Details

Written by Darren Ho

Created: 02 May 2014

Date: 24/4/2014

Room Booked: Deluxe King Room

Upgrade: 1 Bedroom Corner Suite with Executive Lounge Access

Level: 26 (There are 37 levels in the hotel)

Status: Hilton HHonors Gold Member

Cost: $330AUD

Lobby

The lobby is so grand and magnificent. It is famous for its' huge spiral staircase to the next floor. The feeling is of spaciousness and luxury

Check-In

Check-in was quick and efficient. I arrived at about 9pm so not many people. The person on the reception was polite and professional. She gave me a list of benefits as a Gold member of Hilton which included buffet breakfast and Executive Lounge access Room Upon entering my room – my jaw dropped. The room is a 1 bedroom suite – which includes a powder room, extra bathroom, Ensuite with shower, double sink and tub. The master bedroom had a nice king sized bed as well as a couch next to it for gazing outside the window to the river and city nearby. There is a TV in the bedroom as well – 42 inch LED screen which also includes Apple TV box – so it lets you use the computer there. No need to bring a laptop.…

Details

Written by Darren Ho

Created: 01 May 2014

The lounge is located near the gate I was going to depart at – gate 123. You go up the elevator and you will see the Asiana Airlines First and Business Lounges there.

As I had a business class ticket – I was only entitled to the Business Class option for this. Upon entry – the lounge was actually average size – possibly smaller than the Air New Zealand Lounge at Sydney International Airport

Dining

There is actually quite a big spread of food. I arrived there at about 4pm – so there were some people – but not overcrowded.…

Details

Written by Darren Ho

Created: 30 April 2014

Date: 17^th-20^th April (3 nights)

Room Booked: 2 Bedroom Apartment

Upgrade: 2 Bedroom Apartment Ocean View

Cost: $305 per night under the MVP Baseball Hilton code. This let’s you book on the advanced rate but it is cancellable.

People: 4 Adults, 2 children

Status: Hilton Gold member

Level of hotel: Level 18 on Orchid Tower

Check-In

There was only 1 person ahead of me during check-in which was nice. I was checked in by the Duty Manager of that day.

I have been in this hotel 2 previous times as a Gold member. Both times previously I was upgraded to a 3 Bedroom Apartment with Executive Lounge Access. This time I was only upgraded one-category. Also I was told no Executive Lounge access is provided for apartments. I asked why this is and told they have clamped down on the benefits. I asked how much it is to gain access to Executive Lounge access and told that they couldn't do it because they were at high occupancy. I thought this was just an excuse.

As a gold member was provided no letter stating benefits. Previous 2 visits had better recognition and Hilton premium members.

Apartment

The 2 bedroom apartment was nice and spacious for our family of 6. The master bedroom has a nice view of the ocean. As we have 2 small kids – we requested 2 cots, which were brought up promptly. There is a king sized bed and ensuite. The shower was nice and large. I wished I had one of these at home…

Details

Written by Darren Ho

Created: 29 April 2014

As I have discussed in previous posts – my 2 recommended credit cards to have for gaining points is the American Express Platinum Edge credit card and the Citibank Signature Credit Card.

By having access to these 2 cards you could be flying off on business or first class quicker than you thought you ever could.

It just takes a bit of getting used to which stores will provide you with the most number of points (e.g. Woolworths, Coles) and the promotions that currently exist.

Woolworths Everyday Reward Card in addition to the Amex Platinum Edge Card

Also what is good about using the Amex Platinum Edge card at Woolworths other than the 3x points for every dollar you spend is the Everyday Reward card that you can sign up for in store. For every dollar you spend over $30 – you receive a Qantas Frequent Flyer point. So if you spend $300 in one transaction at Woolworths – you can be getting 900 Amex points + 270 Qantas Frequent flyer points. That would be a total of 1170 points. Keep in mind that a business class on special to South East could be as low as 40,000 points (e.g. Malaysia Airlines).…

Details

Written by Darren Ho

Created: 28 April 2014

Seat: 3G

Class: Business

Flight No: OZ602

Route: Sydney -> Seoul

Departure Time: 9:30am Sydney Time

Arrival Time: 7:00pm Seoul Time

Duration of Flight: 10 hrs 30 min

Boarding the Plane Boarding the plane was nice and easy as I was in the priority line due to Business Class ticket.

Entertainment

There is an entertainment unit for each seat in Business Class. Unfortunately it is not an On-Demand system. There are 15 channels each with an English audio and Korean audio channel.

There is one movie/documentary/kids show on each channel that is repeated. So this is the one limitation on the in-flight entertainment. The screens initially seem quite far away from the seat – but when operating it – you can see that the screens are quite large for a flight and you adjust to it.

I was watching Back to the Future Part 1. It was quite a nice experience with the nicely shaped earphones provided.…

Details

Written by Darren Ho

Created: 27 April 2014

Want to fly to the US or Europe on Business and First Class for the price of an economy ticket? How about flying around the world for a fraction on the price?

With US Dividend Miles programme – you now can. I am flying to the US at the moment via Asia all on Business and First Class flights. How much you ask? Less than $1500 AUD. This ticket if bought outright would cost at least $20,000.

US Dividend Miles is part of One World Alliance (previously part of Star Alliance). With the rewards chart – to fly to North America on Business is 110,000 Miles return. To Fly to Europe is 140,000 Miles return.

Now how do you obtain these points? You can't earn them through Amex or any credit cards here in Australia. So what you need to do is buy the miles

Below are the details:

1. Sign up for a US Dividend Miles account.
2. You need to wait 12 days before you can buy, receive or share miles.
3. If you buy 50,000 miles outright – it will cost you around $2,200 AUD. You don’t want to do this. You want to buy the points when they are on special. There are regular promotions where if you buy 50,000 miles – you receive another 50,000 miles. That would be a total of 100,000 miles. You now need only another 10,000 miles. So your total cost to buy the points could be about $2,500 AUD. Add Tax of about $300 – and to fly to the US would cost you about $2,800 AUD on Business Class. Not bad as an economy ticket in high season can cost more than $2,000 AUD
4. The best way to buy the points is through the “Share” promotion. These promotions do not happen as regularly as the above – but it involves sharing points with another account holder, and them sharing it back. By doing this – it is only costing $650AUD for 50,000 miles. So if you need 110,000 miles – then the cost would be $650 x 2 = $1300. Add another 10,000 miles – cost maybe $150. Then add tax: