Guess what? I was one of 993 first prize winners. What does that entitle me to? 10,000 Hilton HHonors points and Diamond VIP status extended thru early 2011!

Was hoping to win the grand prize, but oh well! Better than nothing.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Check out the message Hitlon/AMEX posted on the game’s site. They didn’t even have the decency to email people. I had to find out about this on a forum!

Thank you for playing the Advance Your World Challenge brought to you by the Hilton HHonors^® Card from American Express. Unfortunately, we have found some technical issues with the game that resulted in erroneous scores. As a result, we have made the decision to end the promotion in accordance with the official rules as of March 27, 2009.

 

We will still award the 1,000 prizes, but will do so through a random drawing of everyone who registered as of March 27, 2009 and meets the eligibility requirements. We will notify potential winners on or around May 18, 2009.

 

We know many of you devoted significant time and effort to playing the game. We thank you for your participation and apologize for any inconvenience. If you have further questions, please email questions@eprizefulfillment.com.

So they are now going to radomly give out prizes? Wasn’t the purpose of this “event” for people to win prizes based on their skill and practice? But, I do wonder, since there are were so many cheaters registered, how will the organizers of this game know if the players they chose for the prizes were cheaters or duplicates to begin with? They could contact every single person that registered and request an ID to be scanned and faxed to them. That’s what I’d do!

One more thing. If anyone is paying close attention to the FlyerTalk thread that discusses this promotion, notice that around page 44 of the thread, members are receiving emails with 3,000 and 5,000 HHonors points as an apology. Of course, you have to craft a nasty complaint email to HHONORS@HILTON.COM. I did so yesterday, and as of 8PM on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 I haven’t gotten a reply yet. We shall see.

Have a nice clicK life, (really AMEX, have a nice life as those form/generic replies are really starting to tick me off!)

-Mark

After Friday, March 13, 2009 I stopped playing AMEX’s Advance Your World Challenge that I have been praising so much since it started. Too many cheaters, and the company isn’t doing too much about it. What more? So many of these cheaters have suddenly become new members on FlyerTalk explaining how righteous they want to be and fix the problem. Since I started blogging about this challenge, I have to say, traffic on my blog has doubled. I’m sure being in the Top 7 added to this…

Here’s how I see it. New guy/gal learns about the promo and the prospect of getting $10,000 cash for virtually nothing, then Googles the Top 7. Kinglobjaw is quite a weird user name, so I guess people have stumbled upon my blog and it discovered my posts where I mention the direct FlyerTalk link. I read the FlyerTalk thread about this promotion daily and I see 5 or 6 new users that have joined FlyerTalk in March 2009 and have fewer than 10 posts at this point. These schemers want to be liked by others and mask their real intentions with a glitch that probably never occurred. I mean, the other FlyerTalk members who have been around for a longer time- not one has reported the “endless speed boost” glitch these newbies are reporting. I could be wrong, but these newbies are the cheaters! Food for thought.

Onto my next topic- Friday the 13th. I remember the day started out well because I made first place on the Advance Your World Challenge. Hours later, “lightning” had come to my place. You see, it was around 5PM when I decided it was time to vacuum again with the brand new DC-25 Animal Dyson vacuum. It’s a very powerful machine. A suggestion, the vacuum is absolutely amazing and a must have. To make the unpleasant story short, my hard drive got zapped. As unlucky as can be, my surge protector and fairly new battery backup failed during the less than one second it took for me to turn on the vacuum. Needless to say, my hard drive died, I got the “blue screen of death” and part of my stuff was not backed up! Lesson learned! As a replacement HD I bought a 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black from Best Buy and so far it’s fine. It’s slightly quieter than the one that died. I will try to contact Seagate about the cost of data recovery and decide if it’s worth it.

My HAJ trip has been axed and what a shame!

Last but not least, I’m counting the days to my Hawaii trip which occurs at the end of April. We’re all set in First Class on US as we were upgraded at the time of ticketing. No need to check loads every day to see F buckets disappear and worry; however my PHX-PHL return could go into oversell mode so I’m ready to volunteer should the need arise. I know a lot about US Airways, but I’ve never been bumped before so I don’t know what kind of compensation to expect. Honestly, I’ve never heard the announcement before either so I am going to ask around on my next flight.

Different kind of post today, but I thought it would be nice to offer an update.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

US still got the all the highest marks for all the airline related categories, but I voted differently when it came to the hotels.
Each year I would recognize Marriott with all my votes, but I found 2008 to be poor for Marriott. I’ve had some upsetting stays, dismal customer service and ridiculous reductions in the Marriott Rewards program. I’m also upset with the progress of new properties I was really looking forward to staying at.

This year, I’ve found more value with the Hilton HHonors program, and more than anything else, I’ve found Priority Club very rewarding with their stackable bonus promotions and excellent credit card. In the last 6 months I’ve earned more than 80,000 Priority Club points without spending a single penny for hotel rooms. I will say it again, the Priority Club Visa card is amazing and has a very low annual fee ($25). And while Priority Club outsources all of their customer service (even for the Platinum line), I still find the agents genuinely helpful and friendly.

One other neat thing. Go on USAirways.com and on the top left of the page use their Google based search engine and search for the keyword “freddie”. You’ll find an old page which strangely enough still bears the America West logo. Interesting read.

Don’t forget to vote in the Freddie Awards. Voting closes February 28, 2009.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

The first one is a destination that I’ve already been to, but I really want to return to- Maldives. I absolutely love the Maldives, there’s no place like it! Marriott is supposed to open a Renaissance property at the end of 2009. When I went to the Maldives, I stayed at the Conrad Rangali Resort, so I’m curious as to how the Marriott property will fare in comparison. The fact that the press releases states that all villas will have a private pool sounds very enticing. I don’t think anyone should do Maldives without a private plunge pool! This a photo I took at the Conrad. I stayed at the Deluxe Beach Villa with a private pool.

Conrad Maldives Rangali Island- Deluxe Beach Villa

The next property, is the JW Marriott Fiji Resort & Spa at Momi Bay. It hasn’t opened yet, and given it’s history, the current scheduled December 2009 opening date will likely be pushed back once again. I’m annoyed by the fact that this property was supposed to open in 2006, then in December 2007 which was changed to July 2008 and now December 2009. Marriott isn’t offering any updates, and there were some rumors of this project going completely bust due to lack of funds and problems with the Fijian government. It would be such a shame if the project was abandoned- Marriott’s coverage of the South Pacific region is dismal. Aside from a few Marriott properties in Australia, there is nothing in New Zealand, The Cook Islands or French Polynesia.  Fiji has to work or they won’t have a chance to compete against the other major brands like Sofitel, Hilton or Starwood.

Last but definitely not least, is the Ritz Carlton Molasses Reef located in Turks & Caicos. Something closer to home. This was personally reccomended to me by a friend who used to work at the US Airways Headquarters in Tempe, AZ. He was an “eastie” so he managed to (non-rev, I guess) to the Caribbean quite a lot while he worked at US Airways’ Crystal City Headquarters prior to the merger. He said Provo was a great city and that island was so beautiful, mostly because it was quiet and away from the hustle and bustle of tourists, casinos and mega resorts. Sounds lovely. Sort of reminds me of St. Kitts which was like that too. Besides, looking at pictures the island seems very clean and peaceful, while the water in the sea has a Maldives-like turquoise blue quality.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark