Hello from Mumbai, I am just back from a lovely 2 days in Mussoorie. I hope all of you enjoyed the big cricket match at the Cricket World Cup today. Here is a recap of the posts from last week, just in case you missed something: The Novice Perspective Shipra, the first contributor to the blog, wrote this morning about how she was learning the ropes of maximising hotel loyalty programs. Jet Privilege JetPrivilege is on a roll! They just made it easier to get you elite status, without taking away anything! I wonder when is JetPrivilege announcing a counter offer to Vistara’s new flights. Air India Flying Returns Air India Flying Returns is giving away a free ticket on…
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The Novice Perspective: Benefiting from hotel loyalty programs
Shipra is my fiancée and the first of contributors at the blog. She has worked with one of the largest airline conglomerates in the world, and is now based in Mumbai. Shipra has lived, worked and travelled across 4 continents. We travel often enough, together and separately. These are her perspectives, as she gets used to the world of business and leisure travel and our hobby! The Novice Perspective: Initiating my Fiancée to Points & Miles The Novice Perspective: Getting used to Airport Lounges Brace yourself, for this is going to be a long one. My first holiday with Ajay in Goa almost led to a break up. Ajay asked me to choose a property to book and I opted…
Best Hotel Promotions Q1 2015: Indian Perspective
The Hotel Promotions for 2015’s first quarter/trimester are out, and some of them are really sweet for the India focus. I thought this would be a good time to summarise all the hotel promotions, and analyse them from the Indian perspective so that you can pick your affiliations for the first quarter. IHG India Free Nights (Get 1 Night free for 3 nights in India/Nepal) + Set Your Sights: IHG is running a superb promotion for their members in India and Nepal. For every 3 nights you spend in India/Nepal, you get a free night certificate which you can spend at their hotels across the globe in the whole of 2015. The promotion runs till April 30, 2015. This can…
An insight into my miles and points balances
As I reached another 7-figure benchmark on the total number of miles and points I control (my own and my family), I thought it would be a good idea to do some slice and dice on the data for my own self to be able to understand where I stand, and for you to have an insight as well. For the purpose of this exercise, I just downloaded all my balances from AwardWallet, and assigned the same value to all the miles there. So, an Air India mile = An AAdvantage mile = A Hyatt Gold Passport Point = an IHG point. In reality they are different, because for instance you need much lesser Hyatt points to stay at a…
My Credit Card Strategy 2014 update
In the beginning of the year, I wrote my credit card strategy for 2014. I’ve been meaning to give a mid-year update, but not been able to do so far. Anyhow, lets take a look now at how things are going, and what may be the plan ahead. Here are the credit cards I already have, and my view on them. Citibank PremierMiles Visa (Keep): This is my favourite credit card all around, and if you’ve poked around this blog, you would have noticed I love this product. I intend to keep it and use it as my primary card to book airline tickets and make use of all the special Citibank promotions that come 3-4 times a year, such…
Flight AI 682: Cochin – Mumbai, Air India, Economy
Mumbai Airport Terminal 2 Clipper Lounge, Mumbai Terminal 2 Courtyard by Marriott Hotel, Kochi Airport Clipper Lounge Cochin If I haven’t mentioned this before, the Cochin Airport is made to look more like arriving at a red-brick palace than arriving at an airport. Here is what it looked from outside. We spent a brief moment pre-security at the dead Clipper Lounge, and then proceeded to clear security check, where I realised my palatial analogy was going to fit even better. This airport missed anything that was modern, and was full of wooden chairs (more like side pieces from couches) from another generation. My first time there and I sure was surprised. The wait was prolonged, because like it always happens,…
Clipper Lounge Cochin: the barest lounge ever?
Mumbai Airport Terminal 2 Clipper Lounge, Mumbai Terminal 2 Courtyard by Marriott Hotel, Kochi Airport Air India 682, Cochin – Mumbai, Economy After our three day stay at the Courtyard by Marriott, Kochi Airport, we were dropped off early morning at the Airport in a shuttle car of the hotel. We were already checked-in, and flying Air India. The airport had a Clipper Lounge, however, this was before the security hold area in the Domestic section of the airport. To access, I used my MasterCard and guested my partner using my Priority Pass. It was early morning so the lounge was empty, or maybe that was the way of life here, because it did not seem like this lounge was…
Clipper Lounge, Mumbai Terminal 2
Mumbai Airport Terminal 2 Courtyard by Marriott Hotel, Kochi Airport Clipper Lounge Cochin Air India 682, Cochin – Mumbai, Economy Like I mentioned last week, I’d taken a short getaway out of town last week, and I booked a trip out on Air India, partly to check out the new Terminal 2 at Mumbai Airport, which has been built recently. Air India is the only airline which offers domestic segments out of the international section of the airport as well, so, I thought of them. My first thoughts about the Terminal 2, Mumbai Airport are here, while here are some pictures of the airport lounge which is being used by the airlines. Apart from the airline lounges, there is also…
Travelling through Terminal 2 Mumbai: first thoughts!
Clipper Lounge, Mumbai Terminal 2 Courtyard by Marriott Hotel, Kochi Airport Clipper Lounge Cochin Air India 682, Cochin – Mumbai, Economy I planned a last minute weekend getaway earlier this week, and I decided to head to Cochin for the weekend. However, I also wanted to check out the Terminal 2 in Mumbai, which went live about 10 days back. At the moment, the terminal only serves international flights, and my first international trip for the year is still a few days out. So, for a change, I decided to fly Air India and use one of their domestic flights that fly from the Terminal 2. I’d been walked through this airport a long while back, when it was still…
Earn JPMiles to book hotels with PointsHound + special promotion
PointsHound is a 11 month old website now, which offers mileage currency to book hotel rooms via their website. There is a tier system in place, where if you book 1-5 nights, you get a certain no. of miles, for being a Level 1 member. Once you move up to Level 2, you get the ability to earn a higher no. of miles per night, and if you go right up to level 3 (20+ nights booked), you get into the highest tier where you get the most number of miles per night. Most of the times, you’d have to give up the ability to earn status/elite benefits in your hotel program when booking via a 3rd Party. However, PointsHound…
Hilton plans to scrap room service
Room service has been synonymous with full service hotels for the longest time. However, it seems the paradigm will change soon, at least that is the Hilton’s plan for the summers. As per a Reuters report, Hilton CEO stated at a hospitality conference today, that the 2000-key full-service Hilton New York Midtown will scrap away room service this summer, and instead open an onsite eatery which will offer gourmet take-out. I expect this to be a pilot for such an effort, because Hilton is not planning to roll out the change at its other properties just yet. Other hotels, such as the Marriott chain also have no intentions of eliminating room service for the time being. I guess this move…
