Hotel Cost, Travel Cost

hilton-family

We’ve previously shared information about the IHG Hotel Family and its loyalty program.  The Hilton HHonors program is another hotel loyalty program we like to use.  The Hilton hotel family is composed of Hilton Hotel & Resorts, Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, Canopy, Curio Collection, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites, Home 2 Suites and Hilton Grand Vacations.  As opposed to the IHG Hotel Family, there are lots of luxury hotels within the Hilton hotel family. read more

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Disney Parks, Food Cost

IMG_6668

If you are a Florida resident, Disney Vacation Club Member, or a Walt Disney World Annual Passholder, the Tables in Wonderland card is a great way to save money while dining on Disney property.  The Tables in Wonderland card will save you 20% off the price of food and beverages, including alcohol, at more than 100 different restaurants at Walt Disney World.  The discount applies to dining parties of 10 people or less. The Tables in Wonderland card costs $175 for Florida residents and $150 for annual passholders or Disney Vacation Club members.  A second card can be purchased for your spouse or partner for $50. read more

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Disney Cruise

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If you’re thinking about a vacation on Disney Cruise Line, one of the first decisions you’ll be faced with (after you decide on an itinerary) is what kind of room to book.  There are four main types of staterooms on Disney Cruise Line: Inside, Ocean View, Verandah, and Concierge.  We have described each below, with pictures where we have them available. read more

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Credit Cards, Hotel Cost, Travel Cost

The view from our upgraded suite at the InterContinental Miami
(The view from our upgraded suite at the InterContinental Miami)

One of our favorite credit cards is the IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card from Chase, which is affiliated with the InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) family of hotels including Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Candlewood Suites, and other hotel brands.  If you do a lot of paid travel with stays at IHG properties, you can really enhance your paid and free stays with this card.  The card is currently issued as a MasterCard, with a $49 annual fee (which is currently waived for the first year). read more

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Credit Cards, Hotel Cost, Travel Cost

One of the best ways to earn Hilton HHonors points (which can give you free rooms at the Hilton Hotels and Resorts family of hotels) is to to sign up for one of the four types of Hilton-sponsored credit cards. American Express Hilton Surpass card One Hilton-sponsored card is the American Express Hilton Surpass card.  It has a $75 annual fee.  There is usually a signup bonus offered with the card; the bonus varies from 60,000-85,000 HHonors points, which are credited to your account after you spend a certain amount within the first 3 months of card membership. The American Express Hilton Surpass card has great earning potential: – Earn 12 HHonors points per dollar spent at participating Hilton properties – Earn 6 HHonors points per dollar spent at U.S. restaurants, supermarkets (unfortunately, warehouse stores are not considered supermarkets in this regard), and standalone gas stations – Earn 3 HHonors points per dollar spent everywhere else You will also receive HHonors Gold status for as long as you have the card.  If you spend $40,000 per year on the card, you will also receive Diamond status.  The loyalty rewards benefits for HHonors are described on the HHonors website. American Express HHonors card The American Express HHonors card has no annual fee.  There is usually a signup bonus that ranges from 40,000-60,000 HHonors points when you spend $750 on the card within the first 3 months of card membership. This card has the same categories as the Surpass card, just with lower category bonuses: – Earn 7 HHonors points per dollar spent at participating Hilton properties – Earn 5 HHonors points per dollar spent at US restaurants, supermarkets (excluding warehouse stores), and standalone gas stations – Earn 3 HHonors points per dollar spent everywhere else You will also receive HHonors Silver status for as long as you have the card.  If you spend $20,000 per year on the card, you will receive Gold status.

Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve read more

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Disney Cruise

Cruising is a great alternative to a Disney Parks vacation: it’s basically a nice relaxing vacation in a floating Disney resort hotel that takes you to a wonderful set of destinations.  Disney offers cruises to many locations including the Caribbean, Alaska, and Europe. read more

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Hotel Cost, Travel Cost

ihg-brands

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) Rewards Club is one of our favorite hotel programs.  The IHG hotel family includes the InterContinental, Hualuxe, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Even Hotels, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, and Candlewood Suites brands of hotels.  Other than the InterContinental hotels, I don’t know that I would consider any of those brands to be luxury brands.  What IHG lacks in luxury, it makes up for in quantity.  There are Holiday Inn Express hotels everywhere across the United States. read more

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Planning

One of our favorite travel tools is TripIt.  TripIt is a web site (with associated mobile apps) that gathers details of your travel, including hotel reservations, airline tickets, cruise itineraries, rental cars, and other travel information.  TripIt then presents you with a comprehensive itinerary in a simplified format that allows you to easily view the information. read more

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Disney Parks, Food Cost, Hotel Cost

One of the tricks I’ve described before is to look at alternate travel arrangements.  When considering whether to upgrade our tickets this summer to annual passes, I looked for economical travel/lodging arrangements for other possible trips.  We had several school breaks to consider, including a Halloween-based trip (which includes some teacher work days in November) and an early February trip (using teacher work days as well).  Since these were “quick” trips to fit into a fixed calendar, we needed to be able to fly down to Florida in order to maximize our Disney time. read more

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