Originally Posted by
intub8r
Many thanks to you all for the input. I think the shared experience of all of us in one villa at the DAM with the common courtyard will be awesome, as opposed to meeting in the exec lounge of either of the other two hotels. Now I just need to find a way to get the rate down a little bit.
I don't have an AMEX card, and don't really want to open one just for one hotel visit. Have looked around at the online booking engines and they are all offering the exact same price as the hotel's own website. Sounds like you guys are in the UK, so I don't know if your travel agents could book rooms for me in the US - but if you think they can, PM me their details and I'll happily get in touch with them!
Are you sure? Amex also gives you free travel insurance, have you taken this cost into account?
You could try these guys
http://www.emiratestours.co.uk/
This is who my local agent actually purchased our ticket through.
Be careful that you dont unnecessarily purchase airport transfers from them if your room rate already includes it though!
There's also
http://www.bestattravel.co.uk and
http://www.destinology.co.uk
I'd suggest calling them all, seeing who offers you the best price, then go round again and beat them up some more
Originally Posted by
intub8r
As far as the Flavours specials, the winter ones for 2012-2013 aren't posted yet, probably because it's still quite a ways off. The dates are fixed already based on time off from work, airline tickets that have been purchased, and the date of the birthday itself (mine, btw). It also coincides with the American Thanksgiving holiday, not that I would expect that to impact prices much in the UAE.
Do you think it would be a good idea to book some rooms now at the "Best Available Rate" (2500++ AED), which is able to be cancelled up to 7 days in advance of arrival, and keep an eye on the rates / specials... if something better comes up I can cancel and rebook, right?
No, I think that would be a waste of your time, also you don't know how long a refund will take to process so there's really no point in tying up that much of your cashflow.
Originally Posted by
intub8r
Also, to get the thread back on topic a little bit at least, is there any advantage to joining the Sirius program? Are they partners with any airlines or other hotel chains? The website keeps semi-crashing on me, or not loading properly.
Thanks again for the advice and pros and cons. You guys have helped a lot in me making my decision :-)
You loose nothing by joining, so I'd say yes, go for it.
Let's face it, this is FT, nobody is going to tell you not to bother with the points
If possible, just have everything charged to your room and pay 1 bill when you check out making sure they note your sirius number and this will avoid you having to hand over the card at each establishment.