I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 (see first page for add'l details)

[mmmears]

Sounds like we are taking very similar trips in May. I was also surprised by the Eurostar prices. It would definitely be cheaper for us to fly, but the Eurostar is kind of a bucket list thing for me. I don't have any info on ways to use points to do it, but I think I'm going to open a new checking account with a bonus to help offset the cost.

The Eurostar is faster and easier because you're going city center to city center (which also helps with the cost since you save money and time not having to go to/from the big airports that are out of town).

I have been looking for a surprise anniversary trip for DH to a beach location in a lie flat of some sort. Hawaii is easy because it's his favorite but seems almost a waste of the lie flat points because of the 'short' trip (we leave from PDX) and none of the hotels seem like real knock your socks off places. Not to mention I don't find Hawaii super tourist friendly but maybe I am paranoid.
Anybody have any amazing beach hotel experiences that you are itching to go back to? I have loads of Amex points and even though I have primarily been loyal to Marriott before I think I want to try Hyatt for this trip--they seem a step better. Hyatt Zilara in Mexico looks nice and so does Baja Mar. Any other places I should consider?

Places we have enjoyed recently: Grand Hyatt Kauai, Grand Wailea Resort, WA Pedregal in Cabo. Places I have booked but haven't tried yet: Andaz Maui. They are all really nice resorts, IMHO. Can't compete with an overwater bungalow, but much quicker and easier to get to.

 

[Jax1023]

Ugh we’re supposed to fly Friday night on southwest out of BWI to our Disney cruise Saturday.

Weather here is fine. But plane comes in from Chicago, where apparently there is going to be a snow storm. And because Baltimore isn’t under a weather alert, I can’t change my flight. Any options I’m not thinking of?

So stressed. Between this and work I’m going to have an ulcer by the time we get to the cruise.

At least we have enough time to drive all night if the flight gets cancelled and still make it on time?

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

Better hurry up with Hyatt, redemptions are going up at the end of the month!

Glad I went ahead and booked Los Altos last week... looks like the beloved Hyatts in Costa Rica are some of the ones going up (Los Altos, Andaz Papagayo, Tabacon)

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Glad I went ahead and booked Los Altos last week... looks like the beloved Hyatts in Costa Rica are some of the ones going up (Los Altos, Andaz Papagayo, Tabacon)

Here's the whole list
https://world.hyatt.com/content/gp/en/landing/award-category-chart-updates.html

 

[reliev]

A simple valuation is CSP is 1 for 1 cash, but 1 to 1.25 for Chase portal.

However, getting more complex, I get about 2.4 when I transfer to Hyatt, but this will depend on the cost of the room.

I don't use my Citi for much other than showing at the door to get in now that they don't do the extra 2 year warranty. I can always find another card that does a better job.

So, it's a choice that's individual. I've never cashed out UR's for cash, but that's all I ever do with the Costco points.

from this thread I've been keeping more data points as well I've been averaging 4 cents pp for the rest of my trips this year. Now if only that de-evaluation didn't happen whats funny is 4 of those hotels are stuff i booked

 

[djmeredith]

The Eurostar is faster and easier because you're going city center to city center (which also helps with the cost since you save money and time not having to go to/from the big airports that are out of town).

That is a very good point.

Ugh we’re supposed to fly Friday night on southwest out of BWI to our Disney cruise Saturday.

Weather here is fine. But plane comes in from Chicago, where apparently there is going to be a snow storm. And because Baltimore isn’t under a weather alert, I can’t change my flight. Any options I’m not thinking of?

So stressed. Between this and work I’m going to have an ulcer by the time we get to the cruise.

At least we have enough time to drive all night if the flight gets cancelled and still make it on time?

BWI is a hub, so they are more likely have extra planes and crews. Obviously, that's not guaranteed, but I would wait it out and drive if worse comes to worst. You could also book a refundable flight on another airline as a backup.

 

[Jax1023]

That is a very good point.

BWI is a hub, so they are more likely have extra planes and crews. Obviously, that's not guaranteed, but I would wait it out and drive if worse comes to worst. You could also book a refundable flight on another airline as a backup.

Yeah it’s a big spring break week for colleges, so there isn’t much left to book!

At this point in just hoping for the best. And I booked a rental car via Costco one way so if we have to drive we can still fly back.

 

[wanderlust7]

Glad I went ahead and booked Los Altos last week... looks like the beloved Hyatts in Costa Rica are some of the ones going up (Los Altos, Andaz Papagayo, Tabacon)

Glad I booked Andaz Papagayo and Tabacon! The HR Amsterdam is going up to a category 5. Glad I was able to use 4 FNCs on it.

Need to think about if I want to book something at the Alila Marea, Carmel Valley Ranch, and/or Hyatt Ziva Cancun. The Ziva is going up 2 categories. I was on the fence already since we'd need 2 rooms with the kids (makes more sense than paying the additional person points). No way I'd do it after the increase.

On the plus side, the SLH in Seoul I was looking at is going down a category.

 

[Runnsally]

So YouTubeTV posted on my AMEX BBP as "Google Services," instead of "YouTubeTV," so I'm assuming it's not going to trigger the $20 AMEX offer. Has this happened to anyone else? It always posted as "YouTubeTV" when I paid it with my Chase card. Would a chat with AMEX do any good?

Same boat and google services did indeed trigger the $20

 

[wanderlust7]

Got my free Rijksmuseum tickets with The Cultivist (6 months free through Capital One). I put the request in online and waited a week with no response, so I sent a message through their contact form. Very quick response and I got my desired date/time. That's 45 euros saved. Under 18 is free, so I then booked the kids' tickets directly.

I plan to use it for The Met when we're in New York. Just need to show the membership card for that one, but only covers 2 people. Hopefully it goes smoothly. That will be $60 saved. DD is free, just need to buy a student ticket for DS.

I might also use it for the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Will need to request that one.

 

[wweazel]

One exception might be booking a Virgin cruise for 80-100k points. Link

yes to this! someday when I don't have teenagers to supervise, I'm doing this - this is the second similar promotion Virgin has done in the last year or so.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Sounds like we are taking very similar trips in May. I was also surprised by the Eurostar prices. It would definitely be cheaper for us to fly, but the Eurostar is kind of a bucket list thing for me. I don't have any info on ways to use points to do it, but I think I'm going to open a new checking account with a bonus to help offset the cost.

Eurostar is really cool and very convenient. We love to travel by train in Europe now after our first experience between Paris and London.

I have been looking for a surprise anniversary trip for DH to a beach location in a lie flat of some sort. Hawaii is easy because it's his favorite but seems almost a waste of the lie flat points because of the 'short' trip (we leave from PDX) and none of the hotels seem like real knock your socks off places. Not to mention I don't find Hawaii super tourist friendly but maybe I am paranoid.
Anybody have any amazing beach hotel experiences that you are itching to go back to? I have loads of Amex points and even though I have primarily been loyal to Marriott before I think I want to try Hyatt for this trip--they seem a step better. Hyatt Zilara in Mexico looks nice and so does Baja Mar. Any other places I should consider?

I don't think lie flat is necessary for these destinations, but we've enjoyed WA Los Cabos Pedregal (Hilton), Rancho Pescadero 1 hr from Cabo (Hyatt) and Kimpton Seafire Grand Cayman (IHG). The Seafire is the most beachy of these three and Grand Cayman might be a nice destination for an anniversary trip. Trip reports in my signature.

 

[sinnika]

Got my free Rijksmuseum tickets with The Cultivist (6 months free through Capital One). I put the request in online and waited a week with no response, so I sent a message through their contact form. Very quick response and I got my desired date/time. That's 45 euros saved. Under 18 is free, so I then booked the kids' tickets directly.

I plan to use it for The Met when we're in New York. Just need to show the membership card for that one, but only covers 2 people. Hopefully it goes smoothly. That will be $60 saved. DD is free, just need to buy a student ticket for DS.

I might also use it for the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Will need to request that one.

I wasted my free Cultivist by signing up for it in August to use at the Met in NYC on our free day and the Met was closed on Wednesdays. . My free 6 months has expired. I did get charged the $40 to renew it but got the charge reversed. When will you be in Amsterdam? I’ll be taking the train from my daughters home in Germany on April 18 and meeting up with a friend the next day. Trying to pack in a lot but don’t think we’ll have time for museums (other than the Ann Frank house.) Looking forward to the gardens and tulips! We are flying back to Frankfurt on the 20th.

 

[wanderlust7]

I wasted my free Cultivist by signing up for it in August to use at the Met in NYC on our free day and the Met was closed on Wednesdays. . My free 6 months has expired. I did get charged the $40 to renew it but got the charge reversed. When will you be in Amsterdam? I’ll be taking the train from my daughters home in Germany on April 18 and meeting up with a friend the next day. Trying to pack in a lot but don’t think we’ll have time for museums (other than the Ann Frank house.) Looking forward to the gardens and tulips! We are flying back to Frankfurt on the 20th.

We're going in June. How lovely that you'll get to see the tulips!

 

[georgina]

Any tips on using the CSR travel credit? My DH has about $150 credit remaining. I still need to buy my DD9 her Disney park ticket, but it's $713 on UCT, so I hate to pay for it all on his CSR when I'm working on a separate CIU SUB. I also need to buy a waterpark ticket for myself, most likely directly from Disney using my DVC discount, but that ticket is only $52. We already have our rental car, air, and hotels taken care of. UCT purchases do count, correct? Do direct Disney purchases? I seem to remember some do and some don't, but can't remember the specifics. Could we maybe charge items to the room using our MB's and have that count? We'll be staying using DVC points if that matters. Thank you!

ETA - do Genie+ purchases count? I know we'll have a lot of those

No, genie plus coded as entertainment on my CSR.

 

[calypso726]

I have been looking for a surprise anniversary trip for DH to a beach location in a lie flat of some sort. Hawaii is easy because it's his favorite but seems almost a waste of the lie flat points because of the 'short' trip (we leave from PDX) and none of the hotels seem like real knock your socks off places. Not to mention I don't find Hawaii super tourist friendly but maybe I am paranoid.
Anybody have any amazing beach hotel experiences that you are itching to go back to? I have loads of Amex points and even though I have primarily been loyal to Marriott before I think I want to try Hyatt for this trip--they seem a step better. Hyatt Zilara in Mexico looks nice and so does Baja Mar. Any other places I should consider?

Hands down, Conrad Bora Bora.

Other ones we've enjoyed on points - Grand Hyatt Kauai, Grand Wailea Maui, Westin Hapuna

Ones I have plans at or have my eye on - Andaz Papagayo Costa Rica, Andaz Mayakoba, Waldorf Los Cabos

I will add Conrad Rangali Maldives to that list in an overwater bungalow. Clicky here for review
Fly over in first class on Emirates in a lie flat on the A380 with the shower. I would absolutely do both experiences again.

 

[EACarlson]

I know there are a few other hockey parent's in here. Pure Hockey has always recommended using an Amex card to buy sticks, since they'll be covered on the extended warranty Amex offer. I know other hockey parents have had luck too. When I called yesterday they told me that sporting gear isn't covered. I asked him to email me the policy, but again, I never got the email (must have been my luck yesterday). When I went online to file the form instead, I decided to look at "purchase protection". When I read the coverage on that, it states sporting gear isn't covered. Then I looked at the extended warranty, it DOESN'T list sporting gear on the not covered list. So I think the person I got was confused. Is this a HUCA situation? I asked in the MI hockey group and several have had sticks covered this year. In fact one parent said she's done it 5 times this season!!!

Probably a CSR that didn't know that some sporting gear like hockey sticks and softball bats have warranties. I'd HUCA, also I'd do some more research about which sticks actually last. I've seen so many top end CCM and Bauer sticks break in the hands of 12 year olds this year I wouldn't trust any of them.

 

[platamama]

Chiming in- Target Redcard is 5% off, too. I know that's a card a lot of folks have...

Or, if you have both a CIC and Sam's/BJs, buy the fee free Mastercards at Staples this week for the 5x, then use them to buy the discounted GCs at your warehouse club to stack the savings.

I've found I can pay off my Target Redcard balance with both vgc and mcgc at the cs desk too, using a pin.

 

[reliev]

No, genie plus coded as entertainment on my CSR.

I use the Disney card myself only card I've been able to find a bonus for the genie + @LilSweetPeaPhoto

 

[MarBee]

I found this online that may be helpful: https://thepointsguy.com/credit-cards/hotel/marriott/eligibility-chart-marriott-bonvoy-cards/ Looks like your card remains the same since you were grandfathered in.

As a refresher, here’s how the SPG Amex cards converted to Bonvoy Amex names:

• The Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express became the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card (no longer open to new applicants).
• The Starwood Preferred Guest Luxury Card from American Express became the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card.
• The Starwood Preferred Guest Business Card from American Express became the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card.

Thank you!