How/why we booked Le Méridien Resort and Spa Koh Samui:

Continuing from my Thailand Honeymoon – Part 1 post that detailed the first half of our trip…

Full disclosure: the honeymoon was super high on the priority list. To put it in perspective, we booked the tickets four weeks after our engagement and before I put a single wedding dress on my body. Our strategy for flights was a little out there for most people, but since Sean and I like to maintain several different types of elites statuses we wanted to turn it somewhat of a mileage run as well. I have status with oneworld carriers and Sean is Star Alliance Gold originally through Aegean, but now also using Turkish Airlines. That is a whole different blog post altogether, but if you want to learn a little about the details you can read my old post here (it’s outdated since Aegean restructured their loyalty program shortly after). Therefore we knew we wanted to travel on a Star Alliance carrier so we could not only rack up tons of miles for Sean to maintain his elite status, but also for the fabulous lounge access during our connections.

First lounge stop of the trip. United Airlines Red Carpet Club at NRT

As for the hotels, we decided to split the duties for choosing our lodging. Sean selected the resorts for the first week and I decided on using Starwood (SPG) points to book our second week. The reason why we did this is because Thailand is very inexpensive. Although we could have stayed in Conrad and W hotels the entire time we simply did not wish to spend all of our points because it would not be the best value of redemption. The Starwood property I chose was the Le Méridien Koh Samui Resort and Spa. Sean and I have stayed at several SPG properties and both hold Gold elite status with them. Sean once missed earning Platinum status by 2 nights one year and that’s hopefully a mistake we’ll never overlook again. Our elite status not only gives us extra points each time we stay at a property, but it frequently means free upgrades to suites at check-in. Additionally, the Starwood Preferred Guest program is one of the few travel loyalty programs that allow spouses to transfers points between accounts for free!

After I confirmed the availability of our preferred dates on spg.com, I called Starwood in order to hold our reservation because I did not have enough points in my account to cover the stay. The rate was 12,000 SPG points per night for the standard room and the fifth night was free. When I called the Gold Service Desk and spoke to a customer service representative, he helped me both transfer points from Sean’s account to cover the balance and put the reservation on a 7 day hold until the transfer fully processed. The agent on the phone asked me about the purpose of our trip and after I told him it was a honeymoon he made sure to document that in the reservation. This piqued me interest and I proceeded to ask him about the potential of getting a complimentary upgrade since I noticed that I could not book a suite for that particular week. He gave me a blanket statement that there’s always a possibility when there are special events like honeymoons involved. That’s when I really started to investigate. You see, honeymoons are an incredibly memorable time in people’s lives. Hotels absolutely love going above and beyond for honeymooners in order to establish a brand loyalty. Hotel chains know that if they can make a good first impression on your honeymoon then it is very likely that you will return to either the same property or similar resorts within their portfolios for future trips such as anniversaries.

From there I took it a step further and decided to directly contact the resort’s General Manager. I used a combination of researching on TripAdvisor and LinkedIn to locate her name and contact information. Then I sent the following e-mail:

Hi Xxxxxxxxx,

I recently booked an award booking for my upcoming honeymoon at Le Méridien Koh Samui Resort & Spa in April 2015. We were really looking forward to booking the Plunge Pool suite, but  unfortunately it was not an option for an award booking. I am an SPG Gold member and my account number is xxxxxxxxxxxxx and the reservation confirmation number is xxxxxxxxxxxx (15 – 20 April 2015). We are beyond excited to be celebrating our honeymoon at your property. We just wanted to connect with you and see if anything could be done in terms of an upgrade to the plunge pool due to our Gold status and since it is our honeymoon? Please let us know! We absolutely cannot wait to begin our marriage at your beautiful resort.

She responded within a few hours and said that she would be happy to help. She explained that I would need to follow up with her as our check-in date approached because I had contacted her 7 months in advance and did not have enough visibility to predict the capacity of the hotel. Additionally, she also told me how to properly secure the Plunge Pool Suite option using additional points in case we felt more comfortable knowing it was confirmed beforehand. I decided to risk waiting to see what type of complimentary deal SPG could offer instead.

Over the course of the next few months of wedding planning, I periodically kept in contact with the General Manager and was feeling pretty good about the situation. I knew that no matter what happened, we still had an incredible honeymoon planned and an entire week in the Gulf of Thailand and three other resorts to visit!

Final Stop: Le Méridien Resort and Spa Koh Samui

It was hard to believe that our honeymoon was close to complete, but we still had five more nights to enjoy at this gorgeous SPG property! Everything at this resort was calm and serene—even beginning at the check-in process. After taking a short ride from Mantra, we arrived at Le Méridien and were escorted through the breathtaking outdoor lobby to wait in a comfortable lounge area and served mocktails. After a few minutes of decompressing from the hotel transfer, a front desk employee approached and began to inform us about the resort’s amenities while checking us in. Unfortunately, the General Manager was traveling in Bangkok but she made sure to annotate our reservation with a complimentary upgrade to THE PLUNGE POOL SUITE.

We couldn’t believe it actually worked. Here we were with the opportunity to stay five nights in a private, luxury suite for free thanks to the SPG program! Needless to say, it was a spectacular stay. The staff was incredible and they really took time to take care of the details. This included complimentary drinks for our elite status as well as surprise room service desserts to celebrate our new marriage. Since the previous week was non-stop adventure and exploring different resorts, we took the few days to just relax together and enjoy the glorious pool and island of Koh Samui.

The post Thailand Honeymoon: Part 2 – Le Méridien Koh Samui appeared first on Seize the Globe.

• Sign up for an Aegean Airlines Miles & Bonus account
• A3 automatically deposits 1,000 miles–just for registering!
• You now have 1 year from your first flight credited to A3 to earn 20,000 miles total and get awarded *G status. Basically only 19,000 miles after they hand you 1,000
• The caveat to this is great. Even if you only manage to earn 4,000 additional miles and hit 5,000 total–you earn the Aegean Blue card which equates to *S
• From there you now must earn 16,000 points in order to earn *G and they give you another full year in order to accomplish this. Basically the clock resets

Sounds too good to be true? Check their terms and conditions page here.

UPDATE: Since this publishing Aegean changed their requirements for earning elite status. Now you need to fly 24,000 miles within 12 months and four of your flight segments MUST take place on Aegean or Olympic Air. If you do not meet the four flight segment criteria, then you must fly 48,000 miles on any Star Alliance partners. Although the loophole previously available no longer exists, you can still earn Star Alliance Gold status with Aegean. There are just a few better options out there. What we did was have my husband status match to Turkish Airlines–so now he currently hold Star Alliance Gold status through TWO airlines (until November 2016).

“Members who hold a BLUE Card and who have earned at least 16,000 Tier Miles within twelve (12) consecutive months from their first miles-accruing flight on the previous tier will receive the GOLD Card. If, however, the Blue Member, after completion of the aforementioned twelve-month period, has gathered less than 16,000 Tier Miles, then he/she shall remain a Blue Member, whilst the Tier Miles collected during that twelve-month period shall not be automatically reset, but shall rather be successively deleted one (1) year from the day of each respective flight event, effected within the 12-month period in question.”

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Like anything else, travel apps come in a very wide range of quality and usefulness. It can be difficult to navigate just which ones are worthwhile and which ones are completely worthless. I have narrowed my favorite and most used travel apps into this top five list. I highly recommend each and every one of them based on legitimate personal experience.

OnTheFly by ITA Software

This travel app is based on the juggernaut of all airfare search engines, ITA Matrix. I can’t even begin to touch on how beautiful of a software this is within one simple blog post–let alone a brief description of their app. Imagine this: the power of Google behind airfare searching. It gives you complete control over dates, arrival time, departure time, booking fare, price per mile, which airports to avoid, specific connection points, and more. The amount of detail you can search is ridiculous. It is like taking a fine tooth comb through every single possible fight option or combination available. You can not book through this software, but instead it gives you detailed insight into your own particular itinerary built entirely around your preferences. You then take that information and book it with your preferred airline directly, travel agent, or other source. When you run a standard search on a site like Kayak or Expedia, you are merely given the fastest and easiest search results. Sure, you can move the time bars a bit, but you do not have the level of control that you do with ITA. The travel app allows you to do this all from your mobile device and displays beautiful easy-to-read charts which gives you the most accurate information on the go and when you need it most. When I find myself in a jam, I use this software to direct airline agents at the airport on how to rebook me on another flight. It has saved me unnecessary pain and lost time just by having the ability to communicate in greater detail with gate agents. This app gives you more insight into airfare options than anything you have used in the past.

SeatGuru

SeatGuru is a website and travel app that was purchased by TripAdvisor. The goal is to keep frequent fliers informed of their seat options aboard different aircraft by giving you advice based on other users’ firsthand experience. Once you have specific flight information, you run a search on SeatGuru using the airline, flight number, and departure date in order to find seat maps of the aircraft scheduled to operate that flight. Pretty handy when choosing between flights or even when you’re checking-in online. Most people ignore the aircraft information listed when purchasing a flight unless you’re an #AvGeek. Only true #AvGeeks would understand ;). However, noting that small detail can increase your comfort just by avoiding seats that can’t recline due to exit row or knowing that you’re going to have a smaller seat width in other areas of the aircraft.

Below is an example of American Airlines flight AA2437 departing from LGA to MIA on Saturday, July 12th. As you can see, Seat 14C is highlighted and a brief description of the seat quality is available for any curious passengers.

Example seat map of a Boeing 787-800 flight AA2437 with seat information

FlightAware

FlightAware is an incredibly powerful tool that provides pilot-caliber information to all of its users. Want to know why your plane is not at the gate yet? This travel app allows you to search all the previous flight routes of that inbound flight. Not only that–you can track its GPS location in real-time. Turns out your airplane is not on time because the inbound flight is diverting from its usual course due to lightning storms in Houston. It can do this because FlightAware is a global aviation software and data services company that provides detailed flight information for both private and commercial flights. Never travel without this! This travel app has saved me many panic attacks when I feared missing a connection simply because I was armed with information. What more could you possibly need than detailed maps, weather radar, flight status, inbound flights, altitude, or speed? Not a whole lot more–but FlightAware provides it all to you for free.

Loungebuddy

Now time for the relaxing aspect of airport travel. This app is for when you are simply looking for a comfortable place to rest or work away from the hustle and bustle. Loungebuddy is your best friend when it comes to seeking out your airport oasis. No more worrying about complex access rules to lounges. Instead, you create a brief profile in the app by inputting what elite statuses, lounge memberships, or travel rewards credit cards that you have. Once you do this, Loungebuddy now know which lounges you have access to. There is even a box to check if you are a US military member and Loungebuddy will display all USOs as well. As an example, your next trip is on United Airlines from SFO to ATL with a connection in ORD. You create a new trip by adding your itinerary details. Next you have the option to view all of the lounges in each of the three airports. From here, the travel app will display which lounges you have free access to, but you also have the ability to view all total airport lounges or those that are accessible to you (even with a fee). The great thing is that it does all of the work for you. No more memorizing rules and exceptions regarding your lounge access via credit cards, memberships, or elite access. Now, all you have to worry about is choosing which lounge is most suitable to your needs at the moment. Oh wait, Loungebuddy also helps with that too. Other users can leave basic reviews and ratings based on a 4 star system. Things like comfort, quality, cleanliness, service, or if the lounge is worth a detour are all a few review criteria.

AwardWallet

Last, but certainly not least is AwardWallet. It is a free online service that keeps track of all of your rewards programs. That means every single point or mile you accrue gets monitored in a neat portfolio, kept updated, and you even receive alerts when your rewards are about to expire. This is not only limited to travel rewards like airline miles or hotel or rental car points. Credit cards and retail store rewards can also get tracked. Are you a VIB (Very Important Beauty) at Sephora? Then you bet that your status and points can be registered within AwardWallet as well. Over 633 loyalty programs are currently supported so that you do not have to waste precious time checking your point balances. You can even elect to receive weekly, monthly, etc. digest e-mails that report how your balances recently fluctuated. Needless to say, this travel app is a definite must for any serious (or seriously busy) frequent flyer.

I will also note that each and every single travel app I mentioned is absolutely free. Happy traveling!

The post Top 5 Travel Apps You Need for Your Next Trip appeared first on Seize the Globe.

Even for the novice travelers, most people are aware that the American Express Platinum charge card is notorious for excellent travel benefits. I plan on writing a series of posts specifically pertaining to this unique card. It happens to be one of the favorite cards I have in my own wallet and there are numerous strategies to maximize all the benefits it has to offer. To kick it off, I am going to address the $200 airline fee credit because this is one of the most overlooked and underutilized features.

For those of you who are American Express members or thinking of applying for a Platinum Amex here are some basic things you need to know about the $200 airline fee credit:

• You are entitled to $200 of airline fee credit per CALENDAR year. Not the anniversary when you opened the account–January 1st of each year
• You must specifically enroll in this benefit and indicate which airline you prefer (American, Delta, United, Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue, Frontier, Soutwest/AirTran)
• You may do so by calling the number on the back of your card or going here
• Consider applying for the Platinum Amex in late Q3 or during Q4. This way you have the ability to earn two x $200 credits in one 12-month period!
• I usually sign up for an airline that I do not have an associated co-branded credit card or elite benefits
• This is intended to cover incidental fees such as checked bags, overweight baggage fees, in-flight refreshments, pet flight fees, seat assignment fees, etc. when you use your enrolled Platinum (Business or Personal plus Centurion) Amex
• Keep in mind that one can expand this benefit even more by also having the Business version

Here are a few strategies in which you can maximize the full $200 every year and slash that $450 fee in half instantly (just with this one benefit):

Use your enrolled Amex to purchase airline gift cards.

• Purchase small amounts at a time. $50 to be conservative. However, members have had success with higher values. (Delta – increments over $50 will not work)
• Wait for the transaction to post and you will see the credit appear in anywhere from 48-72 hours (I have been told the longest was a week, but I have never experienced this)
• Do this four times and you now have $200 worth of gift cards for your airline of choice
• My experience is that American and Delta will limit you to three gift cards per transaction. So if you purchase in increments of $50, that is $150 off your next ticket
• You can also use them to purchase day passes for lounges that you do not normally have a membership nor access to
• Confirmed gift card reimbursements reported: American, Delta, Southwest, Alaska Airlines, US Airways
• United must be done through the Gift Registry
• Unfortunately, no dice for Hawaiian Airlines or JetBlue

Other reported reimbursement successes include: United award cancellation fees (required calling Amex), JetBlue Even More Leg room fee, Hawaiian Air Premier Club membership ($200/$250), and more.

There are those who have experienced actual flights getting reimbursed. However, these were under $100 (i.e. inter-island Hawaiian flights, etc.). Rare these days.

Lastly, for those that were given a credit with American/US Airways for the loss of access to the Admirals Clubs/US Airways Clubs back in March, you can use the $100 – $500 (highest reported) in the same manner. ***Note*** This is IN ADDITION to your original $200 airline fee credit. American Express always does a nice job when it comes to retention offers or even creating new member benefits whenever something like that happens. For instance, they not only offered additional airline reimbursement fees that I just mentioned but also MR bonuses (as reported by TPG), and Amex is even in the process of building dozens of new American Express Centurion lounges throughout the country. These lounges put every single domestic lounge to shame, to say the least, with benefits including free massages and manicures, premium meals created by famous culinary experts, and signature cocktails. These are the types of lounges that won’t make you bat an eye at losing access to the regular domestic carriers’ lounges. Current locations are DFW and LAS with SFO, MIA, and LGA to be finished in the coming months.

Please also remember that in addition to initially specifying your airline of choice, if you would like to change the airline for the following year you must call and do so. Otherwise your airline preference will remain the same. This may be done ONCE per year.

Lastly, each airline listed has its own specific thread on FlyerTalk that discusses this very topic. That means you have the ability to research other fliers’ experiences prior to you deploying your own strategy.

Please feel free to leave questions in comments section. I have maxed this offer two years in a row plus the American/US Airways credit earlier this year.

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