Bolt on Points

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2020 – stick a fork in it, it’s done!

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What a year it’s been on so many levels. Most of us are breathing a sigh of relief that it’s ending and with vaccines now being distributed, hope of a better 2021 is palpable. 2020 was a year that saw us spend a total of four weeks in quarantine, something I hope to never repeat.

From a travel stand point, it’s been a disaster of a year (more on that later). On a personal level, things took a turn this year that I would’ve never guessed this time last year. On what felt like a whim, Leigh and I uprooted our lives and moved to Maui, and for the most part, it’s been a great decision. As COVID rates have gotten exponentially worse on the mainland – particularly our previous home of California – we feel fortunate to be in our bubble here, where numbers are generally low, the weather is great, and there’s no shortage of outdoor activities to do.

I know it’s been a couple of months since my last post, and it’s not because I haven’t been thinking about travel, but rather because life just got crazy. Between starting a new project with my day job and us buying a condo here (surprise!), we’ve been pretty strapped for time. As any local will tell you, by the time 9pm (or as we say, Maui midnight) rolls around, I’m ready for bed. This blog – which has truly been a passion project – has just fallen by the wayside since frankly, travel is mostly speculative at this point. I’m hopeful for travel in 2021, but again, more on that in a bit.

Some fun things have happened since moving here five months ago (wow!): I’ve managed to get to decent surfer status, become a full-blown a cycling addict, and joined the Maui adult baseball league.

It’s not all a fairytale; among other things, being this far from our families during such an anxious time has also been tough, though I’m thankful we went home to visit them for the first time in a year in October. With both of us having high-risk family members, there’s a constant anxiety in the back of our minds that I can’t wait to subside once they’re vaccinated. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the gratitude and amazement at all of the healthcare and frontline workers who’ve sacrificed so much throughout all of this. You all are rockstars. Period.

Finally, the pandemic and moving to Maui has done something for me that was probably much needed. It recalibrated my life to focus on the here and now. While it’s fun to constantly be looking at the next trip or event, it caused me to miss out on some of what’s happening right in front of me. Although I miss having that “thing to look forward to” feeling, living in the moment has been so utterly fulfilling. Thank you for that, 2020.

2020 travel highlights

Now since this is a travel blog after all, I wanted to do a quick review of an abbreviated travel year. Frankly, this was going to be a banner year for us in terms of travel: we cancelled trips to Paris, Japan, Kauai that were schedule between May-October. We’ll try to make some of those up next year, but for the time being, we’re counting our blessings: we’re both still employed, our families are healthy, and we’re in a much better living situation than we could be in San Francisco right now.

My travel stats this year were minuscule compared to other years. 50k butt in seat miles and about 50 hotel nights is the lowest since I started traveling regularly in 2012.

So, without further ado, here’s a look back:

Destinations

South Africa – This was without a doubt our monumental trip of 2020, for multiple reasons. First of all, we left March 3rd, right as the coronavirus was starting to spread globally. We toyed with not going, but decided this was a once in a lifetime kind of trip, so let’s do it, and are we ever glad we did. As I said in March, it was surreal being abroad (and frankly so far away from home) watching the dominos fall around the globe.

As for the trip itself, we’d always wanted to go to South Africa, specifically the Cape Town region. We skipped Johannesburg this trip and we didn’t feel like we had to do a safari this trip since we’d done one on our honeymoon in September of 2018. We ending up spending 4 days in the wine region and five nights in Cape Town itself. This is truly one of the most stunningly beautiful regions of the world with food and culture to match. The drive around the Cape of Good Hope is simply breathtaking.

Mauritius – This was the second half of our African adventure. We stayed five nights on points (with the fifth night free) at the St Regis Mauritius. The country is painfully beautiful and the property is destination worthy itself.

Water skiing in Mauritius was definitely a highlight of 2020

Charleston – We started the year meeting close friends in Charleston in January. It was a blast! We ate and drank way too damn much, plus we got to go to the Low Country Oyster Festival, something Leigh and I hadn’t done since our first year of dating. As a bonus, we drove down to Savannah to visit Leigh’s family.

Clear Lake, CA – By summer, we were all feeling cabin fever, especially those of us in big cities on lockdown. We managed to get away over the July 4th weekend to a much lesser known lake in NorCal and it didn’t disappoint. We had a stunning cabin through Airbnb, rented a boat for a day, and there’s a wine region with more than 20 wineries that holds its own against other, more well-known California regions (and tastings are $10).

Dallas checking out his view of Clear Lake

Moloka’i, HI – We actually just got back yesterday and whoa. Moloka’i is like stepping back in time. There are no fancy hotels, although the Hotel Molokai is lovely, no fancy restaurants, and barely any cell service. All of this in the same county that Leigh and I call home! Moloka’i has a large reef system surrounding it, much like the Caribbean, so the diving is great. Despite what you’ve heard, everyone we encountered was friendly and happy to see us. As they say: Moloka’i Mo Bettah

Halawa Valley in Molokai

Airlines

Turkish Airlines – We flew Turkish for the first time (four total) during our trip to Africa; each experience was excellent. What they lack in their hard product with a dated seat, they more than make up for with their service and food (there’s an onboard chef). We flew both their flagship 777-300ER as well as the A330, the former being a much better plane all around.

Their business class lounge in Istanbul is – or was – an incredible experience. I say was because our outbound flight was an entirely different experience than the return. Food made to order as well as all the mezze items you can imagine on a buffet was the case en route to Africa. Coming home, everything had been put in individual servings and the service significantly cutback. Our planned excursion into Istanbul for a tour was also 86’d thanks to COVID.

United Polaris – Our flight from SFO to Frankfurt was our second taste of United’s flagship product on their 777-300ER and again, it lived up to be a solid business class product. We had great flight attendants, the food was good, and the Saks bedding is always a winner. The lounge at SFO – with it’s al a carte dining and mixology drinks – is always a great experience.

American Flagship business (domestic) – Once Maui reopened to visitors, our flight options to go home and visit family increased and this was by far the best. American runs a 777-200 on Maui to DFW, which has 45 lie-flat business class seats. We managed to snag these at 45k miles/person each way, but for an 8+ hour flight (one a red eye), it was well worth the miles to have comfort and space. Out outbound flight had a laughable 22 passengers on it.

Hotels

Grand Hyatt SFO – I’ve stayed here twice, once pre-COVID and the other the night before we moved to Maui. Either way, this is a fantastic hotel, though pre-COVID much better with a generous lounge. In July, they did comp us a bottle of wine as a Globalist as well as provided free breakfast from their takeout market. Get a room facing the tarmac for the plane spotting using the binoculars and plane guide found in the room. Needless to say, there weren’t a lot of planes to spot in July.

St Regis Mauritius – Stellar in every sense: the beach, the property, the food/drink, and the staff. Although they were sparsely occupied during our stay thanks to – you guessed it – COVID, we were treated like royalty and I don’t think a full hotel would’ve changed that. As Ambassador Elite, we received daily free breakfast and an incredible room upgrade, complete with welcome champagne. The cherries on top was the bartender naming a drink after Leigh and coming back from hiking Le Morne Brabant to find our breakfast had been laid out for us in our spacious suite (because we’d missed the buffet).

AC Hotel Cape Town Waterfront – I know this isn’t Marriott’s fanciest brand, but for 80k Marriott points, we got five nights at this new hotel right in the heart of the waterfront district. We were upgraded to a huge suite with views of the water. Breakfast was included and they have a great bar program, all walking distance from the V&A Waterfront.

Looking to 2021

With vaccines coming, I’m hopeful that travel will start to return in the second half of next year. Airlines are hurting, so there will be deals to be had. The same goes with hotels. While we’re biding our time, it’s not a bad idea to book speculative award bookings since most airlines are offering generous cancellation policies, including reinstating award miles for free.

I miss traveling, but having a lot of time at home has been so rewarding

Thanks to status extensions from pretty much every brand, I’ll keep my statuses through 2021, so if/when we are able to travel, I’ll look forward to using those benefits (among other things, I have 320 United Plus Points to use by January 2022).

I don’t expect my work travel to ever be like it was before March: travel to visit a client for multiple days every week is likely a thing of the past. Companies are struggling to figure out how to get their own employees back in offices where it makes sense, while many are moving to more remote work.

I will do whatever I can within reason to keep and maintain status. For instance, I’m one year away from Lifetime Platinum with Marriott, so I’ll prioritize that next year.

Where to in 2021?

After five months in a place like Maui, Leigh and I are both craving a little hustle and bustle, so it’ll be places like Japan that we’re eyeing for early trips. I would also love to return to Africa. I suspect it’ll be Labor Day or later for these trips (at least for us anyway).

I hope to return to Japan where even the airport lounges have great sushi to order like the JAL First Class Lounge at Narita

As long as we’re on Maui, there are places I want to visit while “in the neighborhood”. French Polynesia is has remained open for US citizens, so I suspect we’ll end up there as soon as Hawaiian Airlines reinstates their Honolulu – Papette flight (which can be booked for only 35k American miles each way). In addition, I’m dying to fly United’s Island Hopper, spending a few days in Guam, then heading onward to Palau and its pristine coral reefs. Rebooking our Kauai trip is also a priority in the first half of 2020.

Final thoughts

While I’m hopeful, I think the reality is that it’ll probably be 2022 when travel starts to look and feel more normal. Governments are wary to let outsiders in; just look at what’s happening with this new strain and UK citizens getting boxed out of countries all over the world (welcome to the club, guys…). I believe a good indicator for travel will be Japan, where they’re still struggling to figure out how to hold the Tokyo Olympics next summer with spectators. If they can make it work, I suspect others will follow (at least that’s my hope). I also suspect that proof of vaccination will almost certainly be required in most countries.

If we’ve learned anything through this pandemic it’s that we need more realistic expectations. Every prediction so far has been too rosy and too conservative from a timing perspective. If 2020 was the year of chaos and uncertainty, 2021 will be the year of *patience is required*.

Where are you hoping to travel next year?

Review: American Airlines Flagship Business / 777-300ER / Hong Kong to Los Angeles

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AIRCRAFT: 77W / 777-300ER
ROUTE: HKG – LAX
SEAT: 8D and 8G (Business)
COST: CASH + SYSTEMWIDE UPGRADE (SWU)

We’d found reasonable fares to get from Hong Kong back to San Francisco, so this seemed like the perfect way to use my last two SWU’s (systemwide upgrades), which Executive Platinums get four of when they qualify/re-qualify. The SWU’s themselves have become increasingly harder to use over the years, and finding confirmable space at booking is almost non-existent. Nevertheless, our upgrades cleared a couple of weeks out, however I didn’t receive a notification from American. The way I found out is Chase – where I booked the flights – notified me to say that my fare class had changed. Minor details considering Hong Kong to LAX is about 13 hours.

Singapore Airlines A380 views from the bus!

Plane porn, continued

Check-in

We arrived into Hong Kong on a separate VietJet flight from Phu Quoc around 3:00 in the afternoon. The American flight didn’t leave until nearly 8pm, so although it can be risky booking separate flights on an international itinerary, I felt comfortable with the 5 hour window. The downside is that because our itineraries were separate, we needed to get our bags and clear immigration.

HKG arrivals hall

We then headed back to the departures hall, where there was an American check-in desk but no agents. We were told by another couple who had just done this flight several weeks prior, that they wouldn’t open check-in until 3 hours out. Since I was Executive Platinum at the time, I was able to wait in the Flagship check-in line. At about 3.5 hours before departure, an agent arrived and checked our bags.

American check-in HKG

The Lounge (The Pier)

I want my house decorated like this lounge

We made it through immigration and security in about 10 minutes. Once through, we beelined for The Pier – Cathay Pacific’s first class lounge – which I had access to thanks to my Executive Platinum status (oneworld Emerald). We’ve been to Hong Kong’s airport many times, and normally we’d lounge hop, but given that we only had about 2-2.5 hours to play with, we decided to stay put. We were able to take much needed showers, followed by a complimentary foot massage at the spa! Tip: put your name on the spa list the second you arrive, as the queue can be long.

The Pier shower facilities

Cathay has been in financial troubles for the last couple of years, and the political unrest in Hong Kong has only exacerbated the problems. The airline has begun to cut some services, including first class from many Asian routes. We also noticed that the champagne options in lounge had changed from Vueve Clicquot to Perrier-Jouet, a small, but noticeable downgrade.

The Pier drink menu

After showering and foot massages, we dined in the sit-down dining room. As we always do, we ordered signature dan dan noodles, followed by our server’s recommendation to get the pork ribs. Both were excellent. We left the lounge with 45 minutes before our flight.

The Pier food menu
Pork ribs
Dan dan noodles!

The flight

33 min before departure is apparently final call

We arrived at our gate where boarding had already begun. We entered the plane through the middle door, where we were greeted by smiling flight attendants.

American’s cabin is a 1-2-1 configuration, with them middle seats in a reverse-herringbone setup, making them great for those traveling together. Overall, these are my favorite business class seats that American offers, which makes sense since the 77W is their flagship aircraft.

At our seats was Casper bedding, Bang and Olufsen headphones, and an amenity kit and slippers. I had my own pair of Bose headphones with me, but decided to give the new B&O headphones a try and they were excellent, and definitely an improvement over the Bose headphones offered for the last few years, though either would probably be considered industry leading since most airlines skimp here. Now if only American didn’t collect them 45-60 minutes prior to the end of the flight…

Hong Kong is one of the few routes where American offers pajamas, which are also by Casper and come in two sizes: S/M and L/XL. The route also features a mattress pad, which you won’t find on most European routes in business. American First Class (international) on the 77W will always provide PJ’s and mattress pads, regardless of route.

Pajamas

As for the bedding, I really do find the combination of Casper’s bedding with the seat to be almost unrivaled for business class. I consistently get 7+ hours of sleep on American flights, something I can’t even say with other airlines. To be fair, I’ve flown long haul American more than any other airline.

Shortly after stowing our bags, a flight attendant came around offering water, orange juice, or champagne (which was actually prosecco) in plastic cups. She seemed annoyed about something, although she did take the plastic wrappers from the bedding and threw them away. As of last week, American stopped wrapping bedding in plastic (yay for less plastic!), however prior, I always found it frustrating that FA’s almost never proactively clear the garbage from seats, even though every single person in business has it.

The amenity kits were well stocked with a brand I haven’t heard of, but can certainly get behind the name for a 13 hour flight with recycled air: Allies of Skin.

Gotta hustle that credit card!

Menus were also at our seats:

The same flight attendant came by to confirm my order, which was “you ordered the seafood, right? Still want it?”. There was no greeting or addressing me by name, but just a quick interaction so he could move on. I find this so frustrating with many US flight attendants because it literally takes no additional effort. In this case, he was holding the manifest, which has my name on it!

We pushed back a few minutes prior to our scheduled 7:55pm departure and were airborne by 8:03.

Business class lavatory
Business class bathrooms are stocked with CO Bigelow products

Within about 20 minutes, flight attendants began rolling the drink cart through the cabin. I changed into my pajama’s as soon as the seatbelt sign was off.

I ordered a glass of champagne, but it turned out to be terrible. The next time the flight attendant walked by, I asked if I could switch to a Woodford Reserve, which he was happy to do. One thing to note if you’re a bourbon drinker, for whatever reason (*cough* cheap *cough*) American only caters a handful of Woodford’s for the entire plane, which seats close to 300 people. Order early and ask for a second one because they’ll likely be out after the initial beverage service.

About 30 minutes later, the meal service started. First up was a salad with a sweet potato, carrot, couscous, and feta appetizer. The appetizer was fresh, however it didn’t taste like much of anything and I couldn’t really differentiate between the sweet potato and carrot. The Chinese salad dressing was very good and went well with the chosen greens.

Appetizer

Next up was the main, prawns with polenta and a provencal sauce. The prawns were cooked perfectly, however the meal was kind of bland with a forgettable sauce. That said, it was a pretty good meal by AA standards, so I’ll call it a win.

Entree

Leigh ordered the cauliflower “crab” cake and it was excellent to the point of this would be something I would order in a restaurant.

Cauliflower “crab” cake entree

For dessert, I had the cheese plate.

Cheese plate

After my meal, I continued to watch movies. American’s entertainment options are robust, however they play about 90 seconds of ads before every selection, which gets old really quickly. Between the dishonest in-flight credit card pitches and the ads, American: stop soliciting your customers!

I decided to connect to the wifi to get caught up on some work. Prices for the entire flight are reasonable, however the speeds were spotty and do not allow streaming like AA’s domestic high speed wifi.

After desert service, the lights were turned down. At this point, proactive drink refills mostly stopped, so if you needed water or something, your best bet was to visit the galley, which has a self-service snack bar setup.

Healthy snacks 😉

After getting about 7 hours of sleep, I woke up to the flight attendants getting the cabin ready for breakfast service. At this point, we were almost the San Francisco area, heading down the coast to LAX.

I’d pre-ordered the American breakfast and the omelette turned out to be one of the best egg dishes I’ve every been served on a flight. The omelette perfectly cooked; still light and fluffy. Prior to service, I quickly made my way to the lavatory to change back into my clothes before the eventual logjam ensued.

About 30 minutes from arrival, the crew began getting the cabin ready for arrival. We touched down a few minutes early, however the captain let us know we’d be parking in a remote stand. If you’ve never had to do this at LAX, keep that lucky rabbit’s foot with you, because it’s a massive pain in the ass. Passengers are forced to deplane by ramp, only to be loaded into a bus and be driven to Tom Bradly International Terminal to clear immigration and gather bags.

The only positive to deplaning at a remote stand is the view of this monster!

Once at baggage claim, we wait a good 40 minutes for our bags, watching every single non-priority tag bag come out ahead of ours. Bags are an area where American does not do well and I consistently notice that most works simply must ignore the orange priority tags.

Overall thoughts

For most of the last decade, American has been the leader in international business class hard product in the US (Delta and United have now caught up), and they’re the only US airline still offering international first class. The seats, lounges, wifi, and bedding all make for a “hard to screw up” combination. Our flight from Hong Kong was no different: we got plenty of rest, which is really the whole point of business class. The food and the service are always the x-factors when it comes to US airlines, and you really just don’t know what you’re in for until you’re in it.

Our crew was mostly friendly, but they certainly didn’t go out of their way for anything or even address me by name. I’ve had crews on both the low end and the high-end of the spectrum; this crew was about average, so no complaints from my end (it’s all about expectations!). I would (and probably will) fly American Flagship Business again, especially on the 77W. That said, if I’m given the option of flying say Cathay Pacific, then I’m going to fly Cathay 10/10 times because I can expect excellent service, whereas American is a dice roll.

Make no mistake, there are some incredible American flight attendants out there, I just believe that American should do more to invest in the soft product, which could make them a global leader in business class. Of course you’ll need to disregard what management is doing to their domestic experience.

Have you flown American Flagship Business? If so, what was your experience?

And the worst airline in America is…

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The Wall Street Journal came out with their annual US airline rankings. Rather than subjective scores, the rankings look at hard data, such as canceled flights, tarmac delays, or involuntary bumping. The results are out and the results should come as no surprise if you were a passenger last year.

American Airlines is the US’s worst airline

American Airlines is the largest airline in the world, and with that comes challenges and opportunities. For the last several years, American has only been paying lip service to providing good customer service (what happened to actually Going for Great?), not to mention getting the X’s and O’s of running an airline right. Exacerbated by the MAX cancellations and a labor dispute with mechanics, American’s already dismal operational record went to low record levels (along with its stock price) in 2019.

Credit: WSJ

In the rankings, American finished dead last in four of the seven categories (the other three they were in the bottom third). What sticks out to me the most is that American’s obsession with D0 – meaning departing (pushing back from the gate) on time – once again did not translate to on-time arrivals (6th out of 9). In fact, it continues to have the opposite effect in customer service terms, as gate agents – who are already overworked – don’t always have time to process upgrades, help with seat changes, etc. Further, customers with tight connections are missing their flights rather than hold them a few extra minutes (like United’s connection saver, which has saved over 50,000 connections).

What’s more is that the bulk of American’s hubs are in temperate cities, such as Charlotte, Miami, Dallas, and Los Angeles, meaning weather shouldn’t be playing a primary factor in operational issues.

The categories American finished last in: cancelled flights, 2 hour tarmac delays, mishandled baggage, and involuntary bumping. Ouch. These are all things that an airline can mostly control, yet American gets it wrong on all of them.

American continues to placate it’s customer base

These rankings further illustrate that their management is out of touch with customers and employees. American has tried to be everything to everyone, even competing with Spirit, while still trying to earn the revenue premium that Delta does. All the while, American continues to cram more seats into its planes and tear-out seat back screens, while at the same time offer sit down dining that pours Krug to its international first class customers.

Because of this dual strategy of placation, American excels at neither. One thing that’s struck me as I’ve moved my flying to United is that I do see a broader mission and purpose being communicated to its employees. For years, American has been devoid of such a mission statement that inspires its people. This lack of vision is evident in not only the raw numbers that the WSJ used for its rankings, but in basic customer service, particularly in premium cabins that they sell as “Flagship”. I’ve flown over one million, butt-in-seat miles with American and my experiences are really all over the place, especially when sitting up front (I don’t expect much in economy).

Flagship Dining

There are many great employees at American, however their meteoric fall from the best of the Big 3 airlines to the bottom overall is one that business schools will study long after Doug Parker’s tenure ends.

My takeaway

The rankings come as little surprise to me, especially after a brutal 2019 for American. Delta – airline that they’re trying to emulate – is tops in the operational rankings and continues to earn a revenue premium that American simply can’t command, even with better hubs and newer aircraft. I was impressed with Doug Parker’s ability to see American through the merger with US Airways, however it’s been seven years since the two joined. I know that I’m not alone in feeling like it’s time for a change in leadership and direction at American.

Looking back on 2019 (and the last decade)

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2019 was a lot of things; a down year in travel it was not. I visited seven new countries as well as some new North American cities. My work travel has been mostly west coast based, which has certainly made life easier. I also had a long stint of time at home, which was much needed considering my flight mileage for the year was close to 150,000 miles.

The decade

The decade was an interesting one for me. The beginning of it I was fresh out of college in the middle of the Great Recession. I dreamt of traveling the world but didn’t have the means to do so, perhaps supercharging my desire. It wasn’t until 2011 that I took a job in Charlotte, North Carolina that I got the opportunity to start traveling for work. My job took me to Los Angeles every week, while my new girlfriend Leigh of 3 weeks (and now wife) stayed home. I was home so infrequently that I gave up my apartment and moved in with Leigh, only to never look back!

We traded Charlotte’s mild weather for Miami’s beaches in 2014. To say this was life-changing would be an understatement. If you’ve visited Miami before, you know that the culture is night and day from anywhere is in the US (I would have plenty of opportunities to practice my Spanish)! After nearly four years in South Florida – and making some lifelong friends – we moved West, to San Francisco. Moving to California was something we’d always wanted to do and two and half years in, we’re having a blast. The Bay Area has a never ending list of things to, so we do find that we drive for more day or weekend trips, versus getting on a plane.

In 2017, I finally (finnnnally) popped the question! We married in early September 2018 in Savannah, which is where Leigh is from. It was the sweatiest day of my life (see early September in Savannah).

I surprised Leigh with her parents being present for the BIG question

It’s been a hell of a ride thus far. On the one hand, we’ve lived the life that both of us always thought we might live: nomadically wandering the world. On the other I’ve been “gone” more than I haven’t been (due to work). As John Mayer put it, I miss the Home Life. In just six years, we’ve been to almost 35 countries and six continents (Antartica in the future?).

In Venice

Through a lot of trial and error, I end this decade much smarter than I started it.

Statuses

Airlines

United 1K

I began the year on a 1K challenge, which I barely hit. After a few months as a 1K, I immediately came to appreciate much of what United offers its elites. I just requalified for 1K and am excited with the the things that United is doing, like the introduction of PointsPlus and its robust international route network. I’m not sure how I feel about the move to a strictly revenue qualification system for 2020. At the end of the day, I live at a fortress hub and United is the best option out of SFO. 1K also comes with Star Alliance Gold status which provides a plethora benefits.

American Platinum

Weird. That’s the first time I’ve written out my soon to be Platinum status on American. After seven straight years as an Executive Platinum, I finally “broke up” with American. Why? First and foremost, they’ve decided to be uncompetitive on the west coast and their route network no longer works for me. Their further degradation of the Alaska relationship was the final nail in the coffin. The other reason I had no problem cutting ties with American is due to its continued downhill slide in just about everything. The leadership at American has provided no vision to their employees and its unclear to consumers whether they want to be a low cost carrier or a premium airline. What’s left is an airline that is good at neither and a new reputation that they no longer care about comfort or on time arrivals. I hit platinum primarily based on an inexpensive partner business class fare that earned me far more qualifying dollars than I actually spent. Platinum keeps me as oneworld Sapphire, which allows me business class lounge access when flying internationally.

Hotels

Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador Elite

I managed to keep my Ambassador status another year which is great, because I really like my ambassador, Alie. While not earth shattering, I do find having an ambassador to be a nice perk. Having a single point of contact for everything is incredibly helpful when you’re busy. Given how big Marriott is now, it’s also the best way to ensure upgrades, special treatment, etc. Being Platinum no longer means much (other than free breakfast), so I’m happy being two levels above. With that said, I’ve become disenchanted with Marriott through the merger process. Communication was minimal and they absolutely did a bait and switch when they moved to peak/off-peak award pricing. The way it was represented to everyone is that it was based on the season, but in reality it’s dynamic pricing based on occupancy levels. Points Advance was effectively killed, and Suite Night Awards seem to be harder to confirm. At the end of the day, Marriott has hotels everywhere and the legacy SPG portfolio has dozens of aspirational properties that make it hard to leave Marriott.

Hyatt Globalist

Park Hyatt Saigon

Hyatt is new for me this year. I completed a challenge using my American Executive Platinum status that got me Globalist status after just 18 nights. Four months in, I’m really impressed with Hyatt overall. Unlike Marriott, where you need a VLOOKUP to figure out where breakfast is complementary, Globalists get free breakfast at every property. Globalists also get suite night awards that are incredibly valuable, allowing suite upgrade confirmation at time of booking. While still small in comparison, Hyatt has also done an excellent at increasing their footprint through some recent acquisitions. Looking to 2020, I’m planning to double down on Hyatt and make them primary hotel chain.

Hilton Diamond

Ah Hilton, my first hotel status. I’ve been Diamond off and on for years, though Hilton hasn’t been my primary hotel brand in 5 years. Why? I moved to SPG and fell in love (RIP) and frankly, Hilton doesn’t have a long list of aspirational properties, though that’s changing. This year I managed to get Diamond through a status challenge that only required 8 stays. Upgrades are hit or miss, though that’s primarily a function of the Hilton Aspire card providing diamond status, so the numbers are much larger. Because Golds get many of the same benefits – including free breakfast – I don’t put a huge price on Diamond status. Hilton has always been my “back pocket” brand and one I always try to keep some points. Remember, no matter where you go, there’s probably a Hampton Inn nearby.

Rental cars

Living in San Francisco – where we don’t own a car – I find rental car status to be valuable, but most probably don’t. I won’t got into a lot of detail, but I ended up with Avis Preferred, National Executive, and Hertz Presidents Circle, all of which give me access to better cars and easier check out.

2019 stand outs

Places

Moorea, French Polynesia

Our trip to French Polynesia was a random booking due to award availability at the Le Meridien there and two, United starting service to Tahiti with incredibly low fares. We spent five nights in Bora Bora but what really stood out was our two day, one night stay on Moorea, a small island just off the coast of Tahiti. Unlike its more famous cousin Bora Bora, Moorea offers visitors with far more things to do than lie on the deck of their overwater bungalow like in Boring Bora (as the locals call it). With plenty of hiking, water sports, and the ability to be self sufficient through renting a car (again, unlike Bora Bora), there’s non-stop things to do and the French Polynesian island that we said we will return. The Hilton Moorea offers a great points option for those visiting.

British Columbia, Canada

Victoria, BC

Another trip that was helpfully dictated by points. I’d purchased a Marriott vacation package using points, which netted some incredible deals. Part of the deal was a seven night stay at a Category 1-4 hotel. Normally a low category hotel is the last place I want to spend a week, but we find a gem in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby at the Element hotel. As an extended stay hotel, it offered us the ability to cook for ourselves, not to mention it was pet friendly. Even though it wasn’t in the heart of the city, the hotel was less than 10 minute walk to the rail that takes you into downtown Vancouver. It also offered a great jumping off point to explore the region, such as Grouse Mountain and Whistler, where we stayed a night. We went around the July 4th holidays, so the weather was absolutely perfect for being outside. We also took the ferry to Victoria for a night and had a blast. In an effort not to backtrack, we took the ferry straight back to the United States, arriving at the Port Angeles terminal. We spent 10 days hiking, swimming, eating, and exploring the best of British Columbia and can’t of recommend visiting enough.

Lake Como, Italy

Not a bad view from the pool, Hilton Lake Como

Wow. That pretty much sums up how we felt about Lake Como. On the same trip we visited Florence, Cinque Terre, and Venice, but none of them struck us quite like our time on the lake. The scenery is jaw dropping and mixed with the culture and food of Italy, it’s a can’t beat destination. We were initially supposed to rent a boat for our anniversary, but the winds that day had other ideas, so we slummed it by the pool instead. We stayed two nights at the Hilton Lake Como using points. We will return.

Bonus round: Uruguay

Punte del Este

My dad, brother, and I have started a somewhat tradition of taking a trip every year. This year we went to South America, specifically to Buenos Aires and Uruguay. While Buenos Aires needs no introduction, Uruguay is probably not a place that many people have heard of. Getting inspiration from Anthony Bourdain, we added Montevideo to our list (along with some day trips). What we were rewarded with was a country as interesting as any place I’ve been. A socially liberal country – they’ve legalized weed and same sex marriage – with one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, Uruguay sits just across the Rio de la Plata from Buenos Aires. While there are many similarities between Argentinian and Uruguayan culture – and they both love wine, beef, and fútbol – Uruguay has a distinctive flare and plays the part of the “less famous cousin” really well. We made a day trip to the beach town and capitol of the superrich Punte del Este, where we found warm weather and locals frolicking on the beach.

Best flight:

Qatar Q-Suite A350-1000

I almost feel stupid for even including this. Thanks to some dumb luck and a willingness to fly out of the way, we flew in the Q Suites for the second time in September. Honestly the flight was better than the first Q Suite experience, not to mention the new plane factor (spoiler: the A351 is my new favorite plane).

Best hotel:

St Regis Florence

On our trip to Italy, we stayed at two of the premier hotels not only in Marriott’s portfolio, but the world. Although the Gritti Palace was a close runner up, Leigh and I felt like the St Regis in Florence was on another level in terms of service. From coffee being delivered daily to the room, to the sabering of the champagne every night at the bar, to every other little detail in between, the St Regis Florence is a cut above anywhere else that we’ve stayed.

A close runner up: Las Alcobas Napa Valley – you can find my review here.

Did 2019 live up to all your travel ambitions?