Eat Drink Stay Dubai Newsletter 72/w9

Hi Dubai friends,

Welcome to Week 9, Edition 72

Here’s your latest edition of ‘Dubai news, deals & tips, every Thursday, in 10 mins or less :-

• Why you should consider buying Bonvoy Points (with a bonus)

• Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Sale

• Palazzo Versace back up for auction

• Sheraton JBR

• Oman Chips, Vimto

• Why do Dubai taxis have different coloured roofs?

• Etihad Business Class Deals

Please let me know if you have any feedback, such as which content you’d like to see more (or less!) of, any questions or anything else I can be of help with by clicking here

Thanks for reading 👏

Shaun

Please note: some links in this newsletter may be affiliate links, and will be denoted with an asterisk (*). This is a link to a partner site that may pay me a commission - at no further cost to you - and if so, helps to support me & this newsletter. For more info, please see Disclosure and Policies

LOYALTY PROGRAMS

Buy Marriott Bonvoy Points: Up To 45% Bonus

Regular readers will note I often mention the benefits in strategic purchasing of points/miles, and the merits of of Marriott Bonvoy points due to their ‘transferability’ to multiple partner programs.

Well, dust off that wallet as Marriott Bonvoy currently have a promotion for buying points with bonuses of up to 45% extra points, available up to 30 March.

Go to your member profile page on Marriott Bonvoy and follow the ‘Buy Points’ link - Remember: you must be logged in!

• 35% bonus when you buy 2,000-9,000 points

• 40% bonus when you buy 10,000-39,000 points

• 45% bonus when you buy 40,000+ points

Comment

If you have the right strategy, buying points/miles can pay off. It often depends on timing (waiting to buy at the right moment to avail of a decent bonus), valuation (cost of acquiring vs the cash value of the flight/stay/cruise) and the optimal process (which parter program to use to leverage value).

For a worked example, check this link - post 193 - to see how the cost of purchasing Bonvoy points to include a bonus on purchase and also on transferring Bonvoy > Qatar Airways is far less than the potential cash price of a return business class flight ex-UK.

Simply put, an $1,850 purchase of points could get you a business class flight worth $2-3,000+.

Another example could be, purchasing in Bonvoy to transfer to Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Red with a view to cashing in on Virgin Voyages cruises (often around 120,000 Virgin Points for cruises worth £2-3,000).

Of course, you could also use Bonvoy points for award stays ay Bonvoy hotels. Don’t forget, for every five award nights booked your cheapest night will be ‘free’ as you will only be charged the four most expensive nights.

HOTEL NEWS

Wynn Al Marjan Island looks like it’s going to be the first UAE casino, as they announce a $2.6 billion facility for construction.

Palazzo Versace is back up for auction, and with a higher guide price. There certainly has been some back and forth on this story, as it’s been mentioned in at least three previous editions, one of which was some super-low pricing for room bookings via Classic Travel* that could have been had (albeit somewhat of a potential gamble given the situation I guess!).

I sense this may not be the last we hear.

The recently-renovated rooms at Sheraton Jumeirah Beach Resort look pretty swish.

Even though it’s 28 years old, Sheraton Jumeirah Beach Resort is still a great value property considering the size of its grounds, has its own beach and a very good location at the ‘south end’ of The Walk/JBR. It’s usually one of the cheaper Bonvoy beach resorts around the Marina, and it has a (smallish) club lounge. Heaps of bars and other hotels close by, along with The Beach for your retail therapy.

FLIGHT DEALS

Save Up to £1,000+ With Virgin Atlantic Upper Class

Virgin Atlantic are offering discounts of up to £1,000 in their Upper Class sale* on ‘selected routes’.

Book by 18 March

🔗 Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Sale*

Etihad Business Class Deals

Skip from Luxury Flight Club’s email this week included some decent deals Etihad Business Class, especially on long-haul connections and from various European cities.

Destinations include Johannesburg, Bangkok, Singapore, Seoul etc. and from cities such as Lisbon, Madrid, Dublin, Brussels for around 2,000 Euros. Could be worth checking what they price up just to fly to Abu Dhabi also…

You don’t need to sign up for the paid ‘Gold’ level, although you will get more deal notifications and more regularly than the free version.

🔗 Luxury Flight Club

ENTERTAINER

Entertainer Promo Code: 10% Discount On All Products

Reminder: 10% discount on all Entertainer products with discount code EDSD25*.

Disclosure: I’m an Affiliate for Entertainer, so if you purchase using Entertainer Promo Code EDSD25* , I may receive a commission at no further cost to you (so it’s a good way to support me/my work/this newsletter!).

🔗 How to use Entertainer Promo Code

🔗 Entertainer UAE (main site)

DUBAI NEWS/TITTLE-TATTLE

There’s a lot of Dubai-related content around UK media at present, such as this ‘Thinking of moving to Dubai?’ article from The Times that’s a good introduction.

You may need to use an archive tool such as Archive Today if it’s coming up paywalled, or the link has moved.

Here’s another from The Times - did you know Dubai has more Brits than Oxford?

Last but not least, The Independent has a few tips about visiting Dubai on a budget.

Dubai restaurants suggest costs could rise due to single-use plastic legislation.

If you’ve ever parked a car around Al Barsha, you’ll know how much a problem massage-cards on the windscreen can be. Looks like Dubai is making some progress on these pests.

And this is why you should always be careful when giving up your phone number, as sometimes the telemarketers in Dubai are a bit wild, so good to see them getting it back as well as the card dollopers.

Good to see Chips Oman getting a mention from National Geographic on their ‘Where to Eat in Dubai” list.

Here’s an interesting guide to the different taxi companies operating in Dubai, identifiable by their different roof colours.

Growing up in Northern England, I’ve always loved Vimto; tub lollies in the Summer and Hot Vimto in winter. So I was always intrigued to see how immensely popular it was when I lived in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE, especially around Ramadan. Here’s why it’s so popular.