♥ Efficient Travel Insurance for AMEX or Maybankard Holders ♥

It is recommended for frequent travellers to purchase their travel insurance to ensure you are well protected, *touchwood* choi! choi!...not hoping anything to happened la..but is a precaution to have one so your house are protected when you are not around..your medical expenses are covered everything la..

For me, I always luv to use this travel insurance - AXA SmartTraveller  & SmartTraveller Annual, where it gives you a last minute activation as fast as 1 hour before your departure! Good for those likes to do things last minute one..but you need to have your AMEX or Maybank card la.

Just 3 simple steps and you have your insurance purchased!

1) Call 03-2166 7777 or 1300-88-7721

2) Select the plan you want: VIP or Classic Plan

3) Charge the premium to your AMEX or Maybank card.

And taa daa...check your email within 1 hour and you have your travel insurance policy sent to you. You are safe and protected now to go travel.

For more information, check the Maybank website.

Hotel Reward Programs

Now I'm going blog on the hotel reward programs. If you are on business trip, try take advantage of the hotel loyalty programs. Sign up for the most popular hotel rewards programs and start earning your way towards free nights, elite status and more.

Here are the available hotel reward programs:
Marriot Rewards

Qualifying hotels:

• The Ritz-Carlton
• JW Marriott
• EDITION Hotel
• Autograph Collection
• Renaissance Hotel
• Marriot Hotels & Resorts
• Courtyard
• AC Hotels
• Fairfield Inn & Suites
• SpringHill Suites
• Residence Inn
• TownePlace Suites
• ExecuStay
• Marriott Vacation Club
• Conference Centres 

Hilton HHonors
Qualifying hotels:

• WALDORF ASTORIA® 
• CONRAD® HOTELS & RESORTS
• Hilton Hotels
• DoubleTree by Hilton
• Embassy Suites Hotel
• Hilton Garden Inn®
• Hampton® hotels
• Homewood Suites by Hilton®
• Home2 Suites
• Hilton Grand Vacations

Priority Club Rewards
Qualifying hotels:

• InterContinental Hotels & Resorts
• Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts
• Hotel indigo
• Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts
• Holiday Inn Express
• Staybridge Suites 
• Candlewood Suites

Club Carlson
Qualifying hotels:

• Radisson
• Country Inns & Suites by Carlson
• Park Inn by Radisson
• Park Plaza
• Club Carlson

Hyatt Gold Passport
Qualifying hotels:

• Park Hyatt
• Andaz
• Grand Hyatt 
• Hyatt Regency 
• Hyatt Place 
• Hyatt Summerfield Suites
• Hyatt Resorts
• Hyatt Vacation Club

Starwood Preferred Guest
Qualifying hotels:

• Sheraton
• Four Points by Sheraton
• W Hotels
• Aloft 
• The Luxury Collection  
• Le Meridien
• Element by Westin
• Westin
• St. Regis

Choice Privileges
Qualifying hotels:

• Comfort Inn 
• Comfort Suites
• Quality 
• Sleep Inn
• Clarion 
• Cambria Suites
• MainStay Suites 
• Suburban
• EconoLodge
• Rodeway Inn

Frequent Flyer Programs - Signing Up, Earning Miles & Redemption

When planning for your travel, always make sure that you take advantage of one of the travel perks especially if you are on business trip - the airline rewards programs! Check what reward programs your airline offer and sign up for it! It's usually a free signup membership for all these airline rewards programs. 

The number one reason to get a frequent flyer card or membership is to be able to earn points and redeem them for cheaper flights by using the points to pay for a portion of a flight with cash and the rest with points.You can also use your points to upgrade your flight from economy to business or first class and get other travel perks. Also, depending on the card you can use your points to book into a hotel or even rent a car.

Below are some of the reward programs offer by the following airlines:

• Cathay Pacific and Dragonair: (*FREE) Asia Miles
• Singapore Airlines and SilkAir: (*FREE) KrisFlyer
• Malaysia Airlines: (*FREE) Enrich
• Qantas Airlines and Jetstar: (*Joining fees required) Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Emirates Airlines: (*FREE) Skywards
• American Airlines: (*FREE) American's AAdvantage program
• Japan Airlines: (*FREE) JAL Mileage Bank
• British Airways: (*FREE) BA Miles (soon going to be rename as Avios starting from Nov 2011)
• Thai Airways: (*FREE) Thai Royal Orchid Plus
• Delta Airlines:  (*No annual fees for the 1st year) SkyMiles
• Alaska Airlines: (*FREE) Mileage Plan
• US Airways: (*FREE) Dividen Miles
• Lufthansa: (*FREE) Miles & More
• Air France/KLM: (*FREE) Flying Blue
• Virgin Australia: (*FREE) Velocity Frequent Flyer

Apart from earning miles from traveling in those airlines only, you can actually convert your credit card points to the frequent flyer miles. In Malaysia, the most commonly offered frequent flyer miles conversion from your credit cards points are:

• Enrich Miles
• Asia Miles
• KrisFlyer Miles

I have make a comparison table as below on the credit card points required to convert to the frequent flyer miles for Enrich Miles, Asia Miles and KrisFlyer Miles:

*NOTE: If you have Citibank or AMEX credit cards, apart from the listed above, you can be able to convert your points to redeem for Delta Airlines SkyMiles or Thai Royal Orchid Plus.

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