Author: Shane

Citibank cards can now be added to Apple Pay: Earn up to 8 miles per dollar spent!

Published by

Citibank Singapore is finally on Apple Pay, so they are running a promotion with extra rewards from now until 31 July where you will get double or more of the usual rewards, up to 8 miles per dollar spent! All Citibank cards can now be added to your iPhone now, so that means you keep those physical cards at home. The following cards are eligible and will earn you 8 miles per dollar: Citi ULTIMATE card: You will get 20 ULTIMA dollars (or 8 miles equivalent) for all transactions in Singapore dollars Citi Prestige card: You will get 20 Citi Dollars (or 8 miles equivalent) Citi Rewards card: You will get 20 Citi Dollars (or 8 miles equivalent) for all transactions except for transactions that qualify for existing promotions, that means any purchases on Lazada (which will get you 20 Citi Dollars until 8 Jul 18), shoes, clothes or bags, departmental stores or online merchants (10 Citi Dollars year round). Other promotions include: Citi PremierMiles card: You will get 4 Citi Miles for all transactions …

REVIEW: InterContinental Robertson Quay, Club InterContinental Studio Room

Published by

Having had a fantastic experience with InterContinental Singapore several weeks ago, I decided to check out its newer sibling in town, InterContinental Robertson Quay. Opened in 2017, the property is one of the many hotels that sprouted up in the Robertson Quay area in recent years, including M Social, Warehouse Hotel and the recently refurbished Four Points by Sheraton (although technically not a new hotel). IHG together with owners RB Capital announced the hotel back in 2014. It was rather surprising for IHG to open up a second InterContinental brand in Singapore, given the rather small market. I booked the room through the IHG website. The rooms are fairly straightforward: the entry level room was the Classic Studio or Deluxe rooms, before moving on to the Club Rooms and finally, the Suites. All Club rooms and Suites also get access to the Club InterContinenal Lounge. A thing to note is that InterContinental Robertson Quay does not offer twin beds in their entry level Studio rooms. For twin beds, you will need to select the Deluxe …

SPG members alert: 2018 is your last year to earn SPG Gold with 10 stays

Published by

2016 and 2017 were good years for me – I had status in not one, but two hotel programmes, all thanks to Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood hotels. But obviously good things don’t last. In what seemed like a seemingly long week for SPG, Marriott Rewards and Ritz-Carlton Rewards members, all was finally revealed early today when details of the changes to unify both programmes were announced. If there are five key takeaways, they are: All three loyalty programmes are unified essentially with point, elite tiers and earning requirements aligned across, and you can transfer points freely from one to another, or earn elite-qualifying nights from one portfolio towards another programme. Marriott will only rebrand all three into a single programme in 2019. There will be six tiers in the new programmes. For SPG, this means a new Silver Elite tier at 10 night. Gold Elite will now require 25 nights, while Platinum Elite goes for 50 nights and Platinum Premier Elite at 75 nights. All elite qualifications will be made based on nights, and not …

Emirates fares on sale: S$559 economy return to Melbourne, Brisbane; S$899 to London, Wellington

Published by

From now till 23 April 18, Emirates is running a sale to Australia and Europe (and Dubai actually, if you intend to go there). Sale fares include both economy and business class fares, starting from S$429: Destinations Economy return (S$) Business return (S$) Perth 429 2,039 Melbourne, Brisbane 559 – London (Gatwick/Stansted) 899 – Wellington 899 5,679 Johannesburg  1,169 5,179 New York (JFK) 1,429 6,499 Know your operating airline For Australia-bound customers, Emirates only operate two flights daily using their own aircraft – one to Melbourne, and one to Brisbane. For all other Australia destinations, you will be travelling with Qantas and that includes Perth, Sydney, Adelaide. Even for Wellington, your Australia-Wellington leg will be carried by Qantas. If you check both their websites, you will see that for the same flights, you will be paying the same regardless of who you book through. This is due to a partnership between Emirates and Qantas signed five years ago that allows both airlines to better leverage each other’s networks in different parts of the world, as well …

FLIGHT REVIEW: Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-800 Business Class, Shanghai Pudong – Kuala Lumpur

Published by

Malaysia Airlines / 30 April 18 / B737-800 / MH PVG-KUL / Business Class Tl;dr – It’s not too bad, but avoid red-eye flights under six hours at all costs. Product is dated but still acceptable, timing of the flight is absolutely horrendous. Also, catering out of Shanghai airports generally suck. In another one of my crazy business trips up to Shanghai, I made the mistake of planning to travel back to Singapore via Hong Kong during the Easter weekend when half the territory is going on holiday. True enough, I didn’t manage to get any seats out of Hong Kong, so I ended up booking myself on Malaysia Airlines via Kuala Lumpur and the only option available was a red-eye departure. The flight departs from Shanghai Pudong airport at an ungodly hour of 2.30am, scheduled to arrive into Kuala Lumpur at a little over 8am. Now, for those who are unacquainted with Shanghai airport, this is one of the worst hub airports I’ve ever been to. The astounding lack of good quality restaurants, lounges …