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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?

Marriott extending status through February 2022

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Better late than never! Marriott has announced that all members will see their status extended through February 2022. This announcement comes on the heels of Hilton (the first) and Hyatt announcing extensions in March, along with several airlines programs (including United, Delta, Alaska) announcing blanket extensions as well.

The official communication came from Marriott this morning. Beyond the status extension through February 202, the other key takeaway is that prepaid reservations will be allowed cancellations through June 30th, 2020.

For Our Customers
We remain committed to ensuring our customers experience flexibility during these challenging times, so we have further extended our cancellation policy and I wanted to give you an update on those changes.

For guests with existing reservations for any future arrival date, including reservations with pre-paid rates that are typically more restrictive, we will allow full changes or cancellation without a charge up to 24 hours prior to arrival, as long as the change or cancellation is made by June 30, 2020. Please note that any changes to existing reservations will be subject to availability and any rate differences.

For guests making new reservations for any future arrival date, including reservations with pre-paid rates, between March 13 and June 30, 2020, we will allow the reservation to be changed or cancelled at no charge up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival date.

Please continue to visit our website for the most up-to-date information.
For Our Marriott Bonvoy Members

I also want to take a moment to address our Marriott Bonvoy members. Like many of you, frequent travel is a way of life for me and most of the Marriott team. It is the way we connect, get inspired and evolve our business every day. While it is the right thing to do, it’s been hard not to be able to travel. We know that when you get back in the air and on the road, your points and status will be important to you.•Status Extension: We want you to be able to enjoy the status that you earned in 2019. With that in mind, the status you earned in 2019 will be extended to February 2022.•Points Expiration: To provide you ample time to redeem points, the expiration of points will be paused until February 2021. At that time, your points will only expire if your account has been inactive for at least 24 months.
As the days unfold, we will continue to monitor and evolve our program requirements as necessary.

Marriott helping out

Marriott also shared that they’re helping out locally and nationally through a couple of programs:

With support from our credit card partners, American Express and JPMorgan Chase, Marriott has committed to provide $10 million worth of hotel stays for healthcare professionals leading the fight against COVID-19 in the United States. The initiative, called Rooms for Responders, will provide free rooms in some of the areas most impacted including New York City, New Orleans, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Washington, D.C. and Newark, N.J. To implement this initiative, we collaborated with the American College of Emergency Physicians and the Emergency Nurses Association to match doctors and nurses with free accommodations at participating hotels.

In a separate effort for frontline healthcare workers, we have joined with a number of our hotel owners and franchisee partners to launch the Community Caregiver Program. This initiative, available in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America, provides significantly discounted rates for first responders and healthcare professionals who want to book rooms at hotels in close proximity to the hospitals where they’re working. The rate is available on Marriott.com at nearly 2,500 hotels.

Both Marriott and the franchises of their hotels deserve a lot of credit for what they’ve contributed to the entire coronavirus response. I know that in my home of San Francisco alone, the city has about 5,000 hotel rooms for those in need during this time. While the city is paying for it, Marriott and franchises are no doubt taking a financial hit, starting with the rate and finishing with a thorough cleaning of the entire buildings.

It’s also awesome to see that they’re providing low cost hotel rooms for healthcare workers near their place of work. Healthcare workers across the country are already maxed out, so hopefully this at least gives a percentage of workers a break from their commutes (at a reasonable rate).

My take

This is another development in the travel world that’s a win for customers. No one should be traveling right now, so I really appreciate the fact that hotels and airlines have taken the incentive out of unnecessary trips.

Personally, I’m happy to be keeping my Ambassador status for another year, however I’m more concerned about whether my actual ambassador is going to be keeping her job. When I emailed her a couple of weeks ago to see how she was doing, I was met with an indefinite out of office. Alie really has been a great steward for not only Marriott, but her members as well. She’s always gone to bat for, and I appreciate how passionate she is about her job. I hope Marriott does that right thing and not only ensures she has a job in thenear future, but is continuing to pay one of the faces of the company to their most valuable customers.

Wow, it’s been a crazy two weeks! (coming home from Africa)

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I’ve been radio silent for the last couple of weeks, some by intent, some not. Since my last post, the COVID-19 outbreak is now officially a pandemic, and within the US, it’s clear we’re woefully underprepared (and late to the party). Things are looking bleak for not only the health of the global population, but the economic outlook has gone from bad to worse. The stock market, and countless retirement accounts have lost almost a third of their value over the last two weeks, and most economists expect a recession to immanently. Anyway, I’m not here to break news, but rather give my slice of the pie.

Leigh and I left for South Africa on March 5, back when the Coronavirus was still – rightly or wrongly – an isolated phenomenon. We’d been planning this trip for almost a year, so the thought of cancelling it seemed extreme. Even more extreme when you consider that during the first week of March, COVID-19 had not officially reached the contentments of Africa, South America, or Australia, or even been classified a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Since that time – and the day we left – it’s clear that it is now everywhere. We just left Mauritius yesterday, a small island in the Indian Ocean, where they too are experiencing cases of COVID-19. This is not something any of us can run from.

The most surreal travel experience

Thinking about anything other than penguins was not an easy feat.

Leigh and I have been to almost 40 countries in the last seven years, and we’ve never had an experience like the last couple of weeks. It all started when we left San Francisco, only to find an empty SFO airport and Polaris Lounge due to flight cancellations to/from Asia. Meanwhile, Washington leadership assured the country that we were safe and this was not such a big deal (to be fair, we don’t pay a lot of attention to what comes out of the White House). With those things in mind, we decided to continue onward with our trip, arriving in Cape Town on March 7th. When we arrived, we were greeted with temperature checks and questions about where we’d been. Passing those tests, we spent the next 10 days in the Cape Town region (the Wine Lands and Cape Town proper). By the time we were getting ready for the next part of our journey – Mauritius – Coronavirus had entered South Africa, and at the same time, the US shut down it’s borders to foreign nationals from Europe, escalating the crisis. Two days after leaving South Africa, they followed suit and banned all foreigners from entering the country. Foreigners that were already in the country needed to get tested immediately. We got out just in time, as airlines immediately began cancelling flights all over the African continent. We had an incredible time in Cape Town, eating some of the best meals I’ve ever had. With that said, when you juxtapose the looming crisis with the disparity of haves and have nots of South African life – especially after visiting a township – made it all the more real that real pain was to follow, everywhere.

Langa Township in Cape Town

Upon arriving in Mauritius, it was clear that things were going from bad to worse. We were staying at the St Regis Mauritius – an incredible property on the crystal clear turquoise waters of Le Morne – where we found ourselves to be two of about 80 people (the hotel has 196 rooms, or 400+ people). By the time we left yesterday, there were 40 people left at the resort. We got an incredible upgrade and plenty of attention, but in frankly it was weird and eerie to be one of a handful of people at a resort in high season. The hotel did an admirable job adapting, while still trying to run a business (and none of the individual employees would ever let you know they’re worried).

Chamarel waterfall in Mauritius

During our time in Mauritius, things deteriorated rapidly. As I mentioned, Mauritius started seeing cases, and just two days ago (March 18th), the government announced restrictions that prevented anyone other than citizens from entering the country. Those measures went into effect yesterday (March 19th) at 10am, and it was clear the island was not prepared.

Thinking we would pick up some last minute items, which included everything from rum to vanilla to toilet paper (now a US delicacy), we were met with the same panic buying that the United States has been seeing for weeks. Concurrently, we woke up yesterday to find that Turkish Airlines had cancelled Mauritian flights effective the March 20th, although we didn’t actually know the effective date, which meant our final morning was nothing short of a panic.

Sure, there are worse places to be stuck, but the idea of being almost 13,000 miles away from home during a pandemic seemed foolish at best. After we confirmed our flight was in fact the LAST flight off the island that would get us home in any reasonable time (and not through the EU), we were met with a wave of uncertain certainty, meaning we were certain we needed leave paradise for our home, and uncertain of when the next time we might actually travel. Between water skiing, snorkeling, and beach time, we relished the last couple of days in Mauritius.

A shameless picture of me waterskiing. Le Morne Mountain is quite the backdrop!

A retrospective

During the trip, I kept thinking about what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. For one, I felt guilty that I was traveling while the world was coming to grips with a pandemic not seen in a hundred years (Google: 1918 flu epidemic). I wanted to justify WHY we were traveling. The “we already had it planned”, “it wasn’t a big deal at the point”, “we’re young and healthy”…all of it. It wasn’t until our last day in Cape Town that it really hit me that I don’t owe an explanation to anyone, but rather a responsibility to everyone. Yes, we could’ve cancelled the trip, but didn’t. We decided to stick it out, mainly because who the hell knows when we will take our next trip (our trip to Paris in May is almost certainly cancelled). After I made peace with our decisions, what’s really hit me is how interconnected we – the people of earth – really are.

Despite the nationalist rhetoric that’s presently coming out of the US (and other countries) is flat wrong and economically stupid. We all happen to share one planet, and as of 2020, share one global economy. Watching the dominoes fall from afar – and so, so, so rapidly – is an experience I will never forget; the rain cloud in the distance, coming closer until you’re soaked.

We were also struck by the people of Mauritius (and South Africa, though it wasn’t as dire when we were there) – some of the most kind and generous we’ve met to date – that now face an uncertain future. How will they provide for the families or make ends meet? They’re asking themselves the same questions that citizens of previously far-off countries have been asking themselves for weeks. We made it a point to leave extra gratuity on every bill in hopes it might bring a little uplift to a country where the per capita income is around $20k/year.

What’s next

Who knows?

While we were in Cape Town, we toyed with coming home as soon as travel restrictions were announced. Our parents – all of who are in the 70’s – are high risk for COVID-19 for reasons beyond just their age, which frankly scared the hell out of us. With that said, there was really nothing we could do, especially considering our international travels, so instead, we pleaded with them to follow the CDC guidelines (and stay at home)!

Ultimately, we made a personal decision not to cut our trip short, and as I sit on our final flight home, I’m grateful we didn’t. We don’t have kids, only a dog, so the thought of rushing back to San Francisco to be on house arrest just didn’t seem to make a lot of sense. Let’s enjoy this last hoorah as much and as safely as we can, because who knows what the future holds.

As I mentioned, we’re supposed to go to Paris in May, but I seriously doubt that will happen, and I’m content with that. Like most people throughout the world, we’re most focused on whether or not we keep our jobs and can continue to afford to live in the most expensive city in the US. Travel is secondary. That’s not to say if we find a great deal to a place we want to visit – WITH a flexible cancellation policy – that we won’t book it, but it’s just not top of mind right now. We don’t know what we’re going home to, and having food and supplies is number one, especially since the entire state of California has been given a shelter in place order.

On the health front, Leigh and I are self-quarantining for two weeks upon our return this evening, given our extensive international travels. We will do everything we possibly can to not enter any place of public place where we might infect someone else. Staying away from people is the absolute least we can do, and we’ll also do our best to order delivery from some of our favorite restaurants to keep them afloat (not interacting with the delivery person of course). We’ll also order gift cards from those that offer it.

The last couple of weeks have been eye-opening for everyone, but for us, watching it from afar has left an impression that we won’t soon forget. We are all brothers and sisters in this world, and we owe it to each other to be responsible and take this pandemic seriously. Travel can wait.

Planning an affordable trip to Bora Bora and French Polynesia

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We’ve all seen the Instagram photos of the overwater bungalows, surrounded by crystal clear water, with dramatic Mount Otemanu in background. In said photos, it looks like a mix of Hawaii’s mountains and the Caribbean’s blue waters. This dreamy paradise is one that most people only dream of visiting, primarily because it’s prohibitively expensive.

Bora Bora gets most of the fame, however it’s just one of the 118 islands and atolls that make up French Polynesia, one of the more remote places on earth. With that remoteness comes sky high prices, but with some advance planning, a trip to the South Pacific doesn’t have to break the bank.

Getting there from North America

Rewind to late 2017, when United announced that it would begin flying to Pape’ete, Tahiti (the capitol) from SFO. The flight was originally supposed to be seasonal, but it’s done so well that it’s now year around. Prior to United’s announcement, French Polynesia was served by three airlines from North America, none of them legacy US carriers. Air Tahiti Nui, Air France, and low-cost carrier French Bee dominated the market, offering few options to use points and miles to get there (Air Tahiti Nui is redeemable using American AAdvantage miles, while Air France charges an obscene amount Flying Blue miles for a one-way).

Hard pass, Air France

United’s new flight has helped put downward pressure on prices, and now round-trip economy flights can be had for under $600 (~$300 for one-ways). At around approximately 9 hours, it’s more than doable in economy, as you’re not crossing any datelines and only the return is overnight.

As of today, the routes that can get you from the US to French Polynesia are:

  • San Francisco (SFO)
    • United / 3x weekly / Tue, Thur, Sat (both directions)
    • French Bee / 2x weekly / Fri, Sat
  • Los Angeles (LAX)
    • Air Tahiti Nui / Daily
    • Air France / 3 – 4x weekly

If you have a stash of United miles (or Chase Ultimate Rewards, which is a 1:1 transfer to United), they can be redeemed starting at 35k each way, though at less than a 1 cent per mile, this isn’t the best deal or use of miles.

Award prices for United SFO-PPT in coach

United business redemptions aren’t a good deal

American miles can also be redeemed for their LAX-PPT flight starting at 40k miles per leg in economy, 65k in premium economy, or 80k in business. Like United, Air Tahiti Nui uses a 787-8 Dreamliner for the flight.

American availability on Air Tahiti Nui

Regardless of how you get to Pape’ete, you’ll still be required to take an additional flight to get to Bora Bora. Air Tahiti is the only airline that offers inter-island flights, and they only operate during daylight hours. Since some flights arrive at night, be sure to plan for your overnight stay in Pape’ete. I failed to take this into account when booking the rest of our itinerary, booking our Bora Bora accommodations for the same day we flew into Pape’ete. It was a long protracted fight with both United and our Bora Bora hotel, but it ended up getting resolved (phewww). Flights from Pape’ete to Bora Bora were about $200 per person.

Lodging

Bora Bora boasts numerous points hotels across several brands. Marriott (2), IHG (2), Accor (2), and Hilton (1) all have high-end properties around the island. Hyatt is noticeably absent from French Polynesia, which is a bummer since as I said a couple of weeks ago, they have the best elite loyalty program out there.

Most of these hotels will run between $500-$2000/night, the higher-end being on the eastern side of the atoll, where you’ll find the Le Meridien, St Regis, and InterContinental Thalasso. I can attest that the views of Mount Otemanu from that side are nothing short of spectacular; something you really don’t get from the other areas of the island. What you do get is a closer proximity to Vaitape, where all of the non-hotel restaurants are located, along with markets and stores, which I’ll address later.

We did an excursion that took us around the entire lagoon, stopping at the InterContinental, Hilton (Conrad), and Sofitel, and I can say without a doubt that the Le Meridien and St Regis have the best real estate on the island.

The Conrad Bora Bora

When we went last January, we stayed at the Le Meridien using points. This was before Marriott Category 8 kicked in, so we were able to redeem at the Category 7 price of 60k points/night, and with the 5th night free, got 5 nights for a total of 240k points (rates were well over $1000/night that week)!

A few notes about the hotel:

  • The property itself is beautiful, but it’s been a while since it’s seen updates. The harsh sun and saltwater aren’t kind, and the materials of this property no different.
  • As an Ambassador Elite, we were not only updraded to an overwater bungalow, we were given the probably the second best one in the entire resort due to the incredible view of Mount Otemanu from our deck.
  • The bungalows are definitely on the smaller side compared to other resorts there (the St Regis’ are about twice the size), however the resort is the best situated on the island due to it’s central views.
  • The food and drink – which I’ll hit on later on Bora Bora in general- was expensive and not worth the cost. We did got to happy hour a couple of nights, though there isn’t much night life to be had (nor should there be). Breakfast was excellent however, which was included for Marriott Platinums and above, so I’d recommend pigging out then (and waiting until mid-late morning if you can).
  • The property has a plenty of outdoor activities for free, including paddle boarding, kayaking, and visiting the sea turtle rehabilitation center onsite (great experience!).
  • The staff was incredibly friendly and generous
  • Lastly – somehow they use STYROFOAM cups and plastic water bottles in the rooms for coffee. I can’t even begin to explain… (there is a water dispenser in the gym, which is also well equipped).

Le Meridien photos:

Take advantage of breakfast!
The turtle center at the Le Meridien

Food and drink tips

Okay, so the first thing to remember is that Bora Bora is an atoll in one of the most remote places on earth and produces very little of its own food supply. As a consequence, everything has to be shipped in, meaning it’s outrageously expensive.

And since Bora Bora has no roads that connect many of the resorts to the main island, you’re a captive audience once you’re there. At the Le Meridien, cocktails started at $25 and a seafood pizza (12″) about $30. Unless you go do an activity, you’re at the resort all day, so it adds up quickly depending on your eating and drinking habits. If you’re like Leigh and me on vacation, the daily bill for drinks will exceed our flights home. 😉 Not to mention the urge to snack when you’re being lazy. Unless it’s your honeymoon, it’s hard to justify these prices for the better part of a week, not to mention waiting on room service all the time just isn’t that convenient!

The hotel beach menu

BYO F and B!

We’d read about the prices beforehand, and since we’d just taken our actual honeymoon 4 months prior (to Seychelles and Kenya), we were not in the market for price gouging. We knew there was a market in town where we could buy fresh food upon our arrival, so we decided we’d supplement that with a Trader Joe’s run. We bought everything from our favorite chips, to beef jerky, to peanut butter stuff pretzels. We also brought wine and liquor, which you could also buy from duty free. We decided that packing it would be easier than having an additional bag from duty free.

Onboard the ferry

Once we landed in Bora Bora, we took the public ferry that runs into town (Vaitape), in lieu of the $120 private pick-up via the hotel. The pick-up fee is ridiculous, however the main reason we wanted to do the ferry is because it allowed us to hit the market on our first day. From there we were able to take the $25 hotel transfer (same boat) from Vaitape back to the hotel. The frustrating part about the Le Meridien is that they charge an exorbitant price for the airport pick-up, when their neighbor and demonstrably higher-end St Regis does not.

Vaitape Church

There’s one primary market in town – Chin Lee Market – and they have pretty much everything you could want. From pre-made foods, to sandwich meat, to cheese, to heavenly fresh-baked French bread, and other local snacks, everything is covered. I also picked up a some beer since a six pack there costs less than one of the same canned beer at the hotel.

Lunch!
The local dish – Tahitian Poisson Cru! (fish with coconut milk)

Since we had a couple of hours to kill between the ferry drop-off and our pick-up, we first went to grab lunch and walk around the town. Our lunch was an excellent intro into the seafood heavy diet of Bora Bora. We then visited several shops, including a boutique that was selling the famous Tahitian black pearls. To me, the black pearls looked like the sultry version of the normal white pearl.

Afterward buying groceries, we made our way to the boat dock. While waiting, we were offered fresh cut fruit from some local women. I of course obliged, however they wouldn’t accept our money. Talk about hospitality! I also managed to find a pretty sweet “Hawaiian (Polynesian) shirt” that I still where on beach trips to this day.

We would come back into town one night for dinner at Bloody Mary’s, the local haunt for tourists and famous people. With its sandy floors and pick your own pieces of fresh seafood, it was a fun experience that I’d recommend doing one night if you get cabin fever at your hotel.

Our final night, we dined at the St Regis’ primary restaurant, Lagoon by Jean-Georges. The meal will set you back about $100-$150/person, though it was one of the best meals that I’ve ever had. Because it’s a sister property of the Le Meridien, you can charge it to the room (and earn points!).

Lagoon
A fish that can only be caught at night at 1000′ depths. Yum

Things to do

For the most part, we were totally fine with vegging for the majority of our time there, but we wanted to venture out for one day. We booked a full-day excursion with Lagoon Service Bora Bora and it didn’t disappoint. For about $120 a person, we went snorkeling in eel infested coral, went swimming with and fed sting rays, went on an incredible snorkel with more sharks than I’ve ever seen, and were fed lunch. Other than a splurging at the St Regis for dinner, the lunch was the best food we had our entire trip. Considering lunch in town would’ve cost about $75 per person, before the boat transfers, I’d call it a win! We were living right, because our guide serenaded the us with his ukulele throughout the day!

As for land activities, I really wanted to hike Mount Otemanu, but was told by the hotel that was no longer possible. Instead, we made use of the water activity gear provided for free by the hotel, but we primarily just vegged on the deck of our bungalow reading. When we got hot, we just jumped in the crystal clear water to cool off, climbing a set of stairs to reclaim our lounge spots. We did plenty of snorkeling around the bungalow too, where we saw sting rays, eels, tropical fish, and even turtles! Scuba diving is an option, however I don’t think it’s necessary given the shallowness and visibility of the water.

The thing we learned really quickly is that Bora Bora is a place to relax, not explore. Everything and everyone moves slow, so you might as well get on beat too. They don’t call it Boring Bora for nothing!

Other places to visit

After five nights on Bora Bora, we flew directly to Mo’orea – a small island thats just ten nautical miles from the main island Tahiti. Wow, what a change of pace! We rented a car upon our arrival and off we went. We’d booked a night at the Hilton Mo’orea using points (standard rooms go for 80k points/night). The hotel was much larger and lively than our accommodations in Bora Bora, and there was even a parking lot!

Everything in Mo’orea (and Tahiti) was at least half the price of what we paid in Bora Bora, a welcome relief.

At the time, I was a Gold member, so I had no expectations of being upgraded to an overwater bungalow. Much to our surprise, we were upgraded to a room with a private pool. The property felt new and well-maintained. Also, included in your stay is everything that’s in the mini-fridge, which includes beer and soft drinks, all of which are refilled each day. Another cool thing about the hotel is that they offer daily excursions by boat. We didn’t get to take advantage of it since we only had one full day.

After vegging most of the afternoon at the hotel, we took in a Polynesian show which was fantastic. Watching these guys spit, spin, walk on, and do just about everything you can imagine with fire was nothing short of incredible. Bravo!

What you see is free at the Hilton

The next day, we continued to drive the island counter clockwise. Our first stop was a very quick hike at Belvedere lookout (quick because you can basically drive to the top). Afterwards, we visited a juice factory and rum distillery which was one of the most bizarre tours I’ve ever been on. Basically, you show up, show yourself into the lobby where theres a basket of hair nets, then you’re off on the tour, all without speaking to a soul. At the end, there was a gift shop where you could taste the different rums and juices.

Next up was a restaurant we’d read about, Snack Mahana, which by any standard was nothing short of spectacular. Local seafood served 10 feet from the water, all at plastic picnic tables and shaded by a massive tree…yes please!

Lunch

We drove the rest of the way around the island, finally arriving back at the airport. Leigh and I both agreed that when we come back to French Polynesia, we will absolutely return to Mo’orea. The island offers everything Bora Bora doesn’t: freedom. There’s so much to do there, it’s really like an undeveloped Hawaii.

Mo’orea was the final stop on our trip, so we ultimately made our way to the airport (queue sad music montage). I was able to add the Mo’orea to Pape’ete flight onto our United flights for almost no additional charge (United codeshares with Air Tahiti on many inter-island flights), so we opted for that. There is a ferry that takes about an hour and costs much less than flying the leg without an associated connection.

We all need a little help sometimes 🙂

After the shortest flight of my life (all of seven minutes), we were left with about a five hour layover, which normally is fine, but we had to recheck our bags, and because the flight wasn’t until after 9, we had a bunch of time to kill with bags. We lugged our bags to a food truck serving fresh seafood (surprise!), only to found out afterwards that there was a luggage storage option in the airport. Fail 🙁

Once we checked in and dropped our bags, we were able to visit the Air Tahiti Nui thanks to Priority Pass, where we both got to take much needed showers. With several flights departing at night, the lounge was a welcome reprieve from the craziness of the terminal.

Overall impressions

My god, this place is beautiful. All of it. It feels like Hawaii from a different time, and it has the added advantage of being far removed from surrounding cultures. What we found during our week there was not only crystal clear water, but authentic people and experiences. At only 8-9 hours from the US west coast, its easily accessible, flights are reasonably priced, and there are plenty of points options for hotels. With that said, will I visit Bora Bora again? Maybe, but not likely for some time. For Leigh and me, we like options, and being held captive at the resort doesn’t offer that. Even though it’s painfully beautiful, there are plenty of other places I’d like to visit before returning.

On the cost note, I’m sure that it seems ridiculous that I’m suggesting you bring your own food and drink to a tropical island, but trust me, you will thank me. If you show-up empty handed, I would be prepared to spend no less than $500 a day on food and drink. Of course everyone’s situations are different; we travel frequently and had just gotten back from our honeymoon. My suggestions are merely that, but hopefully there’s some useful advice in there. I’ll also so that there is a convenience factor here. Having snacks and drinks in your bungalow are worth it to at least make the stop at the market. Time moves slowly in Bora Bora and room service is no exception.

Will I visit French Polynesia again? Absolutely. Mo’orea was a welcome change of pace with more than enough to do. Though we spent minimal time on Tahiti, I’m sure by comparison there’s even more to do there. Both have the advantage of the international airport being so close.

Have you been to French Polynesia or Bora Bora?

The state of the Marriott Ambassador Program (and Bonvoy)

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Le Meridien Bora Bora

For Marriott loyalists, Ambassador Elite status is the pinnacle. A holdover from the SPG days – and as the name suggests – customers that meet the qualifications get a single point of contact to deal with all things Marriott. In addition, the members get access to the (questionable) Your24 benefit, where theoretically, you can check into a hotel at 10pm after a late flight, and check out at 10pm the following night. I’ve never had success with it and I know a host of others that haven’t as well (it’s up to the hotel’s discretion).

So how do you earn such a status? It used to be that SPG required 100 nights to earn Ambassador status. Since the merger, Marriott has introduced a $20,000 spend requirement as of 2019, which translates to a $200/night average. If you have a Marriott credit card with annual 15 night credit, then the nightly average jumps to about $235.

How the status has evolved

Let me backtrack by stating that even Platinum (50 nights) with SPG was a legendary status. The differentiation between SPG Platinum and the upper levels of Platinum (Plat75 and Ambassador) were much larger than the differentiation between Marriott Platinum, Titanium, and Ambassador. I held Ambassador status with SPG for about three years, which meant for three years, I was pretty much treated as royalty at the hotels I stayed. I frequently got big suite upgrades, along with beer, wine, and snacks waiting for me in my room (ambassadors ask for food and drink preferences upon status achievement).

A welcome gift at the Element Vancouver

The true perk of the status is the single point of contact. If I have any issue with a hotel – an incorrect folio, poor service, or even lost item – I can throw that over the fence to my ambassador who will handle it for me. Further, when trying to plan special occasions, having one person to work with makes a huge difference.

The other big perk is that Ambassador Elite members are theoretically supposed to be at the top of the upgrade queue. I’ll get into this more in a bit.

Overall, I used to think it was worth it to do a mattress run if I was close to achieve Ambassador status. These days, I don’t think it is (especially if you’re short on the spend requirement).

The biggest change is that Marriott is the first word in the program and not Starwood. With that came lots of things, most notably a huge influx of people. Starwood – like Hyatt these days – was always more of a boutique option for hotels. Members had to go out of their way to stay at SPG properties, and in turn, were handsomely rewarded. No matter how high end the property was, elites were always given free breakfast and the ability to upgrade to suites. In fact, the language of the SPG program mandated that if a suite was available at check-in, the hotel must give it to an elite.

These days, you could trip on the sidewalk, look up, and see a Marriott property (almost 8,000 hotels worldwide, compared to Starwood’s 1,500 at the time of merger). With the numbers increasing so much, it’s become hard not to feel like anything but a number with Marriott. The merger by all accounts, didn’t go well from an IT perspective, which certainly didn’t endure goodwill from anyone. Further, all of the additional members have made competition for upgrades even more competitive.

As for the Ambassador program, it too has become a victim of Marriott’s success. Because the spend requirement didn’t kick in until 2019, I imagine that the number of Ambassador users was astronomical in 2019. Marriott never had such a program, but they certainly had thousands – if not tens of thousands – of members that routinely stayed 100 nights. Now that the revenue requirement has kicked in, I imagine that number has depleted some, but nowhere close to where things stood pre-merger.

What’s changed

It had not occurred to me until Leigh and I were at the JW Marriott Phu Quoc in December and she said, “what happened to all the goodies you used to get?” She was of course referring to the bottle of wine or champagne that was routinely left for us upon check-in. At the JW, we were given a drink voucher that was only good during happy hour.

I hadn’t put much thought into it, but she was right. I hadn’t received the same level of service from the hotels as I had in the past. I spent a week or two mulling it over, even asking other ambassador members their thoughts, before emailing my own ambassador to get hers.

Before I get into her response, let me start by saying I lucked out with my ambassador. She’s thorough, helpful, and comes from SPG, so she knows what the intention of the program really was/is. After my email, she called me, saying that I wasn’t the first person to mention that I thought the service of the ambassador program had been deprecated.

A few points from her:

  • The old SPG mantra was under promise and over deliver. These days the Marriott mantra is over promise and under deliver
  • Each ambassador is responsible for more members than the entire ambassador program under SPG (!!!), meaning she can’t possibly provide personalized service. My ambassador is responsible for more than 500 members alone.
  • Ambassadors don’t get any sort of report of when or where their members are staying on a weekly or monthly basis. In practice, this means that if there’s a special stay coming up, you need to let your ambassador know about a week out, otherwise don’t expect much.
  • They continue to have issues – mostly at legacy Marriott hotels – with enforcement of standards and recognition of Ambassador Elites. She alluded that each hotel has a budget to do things for ambassadors, but many still choose not to (again, legacy Marriott hotels). This is why I prefer legacy SPG hotels whenever possible (Westin, W, Luxury Collection, St Regis) to Marriott legacy (Marriott, Courtyard, Ritz).
  • In order to provide better service in 2020, she plans on working extra hours because that’s what we deserve after spending $20k with her employer. I said that’s really not what the solution should be, but rather a better ambassador:member ratio. She alluded that they’re hiring more people, though many of the new hires are questionable in her opinion. 

My Take

On the one hand, I’m sort of relieved to hear it’s not just my imagination that things have gone downhill on the Ambassador side. On the other, it really sucks that Marriott has deprecated such a unique program that did provide some value for its best customers. Marriott is continues to show that it’s going to just be the 800 pound gorilla rather than trying to earn customer loyalty.

The St Regis Florence – celebrating our anniversary

Will this cause me to break up with Marriott? No, but I have already started diverting a good portion of my hotel stays to Hyatt, especially as they continue to grow their footprint. It’s impossible to talk about the Ambassador program without talking about Marriott Bonvoy overall, since they keep moving the goal posts. Examples include:

  • Category changes – Just last week, Marriott announced its annual category changes that will go into effect March 4th, and nearly a third of all properties are changing (22% are increasing in award price, and only7% decreasing). This is a substantial increase in mid-tier properties and will negatively affect far more people that the Gritti Palace or St Regis Maldives increasing in price. This is on top of the introduction of Category 8 in March 2019, meaning the highest priced hotels went from 60k/night to 100k/night within 6 months, a 67% increase!
  • Peak pricing – The bait and switch introduction of peak/off peak pricing in September 2019 was not what anyone (blogger, or otherwise) thought would be the case. Marriott sold it as being based on seasonality (i.e., ski resorts costing less in summer), but in fact, it’s dynamic pricing that’s based on occupancy. In practice, this means that the sooner you book, the better rate you get.
  • No blackout dates – Marriott promised to adopt SPG’s policy of no blackout dates as long as a standard room was available. What came to pass was hotels being given the ability to designate a small fraction of rooms as a standard rooms, then play games with whether it was available or not. I’ve seen this myself at the Los Alcobas Napa Valley, and all you have to do is visit any Marriott forum to see a list of others not playing by the rules. Even months out, there will be seemingly no availability, even when standard rooms are available using cash.

Eventually, Marriott’s degradation of the program will catch up with it, I just don’t know that it’ll be anytime soon. Their footprint is massive and they really do have a huge portfolio of aspirational properties. As for the Ambassador Program, it’s a nice-to-have, but nothing worth going out of your way for, especially given the revenue requirement.

My strategy moving forward is to keep Marriott Platinum (50 nights) or Titanium (75 nights), which includes the 15 night credit from any number of Marriott Bonvoy cards (like the Bonvoy Brilliant card from American Express). I’ll then spend the rest of my time in Hyatt properties, because as a Globalist (60 nights), I find that I’m treated as well or better than many Marriott properties, without the hoops to jump through.

What are your thoughts on Marriott’s changes to the Ambassador program or the Bonvoy Program overall?