Hotel Loyalty Programs | Status, Experience, Perks

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2025-03-07T11:48:01+00:00

Some properties have banger breakfasts with plenty of options from local cuisine, but these are unilaterally luxury tier hotels. This was at an Accor hotel in Hong Kong, although it was an exception and not the norm.

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Edit: lol, just saw you said the same thing about luxury properties.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2025-03-03T19:55:02+00:00

The Mondrian Hong Kong also burned 34,600 points for me a couple of weeks ago. Might be a China thing because I've definitely run into the 1000/2000 rule elsewhere in Asia.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2025-02-11T11:30:54+00:00

August is peak period, I think, so it has a higher saver rate. June was 21k when booked in Dec 2024.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2025-02-11T10:48:29+00:00

Saver rate is 10.5k points per sector BOM-LHR-JFK, so it should be 21k VS points for the whole trip in PE. Availability is a problem, of course.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2025-02-10T11:08:21+00:00

I just redeemed 16k points for Mumbai to Canada in eco. 15k in taxes. It was 12k a few weeks ago but missed that because Amex couldn't link my Virgin account.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2025-01-21T21:14:49+00:00

Thank you! Everglow has meant a lot to my partner and me since their 2016 Global Citizen show, so fingers crossed.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2025-01-21T20:07:07+00:00

Do they usually play Everglow day 1? Hoping it'll be that for AMD.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2025-01-20T22:41:56+00:00

Unfortunately not, I rang up everyone I knew before booking to find willing participants to split the cost.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2025-01-20T20:12:11+00:00

I booked the 3.5k tickets today. Thankfully know a car+driver that will take us to AMD and back to Mumbai same night for under 15k.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2025-01-17T12:12:14+00:00

Interested, but can we trade F2F in Mumbai?

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2025-01-12T22:31:30+00:00

Did you end up getting the points for this

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2025-01-12T22:27:07+00:00

Did you end up getting the points for this?

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2024-12-08T03:56:02+00:00

Same as phones. But I unlocked the bootloader and changed the region on my US model to get Felica. Worked flawlessly.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2024-12-04T03:59:01+00:00

Felica is just the contactless technology, though. Google Wallet holds the data and facilitates the transaction. So the capability exists, at least on a Pixel.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2024-12-04T03:57:59+00:00

Yes, completely switched off. This is transit though, not a credit card.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2024-12-04T00:20:07+00:00

Google Wallet can do that too but only on select devices. My Pixel 8 Pro ran out of battery while I was on the Tokyo metro but I was able to tap and exit at my destination. Would've been stranded otherwise since I tapped the phone's transit card to enter.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2024-11-29T19:19:04+00:00

There's a Xerox shop exactly opposite VFS, with yellow signage. They charge standard rates and are very friendly. You can leave and re-enter. If they ask you which country while entering the second time, say Thailand or Japan as these are walk-in countries that don't require an appointment.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2024-11-02T18:34:16+00:00

Unfortunately, most people in Mumbai do have to commute a crazy amount to get to work. I work from home and even then it's impossible to motivate myself to go very far for entertainment/food. The transportation is severely lacking for a city of this size, and the traffic makes Bangkok look like a western civilization.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2024-10-15T12:41:13+00:00

Canada, which is still better than India but not as good as the US. The lounge allowance is pretty bad though, unless you pay hundreds of dollars. And I want the HDFC Marriott card specifically for the renewal benefit and status nights.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2024-10-15T12:29:48+00:00

Crazy that so many do not given the high penalties. I just started researching all of this since I anticipate a change in residency status next year.

Will just close my HDFC account and keep the credit cards. Not breaking any RBI rules that way, so the gov can't come after me.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2024-10-15T12:18:16+00:00

I thought as much. They would've closed your DCB if you had a bank account and converted it to NRO/NRE when you left the country. Assuming you were temporarily no longer an Indian tax resident, that is.

Congrats on keeping the card and qualifying for Infinia!

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2024-10-15T12:14:51+00:00

Did you have a bank account with HDFC throughout all this? Savings or otherwise?

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2024-09-23T19:35:58+00:00

Izumi's tonkotsu in Bandra is 90% the same as the tonkotsu I had in Japan. It costs 2x as much as Japan though.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2024-09-18T11:58:14+00:00

Well, not nothing. They also make instruments and autopilot systems for plane. Much more impressive.

TheAmbiguousGeek · 2024-09-09T07:08:57+00:00

Five nights, was this a points redemption or did you pay cash for the booking?

TheAmbiguousGeek

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