I love credit cards so much!

[uksaint]

I used to love Erewards as the points earned counted towards a companion pass.... I worked hard to get those extra points! Now I'm more of a slacker and have better things to do....

I gave up on erewards. I don't mind being told i don't qualify after a few questions - but it got to the point where I was spending 5 or 6 mins answering questions - and still got told I don't qualify. That was a ton of free information I was providing.

 

[WVMomof3]

I don't have my SPG card yet, but I now have my first link on the AMEX page on Dischurners! Yay

 

[gottalovepluto]

From Amazon, of all places! It really is so cute and very well made. I'm so impressed with this dress.
https://www.amazon.com/White-Dress-Bridesmaid-Dresses-BP08-7/dp/B01J5EZQOG/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1520574342&sr=8-5&keywords=red+&+white+polka+dot+dress&dpID=61ZPBWX1bkL&preST=_SX342_QL70_&dpSrc=srch&th=1&psc=1

We added the petticoat. Bought a white and black set of those off amazon also.

Oh my! Where was this when I needed a Dapper Day outfit?! Great find!!

 

[mom2elal]

Went ahead and applied for the Delta plat for DH. No auto approval but I'm used to that since our credit accounts are frozen. Unfroze Experian (which cost $5 and is extortion, grr) so we'll see.

Here in California, we have to pay $10!

 

[Albort]

idiot mistake... lost out on the $300 chase business bonus. i thought my bank transfers were considered ACH. :\
i had some pretty good luck with sign up bonuses at the beginning of this game, i guess i have to get unlucky soon.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Award availability..... tell me more about that.... some awards seem to never be available (IHG I'm looking at you) while some are easy to find (SPG,if a night is open you can take it) how IS Marriott with these certs? Will I end up holding a useles cert. desperately trying to find a place to stay to use it? any experiences here? esp.since they seem to have so few great choices...AND I'm also wondering if a cert can be used at swolphin..... IDK on the merger thing but our last trip the tv said 'welcome to Marriott' ate the Dolphin.... would this mean (maybe) that it could be booked as a Marriott property?(maybe soon?) and if so,I wonder which level.
As far as upgrading the cat level later, do you mean that if I have a 1-5,and want to book a 6,it's an extra 30k in total? for the 7 nights? and if I wanted cat 7,that would be 60k?

Can you book the certificate in some one else's name? I've been able to book IHG and SPG nights for my kids with no problems.

I've wondered this too - about Marriott specifically (since its so dang hard to use the cat 5 cert - this is a recurring theme with me - can you tell I'm bitter about this??). I have read some data points that suggest you CAN use the cat 5 Marriott cert for others, but I've also seen data points where folks said it didn't work for them. I haven't tried with Marriott - just figured it was too risky.

Have you crunched the numbers to see if the package would make sense even if you never used your hotel cert and basically just used the package to get the miles? I would have a hard time doing that simply because I would feel I missed out on a free 7 night stay. However, I have read that the redemption value is good enough that its worth buying a package for the miles even if you don't use the hotel cert. Is this accurate?? I'm sure someone more well versed on this can chime in about whether that makes sense.

Also, I've read where some have called Marriott near cert expiration and have been able to get the cert extended for another year. So that might be a possibility for you. Your numbers look right regarding points to upgrade.

@Judique - I'm not sure on the name thing with Marriott...maybe somebody else can help with that

@hsmamato2 - There is no "special sauce" to this award availability. This is a standard 7 night certificate so if a Marriott has 7 consecutive nights available on points you can book it. If you want to get a sense of how easy or hard I'd just go on the Marriott site and do searches of properties you might want to stay at. You don't even have to have any Marriott points to do fake searches. I would say that anybody's personal experience would be purely anecdotal...i.e. my ability to book a 7 night at Niagara Falls in September has no bearing on your ability to book 7 nights in Phoenix in August, LOL! Also - at this time you would NOT be able to use this at the Swolphin, maybe in the future but I would not do a Marriott Travel Package counting on that. On the upgrading you nailed it - if you get a cat1-5 cert now and then need to upgrade to cat7 it would cost 60k, each cat upgrade is 30k points

@pillow - your 1st comment slightly confused me on whether you were referencing the 7-night Travel Packages OR the free CC night (or maybe both?) Just for clarity's sake: The Free Cat 1-5 cert that comes with the credit card cannot be upgraded or used on any property other than a Cat 1-5. The 7-night travel package Cat 1-5 certificate can be upgraded by paying the points difference.

Regarding the idea of just redeeming a travel package for the airline points...It is the most lucrative way to transfer Marriott to Southwest (even when ignoring the free nights). However it may not be a great value proposition...

Looking at the 270k Marriott -> 120k Southwest option:

• You basically get $1,935 worth of Southwest Flights for 270k Marriott points. That works out to 0.7cpp valuation on Marriott.
• Now if you also can use the 7 nights at a Cat5 property you might get another $1,000 - $1,500 in value out of that redemption (now you're at 1cpp - 1.3cpp)
• IF you instead used those 270k on hotels...let's say you transfer them to SPG, book the Swolphin for 8 nights (that would be 84k SPG points) you would probably get $3,600+ in value out of those points. (and have 6k leftover)
• Calculated based on Marriott points (for comparison sake) this works out to > 1.3cpp.
• Obviously $3,600 beats $1,900 all day!! So redeeming for a travel package for flights along loses in this scenario. Of course this is a hypothetical example AND if you have more hotel points than you can use it isn't necessarily a bad option.

Hope this helps some...or maybe it further confuses the topic. Either way it was fun to type, HAHA

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

@SouthFayetteFan had an interesting observation on Reddit today regarding Amex posting spg to spg accounts and now I'm looking for DPs. The issue: Amex says you've earned X amount of spg points on the amex login. This number is accurate. When you go to the SPG website not all of the points have transferred to SPG. I realized I have 7,500 SPG points earned from a referral last week showing in my Amex account but that they never posted to my actual SPG account. So: has anybody earned points in last week on an Amex SPG card AND seen the points show in their SPG account in the last 5 days?

FYI for those interested...my SPG referral from Sunday finally posted today. If anybody had earned a referral and hadn't seen it in their SPG account yet, hopefully it's there now for you too

 

[jhoannam]

rookie mistake... lost out on the $300 chase business bonus. i thought my bank transfers were considered ACH. :\
i had some pretty good luck with sign up bonuses at the beginning of this game, i guess i have to get unlucky soon.

Oh no! Was this the Chase Business account?

 

[gottalovepluto]

Disney Rewards posting: my statement is dated 3/8, nothing was in my account yesterday (rewards dollars or statement), saw the rewards dollars from a couple (that was a happy surprise!!) referrals populate in my account just after 9pm PST last night so Rewards Dollars seem to post at midnight EST and the statement is available to view later that morning. It all comes to you the day after your statement date.

 

[wendow]

I couldn't see the picture either, but did enjoy seeing the dress on Amazon which I thought was really cute!

Arg! Why can't I see it Maybe you could PM me

I cannot figure out how to post photos anymore since photobucket no longer works. I tried to post one a couple weeks ago that I thought people here would appreciate but never could get it to work so I gave up. I'll just put the link to the pic here and hopefully, this works!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4EH1ZrsvODiP8r6F3

Here is my other dd. Her dress was one of the vintage dresses off Amazon too:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Bx4GaelQnv0CoQHf1

@Alice Sr. If that doesn't work, I'll try through pm. I think I have figured that out before

 

[gottalovepluto]

FYI for those interested...my SPG referral from Sunday finally posted today. If anybody had earned a referral and hadn't seen it in their SPG account yet, hopefully it's there now for you too

Good. Day.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Disney Rewards posting: my statement is dated 3/8, nothing was in my account yesterday (rewards dollars or statement), saw the rewards dollars from a couple (that was a happy surprise!!) referrals populate in my account just after 9pm PST last night so Rewards Dollars seem to post at midnight EST and the statement is available to view later that morning. It all comes to you the day after your statement date.

FYI: This is true on all Chase referrals (Southwest, Marriott, Disney, etc.). You can check them around 11:45pm - midnight eastern. Even before your statement is available to view, once you see the new "payment date" populate that means your rewards should have populated. You just have to find your way to the rewards detail screen (which is a couple of clicks), lol.

 

[wendow]

Oh that is super cute! I've started picking up some Dapper pieces to put together outfits for DH and I now that we are doing west coast and east coast Dapper Days. I was happy to find those cute vintage dresses on Amazon and use MPX gift cards. Still mourning the death of the Amex Plat 5x on that. But, I'll take what I can get. We're doing a Dapper Disney bound. DLR will be a Dapper Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps. I still need to pick up a petticoat. WDW will be a Dapper Merida Bound because my inner 10 year old wants a picture with her and DH will likely do an Ana bound since he already has the outfit.

My dd's both want to Dapper Disney bound when we go to DL this summer. I know my dd's and I would love to see your pics once you go!

 

[gottalovepluto]

I cannot figure out how to post photos anymore since photobucket no longer works. I tried to post one a couple weeks ago that I thought people here would appreciate but never could get it to work so I gave up. I'll just put the link to the pic here and hopefully, this works!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4EH1ZrsvODiP8r6F3

Here is my other dd. Her dress was one of the vintage dresses off Amazon too:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Bx4GaelQnv0CoQHf1

@Alice Sr. If that doesn't work, I'll try through pm. I think I have figured that out before

Beautiful dresses and even more beautiful daughters! I hope they had a wonderful time!

 

[gottalovepluto]

idiot mistake... lost out on the $300 chase business bonus. i thought my bank transfers were considered ACH. :\
i had some pretty good luck with sign up bonuses at the beginning of this game, i guess i have to get unlucky soon.

Oh no!! At least with Chase you can take another shot at the bonus with a new account later this year!

 

[Judique]

I cannot figure out how to post photos anymore since photobucket no longer works. I tried to post one a couple weeks ago that I thought people here would appreciate but never could get it to work so I gave up. I'll just put the link to the pic here and hopefully, this works!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4EH1ZrsvODiP8r6F3

Here is my other dd. Her dress was one of the vintage dresses off Amazon too:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Bx4GaelQnv0CoQHf1

@Alice Sr. If that doesn't work, I'll try through pm. I think I have figured that out before

They are both gorgeous in their dresses!

 

[wendow]

Beautiful dresses and even more beautiful daughters! I hope they had a wonderful time!

Oh, thank you! I'll share a little story from last night that just made me my mama heart happy. My oldest dd (one in red & white dress) is chronically ill so she doesn't feel good a lot but after several bad days (new meds), yesterday, she felt pretty good. Even feeling good, she always has joint pain though. A boy that she has known since she was in 3rd grade asked her to dance. She was like, "Jordan, you know I don't dance." He said, "Well, maybe for the right song". He went over to the dj and they started playing "Tale as Old as Time" and came back and took my dd's hand and danced with her. Her first slow dance with a boy and it was to a song from her favorite movie

 

[wendow]

idiot mistake... lost out on the $300 chase business bonus. i thought my bank transfers were considered ACH. :\
i had some pretty good luck with sign up bonuses at the beginning of this game, i guess i have to get unlucky soon.

Ugh, this would happen to me too. Sorry. That is so disappointing, I'm sure.

 

[babyready]

idiot mistake... lost out on the $300 chase business bonus. i thought my bank transfers were considered ACH. :\
i had some pretty good luck with sign up bonuses at the beginning of this game, i guess i have to get unlucky soon.

I did that same thing with a bonus last year and it stung. The DPs showed the transfers worked for others but they did not work for me. Sorry!!

 

[platamama]

@Judique - I'm not sure on the name thing with Marriott...maybe somebody else can help with that

@hsmamato2 - There is no "special sauce" to this award availability. This is a standard 7 night certificate so if a Marriott has 7 consecutive nights available on points you can book it. If you want to get a sense of how easy or hard I'd just go on the Marriott site and do searches of properties you might want to stay at. You don't even have to have any Marriott points to do fake searches. I would say that anybody's personal experience would be purely anecdotal...i.e. my ability to book a 7 night at Niagara Falls in September has no bearing on your ability to book 7 nights in Phoenix in August, LOL! Also - at this time you would NOT be able to use this at the Swolphin, maybe in the future but I would not do a Marriott Travel Package counting on that. On the upgrading you nailed it - if you get a cat1-5 cert now and then need to upgrade to cat7 it would cost 60k, each cat upgrade is 30k points

@pillow - your 1st comment slightly confused me on whether you were referencing the 7-night Travel Packages OR the free CC night (or maybe both?) Just for clarity's sake: The Free Cat 1-5 cert that comes with the credit card cannot be upgraded or used on any property other than a Cat 1-5. The 7-night travel package Cat 1-5 certificate can be upgraded by paying the points difference.

Regarding the idea of just redeeming a travel package for the airline points...It is the most lucrative way to transfer Marriott to Southwest (even when ignoring the free nights). However it may not be a great value proposition...

Looking at the 270k Marriott -> 120k Southwest option:

• You basically get $1,935 worth of Southwest Flights for 270k Marriott points. That works out to 0.7cpp valuation on Marriott.
• Now if you also can use the 7 nights at a Cat5 property you might get another $1,000 - $1,500 in value out of that redemption (now you're at 1cpp - 1.3cpp)
• IF you instead used those 270k on hotels...let's say you transfer them to SPG, book the Swolphin for 8 nights (that would be 84k SPG points) you would probably get $3,600+ in value out of those points. (and have 6k leftover)
• Calculated based on Marriott points (for comparison sake) this works out to > 1.3cpp.
• Obviously $3,600 beats $1,900 all day!! So redeeming for a travel package for flights along loses in this scenario. Of course this is a hypothetical example AND if you have more hotel points than you can use it isn't necessarily a bad option.

Hope this helps some...or maybe it further confuses the topic. Either way it was fun to type, HAHA

Nice explanation!

And will add that if you have a SW Companion Pass, the transfer of 120K miles gets double the value - $1935 x 2 = $3870. KA-CHING! Of course, that's only if you're going to spend it all while you have a CP (as she dreams of Hawaii...).