September 30, 2016

Free Hilton Weekend Night Certificate for Spending $1,000 on Hilton HHonors Amex Card (Targeted)

I just received an email from American Express offering me a free weekend night certificate valid at any almost any Hilton hotel if I spend $1,000 on my Hilton HHonors American Express card by December 15th. The free weekend night is valid from 12 months of issuance so you have potentially almost all of 2017 to use it if you time the spending right. If you have the card, here is the link to try and see if you are targeted.

This is a really good offer – to put it in perspective if I spent the same $1,000 on a 2% cash back card, I would earn $20. So by shifting $1,000 of my spend to this card (which I normally don’t use), I’ll earn a free weekend night at Hilton family hotel. Forgoing $20 bucks for a free hotel night sounds good to me! If you have the offer, I highly recommend enrolling and taking advantage of it.

Here are the full terms of the offer:

Terms and Conditions

1. To qualify for the Free One Weekend Night Certificate, you must make $1,000 in purchases with your Hilton HHonors™ Card from American Express now through December 15th 2016. The Free One Weekend Night Certificate will be sent as an email from Hilton to the email address listed on your Hilton HHonors account, 6-8 weeks after you meet the spend requirement. Purchases to meet the spend requirement of this offer do NOT include fees or interest charges, balance transfers, cash advances, purchase of travelers checks, purchase or reloading of prepaid cards, or other cash equivalents. Additional Card Members on your account are not eligible for this offer. A Card Member is only eligible to earn 1 Free Night Certificate during the offer period. To receive the Free One Weekend Night Certificate, your account must not be cancelled or in default at the time of fulfillment. American Express reserves the right to modify or revoke offer at any time. If the HHonors member does not receive the Free One Weekend Night Certificate email within 6-8 weeks after the promotion period ends, the Member should check his/her HHonors account by logging into their profile or by calling 1-800-548-8690 . As a reminder, the Free One Weekend Night Certificate will be delivered in an email from Hilton. To ensure receipt of the certificate, the HHonors member should confirm the correct email address is listed under the Card Member’s HHonors Account file on their profile. The Free One Weekend Night Certificate is valid for one (1) weekend night standard accommodation, double occupancy, subject to availability, at properties in the Hilton HHonors portfolio, excluding those listed at HHonors.com/weekendcertificate. The Free One Weekend Night Certificate applies only to room rate and corresponding taxes, and does not apply to any applicable gratuities, resort fees or incidental charges. The Free One Weekend Night Certificate is valid for 12 months after the date of issuance, as noted on the certificate. You must follow all terms stated on the certificate when redeeming or the certificate may not be honoured. For complete Terms and Conditions that apply to the One Weekend Night Certificate, please refer to the Hilton HHonors Free Night Terms and Conditions. Hilton HHonors™ membership, earning of Points & Miles™ when booking direct and redemption of Points are subject to HHonors Terms and Conditions. © 2016 Hilton Worldwide.

September 28, 2016

A Different Kind of Anniversary Trip…

Let me preface this by saying this isn’t a normal points/miles/credit card rewards post at PointsCentric. So if you do not care for a personal anecdote, you can skip the rest of this post…

Today is quite a special day for my wife and I as we are celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary and this time of year always brings back amazing memories of our wedding night 3 years ago. In fact, it reminds us of our journey together as we’ve actually been together much longer – in fact almost 4x as long (since my junior year of high school in fact). And every year around this time, we go on an extraordinary trip to celebrate, always seemingly topping the last amazing “once in a lifetime” trip. It started with our honeymoon to Moorea & Bora Bora in 2013, continued with a surprise trip in 2014 that my wife only found out our destination when we got our boarding passes at the airport and culminated with a Dubai/Maldives mega-trip last year. Of course, trips like these wouldn’t be possible without points & miles and I’ve included a quick synopsis on how we made each trip possible (I have to have some points angle in my posts).

1) 2013 Honeymoon – Moorea & Bora Bora

We used 62,500 American Airlines miles per person to fly business class JFK-LA-Tahiti and back on a combination of American Airlines / Air Tahiti Nui followed by a ferry to Moorea and a short flight to Bora Bora. For hotels, back in the day you could redeem 145,000 Hilton HHonors points for a 4 night stay at top-tier hotels using AXON awards. I redeemed 290,000 Hilton HHonors points total for 4 nights at the Hilton Moorea followed by 4 nights at the Hilton Bora Bora.

2) 2014 First Anniversary – Bali & Thailand

We used 140,000 United miles to fly first class JFK-Seoul-Bali-Phuket-Seoul-JFK on a combination of Asiana / Thai Airways and my wife had no idea about the destinations or airlines involved. At the time it was only a 10k premium for first class over business each way so it was a no-brainer for a chance to fly Asiana first class suites and on the way home, we had the whole first class cabin to ourselves! For hotels, we were able to get great cash rates at the Conrad Bali and Le Meridien Phuket so it didn’t make sense to redeem points.

3) 2015 Second Anniversary – Dubai & Maldives

Quite possibly our most memorable trip, I redeemed 90,000 Alaska miles per person to fly first class JFK-Dubai-Maldives on Emirates. For the return, I redeemed 90,000 American miles per person to fly first class Maldives-Abu Dhabi-JFK on Etihad. For the hotels, I used two free Hyatt anniversary nights at the Grand Hyatt Dubai and 150,000 Hyatt points for a 6 night stay at the Park Hyatt Maldives.

Over a three year stretch, we got to experience several of the most exotic and beautiful locations on Earth that I promise would have never happened without points and miles. However as amazing as those trips were, our lives changed drastically earlier this year to the point where we knew jumping off to some exotic locale for a week wouldn’t be feasible for a while…

Our family now feels more complete with the addition of our little Krista and we wouldn’t have it any other way. In fact, do you want to know our big “trip” this year to celebrate our anniversary? A nice 7 minute drive to a local steakhouse where we can enjoy probably our nicest meal in months before returning home and reliving the grandparents of babysitting duties.

I’m sure there will be times we wish we could jump on a plane and vacation for a week at some crazy locale (in fact, that may have happened earlier this week when I saw my buddy fly Emirates first class to Dubai and the Maldives) but my trip planning will now focus on family friendly destinations and resorts (paid with points of course). Suffice to say, this anniversary trip will be just a bit different than year’s past but coming home to this smiling face makes this “trip” seem the best of them all. And compared to the journey we are currently on watching Krista grow and develop daily before our eyes, I’m not sure anything could top this adventure.

September 26, 2016

Book Two Car Rentals via United and Earn 10,500 United Miles

A quick post as I’m running out the door but United sent an offer for Chase United MileagePlus credit cardholders who can earn 10,500 United miles after just two car rentals with Hertz. I value the 10,500 miles at around ~$150 dollars so this is a pretty substantial offer for a car rental promotion.

unitedoffer2

To book this offer, you must book on United.com and use discount code (CDP) 62455 and promotion code (PC) 305023. Here is the breakdown of earning miles:

– 750 miles per rental

-1,500 bonus miles per rental for mid-size vehicle or larger

-3,000 bonus miles per rental for Chase UnitedMileagePlus cardholders

unitedoffer1

I don’t have time right now to look up rental rates but if they are in the ballpark of what they normally are or comparable to other sites (Kayak, Costco Travel, Autoslash..) this could be a very good deal.

September 24, 2016

A 75,000 Point Marriott Signup Bonus NOT Subject to the 5/24 Rule

The big news of the past week was the official close of the merger between Marriott & Starwood hotels which occurred yesterday. Quite impressively, you can already transfer points back and forth between the Starwood and Marriott reward programs at a 1:3 ratio (1 Starpoint equals 3 Marriott Point). As a result of this new ability to transfer points, this opens up an indirect offer for a Marriott signup bonus that is NOT subject to Chase’s 5/24 rule and that is the 25,000 point signup bonus on both the American Express Starwood personal and business cards.

As I blogged about earlier this week, the signup bonus changed on the American Express Starwood cards to two free nights valid at a category 1 to 5 hotel but that offer pales in the comparison to the old standard offer of 25k points as the points offer much more versatility, even more so now with the option to transfer to Marriott at a 1:3 ratio. In order to get the 25k point signup offer, you need to be referred by someone who is a current cardholder. While you don’t need to use my referral links, I’ve included them below (thanks for your support!).

American Express Starwood Personal Card Link

American Express Starwood Business Card Link

Currently only the personal Marriott personal credit card is subject to 5/24 so you could actually still obtain the business Marriott card which currently has an 80k point offer which is a bit better than this offer. But for those who already have the business version or are unable to apply for one (due to a lack of a business for example), the Starwood card is a great alternative to quickly rack up Marriott points. Of course if you are not subject to 5/24 and you don’t have a business, there is nothing stopping you from picking up a Marriott personal card AND a Starwood personal card so you could double up on the signup bonuses.

As an aside, there has been a lot of digital ink spilled about the merger, the transfer opportunities and new sweet spot redemptions such as now transferring Starpoints to United at a favorable ratio or using Starpoints for the Southwest Companion pass. There have been many great posts on this but my favorite was Frequent Miler’s take who I think did a great summarizing some of the new opportunities that exist – I highly recommend reading his post.

I think highlighting this SPG offer as a way to get around 5/24 on the personal card is pretty noteworthy and while some bloggers mentioned it, I think it got buried with all the other SPG/Marriott news. I have to admit I’m pleasantly surprised by the progress of the merger and how consumer friendly the actions taken thus far are (1:3 ratio, unlimited transfers back & forth between the two programs etc.). I’d imagine this will last until the new rewards program is in place which won’t be till next year and I can only hope the new program combines both the positive elements of the SPG and Marriott programs.

September 22, 2016

Starwood American Express Card Signup Bonus Changed to Two Free Nights Instead of Points

A few weeks ago I posted how there was a strong rumor that the signup bonus on the Starwood American Express cards would be changing and sure enough, the signup bonus has now changed to a brand new and different type of offer. Instead of points, the signup bonus for both the personal and business card is for 2 free nights at any category 1 to 5 SPG hotel. This new offer is valid to 10/19. Here is the direct link to the personal SPG card and a direct link to the business card offer.

This new offer is quite interesting so here are a few things to consider about this new offer as this offer is really worth a maximum of 24k to 32k Starpoints if redeemed at the highest level category allowed, a category 5 hotel.

American Express limits an individual to only one signup bonus per card in their lifetime. As such, it is imperative to only apply for an Amex card when an offer is at its peak. While this offer does not match the best over ever of 35k points, see points #2 & #3.
The SPG-Marriott Merger is scheduled to close this week and it is still unclear on what bank will offer the new Marriott credit card. It is probably a safe bet that Amex will be forced to stop issuing new Starwood Amex cards so it is very possible this could be the last time the bonus is increased before the card goes away for good. In fact, there are already rumors of a Chase Starwood card coming out in February…
There is no doubt that the previous 35k (and the 30k with one specific exception) were stronger offers as per the award chart below a free night at a category 5 hotel would cost between 12k to 16k points. So at best this offer is potentially only better if redeemed for category 5 hotels.

Obviously I don’t know this for sure but I think might be the last time this card has a signup bonus of something other than 25k points. I think to figure out if this offer is better than the standard 25k offer, it comes down to the following:

Are you sure you will redeem two free nights at a category 5 hotel? If not, take the points offer.
If you are sure you would redeem at a cateogry 5 property, will it be during the hotel’s high season where it could cost 16k points a night? If so, take this new offer of free nights.
Do you want flexibility to use points for lower level SPG hotels and/or transfer some points to airline miles? Take the points offer.

In short, I’m disappointed by this offer as in most cases the 25k offer is better and I was really hoping to see a 30k or 35k offer. Interestingly the refer a friend offers only show the old 25k offers for both the personal and business cards. I’m not sure if Amex is still updating those links or if it will be possible to choose between the free nights offer (public link) or points offer (refer a friend links). Additionally this offer is only through 10/19 so you could potentially wait for the public 25k offer to return.

If you would like to support the blog and my efforts as a non-affiliate links blogger, I can refer others for either Starwood card as I am a current cardholder for both the personal and business card versions. I do receive 5,000 Starpoints for referring you but you will receive the 25k offer via email from American Express. If you are interested, here are my referral links.

Personal – Referral Link

Business – Referral Link

Alternatively, you can leave a comment asking for a referral (only I will be able to see your email address) or email me directly at ralph@pointscentric.com and I will promptly refer you for the card. Thank you in advance for your support!

PointsCentric

Points & Miles Travel Consulting

Month: September 2016