Best Rate Guarantee Success - Sheraton Los Angeles Downton Hotel

SPG has a generous Best Rate Guarantee, in which they offer an extra 10% off or 2,000 Starpoints if you are able to find a better rate than what it advertised on their website.  Although the 10% off is less than competitors Hyatt, Hilton or Marriott, the 2,000 Starpoints can be of much more value, especially if you are a frequent traveler.

At a recent stay at the Sheraton Los Angeles Downtown Hotel, I was able to find a better rate and thus was able to bank an extra 2,000 Starpoints.

The best available rate on SPG.com was ~$190, but I was able to find a rate of ~$126.  Not only did I get a savings of $64 before taxes, I also managed to bank an extra 2,000 Starpoints.

With the current "Better by the Night" Promotion of double points, an extra 250 points for booking online (as I don't have an iPhone which would have been worth 500 points rather than 250 points), and the current Foursquare promotion of 250 points for checking in, I managed to snag 2,752 points for this stay, or 21.8 points per dollar spent.

As a Starwood Preferred Guest, you can either earn 2-4 Starpoints per dollar spent, depending on your “status”.

As you can see, an extra 2,000 Starpoints may be the equivalent of a $1,000 “spend”.  If you can find rates around $100 per night, you are in essence receiving over 20 Starpoints per dollar spent, a great way to increase your Starpoint balance for future award stays.

Hilton HHonors Sail Away Contest

Hilton HHonors in conjunction with CruisesOnly have put together a great contest for one lucky winner.

Just sign up to receive cruise deal alerts from CruisesOnly and you will be entered to win 1,000,000 Hilton HHonors points, a Free 7 day Norwegian Caribbean Cruise, and $1,000 in spending money.

5 Second Place winners will win 50,000 Hilton HHonors points each.

You must be a Hilton HHonors member to enter, and getting a Hilton HHonors number is free.

The contest ends December 31, 2012.

Good luck to all who enter.

Hilton HHonors 4th Quarter Promotion - 1,000 Reasons

Hilton just announced their fourth quarter promotion, which is pretty lackluster.   1,000 bonus points per night from November 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012 at participating hotels.  Here is a list of hotels not participating.

The current promotion with Virgin Atlantic is much better, in that you get up to 15,000 bonus miles for 5 stays when you choose Virgin Atlantic as the double dip partner.  These miles can then be converted back into Hilton points at a rate of 2 points per mile.  You can transfer in 5,000 mile increments.

To register for the fourth quarter promotion, click here.  Not a great promotion by any stretch, but if you have stays at Hilton already planned, you may as well take advantage of the extra bonus points.

Staycity Serviced Apartments - Edinburgh

While on a two week trip to Europe, my plan was to have a semi-break in the middle by renting an apartment.  This would give us the opportunity to have a couple of home cooked meals, as well as getting a chance to do some laundry.

I had read pretty good reviews about the Staycity Apartments on hotels.com and Trip Advisor, but the recurring theme seemed to be the hard to find location and to a lesser extent the staff.

The only thing I knew was to take the airport shuttle and get off at Haymarket Station.  From there, it would be a scavenger hunt, because according to most of the reviews, Staycity was located in a residential neighborhood and most locals did not even know of its existence.

While on the shuttle bus, one thing was crystal clear.  They were doing major construction in Edinburgh, so a tough challenge got even worse.

After getting off of the shuttle bus, we took a couple minutes to try and get our bearings.  Of course, never being in the city before we had no idea where we were.  Fortunately, we ran into a couple of locals who were very helpful in pointing us in the right direction.  Despite us having a small map, they were not exactly sure where the apartment was.  They looked on their GPS on their cell phone and then had a pretty good idea of where the apartment was located.

The walk to the apartment is very long and uphill, so if you have a lot of luggage be prepared for a long and strenuous trek.  After having some familiarity with the place, it might be easier to take the regular bus since it drops you off much closer to the apartment with no hills.

Staycity now has a sign in front of the apartments, something that seems to have been missing in many of the reviews I read.

Check-in was efficient.  We arrived a little early, so the apartment was not ready.  There are storage lockers where you can put your luggage so you have time to explore the city a little if you do arrive early.

The one bedroom, one bathroom apartment has laminate flooring.  As you enter the apartment, the bathroom is to the left.  Straight and to the right is the living room and kitchen.  There is also a small dining table.  The kitchen includes appliances, such as a stove, oven, microwave, refrigerator, dish washer and washing machine/dryer.  The bad thing about the washing machine/dryer is that is a combination unit.  Although it washes clothes nicely, the dryer function is just horrible.  It is basically a hot spin cycle.  It would take several hours to dry clothes, if lucky.

The bedroom is on the smaller side, with a small closet.  The king bed is comfortable, but outlets are severely lacking throughout the apartment.

The bathroom is large with a huge shower.  There is plenty of counter space and a medicine cabinet.

If your goal is to be close to the city center, Staycity is probably not for you, as it is a good 15-20 minute walk or bus ride to the city center.  If you are looking for a well kept place, with a lot of space, then Staycity is for you.  I would also recommend Staycity for those with large families or groups as it becomes more cost efficient



11 Brandfield Street
Haymarket
Edinburgh, EH3 8AS

Kampung Ali - Edinburgh

Kampung Ali Entrance

It was surprising to find a Malaysian restaurant in Edinburgh, especially one that has seemed to have gained a fairly good following.

The restaurant is sort of an odd mix decor wise.  There are various maps, pictures and figurines of Malaysia, however there is also paintings on the ceiling, fairly reminiscent to the Sistine Chapel.

Service is friendly, although somewhat slow.  They are not proactive with their customers.  Rather than greeting you when you first sit down and asking if you would like a drink, it almost seems like the staff waits until you are ready to order before approaching you.

Roti Cani

The Roti Cani consist of round pieces of flat bread, vaguely resembling a flour tortilla for those not familiar, with a curry dipping sauce.  The dipping sauce has a strong curry flavor, with lots of warming spices and a nice spicy finish that tingles the back of your tongue.

Malaysian Curry Prawns

The Malaysian Curry Prawns, one of the signature dishes, consists of head on peeled shrimp in a spicy curry soup.  The prawns were slightly overcooked and mealy, but heads and shells added a depth of flavor to the broth.  There is a slight kick to the dish, but nothing that will set your mouth on fire.  Overall, a somewhat disappointing dish due to the overcooking of the prawns.

Singapore Noodles

The Singapore Noodles is a type of chow mein, with thin egg noodles.  The shrimp and chicken were cooked slightly overcooked and mealy, but heads and shells added a depth of flavor to the broth.  For some reason, the dish seemed “overly dry”

Although the Roti Cani was flavorful, the rest of the dishes seemed to be lacking in seasoning.  One thing I noticed in the UK, is that restaurants seem to be afraid of using salt to enhance the flavor of their food.  I am not sure if this is a cultural thing, or whether they are trying to be on the safe side in order not to offend the many different visitors they get throughout the world.

97-101 Fountainbridge

Edinburgh EH3 9QG

The Tailend - Edinburgh

What trip to the United Kingdom would be complete without some fish and chips?

On an episode of “No Reservations”,Anthony Bourdain went to The Mermaid, but after asking some locals, most of them had never heard of it.  Probably not a good sign.

I was pointed to The Tailend, not exactly in the city center, as it is located in Leith, but only a 10-15 minute bus ride away.  Despite the location, most of the diners were American, oddly enough.

The restaurant is split up into two section: one a take-out place, and the other half a casual sit down restaurant.

There was a new waitress working the shift who didn’t understand English all that well, so service was sort of slow.  She was super nice and very attentive however.

The shrimp appetizer includes four plump shrimp that were deep fried.  The shrimp were succulent and crisp.  Unfortunately, we had ordered the grilled shrimp but didn’t make a big deal out of it.  A small side salad was served with the appetizer, however it had seen better days as it was very tired looking, with some very wilted and brown pieces of lettuce.  Very few leaves were crisp.  Even the tomatoes were a little over ripe and did not have much flavor.

Shrimp Appetizer

The Fish and Chips are the reason you are here.  A large piece of fish is lightly battered and perfectly fried.  It is super crisp and not at all greasy.  The meal comes with a small side of garden peas or mushy peas, and a huge mound of chips.  The chips are thick cut, and are crisp on the outside, and smooth and creamy in the middle.

Fish & Garden Peas

Chips

The “Chocolate Pudding” is a little misleading, as it is really is a molten chocolate cake.  The cake is moist, but a little dense and heavy with a large river of melting chocolate oozing out of the center.

Chocolate Pudding

 The Sticky Toffee Pudding is a nice large piece of cake, which is a little dense covered with an overly sweet toffee sauce.  The sweetness is reduced by the scoop of ice cream (or whipped cream if you like, I believe) dolloped on top.  It was hard to discern if there were dates or prunes in the cake, but very good nonetheless.  Although this is a rich dessert, it is well worth the calories.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

If you are in search of some good fish and chipsre in search of some good fish and chips, you can’t go wrong with The Tailend.

14-15 Albert Place

Leith Walk

Edinburgh EH7 5HN

Delta SkyMiles Contest

Delta is giving away 300,000 miles through their contest via their shopping portal, Sky Miles Shopping.

Entry is free, however you must be a Delta Sky Miles member.  Membership is also free.

You can earn 5 entries per day by shopping online or through the toolbar, and 1 entry for searching through the toolbar, and 1 entry for viewing the Bonus Miles Page.

Contest ends October 31, 2012.