Real Value in the Chase Fairmont Visa Signature Card

A few months ago, I picked up the Chase Fairmont Visa Signature Card.  It's been a very long time since I stayed in a Fairmont property (~10 years) but I wanted to leverage the card for a couple of free nights in Vancouver.  I have read that the Fairmont Pacific Rim is a phenomenal hotel and really wanted to try it out when we're there.

I completed the minimum spend requirement ($3,000 in three months a couple of weeks ago.  The complimentary nights posted to my account last week and I called Fairmont (the only option - they cannot be redeemed online) this weekend to redeem them.  After that experience, I wanted to post about the value this card provides as it's a card that isn't written about that often.

First, the details:

• $95 annual fee, not waived for the first year
• Spend $3,000 in there months to earn two complimentary nights with breakfast
• Complimentary upgrade to Premier status
• No foreign transaction fees

I logged in to my account to check the status of my free nights.  My free night certificates had posted...with about half a dozen other surprises as part of my "upgrade" to Premier status!

Certs on certs on certs

I figured the card was good for the free nights with breakfast.  If it stopped there - that would still make it an excellent card.  The breakfast coupons are actually cash vouches - four vouchers for $25 each.  The upgrade to Premier status provided even more value.  $50 good for dinner/lunch to be used at a Fairmont property restaurant.  And a suite upgrade.  Amazing.

I wasn't sure if I could apply the suite upgrade to an award stay but when I called in to make my reservation, that wasn't a problem at all.  We ended up in a suite retailing for over $600USD/night AI.  For comparison purposes, the standard room would have been around $300/night.  While we wouldn't pay the incremental $300/night for a suite, it's a great luxury to have the extra space while on vacation.  Especially when there's zero out of pocket cost.

There are some amazing Fairmont properties around the world.  This is a great card to get you a couple of nights in a suite for basically $95.  If there are two of you in your household, you could end up with four nights in a suite with $200 for breakfast and $100 for lunch/dinner for just $190 in annual fees.  

This wasn't a card on my radar until recently.  Definitely one to have on your list especially if you're interested in Vancouver as a destination or any other Fairmont property around the world.

Bonus Points from Waldorf Astoria and Conrad

Last year, Hilton HHonors ran a pretty lucrative promotion where you could earn 2,000 bonus points for each eligible night at a Conrad or Waldorf Astoria property.

Well it looks like the promotion is back for 2015.

There is also another (stackable) promotion where you can earn 2,000 points for your first stay, 3,000 for your second stay, and 5,000 for your third stay.

Click here to register for promo one:

Click here to register for promo two:

I already have two stays booked this year at the Conrad (Hong Kong) and Waldorf Astoria (Amsterdam) properties.  Two stays and a total of five nights all booked with HHonors points.  That should yield a total of 15,000 bonus points.  I value the bonus points around $100 - pretty good for about three minutes of time registering for both promos.

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.

50% off Award Stays in Vegas

IHG announced a pretty sweet promotion that cuts the price of a Las Vegas weekend in half.  For one day only (3/10) IHG is discounting award stays at the Ventian and Palazzo in Las Vegas by 50%.

There are some blackout dates but the promotion is good through the end of 2015 - so you have plenty of weekends to choose from.

50,000 IHG points (which can be straight up purchased for $.70 each) for 2 nights is a really outstanding deal.  There are a ton of ways to use points in Vegas for hotel rooms nowadays, but the combination of the great hotels (Venetian/Palazzo) and 50% discount make this a no-brainer for your next trip to Las Vegas.

I will DEFINITELY be taking advantage of this promotion - now to find a weekend!

Great Deal - Vancouver Hotel Promotion

As they've done in the past, beVancouver is offering some great deals on hotels for stays prior to 4/30.  They are offering American Express gift cards in denominations ranging from $25 to $125 (nicer hotels come with the higher denomination) per stay based on the level of hotel.  They are also offering an extra $50 gift card for additional nights.  You can have up to there bookings per person so in theory could stay at three high end hotels each for one night and get $375 in gift cards.

Big rebates on Vancouver hotels

We are headed to Vancouver in April for a few nights so I checked out the promotion to see if it would work for us.  We are staying at one of the Fairmont properties for the first couple of nights and then the Shangri-La for the final night.  It's the only Shangri-La property in North America and I've always wanted to stay in one of their hotels in Asia so figure this would be a good chance.

We booked our night through American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts with our Platinum Card at a rate of $221 USD (Superior Room) which includes wifi, breakfast for two, and a $100 USD credit to be used at the property.  The rate also provides the opportunity for early check-in, late check-out and an upgrade.

Shangri-La Vancouver Superior Room Quote

Through the beVancouver promotion, the rate for the Superior Room is also $221 USD (275 CAD) but comes with a $100 USD (125 CAD) American Express gift card.

With the beVancouver promotion, you're spending $121 for a pretty phenomenal hotel room.  But everything else is going to be "extra."  With the FHR rate, you're spending $221 for the same hotel room but also getting free breakfast, wifi, and $100 to spend at the spa, bar, on room service, etc...

I value the breakfast at about $30 and obviously we'll use the $100 credit at the bar.  So take that into consideration and the FHR rate is <$100.  We're keeping our FHR reservation but this is still a great deal.  Anyone going to Vancouver for business or vacation should definitely look into it!

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.

Last Minute Switch - AA to Cathay

Originally, we were scheduled to fly home from Taipei via Hong Kong - spending the night at the W Hong Kong before taking American's direct service from HKG to DFW.  After a late night celebrating 2015 at the W Taipei, we had a great lazy day walking around the city. We headed back to the hotel in the early afternoon and I before I checked in to our flight to Hong Kong I decided to check if there were any "better" options to get us all the way home.

Strolling around Taipei

Amazingly, I found two first class seats on one of Cathay Pacific's flights from Hong Kong to LAX.  After some discussion, we both decided that we had already had such a great trip, one more night in Hong Kong wouldn't make it that much better and heading home a day earlier would be nice.  So I set about making the change.