A Successful (Saks) Triple Dip

Perry's brought a lot of joy to our lives but she's also destroyed a few things.  The one time we let her on the bed (to play) she clawed a giant hole in our sheet.  Note to self - never do that again.  So we needed new sheets.

Last week, Saks Fifth Avenue sent me a promo code in the mail for $100 off $500 in spend.  Amex added an Amex Offer that provided 6,000 Membership Rewards Points ($120 value to me) for $400 in spend.  United temporarily increased their shopping portal payout at Saks to 15x.

Call it a perfect storm.

I wouldn't ordinarily purchase sheets from Saks but this was too good of a deal to pass up.  We were able to find sheets, pillow cases, and a few towels we've been needing to purchase anyway for a total of $536 with tax and shipping.  Going through the United portal and leveraging my promo code and Amex offer, I received:

• 6,436 American Express MR points
• 6,300 United Miles

I value both currencies at around 2 cents and I would actually buy them at that rate if I had an award in mind.  After the coupon, I paid $436 and received $254 in point value back.  That's $182 for some really nice sheets that we had to purchase regardless.

Everyone will value their points differently but for the time it took to execute this trip dip (less than 15 minutes) I'm quite pleased.

SPG Amex Bonus Match - 5,000 SPG Points!

I recently applied for the business version of the Starwood American Express card.  The offer I received was for 25,000 total SPG points after $5,000 in spend in 6 months.

Starwood and Amex recently increased (they did this the last couple of years as well) the bonus offer to 30,000 total SPG points after $5,000 in spend in 3 months.  I'm nearly at the $5,000 spend threshold so called Amex to see what they could do for me.  I've read reports online that they've been very liberal in matching the old bonus offer to the new one.

The hold time for Amex was unbelievably long - almost 8 minutes.  But once I connected with an agent, the process of getting the bonus matched took <3 minutes.  The agent promised that 5,000 SPG points would be credited to my account within a couple of days.  So it was less of a "offer match" and more of a courtesy.

Seems like the right thing for them to do and totally worth 10 minutes of my time. 

5 Steps to a (Nearly) Free Trip: Craft a Strategy

Each time I return from a trip, I get a dozen questions from friends, colleagues, neighbors, etc... about how I was able to put the trip together with points and miles.  While I always write about the planning process for each individual trip, (recent trips to Europe & Asia) I've yet to write a more comprehensive series about how to easily "pay" for a trip with points and miles.  So here it goes.

Step One:    Have a Goal
Step Two:    Craft a Strategy
Step Three:  Point Accumulation
Step Four:    Search for Award Availability
Step Five:    Book Flights & Hotels

First, let's recap the goal we covered in step one.

"You want to fly to Europe next summer in business class.  You're flexible on the timing and the destination.  You want to stay in decent hotels for a week.  You currently have a great credit score, payoff your balance each month, and spend about $3,000 per month as a couple.  And you want to minimize your cash outlay for the trip."

The easiest/fastest way to accumulate points and miles for a dream trip is through credit card sign-up bonuses.  You can also pad your balances without getting on a plane by shopping online and dining out.  I also recommend you sign-up for an AwardWallet account to keep track of your hard earned points and miles.  But signing up for a handful of credit cards will be the fastest way to get your trip booked.  

Park Hyatt Vendome

5 Steps to a (Nearly) Free Trip: Have a Goal

Each time I return from a trip, I get a dozen questions from friends, colleagues, neighbors, etc... about how I was able to put the trip together with points and miles.  While I always write about the planning process for each individual trip, (recent trips to Europe & Asia) I've yet to write a more comprehensive series about how to easily "pay" for a trip with points and miles.  So here it goes.

Step One:    Have a Goal
Step Two:    Craft a Strategy
Step Three:  Point Accumulation
Step Four:    Search for Award Availability
Step Five:    Book Flights & Hotels

If you don't know where you're going, it's much harder to get there.  So think about your travel goals and personal situation.  Do you want to go to Europe in first class or do you want to visit family in Florida in economy?  Do you have a family and require a suite?  Are you a luxury traveler or are you good with more economical accommodations?

Burj Al Arab Dubai - is this your traveling style?

Knowing a bit about your travel habits will be incredibly helpful here.

For example, I know that we prefer to sit upfront whenever possible (makes the trip more fun and given this hobby is accessible) and stay in luxury+ hotels.  We are fine going on a shorter trip knowing that if we like a destination, we go go back.

It's also helpful to have a timeframe in mind and be flexible with dates.  That's not always possible due to demanding work schedules, school, family commitments, etc...But it's always easier to book an award when your attitude is more "I'd like to go to Mexico in the Spring" vs. "I need to stay at this resort on these dates."

For purposes of this series, let's assume that it's just you and your spouse.  The good news is you know your goal.  You want to fly to Europe next summer in business class.  You're flexible on the timing and the destination.  You want to stay in decent hotels for a week.  You currently have a great credit score, payoff your balance each month, and spend about $3,000 per month as a couple.  And you want to minimize your cash outlay for the trip.  The bad news is that you currently have 0 points and miles.

Not to worry - over the next four posts, I'll walk you through the process of making that trip to Europe (or whatever your goal is) a reality.  It really is pretty simple.  For me (and my family) it's been an extremely rewarding hobby/use of time.

Earning Starpoints with Uber

I've been meaning to write a post about Starwood's partnership with Uber but just haven't gotten around to it.  If you're not familiar with the details, you can check them out here.  The partnership enables SPG members to earn 1 Starpoint per dollar spent with Uber.  Double that if you ride during a Starwood stay.  Triple it if you are staying with Starwood and are an elite member (I am).  You'll see your Uber bonus points post on your SPG account within 1-2 days.

Remember - to earn the SPG points, you'll need to have at least one SPG stay.  This is an awesome way to earn extra Starwood points which are both extremely valuable and difficult to obtain.

Paying Federal Taxes With a Credit Card

Earlier in the year, I posted about paying local property taxes (here in Denver) with a credit card.  But what about federal taxes where most of us owe the bulk of our tax bill?  While most people likely shy away from paying their taxes with a credit  card, it can make sense in a bunch of situations.  I've been paying my estimated taxes with a credit card for the past few years and after doing the math, I feel like I've come out ahead each year.

There are several options to pay your taxes (personal or business, estimated, etc...) with a credit card.  The cheapest "convenience fee" you'll find on any of the federal tax sites is 1.87% at payUSAtax.  There are really three situations where paying this fee makes sense.  Keep in mind in both situations that having the cash to pay off the credit card bill is paramount - if you're paying interest and fees on top of the 1.87%, you are not going to come out ahead.

Pay federal taxes at payUSAtax for 1.87%

Back to Basics: What's the Point?

I've been writing this blog for about 15 months (slacking lately but promise to pick it up) and I often get questions from friends and colleagues regarding "the best credit card" and "how does this whole thing work?"

I wrote a handful of introductory posts last year (getting started page) but figured I'd reprise the series a bit in the hopes that I can answer some of your questions (Doug - read this).

The whole concept of "travel hacking" is relatively new to me.  Maybe three years.  I've always been interested in travel, aviation, and loyalty programs.  But it takes a bit of research, experience, and trial and error to really put it all together.

At this point in my life, I want to see new places and experience new things.  And I don't really want to stay in a Holiday Inn Express.  I don't really want to sit in the back of the plane (but I will) and I've found that my travels/vacations are WAY better if I a) enjoy the journey and b) arrive rested and ready to go.  And I've found that by being strategic in managing my credit card spend, applying for new credit cards, learning the airline and hotel loyalty program award chart and redemption options that I can do exactly what I want.

I could put all of my spending on one 2% cash back credit card.  They are readily available.  But there's no "leverage" in that.  Even if I put $3,000 in spend on a card per month...that's only $720 in cash back PER YEAR.  That's really only going to pay for a couple of domestic flights.

So I take advantage of the sign-up bonuses that the card issues are offering.  Emily does the same thing.  We buy stuff online (that we need) through shopping portals.  We both use the "right" cards for the "right" purchases based on the bonus categories those cards offer (i.e. 2x points for travel and dining on Chase Sapphire Preferred).  Doing this, we easily rack up one million points and miles per year.

Now we could leverage those points and miles for domestic coach travel.  And that would totally be cool.  But we're still young and have (generally speaking) very little obligation and we want to see the rest of the world.  And let's be honest, sitting in the back of a metal tube next to a stranger for 15 hours isn't anyone's idea of fun.

This is much more fun:

Singapore Airlines A380 Suites "Double Bed"

With a little organization and knowledge (which hopefully you can gain from this blog) we're able to turn those points and miles into premium cabin flights and stay in hotels that we would never pay for with cash.  So I'll gladly give up 2% cash back on my everyday spend so that I can experience new places and things with my wife (and my brother this summer).  135,000 miles would get me 5+ domestic coach roundtrips on United or American.  That is a lot.  Or I could fly Cathay Pacific First Class roundtrip between the US and Asia.  Since it's not that hard to earn 135,000 miles, I prefer to see the other side of the world.  No judgement to anyone that just wants to leverage their points and miles to go home, see family, or some new part of our beautiful country.  If I can help you do that...awesome.

Before I got into this hobby, we traveled a fair amount but it was to New York, Vegas, LA, Phoenix, Mexico, etc... In the last three years, we've been to 14 countries on 3 Continents.  This year we'll go to at least 5 although several our repeats...we're going back to our favorite places to see more of them.  We're creating memories that will last forever.

The point is that you can do this (whatever "this" is) as well.  Part of figuring out how to make things work for you is to figure out what your goal is.  I'm going to dedicate an entire post to this but that's really the first step.  Do you want to see another part of the world in a premium cabin or do you want to fly home to see your childhood friends?  Do you want to stay a week in a super nice resort or do you want to stay a month in a perfectly acceptable but not luxurious hotel?

Here's to a great year of travel - whatever that means for you.

Award Ticket Change Fees

Since I'm no longer a United 1K and just a lowly Premier Silver member (and have zero status with other carriers) award ticket change fees are a key part of my travel budget.  On United, they range from $25 to $200.  As a top tier elite you're generally entitled to make unlimited changes (routing, dates, carriers, cancellation, etc...) to award tickets.  That means you can book trips speculatively, add a segment later all for free.

I'm totally comfortable not chasing status for those benefits at this point.  I have more than enough miles in my accounts thanks to a few years of credit card churning.  

For the most part, I can put together a weeklong trip to Asia for less than $1,000 USD out of pocket.  That includes all the flights and hotels.  If you were paying cash, flying coach, and staying in average hotels, you'd probably be looking at a minimum cash outlay of $4,000 USD since flights go for about $1,500 each and a hotel (with taxes) costs $150 - $200 depending on where you are in the world.

Change fees are part of the game.  If I end up spending $300 to make a handful of changes to either improve our connections, class of service, carrier or routing, I consider that part of our travel budget.

For our most recent trip, we made several changes that ended up costing $350.  Those changes also saved us a night in a hotel so in that sense, we came out ahead.  Even with the change fees and increased taxes on one of the segments, the total cost for all the flights and hotels was around $750.

Yes it costs some money to earn miles and points (annual fees mostly) but if you're smart about earning and burning, leveraging change fees can be another tool to improve your traveling.

Another Year, Another Successful Platinum Card Airline Credit

The American Express Platinum Card (all three versions) is one of the most generous cards on the market when it comes to benefits.  Read my full review for a recap.  That said, the card is not great for everyday spend unless you're driving towards the sign-up bonus.

That's because the card ONLY offers 1x Membership Rewards points.  There are not bonus categories, not spend thresholds to encourage more spend.  So while you may look cool at dinner with your Platinum card, you'd be WAY better off paying with your Chase Sapphire Preferred card earning 2x points on dining and 3x if it's the first Friday of the month.

We keep a Platinum card in our house ($450 annual fee) because of these three primary benefits:

1)  $200 annual airline incidental credit - this reduces the annual fee by nearly 50%

2)  Centurion lounge access - we have trips to New York, San Francisco, and Las Vegas nearly every year - that is 3 lounge visits for 2 people.  Easily worth $50 a visit in my book.  That's $150 a year.

3)  Access to American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR) rates - these can be super lucrative in terms of the benefits ($100 property credit, breakfast, late checkout, upgrades, free wifi) when you don't have status or stay at a non-chain hotel

In terms of the incidental credit, we select United each year and purchase four $50 e-gift cards.  We've never had any issue getting the credits reimbursed within a couple of days.  Our credits just posted for 2015 purchases (although the fourth transaction didn't go through for some reason).

This definitely softens the blow of the annual fee.  We're going to fly and we're going to fly United so the gift cards are basically a cash discount on the annual fee.  The process of purchasing the gift cards takes all of 10 minutes a year.  If you don't leverage any of the other benefits, it's probably not worth keeping the card.  But for the lounges, FHR access, and $200 annual credit, it's not that hard to get your money's worth.

Paying Property Taxes With a Credit Card

Owning a home is cool.  Paying property tax is not.

Denver (and the state of Colorado) are making it a lot easier for residents to pay for city services and taxes with credit cards.  Last year, the city eliminated convenience fees (typically around 2.5% - 3.0%) on property taxes so using a credit card to make the payment is a no-brainer.  If your taxes are like mine, that's a cash savings of nearly $100 not to mention the "value" of the points earned by paying with a card vs. a check.

Doing so is a great cash flow management tool (make the payment on the due date, don't actually have to pay it for another month) and earn points while doing so!

Thanks to our great city for making it easier to earn miles and points to subsidize future travel!

2015 Credit Card Strategy

Earlier I posted about my 2015 Elite Status strategy.  As I mentioned in the post, part of my elite status strategy is to continue to hold certain credit cards that provide elite status benefits.  Here's an overview of my 2015 credit card strategy:

Pickup an Amazon Kindle for $29

I usually bring two "real" books for each longhaul trip.  Sometimes I'll throw in a travel book which makes three.  I'll typically ONLY finish one of the books but I like having more than one option.  That said, bringing multiple books eats up a lot of space in my carryon and adds some unnecessary weight.  So replacing "real" books with an e-reader makes a ton of sense.

I've looked at getting an Amazon Kindle a few times but for whatever reason never pulled the trigger.  Today, Staples is selling Kindles for $59 with a $30 Visa Gift Card.  That drops the effective price to $29.  That was good enough for me...so I bought one this morning.  I went through the Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal (2x points) and used my Chase Ink card (5x points at office supply stores) to earn an additional 420 Ultimate Rewards points.  I value those points at about $8 so the Kindle was really about $20.  What a deal.

A great last minute holiday gift for friends, family, or yourself.

Hang Up, Call Back

It's amazing how many airline phone agents lack basic understanding of their airline's policies.  On our upcoming trip to Hong Kong and Taipei, we were booked on United's 6AM departure from Denver to San Francisco.  That segment was in coach and we had a give hour layover before our long haul flight to Hong Kong.  Certainly less than ideal given that we'd have to wake up at about 3:30 AM the day after Christmas to get to the airport.  So I've been gardening.

I found availability in first class on Christmas night - departing Denver around 7PM and getting into SFO at 8:30.  We've always wanted to fly on Christmas and have found that waking up and having a somewhat normal routine prior to a long haul flight helps us adjust upon arrival.

So I called United and asked to make the change.  I fed the agent my confirmation number and fed the new flight number and seats we'd like.  From there, the conversation went something like this:

Agent:  "I see the available seats on the DEN - SFO segment but I can't make the change."

Me:  "Why not?"

Agent:  "There must be availability for ALL segments to make a change to an award.  And there isn't availability on the SFO - HKG segment."

Me:  "That's weird.  I've made lots of changes to awards in similar situations.  When did that change?"

Agent:  "I don't know.  During our last computer upgrade.  Our new software doesn't let us make changes like that anymore."

That explanation made absolutely no sense.  So I thanked the agent for her time and called back later in the day.  Same script - much different result.  The agent thanked me for being prepared, for my loyalty to United and had the change made in about three minutes.

Moral of the story is that some agents just don't know the rules.  Most are awesome and happy to help.  So hangup and call back!!

How to Build Your Own "Cash & Points" Redemption

One of the best uses of hotel points is the "cash and points" redemption.  Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, IHG, and Starwood, all offer some sort of cash and points redemption opportunity.  Often times, you can get "more value" out of your points redeeming this way vs. redeeming points outright for a room.

That said, it can be challenging at times to find availability.  So sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands.  Em and I are presently in New York for the weekend and wanted to stay at the W Union Square.  When we first made the reservation, rates were going for $400++ so I booked two nights at 20,000 SPG points a piece.  That's a steep price to pay but getting 2.25 cents a point isn't bad either.

Friday night in Union Square

Over the last couple of months, rates dropped from $400 to $350 and finally down to $270.  But I could only secure that rate for the first night of our stay.  The second night was going for $370.

So I made my own "cash and points" rate by booking the first night at $270 and the second for 20,000 points.  If you average the two nights, that's $135 and 10,000 points per night.  Compare that to the Starwood Category 6 cash and points rate of $180 cash and 10,000 points per night and I'm actually coming out ahead.

I was able to quickly chat with SPG Platinum customer support and they linked the reservations together.  Upon check in, we were upgraded to a suite (two categories) for the first night but they only had availability the second night at a one level upgrade.  We opted to "downgrade" the first night so we didn't have to switch rooms on Saturday night.

That was a good choice as our Spectacular room is spacious (as far as NYC rooms go) and has a great view of Union Square.

Amex Small Business Saturday Enrollment is Live

One of the best promotions of the year (at least for the last several years) has been American Express Small Business Saturday.  Amex launched the promotion to stimulate spending at local businesses (and charge volume on their cards and through their payment network) during the economic downturn.

In the past, they've offered a single $25 statement credit per card which was a great offer.  This year, the offer provides up to three $10 statement credits on each registered American Express card.

All you have to do is register here and then spend $10 or more on each of your registered cards at "qualifying small business" shown on the Shop Small Map.  The map is actually pretty cool and allows you to search and map locations near you that are "qualifying."

Shop Small Map for my office in Denver

There is an enrollment cap so it definitely makes sense to enroll sooner rather than later.   We currently hold five American Express cards and I was able to register all five this morning.  So we'll grab some coffee, breakfast, lunch, and do some holiday shopping all in our neighborhood and end up with $150 in statement credits.

American Express Small Business Saturday is on 11/29 so register soon and circle the date on your calendar!

IHG 10% Rebate Posted

Last month we went to Las Vegas for the weekend.  We stayed at the Venetian and our hotel was free thanks to the Chase IHG credit card.  For the first night, I used the annual free night that I get for keeping the IHG credit card.  Clearly worth the annual fee of $49.

For the second night, I used 50,000 IHG points that I had earned by signing up for the card and various other promotions. I didn't think of it at the time but IHG provides a 10% rebate (up to 100,000 points per year) on award stays if you hold the IHG credit card.

I checked my AwardWallet account this week and saw the 5,000 point bump in my balance.  I wasn't sure where it came from so I logged into my IHG account to check it out.  I value IHG points at around .7 cents each so on the redemption, it's like getting $35 back.

10% rebate posted

I will definitely be keeping this card and plan to leverage the free night coupled with an award night for a weekend getaway.  Well worth $49!

Earning 5x Ultimate Rewards Points from Chase Ink Cards

It must be the morning of 5x.  The Chase Ink Business Cards (Bold and Plus) provide an excellent opportunity to earn a ton of valuable Ultimate Rewards points.  I've had an Ink Bold card for a couple of years now and while I don't keep the card in my wallet, I will grab it out of my CC stack for a couple of key use cases:

1)  I leverage my Ink card for all of our cable, internet, and cell phone monthly bills.  That amounts to roughly $350/month and is all recurring billing so I don't even have to remember to use the card.  That earns an easy 1,750 Ultimate Rewards points.

2)  If I'm going to an office supply store (i.e. Staples or Office Depot) I will bring my Ink Card.  If I'm buying something online from these stores, I will use my Ink Card through a shopping portal.  I spend around $200/month on gift cards to maximize my earning on everyday spend.  That is another 1,000 Ultimate Rewards points each month.

Leveraging these techniques, I'm earning over 33,000 Ultimate Rewards points per year.  I value those points at around $660 so more than paying for the $95 annual fee.  This is a card that I will keep (vs. get rid of)  year after year.

The End of Amazon Payments

Amazon Payments is officially dead for my household.  I processed the final $2,000 roundtrip this morning.

For those of you that haven't done so, you still have 2 more days to manufacture $1,000 per person this month.

Amazon Payments is/was one of the easiest wasps to manufacture spend.  Over the last couple of years, we've generated over 50,000 points and miles while on our way to many more as this technique helped both of us achieve minimum spend requirements for our favorite credit cards.

Certainly an end of an era.

How to Find Saver Award Tickets

Over the last couple of weeks, a few readers have asked how I find "saver" award tickets.  To answer the question, I'll focus on United MileagePlus since that is my go to carrier/frequent flier program.  Earlier in the year, I posted on how to book a United award ticket so that's a helpful guide if you're not familiar with United's booking engine.

In my opinion, booking any award ticket thats not a "saver" ticket is a waste of miles.  While programs have certainly made it easier to accrue miles/points over the last few years, paying more than 2x is equivalent to paying 2x at a restaurant you really want to go eat at but can't get a reservation.

Take this hypothetical example.  Let's say you want to fly (one-way) from Los Angeles to Seoul in December or January.  Here's a screenshot showing the search.  If you want to fly economy, you are looking for yellow or green.  If you want to fly business/first, then you are looking for green or blue.  The days that show up as white only have "standard" award availability.  You want to avoid those dates.

As you can see, besides the two weeks around Christmas, there is saver award availability pretty much everyday.  Maybe you want to spend New Years in Korea so let's take a look at the options for December 30th.

There are a couple of good options.  You can fly Thai Airways direct to Seoul in economy for 35,000 miles or you can fly Asiana's business class for 80,000.  Either way, you'll notice that the standard awards are priced at 2x+ that of the saver awards.  Not that you could also fly through San Francisco on United's metal (United's own plane) in first class for 80,000 miles.  I would definitely select United first over Asiana business if given the choice for the same amount of miles.

Keep this in mind as you're searching for award availability.  The more flexibility you have on dates and routing, the more likely you are to find saver awards.  The more saver awards you book, the more value you'll get out of your hard earned miles.

Buying Coins from the US Mint

There used to be a pretty crazy scheme to earn frequent flyer miles where travel hackers would buy coins from the US Mint with credit cards and then deposit the coins into their bank accounts.  The scheme ended before I got really into this hobby after the mint eliminated the free shipping and credit card purchase option.

However, I recently figured out that the mint does allow credit card purchases for some coins.  The mint is currently offering a gold version of the Kennedy half-dollar for the 50th anniversary of the coin.  While I'm not a serious collector or anything, I do happen to think coins are pretty cool and am also a big Kennedy fan.  So I bought one.  I am still working on the minimum spend on my second Citi Executive AAdvantage card and this purchase helped me get pretty close to the bonus threshold.

2014 Gold Kennedy Half-Dollar

The box recently arrived and I was pretty excited to open it up.  It's a piece (albeit a small one) of history and just a bonus that I earned a few AA miles by making the purchase.  I plan to hold on to the coin and hopefully I'll be lucky enough to have a son to give it to in the future.