Kimpton Time

Now’s a good time if you’ve been thinking about staying at a Kimpton property (or have any hotel stays to make in the next couple of months).

  • There’s the 10,000 IHG points for a Kimpton stay before May,
  • Plus the $60 off $300 Amex Offer that most of us with American Express cards are seeing in our accounts,
  • Not to mention the 25% off sale at Kimpton right now,
  • And the potential cash back (like 9% from Upromise) from going through a portal.

Not bad. Thanks to reader Julia for sharing her deal-stacking thoughts. Have a great weekend, nerds!

 

United Award Sale

Feels like we’ve been seeing a bunch of these from airlines lately. This one…well, it isn’t the best of the bunch. That said, saving 20% on saver awards to Sydney, Singapore, Iceland, or Portugal is a pretty good deal for the right person. I guess I’m just not sure how many “right people” I know. Economy international flights (especially the ones that typically don’t cost much) aren’t usually the goal for most nerds.

 

Midweek Triple

  • If you haven’t signed up for Clear yet, you can get a 3-month trial membership for free.
  • Take a quick survey for 500 free Voila points and a chance to win 250,000.
  • Save 20% on Uber rides to/from locations throughout the country for the rest of black history month.

 

Auctions

Thanks to Chicago reader Craig who spotted a few Hilton auctions ending in the morning at a reasonable (for now) price. Probably a good time for my periodic reminder to check Hilton, Starwood, Delta, and/or Wyndham auctions every week or so. Especially if you’re rich with any of those currencies. Good stuff pops up occasionally and I only post these reminders once or twice per year.

Recent Customer Service Favorites

As much fun as it is to shine a light on douchebaggery…sometimes good people come along and deserve attention too. I’ve been lucky enough to have a few exceptional customer service experiences lately that I wanted to share…

  1. At the Grand Hyatt Kauai over the holidays, I noticed I was waking up feeling good in the morning. At first, I just assumed it had to do with the fact that I was…you know…in Hawaii. But it was more than that. Even in paradise, I typically start each day with a certain level of annoying neck discomfort. Not at this Hyatt. A few days after I got home, it hit me. Their hotel pillows were really helping. For whatever reason, it was the perfect amount of mushiness for my neck. And I’d been searching for the perfect mushy pillow for years. So I wrote to the hotel hoping I’d be able to buy one. The person I spoke to (Diann) had already been very helpful during my stay, but she went above and beyond this time. She waited for their next delivery date and then sent me two pillows at no cost. Didn’t even ask me to pay for shipping. She even included a very nice card. Wow.
  2. I’m very much a t-shirt and jeans type of guy. Spending a fortune on clothes is SO not me. But I do own a handful of nice things to wear. At the top of that list is a great pair of shoes from Bed Stu (that mostly just sits in my closet). Unfortunately, the left one broke recently. In my opinion, it was a premature death. I reached out to customer service and, after a couple of conversations, they generously took care of me. Now I have a new pair of boots sitting in my closet. Thanks to some of the greatest customer service I’ve ever experienced.
  3. Months ago, I went to Las Vegas to place a bet on Floyd Mayweather (who was fighting non-boxer Conor McGregor in a boxing match). At one point, I ended up at a little dive bar called Wildfire right by the Sunset Station casino. It was pretty jarring how nice everyone was. I started joking around calling it Disneyland and “the friendliest place on earth.” In Vegas of all places? Crazy. I was back in town a couple of weeks ago and decided to pop in to see if the first time was a fluke. Not only was it just as friendly, but one of the guys actually remembered me and treated me like a regular. From 6 months ago. When I was in there for less than an hour. This is not normal in most cities. Let alone Las Vegas.

Whether good or bad, customer service REALLY makes a difference. At least for me. Because of exceptional customer service, I’m loyal to certain businesses…whether a hotel, a shoe company, or a dive bar.