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Jet Airways is currently running what seems to be a targeted promotion to boost your tier points, with some bonus JP miles thrown into the mix. As someone whose travel has reduced quite substantially compared to the last few years , I find this reasonably useful as long as I'll be able to fly enough otherwise to renew my JP Gold status.  Jet Privilege will give you 40% bonus miles and 4 bonus tier points for taking 4 Jet Airways flights between today (23 November 2015) and 22 December 2015 . Simple as that. However, the offer is limited to taking 4 flights...meaning, flight more flights won't get you any more bonus miles or tier points. Here's an extract from the email I received. Given that this seems like a targeted promotion, there isn't a registration required, nor is there a requirement to book tickets via one or more specified channels only. Here are some of the more important T&Cs: This promotion is applicable only for the JetPrivilege member to whom the emai...

The travel, points and miles blog space has been abuzz in the last 48 hours, after Marriott's acquisition of SPG was announced . To be fair, there's a high level of consternation among SPG loyalists about how the entire deal is unfair to SPG members. And honestly, I haven't really seen a single post or news item about how this will hurt Marriott. I think that, in itself, says a lot. So after the news yesterday, I was thinking about some of the issues that could crop up with this acquisition, which I'll leave you to ponder on, and add to as well. Let's start with some good news The acquisition has only just been announced, and won't be finalised till mid- or late- 2016. I'm sure as with any transaction, there are legal and regulatory hurdles to cross. And while I'm no expert on this, I'm not sure if there are competition / anti-trust issues involved here at the US/Global level. So, all those need to be sorted out. So I don't see this acquisition h...

Etihad Guest, Etihad Airways' frequent flier program, is currently offering a promotion to convert points / loyalty rewards from other programs to the Etihad Guest program, at a bonus of 25%. This is valid for conversion transfers done till 31 December 2015. You can convert credit card, hotel or other loyalty rewards of Etihad's conversion partners , at a 25% bonus. The actual conversion is done by contacting the program from which you intend to transfer points. Some partners offer an online conversion option. For further information on each partner, you can view all dedicated partner pages by category by clicking on the bank , hotel , and leisure/lifestyle pages. India perspective Many of Etihad's conversion partners are middle-east or UK based, so there aren't too many programs from a typical Indian user's point of view, from which you could transfer points. However, there are some options, though how useful they are will depend on how you value those points. You...

Big news today on the hotels front, is that Marriott is buying Starwood in a cash plus stock deal , making it the biggest hotel company in the world . This is after reports in the last few weeks around various players - including two different Chinese companies, as well as Hyatt - being possible buyers. All of that is now closed. Marriott will now own Starwood, involving a legal process that is expected to be completed by mid-2016. I'm sure this is exciting news for many of you out there, especially those who favour the Marriott Rewards program over SPG. I can't disagree. I've mentioned in the past about how Marriott Rewards is possibly the best hotel rewards program in India . To my mind, SPG always came out as a #2 or #3 , mainly because of the relatively high earn-to-burn ratio that SPG Starpoints offers. SPG fans must be riled at this announcement. To be fair, internationally, SPG scores far better that Marriott, if the bloggers at BoardingArea are any indication! Marri...

Starwood has made a “soft” acquisition of another brand to its portfolio. This time, it’s Design Hotels, a collection of selected hotels across the globe. To me, this sounds more like a partnership than a full portfolio brand, but lets see how things progress over time. Till then, here's what you need to know about Design Hotels, their Indian connections, and how you can benefit as an SPG member. What exactly is Design Hotels? From Starwood's page , launching Design Hotels: Established in 1993 as the first of its kind, Design Hotels represents and markets a hand-selected collection of hotels around the globe. Its large, vibrant, and engaged community of followers understands Design Hotels' portfolio offers them the unexpected and the original, as well as genuine hospitality, cultural authenticity and thought-provoking design and architecture, all in a wide variety of settings, including great capital cities, island retreats, mountain resorts, offbeat spots and far beyond. A...

There used to be this offer for SPG Gold after 1 stay in Asia-Pacific , and paid with a World MasterCard or World Elite Mastercard that has been issued in Asia-Pacific , which expired in July 2015. Fortunately, this offer has been extended / a new offer is available in its place. In principle, the offer is the same - SPG Gold after one stay in any SPG property in Asia-Pacific. The promotion is valid till 12 July 2016. Based on my experience with the previous offer (I received SPG Gold in September 2013), the Gold status will be valid till end of  2016 if the offer is used before 31 December 2015, and 2017 if the offer is used before 12 July 2016. You can register for this promotion here . The only hitch with this offer is that now, you require a Bank Promotion Code, which is available from the bank that issued your World MasterCard or World Elite Mastercard. Once you've got that, it should be fairly smooth thereafter. SPG Gold is normally available after 10 stays or 25 nights, so t...

Earlier this year, I flew LHR to AUH on Etihad's A380. I was booked in business class, and try as I might, upgrade (using Etihad Guest miles) to first class wasn't available until the morning of my departure. However, the story at the airport was quite different, and so it was only a question of whether I should or shouldn't (I was already flying business class, so I knew it would be a comfortable flight anyway). A quick call to Vinay (that master of persuasive argument) settled the issue - with EY's quadruple miles offer (similar to this one ), I'd have earned more miles on just this trip than were needed to upgrade, so the trip sort of paid for the upgrade on its own. And so I was all set for my first First Class flight, that too on the Etihad A380's First Apartment. I'd reached the airport with time to spare, but thinking through the upgrade process took away a lot of it. So there was just about time now to clear security and head to the lounge for a qu...