Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points
Nov 15th 2013, 4:20 pm
#421
Septic Sprout
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 7,993
IHG Rewards Flash Sale on Monday - up to 75% off
View From the Wing reports on this flash sale on select properties, from the hotel programme formerly known as Priority Club.
Nov 15th 2013, 4:21 pm
#422
Septic Sprout
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 7,993
Website that finds throwaway and hidden city fares
Not miles-related, but a new website has appeared that will actually search for hidden city and throwaway ticketing fares for you! Can't see this lasting for long...
View From the Wing reports.
View From the Wing reports.
Nov 15th 2013, 4:27 pm
#423
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Mendocino, California
Posts: 954
Re: IHG Rewards Flash Sale on Monday - up to 75% off
View From the Wing reports on this flash sale on select properties, from the hotel programme formerly known as Priority Club.
, I feel a bit of a cad, but the cake was nice.
Nov 16th 2013, 2:01 pm
#424
Septic Sprout
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 7,993
Nov 19th 2013, 1:53 pm
#426
Septic Sprout
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 7,993
Hyatt gift cards 10% off
Hyatt Gold Passport members get a 10% discount on Hyatt Gift Cards – up to a maximum of $2,000 in card purchases. Go to certificates.hyatt.com and enter your membership # and promo code GPGIFT at checkout. These are valid Hyatt hotels and resorts in U.S., Canada and Caribbean.
Offer expires end of December.
Edit: Pay with an AMEX business credit card that has OPEN savings and get a 5% statement rebate, so 15% off in total.
Then make your Hyatt booking by navigating via a portal first: Ebates offers 2% cash back and TopCashBack offers a 3% rebate on Hyatt bookings.
Offer expires end of December.
Edit: Pay with an AMEX business credit card that has OPEN savings and get a 5% statement rebate, so 15% off in total.
Then make your Hyatt booking by navigating via a portal first: Ebates offers 2% cash back and TopCashBack offers a 3% rebate on Hyatt bookings.
Last edited by tonrob; Nov 19th 2013 at 2:33 pm.
Nov 19th 2013, 1:55 pm
#427
Septic Sprout
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 7,993
Modest increases in Chase Sapphire and Freedom bonuses
These are both great cards and well worth having (Mrs tonrob and I have both), so if you were thinking of pulling the trigger on these then now would be a good time.
Mommy Points explains.
Mommy Points explains.
Nov 19th 2013, 2:05 pm
#428
Septic Sprout
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 7,993
My latest card applications
As I'm swimming in miles and points right now (4 million or so) then I figured I'd look at cashback cards as a way of offsetting the remaining out of pocket spend I have to make on travel and therefore render it as close-to-free as possible.
I focused on two cards to begin with, applying for both:
Discover IT
Never had a discover card before, but there's no annual fee, 5% cashback each quarter on a series of rotating categories (Q4 is online shopping - so very broad) and, more importantly, access to the ShopDiscover portal that gives some very lucrative cashback opportunities that stack with the cashback on the card. Example: 5% Walmart bonus at ShopDiscover stacks with 5% online retailer quarterly bonus so 10% off purchases at walmart.com.
Some are even better, e.g. 10% off Sears at ShopDiscover. Stacks with the online card bonus and also Plink giving 21% off at Sears.
AMEX Blue Preferred
$75 annual fee on this one but 6% off each year at grocery stores (on first $6k of spend). Guess I'll be buying a lot of apples in December, and then again in January...
I always like to make the most out of any card application splurge, so couldn't help tossing in yet another Citi Hilton card, which was of course approved. They love it.
I focused on two cards to begin with, applying for both:
Discover IT
Never had a discover card before, but there's no annual fee, 5% cashback each quarter on a series of rotating categories (Q4 is online shopping - so very broad) and, more importantly, access to the ShopDiscover portal that gives some very lucrative cashback opportunities that stack with the cashback on the card. Example: 5% Walmart bonus at ShopDiscover stacks with 5% online retailer quarterly bonus so 10% off purchases at walmart.com.
Some are even better, e.g. 10% off Sears at ShopDiscover. Stacks with the online card bonus and also Plink giving 21% off at Sears.
AMEX Blue Preferred
$75 annual fee on this one but 6% off each year at grocery stores (on first $6k of spend). Guess I'll be buying a lot of apples in December, and then again in January...
I always like to make the most out of any card application splurge, so couldn't help tossing in yet another Citi Hilton card, which was of course approved. They love it.
Nov 19th 2013, 2:12 pm
#429
Rootbeeraholic
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Houston, Tx
Posts: 2,280
Re: Modest increases in Chase Sapphire and Freedom bonuses
These are both great cards and well worth having (Mrs tonrob and I have both), so if you were thinking of pulling the trigger on these then now would be a good time.
Mommy Points explains.
Mommy Points explains.
Nov 19th 2013, 2:35 pm
#430
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Oakland County, Michigan
Posts: 846
Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points
My only annoyance with Discover is that they hold payments from new customers in 'pending' status for a ridiculous amount of time whilst they do fraud checks, if they're for large amounts. My husband had to wait about 2 weeks for a 2k payment to clear and they didn't even backdate the payment to when he originally sent it, which meant that he incurred interest.
Nov 19th 2013, 2:35 pm
#431
Septic Sprout
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Joined: Aug 2004
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 7,993
Top 13 Ways To Get To The Maldives Using Miles and Points
The Points Guy summarizes - thought I'd share in case anyone needed any mileage-earning motivation! 
Nov 19th 2013, 2:36 pm
#432
Septic Sprout
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 7,993
Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points
My only annoyance with Discover is that they hold payments from new customers in 'pending' status for a ridiculous amount of time whilst they do fraud checks, if they're for large amounts. My husband had to wait about 2 weeks for a 2k payment to clear and they didn't even backdate the payment to when he originally sent it, which meant that he incurred interest.
Nov 19th 2013, 9:58 pm
#433
Rootbeeraholic
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Houston, Tx
Posts: 2,280
Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points
I've also just taken a Marriott CC offer for 70,000 points, I actually mainly did this for the elite status (it takes me to Gold which I otherwise wouldn't have achieved)
•70,000 points after $1,000 spent in first 3 months after account opening
•5 points for every $1 spent at over 3,600 Marriott® locations*
•2 points for every $1 spent on airline tickets purchased directly with the airline, and at car rental agencies & restaurants*
•1 point for every $1 spent on purchases anywhere else*
•15 Elite credits toward your next membership level after account
approval and every year after account anniversary*
•1 Elite credit for every $3,000 spent*
https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/mar...emier/70p1ksh/
•70,000 points after $1,000 spent in first 3 months after account opening
•5 points for every $1 spent at over 3,600 Marriott® locations*
•2 points for every $1 spent on airline tickets purchased directly with the airline, and at car rental agencies & restaurants*
•1 point for every $1 spent on purchases anywhere else*
•15 Elite credits toward your next membership level after account
approval and every year after account anniversary*
•1 Elite credit for every $3,000 spent*
https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/mar...emier/70p1ksh/
Nov 20th 2013, 5:45 pm
#434
Septic Sprout
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 7,993
500 free Amtrak points
By adding your AGR account to Google Wallet via the latter's iPhone/Android app. Just done it for myself and family members - refreshes expiry date for another two years as well.
500 applies to first 10,000 to do it, 100 thereafter.
Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
500 applies to first 10,000 to do it, 100 thereafter.
Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
Nov 20th 2013, 9:24 pm
#435
Joined: Mar 2009
Location: Google Town
Posts: 7,532
Re: Modest increases in Chase Sapphire and Freedom bonuses
I wouldn't use the Hyatt credit card to earn Hyatt points. I'd get it for the sign-up bonus (2 free nights) and the annual bonus (1 free night which is worth far more than the annual fee). I wouldn't spend another cent on the card after hitting the threshold to trigger the initial bonus. I spend using Ultimate Rewards earning cards, as those points easily convert to Hyatt and also a number of other programmes so makes things a lot more flexible.
Bit pissed off by the Hyatt devaluation, but in reality it doesn't affect too many properties and I get my points for cheap anyway. It's the nature if the game really. I'd probably be more pissed off if I earned by Hyatt points through staying at their hotels though.
Bit pissed off by the Hyatt devaluation, but in reality it doesn't affect too many properties and I get my points for cheap anyway. It's the nature if the game really. I'd probably be more pissed off if I earned by Hyatt points through staying at their hotels though.
These are both great cards and well worth having (Mrs tonrob and I have both), so if you were thinking of pulling the trigger on these then now would be a good time.
Mommy Points explains.
Mommy Points explains.
Can you book using points through a website, or do you usually have to call? I like browsing, and trying different things before I decide on exactly what I'm going to do. Having to call always puts me off.