Philippine Travel & Tour Expo

If you’re planning a summer vacation, you can’t go wrong by visiting the annual Philippine Travel and Tour Expo of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association. This is the second year they’re doing it at the SMX. I had the chance to roam the expo a couple of years ago when it was still held at SM Megatrade Hall, and man, the expo is huge! There are literally hundreds of booths, which can give you a headache. And the discounts on fares and tours are quite significant. It’s certainly a buyer’s market with so many airlines, cruise lines, and travel agencies vying for your business. It’s (pardon the pun) worth the trip.

Imagine: goto for P38, tokwa’t baboy for P35, pancit malabon for P55. What’s amazing is not only the food ridiculously cheap, it’s actually pretty good! The crispy pata and kare-kare are delicious as well. In fact, I don’t think you can go wrong with any item on their menu.

Of course, there’s a tradeoff. Don’t expect fantastic customer service. The servers are hardly the friendliest crew and I hate it when they always run out of my order of goto when it’s past six. But at least they get your food fast. And the crowd is decent and the place is clean.

Who can resist free palabok?

Not do be outdone, Metrobank is also offering free food to their cardholders. When you charge a minimum of P1,500 on a single-receipt purchase at any store, you can take home a free Red Ribbon treat such as pan-grilled chops ala carte meal, pancit palabok meal, a bread bundle, or a slice of S’mores cake with a drink. Promo period is until January 31.

Free food!

BPI started its tie-up with Jollibee last year — offering free spaghetti or burger steak with soda for a P1,000 minimum BPI credit card receipt. Believe me, my wife and I redeemed probably 30 or so spaghettis and burger steaks during that first promo period (and no, we didn’t everything — a lot of it we gave to our helpers — but yes, we did consume our share of spaghettis and burger steaks…we love free food!).

When they switched to Greenwich, we did the same — redeeming macaronis like there was no tomorrow. Did Jollibee and Greenwich (or to be precise, BPI, since I presume they paid the fast food chains) lose money from this? We joke around that they probably got alerted that there had been an unusually high redemption rate at their Katipunan branch that they would decide to discontinue the promo.

Thankfully, they did not. BPI brought back the promo with Jollibee. Here’s what you need to know:

• Cardholder should use any BPI Express Credit card within the promo period for a minimum P1,000 or P3,000 single receipt purchase at any merchant or cash advance transaction to qualify for redemption of the free Jollibee food items.
• Cardholder can choose to redeem any one (1) of the following food items for every qualified transaction: Choice of any one (1) Yumburger or Jolly Sundae (for a minimum P1,000 single receipt purchase at any merchant or cash advance transaction) or One (1) 2 pcs. Chickenjoy with Rice (for a minimum P3,000 single receipt purchase at any merchant or cash advance transaction)
• Only one (1) free food item can be redeemed per charge slip or cash advance receipt. A cardholder is allowed up to three (3) redemptions per day per store only.
• Promo period is from November 15, 2008 to January 15, 2009.
• Redemption period is until March 15, 2009.

We always order the Italian salamin panini (salami, tomatoes, thick mozarella, and panini  bread grilled in a fire-wood oven) for just P98! It’s a delicious, filling, and very affordable meal.

Just got our car from Carsavers for a Ziebart full detailing job (interior, exterior, and engine). It’s their holiday offer but it’s still on since it’s already January. I love what they did — it’s spic and span (and it smells great). After seven years of gathering dust, mud, and grime, the engine looks brand new. The package includes their treatment that supposedly kills 99% of all germs in your car.

We paid only P3,442.50 for the full detailing, which retails for P4,050, a 15% discount. These are the things they did:

1. Thoroughly wash and dry the exterior of the vehicle
2. Thoroughly vacuum clean the interior — including mats, carpets, seats and rear deck.
3. Spot clean seats, carpets, sidings and headliner with special shampoo and Hot Water Extraction Process that lifts out ground-in dirt and stains
4. Clean all remaining soiled areas of interior (vinyls, plastics, trims, etc.)
5. Clean and condition all vinyl and leather trim with vinyl clean-and-dress and/or leather conditioner
6. Carefully clean all trims on doors and dashboard, including instrument cluster, vents and center console
7. Apply special Ziebart TidyCar Paint Polish via high speed polisher
8. Clean all glass with cleaner and dress all tires
9. Thoroughly wash entire underchassis
10. Thoroughly wash, clean and detail engine and engineer compartment. Dress all hoses and plastics
11. Vacuum clean and detail entire trunk compartment
12. Carefully clean and detail entire vehicle exterior. Dress tires, mouldings, and bumpers

They also offer 20% off on Ziebart protection packages (they are the exclusive distributor of Ziebart here); 10% off on rust, paint, and fabric protection; and free labor on tune-up and change oil; among others.

Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila

Found this promo in today’s paper.

Get your third night free whenever you stay for two consecutive nights at Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila from December 15, 2008 to January 19, 2009. Room rate starts from only P4,500++.

This is quite a good deal as the daily rate averages P3,000++. Take this offer if you haven’t had a restful vacation over the holidays. Rooms at Crowne are clean and relatively new, plus the location is great (it’s connected to Robinson’s Galleria), so you won’t regret staying.

It includes buffet breakfast for two at Seven Corners. Breakfast at Seven Corners is just okay (lunch and dinner buffet menus are much better), but certainly filling. Eat later in the day and you can skip lunch (and save money).

Rustan’s is holding a Ferragamo sale from January 6 to February 2009. I’m not a big fan but in case you’re interested, head off to Rustan’s Makati, Rustan’s Tower, Rustan’s Cebu, Rustan’s Power Plant Rockwell Center, and Rustan’s Greenbelt 4.

If that’s not over plugging of Rustan’s, I don’t know what is.

“Let 2009 be the last time you shave.” Now, that’s a New Year’s resolution. Found this huge Facial Care Centre ad on the newspaper. It’s got a big photo of a hot Amanda Griffin and a big promo — 50% of LaserLight (permanent hair removal on all areas) upon enrollment from January 5-10, 2009 only.

That’s a pretty short window but you better grab the chance. I don’t know how effective it is, bit it promises no more ingrown hair or chicken skin — “just skin that’s incredibly smooth, white, and hair-free.” Well, I like Amanda’s quote on the FCC website better: “A photographer even told me he didn’t even have to Photoshop my underarms!”

I don’t know how much treatments cost, but I presume a few thousands per session. So 50% is quite significant.