TBB Note 1: TBB is roaming the streets beaches/valleys/mountains/craters of Maui this week so do not expect him to answer every comment as usual.
TBB Note 2: Obviously 4 years have passed so some of these mileage/points prices have been devalued since then…a little 🙂
TBB Note 3: You can click on the pic to enlarge it
April 3 – 10, 2010
Let’s just say Dad has a healthy addiction to collecting frequent flier miles and hotel points. And he takes advantage of them by cashing in and arranging some trips that will create lasting memories in our lives. With our two munchkins in school, the times available when we can all get away are limited. Therefore, we took advantage of the 2010 Spring Break to arrange a trip to the Los Cabos area in Mexico. Dad has been hearing on Flyertalk how truly fantastic is the Los Cabos Hilton and we decided to go for it because on January 15th Hilton decided to pretty much gut the points program as they increased substantially the number of points required for free nights. So, Dad on January 14th decided it is time to cash in some points before the increase! Voila, 6 nights at the Los Cabos Hilton for 175,000 Hilton Honors points. The flights were pretty much free (other than taxes) because Dad had plenty of Delta vouchers from the superb ThankYou Network points from Citibank (they killed that deal on February 28th of last year and Dad cashed in his points for vouchers on February 27th!). Anyways, to make the long story short, this is another vacation pretty much paid for (airfare and lodging) by Dad’s hobby…Needless to say, mommy and the kids love Dad’s hobby, lol.
We left on April 3 from Detroit. We flew Detroit to Minneapolis first and then off to Cabo San Lucas. Dad is now just Silver Elite with Delta and to his shock and amazement Delta upgraded him to first class. Silver is the lowest of the low in Elites and Delta is swimming with Elites these days! Anyways, Dad rode up front on the short flight and let Mommy ride up front in the long flight. Flights were former Northwest crew, they did a great job as usual. Very smooth flights.
The airport in the Los Cabos area, we walked to the terminal:
If you come here, you will be overwhelmed by the timeshare hawks sales people, they are everywhere! We got a nice private car to take us to our hotel at $65. Surprisingly, the taxi rides back to the airport are about $30-$35…Call it the airport clique. Oh well, we enjoyed the ride to the hotel…so much cacti!
We were warned that this Hilton hotel knows how to do “service”. But I must even I was impressed by the first moment I stopped on the property. How about a margarita as we are checking in? Ditto. I had emailed them earlier that we are celebrating our anniversary and as we walked into our room we were faced with this:
and this (spelling my last name correctly…well, it does not happen that often!)
and this with an excellent bottle of local wine:
We did not receive an upgrade to a suite but, as Gold Elites, we received 4 coupons for continental breakfast for each morning of our stay. The standard rooms were superb but the one thing we have missed the most is waking up to this view every morning:
The hotel is in front of a very nice private beach at the East coast of the Baja Califorina peninsula at the Sea of Cortez. Waves big enough for surfing were common every day. The water is very deep and the currents are very strong. The only area suitable for swimming was the area inside those rocks at the top left of the pic below:
The hotel has two huge pools, the biggest one is called Infinity and the kids played the vast majority of their time in it! This is a place to get away from it all and just relax, for example:-)
Starting to get later in the day:
During the week we were there they had a bunch of activities for the kids every day. One was a movie by the 2nd pool at 7.30 pm with free popcorn and drinks for the kids:
Did I say we loved this view from our balcony?
Every morning (except one) Mom and Dad hit the Health Fitness room for an hour workout very early. And then when kids woke up, every morning we enjoyed the amazing breakfast buffet. As mentioned previously, we had breakfast coupons for the continental breakfast given to us because dad is a Gold Elite with Hilton. We upgraded Mom and Dad to the full buffet at a price of $10 each and they let the kids slide. We had everything here: from omelets made to order, to a wide variety of fruits, fruit juices, pastries, breads, meats, cheeses and many local entrees…You name it, they had it! Again, fantastic service…quitarist playing some local ballads, called by your individual names, wow!
the omelet guy
We had breakfast and lunch together every day:-)
Now, let’s talk about Jorge, the pool conscierge employee. We will never forget him and the kids will certainly remember him for many years. He is in charge of keeping everyone at the pool happy. Some of his famous lines: “Anything is possible here….if you believe” He even got the kids brand new Ipods to enjoy for the duration of our stay at no charge! And they also had two rooms set up with game stations so Kostas spent some time there of course.
At the left is the jaccuzi. There are a couple of swim up bars too.
And now meet Pepe, the resident iguana
We spent our first couple of days at the hotel and taking it all in:
Check out the form:-)
On the way to the hotel from the airport, again from advice of fellow Flyertalkers (see flyertalk.com, a website of travel enthusiasts Dad is a member of for the past 10 plus years), we asked the driver to stop at the local MEGA store (think Wal Mart/Meijer) in San Jose del Cabo and get some food and drinks. And so we did but by Monday night we had run out of things to eat and we got the kids some pizza with room service. Well, the pizza was good but at $20 for a small size pizza reiterated what we were told by others: everything is expensive at this hotel so stock up at MEGA. By the way, if you walked in to the Breakfast Buffet it would cost $28 usd!!
Night is approaching, the lights come on, beautiful:
Monday morning at Breakfast. I have no idea what Kostas is doing here but it could sure make for some interesting captions:-)
What we miss the most is just hanging out at the Breakfast area in the morning and enjoying the superb coffee the most in the nice breeze and listening to the guitarist play ballads for us.
bliss
the guy at the back is coming to fill up my coffee mug….again:-)
We rented a car at the National desk inside the hotel for a couple of days. First stop was the MEGA store, we are right outside it at the pic below.
Then we toured the small San Jose del Cabo town, here is the main square:
On the way to Cabo San Lucas. We stopped at this scenic post to take some pictures of the del Cabo coast. There are numerous resorts here.
We had some amazing coconuts from this kiosk here:
we loved it, especially Kostas
Then we drove to Cabo San Lucas, which is a lot more developed and a Spring Break destination. The Marina is full of boats as you can see.
Many outdoor by the marina bars and places to hang out:
Ceviche and margarita, yummy
Walk along the pier
The pirate in yellow is a real person….We thought it was a statute and as we walked he moved suddenly and pointed the gun at us, scared us silly!
Many excursion boats giving tours to local beaches and the famous arches at the very end of the Peninsula where Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean.
As I said, this place is a major party destination for Spring Breakers. Loud
The next day we drove to Todos Santos, about 80 miles north of Cabo San Lucas along the Pacific Ocean coast. Many artists in this place. This is the famous Hotel California from the Eagles song.
Had a swim at the beach in Cabos San Lucas:
and we had some amazing fish tacos at a shop full of locals. We even had the guy behind Kostas sing some really nice songs for us with his quitar…we really enjoyed this meal!
This is the MEGA store where we bought lots of food to avoid the ridiculously high Hilton resort prices. It was highly recommended by fellow FlyerTalkers and, as usual, their advice was right on target!
This is our standard room. the white things open up next to the bathroom tub. I should have taken more pics of the room, oh well.
Too much swimming
Walking along the beach in front of the hotel
beach volleyball anyone?
Flexing for the camera:-)
oh God,the buffet again…I am getting hungry:-)
Beautiful picture
employees in the white hats are everywhere, when they say “at your service” they do mean it here!
Last day we got the kids the recommended sushi and BLT sandwich, the sushi was just amazingly delicious.
Kostas: Let me help you:-)
We only missed a day of workouts in this great Fitness Center:
jacuzzi time full of kids
They even do complimentary massages (10-15 mins), wow!
this is Jorge, the one and only Pool Conscierge
We miss this view!
Check out time
Back to the airport
Finally flew Alaska Airlines, very nice!
Connected to LAX and took the red eye flight home, had to go through Customs and Immigration in LAX, weird to not do this in Detroit.
Fantastic vacation. We loved Mexico, we never got sick and never felt unsafe. The warmth and service orientation is great and this Hilton is just amazing. You don’t believe me, read the reviews at trip advisor here:
Where should we go next year for Spring Break?
Wow, first!
Or does this post not count!
nice
Thanks for a 1 Page trip report. it makes it much easier to review.
You can tell you’ve lost weight in the pictures – good Job !
Bring on the other 499 trip reports! In 4 years, a lot has changed. I didn’t even know what a frequent flyer mile was or how to apply for credit cards. Boy have things changed since then.
Um…this may be a family blog and all…but in the pic with Mrs. TBB in a bikini, I can tell that you are REALLY excited about something…the new Arrival card, maybe? 🙂
Oh, look, here comes the next potential MMS HIGC fiasco. Hint: Briarwood Mall, A2.
Question how do you guys have the time to snap so many photos? I am usually too busy vacationing to get that many photos let alone at the hotel.
Almost ignored this post but glad I did not! Hope you are having as nice a stay in Maui!
You forgot to insert links into your post about what credit you can use in Mexico to avoid forex fees, and any potential credit cards that can get you free weekend nights at that Hilton
Oh, and if you know any credit cards that can get Delta lounge access for you, but not your wife and kids on that flight you took (and isn’t a co-branded card of a upscale car complany), please let us know as well
George,
You’re not allowed to make fun of Emily and MMS after all the photos above. 😉
Update from Maui: The breakfast in Andaz is awesome. I still would not pay for it at $45 per person, thumbs up for Diamond status trial! Service is mostly awesome, mandatory valet parking at $30 per day and then having to tip the valet people sucks. Kids love the pools here.We did a drive all around West Maui with some scary one lane roads and turns. Kids will remember that for a long time. Having to back up in a tiny road with falling rock signs to let a truck go by was, well, unique 🙂
Sorry no time to answer each comment, getting ready for dinner with our Ann Arbor neighbors down the street from us who are staying in the Marriott a few resorts down from us, small world!
We’ll do the crater tomorrow and move to the Fairmont. Wednesday is Hana and around day.
I wonder how many cards I can sell if I let Mrs. TBB hold them….just kidding!
Cool to meet a blog reader at the Andaz! Nice meeting you J!
My Feedly is so behind….the number does not even fit to show it!
Another trip report coming on Wednesday!
Love the white socks! Says Gringo Tourist from a mile away…
And…. the third shoe drops.
Wow, Gary has gone into complete cheerleader mode for AA
Makes you wonder why, consdiring AA is the worst of the legacy carriers when it comes to lining affiliates pockets with commissions.
I expect most bloggers to completely brutalize these changes, because they need to do what they can to make United miles look as valuable as possible
I was up too early EST time and read up on all the AA changes. Thumbs up to Lucky for calling out AA and thumbs down to Gary for showing an inexplicable bias towards AA.Dans at DD is also right on top of it calling them what they are. I still think this is a “middle step” towards the complete revenue base mode coming down the line. If not, expect the saver seats to show up as often as they do on Delta!
I think I need to change the TBB perspective as far as the blog goes and forget the Buzz review posts. Maybe go on a weekly rant blasting all the credit card pushers, do trip reports so my kids and grandkids read all about them when they get older and refocus on what I do for a living as some clients are not going to live much longer.
One more thing that stood out yesterday: The Flight Deal is getting credit card affiliate links. I may downgrade them from Love to Like now 🙂 The Amazon link experiment here is good for a buck a day. Insert FTG rage for me pushing it, lol.
Today we go to the crater and move to the Fairmont. Andaz is really nice but definitely not perfect. We haven’t had time to get together with our next door neighbors in Ann Arbor and we had dinner yesterday together in…Maui at Monkeypods!
My series of tweets this am:
Breaking News! Hashtag #deltarage has now been replaced with # aarage
The Parkerization of American Airlines continues…hey you want to buy some miles? THIS is why I never buy miles.
I am at the Andaz gym tweeting about the AA devaluation. TBB readers were warned to expect big changes by June 1. Was off by a few months
I was looking to do that explorer award but was too busy reviewing blogs & blogging about them #facepalmme
There is nowhere to hide! UA and AA all want to become like Delta. Still some value left on MS and cash back cards. Love coach seats…again
Can’t wait for Friday’s MMS interviewee ” Discovered miles last week and I was hooked!”
Congratulations George. You’ve got your first biz goal accomplished. Covered your hosting fees. Now the comments are all profit;)
A good read on building your business from a VC http://modelviewculture.com/pieces/five-reasons-not-to-raise-venture-capital.
What is worse about this whole (drummed up )fiasco is nobody is complain about the 3-4-3 layout the AA is going on all it’s 777.
Throw is GL pathetic whine of Delta issues while ignoring AA is just beyond comical. With they way trends are going, I am betting that United will be the first of holdouts to jump on southwest model. The only good things and seriously the only good thing to come out the study normalization of the loyalty game is all the popcorn the over entitled flyertlakers will be spewing while the carpetbaggers get hit with a decline fantasy story to tell to sell plastic loan sharks.
Gary’s posts today were a disgrace. I feel like all the bloggers are very chummy with AA and Hyatt in general and tend to downplay their criticism of these companies. It was good to see Lucky step away from that.
At least Gary wrote something about the MAAssacre. It seems like many of the main bloggers have given their own analysis and let their feelings be known. What is FTG up to? They’re talking about Qatar and Eurostar. I’m all for keeping reader informed about what’s going on with “travel industry” news, but priorities?
It is worse than I thought – he is plumbing new depths. In his latest post, he managed to sneak in his prized affiliate links while talking about the AA devaluation. I am going to retitle his blog PFTW (Poo from the Wing).
FFHigh, you r so smart. Maybe we could get you to write our schedule for us as it seems all you have to do in life is criticize others? I know complaining anonymously on a Internet blog is the highlight of your life, where people will actually listen to you, but you can do better. Please help us with all your obviously know. Please Please.
the AA changes don’t effect most of the cheapskates in the hobby flying on saver awards. the big loss is the ONe world explorer award? I took two and loved them. As a matter of fact I’ve been ( you know whatting the citi elite card) in hopes of one more time around. I’ll just you young underemployed whiners complain about how tough things are on you. I’m grateful for all I’ve gotten out of the hobby. You?
“the AA changes don’t effect most of the cheapskates in the hobby flying on saver awards”
Well, unless you were one of those cheapskates that used US Airways miles to book your ticket
Or if you were one of those cheapskates that had stopovers on your trip
Or if you were one of those cheapskates that now sees reduced saver availability because there are 5 award tiers instead of 1
Or if you were one of those cheapskates that got to check in bags for free under the old rules but now how to pay for that same privelage
Or if you were one of those cheapskates that had to book a ticket over the phone and now have to pay a higher phone booking fee
But like Ingy said, it only affects those crazy people who book 16 segment explorer awards in first class. Excellent analysis!
Steve thanks again for helping us out. Do you have a life other criticizing others? We would never be as successful as we are without your critiques.
“Steve thanks again for helping us out”
Who is “us”? I only see 1 person here who didn’t know how this adversely affects everyday people
Steve, thank you.
You do know and understand how being in the “public eye” works, right? When you put your name, your brand, your work… out there, you open yourself up to both criticism and compliments. You can’t have one without the other. If you can’t handle one or the other, then step back from the spot light.
Public eye? I’m not in the public eye. I’m here at Tabloid Blogger Buzz. 800-1000 hardcore fanatics that would whine if they got hung and it wasn’t with a new rope.
I think you are talking about a corporately owned blog. Their Name and Their Brand. I’m just hear listening to the noise from a group that seems more interested in complaining than being grateful for all the hobby has given them. I’m here to listen to the “Me Generation” the Oh so Entitled Ones.
If any of you think for one minute, one nanosecond that this stronghold of crazies and their whining means one bit to AA, you are further from reality that I even imagined.
But Steve and FFHigh I do appreciate your critiques. I’ll ask IB to monitor TBB full time for the free advice and fact checking corrections. Thanks again and keep up the good work.
Thanks, Steve, for your well-spoken response to Ingy’s insulting and insensitive comment.
Meanwhile, after a blizzard of posts about the DisAAdvantage Devaluation, the travel hacking bloggers are in a mini-tizzy about saving $5 with Evolve! What a sad and ironic commentary on our hobby that we go from Around-the-World in First to saving five bucks when MSing.
Sigh.
That Haleakala crater in Maui is an amazing sight. Being above clouds and then seeing them race fast below you is kind of surreal. Nice drive today, got dizzy at 10,023 feet!
Drove north through Makawao and Paia, an interesting town. Moved to the Fairmont which is simply incredible. The Suite has a Deluxe Ocean View, unlike the “:full ocean” view I was “upgraded to” at Andaz. I have $200 in Plat certs total, a dinner for two with two “local dishes” at Ko Restaurant (Plat benefit) and also an additional $400 in gift cards from the Fairmont cards. Of course all 3 nights are free (well, for two of them i had to pay the annual credit card fee for both cards). Road to Hana early tomorrow, hope we are back for Happy Hour at NIck’s Fishmarket restaurant. I think we’ll just hang out all day here on Thursday, starting with the free canoe ride at 8 am and dinner w/ Mrs. TBB at 8 pm at Ko’s. All I can say is Fairmont Platinum > Hyatt Diamond 🙂
In other breaking news, ask your favorite blogger about an affiliate link from Amex to help them out…cough. Looks like Amex has cleaned house. That MMS Friday interviewee won’t be as excited to let friends and family know how to travel for free after discovering the hobby…last week 🙂
To JB who signed up for Uber with my link, thank you very much!
To all supporters who read me, thank you very much. Get out there, find time to burn, burn, burn. The hobby is now in full retreat and a new phase. Best days are behind it, it’s been a great ride.
I am savoring every moment here with my wife and kids. We won’t have the opportunity to do this together as often as we have been with son finishing High School next school year.
What’s happening with Amex? Who lost them? Please tell me it was wallet slot! 🙂
George, how’d you hear about the Amex thing?