Bart Lapers
Visiting Every Country In The World
The spectacular rise of Club Carlson
Pic: Deluxe room at Park Plaza Soi 18 Sukhumvit Bangkok (July 2012)
Pic: Rooftop Pool Sunset at Park Plaza Soi 18 Sukhumvit Bangkok (July 2012)
Back in March 2011, the Carlson Hotel Group (Radisson, Radisson Blu, Park Inn, Park Plaza and Country Inn & Suites) rebranded it’s loyalty program GoldPoints Plus to Club Carlson. In the past year, John Kennedy (Club Carlson Vice President) and his team did a tremendous job attracting new customers. First of all, there was the Club Carlson status match opportunity (still valid), then back in November they launched the Radisson Big Night Giveaway promo, which was unfortunately only valid for properties in the US, Canada and Caribbean. You basically had to stay one night at a Radisson or Radisson Blu hotel to receive a bonus of 50,000 Gold Points. Enough for a free night at the most expensive Carlson hotels (Category 6) or multiple free nights at cheaper Carlson properties. (free nights start at 9000 points, Category 1) The Radisson Big Night Giveaway promotion results must have been positive as the management of the Brussels based Rezidor Hotel Group Headquaters decided to launch a Worldwide campaign for their Radisson, Park Inn and Country Inn & Suites brands in May 2012. The Park Plaza brand was added to the campaign in June. If you didn’t sign-up for these promo’s, I need to disappoint you, as all of them have now expired. (Except the Park Plaza promo, but bonus is now limited to 15K instead of 50K points) If you don’t want to miss future promo’s like this, I recommend to keep an eye on my twitter feed.
Pic: Radisson Suites Bangkok Sukhumvit Rooftop Pool (June 2012)
I didn’t participate in the Nov 2011 Big Night Giveaway promo, as I had no travel to the US, Canadian or the Caribbean during the promotion period. For my first batch of 50,000 Club Carlson bonus points, I stayed at Radisson Suites Bangkok Sukhumvit on May 26. Room rate THB2329 (€60), upgraded to One Bedroom Suite as Club Carlson Silver member. On June 30, I stayed at Park Plaza Soi 18 Bangkok earning me another 50,000 Club Carlson Bonus points. Room rate THB2165 (€56), upgraded to Deluxe room. For my last set of 44,000 bonus points, I stayed at Park Inn Leuven (Belgium) on July 21. Room rate €75, upgraded to Business Friendly room (including complimentary wifi and breakfast). That makes €191 earning 144,000 bonus points. That total doesn’t even include all the other ‘regular’ bonuses like 2000 bonus points for booking via ClubCarlson.com websites, 25% silver status bonus points, 20 points per USD spent, etc…!
Pic: Complimentary Tuk Tuk Service at Radisson Suites Bangkok Sukhumvit
So how am I going to maximize the value of my 144K bonus points? Here’s a first example: I burned 50K points for a free night at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Mercer Street Hotel (ranked #48 out of 1,080 hotels in London) for July 29, 2012. Yes, that’s the Opening Weekend of the London 2012 Olympic Games! The cheapest rate for a standard room was £425 excl. tax (£510 incl. tax, €655) To makes things even better, Club Carlson now launched a number of new promotions, including one allowing you to redeem points at 50% the regular rate at selected hotels in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. And there’s more: Stay two nights or more at Club Carlson properties in Asia and get 10,000 bonus points, pay with American Express at EAME Radisson and Radisson Blu properties and get 3 nights for the price of 2 + 2000 bonus points. And as always, a complete overview of all promotions can be found at frequentflyerbonuses.com
Pic: Business Friendly Room at Park Inn Leuven, Belgium (July 2012)
Conclusion: The majority of frequent traveler bloggers have highlighted the Club Carlson promotions as the best hotel offers we’ve seen in the past year. My personal experiences at Club Carlson properties in the past 3 months have been very positive (both hard and soft product) and I hope the Rezidor Hotel Group will continue their efforts and investments to become leaders in the hospitality industry. I was flattered to learn more than 10 readers of my blog have been staying at Park Inn Leuven to score their 44K bonus points. Always a pleasure to assist others to travel in luxury on a budget! Thank you.
Ocean View Pool Villa at Conrad Koh Samui
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui entrance on top of the hill (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Private Pool at Oceanview villa (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui One Bedroom Oceanview Pool Villa (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Breathtaking Sea View from Villa 311 (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Pool Villa 311 Oceanview (July 2012)
Each year in the April/May time frame, the U.S. Travel Association organizes a five week sale of (mainly) hotel loyalty points called “Daily Getaways”. The aim of the Daily Getaways campaign is to encourage domestic US summer travel and thus intended for US citizens, nevertheless both in 2011 and 2012, I managed to buy several point packages. As these points are being sold at steep discounts, the sale has become incredibly popular and the better offers tend to sell-out in seconds. My best ‘catch’ in 2011 was a package of 24,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points for $250 (€175,43) This year, I scored two great offers: I bought 98,000 Wyndham Rewards points for $308 (€237,85) and 150,000 Hilton HHonors points for $825 (€633,46) I had never heard of Wyndham hotels before and wasn’t planning to stay at any of their properties either. Still, buying those 98K points was an incredible deal as you could convert them to a lot of partner airline miles. In my case, I converted the 98K Wyndham Rewards points to a whopping 39,200 United MileagePlus miles. The icing on the cake came two weeks ago, when Singapore Airlines accidentally released all reward inventory to Star Alliance partners. An ideal opportunity to convert those cheap United miles into something very valuable… Yes, I booked a Singapore Airlines First Class flight for Jan 2013! 🙂 More on that later.
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Villa Keycard (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Bedroom of Oceanview Pool Villa 311 (July 2012)
Back to the subject of this post, Conrad Koh Samui in Thailand. A property with 66 villa’s located on a west facing hill in the Southern tip of the Koh Samui island. Opened in September 2011, with an average room rate well above THB20,000 (€500) per night, not particularly fitting the average travel budget. Except if you collected and/or bought Hilton HHonors points. The hotel is ranked Category 7 in the HHonors program, meaning 50K points are required for a free night. HHonors Elite Members (Silver, Gold and Diamond) get discounts on the number of points required for extended stays. As I obtained HHonors Gold status for free last year, I was eligible for a 15% points discount on a four night stay: 42500 points per night (4 nights = 170K) instead of 50,000 (4 nights = 200K). Before my 150K points purchase, I had 16,565 HHonors points in my account. The missing 3435 points to total the 170K were offered during the booking process for $34,35 (€28). That brought the total for 4 nights at Conrad Koh Samui to €661,46 (€633,46 (150K) + €28 (3K) +16K points which were in my account) A paid stay at my one bedroom Oceanview Pool Villa using the cheapest non-refundable rate would have cost me THB78,523 (€2020)!
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Bathroom Oceanview Pool Villa 311 (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Hilton HHonors Gold Welcome Amenity (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui HHonors Gold Welcome Amenity (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Zest Restaurant Entrance (July 2012)
The downside of exclusive resorts like Conrad Koh Samui is their remote location. Without own transportation means, it’s quite hard to leave the resort and the nearest restaurants and shops are not at walking distance. This works in the advantage of the resorts who tend to charge much higher prices for food and drinks compared to the local market value. Fortunately, my free Hilton HHonors Gold status comes with complimentary breakfast for up to two room guests. This allowed us to take an extensive daily ‘brunch’ covering both breakfast and lunch. As HHonors Gold, we could order anything from the menu (except the Sparkling Breakfast option) and/or we could serve ourselves at the buffet.
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Zest Restaurant Interior (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Breakfast Meat Selection (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Breakfast Freshly Baked Pastries Selection (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Breakfast Fresh Honey (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Breakfast Fresh Juices (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Breakfast with a view at Zest (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Breakfast Freshly Baked Pastries (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Breakfast Egg Royal (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Breakfast French Toast (July 2012)
For in depth reviews of the resort, I would like to refer to colleague bloggers Garry Leff (View From The Wing, part 1, part 2) John Ollila (LoyaltyLobby.com) and the thread on Flyertalk. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comment section below. Thanks!
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Main Pool (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Main Pool Infinity Edge (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Main Pool Underwater View (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Beach Hammock and Chairs (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Beach Lounge Chairs (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Azure Pool Bar and Gril Restaurant (July 2012)
Pic: Conrad Koh Samui Azure Delicious Pizza (July 2012)
Pic: Travel blogger Bart Lapers at Conrad Koh Samui (July 2012)
Video: One Bedroom Ocean View Villa at Conrad Koh Samui
Weekend in Hamburg (Germany)
Pic: Giant spider at Hamburger Kunsthalle und Galerie Der Gegenwart
Pic: Bratwurst at Rathausmarkt Hamburg (Jun 2012)
Hamburg, my 7th Brussels Airlines Flyday destination this year. You might wonder why I take so many trips using this €99 promo. It’s simply the cheapest way to earn status miles with Miles and More. Each Flyday trip earns me 3126 status miles (including 25% executive bonus). This is by far the best offer available for Miles and More members to earn the maximum number of status miles per € spent. Earning these status miles is important to achieve (or maintain) elite status. Miles and More has three elite statuses: Frequent Traveller (35K status miles) Senator (100K status miles) and HON Circle Member (600K status miles in 2 years) All three statuses come with a number of privileges. My current Miles and More status is Senator and is valid until Feb 2014. To extend my status with two years, I need to earn again 100K status miles in one year (in 2012 or 2013). Right now I’m at 59K status miles of which 22K were earned with SN Flyday trips, 30K with a LH business class flight to Seoul (ICN) and 6K with a SN New York (JFK) trip in economy class. I want to re-qualify for Senator status this year, as Lufthansa (owner of Miles and More) made it much more challenging to earn status miles with cheap business class tickets as of April 1, 2012. The Seoul flight which I took in February of this year was only €1111 and earned me 30K status miles (200% of flown miles). With the new Lufthansa ‘enhancements‘ cheap business class flights now only earn 150% status miles (Z booking class) or 100% status miles for promo business class flights (P booking class). That same BRU-ICN return trip would now only earn me 15K status miles. With 41K status miles still to earn this year, I’ll need to take another 13 weekend trips if I want to re-qualify solely on Flyday trips! 🙂
Pic: InterContinental Hamburg exterior (Jun 2012)
Pic: King Bed Executive room 301 at Intercontinental Hamburg (Jun 2012)
Pic: Intercontinental Hamburg – Ambassador Welcome Amenity (Jun 2012)
Contrary to my hotel successes on previous weekend trips, InterContinental Hamburg was a miss. Originally, I had booked one night at Radisson Blu Hamburg on Club Carlson points and one paid night at InterContinental Hamburg using the 35% off rate at Greenroom.co.uk After I had learned my PriorityClub status level was upgraded to InterContinental Royal Ambassador again (thanks to a generous blog reader and twitter follower), I had cancelled my Radisson Blu Hamburg reservation and added a second night using the 35% off rate. With €194 for 2 nights I had significantly exceeded my €100 hotel budget for weekend trips, but expected extra value as renewed InterContinental Royal Ambassador (my previous RA status expired in January). Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. My 2-level upgrade (a RA benefit) was a non-bookable King Executive room with dated furniture and tiny bathroom. It really angers me when hotels try to circumvent loyalty program privileges, in this case by creating fictional room categories to avoid the need for upgrading Royal Ambassadors to Junior Suites. The only real RA benefits provided were complimentary internet and minibar. Again, also with the minibar the hotel cheated by removing any hard liquor and only provided cheap soft drinks and beer. The hotel was also lacking a Club lounge and charged €26 for breakfast, a ridiculous charge which made me eat all cereal bars from the complimentary minibar instead. One would start to think his Hilton HHonors Gold status has more value than the InterContinental Royal Ambassador status. (HHonors Gold status comes with complimentary breakfast for 2, room upgrade, free internet and at some properties even with Executive Floor Lounge Access)
Pic:IC Hamburg – Complimentary Minibar for Royal Ambassadors (Jun 2012)
Pic: Rowing at Aubenalster lake near InterConinental Hamburg (Jun 2012)
Pic: Elbe Philharmonic Hall at Hafencity Hamburg (Jun 2012)
Koh Chang (Thailand)
Pic: The Pool at AMARI Emerald Cove, Koh Chang, Thailand (May 2012)
Pic: Palm Tree Swing at Lagoona Beach Resort, Koh Chang (May 2012)
On previous trips to Thailand I visited Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai (Songkran), Koh Tao, Hua Hin and Pattaya. My latest trip to Thailand (May 2012) had Koh Chang (Elephant island) as main destination. Getting to the island is convenient and cheap. The Lonely Beach Express minibus service runs three times per day between Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) and Koh Chang. The journey takes between 5 and 6 hours and includes a ferry ride from Laem Ngop pier to Ko Chang. A return ticket for the minibus only cost THB800 (€20) and includes the fee for the ferry. No reservations are required for the Bangkok -> Ko Chang journey, just show up at door 8 Ground Floor (G) of the Suvarnabhumi Airport terminal. Contrary to what the minibus service website states, you do get dropped of at the entrance of your hotel on the island. For the trip back to Bangkok, you’ll need to call the phone number on your ticket to confirm the shuttle pick-up time.
Pic: Jacuzzi at Mercure Koh Chang Hideaway (May 2012)
Pic: Narak at The Spa Koh Chang Resort (May 2012)
When I visited Koh Chang in May, it was very quiet on the island. I learned low season runs from May till early October as it rains a lot during those months. If you don’t mind cloudy skies and like a deserted island, this is the time to visit, otherwise stick to the dry months! As the island only has one international chain hotel (Mercure Koh Chang Hideaway) which doesn’t have a particular good loyalty program (Le Club Accorhotels) I went for an independent hotel. I didn’t have much time to research on hotels and made my choice based on Tripadvisor reviews and room rate. I chose Garden Resort near Kai Bea beach rated number 4 out of 68 hotels at Ko Chang. The bungalows were quite spacious and clean, breakfast was inclusive and the owner Mause, a friendly (but quite frank) Dutchmen, was always willing to provide local advice. At €38 per night it wasn’t expensive, but while exploring the island I learned I could have gotten better value at other places. For budget travelers (with less than €20 to spend per night) there are many options available, including TK208, a small bed and breakfast at Kai Bae with rooms from THB700 (€17). For cheap (less than €5/day) and reliable motorbike rentals near Kai Bae, check with Bobby Food Shop.
Pic: Nature Rocks at Lonely Beach Koh Chang (May 2012)
During my three day stay at the island, I visited a number of hotels and resorts. The most spectacular ones were Amari Emerald Cove and The Dewa. Together with a German guy which I met at Bangkok airport, we drove our scooters around the island from one beach to another. Siam Bay Resort’s great view on uninhabited island, tasty banana shakes and chill atmosphere at Nature Rocks Lonely Beach, Palm Tree Swing at Lagoona Beach Bar, funky looking huts at Independent Bo White Sands Beach, Rotee Pancakes at Bobby Food Shop. Just to name a few of the highlights on the island.
Pic: Sunset at Lonely Beach Koh Chang (May 2012)
Pic: Filou Cocktail Bar at Kai Bae Koh Chang (May 2012)
Earning miles with Credit Cards in Belgium
UPDATE MARCH 2022: CHECK THE NEW OFFER WITH 20,000 BONUS MILES!
Brussels Airlines American Express has a limited time offer: double sign-up bonus for friend referrals. To receive a personalized sign-up link for this offer, please complete the form below.
- Classic American Express card (€60 per year)
Sign-up bonus: 3000 miles (normally 1500) - Premium American Express card (€120 per year)
Sign-up bonus: 6000 miles (normally 3000) - Pay your cellphone bill with American Express
Extra bonus: 2000 miles (one time)
Earning airline miles is not limited to flying, you can earn miles with almost anything these days. One of the easiest ways to earn extra miles is signing up for a credit card. You will receive a number of miles just for signing up for the card and you will get 1 or 1,5 miles per euro spent. American Express also provides a bonus when you spend a certain amount in one year. Unfortunately, the number of credit cards earning airline miles is very limited in Belgium. Still, they can offer you a great opportunity to travel the world in luxury on a budget. For Belgian citizens, the credit card offers are limited to one program, Miles and More of the Lufthansa group. Miles of this program can be used to book (and upgrade) flights on any Star Alliance carrier.
Brussels Airlines offers four Miles and More credit cards: the Classic MasterCard, Premium MasterCard, Classic American Express and Premium American Express. I signed-up for the Brussels Airlines Classic American Express Card in 2008 and switched to the Premium Amex card last year earning me a total of more than 100,000 miles! The key to earning the maximum amount of miles is to pay as much as possible with your credit card. Pay all your bills and purchases (both online and offline) with your credit card, every euro counts! Shopping (including groceries), dining, gas, electronics, hotels, airline tickets, … almost everything! Some payments might even result in an extra bonus. Example: Paying your cellphone bill with your Brussels Airlines American Express card gets you 2000 bonus miles!
The yearly fee also contains a number of insurances:
Classic American Express (€60 per year):
Travel accident insurance
Baggage insurance
Wallet or purse theft insurance
Purchase Protection
Premium American Express (€120 per year):
Travel accident and inconvenience insurance
Trip cancellation insurance
Extended Baggage insurance
Wallet or purse theft insurance
Purchase Protection
So how much are those miles worth?
It all depends on what you spend them. In my opinion, only long-haul Business Class and First Class flights are worth spending miles on. These allow you to maximize the value of your miles as Business Class flights easily cost +€2000 and First Class flights +€8000. Of course airline loyalty programs will do everything to make you spend your miles on less valuable options e.g. use miles to buy goodies in their online shop, book hotel nights or rent a car. You really don’t want to do that! Miles and More is currently selling miles with a 20% bonus, which is still way too expensive, but it gives you an idea how they value the miles.
As you notice, 6000 miles are sold for €135. That’s more than the yearly fee of the Brussels Airlines Premium American Express card which comes with 6000 sign-up miles! Same for the sign-up bonus of the Brussels Airlines Classic American Express card, those 3000 miles are sold for €85 (+600 miles bonus).
How do I maximize the number of miles earned?
I would recommend to sign-up for the Brussels Airlines Premium American Express card now to get the 6000 miles. Complete the form to pay your cellphone bill with the card and earn an additional 2000 miles. Next year, you cancel the Premium card and switch to the Classic card. You will earn the sign-up bonus again (this time for the Classic card, which is at least 1500 miles if there’s no promotion) and you’ll earn another 2000 miles when you register to have your cellphone bills paid with the Classic card. That’s at least 11,500 miles in one year, just by signing up for these cards!
I’m not yet a Miles and More member, where do I sign-up?
You can enroll at the Miles and More website.
UPDATE MARCH 2022: Check the new offer with 20,000 bonus miles!
Full disclosure: By signing up for a Brussels Airlines American Express card using a personalised link, I will receive bonus miles (friend referral program). Thank you for supporting my travel blog and enjoy your sign-up bonus.
Bart Lapers 