Almost time for Asia!

I’m leaving for Asia on my OneWorld award ticket next Saturday, and I’m getting pretty excited. I’m looking forward to visiting Hong Kong again and also looking forward to visiting Manila for the first time. I’m particularly excited about finally getting to sample some OneWorld carriers. I’ve been loyal to the Star Alliance for so long and know the products of almost all of their airlines, so it will be nice to finally try Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines.

Anyway, since I asked for feedback for hotels over the past month or so, I wanted to provide a quick summary of what I have booked now:

• While I originally booked the Conrad Hong Kong on points for the outbound stopover (we’ll be there from 5AM till 4PM the next day), I ended up switching to the InterContinental Grand Stanford. The rate was a mere $140USD, and given that I have a confirmed suite upgrade with club access, it seems like a no brainer. Also, Priority Club is great with points, so I’ll likely earn 10,000+ points for that stay. I can find a much better use for my Hilton points in the future.
• We’ll be at the Crowne Plaza in Manila for the first three nights of our stay, which is about $100USD/night. I hear they treat Platinum members well, so I’m hoping we at least get access to the club lounge, if not a suite upgrade. Unfortunately I also hear their beds are hard as rocks.
• We’ll be at the InterContinental in Manila for the last two nights using a buy one get one free weekend night certificate. An upgrade has already been confirmed to a suite with club access. The cost for that stay is about $150USD for both nights.
• For the return stopover in Hong Kong, we’ll be staying at the new SkyCity Marriott near the airport. The price has dropped quite a bit since I originally booked, so it’s now about $110/night, and we’ll get an upgrade to the club level. I have a gift card for Marriott, so that stay is basically free.
• At the end of the trip we have a one night stopover in New York. I booked the brand new Long Island Holiday Inn for 15,000 points since they were offering their Manhattan View Suite (which usually goes for around $650USD/night) on points back in January

I’ll be writing a review of each property along with the flights after the trip. I’d say overall we got some decent deals here, especially taking into account the various confirmed upgrades received. Oh, and if my math is correct, the total cost of this trip including taxes for the flights as well as hotels comes to under $1,000. Not bad!