Sonesta is a small but expanding hotel chain primarily in the US.  Recently it opened (or acquired?) quite a few properties in South America, including several in Peru that caught my eye (Sacred Valley, Cusco, Lake Titicaca).  Travel Pass is their loyalty program.  Back in the day, they awarded the equivalent of 10,000 points for each new member … [Read more...]

Earlier today it was possible to cash out Hilton points at Amazon.com at 0.5 cents per point (cpp).  This was a good deal.  I personally think the average redemption value of Hilton points, for Hilton award stays, is around 0.45 cpp.  Being able to redeem it at a slightly higher value for something more universally useful like Amazon is pretty cool.  I … [Read more...]

I was telling someone (not a frequent traveler) about my Romania trip.  She asked if English was widely spoken there.  It wasn't.  She asked: "how do you communicate?"  My response: if you're with good people, things always work out. We live in an age of travel miracles: if you speak English, know how to book cheap tickets, and have a mobile phone, you … [Read more...]

I've written before about my unimpressive Diamond upgrade rate at Hilton. Well, a few weeks ago, I finally scored my 2nd ever great Hilton upgrade - the Royal Suite at Hilton Sibiu in Romania. I had ranked it #1 on my (can't keep up with devaluation) Best Low Category Hilton Redemptions List based on research (10k/night, 5 star hotel, at the time #1 rated hotel in Sibiu on … [Read more...]

This is a continuation of my Romania trip report.  See also: Part 1, which established general expectations of Transylvania. The highlight of this trip is Balea Lake, a glacial lake on the famed Transfaragasan Road.  This fairy tale sits 2,000 meters high, surrounded by the Fagaras Mountain.  As with any high altitude location, the weather is … [Read more...]

I just returned from 9 days traveling around Romania.  Specifically, Transylvania.  I didn't have a good idea of what it's like before I went.  Especially in the miles and points world, there's very little report on this country.  So, I thought I'd to share my experience.   This was probably the first trip in a very long time where I spent that … [Read more...]

Update: for a complete list of the hotels no longer at 10k level, see this Loyalty Traveler post,  I'm literally in the middle of writing about my Hilton redemptions in Romania.  7 nights this month set me back 60,000 Hilton points (without 5th night free). I happen to go to Hilton.com to see if there were any other sweet spots in Romania I had missed.  Lo … [Read more...]