10 Absolutely Insane Ways To Blow One Million Starpoints

Are these absolutely insane ways to blow one million Starwood Preferred Guest points? You bet. But oh what I wouldn't give to have the opportunity ;)

W Maldives Retreat & Spa

What would you do if you had a million Starwood Preferred Guest points to blow?

Kauai/Kalalau Trail May 2013 - Sheraton Kauai Resort

***This post is part 5 of a full trip report. The index can be found here***

I drove halfway around the entire island to get to the small town of Poipu on the South Shore. Exhausted from the two-day hike and covered in mosquito bites, I wearily pulled up to the temporary lobby parking and limped inside. After a brief wait in line, I was helped by an incredibly friendly front desk attendant who took one look at me asked if I was feeling alright. I explained the mud, grime, and bug bites, and mentioned that I had just returned from the most amazing experience on the Kalalau Trail.

Sheraton Kauai Resort lobby

It's funny because I noticed whenever I mentioned Kalalau to any of the locals, their faces always seemed to light up and their first response was always 1) how much they loved doing the hike themselves or 2) how they really want to do the hike someday. The charming lady helping me was in the latter camp, and we proceeded to have a fun chat about my experience.

Often times, I find that being friendly and engaging with the front desk staff can be the ultimate impetus for earning some nice perks at check-in, including the highly-desired upgrade. Not that I was being friendly and engaging merely for an upgrade... I was genuinely excited about the hike, having literally just stepped off the trail a few hours before. But as the agent began typing away at the computer looking for my room, I had a feeling she might be a little extra nice to me. It probably also helped that I told her I didn't care if the room had a king bed, two beds, or no bed at all, I just wanted a hot shower!

A few minutes later, she smiled and told me she had upgraded me to an ocean-front room. I thanked her profusely, and told her how much I appreciated the gesture. Before I left, she stuffed six complimentary welcome Mai Tai certificates into the key holder and told me I looked like I could use a few extra drinks. I had a feeling this was gonna be an awesome stay.

My building

Kauai/Kalalau Trail May 2013 - Introduction

***This post is part 1 of a full trip report. The index can be found here***

The Kalalau Trail along the famed Na Pali Coast on Kauai is consistently named one of the most beautiful hikes in the world, and even the most beautiful coastal hike period. Although I had already been to the island a number of times before, I knew I had to make another journey there just to see Kalalau Beach at the end of the 11-mile trail with my own eyes.

Luckily, armed with a sizable amount of Avios in my British Airways account and also some SPG points, I knew I could make this trip a lot more affordable than the typical traveler. One of the best uses for Avios are domestic short-haul flights on American Airlines or Alaska Airlines, since the British Airways award chart is now based on the distance traveled. As such, direct flights from the West Coast to Hawaii actually come at a huge discount when compared to the typical number of miles charged by legacy carriers (25,000 Avios vs. 35,000-45,000 miles).

Alaska Airlines has tons of direct flights to many of the islands from the Bay Area, and since I was booking nearly ten months in advance, I easily found round-trip award space for SJC-LIH. Taxes came out to a whopping $5, and I was even able to convince them to waive the phone fee since Alaska Airlines award flights cannot be booked on the British Airways website.

Unfortunately, one of the hassles of booking so far in advance is the likelihood of schedule changes. And about four months prior to departure, I received an email stating that the direct SJC-LIH flight had been canceled, and I was being rerouted through SEA. Even though this increased my travel time by more than two hours, I didn't really mind, as British Airways didn't charge me more Avios or taxes and fees. Luckily, the LIH-SJC return flight remained unchanged.

For lodging, I used SPG points to book two nights before the hike at the Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas on the north shore, which is relatively close to the Kalalau trailhead. For the two nights after, I booked the Sheraton Kauai Resort in Poipu on the south shore just to experience a different part of the island. Luckily, I did all of this prior to SPG's major Cash & Points devaluation and comparatively minor category changes in March 2013. The Westin moved up to Category 6, while the Sheraton stayed at Category 5.

Most frustrating of all was the inclusion of the dreaded resort and parking fees, along with taxes on the cash portion of the redemption. I'm glad to say that the Westin still doesn't charge a resort fee, but they do have a $13/night parking fee along with taxes. Sheraton charges a $31.25/night resort fee (including parking) along with taxes. Both provide in-room WiFi, thankfully.

Lastly, in order to camp at Kalalau Beach, you must have a permit purchased from the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources website. The cost is $15 for Hawaii residents and $20 for non-residents, along with a $2 online fee. Permits for the Kalalau Trail go fast, especially during the summer high season, so be sure to purchase them far in advance. In all, total out-of-pocket cost for airfare and lodging came out to $422.82.

Kalalau Beach - May 3, 2013

Kauai/Kalalau Trail May 2013 Trip Report

Earlier this month, I took a quick five-day trip to Kauai. The main purpose was to hike the Kalalau Trail along the famous Na Pali Coast. Kalalau has consistently been named one of the most beautiful hikes in the world, and I was very excited to finally be able to see the spectacular scenery in person after wanting to visit for so many years. Although I was slightly nervous about doing the two-day hike on my own, things turned out alright, and I met some great people along the trail. Read on for all the details:

• Introduction
• Alaska Airlines 321/873 Economy Class (SJC → SEA → LIH)
• The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas
• The Kalalau Trail
• Sheraton Kauai Resort
• Exploring Kauai
• Alaska Airlines 848 Economy Class (LIH → SJC)

Tokyo/Vietnam July 2011 - Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel And Spa

***This post is part 16 of a full trip report. The index can be found here***

So finally, almost a week and a half into my trip to Tokyo and Vietnam, I arrived at my first internationally branded hotel: the Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel and Spa. Not that I'm complaining really, since virtually all of the local accomodations I'd stayed at so far exceeded my expectations, and in some cases completely blew them out of the water (see Hanoi Elegance Diamond Hotel). Nevertheless, I admit I was a little excited to finally return to a sense of familiarity.

Stepping into the lobby of the Sheraton Nha Trang, I was quite impressed with how large and upscale it was compared to most Sheratons in the United States. To the right was a grand circular staircase leading up to the second floor restaurants and bar, and if you looked up, you would see a hundred or so hanging glass sculptures of birds in flight. All in all, it was a pretty spectacular entrance.

I went up to the check-in counter and was greeted by a pleasant gentleman probably in his late 20s. He saw my booking from the Starwood website and acknowledged my gold status, informing me that he had put us up on the 19th floor "SPG Level". I wasn't quite sure what exactly that meant, but I later found out it wasn't the club floor and didn't really come with any additional benefits besides being on one of the higher levels. Now here's the embarrassing part... it's definitely been a while since I stayed at an SPG hotel, and when I do, it's typically for work on a special corporate rate that includes internet. In any case, for some stupid reason, I thought having SPG gold provided complimentary internet, so I asked the gentleman about it, and he was apologetic and said that unfortunately, it doesn't. I challenged him a bit on it but he didn't budge, so I let it go and went up to my room. Later on, I went ahead and purchased internet access (~$15/day) and perused SPG's website for the specific benefits of gold status, and indeed I was wrong... oops! I really should read up on these details prior to checking in!

The standard room itself was very spacious and nicely decorated. I requested 2 beds and was glad they were able to accomodate us. Every room in the hotel has a balcony as well as an ocean view since they are all slanted at an angle towards the beach, but being on a higher floor does provide a nicer panorama of the surroundings. I also really liked the bathroom because the large bathtub and shower are sort of in an enclosed glass room by themselves, with the entire room being open to the shower.

Ocean view from the room balcony

City view from the room balcony

Along with the slight room upgrade for gold status, they also provided some complimentary fruit and water, as well as a 30% off certificate for one of their restaurants, Steam 'n Spice. We did end up trying 2 of the restaurants in the hotel since, to be perfectly honest, we got a little lazy in terms of actually exploring the city (I'll talk more about this later). Steam 'n Spice served up a diverse selection of Chinese dim sum fare as well as a mixture of traditional Vietnamese cuisine. I went with a simple pho noodle soup, which was just ok, and a couple of dim sum dishes, which were decent. I also ordered a passionfruit drink that was delicious. The next day for lunch, we tried out Feast, a typical hotel buffet restaurant. But instead of getting the buffet, we decided to try something else (since we had been eating nothing but Vietnamese food for the past week and a half). My friend ordered sushi and I got a nice juicy burger with fries - I had been craving some greasy American food that day ;)

Steam 'n Spice restaurant - pretty empty that night

Feast restaurant

Sheraton Nha Trang has it's own private section of the beach directly across the street. They provided towels, and I believe you could also order drinks there, but we didn't bother. I really enjoyed the infinity pool inside the hotel as well, and I ended up spending as much time there as I did at the beach. They also had a full gym and spa at the hotel... I tried out the gym on both days, and was happy they had a full range of new equipment. These are some of the things you most likely won't find at a locally-owned hotel, so there are always advantages and disadvantages to choosing one or the other.

Gym overlooking the pool

Overall, I was very happy with our stay at the Sheraton Nha Trang. It was definitely a nice change of pace from the string of local hotels we stayed at, and provided a more luxurious experience, despite being very reasonably priced.