Class A330-300 Istanbul to Male
Transfer from Male to Conrad Maldives
Conrad Maldives
Transfer from Conrad Maldives to Male
Singapore Airlines Business Class 777-200 Male to Singapore
Crowne Plaza Changi Airport Singapore
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Business Class Lounge to Singapore
Singapore Airlines Business Class 777-300ER Singapore to Tokyo (HND)
Andaz Tokyo
ANA Suite Lounge Tokyo (NRT)
ANA First Class 777-300ER Tokyo (NRT) to San Francisco

After a great overnight flight on Turkish Airlines, a Conrad associate helped us check in for our Trans Maldivian seaplane ride to the Conrad.  Bags were weighed (we were not) and tagged and we were given boarding passes for the 30 minute flight.  We were then shown to a waiting Conrad minivan which took us to the seaplane terminal.

Trans Maldivian Airways check-in counter

Earning with SPG's More for You Promotion

SPG's latest promotion didn't seem to be especially rewarding on the surface.  I clearly wasn't doing the math right as I had a qualifying stay last weekend that ended up earning me a ton of points.

The promotion offers 2x Starpoints on weekday stays of 2+ nights and 3x Starpoints on weekend stays of 2+ nights.  Our 2 night weekend stay at the Westin Riverfront Beavercreek fell into the latter category.  Beyond that, this was my final (of 3) stays of a targeted promotion I received earlier in the year.

For two nights with tax, meals, valet parking, resort fees, and dog fees our total spend was $814.  I had an Amex offer for Westin which reduced that by $50.

So how many points did I earn on $677 of eligible spend?

• 1,354 base points
• 677 point elite bonus
• 2,708 points for the More for you promotion (3x base)
• 3,000 bonus points for the targeted promotion
• 500 bonus points for making the green choice

That's a whopping 8,239 SPG points on $764 in spend or 10.8 SPG points per dollar spent (or 32.4 Marriott points per dollar spent!).  I value SPG points at around 2.5 cents so that's a return of 27%!  

Amazing Holiday Shopping Amex Offers

I've written numerous posts about the Amex Offers concept.  Amex is out with a couple of pretty awesome shopping offers.  While these are targeted, both Emily and I had each offer on our Amex Everyday/Everyday Preferred cards.

The first offers 7,500 Amex Membership Rewards points after spending $500 at Saks Fifth Avenue.  The second offers 4,000 Amex Membership Rewards points after spending $200 at Bloomingdale's.

These offers are stackable so if you have a Saks/Bloomingdale's promo code or go through an online shopping mall, they are even more lucrative.  Earlier this week, United's shopping mall (since expired and currently offering 4x) was offering 15x at Saks.  I'm confident an offer like that will return before the Amex offer expires on 11/7.  Let's do the math on that:

• 7,500 Amex MR points valued at $.02 each worth $150
• 7,500 United MileagePlus miles valued at $.02 each worth $150
• An additional 500 Amex MR points for the $500 in spend worth $10

Assuming you place the same value on points as I do, that's $310 off a $500 purchase.  Note that gift cards will typically trigger the bonus so that's a great way to "extend" the savings into the future.

Review: Turkish Airlines Business Class A330-300 Istanbul to Male

Introduction
Introduction Part Two
Planning & Booking
Sheraton JFK Airport
Lufthansa Business Class Lounge JFK
Turkish Airlines Business Class 777-300ER New York (JFK) to Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Istanbul Arrivals Lounge
St. Regis Istanbul
Turkish Airlines CIP Lounge Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Business Class A330-300 Istanbul to Male
Transfer from Male to Conrad Maldives
Conrad Maldives
Transfer from Conrad Maldives to Male
Singapore Airlines Business Class 777-200 Male to Singapore
Crowne Plaza Changi Airport Singapore
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Business Class Lounge to Singapore
Singapore Airlines Business Class 777-300ER Singapore to Tokyo (HND)
Andaz Tokyo
ANA Suite Lounge Tokyo (NRT)
ANA First Class 777-300ER Tokyo (NRT) to San Francisco

Turkish Airlines TK730 
Istanbul (IST) to Male (MLE)
August 20, 2016
Aircraft:  A330-300
Seats:  1E/1F

We headed to the gate where we'd have yet another bus gate.  The gate area was pretty chaotic and there was already a lengthly line for the bus.  Unfortunately, there wasn't a a business class line or bus so we headed to the back of line and waited our turn.  We boarded the bus and headed out to our waiting A330-300.