Hey {{first name | reader}},

Happy Saturday!

Yes, I know. I do not think I have ever sent you a newsletter on a Saturday. We are usually here on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but the time difference has me completely turned around.

I am writing this from Beijing, where I have just spent a few incredible days. I flew Cathay Pacific business class for the first time, stayed at Rosewood Hong Kong, which is supposed to be the number one hotel in the world right now, and explored a city I had been wanting to visit for a long time.

I will be writing full reviews of both experiences, but today I wanted to share a few first impressions, how I booked everything, and two interesting mileage sales that have just launched.

Here's what's inside today's post:

Earlier this week I flew from Madrid to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific's Airbus A350 in business class.

I was very impressed by the seat. It is spacious, has plenty of storage, and feels remarkably comfortable for an older business class product. The crew was attentive, the food was generally good, and the menu had an incredible number of choices. I do not think I have seen so many options on another airline.

That said, the meal service was surprisingly slow and a little inconsistent. I will explain more about that in the full review.

But let me talk about what matters most here: how I booked it.

I paid cash instead of using miles

This time, I booked a cash ticket. I paid approximately $1,500 per person for an itinerary that included Madrid to Hong Kong nonstop in Cathay Pacific business class, a stopover in Hong Kong, and then Hong Kong to Beijing a few days later in economy class.

I thought that was a fantastic price.

When I was researching the trip, I could not find suitable business class award availability. One alternative was flying Qatar Airways through Doha, but I am already flying Qatar on the way home and wanted to try something different. Some of the connecting options to Beijing also involved aircraft I was not particularly excited about.

The other important factor was time. Flying through Doha would have meant a much longer journey, with some options taking around 21 hours to reach Hong Kong. Flying nonstop from Madrid took approximately 12 hours.

And when I included the Hong Kong to Beijing flight in the same ticket, the price difference was not particularly large. For $1,500 per person, getting a nonstop long-haul business class flight plus another flight to Beijing was a deal I was very happy to book.

This is something I always tell Points Master members: do not become so focused on redeeming miles that you forget to compare cash fares. Sometimes paying cash makes much more sense.

After landing in Hong Kong, we headed straight to the Rosewood, and this hotel made an incredible first impression.

We had arranged an airport transfer with the hotel, including a meet and greet service. Someone was waiting for us as soon as we came off the plane, and the entire arrival process was incredibly smooth. At the hotel, our butler welcomed us and escorted us directly to our suite for an in-room check-in.

We stayed in a 98-square-meter Kowloon Peak View Twin Suite with beautiful views of the city and harbour. The suite was enormous, and the interiors were stunning. Rosewood has a very distinctive design approach: beautiful materials, rich textures, and incredible attention to detail. There were welcome chocolates, fruit, and amenities waiting, and the butler even prepared a framed photo of us taken when we arrived.

The service was extremely personalized throughout the stay.

How I booked it

I booked through Rosewood's Preferred Partner program, taking advantage of a third-night-free offer. Because we arrived very early in the morning, I had also booked the previous night to guarantee our suite would be ready on arrival. We could go straight upstairs, change, and enjoy breakfast at the Manor Club before heading out to explore the city.

Our Preferred Partner benefits included daily breakfast, a $100 hotel credit, upgrade benefits subject to availability, early check-in and late checkout subject to availability, and additional VIP recognition and amenities.

We did not receive a room upgrade because we specifically needed a twin-bed suite, and ours was the only suite category at the hotel with that configuration. But we did receive confirmed late checkout, which was incredibly useful given our afternoon flight.

This is exactly what booking luxury hotels through Preferred Partner programs can do. You get so much more out of a stay without necessarily paying more for the room.

Now, was everything perfect? Not quite.

There was one significant mistake during our stay that I would never expect from a hotel of this category, and honestly it upset me quite a bit. But I have to give Rosewood credit for how they handled it. The management team took it seriously, personally apologized, and made a real effort to make things right.

I will share the full story in my review.

This is something Dan and I talked about quite a bit over the past few days: Being ranked number one in the world is both a blessing and a challenge. You arrive with such high expectations that even a small misstep stands out more than it would anywhere else. The bar is simply set at a different level.

Despite that, this was easily one of my favorite hotel stays so far, and I would absolutely return.

Now, back to points.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club has launched a promotion offering up to a 60% bonus when purchasing Avios, valid through October 19, 2026.

The bonus structure:

With the maximum bonus, the price drops to approximately $14.40 per 1,000 Avios.

To put that in context: Qatar Airways prices long-haul business class flights, for example between Australia, São Paulo, or the US and Doha, at around 70,000 Avios one-way at the regular saver rate.

At this purchase price, 70,000 Avios would cost approximately $1,006 before taxes. For a very long-haul flight in Qatar Airways business class, potentially in Qsuite, that can be excellent value.

Availability is always the most important factor, and Qatar also has higher-priced Flexi awards, so do not assume every flight will show at 70,000 Avios. But when the space is there and the price is right, this promotion is worth considering.

Another reason I like Avios is their flexibility. You can move them between British Airways, Iberia, Finnair, and Qatar Airways, provided your accounts meet the transfer requirements.

I would not buy without a specific plan, but if you have found a good redemption, this is a strong promotion.

This one is particularly interesting for aviation enthusiasts.

Taiwanese airline Starlux has launched its first-ever mileage purchase promotion, offering a 40% discount through November 9, 2026. That brings the purchase price down to $24 per 1,000 COSMILE miles.

That is expensive compared to most mileage sales we discuss here. But there is something genuinely interesting about Starlux.

The airline has a very exclusive first class cabin on its Airbus A350 aircraft, and it is one of the hardest first class products in the world to actually book. With Starlux's own COSMILE program, a long-haul first class redemption between Taipei and the United States costs 130,000 miles.

At the current purchase price, those miles would cost $3,120, plus approximately $300 in taxes. So you are looking at around $3,420 for a long-haul first class ticket.

Is that cheap? No. But considering that cash fares for this product can cost many thousands of dollars more, it creates an interesting opportunity to try one of the world's more unusual first class cabins.

If you are a serious aviation enthusiast who wants to experience Starlux first class, this is worth looking at. Business class redemptions are also possible, though at $24 per 1,000 miles I would compare carefully against Alaska Atmos Rewards pricing and cash fares before buying for business class specifically.

Personally, I find the first-class opportunity more compelling, simply because it is such a rare and hard-to-access product. If you want to check it out, you can watch Dan’s review of this product!

Next stop: Shanghai

That is it for this unusual Saturday edition.

I am in Beijing now and heading to Shanghai next. There are some really exciting flights and hotels coming up, and I will keep sharing how I booked them, what I paid, and whether I think they were worth it.

I am also working on the full Cathay Pacific and Rosewood Hong Kong reviews, where I will go into much more detail about both experiences.

Catch you in the clouds,
Tomi from Points Master

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