Wednesday Grab Bag

1. IHG has 15% off of award bookings for card holders and for Platinum and Diamond elites through tomorrow for stays through December 16. Yes, this has been around for a few days, but today is the first day that elites are also eligible for the discount.

   Be sure to reprice any existing IHG reservations in addition to looking at new bookings.

2. Southwest has a fare sale through tomorrow evening for travel from:

   – November 29 through December 15 of this year
   – January 10 through March 8 of next year

   Reprice existing reservations too, and note that if your spring break dates fall within two weeks of March 8, you might consider a refundable points booking on near the end of the promotion and hope for a schedule change that lets you switch to your desired dates for no additional fee.

3. American Express employee card offers have now been reported for the Plum card, Delta Reserve Business card, Delta Business Gold card, and the Business Platinum card, which gives us the updated list of offers for up to 99 employee cards per primary card:

   – Plum card: $50 statement credit for $2,000 in spend per card [new]
   – Delta Business Gold: $50 statement credit for $1,000 in spend per card [new]
   – Delta Business Reserve: $50 statement credit for $1,000 in spend per card [new]
   – Blue Business Plus: 5,000 Membership Rewards for $1,000 in spend per card [new] UPDATE: There are multiple reports of $1,000 in spend required and $2,000 in spend required, it seems variable on this card
   – Blue Business Cash: $50 statement credit for $1,000 in spend per card [new] UPDATE: There are multiple reports of $1,000 in spend required and $2,000 in spend required, it seems variable on this card
   – Business Platinum: 5,000 Membership Rewards for $2,000 in spend per card [new]
   – Hilton Business: $50 statement credit for $1,000 in spend per card
   – Marriott Business: $50 statement credit for $1,000 in spend per card
   – Lowe’s Business: $50 statement credit for $1,000 in spend per card
   – Green Business: $50 statement credit for $2,000 in spend per card

   Don’t sleep on these, each one is an additional 495,000 points or $4,950. (Thanks to Sebastian, Marrisa94, and Jim for new data points, and thanks to everyone who reached out to me yesterday noting that 99 * 5,000 ≠ 49,500 🤦‍♀️)

4. Check for a targeted email from Discover for an extra 4% cash back on up to $2,000 in purchases by December 31. The subject: “Congrats [name], enjoy up to $80 extra cash back” (Thanks to an anonymous contributor)
5. Kroger has a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards starting today and running through Tuesday after clipping the digital coupon. If you’re using fuel points to subsidize gift card reselling, you should be able to do so profitably with a little care. My current guidance on avoiding fuel account locks:

   – Create a new fuel points account with a new incognito session on the browser on your mobile device when not connected to wifi
   – Buy everything in one or two transactions total, ideally in off-hours (customer service counters let you scale this a bit)
   – Do your best to work with a fuel points end-user that can use the points within an hour or two of loading

   Good luck!

Showing my work from the math in yesterday’s post.