May Round Up at Points of Arabia

Hello and Eid Mubarak to all our readers.

May 2019 was a very happening month at Points of Arabia. More so, with some crazy hotel deals and airfares. Here is a recap of everything that happened in the month of May.

Hotels

Due to Ramadan being observed during most of May, the hotel rates were really cheap. And let me repeat this, really really cheap. In fact, for some properties, the nightly rates were even lower than complementary breakfast prices.

The hotel deals coupled with spring promotion for some hotels presented some great opportunities for mattress runs. For instance, Hyatt effectively offered 80% points back on its new property in Dubai.

Hilton had an interesting status match opportunity which was easily achievable with the dirt-cheap hotel rates in Dubai during Ramadan. You could also get tier night credit in Marriott for as low as $30. These were great opportunities for someone looking to upgrade their status with these chains.

Finally, Global Hotel Alliance Discovery announced double elite night credits and discounted member’s only rates.

Airlines

Emirates announced a sharp decrease in profitability. However, to my mind, the results were good given the increased competition from other Middle Eastern airlines and high fuel prices.

Some things change and some things do not. Etihad extended the free Abu Dhabi hotel stopover till end of 2019. And the Etihad and Jet Airways saga continued with no real clarity. Perhaps, June will decide the fate of Jet Airways.

Deals

Some of the lesser-known hotel chains in Dubai offered exciting discounts. These offers extended beyond the low season. JA Hotels & Resorts offered 30% discount on all its properties (Dubai, Seychelles, Maldives). Also, Address Hotels offered 25% discount.

LifeMiles offered up to 125% bonus on purchasing miles. Using this promotion, you could have booked a business class trip from Dubai to Zurich for $1,302 (round-trip). This was a great travel hack.

There were more deals on flights. Swiss and Lufthansa offered some incredible business class fares from several cities in Europe to Dubai. And Dubai to Manila, one of the very popular routes, was at a steep discount.

Personal Finance (UAE)

FAB Credit Cards offered 20% discount on noon.com and namshi.com. This was a great offer especially if you were looking for Apple products – which are almost never at discount in UAE. For instance, you could buy an AirPod with wireless charging (2019) for AED 619 ($169). This is lower than prices in US.

Finally, you could get up to 200,000 Etihad Guest miles as bonus if you signed up for ADIB Etihad Guest Platinum card.