Matahari Guest House Bed
A good budget hotel choice in Kuta is the Matahari guest house. This hotel is located in southern Kuta; a short walk to the beach and the nightlife in Kuta. You can find daily rates starting from 20,000 Rp.
Grandmas Hotel Legian Twin Room
I arrived into the Legian area of Bali without a hotel booked at 11:30 PM. To make matters worst it was also a holiday, the beginning of Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of Ramadan. I kind of knew the area and walked around about 30 minutes without find any decent hotel rooms. I finally realized that I could use my phone to look for hotel rooms on the internet. I fired up Agoda.com and found hotels close by. I saw the Grandmas Hotel being offered for about 200,000 Rp/night. It was a special price because the hotel had just opened in August of 2012.
The last hotel I stayed in on this trip to Jakarta was the Le Meredien. This hotel is a Starwood Category 3 hotel and costs only 7,000 points a night.
This hotel is also centrally located on the main street, Jalan Jeneral Sudeiman but is not really walking distance to any malls. There is a mall on the back of the block but walking there requires walking against traffic along the side of the road. There is also a TransJakarta stop right outside of the hotel.
Le Meredien Jakarta Lobby
During my stay in Jakarta I also stayed at the Crowne Plaza Jakarta Hotel. For an award stay, rooms only cost 25,000 Priority Club Points but I paid cash for my stay here because I would be participating in a promotion where I get a $75 rebate after a 2 night stay here. The daily rate I paid was about $100 USD.
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I stayed at the Grand Hyatt Jakarta for my first night in Jakarta. I used my Hyatt Gold Passport Points for this stay and since this hotel is only a Hyatt Category 2 hotel, it only costs 8,000 points a night (a great value).
I was very impressed with the room. I would characterize the room as having a bright modern minimalist style. Everything was pretty new and in good condition. There was a small work desk in the room but no free wi-fi. I didn’t have much of a view because my window faced north towards an office building. There was a small closet area across from the marble bathroom. The bathroom was pretty big with a tub and separate area for the shower and toilet.
Grand Hyatt Jakarta Bed
I recently flew to the Los Angeles area to visit a friend. I found a cheap fare from Newark to Ontario for $159 all in (that’s round trip and including all taxes). I would arrive close to midnight and Los Angeles was about an hour’s drive away so I booked a night at the Radisson. I chose the Radisson Ontario hotel because it was close to the airport and because of Radisson’s 1 for 1 promotion; where I would get a free hotel room for staying 1 night between October 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012.
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Country Inn Orlando Maingate Hotel Exterior
For Radisson’s Big Night Giveaway Promotion I stayed one night at the Radisson Hotel in Orlando – International Drive. The next night I changed hotels to stay at the Country Inn & Suites at Orlando Maingate (but it’s pretty much in Kissimmee). I was able to find a rate of $62/night but with the taxes and the $8 resort fee it ended up being around $78. Overall it was not a bad deal because I ended up netting over 47,000 points with my bonus points from the promotion.
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Radisson Orlando International Drive Hotel Exterior
I recently stayed at the Radisson Hotel in Orlando – International Drive for Radisson’s Big Night Giveaway Promotion. I found a rate of $89/night but with the taxes and $10 resort fee, it came out to about $110 total. The resort fee “covers parking, & access to the YMCA located on property”. This isn’t the cheapest rate I’ve seen there (I’ve seen the $79/night rate come up before) but it worked for my mattress run purposes. I ended up netting over 54,000 points from this one stay with the promotion bonus.
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The bed in the Ambassador Transit Hotel.
I think staying at the Ambassador Transit Hotel in Changi Airport is a great option if you’re arriving late at night and have a flight out the next day. There are locations in Terminal 1, 2 and 3. There are only budget rooms (with shared bathrooms) in Terminals 1 and 2. The Ambassador Transit Hotel is located airside so you must NOT clear immigrants and customs. If you are coming from the budget terminal, you will need to to get your boarding pass to pass through security to get airside.
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Park Plaza Soi 18 Hotel Exterior.
Update: This hotel is now a category 3 hotel and cost 28,000 points a night. All 3 Club Carlson properties in Bangkok are now category 3 hotels.
I stayed at the Park Plaza Hotel Soi 18 several times during my last trip to Bangkok. I chose to stay at this hotel because Club Carlson was running a promotion where if you booked one award night, you would get 9,000 Gold Points. This hotel is a category 2 so each stay would cost me 15,000 Gold Points. Since I was getting a 9,000 point rebate with each stay, each night was effectively costing me only 6,000 Gold Points.
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