Hong Kong Hotels for Grandma

Now that my grandmother's flights were booked for her 65th Birthday trip to Korea and Hong Kong, it was time to get her hotels booked.

Fortunately, we had spent 5 days in Hong Kong ourselves in 2014 so we could offer some recommendations.

Since Hong Kong (like NYC) is quite expensive for hotels, we didn't want to use cash when we had so many hotel points and awards at our disposal where we could get out-sized redemption value.

InterContinental
For the first night, we used 50,000 IHG points to book her in the InterContinental Hong Kong on the Kowloon side where she would be right on the Avenue of the Stars to enjoy the nightly laser light show.

Retail cash prices were $351 USD, so we were getting 0.7 cents/IHG point. Not a great redemption, but it's actually just a placeholder booking until September when we'll rebook it. Recall, just for having the Chase IHG Visa credit card ($49 annual fee), we get a Free Night Award certificate at every anniversary - which is September for us. So even after paying the annual fee, we'll save $302 cash for a night at one of the best hotel properties in Hong Kong.

Conrad
Then for the last two nights, we booked my grandmother at the Conrad Hong Kong which was back on the mainland side.

Just like with IHG, we had a Free Night Award with Hilton. Unlike IHG, however, this award is only good for a weekend night (Fri, Sat or Sun). So we used it for the last night of my grandmother's Hong Kong trip which was a Friday night.

However, we wanted her to enjoy another night at the Conrad since they offered an amazing (complimentary) buffet breakfast for Hilton Gold members each morning at their Garden Cafe (if you ask nicely). So we used 80,000 Hilton HHonors points to book another award night on Thursday.

The cash retail prices for the Conrad Hong Kong were $404/night after taxes, so we were saving $808 at least by using the weekend award certificate and points. While not the best redemption (approximately 0.5 cents/HH point), it was a very compelling use of Hilton HHonors points given the quality of the hotel.

Plus, they should get a late checkout so that they'll have a relaxing final day before heading to Hong Kong Airport to enjoy the Cathay Pacific business class lounge.

I hope you have a great birthday trip, Grandma!

Grandmother's 65th Birthday Trip

This autumn will be my paternal grandmother's 65th birthday. My father's already got some pretty ambitious plans for her, flying her in first class on Japan Airlines to South Korea to visit her siblings.

However, my grandmother has always wanted to visit Hong Kong, so we arranged to have her fly out of Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific non-stop business class back to New York.

As the plans firmed up, we finally booked her Seoul-Hong Kong flight so that she would spend 3 nights in "Asian New York City."

Of course, booking with cash would mean an expensive one way international ticket. So instead, we looked to our stash of frequent flyer miles.

For 20,000 American Airline miles, we could fly her economy on Cathay Pacific one way. For 30,000 miles, we could fly her in business class. However, we had a better currency to get the same exact award flight - British Airways Avios.

We've been big fans of using BA Avios for select short-haul flights on OneWorld carriers, including American Airlines where we flew to Puerto Rico (2013) and Chicago (2014). Because their award chart was "distance based," flying short flights presented outsized value opportunity relative to "region-based" mileage programs such as American Airlines' AAdvantage.

Outbound Flights
The flight from Seoul Incheon to Hong Kong was 1,284 miles, so a one-way economy flight would cost 10,000 Avios (vs. 20,000 AA miles). Even including cash taxes of $30/person, using Avios was a pretty great deal considering the flight would have cost $434 on Cathay. Implied redemption value came out to 4.0 cents/Avios.

It's important to note that there were also $144 flights on discount carrier Hong Kong Express. However, two concerns: (a) the flight time was inconvenient, arriving mid-afternoon and (b) low-cost Asian airlines haven't had a great safety track record recently. We'll stick with one of the world's best airlines in Cathay Pacific, thank you.

But since my grandmother prefers to travel with family, she invited her sister and brother-in-law to join her in Hong Kong. So my father booked them on the same flight as well, using another 10,000 Avios + $30 cash per person.

Return Flights
The return flight to Seoul was only required for my great-aunt and great-uncle though, since my grandmother was flying back to New York straight from Hong Kong.

However, my grandmother was booked in Cathay Pacific business class, allowing her to fully enjoy the great Hong Kong Airport lounge called The Wing. While not as impressive as the premier First Class section, the Cathay business class lounges included a wide selection of hot and cold food and drink as well as a comfortable place to sit and relax before their flights.

But my grandmother wouldn't abandon her travel companions to enjoy the lounge facilities (accessible only to business class passengers), so my father booked them in business class as well for 20,000 Avios + $23 cash taxes per person.

That same one-way 3hr 40min business class flight retailed for $1,530 per person! However, when calculating redemption values for one-way premium cabin international flights, it's unfair to look at the one-way ticket prices.

Oftentimes, one-way tickets are priced way more than "50% of a roundtrip ticket," and sometimes even just as expensive. So instead, we took 50% of the value of a round-trip ticket, which came out to be $1,365 (which was less than just the one way!).

So using the implied one-way price of $683 per person in business class, the 20,000 Avios were redeemed for 3.3 cents/point, still a great redemption! Just FYI - the same award flight using American Airlines miles would have cost 30,000 miles/person.

Conclusion
By using frequent flyer miles, we were able to book 5 flights for just over $130 total cash outlay. Conservatively, we saved over $2,500 on their flights.

Additionally, by using British Airways Avios instead of American Airline miles, we saved enough frequent flyer miles to put my great-aunt and great-uncle in business class on the way back home.

Besides, American Airline miles are MUCH better used for long-haul premium class flights (such as 14 hours in Japan Airlines First Class or 15 hours in Cathay Pacific Business Class), so we don't want to waste them on short-haul economy flights.

Now, to get the 3 nights of Hong Kong hotels booked...

2014 Travel Year In Review

Well, it's the last day of 2014, and wow, I've had an amazing year.

Since my father's an Asian math nerd, according to his excel spreadsheet, I have:

1. Flown approximately 51,422 miles this year.
2. Taken 26 flight segments (6 of which were 8+ hours long).
3. Flown out of 16 airports.
4. On 6 different airlines.
5. Traveled to 6 foreign countries.
6. Earned 25,931 frequent flyer miles!

I was able to earn Gold Status on Aegean Airlines, but unfortunately, it won't be lifetime as we hoped. I suppose I'll just go with earning United miles and try to hit 1,000,000 miles at some point in my life. I'm only at 5,279 miles with United, so I still have a long way to go.

On the hotel side, we have:

1. Stayed 43 nights in hotels this year
2. Across 21 different cities
3. In 20 unique hotel brands including all 9 of Starwood's.

Our most frequent brand was Westin (11 nights across Atlanta, Austin, Chicago and Costa Navarino). We re-qualified for Starwood Platinum status, but lost our Hyatt Diamond status.

So as we close out 2014, here's a photo snapshot of our favorite lapchild adventures each month.

Toddlers and Time Zones - Asia

Last week, we talked about how to deal with jet lag on flights to Europe. Today we'll talk about traveling the other way to Asia.

Unlike fights to Europe, these trans-Pacific flights are more varied with options that will get you there at various times throughout the day.

However, we always seem to be on flights that arrive late in the evening (9PM or later Asia time). That late of an arrival almost forces you to get an airport hotel nearby for a night before you can either (a) connect to your flight the next morning or (b) explore the city if that is indeed your final destination.

However, as you can see below looking at flights to Hong Kong and Tokyo, you have multiple more flight time options, including flights that arrive in the morning or mid-day.

The best time for you again depends on if you need to connect to another flight. But assuming you've reached your final destination, here are the factors my family would look at:

A. 9AM Departure - 1PM Arrival. If you arrive mid-day, then you can still drop your stuff off at your hotel and have an afternoon to explore the city, get a proper dinner and ease into your Asian vacation.

However, that really depends on your ability to shift your mental clock and get a "night's worth" of sleep on the 14-16 hour flight during what would normally be your daytime. I don't know about you, but I can only nap for a max of 2 hours when the sun is out. Sitting in my seat for such a long time in a confined area means I really need a lot of Disney Junior on the iPad and a lot of coloring books.

But when traveling with young kids, most parents quickly realize this is almost too much to ask of their children. This is why my family almost always opts for overnight flights when flying long distances.

B. 4PM Departure - 9PM Arrival. This evening flight would have a scheduled sleeping time more approximate to your New York time. Assuming you take off, eat dinner and watch a movie, you could try to asleep at 8PM NY time (9AM Hong Kong time) and get a full 8 hours and wake up at 5PM Asia time, enough time to watch another movie and have your second meal before you land in Hong Kong. Unlike the European redeye flights, this 16 hour flight is definitely long enough to get a full night of sleep.

However, when you land, you'd be ready to start your day when a toddler should be going to bed (9PM Hong Kong time). Now if you were a single guy/girl looking for Hong Kong nightlife, this situation could be ideal.

But if you're a 3 year old toddler, probably less so. Depending on your choice of hotel, it might make sense not to break the bank on the first night since you're just going to sleep. When possible, my parents will sometimes secure a nearby hotel (focusing on price and distance) for the first night. After all, any destination hotel they actually want to spend time in will probably be much more expensive, and it'd be a shame to pay those prices for a just a few hours of sleep without any time to enjoy the property.

We didn't do this for our 2014 Hong Kong trip, but we did in 2013 when we needed a night in Bangkok after our flight landed at 10:30PM. Instead of traveling into the Bangkok city center, we opted for the Best Western located just 5 minutes from Suvarnabhumi Airport - which was actually extremely impressive!

Again, the first night is just the beginning of your Asia trip. The real trick is to manage the jet lag as quickly as possible so that you can re-adjust to the local time zone. Again, my parents are probably more strict than others, but we do whatever it takes to acclimate.

So assuming we took the late afternoon flight, my parents would actually wake me up early (~5AM New York time or 6PM Hong Kong time) so that I'd have more awake time on the plane. Then by the time we landed and arrived to our hotel, I'd have a chance at being tired.

Then instead of going to bed as soon as we checked into our hotel room (~11PM Hong Kong time), I'd get a bath to wake me up a bit and stay up a few hours more. We'd go to bed closer to 2-3AM (which is only 1-2PM New York time).

Most of the time, with it being dark out, that would be enough to do the trick for me to sleep through the night, but I am noticing it getting tougher and tougher as I went from 10 months old to almost 3 years old. There were definitely times when I woke up at like 6AM, but that's not so bad since we could start our days (and breakfasts) earlier.

IHG Into the Night Promo

InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) is a great secondary or tertiary hotel chain to have in your rotation. While my parents and I prefer Starwood as our primary, the simple facts are:

(a) They don't always have a hotel you want to stay at in every location you want to go

(b) Free/easy points from another chain shouldn't be overlooked out of "loyalty"

I know...I know... No one loves staying at a Holiday Inn, but I have to say, the brand is quite stellar outside the United States. For example, we had a great one-night stay at the Chiang Mai Holiday Inn in Thailand last year. And since we had Platinum status (that came with the Chase IHG credit card), we were upgraded to a massive suite.

But of course, IHG has more premier brands, including their higher end InterContinental Hotels. This is the IHG brand that we usually stay at when we don't find a Starwood or Hyatt. For example, we were lucky enough to stay at the InterContinental Hotels at Berchtesgaden (Germany), San Juan Puerto Rico, Hong Kong and De La Ville Rome.

 Most of these stays were on points or free night certificates. But how did we get all those points?

1. Chase IHG Visa (80,000 points plus a free night award certificate every year)
2. IHG Seasonal Promotions (~150,000 points)

The biggest promotion of 2013 was called the IHG Big Win. From signing up and completing a series of customized challenges (staying 5 nights at 3 different hotel brands in 2 cities), my father earned 91,700 IHG points - with about half of them as a super bonus for completing all the tasks. We used those points to stay 2 nights at the InterContinental De La Ville in Rome (worth ~$1,000 at $499/night).

This year, IHG kept the same concept but called it their "Into the Night" Promotion. This year, my father has an opportunity to earn 30,000 points PLUS either (a) 30,000 bonus points or (b) 2 free nights. Assuming the Free Nights are not restricted, that's probably the better bet than the 30k points, given my family's travel patterns often take us to hotels that cost over 15,000 points/night.

Unfortunately, this year, my father's personal challenges require (a) 7 nights instead of last year's 5 nights and (b) 2 international stays. Given we're not planning to travel internationally in the next several months, it looks like my father won't be able to complete the full list. And the smaller individual bonuses aren't worth going out of our way for.

My mother's challenges, however, were a lot better. First, she only had to complete 4 of 5 tasks to win, and second, a single $113 (including tax) stay at the EVEN Hotel in Norwalk, CT could net her 27,700 IHG points. Then one more Saturday night stay anywhere else (let's just say at $100/night), would get us another 8,000 IHG points + 2 free nights.

However, if someone were to sign up for a completely new IHG account with a different email address, then they would receive the "standard" offer for all new IHG members (see below), which is a lot easier to achieve for those coveted 2 free nights.

So under this "new member" scheme, staying just 3 nights at 2 different Holiday Inns (for about $100/night) over a few Saturdays  would earn us 2 free nights at any IHG property, including those expensive amazing InterContinentals we mentioned above or even the one in Bora Bora. Sounds pretty compelling now, doesn't it?

What scheme were you given this year? Are you going for it?

Mid-2014 Check In

Back in 2008, when he was a care-free single man without any responsibilities whatsoever, my father took a Midwest road trip during the entire month of September  as a part of his MLB stadium tour. Using Chicago as his homebase, he drove out to the 3 M's (Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri) visiting Target Field (Twins) in Minneapolis, Tiger Stadium in Detroit, and Busch Stadium (Cardinals) in St. Louis.

Also, for about a week of that trip, he drove through the great state of Ohio, visiting the 3 C's (Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati). And today, as we hit the halfway point in 2014, my father finds himself back in Ohio for a two day work conference in Columbus.

So while he's gone, I thought I'd sneak onto his computer and take a look at all our 2014 travels to date and reminisce a bit.

January - Austin

February - Wisconsin

March - Hong Kong

April - New Orleans

May - Atlanta

June - Israel

So now the question is, what's the plan for the second half of 2014. Well, as of right now, we only have July planned where I'm tagging along with my parents on their 5th Wedding Anniversary trip to Italy and Greece.

After that, it seems we have the rest of the calendar a bit open. Any suggestions for Labor Day Weekend?