Tag Archives: Hyatt Hotels

Dallas Centurion Lounge and FTU Advanced in Washington, DC this Weekend

AMEX Centurion Lounge

Dallas Centurion Lounge and FTU Advanced in Washington, DC this Weekend

This weekend is FTU Advanced in Washington, DC.  FTU stands for Frequent Traveler University and the Advanced means that we will cover more advanced miles and points topics than a basic event.  And for good measure, the DC stands of District of Columbia.  Now that that is all cleared up, I wanted to see if anyone else was going to FTU Advanced this weekend.  Here are this weekend’s speakers:

  • Ben Mutzabaugh, USA TODAY Travel
  • Gary Leff, View from the Wing
  • Ben Schlappig, One Mile at a Time
  • Greg Davis-Kean, Frequent Miler
  • Stefan Krasowski, Rapid Travel Chai
  • Matthew Klint, Live and Let’s Fly
  • Scott Mackenzie, Travel Codex
  • Daraius Dubash, Million Mile Secrets
  • Summer Hull, Mommy Points
  • Ed Pizzarello, Pizza in Motion
  • Chris Guillebeau, The Art of Non-Conformity
  • Matthew Kepnes, Nomadic Matt
  • Randy Petersen, Godfather of Frequent Flyer Miles and founder of online communities Milepoint & Flyertalk

If you read my blog, I’m sure you will recognize most of the other Boarding Area bloggers who will be speaking.  One speaker you might not be as familiar with is Chris Guillebeau; he has been to every country in the world and wrote a book called the $100 Start Up, which was the motivating factor for me to start my blog.  It will be great to hear Chris speak again.  More important that listening to the presentations, I really enjoy interacting with the other attendees.  Everyone has so much travel knowledge that you will definitely learn something new from everyone you speak to.  Learn more about FTU Advanced here.

I am staying at the host hotel, Hyatt Regency Crystal City, on Friday and Saturday night, and then moving down the street to the Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel for Sunday night.  I will be wearing my famous / infamous Travel with Grant t-shirt all weekend, so if you see me, come say hello.  For the record, I have several TWG shirts, so I will not be wearing the same shirt the entire weekend, in case you were thinking that.   Continue reading →

Southwest Airlines Companion Pass – Part 3: Hyatt Points and E-Rewards Transfers

Southwest Airlines Companion Pass Logo

Southwest Airlines Companion Pass – Part 3: Hyatt Points and E-Rewards Transfers

Good evening everyone, this is part 3 of my Southwest Airlines Companion Pass series.

This post is probably several weeks overdue, but better late than never.  I was waiting for miles and points to transfer and post, then I had to follow up with Southwest Airlines and Hyatt over some issues, and eventually this post got pushed off #backblogged.

Before I get deeper into this post, I have a personal gripe with my Chase Hyatt Credit Card.  This credit card is the only travel credit card (that I know of) where points are deducted from your account if you return something or get a refund to your credit card.  Recently, I canceled an airline ticket that I purchased on my Chase Hyatt Credit Card and the Hyatt Points were removed from my Hyatt account.  Most other travel credit cards will not touch your miles/points if you return an item or get a refund, you will just end up with a positive balance on your credit card.

Chase Hyatt Credit Card Subtractions and Additions Hyatt Points

Because of this “feature” of the Chase Hyatt Credit Card, I mis-spent on my Chase Hyatt Credit Card in terms of earning Hyatt Points.  Oh well, live and learn I guess.

Hyatt Account Balance 11-06-14

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Transfer Chase Ultimate Reward Points from the Chase App

Chase-Ultimate-Rewards

Transfer Chase Ultimate Reward Points from the Chase App

Chase recently updated their smartphone app for iOS and Android with the ability to transfer Chase Ultimate Reward Points to their travel partners.  I will show you how I recently transferred Chase Ultimate Reward Points to Southwest Airlines on my iPhone.  The process should work the same on an Android phone.  You can follow these steps to transfer Chase Ultimate Reward Points to any of their travel partners.  Without further ado, download the Chase app to your smartphone and log into your Chase account.

Log Into Chase App

Navigate to the Chase account that has Chase Ultimate Reward Points – either a Chase Sapphire Preferred (personal account) or a Chase Ink Bold/Plus (business account).

Select Chase Account

To read the entire post, please click here.  Have a great Thanksgiving holiday everyone!

San Francisco Weekend Trip – Part 2: Hollywood Cafe Breakfast, SF Half Marathon, Lombard Street, and Sea Lions

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San Francisco Weekend Trip – Part 2: Hollywood Cafe Breakfast, SF Half Marathon, Lombard Street, and Sea Lions

This is part 2 of my short weekend trip to San Francisco.  Please check out Part 1: Cable Car Ride and Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf Hotel Review to see the first half of my trip report.  As I mentioned in part 1, our room was overlooking the Hollywood Cafe, a small family run restaurant with crowds always waiting outside.

Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf Window View

On Sunday morning, we were looking for a place to get breakfast and Yelp told us the best place within walking distance was the Hollywood Cafe, how convenient…

Hollywood Cafe Yelp

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San Francisco Weekend Trip – Part 1: Cable Car Ride and Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf Hotel Review

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San Francisco Weekend Trip – Part 1: Cable Car Ride and Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf Hotel Review

Good evening everyone, this is a short trip report from my short weekend trip to San Francisco with my parents.  If you like pictures of cable cars and inside hotel rooms, this post is for you.  In part 2, I will share some of the other activities I did in San Francisco.  First off, I’ve wanted to ride a cable car for as long as I knew what a cable car was.  I finally got the chance to take a ride from the Powell Street BART Station down to Taylor Street, which is a few blocks from the Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf.  Taking the BART from SFO to Powell Street took about 30 minutes and cost $8.65 per person, each way.  The cable car ride lasted about 20 minutes and cost $6 per person, each way.

Cable Car Route Powell Street to Fisherman's Wharf

When you exit the Powell Street BART Station, you will see a big wooden turntable where the cable cars turn around.  Line up behind everyone else and wait for your turn to ride.  We waited about 25 minutes, but the time went by quickly since there were many street performers entertaining us nearby.  You buy your ticket when you board, $6 cash, no credit cards.

SF Cable Car Turntable1

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