Starwood Announced 2017 Category Changes

Every year, Starwood announces category changes for their hotels. The nice thing is that they give you advance warning so you can plan accordingly. Some hotels go up in category level. Some hotels go down. The list is out now for the changes coming up on March 7th 2017. Reviewing the list, it looks like hotels in China, India, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Middle East, Mexico are moving down in category. Hotels in Indonesia, Japan, Canada are moving up. Argentina and Peru were mixed with a few up and a few down. Cuba moved down. Europe was mixed, but one notable is the Sheraton Four Points in Venice moved down to a category 1. This is a brand new hotel opening April 15th 2017. A quick search shows rates of Eur 143 or $152 per night. Right now, it shows the points at 3,000 per night which is a great deal, but as a category 1, it could drop as low as 2,000 per night. Wow! That's really almost free family travel.

The Sheraton in Orlando is also moving down to a category 2 or 3,000 points per night which is great for families. So wait a few weeks to book your hotel for Disneyworld.

You can check out the whole list right here.  If you see any other great deals in the list, please post in the comments below!

Marriott is updating their hotel categories in March, but the good news is they are giving us advance warning so we can plan accordingly. Some hotels will go up in categories so you would want to book those now to get the best deal. Some hotels will move down in category so you would want to wait and book those after the change.
Marriott organizes their list by hotels moving up and hotels moving down and then by brand. Some of their hotels in Canada are moving down. A lot of hotels in Houston, TX are moving down. Some in Mexico are moving down.

You can check out the whole list here.   Let me know in the comments below if you find a great deal!

How to travel light with a family

Whether we travel for a week or a month, we pack the same thing in the same bag. My rule is each person needs to wheel their own bag the entire trip. And we travel by plane, train, bus and boat a lot. This photo above sums it up. Each child wheeling their own bag and then my 4 year old riding on my bag which we shared. That's it.
If the trip is more than a week long, we do laundry halfway through. In Peru, we booked an apartment with Airbnb.com halfway through the trip and did a bit of laundry.
In Thailand, we did a load while we stayed with a friend.
As long as you plan on doing a load somewhere, you can pack for one week.
We also pack layers. I remember when I traveled once around Europe in December and wore every piece of clothing in my suitcase. I was that cold!

Here's my packing list:
2 pairs of pants
2 pairs of shorts
6 pairs of underwear
5 pairs of socks
1 pair pajamas
2 bathing suits
1 sweatshirt
1 dining outfit
6 shirts
1 long sleeve shirt
2 pairs of shoes (you wear one and pack one)
toiletries

If you are traveling to a cold weather location, then the packing list gets a bit longer.
For Peru, we encountered everything from cold to really hot. So we had to add gloves, scarf, long underwear and a jacket.
The big issue is always whether we should check one bag and bring sunscreen, shampoo and conditioner or buy it when we arrive or even better hope the hotel is supplying it. For Peru, we checked one bag since we also needed to bring along bug spray and medications for the Amazon.
For Thailand, we bought it all there. Going to the local grocery store is always a fun experience!
The bottom line is pack light and do laundry.

How To Get Bonus Avios Miles

Between February 6th and March 8th, British Airways is offering a 35% bonus when you transfer points from select hotel loyalty program to Avios. The promotion is valid for points transfers Club Carlson, Hilton Honors, Hyatt Gold Passport, IHG Rewards Club, Marriott Rewards, Shangri La Golden Circle and Starwood Preferred Guest.
No registration needed and bonus will post 4-6 weeks after the transfer is initiated. You have to transfer at least the following amounts:
Club Carlson 2,000
Hilton Honors 10,000
Hyatt Gold 5,000
IHG Rewards 10,000
Marriott Rewards 10,000
Shangri La 2,500
Starwood 2,500

Now I'm not really excited about any of these except the Starwood offer and I'll tell you why. Starwood offers a bonus 5,000 when you transfer 20,000 to Avios already. So if you transfer 20,000 points to Avios, Starwood will kick in a 5,000 bonus and now through March 8th, British Airways will kick in another 35% or 8,750 points. So for 20,000 Starwood points, you will get 33,750 Avios. That's a good deal!

Use portals for Valentines for FREE miles

Nothing makes me madder than when I see people shopping online without going through a portal. One things makes me madder and that's when people pay cash for stuff. 

But we are talking online in this post.

There are tons of portals depending on what your goals are. 

1. Do you want cash back?

2. Do you want miles?

3. Do you want points?

For Valentine's Day, some of the portals are offering big bonuses. 

Just got this one from American Airlines. Spend $125 cumulative between now and 2/13/2017 and you will earn a bonus of 500 miles. Spend $250, earn 1,000 bonus miles. You were going to spend the money anyway, so get the extra miles. 

Need United miles, the portal is offering the same deal. 

Now if you don't need miles, then how about cash back? Every month, I get about $25-$40 back through Ebates.com. Use the link to the right, if you want to open an account. You get a freebie and I get referral credit. 

The bottom line is you need to leverage your spending for free travel. That's how you do it. 

New United Excursionist One Way Perk

United Airlines launched its excursionist perk in October 2016, but it's just starting to catch on. And it's an amazing deal! The idea is that you can book multi city flights and get one leg for FREE. You can check it out here, but the details are as follows from United Airlines website. 

• The Excursionist Perk cannot be in the MileagePlus defined region where your travel originates. (For example, if your journey begins in North America, you will only receive the Excursionist Perk if travel is within a region outside of North America.)
• Travel must end in the same MileagePlus defined region where travel originates.
• The origin and destination of the Excursionist Perk is within a single MileagePlus defined region.
• The cabin of service and award type of the free one-way award is the same or lower than the one-way award preceding it.
• If two or more one-way awards qualify for this benefit, only the first occurrence will be free.

Click here for the list of United Airlines regions

Here are the steps, choose multi city and book an award flight. 

Step 2 - find the flight that works, if you qualify for excursionist fare, the leg of the flight will be marked 0 miles. 

Step 3 - Review and purchase

This is a great option and could save you hundreds of dollars if you want to check out more than one city in a region. Only catch is that you must book with United miles on United flights and all legs must be in the same class.  Let me know how you use this amazing perk! 

Wyndham Hotels Booked

One of the best deals out there is the Wyndham 45,000 point bonus on their credit card. The minimum spend is $2,000, but they actually give you 30,000 points with your first purchase. Then they award you the next 15,000 when you reach your minimum spend. There is a second card that comes with 18,000 points and a $1,000 minimum spend. There is a $75 annual fee on the first card. There is no annual fee on the second. I prefer the first one because it's worth an extra 2 FREE nights just for $1,000 more in spend.
This is a great way to get hotel points quickly. Every room worldwide is 15,000 points. So we used it last summer for 1 night at the Wyndham Costa Del Sol Lima located across from the airport. Next summer, we will use the points for 2 nights in Prague at the Ramada City Centre. 
Since we are family of 5, we booked 2 rooms for each night.
I used the last free night for me and 6 kids at the Days Inn San Francisco At The Beach.
The Wyndham hotel group is not my favorite, but it usually includes breakfast and if it's free, I like it.