Sydney to Cairns to Port Douglas

I've sent several folks recommendations for hotels and agencies for my trip to Sydney, Cairns, and Port Douglas, so thought I'd share here. I must give credit to my fiance for doing upfront research for our incredible trip.

Sydney: Metro on the Pitt Hotel near Darling Harbour was convenient, clean, and reasonably priced ($150/night). I used agoda.com to find good deals on hotels in Southeast Asia/Australia and then reviewed user comments and room pictures on Trip Advisor.

Cairns: Live on a boat on the Great Barrier Reef and scuba dive or snorkel. Deep Sea Divers Den was comforable, though not the cheapest option. The benefit is that you get more snorkeling time.

Port Douglas:
The Sheraton Mirage was good place to use Starwood points because it was a nice resort and cost fewer points than expected, and beautifully located along picturesque 4 mile beach.

Visit the Daintree Rainforest via 4 x 4 for a day just to see a rainforest, and stop by Cape Tribulation. Beware that your trip is controlled by your tour guide, and you walk only on set paths. I selected a random tour guide from my hotel.

Loyalty Programs

Many retailers are trying to figure out how to take advantage of gifting occasions as a key aperture to increase purchases, and possibly trade up shoppers. I was impressed by Sephora's loyalty program, which remembered my birthday was coming up and offered me a free gift in store or online (with any purchase). This email will be successful in getting me to visit an actual store (frequency), where I'll probably play around with other products in store and buy something special for myself - all fun things for me!