Tuesday was a big day at work for more reasons than a special project too. As you probably know, NASA delivered the retired Shuttle Discovery to Washington Dulles for display at the National Air & Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. On the way to Dulles, the NASA Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, an ex American Airlines 747-123 made several passes around DC. I expected one pass around town, but there must’ve been 3 or 4. Imagine my surprise when I looked outside the office window to see the Shuttle and her 747 carrier heading directly over. A colleague was able to snap some decent photos.

I’m trying to round up a few more shots. I still remember the first launch of Shuttle Columbia. It was big news, and it makes me just a tiny bit sad that we currently do not have a manned space flight program we can call our own.

]]> http://boardingarea.com/blogs/mjontravel/2012/04/19/my-spg-gold-credentials-arrived-space-shuttle-and-randomness/feed/ 0 http://boardingarea.com/blogs/mjontravel/2012/03/13/why-i-took-advantage-of-the-dividend-miles-hotel-transfer-bonus/ http://boardingarea.com/blogs/mjontravel/2012/03/13/why-i-took-advantage-of-the-dividend-miles-hotel-transfer-bonus/#comments Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:26:14 +0000 Marshall Jackson http://boardingarea.com/blogs/mjontravel/?p=4510 Now that about 2.4 million bloggers have weighed in with what a great deal the US Airways Dividend Miles hotel transfer bonus was or wasn’t, I thought I’d throw in my 2 cents. Like all things in the traveling life, this is a YMMV situation. Ric has one of the best analyses of anything miles/points related I’ve ever read. That said, I moved some Starpoints over to Dividend Miles. Why? I have a specific reward in mind, and I’ve been concentrating on pumping up my Dividend Miles account. For me, 37,500 Dividend Miles for 20,000 Starpoints seems like a swell deal. For you? Well, not to sound cliche’, but your mileage may vary. Spend those miles wisely.

All that said, this is just one more reason why I think the Starwood Preferred Guest program is evolving into one of the better values out there for travelers. Look for a post in the near future as to why I feel that way.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Then you can read about my favorite sweet suite upgrade ever here.

After treatment like that, how could one let something like a demotion to SPG Gold happen? Well, I’m just not traveling as much this year, and it wasn’t worth it to me to do a few targeted “matress runs” to make sure I maintained the status. Believe me, I thought about it, but in the end I decided to just reflect upon my time as Platinum fondly, enjoy my upcoming year as a Gold (who will now get free internet…awesome!), and share the story about how valuable I think Starwood Preferred Guest continues to be even at a lower elite status level. SPG Platinum, I’ll miss you, but I know SPG will still be kind to me.

Leverage your stays at Starwood hotels by applying for the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express. If you apply for and receive a card from Amex through this link, I will receive a commission.

Getting There

Since this was a “staycation” of sorts, we just cabbed it from our home in northwest DC to the hotel. For out of towners, the closest Metro station is Metro Center which services the Blue, Orange, and Red lines. From Reagan National (DCA) just take the Yellow Line to Gallery Place, and switch to the Red Line for the short hop over to Metro Center. (Note: Reader John points out that if you board the Blue Line at DCA, you can take that to both McPherson Square and Metro Center without changing trains at Gallery Place. I concur. Judging by the map, it “looks” to be a bit out of the way to take the Blue Line. In reality, it’s 8 stops to McPherson Square and 9 to Metro Center vs 7 stops to Metro Center (including 1 train change) if you take my suggested route. I live here and am accustomed to the Gallery Place gauntlet. For someone with bags and lacking familiarity with the Metro system, it would probably be less of a hassle to take the Blue Line even if it is 1 or 2 more stops. YMMV.)  I would plan on $15 dollars if you’re taking a cab from DCA.

Checking In

We arrived at the hotel around 3pm on Saturday afternoon. The lobby area was very quiet at that time and we walked right up to the front desk where we were pleasantly assisted. Once seeing my DC driver’s license, the agent questioned “just here for a staycation?” To which I replied that we were celebrating my birthday. Hey…..it seemed slow, I thought I might score a nice suite upgrade for myself. Alas, that was not to be, we were upgraded from a “Wonderful” room to a “Spectacular” room, but the desk agent did walk over to the lobby bar to bring us 2 glasses of champagne in honor of my big day. And with that, we were off to our 9th floor room. One item of note, the original elevator shafts from the old Hotel Washington remain in use, so the elevators are quite small in comparison to your average hotel, but they have been equipped with modernized lifts that require you to tap your room key on a reader in order to select one of the floors to get to your room.

The Room

Our 9th floor Spectacular room was typical W trendy with modern furnishings, an LCD TV, desk, and pretty cool bathroom. The original “bones” of the Hotel Washington are obvious though, because the room itself was quite small. Not European Hostel small….but if you aren’t familiar with old hotels, you might be surprised by the size of the room. Other than that, the bed was uber-comfortable, the desk area was well lit, and both wired and wireless internet were available for a fee of $14.95 per 24 hours. Thankfully, the internet is free to SPG Platinum members. Additionally, 2 hours of complimentary access is available to all in the lobby area. All in all, the room, while smallish, was very comfortable and certainly suitable for a short stay. Frankly, the hotel has a unique character coupled with the W cool factor. I snapped a few photos.

That last shot is on the window side of the bed looking towards the closet and chaise lounge. On the other side of that frosted glass is the shower. Be advised that if you are going to have friends over while one of you showers and gets ready, your guests could be in for a show. Since the room isn’t big enough for more than 2 people, that probably won’t be an issue, but consider yourself advised.

Around the Hotel

There are numerous great restaurants near the hotel including the ever popular Old Ebbitt Grill, the Occidental (at The Willard), and Bobby Van’s Steakhouse. Old Ebbitt is the most reasonably priced of those 3, but be warned it is VERY popular. If you want to dine their, make a reservation using Open Table or be prepared to wait on popular nights. The hotel’s on J&G Steakhouse receives good reviews but I have yet to dine there. Mrs MJ on Travel and I went for meat overload at Fogo de Chao, the Brazilian Churrascaria near the hotel. I hadn’t been in a while…as in years, and suffice it to say dinner was really good!

No piece on the W DC would be complete without mentioning its fabulous rooftop bar, P.O.V. The views of the sights in DC are just awesome. The White House seems close enough to almost touch! There is both an indoor and outdoor lounge on the roof. Frankly, the indoor lounge features some nice views of its own. Sorry for the poor iPhone image at night, but you get the idea.

The Bottom Line

A W with a more unique flavor than most, thanks to being converted from the old Hotel Washington, the W Washington DC gets the MJ on Travel seal of approval. If business or pleasure bring you to DC, consider the W. You won’t be disappointed.

What gives? Don’t tell anyone, but I’m soon to turn 42. Why not celebrate with a great dinner and a night at DC’s fabulous W Hotel? I’m all about it so that’s what we’re going to do to ring in my birthday! I can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday night in DC. Who says being off the road for a bit can’t be fun? And yes, you can count on a full review of our stay right here at MJ on Travel.

These are all great enhancements for top tier elites, but I think the changes for SPG Gold members are just as great, especially for entry level status. SPG Gold will now receive a check-in amenity and can choose from 250 bonus points (125 at aLoft, Element, and Sheraton Four Points), complimentary high-speed internet, or a complimentary beverage at the hotel bar. That represents a pretty nice enhancement at the Gold level if you ask me.

Starwood has also introduced a lifetime status benefit. Your loyalty will be rewarded with lifetime Gold status after 250 nights and any 5 years of elite status in the program. With 500 nights and any 10 years of Platinum elite status you will receive lifetime Platinum status. Great news for loyal guests. You can read all about these changes and others here.

In summary, I think these are really terrific enhancements to a perennial favorite hotel loyalty program. I’m especially impressed that Gold members can now have access to complimentary high-speed internet. These changes are a great development for the SPG program. Will these changes finally spur Marriott Rewards to turn things up a notch with their elite program? I certainly hope so.

Click here to do so.

Starwood – Double SPG points on 2-night stays and triple SPG points on 3-night stays. Registration opens tomorrow (1/9). According to this FT thread, the link to register is here. Should work tomorrow.

Marriott – Q1 Megabonus. Varies by account. Go here to see what your offer is. Mine was 1 free night after every second paid stay with a max of 2 free nights.

Hilton – More Points promotion. 1,000 bonus points per night, and a 2-night weekend stay earns 5,000 bonus points. Click here for the terms and registration.

These are the 3 programs I’m likely to use. Feel free to comment to the blog if you are aware of other great promos at these chains and especially others.

Hat tips to Points, Miles & Martinis as well as Loyalty Traveler.

With that out of the way, on to some details regarding my stay.

Getting There

The hotel is accessible by public transportation, but our business needs this week required a rental car. Be advised that parking at the hotel is $37 dollars per night plus tax.

Checking in

Arriving at the hotel just before noon, there were no crowds waiting to check in. I was immediately assisted and within a minute or 2 was on my way to room 2320, a “Fabulous and Cool Corner Room.” Oddly enough, this was the exact same room I was given during my last visit to the hotel in March 2010. Also, the hotel was offering a “green” option of opting out of housekeeping for up to 4 days in exchange for 500 Starpoints per day. I went for that….but for just 1 day!

The Room

Well, the room was unchanged from my last visit. It was fabulous and cool. Touché. Seriously, it was a good room, with a partial bay view. It seemed more spacious that normal rooms because of its location on the corner, which includes a long “hallway” of sorts at the entry then along the windows before you get to the “living” area of the room. I really like this particular style of room, which was equipped with a large LCD TV, chaise lounge, and of course, great W bed. The work area was very large, well lit, and comfortable. I receive complimentary internet access as a Starwood Platinum, otherwise, access is $14.95 for 24 hours. In a change from my prior visit, access is complimentary in the lobby area. Since I was unable to post pictures during my last visit, here are a few shots of the room. My apologies for the lighting in some of the shots.

I really liked the bath at this hotel. It’s not uber-modern like many of the more recent W’s, but the lighting and furnishings were to my liking.

Around the Hotel

The lobby of the typical W is the first thing I talk about at most W’s, and I’m sure this one will be the same and then some when renovations are completed in the spring. The hotel has a video presentation running with artist renditions of the way the lobby area and restaurant will look when done, and I think it’s going to be good. In the meantime, the hotel has established a temporary bar and restaurant offering a limited menu on the second floor. I was also able to get in a couple of good workouts at the hotel’s gym which was well-equipped with cardio and strength training equipment.

I also identified a couple of great spots for dining and imbibing. One, great for watching a game and drinking a beer, and the other (which I try to get to every time I’m in Seattle, is a pretty darn nice spot for great oysters, other seafood, and steaks. The Owl & Thistle, slightly hidden near Pioneer Square is a wonderful spot. Try the Ninkasi IPA with a Reuben! For finer dining, I always seek out The Brooklyn, on 2nd Avenue, between University and Seneca. I like this restaurant a lot, and this visit just reinforced my feelings. Steaks and a Bakers Dozen of oysters really hit the spot!

The Bottom Line

This hotel is a favorite of mine in Seattle and I look forward to visiting again, after the lobby remodel (or “Re Wonder” in W language) is complete. The staff was very pleasant and helpful, and you need not “wonder” whether or not I’ll be back. You bet I will!

As much as I don’t want to travel this week, I’m actually looking forward to sampling Alaska Airlines’ product (coach unfortunately). I’m also looking forward to returning to the W Seattle. I really enjoyed my last stay there, and I’m sure this one will rock too! Though I understand the lobby area is being renovated which is unfortunate as that was one of my favorite parts of the hotel.

In any event, look for a full review of my experiences with Alaska Airlines and the W Seattle this week. Wish me luck!