April 28, 2016

The Lottery for Discounted Hyatt Points is Tomorrow

By far one of the most popular Daily Getaways packages every year is the opportunity to purchase Hyatt points for only about a penny each. However, with demand far outweighing supply, it literally turns into a lottery to see whose mouse-click at 1:00pm ET gets the lucky prize. Even with more packages available this year, it will be very difficult to get one of these packages. Here is a quick summary of the packages available:

24,000 Hyatt points for $260 (120 packages available) which is ~1.08 cents per point.
30,000 Hyatt points for $330 (54 packages available) which is 1.1 cents per point.
40,000 Hyatt points for $415 (30 packages available) which is ~1.04 cents per point.
72,000 Hyatt points for $775 (25 packages available) which is ~1.07 cents per point.

I’m an avid fan of Hyatt hotels and I find they have a great collection of luxurious yet affordable (on points) hotels around the world that match my travel style, especially as a “loyal” Diamond Member. A few weeks ago I stayed at the Grand Hyatt Kauai for 6 nights, solely on points which came to 150,000 Hyatt points total for the trip. A free night costs 25,000 Hyatt points which if purchased via one of the packages would actually end up costing me ~$270 a night. If I compare this to the cash rate for random weekday in July and then add on the tax + resort fee, a typical paid night costs over $580/night! While this trip wouldn’t be free, I’d still be saving over 50% off the paid rate.

The paid rate at the Grand Hyatt Kauai

I could go on and literally find dozens of examples of savings but basically buying points today is a great way to save on future Hyatt stays. I’ll be trying for these Hyatt points at 1pm EST tomorrow…. and probably documenting my failure on Twitter shortly afterwards. Good luck!

April 27, 2016

New (Targeted) United Explorer Card Offer: 30k Miles + $100 Off a United Flight

In the past, I’ve posted about a way to generate a targeted offer for the United MileagePlus Explorer card with a 50,000 mile signup bonus which involved shopping through United’s shopping portal. A lot of people had success with that approach and I attempted it for my wife recently as I would like her to apply for this card since it has been past 24 months since she received the signup bonus and we are running a bit low on our United miles. The public signup bonus is just 30,000 miles and I only wanted her to apply if she received the 50,000 mile offer. My wife just got her mailer (from trying the approach mentioned above) in the mail but it looks like United has rolled out a new offer I have not seen previously: 30,000 miles + $100 off a United flight.

Here are the details for this offer:

30,000 United Miles after spending $1,000 in 3 months
$100 off a United flight after spending $1,000 in 3 months (the $100 will deposited into your United Travel Bank)
5,000 United Miles for adding an authorized user
2 United Club Passes
Priority Boarding and First Free Checked Bag

On the mailer, there was a link to apply online which is unitedexplorercard.com/100credit. Just like most other links for the United card that are not directly from Chase, it will ask you to signin with your United MileagePlus account to access your personalized offer. If successful, you will see a page like this:

While this offer is an improvement over the public signup bonus of 30,000 miles, I’d still much rather have the 50,000 mile offer on this card for two main reasons. The first being the additional 20,000 miles that come with the larger signup bonus are worth significantly more than $100 – depending on your valuation, they are worth anywhere from $200-$300. Secondly, the $100 off sounds nice but you will most likely be paying something out of pocket for a United flight unless you happen to find a flight right around $100. I don’t like paying for flights and if I did, I’d rather it be on Delta or American where I still have hundreds of dollars in gift cards stockpiled thanks to the airline credits from the America Express Platinum and Chase Ritz Carlton cards.

In short, while it’s nice to see an offer that is better than the public signup bonus, my wife will be passing on this offer and waiting it out for a 50,000 mile offer. For anyone who is currently considering the public 30k offer, I’d advise waiting for a 50k offer but if you must get the card now, at least check this link to see if you also get the $100 off a United flight.

April 23, 2016

Virgin Atlantic Award Flight Sale: 30% Off Award Flights

Through May 11th Virgin Atlantic is having a sale on award flights with 30% fewer miles required which leads to some good deals for travel to Europe. This sale is only valid on economy class flights but no roundtrip is required nor are there any blackout dates – if you find a flight with availability (and availability is generally pretty good especially from the East Coast), it will be discounted.

30% Off Sale – Roundtrip prices shown

As many of you know, Virgin Atlantic charges a hefty fuel surcharges and when combined with UK taxes on all flights (no matter whether its award or paid), these charges can seriously add up as seen above. The way to beat this to book just a one way flight to London with this sale and use other miles (or book a cash ticket) home. For example, a one way flight from NY to London is only 12,250 miles + $134 in fees. Using a fair value of a penny per Virgin mile, you are effectively paying ~$256 for a one way flight to Europe from the East Coast. For a summer flight to Europe, that’s pretty unbeatable especially if you fly home from another city in Europe using miles and avoiding the UK departure taxes.

Example of One Way Award Flight

In the past, Virgin Atlantic has offered other award sales such as this one but I can’t recall seeing one way flights price out at under 12,250 miles – which is less than a standard domestic one way flight. For going to Europe, especially over summer, I’d argue this will be a hard deal to beat.

April 22, 2016

You Can Refer Others for the 75k American Express Hilton HHonors Card & Earn 10k Points

I’m not here to entice you about the the “amazing offer” on the American Express Hilton HHonors card which is currently at an all-time high of 75,000 Hilton HHonors Points – fellow bloggers with affiliate links have done well doing that. Instead, I got an email from Hilton yesterday letting me know current cardholders can refer others for the same 75,000 point offer and earn 10,000 points for themselves. I knew you could refer others for the American Express Hilton HHonors Surpass card for 10,000 points but the refer a friend offer is available for this no annual fee card as well.

To refer someone, visit this link for American Express’s refer a friend site. From there enter your card information or your American Express log in and you should see the offer to refer others that will look like the below.

If anyone would like a referral, please shoot me an email at ralph@pointscentric.com or let me know in the comments (don’t worry only I can see your email address). I’ll also allow readers to leave their referral information if they so choose in the comments. With American Express’s once a lifetime policy for signup bonuses, you should only apply for Amex cards at their peak signup bonuses. This card qualifies but make sure the Hilton card is a good fit for your travels.

April 21, 2016

My Favorite Daily Getaways Deal – It’s Not What You Expect

It is fair to say this year’s Daily Getaways offering have been pretty weak – in fact I’ve yet to write a word about them until now as I am finally in sight of my favorite Daily Getaway deal. For those who know about the Daily Getaway deals, you could (and probably would) argue that Hyatt points deal on 4/29 is the best deal for most people. It is certainly isn’t a bad deal for most but those packages will be gone in literally .05 seconds so it is a true lottery to get them. Instead my preferred deal, which I’ve purchased for the past two years, is for the Hertz Points which will be available this Friday starting at 1pm ET.

Here is a summary of the packages available:

5,500 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards for $250 (~4.54 cents per point, 45 available)
13,200 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards for $560 (~4.24 cents per point, 35 available)
16,500 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards for $698 (~4.23 cents per point, 50 available)

For comparison, this was last year prices – it looks like they unfortunately raised the price on the middle package to be more in line with the others.

5,500 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards for $252 (~4.58 cents per point, 45 available)
13,200 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards for $428 (~3.24 cents per point, 35 available)
16,500 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards for $698 (~4.23 cents per point, 50 available)

And to understand what these points get you, here is their reward chart with the main rewards shown below.

Let’s assume you get one of the packages that sells the points at 4.24 cents – that means a rental day cost around $28.62 while a weekly rental costs only $116.60 by buying points today. A specialty vehicle weekly rental (which is defined as minivans, convertibles and certain SUVs) costs $186.56. A three day weekend rental would cost only $69.96.

Obviously rental prices vary greatly based on the market, but those weekly rates are great deals in most major markets, especially for the specialty vehicles which is great for large families (or for couples looking at the convertible option). For my last few trips to Hawaii I’ve been able to get a convertible rental for just $142.56 (using the cost of the points I purchased last year). That’s a fantastic deal for a weekly convertible rental in Maui as usually convertibles rates are nuts. Even the free rental day isn’t terrible as in the last week of the Daily Getaways Avis is offering a one day rental for $30 – this Hertz deal is better than that for even the basic one day rentals.

My cost – $142

The reason I like Hertz points and this deal in particular is that it is a guaranteed way to get a discounted car rental without the hassle of finding discount codes, searching multiple sites, or renting from discounted car rental car agencies (Fox, Payless etc.). The last two years I’ve rented almost exclusively with Hertz and I have had nothing but great experiences. I never have to wait in line to get my car as I am Gold Rewards Plus member (which anyone can become) as I always get a text with the car’s location when I land and I drive right out of the lot. I’ve been upgraded several times over the past two years including a brand new Camaro (when I only reserved a base convertible) on our trip to the Big Island last year and a Pathfinder on my last trip when I only reserved a mid-size SUV.

New Camaro Last Year on the Big Island, HI

Now trust me I understand there are ways to get cheap rentals including using tools like AutoSlash but when I’m on vacation I want a quick and easy rental car experience. The ability to avoid lines and not having to deal with discounted car rental agencies with the endless upsells and crappier cars is worth it to me to lock in my price as shown above for my future rentals. I’m sure several of you will disagree with my approach on car rentals but this works for me and my style of travel, especially since I tend to rent premium vehicles (convertibles, large SUVs) on my trips.

Depending on your rental car habits, this deal is not for everyone. If you are an infrequent renter, I wouldn’t want to tie up cash in Hertz points that have already devalued once in 2013 and might again soon. The infrequent renter will be better off using Priceline, Costco Travel or the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal most of the time. Paying over 4 cents a point sounds like a lot but if you know how to redeem Hertz for high value rewards in the right markets, then this is an excellent way to get a discounted car rental.

PointsCentric

Points & Miles Travel Consulting

Month: April 2016