November 9, 2014

Point & Center: 10-20% off Virgin America Flights, $50 off Marriott Hotels with Amex Sync & Using Credit Cards to Pay Bills with Evolve Money

I am in the Phoenix this weekend attending the #westcoastDO where about 100 or so points & miles fanatics meet to hear some interesting speakers talk and to share stories, tips and tricks about manufactured spending, travel hacking and trips they have taken. It’s been an awesome weekend but here is a recap of what’s going on in the points & miles world.

1) 10-20% Virgin America Flights – It seems Virgin America is always offering some sort of discount on flights as there is yet another promotion going on right now in which you can take 10-20% off Virgin America flights with promo code DEAL20. This deal isn’t as good as the one a few weeks ago (that one had a much wider travel period) but this deal does include weekend travel so it might work for a quick weekend getaway. Here are the key details:

  • Must book by 11:59 PST TONIGHT (11/9) using promo code DEAL20
  • Travel must be between December 3rd and December 16th
  • You can take 20% off if you travel on Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday
  • You can take 10% off if you travel on the other days of the week (including Friday and Sunday which were excluded last time)

I see roundtrip fares from NY to LA at $242 for this promotion which is fantastic for a non-stop transcon. Play around with the dates to get the lowest price.

VADeal20

2) Take $50 Off Your Next Marriott Stay with Amex Sync – There is an American Express Sync offer that will allow you to take $50 off your next Marriott stay by tweeting #AmexMarriott and then booking a reservation directly with Marriott with your American Express card that is enrolled with Amex Sync. It kinda stinks so many Marriott brands are excluded (see below) but this could work if you are traveling for the upcoming holidays at an eligible Marriott Hotel.

Here is a direct link to the terms and conditions but the big things to know are:

  • Tweet using #AmexMarriott to add this offer to your connected American Express Card
  • Must book directly with Marriott Hotels as reservations must be made online at http://www.marriotthotels.com
  • The total amount charged must be over $200 for the $50 credit to hit. So even if the room rate is under $200, you can still charge any incidentals to your room to get to $200 and make this promotion work for you.
  • You must stay in a Marriott hotel between 11/6/14 and 12/31/14
  • Several Marriott Chains are excluded including The Ritz-Carlton®, EDITION®, AC Hotels by Marriott®, Autograph Collection®, JW Marriott®, Renaissance Hotels®, MOXY(TM) Hotels, Courtyard®, SpringHill Suites by Marriott®, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott®, Protea Hotels(TM), Residence Inn by Marriott®, TownePlace Suites by Marriott®, Marriott Executive Apartments®, Gaylord Hotels® and Marriott Vacation Club®

3) Use Credit Cards to Pay Bills with Evolve Money – I don’t think I’ve blogged about this before but Evolve money is a bill pay service that in the past let you use gift cards or debit cards to make bill payments for student loans, mortgages, utilities and more.  There was even a short time where you could use credit cards to pay those bills without a fee. Unfortunately, Evolve made some changes a while back that stopped allowing credit cards and limiting you to make only one payment per bill in a month.

Well the good news now is Evolve is “evolving” (I’ll be here all week folks) and they are now accepting at the moment, just Discover credit cards to use for bill payments. They also noted that in early 2015 they will be introducing plans to allow users to use Visa or MasterCard credit cards to pay bills. There are no fees for this service from Evolve but I do wonder if the credit card companies will consider this a cash advance instead of a purchase. And if that’s true, there is no point to do this. I don’t have a Discover card to check it out but I am looking forward to testing it once Visa/MasterCards are accepted.

November 5, 2014

How to Save Over 10% on Hyatt Hotels in the US, Canada & the Caribbean!

Hyatt has announced a new promotion in which you can use promo code GPGIFT14 to save 10% on the purchase of physical Hyatt gift cards. The only requirement to use the promotion code is to be a member of Hyatt’s rewards program, Gold Passport, which is free to join (click here to signup if you haven’t already).

Use Promo Code GPGIFT14

Use Promo Code GPGIFT14

Here are the quick and easy ways to maximize this deal:

  • First off, please be aware of which hotels accept Hyatt gift cards for payment. Almost all Hyatt Hotels in the USA, Canada and the Caribbean accept them but certainly not all of them. Please check the full list of participating properties here and only purchase the gift card if you plan on visiting one of these resorts. I will be returning to the Andaz Maui in April next year (which is noted as a participating property) so this promotion helps me save 10% on all my incidental costs (meals, drinks, activities). Do not buy these gift cards for Hyatts located abroad – they won’t work!
  • There is a $6 dollar shipping fee per order and each order is capped at $10,000. I doubt this will be an issue for anyone but try to just make one order to save on multiple $6 shipping fees.
  • Gift cards never expire. I would purchase these gift cards now based on your expected spending on future Hyatt stays in the next year or so to save 10%.In the event your plans change, there is only minimal risk as these gift cards do not expire so you can always use them in the future on a Hyatt stay or dinner at a Hyatt restaurant (see next bullet point)
  • You do not have to be a guest at the hotel to redeem gift cards. I interpret this as a way to eat at a Hyatt restaurant and you should be able to pay with a Hyatt gift card to save 10% on your meal. Anyone down for 10% off dinner at Morimoto Maui at the Andaz Maui or Wall & Water in NYC?

I noted in the title you can save over 10% on this promotion, which is true if you have an American Express Business Card that is affiliated with OPEN savings program. Hyatt is a member of the OPEN savings and if you pay for Hyatt stays with an eligible Amex Business card (Amex Business Platinum, Business Gold and Business Starwood), you can save an extra 5% off!

Now it is listed that only certain brands of Hyatt hotels qualify for this additional 5% off – it excludes the lower end Hyatt House, Hyatt Place and Hyatt Residences but Hyatt has confirmed on Flyertalk that buying physical gifts will trigger the 5% additional discount via the Amex OPEN Program! This is a great workaround to get the Amex OPEN 5% discount at non-participating hotels that don’t work with Amex OPEN. Stacking that 5% discount with the 10% discount leads to a 15% discount on Hyatt hotels in the US, Canada and the Caribbean!

I certainly plan on buying a sizeable balance of Hyatt Gift cards to take almost 15% off my stay at the Andaz Maui next year. I am staying on a Points & Cash reward so my co-pay is $150 a night but with this promotion, is reduced to essentially $127.50 plus I’ll get 10% off every time I eat, drink or buy anything at the Andaz. That’s pretty hard to beat!

 

 

November 2, 2014

A Quick Note About Using Miles & Getting the Right “Value” Out of Them

You might have seen several blogs and some of the frequent flyer forums get all excited earlier this week when SkyTeam was offering ~$1,400 business class fares from the West Coast to Spain for summer travel next year.  Based on the hype about it, you would think this was a can’t miss opportunity and several bloggers advised not to use miles when fares were this “low” because you would be getting poor value from your miles. The crux of their argument came down to the fact Delta charges 125,000 miles roundtrip for business class travel to Europe from the US so the value per miles was a paltry 1.1 cents per mile. Granted, award space is tough to find from the West Coast but it’s not impossible. In fact, earlier this week I booked a family of four business tickets to Vienna through my Award Booking Service.

While purchasing those flights for $1,400 a pop works for some, one of the main reasons people get involved in this game is to save money (in this case thousands of dollars) on their travels. For that family of four, I mentioned above to buy these flights would cost $5,600…that’s quite a significant amount of money! Even for a couple, this still works out to be almost $3,000. I know I don’t have that much free cash to blow on flights and I can’t imagine too many people are eager to pony up $3k-$6k for their family to fly to Europe, especially if there are actively involved in this game and are collecting miles for this very purpose. If you are flushed with miles, I can’t understand the desire to pay thousands for flights unless you are also flushed with excess cash too.

Now don’t get me wrong – that was a phenomenal fare for business class from the West Coast as economy flights can cost that much for primetime summer European travel. Additionally, you would earn a boatload of miles for the flight and if you are on the threshold of elite status, the elite qualifying miles earned could be quite valuable. I get all that but to advise you shouldn’t use miles when fares are this low, is a poor generalized statement.

The main takeaway from this jumbled, somewhat ranty post: Don’t let others dictate to you what is a good award redemption. Use miles in ways that work for you. If it saves you cash and allows you to take a trip you otherwise wouldn’t be able to take, than you’ve made a good redemption, even if you “only” got a penny per mile. End Rant.

October 31, 2014

Point & Center: Save 10,000 Miles on Delta Awards, Annual Fee Waiver on Chase British Airways Visa & Free Wifi at Marriott Hotels!

Lots going on in the points and miles world. Let’s get to it:

1) Save 10,000 Delta SkyMiles on Award Redemptions – In a rare, positive moment for Delta SkyMiles, Delta has announced a special promotion that through November 2nd, you can save 4,000 to 10,000 miles on a roundtrip award with Delta. Here is the chart showing the discounted prices:

DeltaPromo

 

It is important to note that all travel must be between December 3rd, 2014 and February 18th, 2015 and as stated earlier, these flights must be booked by November 2nd. Additionally, the discount only applies to economy travel and obviously not on all awards (such as Europe or Asia) as you can see in the chart above. Lastly, flights to Brazil, Argentina, and Chile require a 7-day minimum stay.

This isn’t the most exciting promotion but if you were looking to book one of these awards (and can find saver space for it…good luck) then I obviously recommending book them before November 2nd. Just remember all travel has to be roundtrip!

2) Chase British Airways Visa Annual Fee Waiver – I saw this on several blogs yesterday but the Chase British Airways Visa is now available with the $95 annual fee waived for the first year. The signup bonus is still the standard 50,000 Avios after spending $2,000 in 3 months which is a good offer.

That said, I’m not as enthusiastic about this new offer as others. Sure its nice the annual fee is waived for the first year but I would much rather prefer a higher signup bonus in the terms of Avios. There used to be a 100,000 Avios offer from Chase annually though one for 2014 doesn’t seem likely now. I would even settle for a bonus of 75,000 Avios if it meant paying the $95 annual fee upfront. I personally plan to skip this offer &  wait and see if the Avios signup bonus increases. As I said on Twitter, I’m still holding out hope for a 100k offer at some point in 2015.

3) Free Wifi at Marriott Hotels & Resorts – Marriott announced today they will provide free internet to Marriott Rewards members who book their stay at a Marriott or Ritz Carlton hotel solely through a Marriott website or reservation center. This is an effort by Marriott to avoid having guests book through the Expedia, Orbitz and Priceline’s of the world and avoid paying them a commission. You must be enrolled as a Marriott Rewards member and have your rewards number attached to the reservation.

From a consumer standpoint, this is an awesome benefit and I will definitely be incentivized to book my stays through Marriott directly. In the event you do see a much cheaper rate on a site like Expedia, you could always file a Best Rate Guarantee with Marriott to get the lower rate + another 25% off. In order to file a Best Rate Guarantee though, you must book the room through Marriott so make sure it is refundable just in case for any reason the claim is not approved. However, this way you will still be entitled to the free internet since you booked through Marriott so this could be a win-win if you get another 25% off the room + free internet.