Showing posts with label Chase. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chase. Show all posts

June 25, 2017

Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards Card Comes Through Again

We're headed to Montreal over the summer and while we had planned to stay at the newly renovated Fairmont, it doesn't look like the hotel will be open in time for our trip.  I had speculatively booked a cash rate at the W which was running around $600 USD for both nights.

I posted a few weeks ago about the drama in securing the sign-up bonus on the Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards card.  We completed the minimum spend and the free nights posted a few days ago.


Fortunately, there was still avialability at the Ritz-Carlton Montreal and I was able to book our free nights.  Look at these cash rates!  That's nearly $1,500 USD for two nights with tax.


While I would never pay anywhere near that for a city hotel, I'm excited to check out the original Ritz-Carlton.  We are making our way through many of the great Ritz properties this year with stays in Georgetown, Kyoto, Hong Kong, and now Montreal.

The $450 annual fee for this card is steep but when you factor in the two $300 credits, 10,000 Marriott Rewards points, two free nights, and the ability to leverage the Visa Discount Air program to save on airfare, the card is a no brainer.

Save 10% on British Airways Flights

I've had the British Airways Chase credit card off and on for a few years.  The card proved to be valuable last year when I finally redeemed a Travel Together Ticket for a 2-for-1 ticket in first class to  Dubai.

Another benefit of the card is 10% discount on British Airways flights.  While not earth shattering, you only have to book one flight a year to make the $95 annual fee worth it.


I was working on flights to London for a couple family members and BA ended up being the best flight option.  I was able to use the 10% discount which ended up being better (in this case) than the AARP discount.

Booking with the discount was a breeze.  Here's the landing page to get started.  Note that the purchase must be put on the BA card.  The 10% discount was automatically added to my cart by clicking through from this page.  Good news is that you'll receive 3x Avios points for paying with the Chase BA card - a nice rebate on top of the 10% and the miles earned from the flight.

Here's a hypothetical booking showing an upcoming first class flight with the 10%


My strategy has been to acquire this card, earn the bonus, and then cancel.  It's not subject to Chase's 5/24 rule meaning you can get the card every 24 months.  With the year hold period after sign-up, that effectively means you can get the card (and the bonus) every 3 years.  I set things up such that Emily and I are 18 months off cycle so one of us should always have the card active.  You never know when you need 10% off a BA flight!

June 17, 2017

Earn 5x at Restaurants in Q3

I've written about the Chase Freedom card a number of times.  Chase Freedom is one of the best "fee free" cards on the market.  While the card is marketed as a cash back card, if you have another Ultimate Rewards earning card (such as an Ink business card or a Chase Sapphire Preferred/Reserve card) you can transfer the cash back points earned to your Ultimate Rewards earning card.  You can then use those points to transfer to a variety of travel partners (British Airways, United Airlines, Hyatt, etc..) which provide far more value then simply redeeming for cash back.


Chase Freedom provides a quarterly bonus where you can earn 5x cash back (and ultimately 5x Ultimate Rewards) on up to $1,500 in spend per quarter.  

Registration/activation is open for Q3 which offers 5x at restaurants and movie theaters.  Chase offered this bonus last year and we were able to hit the entire $1,500 on my card earning 7,500 Ultimate Rewards points.  I may or may not have purchased a large Starbucks gift card to end up exactly at $1,500 at the end of the quarter.

June 3, 2017

Why You Should Keep Great Records of CC Signup Bonuses

The previous Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards card signup bonus was incredible.  While the bonus has been cut from 3 free nights to 2 free nights, I still think there's a ton of value the card.  Yes, the annual fee is high at $450.  But you're getting $300/calendar year in airline incidental cards (which I value close to cash) as well as 10,000 Marriott Rewards points and the 2 free nights.

We have an upcoming trip to Montreal and I was hoping to stay at the newly remodeled Fairmont.  Unfortunately, it's opening a few weeks after our trip so needed to look elsewhere.   I currently have a paid reservation at the W but figured free would be better.

Emily had the Ritz-Carlton card three years ago.  My records of when we signup for cards, receive bonuses, and cancel are pretty solid.  You can receive the new cardmember bonus on Chase cards every 24 months.

Since this is a non 5/24 card, I figured it would be an easy approval.  And it was.  Until a week after she received the card, Chase sent a letter saying she was ineligible for the new cardmember bonus given that she's received a previous bonus in the past 24 months.

We secure messaged Chase from her account basically stating that the records seemed to be off and provided the date (from our records) of her previous signup bonus.  They they said they would look into it.  A week later, they wrote back to say the new cardmember bonus would be applied to the card.  Now all we need to do is complete the spend, receive the free nights, and book the Ritz in Montreal!

I'll report back once the free nights are in her account.  I suspect we won't have any issues but we'll see.  Yet another reason why keeping great records of credit card signup bonuses can pay off.

April 1, 2017

A Week in Japan: Introduction

Introduction
Planning & Booking
United Polaris Business Class 787-8 San Francisco to Osaka (KIX)
Intercontinental Osaka
The Ritz-Carlton Kyoto
Park Hyatt Tokyo
Cathay Pacific First Class 777-300ER Tokyo (HND) to Hong Kong
Conrad Hong Kong
The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong
Singapore Airlines First Class 777-300ER Hong Kong to San Francisco
Hyatt Regency SFO

I'm still working on a couple of segments from our latest trip to Al Maha in November of last year.   I plan to finish those trip reports in April but given that our next trip is coming up next month, I wanted to get the introductory post on the blog.

We were in Tokyo last August and loved it.  We decided to go back on the flight home and started thinking about when and where.  We wanted to spend some additional time in Tokyo along with a visit to Kyoto.  We were able to snag flights on United's direct service from San Francisco to Osaka (closest international airport to Kyoto) and began planning from there.

I do want to give United's Polaris soft (hard product won't be installed on these planes for years) product so leaning towards keeping the direct flight.  For another 40,000 miles a piece we could fly Asiana first class through Seoul which would be more comfortable and more fun but take longer.

16,000+ miles of flying

United Club Updates

I've been a United Club (and before that, the Red Carpet Club) member off and on for the past 10 years.  I remember purchasing my first RCC membership at the discounted price given my United 1K status.  I felt so cool checking in to clubs across the country with my shiny red card.


Over the years the quality of the clubs have definitely declined.  Everything from furniture to service to complimentary drinks and food.  But United is starting to reinvest in the product again and they are making upgrades to the clubs.  I rejoined last year and have been pleasantly surprised with the experience.


United sent me an email this week with an update on club renovations as well as new clubs.  I'll be in San Francisco in May and look forward to checking out the new club(s)...potentially the new Polaris lounge will be open by then.  I've only been to one United club worth reviewing since I started the blog and that was the arrivals lounge at LHR.  I'm glad to see continued investment from United in the club experience and hope to get to review a couple additional lounges in 2017.

March 4, 2017

Chase Offering 10x on Hotels and Rental Car Spend in March

Chase is offering 10x points on up to $2,500 in rental car or hotel spend booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards.  This offer is available on the Freedom and Freedom Unlimited cards although it sounds like the offer is also available on the Ink Business Cash card.

This has the potential to be very lucrative.  If you have one of the Chase premium Ultimate Rewards cards (Sapphire, Reserve, Ink Preferred) these points are just not good for cash back but available to be transferred to Chase's travel partners such as United, Singapore Airlines, Hyatt, and more.


While the spend has to occur in March, travel can occur anytime.  This means that you could book a hotel stay for $2,500 and earn 25,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points which could be used to transfer to Hyatt to book a night at the Park Hyatt Maldives.

I value Chase Ultimate Rewards around ~2.0 cents so for me, this is 20% back on spend.  I don't have any rental car needs but do need a hotel room later in the year and will take advantage of this to earn a couple thousands bonus points.

January 15, 2017

Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards Card Cuts Bonus to Two Nights

Over the last few months, I've written several posts describing the value of the Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards card.  Start with my full review, then read on about the $300 annual travel credit, then read about the $100 off airfare benefit which has already saved me hundreds of dollars.

You can also read View From the Wing's thoughts on my review of the overall value of the card.

Unfortunately, Chase just cut the three night sign-up bonus down to two nights.  That's a big reduction (1/3) so like going from a 60,000 point bonus to 40,000 points.

Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong where we'll be staying in May
I don't think this fundamentally changes the value prop of the card though.  The benefits (forgetting the sign-up bonus for a second) are still worth more than the $450 annual fee.  You're earning:

  • 10,000 Marriott Rewards points
  • $300 travel credit (2x for one annual fee)
  • $100 off roundtrip domestic coach airfare for 2-5 people (unlimited uses)
  • $100 Global Entry/TSA Precheck reimbursement
On top of it, the two free nights.  So if you haven't signed up already, don't panic.  This card is still on Emily's list for 2017 and we'll likely pick it up towards the end of the year so we can use our free nights somewhere in 2018.

January 8, 2017

Earn 5x on Gas and Uber

I've written about the Chase Freedom card a number of times including post about the 5x category (restaurants) last quarter.  Freedom is one of the best "fee free" cards on the market.  While the card is marketed as a cash back card, if you have another Ultimate Rewards earning card (such as an Ink business card or a Chase Sapphire Preferred/Reserve card) you can transfer the cash back points earned to your Ultimate Rewards earning card.  You can then use those points to transfer to a variety of travel partners (British Airways, United Airlines, Hyatt, etc..) which provide far more value then simply redeeming for cash back.



Chase Freedom provides a quarterly bonus where you can earn 5x cash back (and ultimately 5x Ultimate Rewards) on up to $1,500 in spend per quarter.  During Q4 the bonus categories included department stores, warehouse clubs, and drug stores.  While we didn't max out, we certainly picked up some extra UR points for holiday shopping we would have done anyway.   

Registration/activation is open for Q1 which offers 5x at gas stations and local commuter transportation.  We don't spend a ton of money on gas but should be able to get a ton of value out of these categories given our Uber/Lyft/Car2Go spend.  Not sure we'll max the $1500 on either card but this should still generate some extra UR points this quarter.

Chase Sapphire Reserve Bonus Ending

As has been widely reported, the Chase Sapphire Reserve 100,000 point sign-up bonus is ending this week (1/12).  The bonus will drop to 50,000 bonus points and apparently will still be available in Chase branches through March.

I've had the card in my wallet since September and plan on keeping it in perpetuity.  This is the strongest (overall) points earning card on the market and is stocked with benefits that make the $450 annual fee pretty easy to overcome for nearly all situations.

Use your Chase Ultimate Rewards for free nights at the Park Hyatt Maldives
The $300 annual travel credit effectively lowers the annual fee to $150.  If you spend $1,000 on travel and dining per month, you'll earn an extra 12,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per year over the Chase Sapphire Preferred (2x) card.  That is worth nearly $240 in my book and far more than the difference in annual the leftover ($150 for Reserve vs. $95 for Preferred) annual fee.

If you're been considering a new credit card or had your eye on the Chase Sapphire Reserve, now is the time to apply!

December 26, 2016

Tallying Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards Card Benefits

I've written several posts about Chase's new Ritz-Carlton Rewards card.  For those just catching up, you can read earlier posts:

I've reaped so much value from the card, I figured I'd add it all up.  I should note that the card carries a $450 annual fee which isn't waived for the first year.  So before you apply, know that you're in for $450.

I've had the card for a few months and had a chance to use many of the advertised benefits.  While I am still loving my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, the Ritz-Carlton Rewards card actually offers more value (at least for me) in terms of non spending bonuses/benefits. 

Here's a recap of what I've received in exchange for my hard earned $450:
  • 3 complimentary nights at the Ritz-Carlton Georgetown (~$1600 value)
  • $200 in airfare discounts
  • $300 in airline incidentals (first class upgrades)
  • 10,000 Marriott Rewards points (valued at ~$100)
  • Additional $300 in airline incidentals coming next week (2017)
That is $2,500 in "value" from carrying the card for just a few months.  While this is the cash value, these aren't the prices I would personally pay.  So let's go through that exercise:
  • I wouldn't pay $500+ a night for the Ritz-Carlton in Georgetown but I would pay $250/night so let's knock that down to $750.  
  • The airfare discounts are real money.  
  • While upgrading to first class is a luxury, I would pay $50/segment/person for the privilege.  So we'll knock that down from $600 to $200.
  • The Marriott Rewards point value is real
Add it all up and you're looking $1,250 in exchange for a $450 annual fee.  Not bad at all.  I plan on booking 2-3 additional roundtrips for 2+ people in 2017 - that should result in $200-$300 in additional savings against the annual fee.  This card may just be a keeper!

December 10, 2016

Ritz-Carlton Rewards $300 Annual Airline Credit

While I love my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, I'm quickly falling for the Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards card as well.  If you're just joining us:

Read my complete review of the Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards card and my review of the $100 off airfare benefit.

Like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Amex Platinum, Citi Prestige, and Amex Gold, the Ritz-Carlton card comes with a $300 annual airline credit.  By getting the card before the end of the year, you can actually receive the credit twice for one annual fee.  Once in 2016 and once in 2017.

My $450 annual fee has hit and I'm trying to get as much out of that fee as possible.  While some of the other cards offer more flexible credits, this one is a bit more restrictive.  You have to actually call/write into Chase to have a purchase credited (other credits are automatically reimbursed).  This means that purchasing gift cards is a challenge.  You can find the complete terms on Chase's website but my primary use is going to be for checked bag fees (dropping to zero airline status next year) and seat upgrades to economy plus and first class.

$100 Off Airfare With the Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards Card

Last week, I shared my review of the Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards card.  One of the great benefits of the $450 annual fee card is the ability to receive $100 off airfare when you book through the Visa Infinite portal.  The ticket must be a round-trip in domestic coach and is available for 2-5 tickets.  There's no limit on the number of times you can leverage this benefit and I plan to get A LOT out of this perk.

Booking through the portal was surprisingly easy and prices matched United's website exactly.  There's even a place to enter your frequent flyer details and Global Entry/PreCheck number.  Once I completed the booking, the reservation showed up in my United account immediately.  Here's how to take advantage of this benefit:

First, go to the Visa Discount Air Benefit portal.

Login with your name and Ritz-Carlton Rewards card number.  One thing to note is that in order to receive the benefit, the ticket must be charged to the card.  Obviously a small price to pay to receive $50 off each ticket.


Second, search for flights.  This is a pretty standard airline search engine and I'm confident all of you will be able to figure it out.  Going through the process the first time, I was in disbelief that this would actually work.  It seems too easy and too good to be true.


Third, select flights and add personal information for each ticket.


 Here's the exact same flight itinerary pricing on United.com for the same price.


Book.  It was that easy and took less than 10 minutes included price checking on United.


This is an incredible benefit and since we will likely book 5-6 domestic coach roundtrip flight in 2017 we should be able to save $500 - $600.  I wasn't expecting the card to be a keeper, but combined with the $300 airline travel credit, the $450 annual fee is easily offset.  Will have more details on my experience redeeming the $300 travel credit in another post.

December 4, 2016

Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards Card Review

Chase has had a Ritz-Carlton credit card product for years.  This year, they changed up the signup bonus from two free nights (and sometimes targeted 140,000 points) to there free nights after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months.


The card comes with a $450 annual fee and a $300 calendar year airline incidental credit.  So now is a great time to get the card since you can effectively get the rebate twice (in 2016 and 2017).  This will essentially offset the annual fee plus some.

September 24, 2016

Earn 5x at Department Stores with Chase Freedom

I've written about the Chase Freedom card a number of times including post about the 5x category (restaurants) last quarter.  Freedom is one of the best "fee free" cards on the market.  While the card is marketed as a cash back card, if you have another Ultimate Rewards earning card (such as an Ink business card or a Chase Sapphire Preferred card) you can transfer the cash back points earned to your Ultimate Rewards earning card.  You can then use those points to transfer to a variety of travel partners (British Airways, United Airlines, Hyatt, etc..) which provide far more value then simply redeeming for cash back.


Chase Freedom provides a quarterly bonus where you can earn 5x cash back (and ultimately 5x Ultimate Rewards) on up to $1,500 in spend per quarter.  During Q3 the bonus categories included restaurants and warehouse clubs (i.e. Costco).  While the quarter isn't over, I've already maxed my 5x bonus and Emily is getting pretty close.  

Registration/activation is open for Q4 which offers 5x at department stores, warehouse clubs, and drug stores.  While I was hoping for a 5x (or a 10x) bonus at Amazon, these categories are pretty solid for holiday shopping.  Between warehouse clubs, department stores, and gift cards from drug stores, we should easily be able to do some of our holiday shopping at 5x.  

When Do Chase Sapphire Reserve Travel Credits Post?

The Chase Sapphire Reserve $300 annual travel credit is one of the most lucrative benefits the card offers.  But how fast do credits post?

First, the credit triggers automatically which is awesome.  Second, it triggers on everything from airfare to hotel spend to carshare to Uber.  And third, it seems to hit within a business day.

I've already received my $300 credit for 2016 after spend with Car2Go, Uber, and a prepaid hotel stay.  That's before my $450 annual fee hits which I'm assuming will be billed upon the closing of my first statement.

I'm looking forward to another $300 travel credit in January!!

Why the Chase Sapphire Reserve is the Most Lucrative Credit Card in History

It's been a few weeks since the Chase Sapphire Reserve debuted to an online frenzy unseen in the travel hacking world.  There were articles in mainstream publications from Bloomberg and the New York Times.


Chase ran out of the sleek (and heavy) metal cards everyone is so wild about and had to start issuing plastic cards until they can get some more metal.  Travel bloggers (other bloggers...ones without other full time jobs) dedicated entire weeks to just posting about the CSR...why you should get it, how you can get around the 5/24 rules, what you should do with the 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points, etc...

Why is everyone going so nuts? 

Because this is seriously the most lucrative card people have ever seen.  The 100,000 point sign-up bonus alone is worth a minimum of $1,500 in free travel.  Used wisely, you can get a lot more value out of it than that.  But the annual fee is $450?  Is it really?  Let's break it down:

  • 100,000 point sign-up bonus and a $450 annual fee
  • $300 annual travel credit is essentially as good as cash
  • Priority pass with complimentary guests
  • Global Entry $100 credit (once every four years)
  • 3x Ultimate Rewards earnings on travel and dining
If you value the travel credit as cash then the annual fee is down to $150 a year.  Assuming you value Global Entry and TSA preCheck, then you've got another $20 a year (renewals on Global Entry every 5 years) off the annual fee.  Now you're at $130.  If you use the Priority Pass benefits just once per year for you and a spouse/friend, you're down ($27 each) to $76.  That's cheaper than the Sapphire Preferred Card ($95) and you're earning 3x on travel and dining vs. 2x.  That is an INSANE deal.


To close it out, I think the buzz is justified.  This isn't a product just for credit card junkies but really for the mass of people that eat out, like to travel, and our savvy enough to take control of their financial life.  I think that is a large segment of the market and many of them are young.

No way Chase keeps the benefits as they stand today forever.  But for now, everyone that has enjoyed the Sapphire Preferred benefits should go out and get this card with the monster signup bonus and attached benefits.  Even if you don't value the benefits beyond the travel credit, the extra 50% bonus on travel and dining should be enough for most everyone to get more value out of this card than the CSP.  If you spend $500 a month on travel and dining, that's an extra $6,000 in spend per year and an extra 6,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards.  They're worth a minimum of 1.5 cents in travel so that's $90 in incremental value over the CST.

Kudos to Chase for one-upping Amex and Citi (and everyone else) with an outstanding new product.  Even with a $450 annual fee, I plan on keeping my Reserve card going forward.  

September 5, 2016

Updates on the Chase Sapphire Reserve

The Chase Sapphire Reserve launched a couple weeks ago after several months of frenzied speculation.  There's been so much written about the card (which launched during our trip) and it's been hard to keep track of all of the developments.


I'm catching up this weekend and here's the high level overview:

  • $450 annual fee
  • $300 travel credit per calendar year
  • 3x Ultimate Rewards points earned on travel and dining
  • Same point transfer partners as Chase Sapphire and Ink
  • Priority pass with guest privaleges
  • $100 PreCheck/Global Entry credit
  • No Foreign Transaction Fees
The card's been in such high demand, that Chase ran out of metal cards.  We also found out that JP Morgan is offering the JP Morgan Reserve card which seems to be an identical card offering specifically for JP Morgan Private Bank (and potentially others) customers.  


Some have even been successful in getting approved for both products.

July 31, 2016

Free United Club Membership

I've been an United Club (fka The Red Carpet Club) member off and on for years.  When I was traveling each week for work, it made sense to purchase a membership outright.  I spent time in an airport almost daily and having a quiet place to work, recharge batteries, and get something eat made a ton of sense.


Today, I'm either traveling on an award ticket in a premium cabin (which is likely going to provide some sort of lounge access) or using one of the five credit cards I have that provide some sort of lounge access.  So purchasing an United Club membership makes little sense.
 The United MileagePlus Club Card typically has a $450 annual fee and provides Club access as well as 1.5x United miles on all spend. which can be very lucrative for non-bonused spending  I've had the card before when the annual fee was reduced for Premier 1K members.


I received an offer a few weeks ago (expires today and definitely targeted) for the card with the annual fee waived for the first year.  I won't be taking advantage for the reasons outlined above but all of you should check your email for this offer.

It could be that Chase is preparing to launch another premium card (as rumored) and they're pushing for signups prior to that rumored launch in August.  If you have a family, travel for business, or live in a United hub city (like Denver) this would be a great pickup with no annual fee.

June 19, 2016

Earn 5x at Restaurants with Chase Freedom

I've written about the Chase Freedom card a number of times but you can read the most recent posts here and here.  Freedom is one of the best "fee free" cards on the market.  While the card is marketed as a cash back card, if you have another Ultimate Rewards earning card (such as an Ink business card or a Chase Sapphire Preferred card) you can transfer the cash back points earned to your Ultimate Rewards earning card.  You can then use those points to transfer to a variety of travel partners (British Airways, United Airlines, Hyatt, etc..) which provide far more value then simply redeeming for cash back.


Chase Freedom provides a quarterly bonus where you can earn 5x cash back (and ultimately 5x Ultimate Rewards) on up to $1,500 in spend per quarter.  During Q2, the bonus categories were warehouse clubs (i.e. Costco) and grocery stores.  While the quarter isn't over, it's looking like we'll max at least one of our Freedom cards to earn the full 7,500 Ultimate Rewards points.


Registration/activation is open for Q3 which offers 5x at restaurants.  We had the same category in Q2 of 2015 and had no trouble maxing one of our cards during the quarter.  Chase has also kept warehouse clubs on for Q3 likely due to the Costco migration away from American Express.


Chase has announced that the Q4 category will be "holiday shopping" which likely means Amazon.  Last year, Chase offered 10x at Amazon instead of the normal 5x throughout the holidays.  I'm hoping they do the same this year as that is a phenomenal opportunity to earn 10x while shopping for holiday gifts!