Welcome to the Miles, Points and Travel Hacks Weekly Round-Up
for the week of November 28th

Each week we sift through all of the posts, blogs, PR, hyperbole and rumors, boil it down and share the best stuff with you. I’m exhausted from reading all of the Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Wait We’re Still Not Done sales info. But, there’s an internet that needs to be fed with new content. So, let’s get going.

Not So Fine

My inbox looks like it got hit by a tsunami, caught on fire and collapsed into a sinkhole created by an earthquake. I received at least 500 emails promoting “incredible” deals, “amazing” deals, deals that I would regret missing for the rest of my life. You know the drill. It’s hard to rise above the hype and find any real value, and that’s not fine by me.

There were a lot of discounts out there, but nothing that came through my inbox just screamed, “I’m an amazing deal. You can’t live without me.” The single best deal, of any kind, that I found out there that was a no-brainer was a gift card deal on ebay for 15% discounts on iTunes gift cards. They make great gifts and there is a thriving seconday market for them if you are into the whole manufactured spend world.

The picture above is not intended to single out Norwegian Cruise Lines, Gate1 Travel or any other travel provider out there. It’s intended to point out one example of the kind of deals that were over promoted on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the rest of the Horrific Holiday season. Saving $160 or $120 on a cruise is nothing special. It’s yawn inducing. Heck, it’s soporific, even. (Look that one up.)

I use a different strategy to get great deals on cruises. It involves being flexible, rolling the dice a bit and taking advantage of last minute deals and repositioning cruises. Here’s a couple of articles we’ve done with great deal on the subject.

Cruise Hacking | A Newbie’s Guide

Repositioning Cruises | The Best Value Afloat

The Finer Things

I’ve had Anguilla on my “must go here” list for 20 years. It’s still on my list. That’s something I need to fix sometime soon. I was doing some research and an article popped up that caught my eye. Four Seasons has taken over what was the Viceroy resort. The Viceroy opened in 2009 and was well regarded as a luxury destination on laid-back Anguilla. This summer they announced that Four Seasons would take over operations and the launch would be sometime in the fourth quarter and Four Seasons Anguilla is up and running right when they said it would and that’s a fine thing.

There’s 181 Rooms and villas with 80% being beach and ocean view. Rack rates currently start at $500/night, but Four Seasons does offer 5th night free which works out to a 20% savings on a 5 night stay. There are also 5 lounges and restaurants, a spa, workout facility and I’m pretty sure someone follows you around waving palm fronds, pouring champagne and polishing individual grapes to a shiny gloss just for your eating pleasure.

There’s a mouth-watering video that you can view at – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-S4kwvXKhE

The Fine Print

Etihad is one of the best 5 airlines in the world when it comes to First Class and Business Travel. Where they fit in that list is up to your own personal preference, but it’s hard to make an argument for leaving them out any Top 5 list. Their First Class Apartments on the A380 and the over-the-top Residence, also on the A380 rank high on everyone’s aspirational travel checklist. Like all good travel hackers, belonging to an airline’s loyalty program and achieving elite status is an excellent way to learn about opportunities to fly up front and save money doing so.

Recently Etihad announced that if you joined the Etihad Guest program and flew with them once in Economy Class, you would be granted Silver Tier status. If you flew with them once in Business or First Class, you would be granted Gold Tier Status. That’s a nice perk that quickly gets you to elite status with a very luxurious airline that services the world via their hub in Abu Dhabi.

The original terms and conditions of the offer read as follows:

• Offer available from 10 November until 24 November 2016.
• Travel must be completed by 10 May 2017.
• Only applications made using the above reader offer link are valid.
• Offer only available for new enrolments. (US readers – not an error. UK spelling)

No problem. Easy-peasy, right? Well, apparently someone at Etihad saw a lot of people all over the world signing up for this deal and they changed the terms and conditions right around November 16th. They now read:

• Offer available from 10 November until 24 November 2016.
• Travel must be completed by 10 May 2017.
• Only applications made using the above reader offer link are valid.
• Offer only available for new enrolments.
• Travel must originate from the United Kingdom, and must be a return ticket.

I get why they “clarified” the offer. It was advertised in a UK publication. They expected people from the UK to sign up for the deal. But, it didn’t work out that way because…………. Internet. Etihad is totally withing their rights to change the Ts and Cs, but this kind of thing usually ends up irritating or alienating a lot of other potential customers. From our perspective, that’s why you read the Fine Print.

That’s it for this week. If you have any tips, tricks, rumors or whispers, please email me – steve@travelzork.com