Alan 
M life Rewards Mastercard Sign Up Bonus – Free Night at Mandalay Bay The M life Rewards Mastercard is laughably bad. The standard sign up bonus is 10,000 points that can be redeemed for $100 worth of charges at M life Properties. You are also automatically given Pearl Status. In … Read more
Kimpton Nine Zero Boston Review I spent this past weekend at the Kimpton Nine Zero in Boston. I have only stayed at a Kimpton once before (years ago at the Hotel Monaco Salt Lake City). I was originally going to stay at the Hyatt Regency Boston but when Kimpton offered a … Read more
Alaska Airlines Same Day Flight Changes and Upgrades A same day flight change is a nice option for travelers hoping to move to an earlier or later flight the same day as their originally booked ticket. I use this option a ton. For example, this past weekend I was in … Read more
Combining Two IHG Promotions IHG Rewards Club is currently running their Accelerate Quarter 2 promotion. These quarterly promotions set up a personalized set off offers to complete for points. Offers include things like staying number of nights, stays at certain properties, spending on a co-branded credit card. Typically there are bonus … Read more
Alaska Airlines delivers free macrons via Twitter Coinciding with their 11th year in a row of topping J.D. Power Ratings for top traditional airline in North America, Alaska Airlines ran a Twitter campaign offering free deliver of macarons. ICYMI we’re in eleventh heaven. Celebrate with us! Reply with #MostWestCoast + ✈ … Read more
DoubleTree Times Square Review I enjoy most of the hotels I stay at. Most hotels, at least those that are branded by a chain like Hyatt or Hilton, keep up their rooms even if the building is dated. I’ve found some lower end properties that still have great service to … Read more
Alaska Lounge in Terminal 7 at JFK Today Alaska Airlines opened their brand new Alaska Lounge in Terminal 7 at JFK International Airport in New York. This is the first Alaska Lounge outside the West Coast. Currently Alaska Lounges are located in Seattle (C Gates, D Gates, N Gates), Portland, … Read more
Is hotel shampoo racist? Recently I have seen a lot of complaints about hotel shampoo. From allergic reactions to added fragrance to outrage over wall mounted bottles. However today I heard a new complaint. That hotel shampoo is racist. Yesterday, American singer Halsey posted a tweet about hotel shampoo: I’ve … Read more
Alaska Airlines to Introduce Basic Economy Fare I write a lot about Alaska Airlines — I find them to be a great airline, with a great loyalty program. They mostly resist the race-to-the-bottom of other airlines. Still, they are not immune. They charge for checked luggage (though they have a … Read more
Seoul Metro Emergency Procedures When I mentioned to people that I was going to be visiting Korea for a few days, the two comments I received was “I hope you aren’t going to the North” and “I hope that are going to be safe”. I was only visiting Seoul (and … Read more
Japan Airlines First Class HND-SFO I’m not going to write a full review of the flight, as much of it was the same as my JAL First Class LAX-NRT flight just a week prior. Instead I will highlight the differences in the flight. Overall, I came away realizing the importance … Read more
Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Tokyo HND First things first. If you have the option of flying out of Haneda rather than Narita when leaving Tokyo, pick Haneda. It is closer to the city and much nicer. This is my review of the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Tokyo HND … Read more
Qantas First Class Lounge LAX There has been a lot of blog posts written about the Qantas First Class Lounge LAX. Many crown it the best lounge in the US. I had not visited until my visit prior to my flight on Japan Airlines in First Class. I was flying … Read more
The Strings InterContinental Tokyo Review The last hotel stay during my Tokyo/Seoul trip was at the Strings by InterContinental in Tokyo. I used my IHG Chase card Free Anniversary Night; though a straight points stay would have been 55,000 points. Under the new rules, the Anniversary Night will not be … Read more
Conrad Seoul Review After four nights at the Andaz Tokyo, I was heading over to Seoul for two nights. Hilton was holding a 50% off in Asia sale, so I jumped on booking my first ever stay at a Conrad. The cost was 154,000 won ($144) per night all in for … Read more