Anatomy of an Award Trip: Acela to Philadelphia

/

I've mentioned before that Amtrak has some remarkably lucrative award redemptions. Since flexible Ultimate Rewards points transfer instantly into any Amtrak Guest Rewards account, this is a great way to get value out of Ultimate Rewards points. I recently used Ultimate Rewards points to book a short vacation next weekend, taking Amtrak down to Philadelphia. Now that I finally have all my reservations booked, here's a breakdown of all the rewards components.

Getting there: Acela First Class

 I've been living on the East Coast fo a year, but still haven't ridden on one of Amtrak's Acela high speed trains, so I decided to take Acela First Class to Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. A business class redemption costs 8,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points, and a first class tickets costs 12,000 AGR points, and there are no additional taxes or fees.

If you're interested in riding on Acela, keep in mind their very strict blackout policy: 

On Acela service, weekday travel origination may not occur from any boarding point between start-of-service and 8:59 a.m. inclusive, or between 2:00 p.m. and 5:59 p.m. inclusive (weekend Acela travel is permitted at any time except on any weekend dates defined below). Select Plus and Select Executive members may redeem for travel during blackout dates by using our "rule buster" awards, but Acela blackout times still apply.
The key element here is that blackout times are determined by scheduled boarding time. So an award ticket boarding Acela Express 2167 in Boston at 1:15 PM is legal, while an award ticket boarding the same train at 5:00 PM at New York Penn Station is not.

I'm thrilled to be taking Acela for the first time, and I'll report back here on the experience. 

Total cost: 12,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points (transferred instantly from Ultimate Rewards). Total value: $259. Value per point: 2.16 cents.

Staying There: Radisson Plaza-Warwick Hotel Philadelphia

For my stay in Philadelphia I used the "last night free" feature of the Club Carlson Business Rewards Visa to book two nights for the price of one: 44,000 Gold Points. 

This hotel is located just a block off the central Rittenhouse Square, where I used to live in Philadelphia. It's walking distance from the train station and all the downtown tourist attractions, shops, restaurants, and sites I'll be visiting while I'm in town. 

I'm a little concerned by the "hotel alert" on Club Carlson's website: 

RENOVATION IS TAKING PLACE WITHIN THE HOTEL. ALL AVAILABLE GUEST ROOMS HAVE BEEN FULLY RENOVATED URBAN ROOM PRODUCT IN ALL GUEST ROOMS WITH REFRIGERATORS NO WORK PERFORMED B/F 9AM OR AFTER 4PM. NO WORK ON WEEKENDS.

They claim there won't be construction on the weekends, so hopefully that means I won't be woken up early by men at work!

Total cost: 44,000 Club Carlson Gold Points. Total value: $435.46. Value per point: 0.99 cents.  This is a really remarkable value, especially considering that the card earns 5 Gold Points per dollar on all purchases!

Getting back: Amtrak Northeast Regional

I decided against spending another 12,000 Ultimate Rewards points to take Acela First Class back from Philadelphia, and instead booked a simple coach class Northeast Regional ticket for 4,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points. As always, there are no additional taxes or fees on Amtrak redemptions.

Total cost: 4,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points. Total value: $164. Value per point: 4.1 cents.

Anatomy of an award trip: Spring break in Prague

/

​This March I spent my Spring vacation in Prague, my favorite city in Europe.  Every part of the trip had a miles and points component, so I thought it might be useful for readers to get some insight into my thinking when putting together an award trip.

Getting There: Star Alliance

This award ticket started as a summer reservation between Portland, OR and Prague, with a return flight to New England (PDX-PRG-BOS).  Since my preferred airline is Delta, however, I continually monitored Skyteam award availability until I was able to find a low-level Business award ticket on Delta and KLM.

Having booked my summer trip on Delta, I then had to decide what to do with my United award reservation.  It would have cost $150 to cancel the trip and re-credit the miles to my account, since I don't have elite status on United.  However, changing only the origin city cost just $75, and changing the date was free, so I decided to pay the $75 and turn the ticket into a Spring vacation.

My transatlantic flights were originally scheduled to be on Lufthansa on my outbound leg and Tyrolean Airways, an Austrian carrier, on my return flight.  However, my Tyrolean Airways flight was canceled due to a schedule change, and I was rebooked into United Economy for my return flight.  I hate flying United, and that goes double for flying United in Economy, and that goes triple for flying transatlantic flights on United in Economy.  The United reservation desk, however, was unable to rebook me on a partner airline, like Lufthansa, which operates a good international product, even in Economy, unless the partner airline had award availability.  Since the cancellation happened so close to my departure, no award seats were available and so I was stuck on United.

Total cost: 60,000 United miles, $181.80 ($106.80 in taxes and fees, $75 award change fee). Total value: ​$1,150-1400. Value per point: 1.61-2.03 cents per mile.

Staying There: ​Hilton, Club Carlson, PointsHound, Marriott

Hilton Prague Hotel

I spent two nights at the Hilton Prague Hotel, which is now a Category 6 hotel.  You can use the HHonors Points Search Tool to see that a standard room award costs 30,000 HHonors points every month except June, when it jumps to 50,000.  In March, when I stayed there, it was a Category 5 hotel, costing 35,000 points year round under the old award chart.  This is a good example of how the March 28 Hilton devaluation reduced the cost of some mid- and low-tier properties (while increasing the cost of top-tier properties).​  As a Hilton Gold member I was pretty sure I'd be upgraded to an executive floor, but to be sure I spent 4,129 points one night and 9,178 points the second night to guarantee an upgrade.  Since I value HHonors points at about .4 cents each, this was about $53 in points to guarantee the upgrade for two nights, which I found very reasonable, given how much value I got out of the Executive Lounge.

Total points: 83,307. Total value: ​$420.  Value per point: .5 cents per point.

​Park Inn Prague

Next, I spent three nights at the Park Inn Prague, a category 3 hotel costing 28,000 points per night.  Even as a non-elite "Red" member of the Club Carlson program, I was still upgraded to a "Residential Room" with a small sitting area, one full bathroom and one half-bath.

Total points: 84,000. Total value: $420. Value per point: .5 cents per point.​

PointsHound reservation at Hotel Aron

PointsHound is a relatively new online hotel booking portal.  Most online travel agents, or OTAs, pass along a portion of their commission on hotel reservations in the form of a rewards program like Expedia Rewards, or through cashback portals like TopCashBack. Instead, PointsHound passes along part of their commission in the form of airline miles in one of their partner programs, including all four of the major US domestic airlines.  The complete list of partners is:

  • American Airlines AAdvantage
  • Delta Skymiles
  • United MileagePlus
  • US Airways Dividend Miles
  • Virgin America Elevate
  • HawaiianMiles
  • BalticMiles
  • Etihad Guest Miles
  • Club Premier KmP
  • Best Buy Reward Zone

If you're staying at non-chain hotels, or hotels where you don't collect that chain's loyalty points, and you redeem your miles for high-value awards, like intercontinental premium cabin awards, you'll get more value by booking through ​PointsHound than through a traditional cashback portal.

I made a PointsHound reservation at a very small business hotel in the Žižkov neighborhood of Prague, Hotel Aron.  The hotel was horrible; my "non-smoking" room stank heavily of smoke, the reception insisted on keeping my key when I left the hotel, and there was no security worth mentioning.  However, my 431 Delta Skymiles did recently post to my account, which at 2 cents each is about a 7% rebate against the $122.50 I spent for two nights.

Courtyard Prague Airport

Since I was leaving early Sunday morning, I spent my final night at the Courtyard Prague Airport, a Marriott property.  As a Category 2 property, I spent just 10,000 Marriott points for the night.​  The hotel was located immediately across the street from both Terminals 1 and 2, the non-Schengen- and Schengen-zone terminals, respectively.  The convenience was incredible, but the morning I was leaving was the same night that the Czech Republic moved to "summer time," and since I had no idea whether my iPhone would automatically adjust, I ended up staying up all night anyway in order to make sure I made my 6 am flight.

Total points: 10,000. Total value: ​$79. Value per point: .78 cents per point.