I am so angry at the technical problems with Flyertalk because I have wasted 90 minutes with detailed responses that would have benefited the community, but my posts aren't posting and I lose it all. I should be typing in Word and paste. Now I don't have the time or inclination to do it a third time.


I see you had similar problems NJ. Makes it difficult to have a good discussion on the points raised.


Quick response to NJ - The 17,000 bonus points did not include any credit cards. On average I earned over 500 points per stay with my paid Starwood stays from promotions for online booking or stays. Many of the platinum amenity points were earned on award stays when there were no sdditional bonuses.


I actually had about 80 hotel nights in 2003. Mostly HHonors awards. Only spent about $2,500. I haven't been able to utilize Hyatt's great 2 stay promo because I use up my time trying to maintain Starwood status on paid stays and burning off HHonors points on the old point structure.

Now I am ready to jump on Hyatt when the next Stay 2 promo comes around.

I recognized a 50,000 point promotions from Starwood was exceptional. That is why I changed my summer holiday from a Scandic hotels tour of Scandinavia to an Australian trip. I learned three years ago from Flyertalk that Diners Club had loads of potential. 24,000 BA miles the first year, 50,000 mile transfers from American Airlines and United Airlines per year into Diners Club and then to British Airways. Two first class tickets from USA-London-Australia were booked in the first week of June 2003 for $480. $480 and about $1,000 in cost for the miles from AA and UA for two 31,000 mile first class roundtrips.

Flyertalk is the resource for learning how to travel in luxury on a middle class budget.

I follow the promotions and generally I am able to travel luxuriously while earning the big bonuses.