Steals

Miles :: To Free Or Not To Free

[trip style = any]

At TS, we love using "strategery" {as George W once said} to choose when and where to redeem the air miles we accumulate flying around the world toward free travel, but there's an art {and science} to air miles redemption.

How To Calculate The Value Of An Airline Award Ticket The generally excepted miles-versus-dollars calculation {according to Travel+Leisure} is "use the 1.4-cents-per-mile rule to calculate the value of an award ticket. If the cash price is considerably cheaper than the award ticket calculation, save your miles. For example, if a flight will cost you $300 cash or 50,000 points, you'll get more value paying cash as 50,000 points equals approx $700."  Here are some examples of my recent travel that will help provide miles-versus-dollars insight:

When It Makes "Cents" To Use Airline Miles
  • Colorado/Spring 2012: used 25,000 Aeroplan miles instead of booking a $1,100 ticket
  • ABC Islands/Fall 2011: used 25,000 American Airlines miles, instead of booking a $1,000 ticket
  • Eastern Canada/Summer 2010: used 25,000 Aeroplan air miles, instead of booking a multi-city $1,500+ ticket

When It DOESN'T Make "Cents" To Use Airline Miles Thailand/Spring 2012: I didn't use air miles because I got a business class fare on a super sale, tilting the scale in favor of a cash purchase. To add value, I chose a carrier that would add to my American Airlines miles accumulation efforts. Not only did I fly business class for a heavily discounted rated, but got 22,000 AA miles in return---just 3,000 short of getting from Vancouver to Aruba AND achieving elite status. Win!

Saving Points {Dream Trip Anyone?} Looking ahead, like any wonderstruck world traveler, I'm pining for a trip to the Maldives, saving my Alaska airline miles to get there. On business class {hey, it's a long flight!} the trip costs $9,180 from Seattle on Emirates {it's $14,000 from Vancouver!}, or 115,000 miles. The points trump the cash purchase because any ticket costing more than $1,610 {115,000 miles x 0.014} is good value.

Are you saving your air miles for a Maldives-esque dream trip? Do you use air miles when it makes sense, or all the time?

More 'Free Travel' Tips The Six-Week Rule {When to buy airline tix} Free Travel 102 Free Travel 101 Going The Distance With Your Air Miles

[photo by wallpaperswide.com, text overlay @tripstyler]

The Savvy Traveler :: Lori

[trip style = active & adventure + budget conscious + staycation]

Lori is an uber-accomplished travel writer. She comes by it naturally. Fascinated by travel at an early age, when she was seven years old she told her parents she'd live in a hotel, now she does---part time. A modern-day renaissance woman with a kind soul, Lori is good at everything she sets her mind to: Polynesian, tap, jazz, ballet and modern dance {I wouldn't be surprised if I saw her on So You Think You Can Dance Canada}, and acting to name a few other disciplines she's successfully conquered. Most recently, Lori's added published author to her resume. When she's not writing about indigenous culture, outdoor adventures, sustainable travel and dance in New Zealand, Japan or far-flung parts of Canada, find her biking around Vancouver. Follow Lori's life of adventure on Twitter @LoriHenry and via her website {updated regularly}.

1/ Pick your top three trip styles.
[trip style = active & adventure] Often the best way to see a place is by getting outdoors and into spaces that aren’t part of people’s regular paths. That usually means hiking, cycling, jumping, wading or being airborne to get there. Ideally, self-propelled.

[trip style = budget conscious] Travel shouldn’t only be for those who have lots of money. I would rather travel more with less money, than travel less with more money.

[trip style = staycation] Travelling can be pretty damaging to the environment, so staying close to home is increasingly more appealing to me. It helps that I live in British Columbia, one of the most stunning places in the world.

2/ Overpacker or underpacker?
Underpacker. I hate being weighed down, so I would rather have less than more. I do lots of hand washing in sinks and bathtubs!

3/ The destination that stole your heart?
Cape Breton in the summer! Nova Scotia in general is one of my favourite places to travel to, but Cape Breton actually stole my heart. There is a warm current that runs through the island that is woven together through step dancing feet, linked hands in an Allemande Left, and fiddle tunes that have seeped into my soul.

4/ How often do you travel?
Up until last year, I was travelling once or twice a month. It was insane. Now I am better at balancing shorter trips with longer trips, and getting more than one story each time. Travelling is exhausting!

Last Trip: Kyoto, Japan. This is the oldest city I have ever been to {it was the capital city of Japan in 794} and it was fascinating. I don’t tend to get much culture shock anymore, but I was wide-eyed here in my first jaunt to the country. Everything was a contradiction, yin and yang, old and new, and everything had a cute factor of 10.

Next Trip: It looks like I’ll be heading to the desert this month, for a wellness trip to Phoenix and Mesa, Arizona. There will be massages, kayaking and hot desert air.

On Your Radar: Polynesia {where I am focusing my next books} and Southeast Asia, where I haven’t done much travelling to at all.

5/ You recently wrote a book: Dancing Through History: In Search of the Stories that Define Canada. Tell us about it!
Dancing Through History is a travel/culture/dance book about Canada. I spent four years travelling around the country, on and off, to find cultures that had kept up their traditional dances. The book explores how people and societies use dance as a way to tell their history, family stories, reveal their beliefs and practice their customs, all the while having a good time!

The chapters cover Inuit drum dancing in Nunavut, touch on folk dancing in Newfoundland, and step dancing and square dancing in Cape Breton, what it’s like to dance in the Cirque du Soleil, pow wow and hoop dancing, Métis jigging in Saskatchewan, Ukrainian dancing in the prairies, and First Nations dancing in Vancouver and Haida Gwaii. It’s all about dance, yet goes far beyond dance itself. You can read more here.

More Savvy Travelers
Marc, Extraordinary Adventurer
Marissa, 30 By 30
Jason, Living To Travel
 

{If you know anyone who should be featured in our once-monthly The Savvy Traveler series, drop us a line!}

[photo c/o lori]

A Tulalip Surprise

[trip style = weekend getaway + spa + budget conscious]

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Whether Tulalip {pronounced too-leh-lip} is your road trip's first note, crescendo or finale, everyone seems to find an excuse to stop at the Seattle Premium Outlets. And then, just past Restoration Hardware, you spot a hotel. Like you, I've always wondered what's inside. Recently my curiosity was cured when I was invited to stay at the 370-room Tulalip Resort. Not only did I learn the hotel has been at capacity every weekend since they've opened---a first indication they are doing something right---but also experienced a few "aha" moments worth sharing.

What Might Surprise You About Tulalip Resort {& Casino} The Designation I never would have guessed that a hotel just off the highway would be an AAA Four Diamond property. Surprise, it is, and lives up to the designation.

The Food I've heard through friends and contacts that Tulalip's exec chefs rock it on the foodie front. I'd have to concur after sampling dishes like soy-marinated salmon skewers, polenta fries dipped in red pepper aioli, volcano seared ahi tuna and baby arugula and red pear salad. {Trip Styler Tip :: Go for the gold and eat the resort's fine dining restaurant, Tulalip Bay. Make sure to defer to Tommy, resident (and really nice) sommelier, for your wine pairings.}

The Spa Built with meandering walkways, birch trees and river rocks mimicking a babbling brook, the 14,000sf T Spa is buffet-big with an amuse-bouche feel. Flickering candles, local music and color therapy reset your mind, while treatments transport you to another place. {Trip Styler Tip :: For an excellent massage, request Shannon, who gave me the best back treatment I've had in a long time.}

The Art From the hotel's custom-designed carpets to the lobby's 25ft hand-carved, red cedar house poles, Coast Salish art adorns every inch of available space. And in a nod to the Tulalip tribe's heritage, each piece tells a story. Showcasing 95% local art, think of the hotel like an art gallery, sans white walls and minimalism. {Trip Styler Tip :: Put on your "eagle eyes" and look left, right, up and down at the standout art that blends into the colorful decor.}

The Rooms An extension of the hotel's design aesthetic, 500sf rooms are very well-appointed with splurge-y features like: terrycloth-lined Japanese silk bath robes; glass-enclosed spa showers with triple shower heads; make-up removal wipes {in addition to wash clothes}, included bottled water and a coffee center with all the regular accompaniments including honey pearls.

Rates from $150/night include parking and wifi.

[photos by @tripstyler]

Luxe For Less B+ Hotels

[trip style = budget conscious...with a taste for the high life]

{Editor’s Note :: Today is the second post in a two-part series about B+ luxe for less. Last week we carried on about B+ Destinations.}

"A" hotels, aka those that constantly grace Conde Nast Traveler and Travel+Leisure 'best of' lists, usually mean splurge. Steals rarely exist at these world-renowned, high-occupancy, fancy-pantsy accoms.

Hotel Luxe For Less - Two Rules 1/ Find luxury for trip style = budget conscious prices outside multinational hotel mainstays like Four Seasons, Ritz or Relais & Chateaux. 2/ Find luxury within high-end multinational hotel brands in less popular areas.

1/ Though I prefer smaller, boutique-y properties, mixing it up and staying at the biggies is important---even for loyalty program points acquisition as a means of stretching your travel budget. The problem: stay at hotel brands synonymous with luxury in resort areas or major urban centers, and your pocketbook is on a non-stop spend-a-thon at standouts like the Four Seasons Resort in Maui, the Fairmont Savoy in London, the Intercontinental Le Grand in Paris and the Banyan Tree Seychelles.

Go with an independent or less recognized hotel brand that's just as luxurious sans the glitzy brand name, and you'll travel like a king for jester prices. For example, on my recent trip to Thailand I stayed at two ultra-stylish and luxe properties in B+ destinations. Neither hotel was part of a major hotel group, yet both were regularly featured in international design mags and blogs. At the first property I had a beachfront, plunge pool villa with a daily champagne breakfast. At the second resort I had a huge, swanky room with the BEST hotel bed known to man and a 12ft rain shower. PS - both start around $150/night---a far cry from the A properties in nearby A destinations like Koh Samui .....

2/ You want to stay at the Four Seasons for Holiday Inn prices. We all do. It's possible. Vacationing at the Four Seasons Maui will set you back approx. $450/night. Alternatively, take a 45-min boat ride to Lanai {from Maui}, and choose from one of two Four Seasons properties {1 & 2} available for half the price. Banyan Tree is another example of an exquisite hotel group with a consistent hotel product and varied price points. Their first property in North America, located in Mexico's Riviera Maya, goes for a FRACTION of the price of their other properties even though the location and amenities are just as strong.

What are some of your “Brilliant B Hotels”?

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[photo by @tripstyler taken of the Banyan Tree villas in Mexico]

Roam+Board :: The LIT! Bangkok

[trip style = urban + budget conscious]

{Editor’s Note :: April’s destination focus is Thailand and today is the last Thai hurrah! Check out our spotlight on Bangkok, and other Roam+Board features on a modern, all-villa retreat and a swish and tech-savvy beach resort---both within a two- to four-hour drive of Bangkok. PS - I just stayed at The LIT! Bangkok and it's ultra Trip Styler approved.}

What The term calculated can have a negative connotation, yet use it to describe a near-perfect hotel experience and it's a positive. The LIT! Bangkok is cool, calm and calculated, a haven from the city's heat and hype.

Always smiling and gentle staff dressed in crisp white shirts and traditional Thai pants {a nicer version of the MC hammer pant craze} welcome and assist with your every whim; low-decibel ambient music sets the mood in elevators and hallways; the infinity pool and landscaping make you forget you're in a city of 8 million; and the design cues are right out of Vogue Living Australia.

Within seconds of arriving, I was promptly given a tour of my comfy, clean-lined room---complete with a sitting area, desk and marble bathroom that spanned the entire length of the space. Wearing my in-room raw silk robe, snacking on the included mini bar goodies, strangely, I felt at home though I was thousands of miles away.

The icing on the LIT!'s calculated cake? An included 10-minute foot massage that turned into 17 minutes of Bangkok bliss.

Where Bangkok, Thailand. Situated on a side street with food vendors and $10 massage parlors, the LIT! is a two-minute walk from the National Stadium Station skytrain stop and a two-minute cab from the Phaya Thai station {the airport express train's end point}.

When Bangkok is busy year-round. The "tropical cool" season is still hot and steamy spanning November to mid-January. The rest of the year is biz-nanas hot with intermittent rain and electric, short-lived storms.

Who/Why You don't have to stay at Bangkok's river-front, highfalutin towers to make you feel like you've experienced the high life in the Big Mango. You'd rather your voguish home base to be on a side street surrounded by local businesses.

Cost Rooms start at $105/night and include a 10-minute foot massage, a well-balanced breakfast buffet with fresh juice and killer coffee, wifi, bottled water and a daily mini bar allowance.

{Trip Styler Tip :: Upon check-out, it's common for hotels in Thailand to ask you to wait a moment before you leave while housekeeping inspects the room.}

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More Roam+Board Hotel De La Paix - Thailand X2 Kui Buri - Thailand Ecopod Boutique Retreat – Scotland The Saguaro AZ – Scottsdale Arizona Biltmore – Phoenix Llipimpac Guesthouse – Cusco, Peru From ice hotels to Anna Wintour’s steal-of-a-deal holiday escape, find all featured R+B properties here.

[photos by @tripstyler---see additional shots the LIT! Bangkok on Trip Styler's Instagram]