Sweet Spot Award Redemptions + Chicago Seminars Recap

Still settling back in from yet another great weekend at the annual Chicago Seminars in Elk Grove Village, IL, where hundreds of points and miles fanatics gather to learn and have fun. It was really nice meeting readers both old and new, and connecting with old friends.

Thanks to all who spent their Saturday evening with me during my “Sweet Spot Award Redemptions” talk. I certainly had a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoyed  it too!As requested by many, this post will serve as a recap of my presentation. As always, please don’t hesitate to comment or send me an email if you have any questions or anything else to add.

I began my presentation by mourning the loss of my favorite sweet-spot redemption awards… the Club Carlson BOGO award nights that went away recently in June. Most of the audience empathized. Sad, sad, story.

Just a recap, a “sweet spot redemption” is what I would call a redemption that:

• makes you feel like you’ve maximized the value
• may require a little bit of thinking outside the box
• works for YOU and your travel goals (a redemption may feel “sweet” for some, but utterly useless to others)
• makes you feel like you’re on top of the world and excited that you want to fist-bump everyone (this is the most important, of course).

Because I was only limited to a one-hour slot, I narrowed down my focus a bit to include the following airline and hotel programs: United, American, British Airways, Southwest, Delta, Alaska, Marriott, IHG, Starwood, and Hyatt. Of course there are many, many others (including Wyndham with their super new and improved award chart).

I began with an example that we all love… Let’s go to Hawaii!Of course there are many, many ways to get to Hawaii from the Continental U.S., but if you take a minute to “think outside the box”, you’ll end up saving miles.

Best Awards to Hawaii from the East Coast:

• Korean Air Miles (On Delta): 25,000 miles RT in economy/45,000 in first.
• Singapore Miles (on United): 35,000 miles RT in economy/60,000 in first.
• Air France Miles (on Delta): 15,000 miles OW in economy
• United (During current 20% off promo): 36,000 miles RT in economy (normally 45,000).
• Hawaiian: JFK-HNL for 17,500 OW for Hawaiian Airlines CC holders

Best Awards to Hawaii from the West Coast:

• Korean Air Miles (On Delta): 25,000 miles RT in economy/45,000 in first.
• Avios (on American, US Airways, Alaska): 12,500 Avios OW in economy
• Air France Miles (on Delta): 15,000 miles OW in economy

Then I moved on to each of the airline programs…

Best Use of Avios:

• Short-haul trips (LGA-YYZ, SYD-MEL, LIM-SCL)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
• Last-minute flights because there’s no close-in fees (example: Snow today, Miami tomorrow)
• Europe with little to no fuel surcharges (BOS-DUB, airberlin, Iberia)
• Caribbean/Mexico Getaways

Best Use of United miles:

• Free domestic one-way on International Awards (Example: EWR-AUA RT + EWR-SNA at a later date is still 35,000k RT)
• United Plan B Awards
• Central America – N. South America 10K/20K OW
• SE Asia – Australia/New Zealand 40,000 Miles in F (Example: SYD-BKK in Thai First)
• Avoiding the Close-In Fee (if you don’t have status and you want to travel within 21 days without paying the $75 fee, book the Saver award you want a month ahead of time. After it tickets, go online and change the flight to the date you really want).

Best Use of American miles:

• Off-Peak Awards to Europe/South America (20,000 miles each way)
• Citi Reduced Mileage Awards (example: fly round-trip from EWR-SAN for 15,750 miles)
• Southwest Asia or Australia because no fuel surcharges

Best Use of Southwest points:

• “Placeholder flights†(example: when we go to Las Vegas, and a non-stop United saver award to Newark is not available ahead of time, I always have a Southwest flight as a back-up. You can cancel Southwest awards anytime up until 10 minutes before departure!)
• Re-price awards during sales (if the price of the fare drops, you can rebook for a points-refund!)
• Fly 2-for-1 with the companion pass
• Positioning flights
• Sometimes it’s cheaper to fly! (see the awesome example below)

Since we’re on the topic of Las Vegas, say you’re in Los Angeles and want to take a quick, spontaneous trip to Las Vegas with your companion…

$41 one way!! or… 1,751 one points for TWO people!

Best use of Alaska miles:

• Best for booking Emirates first class (not part of any alliance)
• Still allows stopovers on one-ways
• Great redemption idea: LAX/JFK-HKG (stop)-JNB (stop)-DXB (stop)-LAX/JFK for 170K miles in Cathay Pacific/Emirates first class

Lastly, I summed up the Best Use of Delta miles with this slide:

The crowd burst into laughter… but I did pull through!

Best Use of Delta Miles:

• Business Class to Europe for 62,500 miles
• Caribbean Awards (35,000 roundtrip in economy)
• Virgin Australia (LAX-SYD 80,000 miles in business)
• If you’re really desperate to dump your Delta miles… pay with miles w/Delta cc (a penny a point on paid tickets).

Then I moved on to some hotel sweet-spots…

Hyatt Sweet Spots:

• All-inclusive Ziva/Zilara properties (including the Hyatt Zilara Cancun that I LOVED)
• Andaz Papagayo (Category 4)
• Hyatt Escala Lodge Park City, UT (Category 4, comes w/beginner ski lift)
• Grand Hyatt Istanbul (Category 4)

Best Use of Marriott Points:

Hands down – Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages

• Quickest way to get a Southwest Companion Pass (maximize if you wait until January
• 10% Bonus on miles if you select United
• You can now combine points (Ritz Carlton too).

Best Use of IHG Points:

• Point-breaks: 5,000 points per night
• IHG Credit Card is an amazing value, $49 annual fee
• Status Match to Kimpton Inner Circle

As you all know, Kimpton has my <3!

Best Use of Starwood Points:

• Southeast Asia (Example: St. Regis Bangkok)
• Nights and Flights Packages (Category 4)
• Europe 10,000 Points (When rooms can be $$$ example: Great Northern Hotel London)
• SPG Moments

However… in *my* opinion, the single best use of SPG points is…

Transfer to American Airlines Miles! 20,000 Starpoints=25,000 AA Miles

Sure, a night at a luxury hotel sounds nice, but… so is this…

25,000 Starpoints can get you 12 hours in Etihad Business (NRT-AUH, 30K AA miles). That’s one sign-up bonus from the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express and/or Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American ExpressThat pretty much summed up my time at Chicago Seminars. I am so happy I got to hang with such an interactive and engaging crowd. Looking forward to next year’s event already!

What other sweet-spot redemptions would you like to share?