The Travails of a Traveler

My new life started in late January, because I got a new job. Although my previous gig was a good one, the new job let me do many more things that I wanted to do, including the perk of staying home more often. Last year, I was living out of a suitcase and it did get a bit tough after a while. However there were some upsides to the traveling and one of those things was learning to work the system.

I had been a Starwood whore for the previous few years, but I really learned how to get more out of the system. Since Four Points and Aloft hotels were on the lower end, I would frequent those establishments but even if I was staying for a few days, I would check in and check out every day. With Starwood, you get bumps in status by meeting certain thresholds and they are one of the few companies that allows you to qualify by number of stays or nights. To reach the top level it is either 50 nights or 25 stays and because of that, I hit Platinum in April or May. Also, every time you check in , you get bonus points.

Now that I am not traveling as much, I will lose my status and no more late nights staying up to watch Aqua Teen Hunger Force. However, staying at home is much better than Platinum except I don't get awesome shaving cream from Aloft anymore.