havaneselover
Dreaming about a Disney cruise
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2009
FYI my Marriott points posted and they are wrong. I won 500 points three times, and it only showed up once. I think they shorted me 900 points
Brain not fully functioning this month, I bought my husband the exact same gift from 2 different places, it was small and something we'll likely use and enjoy having 2 of, but still how did I overlook that in my Black Friday shopping?! Anyway, I don't want to screw this up:
P2:
Approved for SW Plus 11/21
I have a pmt due date for the fee of 1/2
So, I'm good to go on the spend now, correct? My statement is going to close after 1/2 and so points will post in 2019. Then, when is he safe to app for Sw Biz? Should I hold off until Jan or is after 12/21 okay?
P1:
SW Plus
Bonus earned 10/5/16
Posted 10/30/16
Closed 10/28/18
SW Premier
Bonus earned 11/14/16
Posted 12/11/16
Closed 10/22/17
Good to churn? My first real churn. Still dreaming of Hawaii and I think 2 CPs are going to be very helpful.
I would go with residence inn. Your splurging with Aluani and food is so expensive. Loading up on a free breakfast daily will be helpfulNo! You added an option! Not acceptable! . [side note: you've opened Pandoras box with that suggestion.] My other reasoning for wanting to keep those Marriott points untouched was that we (me. It's only me. ) are waffling on our hotel choice for Maui over spring break. I have a 7 night cert that has a surrender value of 115k (if Marriott is even still offering that). I think we decided to maybe only do 5 nights on Maui and island hop over to Oahu to do 3 nights at Aulani (because we are spoiled). So *if* Marriott lets me cancel my cert and refund me the 115k then i'll have about 220k points to work with and maybe we can stay at a little nicer of a place.
Currently we are booked here for 140k/5 nights: Residence Inn (free daily breakfast, kitchenette, bigger room, no resort fee, parking 25/night) https://tinyurl.com/yc2a43ry
But considering this for 200k/5 nights : Wailea Beach Resort ( A resort with a fee of $35 in addition to the parking fee of 25/day). But it's just so pretty.... https://tinyurl.com/y7jv8kw6
Man, when I type it out it doesn't make much sense to change anything. For 7 people and 2 rooms that daily breakfast will add up to some savings, not to mention the $350 in resort fees plus 60k more points.
Hi, I am linzjane88. I have been chronically vacationing and not present in any meaningful way to this thread in like a month but now would like everyone to help me decide on my travel plans
Brain not fully functioning this month, I bought my husband the exact same gift from 2 different places, it was small and something we'll likely use and enjoy having 2 of, but still how did I overlook that in my Black Friday shopping?! Anyway, I don't want to screw this up:
P2:
Approved for SW Plus 11/21
I have a pmt due date for the fee of 1/2
So, I'm good to go on the spend now, correct? My statement is going to close after 1/2 and so points will post in 2019. Then, when is he safe to app for Sw Biz? Should I hold off until Jan or is after 12/21 okay?
P1:
SW Plus
Bonus earned 10/5/16
Posted 10/30/16
Closed 10/28/18
SW Premier
Bonus earned 11/14/16
Posted 12/11/16
Closed 10/22/17
Good to churn? My first real churn. Still dreaming of Hawaii and I think 2 CPs are going to be very helpful.
I love this story! Funny, my DS10 pays attention A LOT and always comments when I get another credit card in the mail. He often asks me what the points from THAT card will be used for, lol! He knows that I recently booked us LIE FLAT seats for our trip to Europe next summer (LAX to Amsterdam on Delta via Virgin Atlantic points, check out TPG's post here https://thepointsguy.com/guide/book-delta-one-39k-amex-points/. I know, not the most popular site, but occasionally there's some really good info). We are all very excited...first time lie flat seats, woohoo! We visit family in the UK every year and are usually squished into economy. Last year I was able to get us premium economy and now business class is a big step up for us! You don't need to fly in first class to get the lie flat seats...international business class will probably impress your ladies just as much!Fun story time.
We were watching The Holiday this past weekend (love Nancy Meyers movies!), and my budding little flyer was stunned at the scene where Cameron Diaz's character is on her flight from LA to London in a lie flat first class seat. "Wow, her airplane seat is so big she can lie down and sleep in it," says my 43" little lady who never fails to curl up in her own seat and sleep on one of her parent's laps.
So my wife tells her, "That's why you need to study in school, work hard, and make lots of money so you can afford a big seat on the airplane."
And I say, "Or just be very clever with your credit cards."
Some backstory. My wife calls our kiddo my "accomplice" because she swears something's not right with all this churning. I've taken my daughter on gift card runs since she was an infant. She's been an AU on my oldest credit card since she turned 2. She's been with me on Target gift card runs during the heyday of the gift card churn; flipped GCs at Target, Best Buy, Gamestop, Walgreens, BB&B, etc. and helped me "cash out" thousands of dollars into Disney. And more recently, I bring her along to redeem Amex and Chase offers, do Chase Pay and Swagbucks deals, and buy VGCs/MCGCs on sale. If we weren't in such a MS desert, I'd probably take her to buy MOs too. Now that she's older she asks a lot more questions, but I hesitate to tell her too much because she has no self-censor and talks waaay too much!
Anyway, my kiddo gave me a curious look.
My wife hesitated for a moment, looked at me and said, "You can't book first class seats with points."
My jaw dropped a little, "Uh, yeah you can."
I've told her this hundreds of times!
So she says, "Then why don't we?"
And I say, "Because domestic first class isn't a good value. Pick something international, and I'll work on the first class tickets."
Now, I personally have no interest in flying first class. Back when I was flying United a lot more and earned status with them, I was upgraded to business class a few times. It's nice. But I'm an economy guy. I prefer to stretch out my points and miles and don't mind suffering coach seats for an hour, five hours, or even twelve hours. But apparently, my ladies are quite taken by first class travel.
I think we'll have a reverse @calypso726 situation where I voluntarily sit in coach while my ladies are up in first.
As for Cameron Diaz's character in The Holiday, I doubt she booked her flight with miles but you never know.
Ugh. that's annoying. I checked mine and have 50 extra points - I even checked my emails. DH doesn't have any yet.FYI my Marriott points posted and they are wrong. I won 500 points three times, and it only showed up once. I think they shorted me 900 points
Ugh, I don't know what the issue is with PNC, but neither P2 nor I have ever been able to open an account and get the bonus. Always denied. I tried again this week because I REALLY want that free $2k/$2k funding per person on my Amtrak card with their 3x points promotion, but still nothing.
Let me add another option to your list , Ebates has 10% cash back on Marriott bookings today. Get $21 back thru Ebates for Fairfield Inn, use your $40 off $200 Amex offer, and reimburse yourself 14900 URs (if you need to help yourself feel like it was free) and get whatever gold perks you're entitled to.
I would go with residence inn. Your splurging with Aluani and food is so expensive. Loading up on a free breakfast daily will be helpful
For P2, as long as the "next statement period ends" date is in 2019 you should be ok to start spending. (as shown here)
View attachment 369637
So I think you're probably good to go for it all. If you can hold out probably can't hurt to do P2's SW Biz in Jan, but after 12/21 should be a fine as you'll get.
Application would be in dh's name (dd would be an AU) and he is 0/24. He has the AmEx Platinum, the Starwood AmEx (which he never uses) and the Disney Visa (which he only uses for gas at Costco infrequently). His credit score is over 800.
I could also get dh to apply for the Hilton card and get the 125,000 points. We *may* be going to the Maldives in Spring, 2020. I could also apply and get another 125,000 points (I checked and rooms are 95,000 points / night). So we'd have 2 nights, with a bit toward a third night, which we should be able to get in a year.
Dh will not partake in points churning. He is very much a 1 credit card kind of guy . So I have to choose carefully because I have 1 shot to get it right (even this will take some convincing)!
So far I just have the CSR (Oct. 2016), the Hyatt (July, 2018) and the CIP (under my business name) in September. I'd also like to apply for an AmEx card, but don't want another high AF like the Platinum card has (I cancelled my old AmEx Gold Card in 2015). I am pondering the Hilton card since dd wants to go to the Maldives in Spring, 2020 and the Conrad looks like our target hotel. Just not sure I could get enough points to pay for a 6 night stay by then.
Paging @calypso726 on this one.
I'd imagine redeeming HH points for the Conrad Maldives is better than paying the cash rate (even at a 1.25x or 1.5x multiplier using UR), but if you're only 1/24, it's such a shame to use all those sub-5/24 slots on Amex's Hilton cards. Amex has the Hilton Biz (which won't add to your */24 count), and the personal Hilton, Hilton Ascend, and Hilton Aspire cards, which will take up 3 slots under */24. As we've discussed before, signing up for Amex's 4 Hilton cards at their highest welcome bonuses (while referring yourself to each new Hilton card), and referring P2 (and P2 self-referring) to the same 4 cards for the referral bonuses and signup bonuses, can net a household ~ million HH points. But again, it's probably better done once over 5/24...
Personally, I would never sacrifice URs to stay at a Hilton property. For a one week stay you are looking at $8568 roughly as most nights are $1224 per night. With a CSR that is 571,200 UR and with a CSP or CIP it is 685,440. In my head 500K+ UR represents something like first class airfare in ANA via Virgin Atlantic for 4 people which would cost over $100,000 in real money. I can't get the same value for HH points that I can for UR points. Now that is just the hotel stay. Then I am looking at $560 per person for the sea plane transfer which is charged to the hotel, so that's a straight .01 pp UR statement credit. If you don't currently have gold or diamond status with Hilton then everything is going to be OOP in terms of food during the stay.
I know I recently stated I'd use just as many, if not more UR points to pay for Ashford Castle. That is because there is no hotel loyalty program option to pay with points.
I know the Aspire card has a high AF, but it is the only card I can think of that has benefits that cover the AF and then some. A $250 resort credit can go towards a sea plane transfer and can be double dipped by pre-payment like we did. The $250 airline credit can purchase airline GCs, the free weekend night will cover a $1200+ OWB. Staying on points will get you 5th night free. The diamond status will get you free breakfast, afternoon tea, snacks, happy hour etc. Food is crazy expensive in the Maldives from what I've read and makes food in Iceland look cheap by comparison.
If I were under 5/24 and were planning a Conrad Maldives stay, I'd give up a slot for the card in a heartbeat and have P2 give up a slot. IN your shoes, I'd pick up the Aspire and a Hilton business card. Just my opinion.
This is PERFECT! I'm going to apply for the Aspire. Will a Hilton business card count toward my 5/24?
Dh has a Hilton points account. Can my name be on the account? I might get my own as he has his Hilton points automatically put into his Aeroplan account (he stays mostly at Starwood properties -- we have the Starwood card and have for years). Dh is not a willing P2 as he uses his AmEx Platinum for everything (except Starwood stays) and doesn't want any other cards (dd uses the Disney Visa as an AU on his card). When I met dh he didn't even have a credit card as he didn't think he needed one.
I have the final payment for our Japan trip in early February so should be able to make the MSR on the card (I have accumulated a mass of Disney GCs at a discount to pay down the balance as well lol).
Aw shoot! Was it the identify verification questions? Lots of DPs of problems with that. I was pretty nervous about it since I failed Sprint's for some weird reason (but luckily everything was okay with PNC). Could be an error in whatever they look up.
I've been wondering if it's limited to $2k checking, $2k savings, or if potentially I could open multiple savings. The checking account does say link up to 6 accounts. The interest rate is 2.35-2.40% (no PNC in my area), so actually better than what I have now.
Ugh, I don't know what the issue is with PNC, but neither P2 nor I have ever been able to open an account and get the bonus. Always denied. I tried again this week because I REALLY want that free $2k/$2k funding per person on my Amtrak card with their 3x points promotion, but still nothing.
Additional comment to add - it appears that Marriott 29ways points do NOT appear to be a qualifying activity to extend your Marriott points. As a reminder, Marriott points expire after 24 months of no activity so keep that in mind.
For reference: AMEX MRs don't expire as long as you have an MR card open. Chase URs don't expire as long as you transfer them to an open card.
Most other programs have some expiration policy - examples of ones I think I know off the top of my head:
ADDITIONAL REMINDER: If you're starting to accrue large points balances - consider a spreadsheet to keep track of how many points you have and when they expire. This can also be good to check from time to time to make sure nobody has fraudulently used your points.
- Marriott - 24 months w/out qualifying activity
- Southwest - 24 months w/out qualifying activity
- Hilton - 12 months w/out qualifying activity
- IHG - 12 months w/out qualifying activity
- American - 18 months w/out qualifying activity
- Delta - NO EXPIRATION to my knowledge...hey that's one good thing about skypesos!
Yes I haven’t been to Maui in 16 years but there is so much to do. Drive the road to Hana, eat at Mamas fish house, see the sunrise on Haliakela, horseback riding! I too am a fan of a nice pool, beach and bar so I get it!!Perfect! That makes up the difference enough in my book to pay cash. I totally wasn't even thinking about a portal!
Thank you ! I needed a voice of reason to reel me back in. Whereas some have become a "plane princess" since churning I have become a bit of a "hotel princess"--although my first first class flight will be coming up in January so I may end up being both. I love the resort feel, having nice restaurants available to me and bars conveniently located to the pool . That being said I should stick with the Residence and be more motivated to explore the Maui since this will be our first trip there. I will say your not very inclined to leave Aulani when it is so relaxing (and so expensive!).
DS is actually quite good with the plan, at the moment. He will be just barely 17 when he goes to college since they moved him up a grade. He’ll live on campus, where that is. Whatever the case, we’ll still be selling the house to move some place warmer since we want to escape the cold.
Fun story time.
We were watching The Holiday this past weekend (love Nancy Meyers movies!), and my budding little flyer was stunned at the scene where Cameron Diaz's character is on her flight from LA to London in a lie flat first class seat. "Wow, her airplane seat is so big she can lie down and sleep in it," says my 43" little lady who never fails to curl up in her own seat and sleep on one of her parent's laps.
So my wife tells her, "That's why you need to study in school, work hard, and make lots of money so you can afford a big seat on the airplane."
And I say, "Or just be very clever with your credit cards."
Some backstory. My wife calls our kiddo my "accomplice" because she swears something's not right with all this churning. I've taken my daughter on gift card runs since she was an infant. She's been an AU on my oldest credit card since she turned 2. She's been with me on Target gift card runs during the heyday of the gift card churn; flipped GCs at Target, Best Buy, Gamestop, Walgreens, BB&B, etc. and helped me "cash out" thousands of dollars into Disney. And more recently, I bring her along to redeem Amex and Chase offers, do Chase Pay and Swagbucks deals, and buy VGCs/MCGCs on sale. If we weren't in such a MS desert, I'd probably take her to buy MOs too. Now that she's older she asks a lot more questions, but I hesitate to tell her too much because she has no self-censor and talks waaay too much!
Anyway, my kiddo gave me a curious look.
My wife hesitated for a moment, looked at me and said, "You can't book first class seats with points."
My jaw dropped a little, "Uh, yeah you can."
I've told her this hundreds of times!
So she says, "Then why don't we?"
And I say, "Because domestic first class isn't a good value. Pick something international, and I'll work on the first class tickets."
Now, I personally have no interest in flying first class. Back when I was flying United a lot more and earned status with them, I was upgraded to business class a few times. It's nice. But I'm an economy guy. I prefer to stretch out my points and miles and don't mind suffering coach seats for an hour, five hours, or even twelve hours. But apparently, my ladies are quite taken by first class travel.
I think we'll have a reverse @calypso726 situation where I voluntarily sit in coach while my ladies are up in first.
As for Cameron Diaz's character in The Holiday, I doubt she booked her flight with miles but you never know.
I love this story! Funny, my DS10 pays attention A LOT and always comments when I get another credit card in the mail. He often asks me what the points from THAT card will be used for, lol! He knows that I recently booked us LIE FLAT seats for our trip to Europe next summer (LAX to Amsterdam on Delta via Virgin Atlantic points, check out TPG's post here https://thepointsguy.com/guide/book-delta-one-39k-amex-points/. I know, not the most popular site, but occasionally there's some really good info). We are all very excited...first time lie flat seats, woohoo! We visit family in the UK every year and are usually squished into economy. Last year I was able to get us premium economy and now business class is a big step up for us! You don't need to fly in first class to get the lie flat seats...international business class will probably impress your ladies just as much!
Perfect! That makes up the difference enough in my book to pay cash. I totally wasn't even thinking about a portal!
Thank you ! I needed a voice of reason to reel me back in. Whereas some have become a "plane princess" since churning I have become a bit of a "hotel princess"--although my first first class flight will be coming up in January so I may end up being both. I love the resort feel, having nice restaurants available to me and bars conveniently located to the pool . That being said I should stick with the Residence and be more motivated to explore the Maui since this will be our first trip there. I will say your not very inclined to leave Aulani when it is so relaxing (and so expensive!).
Opinion on which card between these two, AMEX Platinum or CSR, to get if the goal is for airfare and hotels? TSA precheck not really a factor as DH can already get TSA precheck for us. He is leaning towards the Plat because of the lounge access, he travels a lot for work. We aren't going to add me as an AU (he's AU on my Southwest, AMEX Everyday, USAA rewards, hopefully that doesn't matter. Will not do AU again). He'll have to apply as I'm over 5/24 for at least another year. I appreciate any opinions between these two cards AMEX Plat and CSR.
Current cards:
Southwest Plus
Chase Freedom
No! You added an option! Not acceptable! . [side note: you've opened Pandoras box with that suggestion.] My other reasoning for wanting to keep those Marriott points untouched was that we (me. It's only me. ) are waffling on our hotel choice for Maui over spring break. I have a 7 night cert that has a surrender value of 115k (if Marriott is even still offering that). I think we decided to maybe only do 5 nights on Maui and island hop over to Oahu to do 3 nights at Aulani (because we are spoiled). So *if* Marriott lets me cancel my cert and refund me the 115k then i'll have about 220k points to work with and maybe we can stay at a little nicer of a place.
Currently we are booked here for 140k/5 nights: Residence Inn (free daily breakfast, kitchenette, bigger room, no resort fee, parking 25/night) https://tinyurl.com/yc2a43ry
But considering this for 200k/5 nights : Wailea Beach Resort ( A resort with a fee of $35 in addition to the parking fee of 25/day). But it's just so pretty.... https://tinyurl.com/y7jv8kw6
Man, when I type it out it doesn't make much sense to change anything. For 7 people and 2 rooms that daily breakfast will add up to some savings, not to mention the $350 in resort fees plus 60k more points.
Hi, I am linzjane88. I have been chronically vacationing and not present in any meaningful way to this thread in like a month but now would like everyone to help me decide on my travel plans
I would go with residence inn. Your splurging with Aluani and food is so expensive. Loading up on a free breakfast daily will be helpful
Yes - in most programs (maybe all) points earned from CC purchases should extend expiration of all points. Some of these accounts have a place where you can view when your points would expire...others do not in my experience (and that can be frustrating).I was just looking for this info today, so I can make sure I make purchases on my cards to extend the expiration. Will it show me on my accounts when the points expire?
So there's a lot to parse through here, and I dug up some of your old posts for background to better help with a strategy. I'd really appreciate if @calypso726 can look this over, too!
1. You mentioned DH has a Hilton Honors account. You should sign up for a Hilton Honors account too (or you'll be assigned one when you sign up for your first Amex Hilton card). Hilton makes it super easy for you to combine points with your husband for a big redemption like the Conrad Maldives.
Hilton lets you do Points Pooling, where several members contribute points to a pool, or direct person-to-person transfers. Both are subject to a limit of 500k points sent and 2 million points received per calendar year, no fee.
When you log into DH's Hilton account, in the side menu under My Points, click More Ways to Use Points, then click Transfer Your Points. Select the number of points you want to transfer, in 1,000 points increments, up to 500k, enter your first name, last name, HH number, and email (or transfer vice versa). That's it.
Here's the fine print:
Hilton Honors Members can transfer Hilton Honors Points to another Hilton Honors Member through Points Pooling or 1-to-1 transfer in increments of 1,000 Points and up to 500,000 Points. Each Hilton Honors Member is limited to sending no more than five hundred thousand (500,000) Points and receiving two million (2,000,000) Points via Points Pooling or Transfers combined per calendar year. Each Hilton Honors Member is limited to making six (6) transfers to other member accounts and six (6) Hilton Points Pooling transactions per calendar year. Invitations to join a Points Pool is not considered transactional. Transactions refer to the transfer of Points to another member account either through 1-to-1 account transfers or through Points Pooling.
Any points beyond these limits will not be posted to any Member's account. Limits are at the sole discretion of Hilton Honors Worldwide L.L.C., subject to change.
A new Hilton Honors Member can pool, transfer, or receive Points 30 days after enrollment providing they have activity on their account. After 90 days of enrollment, a new Member is eligible to pool, transfer, or receive Points regardless of their account activity.
2. As I mentioned, Amex has 4 Hilton credit card offerings: (1) the Hilton Honors (Personal) Card; (2) the Hilton Ascend (Personal) Card; (3) the Hilton Aspire (Personal) Card; and (4) the Hilton Honors Business Card. See All Four American Express Hilton Cards Compared (Signup bonuses are a bit dated. Because Amex’s welcome bonuses are generally once per lifetime, per person, per card product, it’s always in your best interest to research what is the highest offer historically for a card, compare that highest offer to the current offer, and try to apply only for the highest and/or best offer you can get on that card).
The Hilton Honors Business Card ("Hilton Biz") will not add to your 5/24 count. The 3 other Hilton Personal cards, including the Aspire, will add to your 5/24 count.
3. The Hilton Aspire currently has a signup offer of 150k Hilton Honors points after $4k MSR in 3 months, which DoC says is the best ever. The Aspire has a $450 AF. You mentioned you don't want a high AF card, but the Aspire has some really compelling benefits that pay for themselves, like complimentary Diamond status, a $250 Hilton resort statement credit per membership year, a $250 airline fee credit per calendar year, and a free weekend night on account opening and every anniversary.
@calypso726 can probably speak to the Aspire's benefits, and how you'd use them towards the Conrad Maldives in Spring 2020.
4. The Hilton Biz currently has a signup offer of 125k Hilton Honors points after $3k MSR in 3 months, which I think is the best offer on that card. (You may be able to trigger the same offer with a statement credit by going through a dummy booking on Hilton, but this would mean no referral bonus.) The Hilton Biz has a $95 AF.
5. Since your DH has an Amex Platinum card, you can generate a referral link from DH's Platinum card through Amex's Refer A Friend website worth 15k MR per approval, copy and paste that referral link into an incognito window or another browser, then click through all other cards with referral offers to find either the Hilton Aspire or Hilton Biz (whichever card you want to apply for first), then apply for the Hilton card you want through DH's link. DH's gets a 15k MR referral bonus, you get a new card.
6. When you're ready for your next Hilton card, either generate another link from your DH's Platinum card for a 15k MR referral bonus to DH (max 55k MR/yr.), or generate a referral link from your first Amex Hilton card for a 20k Hilton Honors points to your Hilton account (max 80k Hilton Honors points/yr.). MR points usually transfer to Hilton at a 1,000:2,000 ratio, so DH's 15k MR = 30k Hilton Honors to DH's Hilton account, which he can then transfer to/pool with you. There's currently a transfer bonus from MR to HH until the end of this year, which is something Amex runs periodically.
7. If DH is willing to sign up for Hilton cards, always remember to have him apply through referrals.