Thursday, April 19, 2012

Last Minute Persistence Pays Off

Here I am, about to be driving up to Syracuse tomorrow for the gun show on Saturday and I just finished making my hotel reservation at the last minute. I actually had already made a reservation at a Holiday Inn Express near the airport but had been hoping to make one for the Holiday Inn Express right at the fairgrounds. The one near the fairgrounds had no rooms available at all (not for points or cash) and none of the Holiday Inns or other hotels in their chain had a room available at the points rate I wanted to use, so I had to book on my credit card for about $127 for the night. The lowest amount of points, charged by one of their hotels in Syracuse was shown as 20,000. Since I only had 46,000 points, I wanted to make the most of them and get a rate at 15,000 points but the hotels with that points rate were booked. So, I figured I would pay for the stay and earn more points for next time.

Then, a few minutes ago, I decided to again check the Holiday Inn Express at the fairgrounds one more time. I don't know what happened to my back cloud because a room was available for points and the rate was only 15,000 points. I booked it immediately and I cancelled the other reservation. Now all I have to do is basically fall out of bed right into the fairgrounds come Saturday morning. I am going to see if the fairgrounds are within walking distance, I think they are very close to the hotel. If so I may ask the folks at Holiday Inn if I can just leave my car in their lot for  a few hours after I check out on Saturday morning.

With the $127 I am now not spending on the hotel (and a few more bucks), I may have to buy Brendan a few hundred rounds of .223 ammo to cheer him up since he is not coming along on this trip - something usually available at gun shows, like this: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/420-rds-223-556x45-mm-62-gr-m855-ammo-with-can.aspx?a=862719.

I have to say, that my joining the Priority Club when I was on the Federal Air Marshal detail after 9/11, was one of the smartest moves I have ever made. I have received a good amount of free hotel stays because of my membership. I also have a Priority Club VISA card that adds points as I use the credit card. That is not a bad deal at all. My good experience with Priority Club led me to joining Hilton Honors when I was away on another temporary assignment and was required to stay at an Embassy Suites. I got a good amount free hotel of stays out of that one too. I highly recommend joining a points club like that if you travel a lot.

All the best,
Glenn B

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