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IHG Rewards Club is offering a 100% bonus on all points purchased till 3 June 2016. This is a pretty good offer (you rarely, if ever, get more than 100% bonuses), and is open to all members of the program without restrictions. Here's why you should consider this promotion seriously. Past promotions have tended to offer graded bonuses going up to 100%, but the actual bonus depended on how many base points you bought. This current promotion, however, offers 100% bonus on whatever number of points you buy. You can buy up 60,000 points, thereby earning you a further 60,000 bonus points. That would get you 120,000 points for $690, which works out to about Rs 46,300 at current exchange rates (or an effective price of Rs 0.39 per point). Here at MAEM,  we value IHG Rewards Club points at Rs 0.26 apiece , but that's no reason to ignore this current offer, given the 100% bonuses. For a start, you could buy 5,000 points (that's a total of 10,000 points with the bonus) for $67.50 (Rs ...

Starwood has announced a short-window sale for up to 50% discounts on its participating properties in Asia-Pacific. The discount is valid for bookings till 5 June 2016, for stays between 2 June and 31 October 2016. SPG members get an additional 5% discount. Read on for more... This offer is valid at participating SPG hotels and resorts across Asia Pacific. You can access this offer here . The discount varies by property and according to the promotion, the offer is for "up to 50%" and not a guaranteed 50% discount. What this means, is that many properties don't show a large enough discount for me to hit the book button. In fact, from what I've checked out at many of the participating properties in India, the discount is rarely 50%. Here's an example for random dates, at the St Regis Mumbai where I stayed last year , and where the typical price 2 months out is in the region of Rs 12,000++.  The discounted price is Rs 10,200++ a night, which is approximately a 15% di...

Both Vinay and I have been quite tied up this week, with work and travel, which explains the rather limited activity here at the blog. So limited, that we published only 4 posts this week, which must be an all-time low after we decided to resume the blog 10 months back. Hopefully, things will get better starting next week! So here's a round up of the week that was - a summary of posts on this blog as also other things travel, aviation, points and miles that we found interesting. Hope you had a great week, and here's wishing you the very best in the next one! Hotel promotions Marriott's summer 2016 promotion should rank as one of the most underwhelming promotions ever. Nonetheless, it is on now. However, they're also offering double elite qualifying nights for non-US resident members. Did you manage enough stays with Design Hotels to earn a free night with SPG ? Airline news and promotions Now you should be able to experience a taste of Subway and Krispy Kreme on board...

The quest to accumulate miles at the lowest possible cost is a never-ending one. Credit cards are usually our best resort to help us earn a fair number of airline miles without the pain of having to actually travel all those miles. And we've written a fair bit on this blog about credit card spending, promotions, etc. However, one needs to be careful about spending excessively on credit cards. Uncontrolled spends can lead to huge amounts of debt, spiralling interest, unwanted calls from banks and visits from their agents (if you know what I mean), what have you. And much as we are all rational people, we can sometimes get carried away by the power of credit cards. So I thought I'd write a bit about credit card spending and doing it safely. Much as personal financial planning "experts" may try and convince us otherwise, credit cards are pretty good, and generally rather useful.  You don't need to carry large amounts of cash around.  Transacting is pretty secure, ...

Jet Airways is now introducing Subway sandwiches and Krispy Kreme's Original Glazed Doughnut on flights of less than 90 minutes duration. To start with, this will be on ex-Delhi flights, and soon on ex-Mumbai flights, after which they expect to spread this facility to flights from other metros. There was a time when Jet Airways' catering used to be quite above par, even in economy class. That was maybe 10 years back. And after the Sahara acquisition, going through the phase of Jet and JetLite and all of that nonsense trying to find their own brand identity (before becoming the (un)official feeder service to Etihad), they completely lost it.  First the the quality of on-board catering declined, and then the quantity. I recall one flight on the MAA-BRU route, when all they offered in economy (mind you, we're talking about a 2 am departure here), was a kathi roll in economy, just after departure (most folks slept away, so there weren't too many takers either). No mention ...

Yesterday, Marriott announced details of its promotion for summer 2016. The promotion is valid for stays between 24 May and 5 September 2016, and earns 2,000 bonus points starting with the second stay, for a maximum possible 10,000 bonus points. Registration is required. Here's more. Here's what the promotion requires: Register by September 5, 2016 Stay at participating properties between May 24 and September 5, 2016 Earn 2,000 bonus points on every paid stay, starting with your second stay, up to 10,000 bonus points You can register after you login to your Marriott Rewards account, in the Promotion Central section of your account . In addition, if you're a US resident, every stay earns you an entry into a sweepstakes that Marriott is currently running. More on this promotion here . Here's what I think of the offer, though, when you consider that the promotion is for 2,000 points per stay , not per night , starts only from the second stay (Marriott seems to have an obs...

A few months back, Marriott announced their MegaBonus 2016 promotion . There hasn't been much word from Marriott since then - maybe they're busy with working out the details of the Starwood acquisition? Anyway, here's a new offer from Marriott, for members residing outside the US, who were Marriott Rewards members as of 8 April 2016 . Very simply, each night between 3 June and 31 December 2016 that you stay at a Marriott hotel qualifies as 2 nights for the purpose of elite tier retention / upgrade. Marriott Rewards normally requires 10+ nights to Silver 50+ nights to Gold 75+ nights to Platinum . With each night counting as 2 under this promotion, one needs to stay for only half the nights otherwise required to retain / upgrade tiers.  You will need to login to your Marriott Rewards account and head to  the Promotion Central section , to  register for this promotion before 30 September 2016 . Here are the benefits at a glance. Here are the full T&Cs : Marriott Reward...

Reporting from Chennai where the week's been one of crazy weather...absolutely unscheduled mid-summer rains brought the mercury down to a very acceptable 24 degrees for a coupple of days, before going back up to the high 30s. Here's a round up of the week that was - a summary of posts on this blog as also other things travel, aviation, points and miles that we found interesting. Hope you had a great week, and here's wishing you the very best in the next one! New series We decided to launch a new series, recapping all active and ongoing promotions . Because memory isn't what it used to be! We hope to remember to publish this series at least monthly. Hotel promotions Did you register for IHG's Accelerate 2016 summer promotion ? What's your offer? Airline promotions Malaysia Airlines seems to have some really great fares from (south) India and Colombo, to Australia . In business class !!! Trip reports The last installment from my trip to Singapore in April - Aftern...

Air India is currently running a Monsoon Sale, for bookings made till 25 May 2016, valid on flights in the monsoon season, ie from 1 July to 30 September 2016. These are valid on domestic sectors (including the domestic part of an international routing). Fares start at Rs 1,499 a pop. Here's more. There are four fare levels, at Rs 3,099, Rs, 2,499, Rs 1,899 and Rs 1,499. Capacity restrictions apply on this sale , one can get great value going by AI's listed prices for the applicable sectors . Here are some examples: For Rs 3,099 each way: Delhi - Port Blair Delhi - Trivandrum Delhi - Kochi Delhi - Coimbatore For Rs 2,499 each way: Delhi - Vijayawada Chennai - Kolkata For Rs 1,899 each way: Delhi - Aurangabad Mumbai - Gwalior For Rs 1,499 each way: Chennai - Goa Bangalore - Pune However, note that fares under this sale are in the "E" fare bucket (or RBD), which earns only 10% of the base miles . Airlines in India generally announce sales in May and June (or even earlie...

On this blog, we often write about promotions across hotels, airlines, credit cards and the occasional cash back offer as well. But once written, barring the occasional mention in our weekly round up, these deals are all but forgotten. Which is of no use to a reader, if there's a potential upside from an ongoing promotion that's out of sight - and hence, out of mind. So we're trying to set up a system to keep updating all promotions that are currently valid. These are essentially reminders, and so we'll try to publish these once a month (or more frequently, if time permits). So here are some of the promotions that are currently open. British Airways Up to 10% discount on tickets purchased using specified Citibank credit cards . Book by 30 June 2016 for travel by 31 December 2016. Etihad Guest You can sample the A380 experience on Etihad on BOM-AUH. Up to 3x bonus miles when you book and fly by 31 May 2016. Hilton HHonors Registrations are now open for  Hilton's s...

I've been on the road a little bit recently, which included a business trip to Singapore. I visited Singapore last in 2009, and didn't carry home any significant impressions. Not that there were negative experiences, just nothing impressive enough, I guess. This time, however, has been quite different. I suddenly learnt that I liked the city quite a bit! I can feel it in the pictures I put up (check out the trip index below for links to those pictures)! I realised that I've gotten into the habit of putting the proverbial cart before the proverbial horse, so I'll put things in chronological order here, to set things right! So here's the index of posts related to this trip. Mini trip report - Jet Airways business class B738 - MAA-SIN Hotel review: Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium Is this the best hotel amenity ever? All about handy In pictures: Glimpses of Singapore In pictures: Singapore - colonial meets commercial In pictures: Hanging out at Clarke Quay and Boat Quay Ho...

As readers might know, I was in Singapore a few weeks ago, and spent three nights at the Conrad Centennial Singapore . The one thing I haven't written about yet from that trip, is the executive lounge at the Conrad, so here it is. I had a light but late breakfast at the Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium  on the Sunday morning, mainly because of the excesses of the previous night. I'd also been allowed to check out late (2 pm), which I'd requested because the regular check-in time at the Conrad Singapore is 3 pm. I reached the Conrad at around 2.30 pm, and was immediately assigned a room on a high floor, and given access to the executive lounge, thanks to my Hilton HHonors Diamond status obtained through status matching . Sadly, that doesn't guarantee you an upgrade to a suite. At check-in, I was informed that the lounge had an afternoon English tea service, as well as evening cocktails setting with hors d'oeuvres . Those are sort of code for lunch and dinner, even if the...