Dining Prices & Alternatives

The restaurant prices are very high, in many cases higher than is reasonable. In our case we spent 5 days there without purchasing a single meal from the hotel. We simply self-catered our brunches and snacks and had dinner each night in Venice. The hotel will empty the mini-bar fridge upon request though note it is very small. Prices in the markets in Venice are reasonable enough (there is a “Coop” near the Rialto bridge that worked well for us) where we picked up a loaf of good bread, a quarter kilo of Parmigian cheese, small bottle of spicy olive oil, balsamic, tomatoes, water, a few bottles of wine, etc for around €50.

If you want to eat on the island here is a rundown:
– Sagra is casual rooftop restaurant for lunch and dinner. Cover is €8pp (highest that I have ever seen). Vegetarian salads are in the high teens, pastas in the high 20’s, mains in the 30’s and kinds meals in the low teens (not sure if cover applies to kids menu, but probably). See picture of menu below for more info.
– Room service breakfast is €24 for continental breakfast or €32 for an “American” breakfast or some cheaper ala carte options plus €8/order delivery charge. This seems pretty high even for a luxury hotel.
– I recall that the restaurant breakfast was somewhere around €35 for a buffet. I am not 100% sure but I don’t think they allow for cheaper a la carte options. See picture of menu below for more info.
– Giardino is the restaurant by the family pool that is primarily used for lunch (closes too early except for the very early dinner eater). Sandwiches and tacos are around €24, salads around €20, Water is €4 and Soda is €6. Plus a cover of €3. This is probably the most overpriced option. See picture of menu below for more info.
– Doplovoro is the formal Michelin one star restaurant on the island. We considered eating there but they were sold out for the weekend nights (so they must be doing something right) and don’t accept children for dinner (understandable but they should really consider including a babysitting service with the cost of the meal or a separate area for families). I’m guessing a fair amount of their diners are not hotel guests that are water taxing over from Venice. A 4 course meal is €98pp, 5 course is €130pp and a 10 course is €180 (who can eat 10 courses?). The wine pairing are €75, €85 or €130 respectively. While ~$400 US all-in for a 4 course meal for 2 is a lot, a similar level restaurant in Boston wouldn’t be much cheaper. I consider this the second best value on the island. See picture of menu below for more info.
– The best value is the kids club pizza making class. Kids club is only €25/day. If they go for the pizza making class, they get to eat the apx 8″ pizza they make and have left overs for mom and dad. In addition to the total adorableness of seeing a handfull of 5-8 year olds sitting around a finely set up Italian table eating pizza and drinking out of fancy water bottles, it is the cheapest meal on the island.

Note that the room includes plastic bottles of still water and they will bring you more upon request or you can grab extras from the gym. Our room had assorted glassware and a bottle opener. There are ice machines on most floors (though not the first floor). Note that the ice machines are much smaller and slower than the typical US hotel’s to go along with their petite ice buckets, but remember, this is Europe.

Elite Status

This is a “Resort”. Lots of Marriott elite benefits exclude “resorts”. I think this is a poor decision on Marriott’s part to vary their benefits so greatly by flag and subflag. While one could say that a platinum that stays 75+ nights (or earned status other ways) at Marriotts a year should be able to remember all of the nuances, I certainly can’t. So no matter how big of an elite you are with Marriott, you will not get free breakfast at this hotel. While I don’t like the way Marriott sets up the program, it is not this hotel’s fault, so I won’t knock them for it.

In my case, I paid for a regular room on points and was given a free upgrade to a first floor junior suite. This was an especially positive surprise after reading all of the negative reviews about room upgrades from elites whining on TripAdvisor and FlyerTalk. The room was wonderful and large with a King bed, couch, table area, large bathroom and plenty of room for one or two twin beds for kids. They were also willing to put us in a more regular sized room on an upper floor with some sort of balcony, but I prefer space to views when traveling with the family. It would be unreasonable to expect any more than this from a free upgrade. Of course, they will offer to sell you upgrades as well, but this was certainly enough for us.

For a platinum gift, they have a few options including points, but for most, the half bottle of wine would make the most sense.

Kids/Family Activities

Kids Club
The kids club was excellent and a great value. It is open from 10:30 to 6:30 and cost E25 per day or part of a €39 per day package that I don’t understand why anyone would buy. This was a total steal. The staff was excellent. Two of the days she was alone and there were still 2 to 3 staff members on hand. Other days she had 4 or 5 friends at times. I can’t believe more people didn’t use this great service. They usually did some sort of craft each day and have pizza making twice per week and cookie making sometimes as well. The only thing to know is that you are expected to STAY ON THE ISLAND while the kids are in the club. This club would be so much more valuable if you could leave a reluctant mini-sight-seer there while touring Venice. I also can’t understand why they don’t also sell a night option for parents that want a fancy dinner on their own.

Family Pool
The family pool was excellent. Very warm and lots of kids for ours to play with. They had a 2 foot deep section for the little ones along with a more normal depth part. The kids pool is maybe a 5 min walk from the hotel on the grounds so remember to bring some sandals. They have a seperate adult pool on the roof of the hotel. I like this as it ensures that the family pool is a relaxed atmosphere with no one getting mad that my kid is being loud. In addition to the pools, there is a splash park where the kids can run around in the sprinklers, play with large blocks, etc.

Playground
Next to the kids pool is a nice playground. Kind of looks like a mini obstacle course. Most of it is probably ideal in the 6-10 year old range.

Fitness

The gym was very good for a hotel. Well air conditioned with new Technogym equipment. The gym had free bottles of water as well. It also has showers in case you need them after check out.

You can rent bikes (or include it with the E39 package), but can’t imagine biking around such a small island though would be great for a kid learning to ride without training wheels as there are certainly no cars to worry about.

The island was large enough for some nice strolls or even a short jog. There is a mix of terrain options including crushed rock, grass along with some pavement depending on what your feet enjoy.

Shuttle and Getting There

The free shuttle was very reliable. They operate 2 shuttles so that they can leave every 30 minutes for the 20 minute ride. I feel at this frequency, we can just show up and take the next shuttle without worrying about the schedule. The last one is at midnight. It holds thirty something people so there was a single time during the 5 days that we missed a shuttle because of capacity.

They have some type of free shuttle in the mornings to the train station but I don’t know how that works.

Airport transfers cost €140 for a 30 min water taxi or take the free shuttle and transfer to a public water bus for €15pp for an additional 1h to 1h10min ride to the airport that leaves 2 to 3 times per hour.

Service

Service was very good, but maybe slightly less “perfect” than one would expect with, say, Marriott’s Ritz flag. Most of the staff was friendly and would greet you whenever you looked in their direction. Everyone seemed willing to help. Only downsides is that they would occasionally forget requests that were called into the front desk and make some mistakes with the consumables (leaving two conditioners instead of a shampoo and conditioner type stuff). Nothing that bothered me in the least, I accept that the staff is human and would much prefer their warmth to “perfection”.

Location

As stated above, the 20 minute shuttle ride is pretty convenient, however it is not the same as being able to walk out your door into the tourist attractions. On the flip side, you get tons of resort amenities and tranquility. Marriott made up a fake name for the island: “Isola delle Rose” (Island of Roses) which sounds a hell of a lot better than its real name, Sacca Sessola (Scoop Bag).

Summary

I would HIGHLY recommend this hotel, just know what you are getting into on food prices.

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Next year’s Max Pass is available for $599. NO BLACKOUT DATES!

Alternatively, you can purchase certain qualifying season passes to the mountains listed below and then buy the Max Pass as an add-on for $299. Note that the big catch with the Add-on is that it doesn’t cover any mountain that the underlying pass covers. This means that if you get an underlying pass that doesn’t include holidays, you will not be able to ski holidays at anywhere covered by that pass. For example, if you were to buy Boyne’s Silver New England Silver (currently $709), you would be blacked out from holidays at Loon, Sunday River and Sugarloaf. For the 2015-2016 season, I considered purchasing the Silver New England with the Max Add-on until I learned about this catch and just went with the regular Max Pass instead.

Plane Worthy Mountains

• Big Sky (Montana) – Big Sky (5,800 acres) is my favorite mountain of all time. It is utterly humongous. The only mountains of similar scale include Whistler/Blackcomb and newly the combined Park City resorts. There are also so few people on the mountain that you could have acres to yourself. This place seems to NEVER have lines (other than on a tram that services only Expert and Extreme terrain). BTW, if you are used to the ratings system at another mountain, start on the greens and work your way up. You will find glades with real moguls at a good pitch still marked blue. If they mark something a double black, they are very serious about it. One of their easiest doubles is a 39 degree gully. At 50 degrees, they require you bring avalanche gear. But if you are looking for a cruiser, don’t fret. They have countless miles of blue terrain where you will still find fresh corduroy at 3:59pm. To get to Big Sky, use your United points and fly to Bozeman Airport stopping over in Denver. About an hour drive from Bozeman. Bozeman Airport is a delight btw. No points hotels, but I’ve stayed at a $100/night Airbnb a reasonable walk to the lifts (or free shuttle). You get 5 free days at Big Sky with the Max Pass and then each additional day is $10 off with the pass (bringing them down to about $90/day, a deal for such a great mountain). Note that Big Sky is a bit old school, so you need to go to mountain services each day to have them print you a ticket.
  • Airbnb
  • With the Chase Reserve, may also be worth considering directly booking with ultimate rewards the Huntley Lodge which is on mountain. I haven’t stayed there but was in there lobby and it seemed like it could be nice.
• Steamboat (Colorado) – Steamboat (2,965 acres) is a wonderful mountain with minimal crowds. It is about a half hour or so drive from Hayden airport with direct flights from certain Delta, American and United hubs. Alternative is to drive 3-6 hours (depending on the weather and car) from Denver. I won’t be doing that again. Steamboat Springs itself is an adorable town that you can almost walk to from the mountain. Tons of restaurants along with a nice library and museum for the kids. There is also an indoor water park in town. Note if you go during a holiday season, the good restaurants fill up months in advance, but the Sheraton’s casual restaurant will serve you in the lobby if needs be and is surprisingly good. You get 5 free days at Steamboat with the Max Pass. A great value considering tickets are about $140/day. At least at these prices, Steamboat can afford RFID, so you can leave your Max Pass in your sleeve pocket the whole time.
  • Starwood: Sheraton – on mountain; wonderful hotel
  • Hilton: Hampton Inn
  • With the Chase Reserve, may also be worth considering directly booking with ultimate rewards the The Ptarmigan Inn which is on mountain. I haven’t stayed there but may try it soon.
• Winter Park (Colorado) – Winter Park (3,081 acres) is a serious mountain a short ride from Denver. It is big with lots of serious terrain. It is split up into territories including the main Winter Park, Mary Jane (a bunch of steep mogul runs off an express lift — serious quad workout), Vasquez Ridge, Parsenn Bowl (wide open skiing), Eagle Wind (amazing glades with no crowds), the Cirque (side country, closed when I was there). The downside is that the mountain gets pretty crowded given how close it is to the city. Also, trying to park there on a weekend wasn’t fun. Get there late and you park across the highway and take a shuttle to the far end of a village where you then get to walk to the lifts. Not a big deal for a couples weekend, but not so easy if you are dragging a little one. Limited points hotel options around, just a Best Western Winter Park in the town of Winter Park (15 min drive) and a Holiday Inn Express in Fraser (30 min drive). The HI Express was very nice though and walk-able from a large supermarket and day care with a drop in option half the price of on-mountain (though didn’t try it). Also note that Winter Park’s base is at a pretty high elevation, if you are altitude sensitive, consider giving yourself a couple of days in Denver and/or getting some meds before you go. Tons of direct flights on points to Denver. Get 5 free days at Winter Park with the Max Pass
  • Best Western: Best Western Winter Park in the town of Winter Park (15 min drive)
  • IHG: Holiday Inn Express in Fraser (30 min drive). The HI Express was very nice though and walk-able from a large supermarket and day care with a drop in option half the price of on-mountain (though didn’t try it).
• Copper (Colorado) – Copper (2,465 acres) is a major mountain a short drive from Denver. While I haven’t been to Copper, it is certainly on my list to try. Downside is the limited choices for point hotels. Tons of points options to get to Denver, of course. Get 5 fre days at Copper Mountain with the Max Pass
  • Best Western: Best Western at Copper Mountain
  • IHG
• Alyeska (Alaska) – Alyeska (1,400 acres) has been added to the pass for the 2016-2017 season. It is known for getting tons of snow. While I haven’t personally been to Alyeska, it is on my list to try soon. Downside of Alyeska is that you need to fly to Anchorage, but it is under an hour drive from there. Alaska airlines (which will be joining the OneWorld Alliance in time for next ski season) handles over half the passengers at ANC but there are also some options for flights on JetBlue, United and Delta for those accumulating points in other alliances. You get 5 free days at Alyeska with the Max Pass.
• Mt. Bachelor (Oregon) – Mt. Bachelor (3,683 acres) is a significant mountain in the Pacific Northwest. It’s 20 miles from Redmond (RDM) Airport serviced by Alaska Air (soon to be part of Oneworld) with direct flights to LAX, SLC, SFO, SEA and PDX along with some United flights. Most hotels are in nearby Bend, OR You get 5 free days at Mt. Bachelor with the Max Pass.
  • Hilton: Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn and Doubletree
  • Marriott: TownPlace, Fairfield Inn
  • IHG: Holiday Inn
• Crested Butte (Colorado) – Crested Butte has been added to the pass for the 2016-2017 season. It is over 4 hours from Denver airport so not the easiest to get to. You get 5 free days at Crested Butte with the Max Pass.
• With the Chase Reserve, may also be worth considering directly booking with ultimate rewards the Grand Lodge (a walk across the village) or Elevation Lodge (near the lifts and kids area).
• Solitude & Brighton (Utah) – Solitude (1,200 acres) and Brighton (1,050 acres) are on the smaller side of the big western mountains but are on the Max Pass and only about 45 minutes from SLC airport. I’ve skied both and love them. Solitude’s base is a bit lower and has more of a resort. Brighton has longer runs and tends to get a bit more snow with its slightly higher elevation. They are under a 10 minute drive from each other and there is a trail to ski between them though it is often closed. Full day kids lesson for 3-4 year old is $200 (9am-4pm with 2x 1 hour semi-private lessons). You get 5 free days at Solitude AND 5 free days at Brighton with the Max Pass.
  • On mountain lodging includes the Inn at Solitude advertising $339/night holiday rate and $269/night regular rate for a regular room and 4/5 on TripAdvisor. I stayed at the Inn and the service was excellent though casual. The Honeycomb restaurant next door is great for dinner.
  • There is some type of hostel type lodging at Brighton.
  • It is possible to stay at a hotel in the valley and commute up the Big Cottonwood Canyon road to the mountains. A reasonable plan if it isn’t expected to snow, but in heavy snow the roads can temporarily close and most of the time they require either 4 wheel drive or chains. The closest neighborhood to the mountains is called Cottonwood Heights. There is a Marriott Residence Inn and a Hyatt Place there.

Other Western/MidWest Options

And get 5 days with the Max Pass each at the following mountains:

• Crystal Mountain, Washington (2,600 acres)
• The Summit at Snoqualmie, Washington (1,994 acres)
• Cypress Mountain, British Columbia (600 acres)
• Lee Canyon, Nevada (445 acres)
• Boyne Highlands, Michigan (435 acres)
• Boreal Mountain, California (380 acres)
• Stevens Pass, Washington (1,125 acres)
• Fernie Alpine Resort, British Columbia
• Kicking Horse Mountain, British Columbia
• Kimberley, British Columbia
• Nakiska Ski Area, Alberta
• Buck Hill, Minnesota
• Eldora Mountain, Colorado (680 acres) – 21 miles from downtown Boulder and accessible on a public Ski Bus for $9 round trip in about 45 minutes. Could be worth it if you are nearby. Though those altitude sensitive should note that its base is 9,200ft and peak is 10,600ft.
• Mountain High, California

Top East Coast Options

• Sugarloaf (Maine) – Sugarloaf (1,230 acres) is probably the best skiing in the east. Gets the most natural snow and is never crowded. The only real downside with Sugarloaf is that it is really far for most everyone to get to. While there are no points hotels, the on mountain options are affordable. Get 5 days at Sugarloaf with the Max Pass.
• Sunday River (Maine) – Sunday River (870 acres) may be the best all-round combination of good skiing, a reasonable drive (if you live near Boston) and affordable pricing. Sunday River has lots of good terrain including steeps like White Heat (which scared the hell out of me when I was young) and trees. At about 3 1/4 hours from Boston, it is accessible. While no points hotels, the local options aren’t too expensive. Even staying ski-on/ski-off is semi-affordable. Not nearly as much of a night scene as Killington, but better to get to bed early to prepare for first tracks. Get 5 days at Sunday River with the Max Pass.
• Killington (Vermont) – Killington (1,509 acres) is a major mountain in the east less than a 3 hour drive from Boston. Note that their acreage count is “boundary to boundary”, so take it with a bit of a grain of salt if you are a front country skier. I have certainly spent more days skiing here than any other mountain. It has lots of varied terrain and is known for evening options on its access road. While it can get fairly crowded, it isn’t too hard to strategically choose lifts and singles lines to mitigate them. Not really a family friendly or really friendly at all mountain, but has a good amount of terrain for those that love to ski. And bonus points for having recently changed their policy to officially allow skiing off piste for those that know what they are doing. No point hotel options on mountain and hotel and condo options are more than most of the ME and NH mountains. However, if you are young enough (in age or at heart), “guest” at a friend’s ski share on the couch for short money. Get 5 days at Killington with the Max Pass.
  • Best Western: Best Western – 20 minutes away in Rutland
• Pico (Vermont) – Pico (468 acres) is not otherwise noteworthy except that it is adjacent to Killington. Getting much less traffic than Killington, Pico will keep the fresh powder a bit longer, making it a good place to visit a day or two after a dump. Also a great place for a family with little ones learning to ski. The Max Pass gives you 5 days at Pico as well.
• Loon Mountain (New Hampshire) – Loon (324 acres) is nothing to write home about other than the fact that it is under 2 hours from Boston. I grew up skiing here and have fond memories, but there is very little terrain and extreme crowds. While they claim to have a double black called ripsaw, I’ve been to places where that trail would be a blue or blue/black. While no points hotels, there are some good condo rental options including the Village at Loon across the street and the InnSeason’s Pollad Brook a few blocks away. Both have shuttle service. Get 5 days at Loon with the Max Pass.
• Tremblant (Quebec) – Tremblant (662 acres) is a nice mountain for non-serious skiers. It has a cute little village with bad food but good beverage options and a surprising great crepe place. However, the mountain is the opposite of steep. For some reason they feel they need to label some trails as double blacks, but they grade inflate even more than Loon. It was also very crowded when I was there last with very long lines, though there is a VIP line for certain condo owners and Canadians with Visa Infinite Privilege credit cards (CIBC Aerogold, CIBC, Aventura, CIBC Dividend, RBC Avion, RBC British Airways, TD First Class, TD Aeroplan, Scotiabank Momentum, Scotiabank GM Card and Laurentian Infinite). It is unclear if Americans are able to get this benefit through the $400/year City National Crystal Visa Infinite card. The good news is that there are multiple points hotels right in the village at the bottom of the lifts. Get 5 days at Tremblant with your Max Pass. You can go right to the lift with the Max Pass, but you need to clip it on as they scan the bar code.
  • Starwood: Westin – walking distance in mountain village. Fine hotel but a bit further of a walk from the lift than some of the others, though certainly not a big deal.
  • Marriott: Residence Inn – close walk to the lifts
  • IHG: Holiday Inn Express & Suites – close walk to the lifts
  • Hilton: Homewood Suites – close walk to the lifts
  • Fairmont: Fairmont – probably the most fancy of the hotels on mountain
• Stratton (Vermont) – Stratton (670 acres) is a mid size (for the East) mountain in Southern Vermont about 4 hours from New York City and 3 hours from Boston. It doesn’t have any points hotel options. I haven’t been there, but may try it if I’ve already finished my allocation at Sunday River, Killington and Sugarloaf or a storm happens to hover over Southern Vermont. Get 5 days at Stratton with the Max Pass.
• Mont Sainte-Anne (Quebec) – Mont Sainte-Anne (450 acres) is a very good mountain Get 5 days at Mont Sainte-Anne with the Max Pass.
  • Hilton Quebec
  • Marriott/Starwood: Hotel Pur Quebec, Quebec City Marriott Downtown, Courtyard Quebec City
• Okemo (Vermont) – Okemo is well known. Get 5 days at Okemo with the Max Pass.

Additional East Coast Options

And get 5 days each at the following mountains:

• Snowshoe, West Virginia (251 acres)
• Blue Mountain, Ontario (250 acres)
• Wachusett, Massachusetts (110 acres)
• Stoneham, Quebec
• Mountain Creek, New Jersey
• Mount Sunapee, New Hampshire

Click Here to get your M.A.X. Pass for $599 or Add-On Pass for $299. This is less than I paid for the 2015-2016 season. Pricing scheduled to increase on May 2, 2016.

The key alternatives to the Max Pass have few or no options on the east making them less attractive to east coast-based skiers, however, they can be great options for others. The major alternatives are the Epic Pass and the Rocky Mountain Super Pass.

The Epic Pass is currently $809 and includes unlimited skiing at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Park City, Heavenly, Northstar, Kirkwood, Wilmot, Afton Alps, Mt. Brighton, Perisher and Arapahoe Basin.

The Rock Mountain Super Pass Plus is currently $499 and is eligible for the Max Pass Add-on. Though there is a lot of overlap with the Max Pass, the key benefit is that you get unlimited Winter Park and Copper instead of 5 days at each and you get 6 days at Steamboat instead of 5 but only 3 days at Alyeska instead of 5. You also get unlimited Eldora, 3 days at Crested Butte, and 7 days at each of: Mt. Ruapehu (New Zealand), Cardrona Alpine Resort (New Zealand), Tomamu (Japan), Alts Bandai (Japan) and Nekoma (Japan).

Epic Pass Points Hotels

• Vail, CO (5,289 acres)
  • Starwood: Sheraton Mountain Vista Villas
  • Marriott: Marriott
  • IHG: Holiday Inn
• Beaver Creek (1,832 acres)
  • Hyatt: Park Hyatt, The Residences at Park Hyatt
  • Starwood: Westin Riverfront Resort, Westin Riverfront Villas
  • Marriott: Ritz-Carlton at Bachelor Gulch
• Breckenridge, CO (2,908 acres)
  • Hilton: DoubleTree
  • Hyatt: Hyatt Main Street Station
  • Marriott: Mountain Valley Lodge
• Park City, UT (7,300 acres)
  • Hilton: Hampton Inn & Suites, Waldorf Astoria, DoubleTree)
  • Hyatt: Hyatt Escala
  • IHG: Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites
  • Starwood: St. Regis Deer Valley
  • Marriott: Park City Marriott, Marriott’s MountainSide, Marriott’s Summit Watch
• Heavenly, Lake Tahoe (4,800 acres; base at 6,450)
  • Hyatt: Hyatt Regency, Northstar Lodge
  • Marriott: Grand Residences, Timber Lodge
  • Starwood: Harrah’s Lake Tahoe, and Harvey’s Lake Tahoe
• Northstar, Lake Tahoe (3,170 acres)
  • Hyatt: Hyatt Regency, Northstar Lodge
  • Marriott: Ritz Carlton
• Kirkwood, Lake Tahoe (2,300 acres): N/A

Non-Pass Major Mountains with Points Hotels

• Aspen/Snowmass (Colorado)
  • Hyatt: Hyatt Grand, Hyatt Mountain Lodge
  • IHG: Holiday Inn Express Snowmass Village
  • Starwood: St. Regis, Westin Snowmass
• Mammoth (California)
  • Starwood: Westin Monache<.li>
• Whistler/Blackcomb (British Columbia)
  • Starwood: Westin
  • Hilton: Hilton
• Jackson Hole (Wyoming)
  • Hilton: Hampton Inn (19 min), Homewood Suites (21 min)

Bonus Info for fellow Bostonians

Airlines that fly direct from Boston to ski destinations

• Salt Lake City (SLC): Delta
• Denver (DEN): Southwest, United, Jet Blue

Airlines that fly direct from Boston to ski destinations with one stop:

• Redmond, OR (RDM) – Bachelor(50 min): Alaska (SEA, PDX), Delta (SLC), United (DEN, SFO), American (LAX)
• Bozeman, MT (BZN) – Big Sky(64 min): United (DEN), Alaska (SEA), Delta (MSP, SLC)
• Reno, NV (RNO) – Heavenly(61 min), Squaw (52 min), Northstar (45 min): American (Various), Delta (SLC), Southwest (DEN), United (DEN), Jet Blue (JFK)
• Aspen, CO (ASE) – Aspen(11 min), Snowmass (13 min): United (DEN)
• Yampa Hayden, CO (HDN) – Steamboat(35 min): United (DEN)
• Vancouver, BC (YVR) – Whistler(124 min): Air Canada (YUL, YYZ), American (DFW), United (ORD), Delta (SEA, MSP)
• Mammoth Lakes, CA (MMH) – Mammoth(21 min): Alaska from LAX
• Jackson Hole, WY (JAC) – Jackson Hole(45 min): United (DEN), Delta (SLC)

The post M.A.X. Pass – Unlimited Skiing appeared first on Free Travel Genius.

Signup for Ebates here and get your choice of $10 toward:
Walmart
Macy’s
Target
Kohl’s

After making at $25 purchase at any ebates merchant. This is on top of the cash back that ebates gives you from your purchases.

Travel Cash Rebates

Hotels.com 4%
Hotewire 3% hotel, 4% car rental
Orbitz 8.1% cruise, 2% hotel, $3.75 car rental
Priceline 7.2% on name your own price hotel & cruise, 5.4% on name your own price air along with prepaid hotels and all car rentals, 3.6% on regular hotels,

Most Hotel specific sites 2% – 5% cashback (e.g., Marriott 2.5%, Hilton 2.0%, Intercontinental 4.5%)
Wyndham is not included, but instead you can get 20% off using the group code 1000009537.

Most Car Rental sites 2% (e.g., Enterprise) – 4% (e.g., Dollar & Thrifty) cashback, though for Avis you will do better using the AWD code B291091 and for budget the BCD code R198191.

Airlines are too stingy to list and I generally prefer booking on airline sites than booking through the price aggregators.

Other Popular Sites

Apple Store 7%
Amazon 3% (they claim “up to 7%”, but really 3%)
Walmart 1%
Uniqlo 6%
Nordstroms 3% (Rack 1.5%)
Kohl’s 3%
Walmart 1%

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Some limitations as of January 2017:

• Only for new Lyft accounts
• Only valid in the following markets: Atlanta; Austin; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Los Angeles; Miami; Nashville; New York City; Orange County; Phoenix; Pittsburgh; Sacramento; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Silicon Valley; Tucson; and Washington, DC
• Must be used within 30 days

The post Free $15 from Lyft appeared first on Free Travel Genius.

We requested a table outside and got our wish. This was very much a mixed blessing. The lighting, scenery and weather were beautiful outside, not to mention the violin player. Downside is that people smoke at restaurants in Rome (at playgrounds too). I am all for accepting the culture of others, I just really wish people could avoid blowing smoke on my daughter. Other than that, everyone was very nice and (like all over Rome) very accommodating to a young child.

We ordered:

• The large steak (maybe 400g). This was about 18 euros and came on a hot serving stone that continued to cook the steak. It was an ok cut but an amazing preparation. The ability to cook freshly cracked pepper into the steak just added so much to it. €18.50
• The rigatoni cabonara was equally wonderful. It was a reasonable portion. The pasta was cooked perfectly and the cheese flavor was wonderful. It was a very simple dish but great. €10.50



• The ravioli with spinach and eggplant was good, but our least favorite dish. It was a reasonable portion. The ravioli pasta was cooked perfectly. The vegetables tasted fresh but the flavors were relatively plain. €10.50
• The caprese salad was excellent. The Bufula Mozzarella was perfect. My vegetable phobic 3 year old even was going to town on the tomatoes and tried Basil for the first time. €9.50
• Neither the house red nor the house white was very good. But hey, at €5.50 a 1/2 liter, I couldn’t do much better at the Supermarket.



Message to ownership:
Sette Oche, I loved your food. I humbly request that you consider enter the vanguard of Italian society and disallow smoking on your patio. 81% of Italian women don’t smoke. Consider the marketing campaign.

Sette Oche Ristorante
Via dei Salumi 36
00153 Roma
Italy
+39 06 5809753
Neighborhood: Trastevere

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]]> https://freetravelgenius.com/uber/ Wed, 12 Mar 2014 17:43:32 +0000 http://freetravelgenius.com/?p=2905 $20 off Uber

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]]> Update: Code still works, but now the free ride caps out at $20.

Feel free to use my personal Uber code (Uber-FTG) to get $30 off your first Uber ride with a new Uber account. And they give me $30 for the referral, so please use my link.



Uber “Promo Code” = Uber-FTG

Dave

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]]> https://freetravelgenius.com/wyndham/ Mon, 28 Oct 2013 19:18:19 +0000 http://freetravelgenius.com/?p=2853 20% Off the Wyndham Hotel Group family including Days Inn, Ramada Inn, Howard Johnsons and more. Click here for more info.

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]]> I found out about a secret deal from our Brazilian friends at USA Cupom. Readers of USA Cupom get 20% off most hotels in the Wyndham family.
Procedure:
1. You can then either:
   • Go to Wyndham’s website by clicking here and searching for the city and dates you are interested in.
   • Call Wyndham’s special discount hotline at 800-525-5501 and follow their instructions. You will need to tell them that 1000007487 is your corporate/group id to get the discounts.
   • Go directly to the website for a specific brand in the Wyndham family:
     • Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
     • Wyndham Grand Hotels & Resorts
     • Wyndham Garden Hotels
     • Tryp Hotels (must type “1000007487” as the “Company / Special client code” for discount)
     • Wingate by Wyndham
     • Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham
     • Microtel by Wyndham
     • Dream Hotels
     • Ramada Worldwide
     • Night Hotels
     • Baymont Inn & Suites
     • Days Inn
     • Super8
     • Howard Johnsons
     • Travelodge
     • Knights Inn

If you want to find out more about discounts for Brazilians, sign up for for USA Cupom here. You will need to confirm your email address. Note that USA Cupom isn’t sending emails to its English subscribers yet, so you won’t need to worry about that. You can also always opt-out using the “unsubscribe” button on the bottom of the page if you are no longer interested in the discounts.



Please note that the former company code of 1000009537 is no longer active.

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]]> https://freetravelgenius.com/brazilian-discounts/ Thu, 25 Jul 2013 02:32:05 +0000 http://freetravelgenius.com/?p=2811 Use this Brazilian website to get deals in the USA

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]]> Coupons and deals for Brazilians

Deal hounds, I have been working with some friends on a deal site catering to Brazilian tourists
coming to the USA and Brazilian Americans. Note that you may need to learn some Portuguese to understand the site, but Google translate can be a big help. Some of the deals are generally available to Americans as well and some of them have been specifically negotiated for Brazilians. While very few merchants currently require a passport or other proof of nationality (especially for online purchases), you should at least somehow feel that you are part of the Brazilian community. Yes, Mr. Brady, you count by marriage.



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]]> https://freetravelgenius.com/barclaycardarrival/ Thu, 04 Jul 2013 15:32:10 +0000 http://freetravelgenius.com/?p=2780 Barclaycard Arrival™ World MasterCard® gives 40k bonus points after spending $1k and up to 2.2 points per dollar. My new favorite.

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]]> The Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard® from Barclays – 40k bonus + 2.1%

Bonus Offer:  40,000 points upon spending $3,000 in the first 90 days

Ongoing Points: 2 points for each dollar spent on the card plus a rebate of 5% back on points usage. Net result is a benefit equal to 2.1% of spending.

Fee: $89 Annual Fee (waived first year)

Point Value: Each point is basically worth 1 cent toward any travel charged to the card. It doesn’t have to be booked through their service, so buy that discount airline flight, stay in that B&B, whatever, and then choose to have your points applied to that item on your statement. Note that there is a 90 day window to apply the points.

Bank:  Barclays

Card Type: World Mastercard Elite

No foreign transaction fees!

Catches: Barclays sometimes approves you for an inferior card, though in this case, the bonus and key benefits don’t change, only a downgrade from a “World Elite” to a “World” or “Platinum” card.

Comparisons: The most direct competitor to this card is the Capital One Venture Rewards. The benefit of the Barclays card is that it gives an extra 0.1% in the form of a rebate vs. the Venture card that only gives a flat 2 points per dollar. They both have no foreign transaction fees. The key benefits of the Capital One card is that the annual fee is $30 lower, it is a Visa (slightly better global acceptance than MC) and that it also have a business version (the Spark). At $30,000 of spending the 0.1% is worth more than the extra $30 of fee. For travelers, the Barclays card also has Chip + Pin technology making it easy to use at automated vending machines (such as when buying a train ticket) outside of the USA; as of July 2015, Capital One had an inferior chip technology.

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]]> https://freetravelgenius.com/mass-innovation-nights/ Fri, 28 Jun 2013 16:17:33 +0000 http://freetravelgenius.com/?p=2759 Free Travel Genius Selected Among Some of the Most Innovative Massachusetts Startups. The site will compete at the Mass Innovation Night on July 10th.

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]]> Free Travel Genius Selected Among Some of the Most Innovative Massachusetts Startups

BOSTON (July 2, 2013) Free Travel Genius has been selected among some of the most innovative Massachusetts start-ups. The site will compete at the Mass Innovation Night on July 10th. Free Travel Genius editor, David Harelick, is “very proud that Free Travel Genius has been selected to swim in a pool that includes the more established Xively by LogMeIn, non-profits such as Crowd Grant and novel physical products like Mino.”

Mr. Harelick hopes to be one of the four companies presenting on July 10th. The audience is full of start-up founders that could benefit greatly from optimizing their spend. For example, Free Travel Genius was recently able to show start-up firms with two founders how to save $3,520 off their discount economy domestic travel just by putting $10,000 of their spending on two specific credit cards. For a bootstrap start-up that needs to meet clients or investors in person, those, say 10 additional face-to-face meetings with both partners can make all the difference.

Competition

The structure of Mass Innovation Nights allows ten companies to attend and showcase their innovative business models, however, only four of those ten companies are given the opportunity to give a five minute presentation during the event. To determine the four companies that will present on July 10th, a month long voting competition is held on the Mass Innovation Nights website for users to vote for their favorite companies. To see all ten companies that will be present at the July event, and to vote for your favorite businesses, navigate to this link – http://twtpoll.com/6mo1x5.

Event Details



Mass Innovation Nights
Date: July 10, 2013
Time: 6pm to 8:30pm
Hashtag: #MIN52
Location: LogMeIn, 320 Summer St., Boston, MA 02210

More Information: http://freetravelgenius.com/mass-innovation-nights/

About Mass Innovation Nights

Mass Innovation Nights (MIN) is a product of Innovation Nights LLC and offers an opportunity for people interested in innovative new products to connect live and online. For marketers and new product developers, MIN integrates live face-to-face events, online visibility and the power of social media to support and supplement other product launch methods, connecting with the mainstream media, social media enthusiasts, and potential partners and the marketplace.

About Free Travel Genius

Free Travel Genius helps its users find the credit card(s) that will get them the highest return in free travel based upon their spending and travel preferences. The site prioritizes informing its users about the very large, sometimes unpublished “mega-bonus” offers provided by the credit card companies for limited amounts of time. Free Travel Genius also makes sure to steer its clients away from cards with inferior “return on spend”. The site is NOT for people that normally carry balances on their credit card or have problems with their credit.

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