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Category: Promo

  • Hilton points sale now on: buy and get 100% bonus

    Hilton points sale now on: buy and get 100% bonus

    Buy at least 10k Hilton points to trigger 100% bonus.

    Hilton has kicked off its first sale of 2020 with a 100% bonus if you buy at least 10,000 points (before bonus).

    Hilton points usually cost USD0.01 each, so a 100% bonus means you’re buying them at half a cent (USD) per point, the lowest price Hilton has offered in a while.

    Note that each account can only purchase up to 80,000 points per year before bonus, so this is a good chance to max out your purchase for the year. if you need and want to buy more points, nothing is stopping you from opening new accounts and purchasing more points, given that it’s free to transfer points between accounts.

    Why should you buy points

    Buying Hilton points is one of the most value-for-money ways to book luxury hotel rooms for less.

    A quick search on ‘Hilton points redemption’ will show you that these points are good value for resort properties, including Waldorf Astoria Maldives, which goes for 120,000 points per night, translating to USD600 if you buy the points with the bonus. That’s still pretty much a deal given that the cheapest room night typically go for USD1,400 upwards.

    Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi (Photo: Hilton)

    Closer to home you can also try for Conrad Koh Samui at 95,000 points per night (translating to about USD475), a property that usually goes for USD700 per night.

    Conrad Koh Samui (Photo: Hilton)

    Hilton Honors also offer a 5th night free if you use your points, so if you have a huge points balance, your points outlay for these swanky resorts will go down.

    How to buy points

    If you are a Hilton Honors member and are subscribed to their promotional emails, you should have received an email earlier this week on the offer.

    Otherwise, simply go to Hilton.com and sign into your Hilton Honors account (sign up for one if you don’t have).

    Navigate your way to “Buy Points”, and the offer should be automatically reflected there.

    Final thoughts

    This is certainly one of the best deals Hilton has ever put out for the purchase of points.

    However, as conventional wisdom has proven, do not buy points speculatively unless you have an intended use for it in the near future.

    In Hilton’s case, since the hotel chain has stopped publishing award charts a couple of years ago, you may find that the number of points required may shift from time to time, so there’s a level of uncertainty if you intend to hoard points and redeem later.

    Remember – sale ends 20 January 2020, 12.59pm Singapore Time.

  • 10% bonus Asia Miles if you convert them from credit card points by 31 Jan

    10% bonus Asia Miles if you convert them from credit card points by 31 Jan

    Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles is currently offering a bonus for credit card points converted in Asia Miles. The offer runs from now until the end of January 2020.

    The offer

    From now until 31 January 2020, Asia Miles members who convert credit card points into Asia Miles will receive 10% bonus points.

    While this year’s promotion is lightly less than last year’s 15% bonus, the upside this time round is that there is no cap to the number of miles you can transfer. In 2019, there was a 10,000 miles cap on the number of bonus miles you can receive.

    How to sign up

    To qualify for the bonus, first you will need to register through this link.

    You should see a confirmation page once you have registered.

    Next, go on to make the transfer from your credit card points to Asia Miles. For those based in Singapore, you can transfer from the following banks or card issuers into Asia Miles:

    • American Express
    • Bank of China
    • Citibank
    • DBS
    • HSBC
    • Maybank
    • UOB

    Note that the 10% bonus miles will only credit 6 to 8 weeks after January, so don’t count on it if you need the miles urgently.

    Asia Miles has confirmed that as long as the transfer request is initiated before 31 January 2020, the bonus miles will be awarded.

    In any event if you do not see the bonus miles come in, be sure to contact Asia Miles by 31 May 2020, after which they will not entertain any further claims.

    For the full terms and conditions, click here.

  • 50% off Hilton rooms in Japan, Korea and Guam: 4 days only!

    50% off Hilton rooms in Japan, Korea and Guam: 4 days only!

    Hilton is running a flash winter sale for the rooms in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Guam for four days only, from 26 November 2019, 1pm (Singapore time) to 29 November 2019, 1pm (Singapore time).

    While the marketing spiel reads 50% off, bear in mind that this discount is off the flexible rates and not the sale rates. Also, non Hilton Honors members will only enjoy 40% off. On top of that, you will be slapped with other terms, such as non-refundable terms.

    While the sale period is tight, you have some flexibility in your travel dates. You can stay between 26 November 2019 and 30 June 2020, giving you quite a fair bit of dates to play with if you haven’t lined up any plans for the first half of next year. Obviously black-out dates do apply, and I will expect that the sakura season will be excluded given the traditional high footfall.

    What’s good?

    Tokyo traditionally has one of the most expensive hotel rates in Asia, so this is a good time to check out the properties if you have been hesitating. For instance:

    If you are looking to book a ski holiday, Hilton Niseko goes from SGD125:

    Conrad Tokyo is another exceptionally property that can command more than S$700, but for this sale you can grab rooms from S$356:

    If you are looking at some other luxe properties in Japan, Conrad Osaka can be booked from SGD260, down from the usual SGD500+:

    Elsewhere in Asia, Conrad Hong Kong is also on sale, from SGD180!

    Are the rates really available?

    I did a quick search for the rates for Conrad Tokyo (which I’m dying to check out), but it seems like the really low rates are quite hard to find.

    For instance, during the Chinese New Year season in early February, you are quoted about JPY32,000 (JPY40,800 after taxes, or about SGD511) per night:

    Conrad Tokyo availability during Chinese New Year 2020

    As for March school holidays, the lowest pre-tax rate is JPY25,000, which works out to about JPY31,825 or SGD400 per room per night, which isn’t shabby at all.

    Conrad Tokyo availability during March school holidays

    I tried the same with some other properties around Japan (and even Conrad Hong Kong!), while you may not always get the lowest advertised rates, the discounts are still significant.

    In any case, do try your luck and play around with the dates if you have some time. Remember, sale ends 29 November 2019 at 1pm (Singapore time), so you might want to just lock in your plans quickly. Book here.

  • Qantas kicks off 100th birthday celebration with a 100-hour sale

    Qantas kicks off 100th birthday celebration with a 100-hour sale

    Return fares to Australia from S$439, London from S$949

    Qantas has officially kicked off its centenary celebrations with a worldwide sale to run for only 100 hours, or just over 4 days.

    Almost all headline destinations that Qantas flies to are on sale, including Australia, New Zealand and London, UK.

    Premium economy and business class seats are also on sale, for very attractive prices. Return premium economy fares to Sydney and Melbourne are going for $1499, while business class seats starts from $2999, a steal for Australia.

    Fares and valid travel dates

    Full list of fares below:

    From Singapore to Return fare from (S$)
    Class Economy Premium Economy Business
    Perth 439 – 1999
    Brisbane 525 1449 2949
    Melbourne 549 1449 2949
    Sydney 579 1449 2999
    Adelaide 669 – 3299
    Wellington 739 1549 4599
    Auckland 879 1749 4599
    Christchurch 979 1849 4499
    Queenstown 989 1849 4899
    London 949 2849 5199

    The sale fares are only valid for the following travel periods:

    DestinationClassFor travel commencing
    Australia
    New Zealand    		All classes1 Feb to 9 Apr 2020
    3 May to 25 May 2020
    15 Jun to 1 Jul 2020
    9 Aug to 11 Sep 2020
    LondonEconomy17 Jan to 27 Feb 2020
    6 Mar to 23 Mar 2020
    26 Apr to 19 May 2020
    LondonPremium Economy14 Jan to 28 Mar 2020
    LondonBusiness12 Jan to 26 Feb 2020
    8 Mar to 30 Mar 2020
    5 Apr to 12 Apr 2020
    *Departures from Singapore on
    Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays only

    Based on initial checks, the fare seems to be quite widely available on the dates indicated above, except for weekends which obviously tend to be fairly busy days of the week to travel on.

    You might even shave a buck or two off the publicised fare, which we believe is due to currency fluctuation.

    Try the Qantas A380 business suite

    If you have a little bit of cash to splurge, this is probably the best chance to experience Qantas’ newly refurbished A380, which features their signature business suites.

    Qantas newly refurbished A380 business suite

    While not a new product, the A380 refresh is long overdue, given that Qantas has not touched them since it was introduced into the fleet in 2009.

    The new business suites takes up most of the upper deck, and is laid out in a class-leading 1-2-1 configuration and has a fully flat bed.

    How to find the new A380s?

    Qantas operates the A380s from Singapore to London, Sydney and Melbourne daily. Note that there are multiple flights to Sydney and Melbourne, so be sure to check that you are on an A380.

    To check if you are on a new or old A380, simply check the seat map through “Select Your Seat” before you purchase.

    The older configuration will show up as a 2-2-2 configuration, while the new ones are 1-2-1.

    If you see the above configuration, this is the old one.

    However, based on several booking experiences, it seems like seat selection on Qantas.com for the new configuration is not available yet. So if you see a note that says “individual seat selection is not available for this flight”, you are likely to be on the new aircraft.

    The new seat map apparently has not been loaded yet. So if you see this, you are on VH-OQK.

    For $2,999 return to Australia, this is a pretty good deal for a 7-hour flight each way, coupled with excellent food and beverage offerings on board. If you are a oneworld frequent flyer member, you can also earn quite a fair bit of points/miles on the fare.

    Remember, sale ends 19 November 2019.

  • Alaska Air Mileage Plan sale now on again: get up to 40% bonus miles

    Alaska Air Mileage Plan sale now on again: get up to 40% bonus miles

    Works out to an effective 28.6% discount on the miles purchase. Book now until 1 November 2019, 3pm.

    Alaska Air is back with a bonus miles promotion for miles purchase – this time round offering a 40% bonus when you buy miles.

    Note that the bonus is tiered: you will need to purchase at least 30,000 miles to trigger the 40% bonus.

    There is a limit of 60,000 miles that you can buy per transaction, up to a maximum of 150,000 miles (including all bonus miles) per year, per account. This limit is actually rather inconsequential, given that you can redeem air tickets for virtually anyone from any account. Having said that, status holders (MVP, MVP Gold and MVP Gold 75K Mileage Plan) have no annual limit on the number of miles which may be purchased or gifted.

    How much will it cost?

    At the time of writing, Alaska Air Mileage Plan is selling miles at 2.75 US cents per mile, not including a 7.5% ‘tax recovery’ fee. At a 40% bonus, this works out to 2.11 US cents per mile after taxes.

    Cost of purchasing miles, before tax recovery fee

    What are they good for?

    For the uninitiated, Alaska Air has amassed quite a good portfolio of partners to earn and redeem miles on, including Japan Airlines (JAL), Cathay Pacific, Emirates and more.

    One of the most widely known sweet spot with this programme is the ability to book a quasi-return trip on JAL in business class for only 25,000 miles. Specific to this promotion, that means you can buy it for US$517.34, which is an absolute steal for a ‘return’ business class trip.

    How to book the ‘return’ trip on Japan Airlines:

    Japan Airlines (JAL) charges only 25,000 miles for intra-Asia itineraries involving a maximum of 1 stop, to count it as a ‘one-way’ journey. Alaska Air also allows for a stopover, i.e. staying in the intermediate point for more than 24 hours.

    Using the rule above, you can technically book something like, Bangkok to Singapore via Tokyo on JAL business class, which will only cost you 25,000 miles because it is technically a one-way itinerary. All you need to do is to buy another (cheaper) ticket to Bangkok to start your journey.

    Another sweet spot is that JAL allows for open-jaw booking, so you can booking something like Bangkok-Osaka, then Tokyo-Singapore in a same journey.

    Return trip within Asia on JAL for only 15,000 miles in Economy, 25,000 miles in Business