- American Express Offers has two big offers:
– 25,000 Membership Rewards with $1,500 spend with Royal Caribbean through December 31
– $100 statement credit with $500 spend at Hiltons in Nevada through March 15, 2024
American Express does clawback offer bonuses that are refunded, but in a rather simplistic way. (Thanks to Conner) - United TravelBank funds can now be gifted to friends and family, and in related news TravelBank loads still work for the American Express Platinum’s airline incidental credit. This is great news at first blush, but the addition of “friends” probably means this isn’t going to end well for anyone.
- Plastiq, the once plucky upstart bill pay service that failed to IPO, went bankrupt, and was then acquired by its (loose) competition, has taken a page from the airline frequent flyer playbook: A silent devaluation. They’re now charging $0.99 for ACH delivery and $1.49 for paper check delivery in addition to other fees.
16 days ago they announced that they’d accept American Express payments in a “couple of weeks”. They don’t currently accept AmEx, so I guess by “accept American Express payments” they really meant “charge new fees when sending to American Express, but also everyone else” which frankly is the most Plastiq thing that could have happened. - Vacasa redemptions through Wyndham also took a note from the frequent flyer playbook with a silent devaluation. Vacasa redemptions were 15,000 points per bedroom and worked on properties that cost up to about $500 per bedroom before fees, but now the limit is somewhere around $350 per bedroom.
We’ve been #bonvoyed by a non-Marriott hotel chain. - The Gift Card Shop has 50% off of purchase fees on orders over $150 using promo code 2023HOLIDAY through October 29.
Visas and Mastercards are issued by InComm. (Thanks to SideShowBob233)
The airline frequent flyer playbook in action.