AwardWallet Price Increase Next Year

AwardWallet is one of my favorite travel hacking tools.  With so many programs, constantly changing point balances, expiration dates, and random "free nights," it's imperative to stay organized.  When people ask me to how to get started, AwardWallet is one of my top three recommendations.  I'm honestly not sure how I would manage without AwardWallet.

If you're not familiar, AwardWallet enables you to add your airline/hotel loyalty program info (username/account number/pword) so that all of your point balances can be aggregated in once place.  Think Mint.com for miles and points.

While the service is free, they offer a "AwardWallet Plus" subscription which provides a few valuable benefits and I gladly pay the $10/year for the plus product.

I've long thought that AwardWallet Plus was inexpensive and have been pleased that they've kept the price so low for so long.

To that end, prices are going up from $10/year to $30/year effective 2/1/17.  They promise (note below) that existing customers will be grandfathered in at the $10/year rate.

If you're not already an AwardWallet Plus subscriber, I'd highly recommend signing up in the next 60 days!

How Many Miles Did We Earn in 2016?

Happy Holidays!  As I've done in the past, here's an overview of miles earned last year.

I keep a pretty organized spreadsheet containing a ton of information about my mileage earning.  It also helps me keep track of our credit card applications, minimum spend required, etc...this is very much a team effort as Emily earned nearly 45% of the total in 2016 (up from 36% in 2015).  

We earned a little over 1.7 million miles/points from credit card bonuses alone!  Add to that flying, hotel stays, shopping portal bonuses, and everyday spend, and we earned roughly 2.3 million total points/miles in 2016!  Hotel co-brand cards from Ritz-Carlton and Hilton definitely padded these numbers - those two cards combined offered (in the form of free nights) nearly 400,000 hotel points!

That compares to 1.3 million points/miles last year and nearly 1.7 million in 2013.

We applied for (and were approved for all but one thanks to Chase's 5/24 rule) 27 credit cards in 2016 with an average signup bonus of 65,442 points.  For comparison purposes, in 2015 we earned 1.14 million points/miles from 26 signup bonuses.  


This doesn't include the miles we earned by flying/staying which amounted to another 250,000.  We also purchased American and United miles (40,000) during a couple of promotions across the year and earned around an additional 310,000 or so miles and points for our "everyday" spend including category bonuses and shopping portal bonuses.

All in, that is over 2.3 million miles and points generated during 2016!  It still amazes me that such a large portion (74%) comes from credit card sign-up bonuses.  Flying/staying (even at high volumes) won't earn you anywhere near what you can earn from a handful of sign-up bonuses across the year.

So where do things stand in terms of point balances now?  According to Award Wallet, we have 1.19 million miles/points "in the bank."  This time last year, we had 1.25M points and miles so we're doing a pretty good job of earning and burning!

In terms of burning, here's what 2016 looked like:

• 585,000 miles/points to London & Abu Dhabi in March
• 140,000 points for hotel stays in March and April
• 926,000 miles/points to Istanbul, Maldives, Singapore, and Tokyo in August
• 551,000 miles/points to Dubai in November
• 180,000 points to DC in April of 2017
• 705,000 miles/points to Japan in May of 2017

That is nearly 3.1 million points/miles burned (some trips were booked the year prior) in one year!!    Our miles/point value is essentially the same Y/Y meaning we burned everything we earned (and a bit more) in 2016.  

Here's to a another great year of travel in 2017!

Top 5 Flights of 2016

If you've been following me on Instagram, you've already seen my top 5 flights of 2016.

Here's the countdown starting with number 5:

5)  Etihad Airways First Class 777-200LR Abu Dhabi to LAX

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:

• Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards card review
• $300 airline incidental credit review
• Saving hundreds of dollars in airfare with the Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards card

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!

Easy 1,500 Bonus United Miles

One of the easiest ways to earn frequent flier miles is by shopping online.  I am late posting this but all of the major portals (American, Alaska, United) are offering 1,500 bonus miles when you make $200 in purchases through the portal by 12/20.  So you have a couple days left.

7.5x on top of the shopping payout and credit card spend is pretty phenomenal.  I'm sure many of you are still shopping for the holidays and the $200 threshold for 1,500 miles is one of the lowest thresholds I've seen recently.

Keep in mind that discount codes or Amex offers can be stacked with the portal payouts so you can really make out well if you are organized.  I easily hit the portal bonus on my United account and we'll get there on Emily's today.

With an Amex offer thrown in, we'll spend around $380 and earn 4,500 United miles.  Nearly 12x miles earning to dollars spent.  Not bad.

2016 Year in Review: Hotels

I recently posted about my 2016 year in flight.  You can also read about my hotels stays in 2015 (46 nights), hotel stays in 2014 (45 nights) and 2013 (55 nights) for comparison purposes.

In 2016, we stayed at some amazing properties in the UAE, Maldives, Turkey, and Japan.  I ended the year at 29 total nights - way down from the past couple of years really due to less business travel.  Starwood properties led the way with 11 nights with Hyatt a close second with 8 nights.  Last year 31 nights were related to business travel so from a personal standpoint, both of the last couple of years were about the same.  

We are well setup going into 2017 from a hotel status standpoint (more on this in the status of status post).  Both of us are SPG Gold, HHonors Gold, and Marriott Gold.  All earned through credit cards with the exception of my lifetime SPG status.

Here's the full breakdown:

• 11 Starwood nights across 7 properties and 4 brands
• 8 Hyatt nights across 4 properties and 3 brands
• 4 Hilton nights at one property
• 3 Marriott nights at 2 properties and 2 brands
• 3 IHG nights at 2 properties and 2 brands

In our early planning for 2017, we have a plethora of free nights that will expire at some point in 2017.  2 at Fairmont, 3 at Ritz Carlton, 1 at Hyatt, and 1 at Hilton.  So that is 7 nights that are likely accounted for before we burn a single point or dollar.

I predicted last year that the Starwood/Marriott merger wouldn't impact my stay habits and I think that prediction is accurate.  We are Starwood first, then Hyatt.  If there's an EDITION or Ritz Carlton that we can use SPG points at a good great, we'll take a look.

It was another great year in travel - we're both excited for a new year exploring new places!

500th Post!

It's hard to believe that I've been writing ATRP for 3 years.  This is my 500th post!

I first started the blog to share "travel hacks" with family and friends but it's become much more than that.  I've been able to post about my experiences earning and burning miles and points and review some of the amazing flights and hotels Emily and I have stayed at over the past few years.  I wish that I would/could have posted more but life and a relatively demanding full-time job has certainly been a barrier.  One of my favorite things to do is look back at previous posts (especially trip reports)

While I wish that we would have traveled even more over the past few years, we've traveled plenty and in style.  We don't have anything planned for 2017 just yet but stay tuned - I'm working on a couple of options for next year over the holidays.

As always, thanks for reading here's a look back at the 3 most popular posts of all time!

1)  Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Singapore to Hong Kong (2015)

2)  Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class San Francisco to Hong Kong (2014)

3)  Why I love the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card