Tag Archives: Conrad Koh Samui

Hilton Deathmatch: Conrad Rangali vs. Hilton Bora Bora vs. Conrad Koh Samui

11 Saturday Jan 2014

Posted by in Accommodations, Hilton

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Mrs. Selfish and I recently completed a stay at the Conrad Rangali in the Maldives, back in November of last year. In the miles & points world, this was considered one of the most desirable Hilton properties in the world, up there with the Conrad Koh Samui and Hilton Bora Bora.

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Somehow we managed to stay at all three properties last year, so I thought I’d do a comparison post explaining their relative strengths and weaknesses.

While Mrs. Selfish and I like traveling in luxury, we’re actually tremendous cheapskates – so I’ll be rating each of the properties by what you get for your hard spent cash. Not necessarily who is the best, but who gives you the most bang for your buck.

Editor’s Note: If you’re deciding between the three properties it’s a decent read (or if you like pretty pictures of tropical locales), otherwise it is a loooong post.

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Now THIS is Living: The Selfish’s Top 10 Stays

05 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, Africa, Asia, Australia, Best Of, Europe, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Oceania

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Prior to our year of reckless traveling, Mrs. Selfish and I only splurged once on a hotel, staying at the Sofitel Hanoi for our Honeymoon. Otherwise, business as usual was a 3-4 star hotel using sites like hotels.com.

And then I discovered the world of miles and points.

With a bank roll of millions of hotel points, spread out over 5 different hotel programs, Mrs. Selfish and I decided to spend our year abroad in style – hitting up some of the travel hacking community’s go-to destinations.

Here’s the 10 best places we stayed in chronological order. Some are miles and points accessible, though some can only be paid for with cold, hard cash!

Room with a view: Airbnb in Paris

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Mrs. Selfish and I spent an amazing 6 weeks in Paris in Montmartre, the same Arrondissement where the movie Amelie takes place. Taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of Paris was something I’ll never forget, and certainly nothing screamed “Paris” quite as much as waking up to a view of the Sacré-Cœur every morning.

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Anyone interested in renting the same flat can do so at Airbnb.

The Riad Pachavana: The full Moroccan Experience

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Mrs. Selfish and I arrived in Marrakech, disoriented and utterly confused. Marrakech’s old town is maze of twisting streets and Aladdin-style scamming street rats, children who try to get you lost so you’ll pay them to take you to your hotel.

Nevertheless, we quickly succumbed to Marrakech’s charms – especially after staying at the lovely Riad Pachavana, which we saved $150 on thanks to three Expedia BRG coupons.

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For more, check out our full post on the Riad Pachavana.

Staying in Protected Palawan: El Nido Resorts

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In the Philippines we were fortunate enough to stay at El Nido, located on Palawan – a protected island south west of Manila. Accessible only by a small private plane (max capacity of < 50), El Nido is a beautiful, isolated paradise. Despite being an all-inclusive resort, the food and activities were pretty great. Plus they have a killer happy hour with an amazing view.

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For more information on Palawan check out our full trip report.

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The Delicious but Expensive Food at the Conrad Koh Samui

21 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, Asia, Food & Drinks, Thailand

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Mr. Selfish and I truly enjoyed our stay at the beautiful Conrad Koh Samui. The only downsides were: (1) the location and (2) the food.

As to location, the Conrad Koh Samui is quite far from the airport and pretty much everything else on the island. Mr. Selfish already went over how we hired Mr. Samui Samui to solve the issue of transportation. However, the location also made it very expensive and inconvenient to leave the property. As a result, other than a diving trip that we took, we stayed on property, which meant that we had to eat on property.

The food was tasty but man, was it expensive! Luckily, I am a Gold Hilton Honors member so we had free breakfast at Zest. We typically ate breakfast as late as possible to make it into a brunch and then had an early dinner. The breakfast spread was quite impressive. You could order an egg selection from the menu, including eggs benedict, English breakfast, etc., and then still eat from the buffet.

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Beyond the Infinity Pools of the Conrad Koh Samui

20 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, Asia, Thailand, Travel Hacking

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After a week of roughing it at the Sanctuary, Mrs. Selfish and I packed our bags and left Koh Phangan, heading for its sister island, Koh Samui. While planning the Thailand portion of our trip, I scheduled us for 4 nights at the Conrad Koh Samui.

Why?

Three words: Private infinity pool.

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Just what is an App-o-Rama?

12 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Travel Hacking

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“App-o-Rama” is one of the phrases you see thrown around a lot in the travel hacking scene.  Simply put, it’s when someone applies for multiple credit cards in one day.  The amount someone is willing to apply for varies by person. While most people apply for 2-4 at a time, I’ve read reports of people applying for upwards of 12 credit cards in one day!

When applying for multiple credit cards, it’s good to keep a few things in mind:

  1. Your credit score should be over 700: once you go over 760, however, having a higher score doesn’t really help much more.
  2. Apply for all cards at once: it’s usually best to apply for all of your cards in one sitting, since doing so prevents the credit card companies from seeing the other cards you’re applying for.
  3. Diversify your applications: make sure you don’t hit one credit card company too hard.  The major credit card companies are Chase, American Express, Citibank, Bank of America, and Barclays.  Each has different rules about how many cards you can get approved for at once, and how many total cards you can have. In general, if you apply for 1 personal and 1 business card (or less) per company you should be fine.
  4. Apply every 91 days: every time you apply for a card, the issuer makes a hard pull on your credit.  While it takes 2 years for these to fall off your credit report, too many recent requests for credit mean you’re a risk. By applying every 91 days you reduce the chance of getting rejected for “too many requests for credit.”
  5. Persistence is key: even a rejection can be overturned.  I’ve received a number of rejections, but have always managed to get the card I wanted.  As per my last post, you can read more on how to get a rejected application repealed at Million Mile Secrets.

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