Hotel Rooms Available Again and Another Speaker Added for Frequent Traveler University

While there are still some tickets available for Frequent Traveler University in Tampa, Florida September 27-29, after I posted details of the schedule last week the host hotel room block filled up.

Now, folks don’t have to stay at the host hotel which is the Grand Hyatt Tampa. The group rate is $119 and most people prefer to stay where the action is, though some Starwood loyalists for instance may stay at the Westin Tampa Bay about a mile away.

We’ll have the bulk of the hotel for this event — frequent flyers taking over the property — and we’ve managed to get additional rooms added to the block so that they can be booked at the $119 rate. If you plan to go, you’ll want to get your room booked asap.

Meanwhile, last week I was waiting to confirm one talk.

One of the frequent questions I get at Frequent Traveler Unviersity, and also occasionally here o nthe blog, is why don’t you talk more about flying economy, and which flights/routes have the best award availability for coach?

I think folks assume it’s a prejudice on my part, and while I do much prefer flying up front, the truth is I don’t talk about economy and where to find coach award tickets because I don’t know that much about it or at least I’m certainly not an expert. When I’m searching for award tickets for myself or for award booking clients I’m almost always searching for premium cabins. So that’s where my base of knowledge lies.

But it’s been a gap in the Frequent Traveler University curriculum and an area I’m working to improve upon.

So I’ve invited The Miles Professor to join the FTU ‘faculty’. This time she’ll be talking on:

    Weekend Jet Setting: Maximizing Miles and Rewards to the Caribbean, Hawaii and North America

I like her work on maximizing award routings, and she’s usually trying to get the most trips out of her miles so often writes about award tickets in economy, so I think her talk will complement nicely the redemption discussions that Lucky and I offer.

If you’re not familiar with her blog, check it out.

And get your tickets and book your room for FTU while they’re still available. I look forward to meeting many of you in Tampa in September!


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About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. This is great news. The Miles Professor always has a fresh perspective on maximizing the value out the travel.
    She is very thorough in her research. FTU and its attendees would definitely gain having her present. Looking forward to it.

  2. Mike, you must be a newbie!!!no insult intended. I have read her posts a couple of times and she is a newbie herself, does not know more than any average person with some common sense.
    Gary, you could have invited someone like Jared from OTR , John from Loyalty Lobby etc, these guys would have been a valuable addition to most attendees.

  3. I’ve enjoyed the Mile’s Professors blog posts on maximizing miles, credit cards, and her optimized trips. I think she’ll add some fresh analysis to the discussion and I look forward to the conference. -Ana

  4. Sounds good. For some reason when I saw you added another speaker I thought it was going to be the return of Points Envy.

  5. I think Mile’s Professor is all about efficiency! Will teach you from how to collect miles and points with greatest time efficiency and to then maximize them to the fullest for comfort travel! Still need to understand the concept of free one ways and and open jaws…. looking forward to hear her speak!

  6. @Jamison, she will teach about adding free one ways? Did she just read what Scott from milevalue has published a million times?
    @ Anastasia 2 Russian friends? LOL I am Russian too and totally disagree with you, if I attend I would like to listen to someone who knows more than I do. Miles Professor does not .
    I agree with Pilot above, Jared from OTR would have been nice to have, the guy knows more about miles and points more than 10 bloggers combined.

  7. I am looking forward to hearing The Miles Professor speak, her strategies are so helpful and clearly explained and since most of my travels are long weekend trips, this will be especially useful.

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