Posts

The Basics of Hotel Awards (MEGA POST)

Hotel Awards, a Topical Look at Most of Them Booking hotels using points is an art. Focus too much on the fewest points for a retail value, chasing CPP (cents per point) and you can get yourself stuck in a suboptimal location on vacation. Or if you do it right, can give yourself an unforgettable experience many tens of stories above an amazing city or in a beautiful resort next to the ocean. You can also save a hundred bucks here and there on your road trips. We have used our points and certificates for all of the above. The Major Chains: IHG Hyatt Go to Top Hilton Marriott Wyndham Choice Hotels IHG - Intercontinental Hotels Group  "I don't know man, that seems like a lot of points" Go to Top (Credit Cards - Chase Mastercard:  Public Link  |  Referral Link  -- As of writing this post, they are the same, but sometimes one is better than the other ) The standard welcome offe...
Post a Comment
Read more

How-to: Barebones trip to Japan on Points

Image
  Warning: This post advocates the use of multiple credit cards. Credit cards can be dangerous and expensive if you spend money that you don't have. If you think you might spend money you don't have, stop reading. All of my advice assumes that at minimum, you set up and verify that autopay works for the full statement balance before the due date! If a $15 bowl of seafood and rice can't convince you to make the trip, I'm not sure what to tell you. So you want to go to Japan, but you're not looking for a comfortable flight or fancy hotels, you just want to get there and eat your way around Tokyo. Let's see what we can do with two credit card bonuses and a bank account bonus. First you're gonna want to do your homework for the flights by seeing what's available from your home airport, scroll to the bottom of this post for how I do it from my home airport of GEG, in this example I'm using Delta. The Accounts Card 1: American Express Delta Gold  - (Referr...
Post a Comment
Read more

How I got into the travel points hobby

Image
Warning: This post advocates the use of multiple credit cards. Credit cards can be dangerous and expensive if you spend money that you don't have. If you think you might spend money you don't have, stop reading. All of my advice assumes that at minimum, you set up and verify that autopay works for the full statement balance before the due date! I am a cheapskate, but I love travel. In 2014, my wife (P2) and I (P1) decided that we wanted to do an international trip but I balked at the cash prices of plane tickets. I had noticed that credit card companies were constantly trying to get me to sign up for their products with welcome offers that seemed too good to be true. I figured why the heck not, I was done using my credit for a while since we already got our mortgage and auto loan so the inquiries wouldn't hurt me, right? I decided to get a couple of credit cards beyond the Costco Amex and Alaska Airlines Visa. In late 2014 I started out with the Amex SPG. The Starwood Prefe...
Post a Comment
Read more