Signed up for Chase Sapphire Preferred when signup bonus was 100K points, valid for $1k cash or $1,250 toward travel. Managed to redeem during the “Pay yourself back” bonus period that applied to groceries so used $1,250 for that.
Key is, if you’re married, DO NOT apply jointly or as an authorized user. Double the credit, double the bonuses. Especially if you both have great credit and reasonable income(although many apps you can get away with listing “household income” I’ve never had verification done)
I like to gamble so naturally wife and I enjoy going to Vegas. There is a big comp game there that is able to be exploited if 1) you can control yourself and don’t have any semblance of problem gambling, and 2) you stick to your plan. Free room/comp meals/freeplay are based on “Theoretical loss” which is based on your average bet, the game you play, and how long you play. Many casinos will offer “teaser” offers if you drop in for a few hours and show some high play, with the idea that you’ll play that way if you stay 3 nights. Example: in 2019 wife and I played at Wynn for first time and played some mid-range slots ($3-$10 a pull). We only lost $300 in real $ but recycled all the winnings and ran about $8K coin-in total thru the machines. Our first marketing offer was 3 free nights with $1,000 freeplay and $600 food & Beverage. We of course jumped on this as it dwarfed my MGM offers by about 3x. Plus Wynn rooms are so much better and carry higher retail.
You can do this at many casinos (But Wynn historically has been best…then Venetian…then MGM…then others)…of course if you don’t play to what they expect daily, you won’t get anything in the future. But if you want a decently cheap vacation…can control your urge to gamble (this is key)…you can get 3-4 “free” trips in off seeding certain casinos. If you’re married, don’t link your casino players cards because then you can double dip. In some cases, triple dip if your spouse has an ID in her maiden name…but shhh, I didn’t mention that…
After returning from the Philippines last month, we decided we needed to even out our tan-lines for work and did a staycation here in town for a few nights at the Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach. We stayed in the Executive Suite which commanded a whopping $2,100/night before taxes and resort fees (and $70/night valet). Highly recommend it if you’re looking for a splurge in Southern OC. While hotels in the US really don’t execute luxury particularly well, they did a pretty solid job here in terms of service. One of the better stays I’ve had here in the states. This particular suite was freshly renovated, so we were delighted to be among the first to stay in it. Only complaint is that there wasn’t a proper rainfall showerhead, though the bathroom was massive and included a needlessly large walk-in closet.
Including both flights, you’d immediately earn BA bronze executive club status (aka one world ruby), as well as 21k miles. Shorter flights are available with a sub 2 hr layover in London. 2900 for business class that is booked into I class, including their new suite product on both legs, it’s a steal, considering a 20 year old business class product on Air France is about the same.
I sampled the carrot cake from the hotel breakfast buffet.
We also made a special trip to one of the hawker centers for satay, and literally everything was open except the satay places. Every single one of them was closed, so I had Turkish food instead.
We only had two full days in Singapore, and by that point in the trip (days 16 and 17) I couldn’t even look at anything that involved rice or noodles. On our last night I had a burger from room service.
That is a great deal for a roundtrip, and the status + redeemable miles is a nice side benefit.
I ended up canceling my award tickets both ways because of some horrific schedule changes, and paid actual money on Qatar on the outbound and on JAL on the way back.
I netted almost 70,000 redeemable miles, and the Loyalty Points earned from the trip pushed me over the threshold for renewing AA Executive Platinum (Oneworld Emerald) for another year… so now I can just burn miles for the rest of my more routine travel through Feb 2023.
I also booked a standalone one-way on Delta from LAX-SAN on Saturday on the way back (still saved ~$1,500 vs. booking the return to SAN vs LAX, even after the cost of the extra ticket).
Bernadette Peters was on the SAN flight. She performed here last night.
It’s a Hilton property, so it’s redeemable with points and certs. I’m a serial award traveler, so I shared the cash rate just to demonstrate value with that in mind.
That’s exactly what it means. If you don’t want to spend cash and feel that redeeming a free night certificate for a $2,100 room isn’t a good value to you, then award travel may not be for you.
Apples vs oranges here. Certs are great for some properties where cash rates are very high. Jeff is saying point redemption isn’t worth it if the rooms cost too many points - ie 600k HHonor points. He is referring to cash to points ratio.
Well redeeming a free night certificate for a $2100/night suite is certainly a fantastic value but spending 600k+ points for the same night is not, they’re two different things.
But in any event I’m curious how you were able to use a Hilton free night cert on a premium room like that, seems right on topic of vacation hacking unless I’m missing something here.
The Aspire gives you Diamond status in addition to the cert, and this particular property has 75 suites so it’s pretty easy to get upgraded. Book a standard room and reach out in advance about upgrades.
I suppose I should have prefaced my original comment with details surrounding this. But I just erroneously assumed people reading my posts would know it’s award travel specific
Hm… I didn’t know that you can get upgraded on a very night stay having Diamond status.
I got to check that out next time.
Albeit we don’t yet stay at fancy properties especially having 3 kids. Most properties have 4 people capacity on rooms. So we only get to pick from the bottom of the litter properties😂
It depends on where you are staying mostly. American Hiltons dgaf about the loyalty program, but the SE and E Asian properties are religious about honoring it. I don’t think I have ever not been upgraded as a Diamond in Asia.
On our last night I had a burger from room service.
