Hotel Review: Residence Inn Jackson TN

Residence Inn - Jackson TN
126 Old Medina Crossing. Jackson, TN 38305
Phone: 731-935-4100

Conveniently located one block away from Interstate 40 (exit 83). Very nice hotel for extended stays since rooms have full kitchen with regular size fridge.
Complimentary breakfast daily
Monday thru Thursday - Evening reception with drinks and food.

Rooms:

Very spacious rooms. Full kitchen, dining table for 2, sofa (with pull out bed), large desk, flat screen TV (rotates so you can view from desk and bed, king size bed, bathroom & sink.

Tripadvisor Alert: These Lima airfares won't be around for long

We received a message from TripAdvisor today with a super offer from American Airlines
LAX to LIM (Peru) for $ 442.44

You can find availability for September, October and even November around Thanksving day.

Pro: Cheap fare

Con: You have to spend one night in Dallas in order to get this amazing price

Use the link below to access the fare calendar

http://www.tripadvisor.com/FareCalendar-a_airport0.LAX-a_airport1.LIM-a_date0.20130901-a_fare.441-a_fareCurrency.USD

Register Again and Earn More! with Priority Club

I received an email today with great news! Priority Club is running yet another great promotion.

Register using the below link:

Register for IHG Promo

Promotion Code: 6002

Flying with US Airways (No status)

I have to travel this week for work and since AA (current status: Platinum) does not have a direct flight from SNA to PHX I decided to book with US Airways (After all if/when they become partners my miles will be merged and this will all be worth it, right?)

So I found out:

1. TSA pre-check (benefit I got from AA due to Platinum status) is airline specific. Also located on Terminal A at Orange county airport (while US Airways is terminal B). So if I do not fly American Airlines I can't enjoy the TSA Pre-check benefits
Learn more about TSA Pre-check here: TSA pre-check more information
Currently (at least at SNA airport) this feature is only available when you travel domestically. No international flights will earn you TSA pre-check benefits
Although a TSA agent told me today - they are working on improving that and it will be incorporated later in the year. Sure hope so...

2.  I am able to use the Admiral's club (AA) while flying on US Airways because I have a paid membership to the club and it is not based on me flying AA at all. Sweet!!!
US Airways departs from Terminal B but once you go thru security you can easily walk from terminal B to terminal A (where you can find the Admiral's club) without having to go thru security again.

3. Platinum status does not carry over at this time to US Airways. I asked the ticket agent who politely informed me that the merge is not even government approved yet :(
You have to pay for bags ($ 25 for the first one and $ 35 for the second one)
You do not get priority boarding or any other perks (YET) but you can purchase this for $ 15 per flight when you check into your flight.

4. Double and triple your miles is cheap with US Airways. Maybe because its such a short flight
330+ miles each way
$ 9 can get you to double your miles
$ 19 can get you to triple your miles

5. After purchasing the ticket I got "no seat assigned" message. *sigh*
I thought it was because I had entered my United mileage number when I booked the trip, so I called US Airways and requested my Dividend miles (with current miles 0) to be entered in the reservation instead. Painless - it took 2 minutes to get it done, so now I am able to view itinerary and make changes if needed by logging into my Dividend miles account.
After that change BOOM my seat became "4B" - The best middle seat possible. First row. Extra legroom. Of course not as good as First class seat but "Hey" this is a 1 hr 15 min flight so no biggie.

One more hour to boarding time, so I will update this post with my findings after I try their gate and plane service for the first time.

Admiral's club review: Nashville International Airport

This Admiral's club opens at 5 am every day and closes at either 6:30 PM Saturday or 7:30 PM on all other days.
Located: After Security on Concourse C, Mezzanine Level, across from Gate 11.
According to one of the employees here (not sure his name) - Saturday is their slowest day.
It is a small lounge (compared to DFW or MIA airport) but it is cozy!
Hard to find a soul to serve you a drink and/or food at 6 am on a Saturday morning (Lucky for me I am not that hungry today). They do have OJ, muffins, fruit displayed, but I still need to call to get my Diet coke refilled.

I took some pictures of the different areas you can find at the Admiral's Club Nashville Airport (BNA)

The entrance:

The bar:

Breakfast/Snack area:

The rest of the Lounge:

Hotel Review: Holiday Inn & Suites: Jackson

Hotel Location: 55 Parkstone Place, Jackson, TN 38305
Telephone (731) 736-1174
Length of stay: 5 nights
Total cost $ 728.10
Room # 521

Entrance to the Hotel.
Beware: Since this Hotel is fairly new my GPS had a hard time finding it at first.
You can see the Hotel from the I-40 - Take exit 85 and stop taking directions from GPS. Just go to Hotel.

Breakfast is complimentary here every day of the week. I never made it to breakfast so I can't post a picture of it, but here is a picture of the tables at the breakfast area and also a picture of the coffee area.

Hotel Review: Holiday Inn Express - Brentwood, TN

This hotel is located at: 5566 Franklin Pike Circle in Brentwood, TN 37027
You can contact them by phone at (615) 221-5001
Distance from Nashville International Airport (BNA) to this hotel: 15 miles (20 minutes if you take the I-65S)
Room rate: $ 89 per night (Total incl tax $ 105.07)
Note: Due to my Platinum Status with Intercontinental Hotels (Priority Club) I was upgraded to Room # 426

4Th Floor Hallway

When to enter the room you find a medium size living area with a couch and center table, lamp and a work desk. Also a TV and some drawers.

A small kitchenette is located next to the desk but in a separate area. It includes microwave, bucket for ice, sink, coffee maker and a mini fridge (to keep my diet cokes cold)

Small bathroom with shower (no tub on this one) - A little dark for my taste, but for one night this was more than enough.

King size bed

TV stand, some more drawers, hangers.

General view of the room from the bedroom area.

In general: Friendly staff, inexpensive room for a nice area near Nashville, TN

24 hour business center (in case you need to use internet or print boarding pass)

Free breakfast (hot)

Free parking

Smoke-free hotel (yay!)

For more information visit:

https://secure.priorityclub.com/hotels/us/en/brentwood/bnahs/hoteldetail

Hilton HHonors announces the details of their fall promotion!

Hilton has just announced the details of their fall promotion, which will run from November 1 through December 31, 2012.

Through this promotion you earn 1,000 Hilton HHonors bonus points for every night you stay, with the exception of Tuesday and Wednesday nights. That means a Thursday through Monday night stay would earn you 5,000 bonus points, and a week long stay would also earn you 5,000 bonus points. There’s no limit to the number of points that can be earned, though there’s a big list of non-participating hotels for this promotion.

Registration is required prior to check-out of your first stay to qualify, and bonus points post 6-8 weeks after the completion of the stay.

*** Thank you One mile at a time for the information ***

Apple confirms AA and US Airways merge...

I can't believe we have to find out this way... Thanks to One Mile at a Time and his article about Apple and their promotional page for the new iPhone 5

Some of my favorite Blogs regarding travel

I would like to share with you some of my favorite travel blogs. They help me find the best deals and now promotions worth signing up for.
Some of them focus on the best way to earn miles and/or points. Some of them focus on travel adventures and experiences and some a little bit of everything... but what all of them have in common is the knowledge and experience sharing you expect from a good blog.

Hope you will find some of them interesting
1) View from the Wing
2) Million Mile Secrets
3) One mile at a time
4)  Frugal travel guy
5) Mommy points
6) Heels First travel
7) The Points guy
8) Frequently Flying

Every day or so I get updates from most of them via email and when they share experiences they direct you to the other bloggers website so they all keep the community posted.

Note: If you are new at collecting miles I strongly recommend you visit: Mommy Points and her beginers guide using the link below:
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/mommypoints/2012/08/11/how-to-get-started-earning-miles-and-points-beginners-guide/

300 PC points for downloading the Toolbar

Priority Club is offering 300 Priority Club points when you install the Priority Club toolbar, and an additional 300 points per stay until the end of 2012 when you make a reservation using it. Just fill out the form following the link above, and once you complete the download you should receive the 300 points to your account immediately.

* Terms & Conditions

Must be a Priority Club^® Rewards member to participate. 300 bonus points will be awarded for one toolbar download per member, then 300 bonus points will be awarded for any qualifying stay up to 31st December 2012. Allow 4 weeks from stay for bonus points to be posted to your account. Miles earners will receive points. Subject to availability. Offer valid on new bookings only, not applicable to groups and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers or special promotions. Only one room per member will be awarded the applicable points. Rates may vary by date of booking. Subject to standard Priority Club Rewards terms and conditions. 

I have not made a reservation using it yet, but as soon as I do I will update this post to confirm the award of the points for booking a room using it. I also had problems downloading to my Apple computer. After entering my PC#, Pin, Name, LastName and email I clicked "Download"
then got a message to get the link to the toolbar and then got an error message indicating it is not compatible with Mac... But I still got the 300 points for the download

1,500 Priority Club Points For Taking 3 Quizzes

Thank you The Points Guy for such a wonderful tip. I was able to complete all the quizzes and earn 2,000 Priority Club points today.

Priority Club has a fun little promotion going on at the moment where you can rack up to 1,500 Priority Club points by taking 3 different quizzes. The only thing is, you have to take each one of them 3 times to get all the points, but you can do it in two minutes, so you might as well take advantage of the free points. Answers are provided below but very obvious and easy to find.

Below you’ll find the links to the three quizzes. Links #1-2 in each lead to the same quiz in English, though they are counted separately because one is for the US and one is for Great Britain. The third link is in Japanese, so be sure to have one of the English quizzes open so you can put in the exact same corresponding answers.

Quiz 1

Each of these is worth 100 points for a total of 300
Version 1
Version 2
Version 3

Answers
-All of the above
-A free night you can redeem online anywhere
-All of the above and more

Quiz 2

Each of these is worth 100 points for a total of 300
Version 1
Version 2
Version 3

Answers
-15
-All of the above
-Silver

Quiz 3
Each of these is worth 300 points each for a total of 900 points
Version 1
Version 2
Version 3

Answers
-All of the above and more
-All of the above
-All of the above and more
-Over 4,300
-50 nights or 60,000 points


And here are the three additional quizzes for a total of 500 more points. Note: they’re in Chinese, so answers are included below. Hat tip: TPG reader Kevin.

Quiz 1 This one is for 100 points.
Answers
4
1
3
Quiz 2 This one is for 100 points
Answers
3
4
2
Quiz 3 This one is for 300 points.
Answers
4
4
4
4
3

Per the Terms & Conditions, you must be a Priority Club Rewards member. The number of bonus points, as indicated in the communication, will be deposited into member’s account within 48 hours after the quiz is submitted. Priority Club Rewards members are only eligible to receive the Bonus points once, regardless of the number of times the quiz is taken. Priority Club Rewards members who have chosen miles as their earning preference will be awarded points. Subject to standard Priority Club Rewards Membership terms and conditions and earning structure, which can be obtained by visiting www.priorityclub.com. This exclusive offer is valid for original recipient only.

Note: I did not get the email but I was able to enter my PC# and checked minutes after completing the Surveys and my Points are already there. Thank you!

If you are looking for inexpensive ways to earn "stays" at Hilton properties

Embassy Suites in La Quinta California is having a summer promo rate of $ 69 per night. This is a great deal if you are one or a couple of night(s)/stay(s) away from qualifying for Gold or Diamond or the next Elite tier up in your Hilton Hhonors membership.
We received an email last week announcing the Sizzling Summer Savings: Rates from $69 per night* use Offer Code SSP when booking.

*Subject to availability; 4-day advance booking required; Prepaid/Non-cancelable/Non-changeableNot available over the Labor Day Holiday Weekend.

 

This hotel is minutes away from Palm Springs in the beautiful town of La Quinta. They not only have standard rooms, patio view rooms & pool view rooms, but they are famous for their Casitas. Where you can have your home away from home.

 

Complimentary cooked to order HOT breakfast (Mon-Fri from 6:30 am to 9:30 am & Weekends and holidays from 7 am to 10:30 am) as well as 2 hours of Manager's reception snacks & drinks (5:30 pm to 7:30 pm daily) are included with the payment for the room.

 

To book you can call 1-800-EMBASSY or go on http://www.embassysuites.com/

Kick off the 2012 Olympic Games with a chance to win with Team USA

I just received via email another Hilton Hhonors opportunity to win something.

Hurry for a chance to

WIN EVERY TIME

Team USA wins.

The London 2012 Olympic Games have finally arrived, bringing you even more chances to win exciting prizes. Enter the Support the Dream Sweepstakes and you could win a “meet and greet” with Michael Phelps, a trip to an Olympic Training Center Fantasy Day, Hilton HHonors™  Points and more. A new prize will be given away every time Team USA™ wins a medal. Simply share some words of encouragement for Team USA on the HHonors Dream Wall and then enter for your chance to win. There's never been a better time to cheer on Team USA.

Use the link below to enter the Sweepstakes:

http://hhonorssponsorships.com/promos/supportthedream/?wt.mc_id=CMEM_BQE$MKB8r7dDsE

Share a good luck message with Team USA for your chance to win great prizes.

Every time Team USA wins, you could win too. Share your words of encouragement with the team while they compete in London. Once you share your message, you can enter for your chance to win great prizes like:

• The ultimate Fantasy Day at a U.S. Olympic Training Center
• An exclusive meet and greet with Michael Phelps
• Multiple HHonors points packages to use for a stay at any one of the 3,800 hotels and resorts within our ten distinct hotel brands
• U.S. Olympic themed Pins and so much more

http://hhonorssponsorships.com/promos/supportthedream/?wt.mc_id=CMEM_BQE$MKB8r7dDsE

Good luck Team USA! After entering your message to the team you will be taken to the Board where you can click and see all messages posted so far.
As of 07-29-12 at 9:08 AM PST you could find 162,620 messages on the Board

Buy AA miles promo

Use your American Airlines AAdvantage® miles to get there. Venture somewhere new, return to a favorite spot or visit friends and family. Purchase the AAdvantage® miles you may need to reach your flight award. Save 10% to 25% when you purchase between 5,000 and 40,000 miles beginning July 1, 2012, through August 31, 2012. The More You Buy, The More You Save!    For Example:

Promotional Terms and Conditions: For complete details see buyAAmiles® Terms and Conditions.

This email was sent to marisa.roth@apria.com because you subscribe to AAdvantage® promotions or AAdvantage® eSummary(SM) emails. This email has been sent on behalf of American Airlines. We are happy to help you with any questions or concerns you may have. Please contact us directly via www.aa.com/contactaa, or send an email to webmaster@aa.com. Or you may contact us in writing at: American Airlines AAdvantage® program, PO Box 619688, D/FW Airport, Texas, USA 75261-9688 AAdvantage® Program Terms and Conditions American Airlines reserves the right to change the AAdvantage® program and its terms and conditions at any time without notice, and to end the AAdvantage® program with six months notice. Any such changes may affect your ability to use the awards or mileage credits that you have accumulated. Unless specified, AAdvantage miles earned through this promotion/offer do not count toward elite-status qualification or Million Miler(SM) status. American Airlines is not responsible for products or services offered by other participating companies. For complete details about the AAdvantage program, visit AAdvantage® program terms and conditions AmericanAirlines, AAdvantage, AAdvantage Gold, AAdvantage Platinum, AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Million Miler, AAdvantage with Scissor Eagle design, AA with Scissor Eagle design, Scissor Eagle design, and AA.com are marks of American Airlines, Inc. oneworld is a registered trademark of oneworld Alliance, LLC. © 2012 American Airlines, Inc. All Rights Reserved. HTMLBGSV11M1E5980712

Points.com

Points.com helps you get the most from your loyalty programs - from your airline frequent flyer miles to your hotel points, from your credit card rewards to your gas and drugstore cards.

They make it easy to Trade, Exchange, Buy, Give or Redeem your points, miles and rewards from many of the world's leading programs. You can manage over 100 of the top loyalty programs, such as Aeroplan®, American Airlines AAdvantage®, American Express® Membership Rewards®, Airmiles, Delta SkyMiles®, Priority Club® Rewards, US Airways® Dividend Miles® and many more all from one convenient location.

Check their website for more information on how to sign up

http://www.points.com/

Check their blog for specials and offers:

http://blog.points.com/

HGVC TOUR BONUS

I called the Hilton Hhonors Customer Support 1-800-HHONORS (1-800-446-6677) this morning to make changes to the reservation I had for next week. After I made the changes I needed to make to my reservation the Agent offered to transfer me to take advantage of an offer for the chance to earn 500 points. I said: "Yes" of course

The second agent offered me 2 options of vacations 3 days and 2 nights in Orlando for $ 199
I said I was not looking for vacations this year. She mentioned this package can be taken 7 months from now and that you have 45 days to select dates.
I told her I was still not sure. She said:" How about I throw in some extra..."
I interrupted her. Explained again I was not planning on taking vacation anytime soon and said: Have a nice day.

I thought for sure I was not going to get the 500 miles offered since I did not "qualify" or took advantage of the offer. But 1 hour later I checked my Hilton Hhonors activity and there it was: 500 points HGVC TOUR BONUS 

Three Easy Ways to earn more miles, points or gift cards

Some of us are not interested in signing up for lots of credit cards to earn miles or points. Vacation time is limited for us that "work for a living" so traveling a lot to earn miles is out of the question sometimes. After a lot of research we found 3 sites that can help you get started or can get you to round up those points/miles you need to get something free.

1. My favorite one is My Points: Sends frequent emails offering points for clicking on links, making purchases, and taking surveys. This is easy and it only takes a few minutes per day.
You can register using my link My Points and I will get 25 points for your referral. Then you can invite all your friends LOL

Sign into MyPoints

Log into your MyPoints account before you start your online shopping.

Shop Your Favorite Brands

Find your favorite brands, make purchases and watch your Point balance grow.

Get Cash, Gift Cards or Travel Miles

Redeem your Points for valuable rewards, including gift cards to your favorite stores, cash or travel miles.

2. e-miles: Sign up, pick a sponsoring hotel or airline, and visit the e-miles homepage to watch ads at 5 miles a pop. If you take action on many of the ads you’ll get additional points. You can earn e-Miles miles to be deposited into your frequent flyer or sponsor account with Delta Air Lines®, US Airways®, United®, AirTran Airways®, Hilton HHonors®, Priority Club® Rewards, Frontier Airlines, Alaska Airlines®, Southwest Airlines® or Amazon.com Gift Card.

Now you can maximize your miles by shopping with:

Buy your Groupons through...	Buy your Groupons through your e-Miles® account and maximize your miles. Click to see what Groupons are available for you TODAY!	1500
Now earn miles for purcha...	Now earn miles for purchases made on iTunes - including music, TV shows, movies, books and apps.	200
Shop the latest from bloo...	Shop the latest from bloomingdale's and get free shipping on all $150+ orders.	5  +  1000
Shop NORDSTROM anytime

 3. E-rewards: This site offers rewards for completing surveys. You will receive emails inviting you to complete surveys. If you qualify for the offer you get paid more than if you don't.

Rewards typically range from $.25-$15 a survey and are sent based on your profile, so be sure you fill it out thoroughly and broadly. The only trick is you have to be invited by one of the many sponsors, so keep an eye on your inbox and don't let it pass if you receive the exclusive invitation.

Topguest and Foursquare... What a Combo

Another simple way of earning miles is:
1) Sign up for top guest at http://www.topguest.com/
2) Enter your hilton hhonors number and Priority Club number
3) Download the foursquare app
4) Check in at Intercontinental hotel/Holiday Inn properties and/or Doubletree hotels to earn 50 points per check in

Before ordering Flowers, Gifts or Baskets...

Every week I receive emails from FTD offering me 15 miles per dollar spent on almost all items on their website if purchasing via the below link:
Earn 15 Miles Per Dollar*

I thought... What a great deal! What I did not know is sometimes they have "unadvertised" promotions for 30 miles per dollar or ever 1,500 miles on any purchase.
When they offer x miles per dollar you tend to purchase higher cost items to earn more miles. Figure out how much each mile is worth or if you are close to reaching an award this might be a great way for you to get those few miles you need.

I recommend that before you purchase with FTD or 1-800 flowers you check the website of the airline you are banking your miles with:
For me: American Airlines also gives 100 miles per order to Gold members
For my husband: I found a deal on Delta.com for 30 miles per dollar on 1-800 flowers when FTD was only giving me 15 miles per $ 1 spent.

American Airlines current offer (May 28 through August 31, 2012 )
Earn 1,500 Miles Per Purchase On Flowers And Gifts At FTD
http://www.ftd.com/aadvspecialoffers/

Terms and Conditions:
*Exceptions Apply: Where a promotion references a special collection only, the promotion applies only to that collection. For purchases where miles or points may be awarded, such awards are not applicable to any products featured under "Add Special Gifts," FTD Gold Membership fees, or other fees such as service fees and shipping fees or applicable taxes. For promotions where discounts are available, discounts are applied to the standard retail prices set forth on the FTD.COM website (standard retail prices shall not include sale prices), and discounts are not applicable to (a) any products featured under "Add Special Gifts," (b) FTD Gold Membership fees, (c) other fees such as service fees, shipping and handling fees or applicable taxes, or (d) the following collections: Steuben, Nambé, Baccarat, USO and Ultimate Roses, and any other special collection added by FTD.COM in its sole discretion. Redemption of vouchers, gift certificates, gift cards or reward codes may be subject to additional or different restrictions; please refer to those products for their terms and conditions. This offer is not available in retail stores and is available online only or, if offered, through the special toll-free number. Promotion cannot be combined with any other promotions, gift certificates, coupons, discounts or affiliate programs (including reward programs). Same day delivery is available in most locations if order is placed before 2:00 p.m. in recipient's time zone. See http://www.ftd.com/custser for more information on same day delivery. Quantities may be limited. Offer subject to change without notice.
http://www.ftd.ca/ website is designed and available for Canadian residents.
Please allow 6-8 weeks for posting of AAdvantage miles to your AAdvantage program account by FTD. Arrangement prices include delivery, but do not include service fee or tax. American Airlines reserves the right to change the AAdvantage program and its terms and conditions at any time without notice, and to end the AAdvantage program with six months notice. Any such changes may affect your ability to use the awards or mileage credits that you have accumulated. Unless specified, AAdvantage miles earned through this promotion/offer do not count toward elite-status qualification or Million MilerSM status. American Airlines is not responsible for products or services offered by other participating companies. For complete details about the AAdvantage program, visit www.aa.com/aadvantage.
American Airlines, AAdvantage, AAdvantage with Scissor Eagle design and Million Miler are marks of American Airlines, Inc.