Traveling More Cheaply and Using Kaligo.com

Over the Christmas holidays, I read my friend Matt Kepnes’ book, How to Travel the World on $50 a Day. I first met Matt back in 2008 in Chicago at a mini travel-blogging conference after BlogHer. He was — and is — living the life that most of us can only dream of, traveling the world and running a successful website all at the same time. Matt, if you ever need a personal assistant, you just let me know.

You should definitely check out Matt’s book if you have a chance. It made me think a bit differently about the things I spend money on when traveling, and that alone made it worth the £9.74 investment. So when I was looking for a hotel in Helsinki, rather than my usual large business-class hotel that earns me points or the luxury boutique hotel with expensive soap and iPhone chargers and bluetooth speakers, I went with the design-led-but-still-cheap Hotel Helka at £59 a night. And while that’s certainly not the $50 a day that Matt gets away with, it was a lot better than the £150 a night I probably would have spent otherwise. Matt, it only took me six years to adopt your principles, but I’m getting there!

I also experimented with a new booking site in making my reservation. It’s called Kaligo.com and their (very good) gimmick is that you can earn additional frequent flyer miles with your booking. This was my compromise with myself…cheaper hotel, but get more miles. Plus, I booked my stay using my BA Amex so I got even more miles there. I have the BA Amex Premium Plus Card, which gets you 1.5 Avios for every £1 you spend and 3 Avios for every £1 you spend direct with British Airways or BA Holidays.

Here is how Kaligo describe themselves on their About page…

A brand you can trust and enjoy, Kaligo.com is a leading global hotel booking platform that rewards customers with incredible miles & points across a wide range of favourite loyalty programs.Launched in 2014, Kaligo offers great rates and a large selection of 300,000 properties across more than 200 countries.

My Kaligo Review: Earning British Airways Avios with Hotel Bookings

As I started working on my Kaligo review, I saw lots of attractive offers on Kaligo.com for my Helsinki stay — two nights at the Hilton Helsinki boasted 3200 British Airways Avios. But per previous, I chose the much more moderate Helka Hotel, which included a bonus of 700 Avios. I was very focused on saving money this trip and The Helka cost me just 59 quid a night. Note that booking direct or through other platforms was the same price! So booking through Kaligo for the 700 extra Avios seemed like a no-brainer. Kaligo’s confirmation noted that I should receive my Avios within six weeks after my stay. I just checked my Executive Club statement and the 700 Avios arrived five business days after I checked out of the hotel.

I can’t think of a reason for not using Kaligo for all my hotel bookings now. If I can get extra miles…why not??? (Although please note that booking through Kaligo may mean you can’t otherwise earn points on your stay like you would as an IHG member or Marriott member, etc.) Sure, I am also a member of Expedia’s Reward Program in the U.S. but to be honest, I have totally no idea how it works. (Fodder for further investigation, of course.)

I liked the Helka overall, but I will admit…I missed my luxury bath products. Also, the bed was not the most comfortable one I’ve ever slept in. That being said, the hotel breakfast was awesome — why is it that tourist class hotels include breakfast but luxury hotels do not? The bar area was also pretty cool. I basically tried to spend as little time as possible in my hotel room.

Here’s my little video tour of The Helka…

Kaligo.com vs Booking.com Review

I decided to run a comparison of Kaligo.com vs. Booking.com to see if there were any differences for a Helsinki stay over the same weekend. I plugged in that I wanted one room from Friday, July 27th to Sunday July 29th for one person. To make things easier to compare, I also said I wanted 4 star hotels or above. Kaligo provided 40 4-star hotels and 4 5-star hotels. Booking.com provided 42 4-star and 9 5-star properties, so perhaps Booking.com has a slightly larger selection.

Kaligo said its best offer was the Scandic Grand Marina, presumably because of the large number of Avios on offer. The site listed the Scandic Grand Marina for £141 per night PLUS I’d earn 5,700 avios. This rate is inclusive of fees and taxes. Once I went through the checkout process, it actually said the total rate was £280 which is fine. The rate was for a single room with breakfast. However, in reading the fine print, if I canceled the booking between July 24th and July 26th, I’d be charged £140. If I cancelled on the 27th, the entire fee was non-refundable.

Booking.com offered me a rate of £264 for my two-night stay, and no Avios. So it was £16 cheaper BUT this was an immediately non-refundable rate. Oddly, the room choice was listed as “Family Room: 2 Adults + 1 Child” even though I had specifically said I was a solo traveler. (Breakfast was included.)

If we assume that 1 Avios is worth about 1p, the 5700 additional Avios we are getting through Kaligo are worth around £57. In this scenario then, if we are not cash flow sensitive and don’t mind spending £16 more, it makes more sense to book through Kaligo.com. (Note that there are all different ways of valuing Avios so 1p isn’t entirely right but it’s a good general rule of thumb.)

I then went on to compare the prices between Kaligo and Booking.com on a number of other 4 and 5 star properties and they were pretty much always the same…although with Kaligo, you got the Avios too…

Kaligo.com Airline Partners

Since my original Kaligo.com review, the site has expanded and now offers points with multiple airline reward programs. A small screenshot of some — not all — of the partners is included above.

Summary: My Kaligo Review

So in summary…my Kaligo review is positive and I would use the service again for sure. Paying the same price as other platforms but then also getting Avios seems like a no brainer to me. But think about Matt and his book and don’t just book for the extra Avios. Book for value! This gives you more money to spend on you! And all the Marimekko and Iittala in Finland…

Check out these other articles for more Kaligo.com reviews and details:

• Head for Points interview with Kaligo CEO
• Doctor of Credit on Kaligo (This is a very thorough Kaligo review.)
• Doctor of Credit analysis of Kaligo vs. Rocketmiles vs. PointsHound

You Might Enjoy These Other Posts

• How to Use Hotwire to Save Money on Hotels
• My Favorite Travel Websites

The post My Kaligo Review: Earning Extra Avios with Hotel Stays first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Visit Helsinki Cathedral during your weekend in Helsinki

Weekend in Helsinki

Here is the truth: I was 40 tier points away from Silver status on British Airways. Silver Status gets you Fast Track Security access and lounge access. I couldn’t not book a flight to put me over the edge. Plus, I haven’t really gone anywhere for fun in ages. Not since Karen & Bob were here in August and I met them in Paris. I have been trying to be very good about debt lately and managing it down and down and down. Only $16,000 USD in MBA loans left, my friends! (That number was once $120,000 USD, so really, this is progress.) Understandably, spending has been at a minimum. But just 40 tier points to Silver…I wanted it. I wanted it bad. And Helsinki and Athens are the two best flights from London to get you — me — those 40 points. So I decided to do some Helsinki sightseeing and planned out a quick weekend in Helsinki!

I’m going to write about my hotel booking experience and hotel stay in another post. In the interim, here are some of my top tips for a weekend in Helsinki:

Take a Free Walking Tour of Helsinki

Get your bearings by taking the free walking tour of Helsinki that departs from the steps in front of the Cathedral every day at 11 am. This is a compact Helsinki sightseeing tour — about two hours — but it’s really a perfect introduction to your weekend in Helsinki. During the tour, you’ll visit Uspenski Cathedral, the House of the Estates, the National Library of Finland , the University of Helsinki, Holy Trinity Church, Helsinki Harbour, Market square, and Senate square. Note that I recommend you tip your guide at the end of the tour. Note the same organization also offers Architecture and Design walking tours of Helsinki!

Eat at Ora

Thanks to the magic of Twitter and my Internet friend Hermano Primero, I was able to book a last minute table at one of Helsinki’s best restaurants, Ora (previously called Chef & Sommelier). It couldn’t have been lovelier. The staff were sweet, funny and above all, lovingly informative when it came time to explain each dish that was set down in front of me. Chef Sasu Laukkonen himself personally presented many of the visually compelling dishes. But as he reminded me, it’s not about how it looks! The restaurant has its own farm so they know where everything comes from. And while I didn’t see it, Sasu explained that there’s a Big Green Egg out back that they use for smoking. Definitely make a reservation here far in advance if you are planning a Helsinki weekend. Contact Ora.

Lamb neck by Sasu Laukkonen

Helsinki Sightseeing: Do a Visit Helsinki Design Walk

I am a lover of all things Scandinavian design so I did one of the self-guided walks of Helsinki’s design district. (I did Classics are Forever.) It probably took me about two hours with stops at the shops along the way. It was a great way to see the city over the weekend and all in all, it’s not a long walk. It’s the shopping stops that make it long!

Buy everything at Marimekko during your weekend in Helsinki

Shop at Marimekko and Iittala in Helsinki

No visit to Helsinki is complete without visits to these two temples of Finnish design. All the money I saved on my weekend hotel stay (more about that in another post) got spent at Marimekko. I managed to restrain myself at Ittala, although I did want to buy all the Klaus Haapaniemi. (Hi Klaus!) If you don’t know Klaus’ work, drop into an Iitala or check out his shop on Redchurch Street in London’s Shoreditch. Tell him I say hi!

Bryggeri Helsinki: Weekend beer drinking!

Do a Beer Tasting at Bryggeri Helsinki

I had some time to kill after lunch on Saturday afternoon, and the ever-handy Foursquare sent me to this Finnish brewery, right by the waterfront. Who said Helsinki was expensive? I tried two different IPAs for 3.20 euros and mooched off the free wifi. (I find myself relying more and more on Foursquare when I travel. It seems to be the only service besides TripAdvisor that works pretty much everywhere.)

Visit The Design Museum during your weekend in Helsinki

Helsinki Sightseeing: Check out the Design Museum

Are you sensing a theme here? I love Finnish design! All the Scandinavian chairs are mine! I spent about an hour in this compact temple to Finnish design and restrained myself from buying everything in the gift shop. Proudly, I did not steal the beautiful water glasses in the shop. Even though I wanted to.

Helsinki Sightseeing: Visit the Mannerheim Museum

For a change of pace and for some more traditional Helsinki sightseeing, I went on a tour of the former home of the Finnish military leader, Gustaf Mannerheim. And while it wasn’t the most compelling tour I’ve ever been on, it was a pretty house and a nice change from all the Scandinavian chairs I had been staring at the day before. If you are into history, this one is for you. It focuses a lot on what happened to Helsinki and Finland in general during World War II.

Eat at Sundmans Krog during your weekend in Helsinki

Have Lunch at Sundmans Krog

I needed lunch down by the waterfront in Helsinki and both TripAdvisor and Foursquare sent me here. It’s a quaint little space popular with tourists, but I enjoyed my salmon and potatoes and was able to use the wifi from the steak restaurant next door, so it worked for me as a relaxing weekend lunch.

Drink All the Beer at Helsinki’s Ravintola Savel

My friend John took me out to Ravintola Savel on Saturday evening where we drank a lot of Finnish beer. It was funny because after having dinner at Chef & Sommelier the night before and learning about Malmgard Brewery, I was able to introduce John to Malmgard beers and John has lived in Helsinki for 14 years!

So I think you’re getting it…during my weekend in Helsinki, I drank a lot of beer, wanted to buy everything, and looked at a lot of chairs. I also squeeze in a little Helsinki sightseeing too. I had a good time and really enjoyed my quick Helsinki weekend. So will you! Go now, my US and UK friends, while the Euro is in your favor!

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Helsinki Sightseeing: Book a Tour for Your Weekend in Helsinki

The post 8 Tips for a Weekend in Helsinki first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.