Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
Folks – our apologies for this rather long, unfortunate hiatus. So here’s an update for our readers.Firstly, thank you so much to those who’ve been inquiring. We’re all well, but much has been happening with each of us, at a personal level, that has re…
Author: Miles and Even More
The week that was – 23 October 2016
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
Hello from Paris, where my business-and-vacation trip is coming to a close. Vinay is in KUL on work, an Sam has been largely incommunicado. And I’ve had a fabulous week in Paris, the weather being fantastic (coming here from a rather long Indian summer)!!!
Meanwhile, here’s a round up of the week that was – a summary of posts on this blog as also other things travel, aviation, points and miles that we found interesting.Hope you had a great week, and here’s wishing you the very best in the next one!
Review: Le Meridien Etoile, Paris
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
I checked out of the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile yesterday morning, and checked into the Le Meridien Etoile, just around the corner from the Hyatt, in the evening after a day’s sightseeing. Hyatt was kind enough to hold my bags for the duration of the day (which is a surprise in today’s world of terror threats), and I’m grateful to them for that.
The Le Meridien has standard and chic rooms as two of their base category rooms. As I mentioned in the introduction post, I booked a chic room on an award. Here’s a review of the hotel and room, but not breakfast (that didn’t come with the room, and we planned to head to the airport a little early in any case).
IHG announces PointBreaks list for bookings till 31 January 2017
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
IHG announces PointBreaks typically every quarter, where certain specific hotels are available for just 5,000 IHG Rewards Club points a night, irrespective of their category otherwise. IHG’s last offer some time in July covered the period till 31 October 2016, and the promotion that’s now been announced, is for stays till 31 January 2017. Here are the hotels and how you can book your PointBreaks award night(s).
SPG Hot Escapes for 19 October 2016
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
SPG has announced its latest list of Hot Escapes hotels, which are basically a selection of hotels hand-picked by SPG and made available at a reasonable to significant discount. Hot Escapes hotels are usually available at a discount of at least 15-20%, and going all the way up to 30-35% (and some times as high as 40%), but need to be booked by the Saturday. The deals are usually open for stays up to 6 weeks from the date they are announced.
Review: Colombo to Paris on Sri Lankan A330-200 international business class
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
I flew Sri Lankan Airlines’ Airbus A330-200 service from Colombo to Paris, in business class. I’m not a big fan of lie-flat beds (that’s fodder for another post), yet for a change, I slept decently well on the flight. Here’s a review of the flight.
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Review: Serendib lounge, Colombo International Airport
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
I had a layover of just over three hours in Colombo. Sri Lankan Airlines uses the Serendib lounge for its business class guests and elite tier members at CMB international airport. So that’s where I headed, in transit, waiting for my UL563 flight to Paris. Here’s a review of the lounge.
Review: Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
It’s now been a few days since we landed in Paris, and I managed to get the work part of the trip done early today. That also means I’m going to be largely silent on the blog for the remainder of this trip – the vacation part.
That said, now’s as good a time as any to update you on my stay at the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile.
Traveling to/from Mumbai? Runway closures may affect your flights
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
Runway maintenance works are set to commence at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in India later this week. While the schedule for runway closures has been agreed amongst the airport operator, Indian aviation authorities and the airlines, and is planned to cause minimal disruptions, here’s what you should keep in mind, nonetheless.
Review: Chennai to Colombo on Sri Lankan A320 regional business class
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
I’m writing this from the Serendib lounge here in CMB (I’ve just arrived at Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport after an hour’s flight from Chennai), though this post will likely be published only much later. I expect this post will be a short one, considering the flight duration and the fact that I didn’t have much time for pictures (reasons below). Nonetheless, read on.
Bonjour Paris: Introduction and summary of posts
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
The last three or four weeks have been pretty gruelling on the work front, but is culminating rather well, with a very short business trip to Paris. I’m extending this trip by a few more days and taking family along as well, to make a quick vacation out of it.
This time, my plan is to post updates and reviews largely on a real-time basis, but not so real-time that I’m disowned by family! So, instead of posts written up at the conclusion of the trip, I’m hoping to write after each day or two. So here’s the tentative plan.
SPG Hot Escapes for 12 October 2016
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
SPG has announced its latest list of Hot Escapes hotels, which are basically a selection of hotels hand-picked by SPG and made available at a reasonable to significant discount. Hot Escapes hotels are usually available at a discount of at least 15-20%, and going all the way up to 30-35% (and some times as high as 40%), but need to be booked by the Saturday. The deals are usually open for stays up to 6 weeks from the date they are announced.
Two promotions from ITC Hotels and Jet Airways
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
There are currently a couple of promotions running, that we haven’t written about here on the blog. Given that these are expiring soon, I thought it would be useful for our readers to check these out, to see if it interests them. Read on for more.
Convert loyalty rewards points to JP miles with up to 30% bonus
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
In an offer that’s being repeated for the third time this year so far, you can convert your points / rewards balance in other loyalty programs into JP miles, and earn up to 30% bonus miles in the process. Here’s more.
Hyatt Gold Passport and Hilton HHonors points purchase offers
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
We’ve seen various opportunities this calendar year so far, to purchase hotel loyalty points at promotional prices or substantial bonuses. And as of now, there are two such promotions running that we haven’t written about yet – from Hyatt and Hilton. While Hyatt’s offering up to 40% bonus on points purchased, Hilton’s offer is for up to 100% bonus on points purchased. Here’s more information on these promotions.
Uber ride-scheduling up to 30 days in advance, now active
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
We wrote a few weeks back about Uber introducing the ability to schedule rides in advance, starting with a limited number of cities. The market in India for scheduled rides is significant, more so with the high growth rate of local travel in general an…
Hilton HHonors ups their bonus points to 3x for app bookings
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
Earlier we wrote about Hilton HHonors’ promotion for the rest of this year, which is the 2x points promotion they’ve offered all year so far in 2016. Now, they’ve added a sweetener to make the deal a little bit better, by offering 3x points for all bookings made using the Hilton HHonors app. Here’s more.
Etihad Airways Partners aligns elite benefits across member airlines
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
I’ve been a little tied up with work – both official and personal – which his probably why you haven’t seen much action on the blog recently. However, there’s some useful information that’s out today, that I thought might interest our readers.
Etihad Airways Partners – the collection of airlines that Etihad owns or assists with operations to some degree or other – announced an alignment of elite benefits across airlines. Here’s a delve into this update.
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Hilton hotel category changes announced, doesn’t affect India
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
Hilton HHonors has announced changes to categories for some of its hotels, which will take effect 12 October 2016. The good news is that this doesn’t affect any of their India hotels. That said, some of their changes are interesting. Let’s take a look.
SPG Hot Escapes for 28 September 2016
Written by Miles and Even More @ Miles and Even More
SPG has announced its latest list of Hot Escapes hotels, which are basically a selection of hotels hand-picked by SPG and made available at a reasonable to significant discount. Hot Escapes hotels are usually available at a discount of at least 15-20%, and going all the way up to 30-35% (and some times as high as 40%), but need to be booked by the Saturday. The deals are usually open for stays up to 6 weeks from the date they are announced.