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American Airlines and Hyatt Benefit Partnership
American Airlines and World of Hyatt have partnered up to offer some reciprocal benefits to their elite members. The relationship was announced last month but has now gone live. Elite members in both the American Airlines AAdvantage and World of Hyatt loyalty programs will earn both WoH points and AA miles on qualifying American flights and Hyatt hotel stays. New Ways to Earn Points AAdvantage Gold, Platinum, Platinum Pro, Executive Platinum and ConciergeKey members will be able to earn one AAdvantage bonus mile for every eligible dollar spent at qualifying Hyatt properties. In addition, AA’s ConciergeKey members will receive World of Hyatt Globalist status. World of Hyatt Discoverist, Explorist and Globalist…
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Amex Refreshes Blue Cash Preferred
American Express has refreshed it’s Blue Cash Preferred cash back credit card with new bonus earning categories. They’ve also left the annual fee unchanged at $95 per year. Blue Cash Preferred has earned 6% cash back on the first $6,000 of eligible purchases each calendar year at supermarkets . Now you can also earn 6% on U.S. streaming subscriptions like Netflix and Spotify. A full list can be found here. In addition to earning 3% cash back at gas stations, you can now earn 3% on transit. This includes trains, taxicabs, ride share services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways (airfare, car rental and cruises are not considered transit). The…
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I Saved 40% on my Rental Car… So Far
See my final update near the end of this post. Autoslash continued to look for lower rates right up to my trip. I have an upcoming long weekend trip to Toronto where I’ll need to rent a car. Since I’m a points/miles/travel blogger I don’t need any help finding the best price, right? Wrong! For this rental, I decided to try Autoslash for the first time. I’ve heard plenty of recommendations in the past, but for some reason, I’d never tried them. I’ve always felt I could just do better on my own. Well, allow me to eat some crow. What is Autoslash? Autoslash likens itself to a team of obsessive grocery store coupon-clippers. You know the…
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12% Cashback at Ebates Today
Ebates is running a “Eau du Cash Back” Sale. Today only, get 12% cashback at over 150 top stores when you click through their portal. Here’s a small sample of featured 12% cash back merchants. If you’re not familiar with shopping portals, you can read my full primer here. In short, shopping portals are websites that provide links to various retailers’ websites. In return for directing customers to their site, those retailers pay a commission to the portal for each customer that makes a qualifying purchase. The portal then allots a portion of that commission–in the form of points or cash–to the original customer. If you’re not already an Ebates user, it’s free to…
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Fresh Look for the Site
After a couple years with the same look for the site, I thought it was time for a change. This morning, I updated the website with a fresh new style. Major new features include a search button on the main menu, Featured Posts on the home page, and plenty of Related Posts sections to help with your navigation. I hope you all like the changes! If you like the information in this article, please consider supporting this blog by shopping with my Amazon Referral link.
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Hyatt Award Category Changes
Hyatt has announced award category changes for a large number of its hotels. Although I would classify this as a devaluation, it’s by no means a massive one. These changes won’t take effect until March 18, 2019. You can book at the old award rates until then. The entire list of changes can be found at Hyatt’s website here. In total, 259 properties are changing categories. 129 hotels are moving to a lower category and 130 are getting more expensive. That looks fairly balanced at first glance. Lets dig deeper. World of Hyatt Categories The Hotel Award Categories determine how many World of Hyatt points are required to be redeemed…
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Ameriprise Amex Platinum No Longer Waiving Annual Fee
UPDATE: The waived annual fee is no longer offered, but the card lives on, with a 60,000 Membership Rewards welcome bonus after spending $5,000 in the first months. As of this morning, The Platinum Card from American Express for Ameriprise Financial is no longer available for new applications. The card was a favorite due to its waived annual fee for the first year. The Amerprise Platinum card had all same benefits that the standard Platinum card–Centurion Lounge and Delta SkyClub access, $200 airline fee credit, $200 Uber credit to name a few. While the card didn’t offer any Membership Rewards signup bonus, it had been offered with a $0 introductory annual…
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Marriott and SPG Credit Card Eligiblity Confusion
Marriott’s new combined rewards program has been named Marriott Bonvoy and will go live in February. This consolidates the Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and SPG programs under one unified brand. What’s still confusing are the credit card and bonus eligibility requirements of each card. Can you get the Amex SPG Luxury card if you have the Chase Marriott Premier Plus card? The answer isn’t always apparent. And if you read the Offer Terms, you’re left even more confused. I’ve written a questionnaire to cut through the eligibility legalese in each card’s offer terms. Simply choose the card you intend to apply for, answer the ensuing questions, and I’ll tell you if…
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Chase Offers: $40 Back on DirecTV
I found a Chase Offer in my Chase mobile app for $40 back after spending $20 on DirecTV with my Sapphire Reserve card . This offer is intended for new subscribers. I’ve been with DirecTV for years, but I gave it a shot anyway. Here’s how it went. What are Chase Offers? According to Chase’s FAQ, “Chase Offers brings you great deals from the places you love. No coupons, codes or vouchers to remember, and no registration is required. You just click on an offer to activate it for your card, and then use your card to pay in stores, online or via mobile apps and wallets. You’ll see your…
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Why is the Chase 5/24 Rule So Confusing?
I had a recent exchange with someone claiming to have been approved for Chase Freedom Unlimited despite being at 5/24. As it turns out, he was only 4/24, and that’s why he wasn’t declined. That begs the question: “How could it be so hard to count to 5?” Well, Chase’s 5/24 rule is not so straightforward. In fact, it’s downright confusing. It can make a reasonably intelligent person have trouble counting to 5. In this post, I will try to clear up some of the most confusing concepts of the 5/24 rule, including the reason that the Freedom Unlimited application I mentioned above was approved. What is the Chase 5/24…
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