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On a recent trip to the US, I got to stay - for the first time - at a TownePlace Suites Hotel from the Marriott family. It was interesting for me, never having stayed at this sub-brand of hotels before, though they seem to be quite common place all across North America. For that reason, this might prove to be an interesting read for folks headed there or planning trips to the US and contemplating staying at one of these kind of properties.  Which is also why I've titled this post "perspective" rather than "review". A bit about Vancouver (in the US) and TownePlace Suites Vancouver in Washington State shares the same name with its more popular cousin over the border in British Columbia, Canada. Both the places are in fact named after a sea captain “George Vancouver”, who first discovered both the places. And the TownePlace Suites sub-brand of Marriott hotels offers larger rooms on the whole, and are aimed at long stay guests, and hence come setup with a full ki...

I've just returned from Australia after a bit of a nasty surprise on my return trip...turns out my connection in BKK was rather short...about 5 minutes, thereby ensuring I didn't get issued a boarding pass for my connecting segment. Not sure how I missed this, though there were certainly some inexplicable parts of the story that I'm currently investigating. Who knows, it just might turn out interesting enough for me to write about it...stay tuned! Meanwhile, 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! Promotions  A round of all the promotions in one place . Here, BTW, are promotions that end today. Book hotels with SPG's promo for  40% off on every 2nd night at Sheraton hotels  (stay to be completed by 30 September) Get  up to a 40% bonus on points purchased  from Hyatt Gol...

We're at the end of July, so I thought it would be useful to put out a list of promotions that are ending soon ... like tomorrow! I personally think these 7 months of 2016 have flown by rather quickly - think about it ... promotions for fall will be out soon! Anyway, here are the promotions that end in July and August, in case you want to cash in on any of them. So, 31 July 2016 is the last day to... ... book hotels with SPG's promo for 40% off on every 2nd night at Sheraton hotels  (stay to be completed by 30 September) ... get up to a 40% bonus on points purchased from Hyatt Gold Passport ... stay with SPG on their Triple Up promotion , offering 3x points at Sheraton hotels, 2x points in other SPG hotels, and a further 1000 points for weekend stays. The following promotions end on various dates in August: 15 August: registration ends for for SPG Choice Rewards in India 23 August: last day to book hotels in China under Hilton's Big World Sale - up to 30% discounts 31 Augu...

In the past, I've tried to wax eloquent about the relative merits of booking partner awards using JP miles . They had some fantastic options including on carriers like Cathay Pacific and Etihad, for a relatively low mileage requirement. However, a few months back,  Jet Airways revised (upwards, I might add) most, if not all, of its partner awards . And although they've been very transparent about the change, some of the unbelievable redemption options of the past no longer exist. So we thought we'd reminisce about those for a bit, and also cover one important aspect of reporting deals, in this post. Identifying the best redemption value To know if you're getting good value for the miles you're redeeming, you need to know the redemption value (or as I like to call it, the burn-to-earn ratio). Using a tool like the  Great Circle Mapper , it is possible to identify the distance between two points (airports) on a map, and then compare that with the mileage required to ...

Air Pegasus, the south-India based regional short-haul airline, seems to be the next airline in India on the brink of winding up. Yesterday, they cancelled their flights indefinitely citing a technical glitch . However, the same article quoted above suggests that they're in deep financial trouble. Here's more. Air Pegasus commenced operations in April 2015, and prior to yesterday's cancellations, operated a fleet of 3 ATR 72-500 aircraft (VT-APA, VT-APB and VT-APD). I've never flown them, so I don't have a personal angle on this airline. As an aside, the DGCA (aviation regulator in India) sacked the chief of safety and  suspended five pilots of the airline , for various safety violations. That isn't to say that safety is the reason for the airline's cancellations, but in another jurisdiction, it might well have been. Coming back to the issue on hand, the cancellations seem to be coming on the back of acute cash flow problems, and payments to aircraft lesso...

After a great time at the lounge and head back home. Getting done with dinner at the lounge was both a good and a bad idea! But we'll get to that in a bit. I was quite looking forward to this flight - not just because I was going home, but it gave me the opportunity to experience (again) and review (for the first time) Etihad's A330 business class. Index of posts Introduction Chennai International Airport lounge Chennai to Abu Dhabi, Jet Airways B737-800, business class Etihad First Class Lounge, Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi to London, Etihad A380, business suites London to Dublin on Ryanair (because…I’m masochistic like that) Hotel review: Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport Etihad First & Business Class Lounge, Dublin Dublin to Abu Dhabi, Etihad A332, business class Etihad Business Class Lounge, Abu Dhabi Flight review DUB-AUH EY48 | 7h 50m | 3,696 miles | A330 Business Class The boarding gates were a short walk from the lounge. Boarding for business class was through door 1L up fr...