Stefan from RapidTravelChai is launching the first Pacific Northwest Points Travel Festival 2024 this year in Seattle. This is an event built out through many small meetups in the PNW region. Finally, we are coming together to talk a day (or weekend) of points and travel. This is the first points conference dedicated to celebrating the Pacific Northwest (Seattle, Vancouver & Portland).
Ticket Pricing
These events can be relatively expensive. However, the conference only ticket has been priced at just $59 for one person and $69 for two people ($35 per person), including lunch on Saturday. If you want to have the full experience, covering Friday evening to Sunday morning, and a conference after-party it will be $129.
New Event Format
The event will be a bit different than other travel events. Rather than have a few long presentations, there will instead be multiple 10 minute presentations. 22, to be exact. That means if there is a topic you do not want to hear, you do not waste an hour of your time listening to someone speak. Instead, it will be a quick 10 minute topic, a trailer, and then the next presenter will speak.
There will be three keynote speeches as well, that will go beyond the 10 minute mark:
- When to Go Big, the Risks and Rewards of Going All In. A Fireside Chat with Greg Davis-Kean of Frequent Miler
- To Fluz or Not to Fluz (Potential and Risks for Using Fluz to Scale Up Your Points Earning)
- Get Creative: How to Book Award Travel in 2024
What will I be presenting at the Points Travel Festival?
I will be covering two topics that I have used largely with my clients to save them hundreds of dollars in their travel expenses. Granted, these topics can also be a bit contentious. Imagine booking a hotel, not directly through the website.
- Alternate Hotel Booking Programs. More importantly, what are the hidden costs of elite status, points, and is the effort worth the lift? I will be giving a quick trailer of all the tools available through travel agents to help clients get the best deal possible, many times, better than what is offered online.
- Joint Venture Ticketing Partners. Air Canada and United have a JV relationship for US-Canada flights. Delta and WestJet have a similar relationship. Across the Atlantic, there are three main carriers, Skyteam, OneWorld and Star Alliance, all of whom have a JV relationship with each other. These relationships are meant to increase our fares, by restricting competition, however, watch how we leverage hidden opportunities that are not immediately obvious when using these JV partnerships. I have already touched upon this topic as the best way to earn free WestJet flights is through Delta.
I will be writing about similar (maybe not exactly the same) topics over the course of the next few months.
Conclusion
With ticket pricing as cheap as $35 per person, I am confident that any one presentation will provide outsized value over your conference fee. I hope to see you at the Pacific Northwest Points Travel Festival 2024!
