New PointBreaks & Latin Stopover Tricks

Update: PointBreaks bookable here.

First things first, PointBreaks preview is available. The list will be bookable and for stays between July 28- September 30th. If you’re not familiar, read up on IHG PointBreaks here, as it’s a list of bookable hotels for 5,000 points (which can be had for $35).

While the list isn’t wowing, it at least has a few InterContinental hotels:

• InterContinental Bucharest
• InterContinental Cali
• InterContinental Costa Rica at Multiplaza Mall
• InterContinental Real Guatemala
• InterContinental Miramar Panama

There are a number of Crowne Plazas on the list, but for the most part, they are B-list cities. No offense to those of you in Reading and Bratislava. But still, see if there are any locations that interest you.

Toronto interests me… but the airport hotel does not.

View the preview here.

Second thing is, the list of IC hotels is latin heavy. And yesterday I wrote a post that featured a few latin routes. But let me plug an idea.

First let’s look at the list again.

• InterContinental Bucharest
  – I personally think this hotel is dated and you’d rather be in Budapest… but it’s the best view in town.
• InterContinental Cali
  – They don’t overcharge a reciprocity fee, right?
• InterContinental Costa Rica at Multiplaza Mall
  – Going to Costa Rica to be in a mall?
• InterContinental Real Guatemala
  – Never been, yet.
• InterContinental Miramar Panama
  – I almost stayed here last time. Business area, but nice.

Okay, so I have 1 month left as a Royal Ambassador. And I’m tied up until August 23. So I would have like 10 days. I would say that’s enough time to hit the IC Guatemala, Panama and Cali.

Anyways…

There are plenty of options to hit all of these cheaply. Some of which I talked about yesterday.

United Miles – The Latin Hopper

You’d have stops left over if you got to Central America and then booked a ticket. Anywhere in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and the northern half of South America… all for 20,000 miles roundtrip.

Read more about the Latin Hopper with United miles.

British Airways Avios

Read the Complete Guide to British Airways Avios.

Then you’ll understand that tiny short flights with Avios (British Airways miles) are super cheap. Particularly out of Miami. Miami to Guatemala is 7,500 Avios. That could be a great way to start this trip.

British Airways also doesn’t have “close in fees” – a fee for booking within 21 days of departure. So it’s great for last minute trips.

Lufthansa Miles – 2 Stopovers

Using Lufthansa miles roundtrip to Central America/Caribbean is 35,000 miles. That’s normal. What’s amazing is that you would then get two stopovers and two open-jaws along with your destination. Plus, they also don’t have close-in fees.

You could do this pretty easily (assuming you find availability) from any Star Alliance airport. US to Costa Rica (stopover), to Panama (destination), to Guatemala (stopover) to the US… all for 35,000 miles.

Read more about Lufthansa stopovers.

ANA – 3 Stopovers

ANA actually advertises “4 stopovers”, but that’s only including the destination. But ANA also has a killer award chart.

The same trip as above for 38,000 ANA miles (a transfer of AMEX and SPG), but you’d have one stopover left.

Conclusion

The list could go on and on… Air Canada’s Aeroplan might also be a great redemption. But it’s a tricky thing to book and schedule. Finding flight availability and hotel availability (given that PointBreaks goes real quick), can be a pain.