– $200 back on $1,000+ at Norwegian Cruise Lines through April 23 – $70 back on $250+ at Hertz through March 10 – $75 back on $250+ at Avis through March 31 – $30 back on $75+ at Pepper through March 31 – 5,000 bonus points on $2,000+ on the Marriott Business card through April 30
The Pepper one is a $30 hedge against any potential failure, should they fail in the next couple of weeks.
With some trickery you can often get different types of hundos too.
EDITOR’S NOTE: No, it wasn’t anything to do with daylight savings time, it was the AM/PM thing with yesterday’s post. You can find it here if you never saw it once fixed. Actually, you can find it there whether or not you saw it once fixed.
– Personal: 35,000 points with $3,000 spend in three months plus 2x points on unbounded spend for six months, up to $15,000 spend – Business: 60,000 points after $5,000 spend in three months, and a Category 1-4 free night certificate after $15,000 spend in six months
Both of these have some utility, but the business one is a clear winner if you can make use of a Category 1-4. I can always make use of them, but that doesn’t mean they’re not annoying.
Prices were supposed to revert to normal yesterday, but some European and Asian properties have redemptions with half the regular points needed, so I guess we discovered the mythical loyalty program de-devaluation and ended up better than we were before. This is probably an accident to though, which (accidentally) seems to be Choice’s 2025 modus operandi.
Giant Food, Stop & Shop, and Giant/Martins stores have 2x points on Vanilla Visa gift cards through Thursday, limit $1,500 – $2,000 per account depending on the chain. (Thanks to RabbMD)
Wells Fargo has a $2,500 bonus for opening or upgrading to a Premier Checking account and bringing $250,000 in new assets within 45 days through February 25. Investment accounts and IRAs count, so you can ACATS transfer funds from another brokerage into a Wells Fargo investment account without a taxable event.
Coincidentally, $250,000 in linked accounts is what you need to avoid monthly service fees too. (Thanks to DoC)
Have a nice weekend, and watch for tomorrow’s guest post!
Even Choice Hotel plumbers accidentally did their work.
Do this now: Register for double Hyatt elite night credits at Under Canvas Resorts for stays between March 7 and June 15. I hesitated to put a “do this now” on this one because y’all don’t seem like the glamping under a canvas tent type, but I mean you never know when you might accidentally end up in a tent I guess.
Choice Hotels have devalued redemptions and added some dynamic room pricing. There’s still value to be had, but this change moves it from a secondary program to a tertiary program in my mind.
MEABNOTE: I’ll be going on a blogging vacation at the end of the year and there won’t be any daily posts between December 18 and December 31. After that, we’ll ring in the new year on January 1, 2025 with the 2024 version of Travel Hacking as Told by GIFs though, so no need to be up in arms, but I guess it’s ok if you’re up in legs.
By popular demand we’ll have at least a few guest posts during the break. If you’d like to write one, please reach out, I’d like to find guest posts for the whole break!
Do this now: Register for 5x categories on quarterly cards:
– Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex: Grocery, fitness, gyms, hair, nails, spas, and Norwegian Cruises (welcome to the world of sponsored 5x categories friends) – Discover IT: Restaurants, home improvement, and some streaming – Citi Dividend: Amazon and some streaming – US Bank Cash+: I choose utilities and electronics stores
I try and knock these out on the first day or two of the quarter so I don’t have to think about them after.
– 250,000 Shop Your Way Rewards points with $1,000+ – 200,000 Shop Your Way Rewards points with $750+ – $70 statement credit with $1,000+ – $50 statement credit with $750+
As usual, these stack with other offers. (Thanks to birt, Adam, Lindsay, and Tyler)
Giftcards.com has 10% off of its own gift cards through December21. These cards can be used to buy other, third-party fee-free gift cards on the site with promo code EPICGIFT. These probably won’t track on shopping portals when you buy them, but when you use them on another purchase that’ll probably track. There are several credit cards that earn 3x on giftcards.com.
– Will this work with HiltonGiftCards.com? Yes – Will this work buying gift cards at a hotel? Yes – Will this work at Hilton restaurant? Usually, watch for a 15% extra hold for tip – Will this work for a regular hotel to pay your bill? Yes, depending on the front desk’s skillset – Who is John Galt? I dunno; or if I do, I don’t want to talk about it here, why do you ask?
Also, orange-you glad I didn’t say banana? (That’s called a “long con” friends, at least on internet time scales.)
MEABNOTE: I’ll be going on a blogging vacation at the end of the year and there won’t be any daily posts between December 18 and December 31. After that, we’ll ring in the new year on January 1, 2025 with the 2024 version of Travel Hacking as Told by GIFs though, so no need to be up in arms, but I guess it’s ok if you’re up in legs.
Hyatt now lets you apply Suite Upgrade Certificates to a reservation yourself online. In the past, Hyatt’s long had a quirk that when (a) standard suites are available at a property, but (b) standard rooms weren’t available with points, you couldn’t book using points and a suite upgrade certificate without working directly with the property and some luck. That’s now fixed with the new change.
Side note: The Citi AA Business card will often bypass Citi bans regardless of this news.
You can currently buy Hilton Honors Points at 0.5 cents per point, up to 160,000 points. At the low end (e.x., Lubbock, TX), Hilton points are worth about 0.5 cents so this is a wash, but at high end properties it’s not hard to get 1.5-4.0 cents per point, and 8.0 cents per point isn’t unheard of at the Maldives.
I wouldn’t buy speculatively but if you know that you’ll be staying at a high end property in the next year, there’s plenty of outsized value to be had.
Happy Monday friends!
A different kind of churner’s triple for those banned at Citi, but 30 years ago.
– Gateway: 30,000 miles after $1,000 in three months, no annual-fee – Explorer: 60,000 miles after $3,000 in three months, $95 annual fee is waived – Quest: 70,000 miles and 500 PQP after $4,000 in three months, $250 annual fee – Club: 90,000 miles after $5,000 spend in three months, $525 annual fee
Only the Club’s bonus gives enough miles for a one-way long-haul partner redemption from the US to Europe or Asia, which should tell you something about the actual value of these cards especially as compared to an Ink. Each card does get you XN award space access, which is great for domestic economy awards I guess. Each card also earns an extra 5,000 bonus miles for adding an authorized user within the first three months. (Thanks to DDG)
The Smartly card is a 2-4% everywhere uncapped cash back card, with the cash back amount determined by the assets held in either a Smartly savings or a self-directed investment account. $100,000 average funds over 90 days in either is enough for 4%, and you have to have a Smartly savings account open even if most of the assets are in an investment account to qualify.
– 5% back on British Airways through November 29, up to $45 back – 10% back at Renaissance Hotels through November 18, up to $75 back – 10% back at Fairfield Inn through December 1, up to $38 back – 10% back at Westin through December 1, up to $68 back
Gamers gonna blah blah blah gift cards at the front desk or blah blah blah blah something else. (Thanks to Mike at Cheapskate Travel)
Don’t worry though! Bask is devaluing again today because of “a range of economic factors and current market conditions”, where now they’ll only pay out 2 miles for every dollar saved annually, down from 2.5 miles per dollar. I guess because still high interest rates mean they can collect a bigger spread? That’s #BaskMath. As of this writing they haven’t updated their website to reflect the devaluation, so that’s double awesome. I’m out.
Staples in-store has fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards starting Sunday and running through the following Saturday, limit nine per transaction. For those playing sportsball at home: Yes, they’re really tweaking the per-transaction size, from five, to eight, to seven, and most recently to nine. What’s next, 7.5?
– 1% back at Lowes stores (no maximum specified) – 1% back at Stop & Shop stores (max $10 back per transaction) – 1% back at Food Lion stores (max $10 back per transaction)
The terms on this are regular for Rakuten, but weird: After activating, you’ve got 75 days to use the offer. After the first purchase, the offer will only work for another hour. After that hour, you can usually re-add the offer again until Rakuten pulls it in several weeks. Link your cards to your Rakuten profile here.
Giant, Giant Foods, Martins, and Stop & Shop stores have 4x, 5x, or 6x points (chain dependent) on third party gift cards November 21, limit $2,000 per account. Apple and BestBuy are the cards are likely your best choice if your’e not buying for personal use. (Thanks to GCG)
