Category: Hotels

  1. The Chase Aeroplan Mastercard relaunched with a new structure and 75,000+40,000 mile sign-up bonus, and they’ve removed 3x grocery:

    – $195 annual fee is not waived the first year
    – 2x dining, grocery, and gas, 1x elsewhere
    – 75,000 Aeroplan miles after $4,000 spend in three months
    – 40,000 Aeroplan miles after $20,000 spend in one year
    – $50 semi-annual Air Canada statement credits
    – 15% discount on some Air Canada metal redemptions
    – Low level 25k Aeroplan status for holding the card

    This card doesn’t do referrals.
  2. The NFCU Flagship Rewards Visa launched yesterday with 50,000 points after $4,000 spend in 90 days. The vitals:

    – $95 annual fee is not waived the first year
    – 4x travel, 3x dining, 1x elsewhere
    – Points are worth 1 cent each, no uplift
    – $100 airline credit
    – Yet another global entry or pre-check credit

    NFCU doesn’t love cycling, so hope for a big credit line.
  3. The American Express Hilton cards have increased sign-up bonuses:

    – Aspire: 200,000 Honors points after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Surpass: 130,000 Honors points and a free night certificate after $3,000 spend in six months
    – Honors: 70,000 Honors points and a free night certificate after $2,000 spend in six months
    – Business: 150,000 Honors points and a free night certificate after $8,000 spend in six months

    These are all available via referrals, please use another player’s referral or a churner’s referral rather than applying through a blog or head-on.
  4. The Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express has an increased sign-up bonus of 100,000 Bonvoy points and a 50,000 point free-night certificate after $8,000 spend in six months. The card’s $125 annual fee is not waived for the first year.

    This is available via referrals. The sign-up bonus is definitely worth the $125 annual fee with no credit reporting, but that doesn’t mean it’s a super strong bonus thanks to the terrible value of Bonvoy points.
  5. Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins stores have 8x points earning on Zift gift cards through Thursday, limit $1,500-$2,000 per week. Meanwhile Giant Food has 2x earning on Mastercard gift cards with seemingly no cap? Finally Giant Food gets some love I guess.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  6. If you like picking up pennies: Register for Marriott Bonvoy’s Q4 promotion for 1,500 bonus points at non-resorts and 4,500 bonus points at resorts on stays of at least two nights through November 22.

    What’s the value of 1,500 Bonvoy points, you ask? I mean probably not over $5. Thanks Marriott.

Have a nice weekend!

A churner proves that hiking around a Marriott property is probably more valuable than their promo.

  1. US Bank added Avianca Lifemiles as another 1:1 transfer partner, bringing the total to five. Don’t worry though, five will probably be walked back to three later this week, only to jump back to five again next week.

    Based on their transfer partner loadout, I imagine the next partner will be something that (1) every other major bank has, (2) no other bottom-tier bank can transfer to, and (3) no one really wants, like Virgin Atlantic FlyingClub.
  2. Giftcards.com has a promotion for a free $10 Kroger gift card with the purchase of a $100 Virtual Visa gift card with promo code KROGER10. Kroger gift cards can be used in store to buy other gift cards, just don’t choose Best Buy unless you like your social security number living in Kroger systems.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. Office Depot/OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. For best results, buy in even multiples of $300.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Accor ALL has a 4x points promotion at “new” hotels, registration required. Book by September 27 for stays through January 24, and cry because this is only valid for a single stay.
  5. Best Western Rewards has a promotion for double points at all Best Western hotels worldwide between September 8 and December 31, 2026, registration required.

Have a nice Monday!

Kroger’s data lake for social security number storage.

  1. The Imprint Rakuten American Express card has a $200 or 20,000 Membership Rewards, or 20,000 Bilt Rewards sign-up bonus after $2,000 spend in 90 days depending on your Rakuten account. The heightened bonus ends today.

    Imprint American Express cards are useful for several reasons, not the least of which being that you probably shouldn’t be concerned about an Imprint shutdown so go wild.
  2. Citi ThankYou has a 25% transfer bonus to Leading Hotels of the World’s Leaders Club through September 19. The transfer bonus brings the ratio to 4:1, or exactly the same as the regular American Express transfer rate.

    David shared an interesting analysis of Leaders Club redemptions showing a post-tax value of generally 1.9 cents per Membership Reward transferred, or I guess now per ThankYou point transferred so it is worth paying attention.
  3. Staples online has fee-free $200 Visa virtual gift cards on sale, limit four per transaction and five total.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards and yes, there are liquidation methods, always be probing. (Thanks to DoC)
  4. Hy-Vee stores have $10 off of $150+ in Visa gift cards through Tuesday, limit one per transaction. It should be easy to figure out how to scale this one.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. American Express Offers has an offer for $200 off of $1,000 spend at Lufthansa group airlines booked through American Express Travel by October 31.

And yes, there wasn’t actually a Kroger FYI yesterday, oops; stand by for that one later. Also, happy Tuesday friends!

Instructions unclear; liquidating Hy-Vee gift card didn’t work.

  1. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a 20% transfer bonus to Air Canada Aeroplan through September 30, and Aeroplan Visa card holders can stack their regular 10% bonus for a total of 30%.

    Unless you have a specific award redemption in mind, 1 Hyatt point is probably worth more than 1.2 or 1.3 Aeroplan miles so speculate at your own risk.
  2. Kroger stores have a promotion for 4x on One4All and Choice gift cards through August 25.
  3. The half-life of US Bank transfer partners seems to be a day; now there are only two left:

    – Ethiopian Sheba Miles
    – Accor ALL

    I guess by Friday we’ll have a half of a transfer partner, otherwise known as Frontier?
  4. Capital One Shopping has targeted promotions on the home page for:

    – $100 off of $100+ in hotels booked through Capital One Travel
    – $100 off of $100+ in rental cars booked through Capital One Travel

    Of course $100 off really means $100 worth of gift cards that are worth an average(ish) of $90 on the resale market. If you don’t have a Capital One Shopping account, use a friend’s referral and you’ll be in, even if you’re banned from Capital One Bank.
  5. Kroger stores also have a new promotion for 4x on all gift cards excluding Amazon from tomorrow through Sunday. Notably, flexible fuel cards are no longer excluded from 4x.
  6. Meijer mPerks has 10,000 points on $100+ in Visa gift cards through Tuesday, limit one per mPerks account.
  7. American Express added about 350+ hotels to its Fine Hotels and Resorts collection and its The Hotel Collection. There’s good new coverage in most of Europe, Asia, and North America.
  8. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard is targeting more people for its 8% back on $1,250+ in travel and entertainment, up to $125, once a month for August, September, and October. You might find it on the ThankYou dashboard offers section, Chrome seems to work best for that. (Thanks to Hippo 387)
  9. American Express offers has a card linked offer for $80 off of $400 at Alaska Airlines or Hawaiian Airlines through October 23. Alaska refund to wallet is a safe and easy way to game this one.

Happy Thursday friends!

Does this count as a good prediction or a bad prediction? The Western Union app could confirm either.

  1. The Barclay’s Lufthansa Miles & More credit card has an increased sign-up bonus of 70,000 miles after $4,000 spend and paying the $89 annual fee within 90 days.

    The card is basically 1x everywhere on the earn side generally speaking, but it’s one of the best way to earn Lufthansa miles so I guess you win some and lose some? Did anyone notice that lose rhymes with floosies?
  2. The Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite MasterCard has an increased sign-up bonus of 80,000 miles after $3,500 spend in four months. The card’s $99 annual fee is waived the first year.
  3. Office Depot / OfficeMax Stores have $15 off of $300+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday. Practically speaking you should be buying these in even multiples of $300. Remember even and odd numbers friends? #MathIsHard

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Wyndham has a weird partnership with Costco that’s I guess tailored to the intersection of manufactured spend and award travel: Get 4,000 Wyndham points and a $40 shop card with a new Executive Membership using promo code WYNDHAM26 through September 16; you’ll provide your Wyndham Rewards number during the sign-up process.

    There’s also an offer for the Gold Star Membership, but you’d be making TeddyH cry if you chose that option. Of course Groupon may still be better because reasons. (Thanks to FM)

Happy Tuesday!

Leaving half eaten bars of chocolate ice cream in the fridge also makes TeddyH sad, reportedly.

  1. The Samsung Galaxy Barclays Mastercard soft-launched yesterday and launches officially today, and includes a $200 statement credit after $2,000+ spend in 90 days via the public application page. The card’s important vitals:

    – No annual fee
    – 3% back on Samsung Wallet purchases, unlimited
    – 1% back on general purchases

    Early adopter data points suggest this card is being approved even at lol/24, but credit lines are small. The fact that Samsung is behind this rather than a bank with $3.73 million in total assets means it might last for a while. Samsung Wallet works anywhere Google Pay is accepted.
  2. Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer accounts started getting error messages last week when searching for awards, and now they’ve updated their terms and conditions to make it official: You have to have recent activity to search for award flights, reportedly a 1,000 mile transfer in is sufficient, but miles that have been there for a long time aren’t.

    This is ostensibly to combat botting.
  3. Delta SkyMiles has multiple promotions for bonus miles, registration required. The most interesting is probably double redeemable miles on Main Classic or Main Extra tickets booked by tomorrow.

    In case you’re wondering, that’s only 2/9 or 2/11 (depending on the flight) of the types of tickets available. Classic.
  4. Hotels.com has an offer for $20 extra OneKey cash for bookings made by Sunday. The terms say it’s only valid for their intended recipients, but it will likely work for everyone. (Thanks to Mike)

Happy Wednesday friends!

Samsung Galaxy Card auditing office, September 2027.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s Summer promotion for 3,000 bonus points for three night or longer stays at Hyatt Place and Hyatt Select properties through the end of the month, which (probably) stacks with the other Summer promotion for 2,000 bonus points for two night or longer stays after the second stay through September 7.
  2. The Chase Hyatt personal Visa card has a highest ever bonus of:

    – 45,000 points after $5,000 spend in three months
    – +1x points on up to $30,000 spend in six months

    So, $30,000 spend is at least 105,000 total points, also known as enough for 1 ½ nights at Park Hyatt Kyoto or long enough to decompose (30 nights) at the Hyatt Place Lubbock. This will probably be available for referrals on Monday.
  3. There’s reportedly a targeted Capital One Business card referral bonus for 100,000 miles (!) for the referrer and the regular sign-up bonus for the referred. The link is valid for referrals to the Venture X Business and the Cash Plus Business card, and you can check your referral offers here.

    I got a rock, but it was at least a shiny rock this time.
  4. Stop & Shop, Giant Food, and Martins have 10x points on Home Depot and Lululemon gift cards through Thursday. Per-account limits are either $1,500 $2,000.

    It’s been a while, but the corporate overlords are punking the sister brand Giant with only 6x points.

Have a nice weekend, friends!

The green means money, right?

  1. Do this now: Register for Hilton’s Summer promotion for 1,000 bonus Qatar Avios and set Qatar Avios as your preferred travel partner. This works with each Hilton stay through August 31. (Thanks to FM)
  2. Accor has a Summer promotion for 4x points at new and updated properties, registration required through November 29.
  3. The US Bank Altitude Power Business Mastercard has an increased sign-up bonus of 75,000 points after $10,000 spend in four months. The card’s $195 annual fee is not waived the first year.

    Manufactured spend newbie spoiler alert: Visas and Mastercards aren’t the same, and there’s different value in both. There also aren’t that many 2.5x / 2x everywhere business Mastercards around.
  4. The Acorns investment platform has a great $1,100 promotion for churners with at least five players. To qualify:

    – Refer four new accounts by June 14
    – Have each new account invest $5

    If you don’t have your own Acorns link yet, ask a friend for theirs. If that doesn’t work, reach out to me and I’ll happily share a random churner’s referral. (Thanks to DDG)
  5. Wells Fargo is ending points transfers between accountholders on September 25.

    Another hint for the newbies out there: There’s a good reason that Wells Fargo is doing this. Big companies don’t often make changes for no reason.

Have a nice Tuesday friends!

Bonus newbie tip: There’s a reason people don’t put powdered cheese on pizza too.