Tag: Enrich Miles

The Danna Langkawi: A Brief Escape To Remember

Travel Buzz

Entrance to the infinity pool

This happened last year days before my birthday. I have Enrich Miles (Malaysia Airlines) expiring and it was only enough for a short haul return flight (from Manila) so I thought what better way to spend my birthday than fly to one of its local destinations. I thought it would be nice to stay in a beach resort where I could sit back, relax, have a quiet day to celebrate my birthday while enjoying the sun, sea, and sands. That is how I would usually spend my birthday, either in one of our islands (like El Nido Resorts Palawan two years earlier) or abroad (like Guam the year before). As usual, I googled ‘best beach resort in Malaysia’ and came across a list from an international travel magazine. The Danna Langkawi topped that list and made it easier for me to decide where to go. So I booked a flight to Langkawi using my expiring miles.

Hotel exteriors and grounds

Like my last trip to Athens, the trip to Langkawi didn’t go without hiccups. When I got to Langkawi, my luggage didn’t arrive with me. I already had a feeling that there’s a possibility of that happening, since my outbound flight (from Manila) to Kuala Lumpur was delayed by more than an hour that ate up my layover time in KL before my connecting flight to Langkawi. Given that I’ll be only staying for a couple of nights in Langkawi, it’s quite stressful to know that I only had the clothes on my back in an island in a foreign country until the airline could sort out the exact location of my luggage, not to mention the paperwork at the lost baggage section of Langkawi airport. Tired, weary, and worried about my luggage, I checked in at The Danna thinking that I don’t want my birthday to end up like that, stressful. Even with the refreshing welcome drink and wet towel, my mind was still with my missing luggage. When the receptionist learned about my luggage situation, she assured me that the hotel will handle it. All I have to do is just to surrender the copy of the paperwork that I did at the airport and they will be the ones to do the follow thru. That’s when I started to relax.

Oasis inside with a pond full of colorful carps and the immaculate infinity pool

After checking in, they ushered me to the receiving area and gave me a free 15 minute massage. I found my worries slowly dissipate with the relaxing massage. I would have wanted more time, but that would cost me already. So I decided to proceed to my room. Before reaching my room, I was already pleased with the wide hallways along balconies. The hotel building is like a square from an aerial view, where the internal balconies are facing a hollow center where sea breeze can freely flow thru and external balconies have either city or sea views. When I got to my room, I was glad that it was spacious and has that resort vibe. It also has nice views of the marina and the beach.

Marina view and the bathroom

The hotel wasn’t crowded that time so I freely moved around, checking out every nook and cranny. I fell in love with the colonial design amidst modern amenities like the infinity pool. My favorite part aside from the pool and the beach was the lounge, with high ceilings that exude classic ambiance and a baby grand piano as the centerpiece. There’s also a lush garden inside, an oasis in a predominantly white concrete setting. There’s a pond that extends around the garden, where colorful carps have plenty of space to freely swim and enjoy regular feeding from hotel staff at different spots and snacks from hotel guests. It seems like these gentle creatures have become smarter, knowing exactly where to go and get second helpings from different feeding spots. Very clever indeed.

Lounge and bar

Then there’s the infinity pool. The loungers are sitting on shallow pool water, so it’s something different than the typical dry ones. It was so enticing to take a dip, but unfortunately, I wasn’t ‘dressed’ appropriately, so I decided to go to the beach instead. Just before the beach is a garden where tables, chairs, lighting, and sound system were being set up for what looks like a wedding reception. It was no doubt a wedding, as there were chairs already set up on the beach for the ceremony as well as an arch for the exchange of vows. I was about to witness another beach wedding I thought, similar to what I’ve seen a couple of years earlier at Shelly Beach in Sydney. Guests started to descend to the beach in their cocktail dresses and tux, while I was there lounging on the side with the same clothes I had since that early morning flight. Pre-wedding cocktails were served and a few minutes later, the ceremony started. Lovely, I thought, and perfect weather too.

Garden reception, beach wedding, and the uninvited guest who wasn’t dressed appropriately for the occasion.

After enjoying the scene and daydreaming (yeah, I’m a hopeless romantic), I decided to go back to my room. I wasn’t expecting to be met by a nice surprise: the hotel staff transformed my room by setting up balloons and ribbons on the four bed pillars. In one of the tables, there was a mini birthday cake and a bottle of chilled champagne, with a note greeting me on that special day where the gifts are “compliments of The Danna.” Overwhelmed by the kind gesture, I took it all in and was very grateful of the blessing. The hotel staff probably noticed the birth date on my passport upon check in and discreetly passed it on to hotel management and decided to make that birthday memorable. As if that wasn’t perfect enough, I saw my luggage sitting on the luggage holder. Wasn’t I so happy to be reunited with my luggage in a beautiful room setting with celebratory decor, all courtesy of the hotel. What more can I ask for.

My room (before and after the surprise transformation) and the birthday gifts ‘compliments of The Danna’

When I checked out a couple of days later I thanked the staff for the kind thoughts, pleasant surprise, and tremendous gestures. They went over and beyond to make my stay a fabulous experience and a birthday I would cherish in a long time. What the hotel management and staff did was a perfect example of what hospitality and value added service are all about. It went beyond limits that left a lasting impression, finding solutions and creating memories to make every stay count. No matter how brief an escape that was, it was a birthday to remember, thanks to The Danna.

Some of the meals I had in the hotel (seafood pasta marinara, stir fried seafood chinese noodles, and filet mignon)

Travel In Style (Without Breaking The Bank) – Part 1 of 2

Travel Buzz

Oman Air flight to Athens (via Muscat)

Not a few of you have been asking how I get to travel in style (business class seats, 3-5 star hotel accomodations, dining out, the whole shebang) particularly now that you’ve seen me in my newly opened Instagram account (columbusbee.gram). As I’ve mentioned in my previous post (Deconstructing A Myth: Travel Is Only For The Rich?), you don’t have to be wealthy to get to travel and you don’t have to be Crazy Rich Asian to travel in style. Truth be told, there are ways to travel in style without breaking the bank. So I’ll let you in to some of my ‘secrets’ so that you too can be stylish jetsetter.

In the last 9 years or so, there has been an advent of promo fares here in Manila and I’m not even referring to a local airline’s one peso fare. These are promotional fares from highly rated airlines, either thru travel expos, tie ups with major credit card companies or their very own flash sale. Looking for good buys is just like shopping for bargains and anticipating mall sale. My first venture into this airfare bargain hunting was going to travel expos. Every year, there is a travel expo around the 2nd weekend of February organized by travel agents association. Multiple airlines would offer marked down prices, especially for business class fares. I remember getting business class fares for $999 to Europe (exclusive of taxes), or something like less than $1100 net. That’s a pretty good deal given that it only costs as much as a regular economy ticket. Of course nowadays, you can’t find that kind of price points anymore. where the good buys would be between $1,600 to $1900 to Europe or US. Anything more than that would already be a rip off in my book (unless you’re flying Emirates or Qatar Airways where a little premium will go a long way).

The second path to a successful hunt is thru airlines tie up with major credit card companies. It is essential then to have a very good credit card for this purpose (you’ll need a credit card anyway when you travel). Personally, there are only two credit cards that in my experience offer the best airline tie ups: Citi and American Express (where the latter is issued by BDO locally). I’ve seen promos from BPI (usually tie ups with Singapore Airlines), Metrobank, Security Bank, etc. but nothing beats these two when it comes to the depth (prices) and breadth (participating airlines). Travel sale for these airlines gives the public the option to get it from their onsite travel sale (similar to travel expos but exclusively for their credit card holders), thru their airline offices, or online. For BDO cards, there are times that there would be pre-sale (usually a day before the actual sale) exclusively for their elite cardholders (ie Amex Platinum, BDO Titanium, etc.) where they can have first dibs on promotional fares. Sorry to say that not all credit cards are created equal. There is a caste system among credit cards but don’t fret, having the right credit card would already get you into this world of low airfares. For example, you don’t need to be an Amex Platinum or a BDO Titanium cardholder. All you need to do is just to have any Amex or BDO card. There’s this Blue Amex that I heard is being widely marketed nowadays (compared to the more exclusive Amex Platinum) and of course your regular BDO credit card. You just need to ensure that you are in their email list where they send announcements of their forthcoming fare sale.

This is how I got my latest promo fare. Oman Air has a promo last April for BDO cardholders (I’m an Amex cardholder). Though the flights to Europe on promo are limited to certain destinations only, Oman Air also launched its maiden flight to Athens starting June, so I decided to make Athens as my port of entry to Europe and booked the promo business class fare for $1,760 inclusive of taxes (so the airfare was about $1,600+). This is a good buy compared to regular business fare of about $2,600 (or about 33% discount) and regular economy fare of about $1,200 for the same airline.

Basking in the sun on infinity pool lounge with the Aegean Sea, beach, and mountains as backdrop (Mykonos Island)

The third path is thru airlines’ flash sale. Here, as long as you have a credit card, you can already purchase promo fares online. Airlines would normally have these flash sales on special occasions (such as airline anniversary, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or any holiday or season that these airlines are celebrating). You just have to watch out for these special occasions during certain times of the year or to regularly check out the websites of your favorite airlines.

Once you have started flying, you can join the airlines frequent flyer programs. I’m currently a member of five (5) programs: Krisflyer (Singapore Airlines), Asia Miles, Miles & More (Lufthansa), Enrich (Malaysia Airlines), and Mabuhay Miles (Philippine Airlines). I’ve flown other airlines as well, but since they are part of airlines’ global alliances (for example, Thai Airways is in the same alliance with Singapore Airlines under Star Alliance) I don’t need to enroll in their own loyalty programs. The miles that I would be entitled to will just be credited to my existing loyalty program (so the miles that I will get from a Thai Airways ticket I will just have it credited to my Krisflyer account). What’s special with frequent flyer program is that aside from getting notified of the airline’s forthcoming promotional fares, they also offer miles sale (where you get free airfare at marked down miles compared to regular miles required to redeem a free flight). I find Krisflyer to be very good at this in terms of depth (miles discount) and breadth (you can have the option to redeem your miles thru another airline that is a member of the global alliance). For example, last December, when I went on vacation to Bangkok and Pattaya, I have an expiring 25,00 miles in my Krisflyer account. I tried checking for the required miles for a business class ticket and there was a business saver promo for 40,000 miles (compared to the regular 80,000 miles). So I transferred 20,000 miles from my Citi Premier Miles (that’s the credit card I would recommend among Citi cards if you like travelling) to meet the required Krisflyer miles for redemption. My business class redemption was confirmed for the Manila – Bangkok leg of the Singapore Airline flight (with layover in Singapore) but was waitlisted for the return flight. So I clicked the Star Alliance button on their website and found that Thai Airways business class was available for my return date. So I flew back (Bangkok – Manila) direct on Thai Airways flight business class for free (ok, not totally free coz only the airfare is free and you still have to pay a minimal amount for the taxes/surcharges). So I got to compare business class experience between these two airlines from these two short haul trips.

(Up next: Accomodations and Incidentals)