Our Trip to Thailand: A Starwood Experience

Hello everyone,

Robyn, Kayla and I arrived in Thailand yesterday. We landed in Phuket and went straight to the hotel. Kayla and I crashed while Robyn stayed up for a while. Today, I spent the day lodging my Australian Work Visa and then we went into town. Robyn also realized that we could Skype on the iPad for free with people back home. It worked out beautifully.

Phuket was great. Robyn and I both got a 1 hour massage with Kayla on a third bed just hanging out for under $20 total!! We walked around the markets and bought a few items. I got a Sim card with a Thai number. We think when we're in Chiang Mai and Bangkok, we'll buy A LOT of stuff and ship it home. We really like the quality of goods here and the pricing. We're off to Chiang Mai tomorrow.

Now for the reason for the title of the post. If you have ever talked to me, you know I'm a huge fan of the Starwood Members Program. There are a ton of benefits. They include usually free room upgrades and late checkouts among many other things. Sign up Now. There are 9 different brands in the program, but we prefer the Westin. They have the Heavenly Bed Collection. Robyn and I argue about every mattress we sleep on except for these. We hope to buy two Queen Mattresses when we finally buy a house (hopefully, soon :) )

The really best reason we like the Starwood Members Program though is the massive return on points. Take this trip for example. The flights to Thailand from Brisbane were $2062 for Me, Robyn and Kayla in total. That would have cost no less than 60,000 points per person. This leaves each point being worth about $0.017 ($2062/120,000 Points)

Now look at the hotel rates. I'm staying in Thailand for 17 days. The travel agent told me that she could book my rooms for the whole trip for $4000. This included breakfast. When I went online, using just cash, I could book the same rooms for $3100, not including breakfast. If I used the 'cash and points' system, I paid $720 and 44,000 points for the whole 17 days. There was a savings of $2380 by using the Starwood hotel points. These points are worth $0.054 ($2380/44,000 points) (If you look at the travel agent rate, they are worth $0.075 ($3280/44000))

Now just looking at the flights versus hotel: 120,000 to save $2062, or 44,000 to save $2380. You know which one I chose.

Now there is one more added benefit to this. With the discounted rates on the rooms, I avoid paying taxes on the 'real' room amount. In Thailand the VAT is 7%, so I'm not paying an additional $166 (the $2380 I saving by using points x 7% VAT tax)  in taxes. This tax amount is another reason why I prefer to use the Starwood program.

Lastly, I get all these points by using the American Express Starwood Card. This is how I get all these points I spend. There is a $45 yearly fee, but well worth it when you look at the savings. When you use the card you get 1 point for every dollar you spend, and more at any starwood hotel. If you spend $30,000 a year, you get bumped up to gold level right way for a year. This card beats other AMEX Cards, like AMEX BlueSky because I get more value per point this way (~$0.05/point) and I don't pay tax on the higher room rate. With AMEX BlueSKY, you take $100 off of the post tax rate for 7500 Points (Worth $0.013/point). You can apply for the AMEX Starwood Card on your own, or I can e-mail you a link so we both get rewards, just let me know you are asking for the link.

I know it seems like an advertisement, but I just want all my friends to use their money wisely and get the most out every dollar they spend. Let me know what you think. If you have any better ways of saving money or using points, please post a comment on this blog, so we can all learn.

So just to recap, we're having a great time in Thailand and I really like the Starwood program, because otherwise I could not afford all this travelling on my own. :)

PS Fiji's hotels were paid on just points.

Keep in Touch,
David