Category: Hotels

  1. Best Western has a promotion for 2,600 bonus points for stays through May 10 booked by Sunday, registration required.

    Best Western havsa separate promotion for a $50 gift card with 3+ night stays through May 10, registration is also required. The promotions will stack.
  2. Bilt’s rent day promotion on Sunday has a tiered transfer bonus of 25%-100% to Accor ALL depending on your Bilt status. Platinum Kerr Kash Bilt Cash holders can redeem $75 for an extra 25% bonus too. A few reminders about Accor:

    – Accor ALL points are worth a fixed 2 eurocents, or approximately 2.4 cents
    – You can transfer Accor ALL to Qantas at a 1:1.25 ratio
    – For more on the program, see the MEAB FAQette.

    Honestly, if you’ve decided to get out of the Bilt ecosystem this is probably the best case cash-out you could hope for, at least assuming you travel outside of the US.
  3. I wouldn’t normally write about content monster fodder like this, but I’m too happy to see it gone to help myself. So:

    Southwest boarding groups are gone, they only have assigned seating now. Ding dong, the witch is dead.

Happy Wednesday

You’ve gotta figure it out on your own today.

  1. Hyatt’s 2026 corporate status match, which instantly awards Explorist status through February 2028 and offers a fast track to Globalist with 20 nights in 90 days, is now available.

    You’ve got to have a big company email address to make this work, or you’ve got to be creative. Or, ¿por qué no los dos?
  2. The Chase Ink Business Preferred card has an increased sign-up bonus of 100,000 Ultimate Rewards after $8,000 spend in three months, and the $95 annual fee is not waived in the first year.

    This offer is also available via referrals, but only for new Chase Business customers.
  3. The Rakuten American Express card has a heightened sign-up bonus of $100 after $1,000 spend in 90 days, and the card carries no annual fee. The ability to earn unlimited 2x Membership Rewards (or temporarily Bilt Rewards) at grocery makes this card an Unsung Hero candidate.
  4. The Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa has an increased sign-up bonus of five free-night certificates after $3,000 spend in three months, and the $95 annual fee is not waived the first year. Each certificate is worth up to 50,000 points. Remember with Marriott you’ll still pay resort fees and for parking on award stays, and 50,000 points probably doesn’t get you the kind of hotel you think it should.

    This offer should be available for referrals on Monday.
  5. There’s a targeted offer for $50 back on $250+ in airfare for existing Marriott Bonvoy Boundless cardholders, and its usable once between now and the end of June, and then once more between July and December.
  6. PSA: There’s a link floating around major blogs for the Bank of America Atomos Ascent Visa with a sign-up bonus of 80,000 miles after $4,000 spend in 120 days. This link isn’t generic, it’s someone’s referral link.

    If you’re interested in the card, use a friend or another player’s referral link instead for the same offer, and they’ll get 10,000 miles too. 👏 Always know the provenance of links you’re using.👏
  7. Stop & Shop and Giant stores have 2x points on Mastercard gift cards through Thursday.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Have a nice weekend friends!

Paid parking on award stays? Non-issue at the Courtyard Anaheim because at 74,000 points/night, your certificate won’t even work. #bonvoyed

  1. Expired free night certificates used to be worth 10,000 points for a category 1-4 certificate, or 20,000 points for a category 1-7 certificate if you called Hyatt right after expiration and asked, as long as those certificates were from the Hyatt program and not a partner like AA or Chase. That was nerfed, with the new values:

    – Category 1-4 expired certificate: 2,500 points
    – Category 1-7 expired certificate, 5,000 points

    It beats the devaluation points for Club Upgrade Award certificates for Globalists I guess.
  2. Chase Pay Yourself Back on the Sapphire Reserve Business card removed all bonus categories except for “Select Charities”, and the boost on that category dropped from 50% to 25%. #bonvoyed

    The personal Sapphire Reserve is unaffected. (Thanks to Chris)
  3. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network cards.
  4. Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins  have 10x points on Lowes gift cards through Thursday. Of course their little brother Giant Food is only 4x. Why? Because reasons.
  5. JetBlue has 26% off of base fares booked by tomorrow for travel between January 13 and February 28 using code GO26. Of course there are blackouts, and also all Fridays and Saturdays are #NOGO26. You can stack this with a Citi Merchant offer for $50 off of $200+ too.

    Did I hear you want discounted Mint or transatlantic, or worse, discounted Mint+transatlantic? JetBlue was quoted as saying “That’s a nah from me dawg. Just ask Giant Food.”

Have a nice Tuesday!

It’s not all sadness at Giant Food though, their seasonal section carries this beauty.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s Q4 promotion for 3,000 bonus points per night at Hyatt Vacation Club properties, limit 30,000 total bonus points.
  2. American Express opened its Salt Lake City Centurion lounge yesterday. I don’t normally report on lounge openings or updates because there are plenty of spots on the internet with that sort of boring news completely covered, usually including a full 623 pictures per article with studio lit photos featuring cheese cubes at the buffet and a neutral painting on the wall at an empty lounge all vying for a diminishing number of clicks from casual google searches.

    This opening though has none of those articles, indicating that American Express didn’t pay for first class tickets, hotel rooms, and fine dining for a bunch of affiliate bloggers to get a sneak peak complete with pre-written copy for their posts. In other words, American Express seems to be dialing back its marketing budget significantly. When banks pare back on their marketing budget, it’s usually because they expect bad earnings, increased credit write-offs, a recession, or some combination of all of these things. Which is it? The excitement is palpable.
  3. Sunrise Bank’s Southwest debit card is now available for new applications. The vitals:

    – 0.5x earning
    – 2,500 Rapid Rewards after $100 spend in 90 days
    – $6.99 monthly fee is waived with $2,500 on deposit at Sunrise
    – Annual bonus of up to 7,500 Rapid Rewards based on spend

    There’s almost certainly some juice here for the right use cases. An important, outstanding question is whether you can hold both this card and the likely upcoming United Debit card also issued by Sunrise simultaneously.
  4. Breeze Airways has a promotion for 35% off of base fares using promo code CHARMED for travel purchased by Friday and flown between December 2 and March 3, 2026.

    We haven’t played Breeze route bingo for a while, but let’s fix that. Today’s bingo route is Bentonville, AR – Gulfport, LA. If you have a bingo, write in for an exclusive* 35% off of base fare promo code.

Happy Wednesday!

Future campaign slogan for bringing back the old Breeze Route Bingo™ prizes.

  1. Do this now: Register for targeted Hyatt Q4 bonuses on your Hyatt My Offers page. Bonuses are variable, but generally are some form of: 2x-3x points earning on up to 30,000 bonus points.
  2. The FNBO JAL MileageBank Mastercard has a heightened sign-up bonus of 10,000 bonus miles and a waived annual fee for the first year with promo code AFSPG1025, no minimum spend required. That may not seem like a big bonus, but that’s only because it’s not a big bonus.

    The card is a bit of a cult classic because $450,000 spend at 1x will earn you lifetime oneworld Sapphire status. Obviously lifetime status could be huge with the right use case, just don’t think about opportunity cost (like how $450,000 on a lowly 2% card is $9,000).
  3. Southwest has a fare sale for 40% off base fares and award redemption costs with promo code 40SALE for travel booked by tomorrow and flown between December 3 and March 4, 2026.

    Mini-FAQ: Blackouts? Yes. Punitive boarding for aisle seat jockeys? Yes. Slow WiFi? Here to stay. First class? “Every seat is first class on Southwest”.
  4. American Express has new travel offers for:

    – Marriott Homes & Villas: $250 off of $1,000+ by November 19
    – Delta Air Lines: $80 off of $400+ through December 31
    – ANA: 30,000 Membership Rewards with $2,500+ through December 31
    – Omni: $100 off of $500+ through January 15, 2026
    – AKA Hotels: $150 off of $750+ through March 15, 2026

    Some are more gameable than others, but there’s always an angle.

Happy Wednesday!

Instead of lifetime status for unlimited cheese cubes, you could spend $9,000 on this, uhh, beauty.

  1. Do this now: Register for your Q4 Marriott targeted Q4 promotions, including:

    – Five bonus elite nights, usable 2x for stays through January 31, 2026
    – Extra elite night for all stays through December 31
    – 15,000 bonus points every five stays, up to 3x through January 31, 2026
    – 2,000 bonus per stay at AC, Courtyard, or Four Points properties through February 16, 2026
    – 2,025 bonus points per stay, up to 3x through January 10, 2026
    – 2,000 bonus points per stay, up to 3x at Outdoors properties through January 10, 2026

    Some of those numbers look big, but remember they’re still Bonvoy points.
  2. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards. (Thanks to GCA)
  3. Staples.com has fee-free virtual $200 Visa gift cards, limit four per account. Sometimes obscure portals work on these too, sometimes.

    These are also Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. American Express has a few new offers, all of which are valid through December 31:

    – Virgin Atlantic: $250 off of $1,800+
    – Hilton Cards (variation 1): Earn 6,000 bonus points for a $3,000+ purchase (up to 3x)
    – Hilton Cards (variation 2): Earn 20,000 bonus points for a $10,000+ purchase (up to 3x)
    – Qatar: $200 off of $850+ through AmEx Travel

    I’m told “gamers gonna (allegedly) game”. (Thanks to Stowe)

Happy Tuesday!

“Allegedly”

Apparently it’s promo dump weekend:

  1. Celtic Bank’s Mesa Visa card has a storied past with sign-up bonuses, and they’re continuing that legacy with another harebrained scheme:

    – 5,000 bonus points for one Mesa referral
    – 5,000 additional bonus points for another referral
    – 50,000 bonus points after two referrals and spending $10,000 in 90 days

    The card recently became a churning classic because: (1) you earn points for your, err *cough* mortgage, even if you don’t use the card to pay it, and (2) they have interesting transfer partners like SAS EuroBonus and Air Canada Aeroplan.
  2. The Chase Ink Cash and Ink Unlimited Visa cards have heightened sign-up bonuses of 90,000 Ultimate Rewards after $6,000 spend in three months. Both cards are no-annual fee cards.

    These are available via referrals and you’ve still got a few weeks left before October 7, when Chase’s referral rules mean there’s no referral bonus if the card applicant already holds a Chase business card.
  3. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a 20% transfer bonus to AirFrance / KLM FlyingBlue through September 30.
  4. Citi ThankYou Points has a 25% transfer bonus to Wyndham Rewards through September 20.
  5. Stop & Shop, Giant Foods, and Martins stores have 2x points earning on Mastercard gift cards through Thursday.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  6. Kroger stores have 4x fuel points earning on third party gift cards excluding Amazon and fuel cards, and on fixed value Visa and Mastercard gift cards.

    Since for some reason we don’t talk about Kroger 4x without talking about Pepper: They’re still quasi-dead, which is to say they’ve been a few days away from relaunch for months.
  7. Kroger online has 5% off of Visa and Mastercard e-gift cards with promo code BDAY2025 through September 21. Mastercards had been absent from Kroger since they switched issuers from US Bank, but they’re now back.

    These are generally interesting because they earn Kroger fuel points, not because it codes as grocery (it doesn’t). These are Pathward / Incomm gift cards.
  8. Marriott Bonvoy, the loyalty program that takes inspiration from Delta SkyMiles, has removed Asiana Club as a transfer partner.
  9. Several banks have emailed targeted spend bonuses:

    – Discover: $10 off $100+ spend with a virtual card number
    – Bank of America: $75 or 7,500 points with $2,500 spend
    – Chase Freedom: Extra earn with spend thresholds

    (Thanks to Dave and T)

Have a nice weekend friends!

Marriott had to drop support for Asiana transfers to implement this correctly.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s targeted promotion for up to 20,000 bonus points on stays at Hyatt Regency properties through November 23. For the sole purpose of annoying you, they’re making you register through the mobile app though (Account → Offers for You).
  2. The Chase British Airways Visa personal card has increased sign-up bonus of 100,000 Avios after $7,500 spend in six months. The $95 annual fee is not waived in the first year.

    Normally I’d just get an Ink, but there’s value in this card with (1) an award companion pass valid for all cabins on British Airways metal after $30,000 spend, (2) a 10% discount on paid British Airways fares, and (3) a $100-$200 statement credit for award fees per booking, but maxed out at $600 per year.
  3. The Synchrony Virgin Red Mastercard has an increased sign-up bonus of 75,000 points after $4,000 spend in three months. The bonus is only valid through tomorrow night, and is an all-time high. The card earns 2x at grocery, dining, and other less interesting categories.

    If you think this card is a snooze-fest, you may want to take another look, at least if you live near an airport served by Virgin Atlantic or by a Virgin Hotel.
  4. Stater Bros grocery stores have an instant $10 off of groceries promotion with a $50 One4All Ultimate gift card, which can be converted to Home Depot, until October 7 (!). This one requires a physical coupon available both in store and via mailer. (Thanks to GCA)
  5. A quick, unfortunate timely tip for people axed by Synchrony yesterday: Apply for the same card quickly, you’ll probably be approved.
  6. Rove Miles has two hotel stay promotions for your first booking through the platform:

    – 2,500 bonus miles on a $250+ hotel booking with promo code STAYCATION
    – 5,000 bonus miles on a $500+ hotel booking with promo code BACKTOSCHOOL

    Rove already earns 10x-20x miles for hotel stays, so for the right use case there’s value here, but if you’re never paying cash for hotels, this probably doesn’t move the needle. If you’re going to sign-up for Rove, use a referral link and both the referrer and referred will get 1,000 bonus miles and there’s an extra 10% boost on earning for the referrer.

Happy Thursday!

The average churner’s picture of the Virgin Red Mastercard.