Milenomics² Podcast Episode 236: A Bermuda Trip Report and More

0:21 Should our miles be holding seats for us? 

• Deployed all of my AA miles for LAX_LHR and LAX_FCO next summer

• These were around 55-60k pp in business with a connection

• They also have a connection (FCO is a must, but LHR could be nonstop)

• This got me thinking–I should probably deploy more miles to ‘hold’ seats. 

• A booking is a clarifying point – it helps clear the schedule and hold a weekend.

• Even if I don’t take these flights a schedule change could let me get onto a better route. 

• What other miles work for this? Delta? Southwest? 

• There really isn’t a negative to this, is there?

09:37 [Targeted] Amex Business Platinum 35,000 Referrals

• This is pretty generous

• Results in a 200k for $20k offer, but can be used for any card

• Should we be doing this for throwaway referrals?

12:22 US Bank reconsideration 

• Reconsidered and….

• Still denied. 
  

13:33 HB Vacasa Rental: Square deal

• Lots of great outreach last week about other places to use Wyndham points

• 121,000 points for 3 nights – $2200 in cash, 

• Just under the $750x3 ($2500)threshold for the lower prices.

• Nothing around, this area is a SLEEPY beach town.  Reminds me of Hermosa and Manhattan 30 years ago (which I love, but without the nostalgia most people would probably rather be somewhere busier).

• Is a “staycation” a real vacation? For me: no, for my P2: yes! 
  

21:37 Bermuda Trip Report

22:49 BermudAir BOS - BDA

• So nice that BermudAir has established price competition against JetBlue out of Boston (and other airports)

• For example for the return flight, JetBlue wanted $600 pp one-way and BermudAir was just $250 pp one-way

• Booked with BofA Elite with a “one time exception” whereby I booked directly with my Elite credit card (along with a BermudAir promo code) and the concierge later deducted points for a statement credit which equated to a 20% discount (1.25 uplift)

• 3 levels of Economy, 2 levels of “Business”

• Carry on bags limited to 9 kilos - semi-enforced

• Ending up booking Economy because Business just means front of the plane (still all 2x2 seating) and lounge access (which in Boston I could get with Priority Pass at AirFrance lounge and in Bermuda I don’t think it’s even open yet - least of all for a crack of dawn departure)

• Business Class would have really turned out to be a bust because there wasn’t any service on the way there at all due to turbulence

• Sidebar: Which credit card(s) are best for Priority Pass these days? Looking for unlimited guests (or at least 3 guests). Also sometimes looking for restaurants. BofA Elite to the rescue: Still includes guests and restaurants. Difficult to activate but worth it? Chase Ritz also nice for more guests at Sapphire Lounge. Delta SkyClub through Morgan Stanley for older kids. That’s my lounge strategy for 2024.

• Booked refundable Economy on the way back hoping JetBlue with drop price close in, which they did not. In fact they raised prices from $600 pp one-way to $850 pp one-way and the plane was nearly sold out (couldn’t flank to it if I wanted to, not enough seats for sale)

• Checked golf clubs and two bags, and carried the rest of our luggage on the plane, free with “Classic” Economy

• Flight was totally fine. Overhead bins large enough for bags. Seats are plenty comfortable. Boarding is efficient and pleasant since the plane is small and there’s no hierarchy to confuse things. Everyone in Economy just boards at the same time. No WiFi (supposedly coming soon) but some movies and TV shows on your own device. Flight is less than two hours.

• Prepping arrival cards online before trip was a time saver: https://www.gotobermuda.com/bermuda-arrival-card

• Super easy to clear customs and make it through customs

• Booked ground transportation through the Rosewood ($40 for a van) so a guy with a sign had a van waiting for us, just a 10 minute ride from the airport

Current BermudAir route map:

33:49 Rosewood Bermuda Fractional

• My white whale!

• Idea here is to “rent the runway” by renting a “fraction of a fractional” vacation home with a beach and country club membership

• Place is absolutely fantastic. It’s like Aviara when Four Seasons ran the hotel, but with an outstanding private beach.

• Booked through Elite Alliance (more info on this in Ep 203)

• To participate you need to own a fractional, high end timeshare, or vacation property in their portfolio

• Booked last year, canceled due to hurricane

• Took a credit with them, which I was able to re-book for exactly the same price a year later

• 2 Bedroom/2 Bath 1,800 SF villa adjacent to the Rosewood hotel

• These sell for around $200,000 down + $25,000 per year in maintenance fees for a 1/10th ownership which entitles you to 5 weeks sprinkled throughout the year

• Elite Alliance is an exchange service that allows owners of affiliate fractionals to swap weeks mostly through a point system that estimates the value of a week depending on property, dates, number of bedrooms, etc

• They also have short notice “Elite Escapes” (within 30-45 days) whereby you can pay cash for a stay rather than depositing an unused stay at your home resort

• $1,595 for 4 nights (though we ended up using just 3 of those nights)

• Some additional required fees required for the stay: $140 pp per stay temporary country club membership (discounted golf, beach club/tennis/resort access), daily housekeeping including gratuity ($83 per day for 4 people), departure housekeeping ($90). So it’s not cheap but it is very very nice.

• Pre-scheduled grocery online through local grocery store that was unloaded/in the fridge prior to arrival. Expensive, and confusingly small package sizes.

• Serious “wow” factor on arrival. So much nicer than a hotel room (or rooms) for even a small family gathering. 1 King, 1 Twin beds. Super comfortable. Ample space galore, plus outdoor dining, grill, day beds, etc. Laundry. Kitchen. High quality furniture, wine glasses, etc. Just fantastic.

• Dining

• 3+ outstanding restaurants: Beach Club restaurant (outdoors, but fancy), Island Brasserie (steakhouse, but with broader offerings), Sul Verde (upscale Italian, on the golf course with views)

• Chair service and food & beverage service at the hotel pool and beach club

• Activities

• Golf: Regularly $225 pp on weekends, $125 with membership, kids 17 and under just pay cart fee. Great views, very hilly, a little scrubby, quite challenging but fun.

• Spa: Rave reviews.

• Beach: Fun for the whole family. Soft pink sand, warm turquoise water, chair service, adjacent pool and restaurant. Quite mobbed for the holiday weekend but we enjoyed it each day we were there.

• Other

• Rented a 4 seater golf cart for $50/day which enabled getting around the sprawling resort. Fun. Good practice for driving on left side of road (and you do actually drive the road).

• Honor Bar: Perfect. Great deal.

• Folio Accuracy: 100% (no coincidence that hotels with loyalty perks so often get this wrong?)

• Charged everything to room, 

• 5 out of 5 stars. Met expectations across the board. Only challenge will be finding dates that work in the future.

56:13 BermudAir BDA - BOS

• Flight departs at 8a, which puts pressure on security and customs opening times

• Rosewood scheduled a taxi for us at 6:30a for an 8a flight. Asked them to push it to 6:15a for a little margin.

• Went to check in online, but was only successful for 3 out of 4 passengers

• Zero sense of urgency getting people checked in at BermudAir, perhaps because they knew the flights weren’t going out on time. Same people checking bags as at the gate.

• Security couldn’t scan paper boarding passes due to a janky printer but eventually relented after creating some stress

• Took a solid 40 minutes to check bags and clear immigration (it’s in Bermuda so you don’t have to clear customs in the US upon return). Most of the time spent was slow moving bag check.

• Only flights going out that morning were BermudAir to BOS and Baltimore, right next to each other

• Gate agents arrive after checking everyone in downstairs and they’re all hovering around the Baltimore gate

• Two planes are that, so that’s good. But no gate agents for Boston. The display signs are clicking along in an automated manner as if boarding is occurring. Then closing. Then our departure time comes and goes and a gate agent finally says, “She’ll let us know when she ‘has the information’”. (?) Really shabby communication.

• They queue up Baltimore for boarding, then change their mind about that.

• They announce they’re doing an equipment swap and I’m thinking, “these guys have extra planes?”

• Turns out they swapped the Baltimore plane for the Boston plane, which necessitated moving all the luggage around.

• Boston left an hour+ late, unclear what happened to Baltimore. But man: The thin service on this route made me nervous. Only other direct option that day was JetBlue and it that flight was $850+ pp, 4 hours later, and only had 3 seats for sale on it.

• Flight home was fine. Actually did drink service. Complimentary drinks and carrot bread. Not too shabby.