Bart Lapers
Visiting Every Country In The World
Brussels Airport Hidden Gem: Free Exxit Lounge
Update Sep 9, 2012: Unfortunately, the Exxit lounge no longer exists. Bruxx.be – “This hidden gem proved to be somewhat too hidden 😉 But we are continuously working on new projects, so keep an eye on BRUXX.be“
Pic: BRUXX.be – Fly low cost from Brussels Airport (BRU)
Bruxx.be is an initiative from The Brussels Airport Company to attract more budget travelers to Brussels Airport (BRU) One of the main advantages of Brussels Airport is it’s central location, easy accessible by highway and trains from anywhere in Belgium and only 7 miles/11km from downtown Brussels. An alternative like Brussels South Charleroi Airport (CRL), used by low cost carrier RyanAir, is 34 miles/55 km away from Brussels and often ‘surprises’ low cost flyers with an additional long bus or taxi journey to their final destination. Brussels Airport also offers the infrastructure and services which international business travelers expect, a plus for budget travelers who can enjoy the same relaxing environment.
The Bruxx.be website acts as aggregator for low fares on 9 airlines serving Brussels Airport: Aer Lingus, Air Arabia, airBaltic, Blue Air, Brussels Airlines, easyJet, JetairFly, Thomas Cook Airlines and Vueling. On top of providing an easy way to find the lowest fares to/from BRU, Bruxx also offers additional services at it’s free EXXIT lounge at Brussels Airport.
Pic: EXXIT lounge entrance near gate A39 at Brussels Airport (Jan 2012)
Bruxx targets 18-34 year old leisure travelers, which explains the limited opening hours of the free Exxit lounge: Fridays and Saturdays 6.15 am to 7.45 pm. The lounge entrance is quite hidden, located near gate 39 at Pier A (Schengen destinations, African destinations and the SN JFK flights as of June 1, 2012)
Pic: Free EXXIT lounge by BRUXX at Brussels Airport (Jan 2012)
Once inside you’ll find a spacious environment with free wifi, free PS3 gaming consoles, comfy bean bags, soft-drink & snack vending machines and extra restrooms. They even organize parties for people who got something to celebrate! Just drop them an email at EXXIT@BRUXX.be Enjoy!
Pic: Free spacious EXXIT lounge by BRUXX at Brussels Airport (Jan 2012)
Brussels Airlines New Business Class (A330)
Brussels Airlines presented the new A330 Business and Economy class cabin at their B.House headquarters in Brussels on Jan 10, 2012. More details about the new cabin on the Brussels Airlines website. Hope you enjoy the pictures I made at the press event!
New Years Eve 2012 in London
Video: New Years Eve London 2012 Fireworks (make sure to watch in 1080p)
Thanks to the very generous Eurostar compensation policy I was able to travel to London for free with three friends to celebrate New Years Eve. On a family trip back in September, our Eurostar train to London was delayed by 135 minutes due to electrical problems in the Eurotunnel. Even with the root cause being out of control of Eurostar, each traveller was compensated with a free round trip ticket from their departure city to London. The train manager even announced this to everyone on the delayed train. I was even more surprised to learn there were no black-out dates to use these compensation tickets. As long as there are seats available on the train, you can book using compensation tickets. Instead of paying €185 per round trip ticket Brussels-London, I used four (out of five) of our compensation ticket for a free trip to London during the 2012 New Years Eve Weekend. Saved us €740!
Pic: Crowne Plaza St James London – Exterior (Jan 2012)
Traditionally, New Years Eve is one of those nights with room rates sky high. A great opportunity to burn points and get maximum value out of them. Initially I had booked Hyatt Andaz Liverpool Street on GoldPassport points, but changed my mind once I understood location was prime for the London NYE fireworks. I was looking for a hotel as close as possible to Westminster (Big Ben) – Victoria Embankment. Mid December the best available PriorityClub hotel with reward nights was Hotel Indigo London Paddington. I booked it for 25K points and started monitoring availability on daily bases. A week before year-end, the best IHG hotel (location wise) showed availability, Crowne Plaza St James. Ten minutes walking distance from Big Ben, excellent! Cancelled my Indigo Paddington booking and booked Crowne Plaza St James instead. Paid rooms at St. James were around £250, so I got excellent value for my 25000 Priority Club points. Out of curiosity, I kept monitoring the availability of IHG hotels and noticed on Dec 30 even InterContinental London Park Lane had opened up some rewards rooms for NYE!
Pic: Superior Room at Crowne Plaza St James London (Jan 2012)
Upon arrival both our standard rooms were upgraded to superior rooms on the second floor. The 2nd floor hallways and rooms looked like they had been recently refurbished as they didn’t match the old fashioned lobby area. Staff was very friendly and helpful, location was perfect for the fireworks, St. James area itself was very quiet. Around 8pm we headed towards Big Ben to join the crowds for the most spectacular fireworks I ever witnessed in my life (see videos) A big thank you goes out to the Mayor of London. Very promising for my upcoming London 2012 Olympics trip!
Pic: Bart Lapers at Big Ben in London on New Years Eve 2012
Video: My view from Big Ben – New Years Eve London 2012 Fireworks
Michael O’Leary (Ryanair) about EU Commission
Video: Michael O’Leary (CEO Ryanair) at the European Commission Innovation Convention 2011 (Dec 6, Brussels)
IHG Best Price Guarantee (InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Indigo Hotels)
Pic: InterContinental Hotel Group – Best Price Guarantee
I’ve been monitoring the room rates at InterContinental Madrid for an upcoming weekend trip in January. Yesterday, I spotted a rate at olotels.com (via HotelsCombined.com) which was much lower than the published rate on the IHG website. 
Pic: Olohotels.com InterContinental Madrid €99/night rate (incl. tax)
Pic: InterContinental.com IC Madrid €146,88/night rate (incl. tax)
After verifying the IHG Best Price Guarantee Terms and Conditions once more, I booked the more expensive rate at the IHG website and submitted a Best Price Guarantee claim. As I didn’t receive a reply on my online claim, I called the IHG Best Price Guarantee Support Desk who assured me an email was on its way. This morning I received confirmation of my complimentary first night and the lower €99 rate for my second night at InterContinental Madrid. Two nights at a five star property in Madrid for €99, another great deal! 🙂
How to get the lowest room rates at IHG Hotels?
- BEST AVAILABLE RATE: Determine which IHG hotels (InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Indigo, …) are available for your dates and destination at the IHG website. By default the results will show the Best Available rate.
- BEST PRICE GUARANTEE: Use HotelsCombined.com (or similar) to determine if a third party website is selling the same hotel room at a cheaper price. If that’s the case, submit a Best Price Guarantee claim. If your claim is valid (make sure to read the terms and conditions) IHG will match the lower price, and give you your first night free!
- IHG PROMOTIONS: FrequentFlyerBonus.com has a nice overview of all current promotions (even per country). Also check IHG Weekend Breaks (2 for 1, 3 for 2, 35% discount)
- PRIORITY CLUB POINTBREAKS: Check if the hotel is not listed on the PointBreaks list. If you’re lucky, you can redeem a free night for only 5000 PriorityClub points! If the hotel rate is really expensive and not listed on the PointBreaks list, you can still pay the regular points price to redeem a free night.
- FRIENDS AND FAMILY RATE: If available, this will most likely be the lowest rate but you won’t receive PriorityClub points nor is the hotel obligated to provide you with any of your status privileges (Ambassador upgrades, PriorityClub perks, etc..) You don’t have friends or family working at IHG? No worries, we’re all friends of Doug Castor (Global Sourcing Manager with IHG) He’s sharing his personal link to the IHG Friends and Family rate on his twitter account (which I used successfully in the past)
- Enjoy your lowest rate!
Bart Lapers 