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My Top 5 Hilton Category 2 Hotels for Award Stays

by Harlan 12 Comments

Also see:

I looked through the Hilton Category 2 hotel list to see what gems I could unearth from that piece of barren internet.

I was surprised to find lots of hotels (131, to be exact) all over the US and Europe (and globally). I pulled out my Top 5 picks.

In particular, I’d like to maximize the 5th night free benefit that Hilton gives to all of its elite members.

Here are 5 Hilton Category 2 hotels where I could see myself spending 5 days.

Note: Prices are based on travel in September 2015 and are after taxes as shown on the checkout screen. Read More

Chase IHG MasterCard Sign-Up Bonus Counts Toward Spire Elite Status!

by Harlan 39 Comments

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Update 7/13/15: Some peeps are reporting their sign-up bonus is NOT counting toward Spire elite status. I got my Chase IHG MasterCard in February of 2015. If you got the card this year, it’s worth checking to see if the sign-up bonus counts toward Spire status. Also, for some at least, ALL of the spend on the Chase IHG MasterCard counts toward Spire status!

I was all hot-n-heavy for IHG for a second there. I was targeted to receive 80,000 IHG points on the Chase IHG MasterCard and I thought you know what, OK. So I got it, met the minimum spend and then… never used it again.

I logged in today to see how many IHG points I had, and noticed I’d been upgraded? To Spire?

I mean, yeah, that's cool

I mean, yeah, that’s cool, but… how?

Then I dug a little and realized…

The sign-up bonus counts toward Spire

I haven’t stayed at an IHG hotel since the fantastic InterContinental in Sydney.

All I did was get the Chase IHG MasterCard, register for the “Set Your Sights” promo, and meet the minimum spend.

But apparently the 80,000 points I earned from the Chase IHG Visa overqualified me toward Spire, which requires 75 nights at IHG hotels or 75,000 elite qualifying points.

All points earned from the Chase IHG Visa, including the sign-up bonus, counts toward Spire status

All points earned from the Chase IHG Visa, including the sign-up bonus, counts toward Spire status

Here’s literally all of the activity in my IHG this year:

All

All the Chase IHG MasterCard Activity adds up to all the IHG EQPs I’ve earned this year

And as you can see, after upgrading to Spire, I was given the choice to add 25,000 IHG points to my account -or- gift IHG Platinum status to a friend.

I took the 25,000 IHG points and ran! 

Yay-isss!

Yay-isss!

So when you think about it, I actually got over 100,000 IHG points for opening the Chase IHG MasterCard. Because the bonus alone was enough to earn Spire, and then IHG gave me 25,000 more points.

And, I’ll have the status until the end of 2016. IHG says:

Once you have earned the newest membership status in any calendar year, you will maintain such status until the end of the following calendar year.

So that’s kinda… awesome!

Bottom line

The upgrade to Spire makes me want to plan more IHG stays so I can earn 100% bonus points… and see how good the upgrade situation really is and assess elite treatment.

I might go out of my way to stay at more IHG properties this year, if only for the sake of using IHG points. To be continued…

Was anyone else auto-upgraded to Spire? 

Thank you for using my links to get a travel rewards card! Right now, the bonus on the IHG card is 60,000 IHG points after meeting the minimum spending requirement of spending $1,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.

Seriously tempted by the 75,000 point Citi Hilton Visa offer

by Harlan 13 Comments

Also see: 

I sense an app-o-rama coming on after pondering the benefits of the Discover It card. And now the Citi Hilton Visa has its highest-ever 75,000 point bonus. I heard this offer was ending on August 31, 2015.

Some cards simply aren’t worth keeping any longer, like the POS that is the Barclaycard Arrival Plus and the completely, utterly, insanely useless Chase British Airways Visa (RIP to both. I’ll bury you next to Club Carlson).

Kinda sorta semi-interesting

Kinda sorta semi-interesting

But, out with the old, in with the new.

What’s so dang special about the Citi Hilton Visa?

For one, its earning structure:

3 Hilton points per $1 at... drugstores?!

3 Hilton points per $1 at… drugstores?!

Are they crazy? 3X at drugstores is asking for it, no?

CVS, here I come!

If I max out the $4,000 limit on PayPal My Cash cards, that’s 144,000 Hilton points per year ($4,000 x 3 points per dollar x 12).

Not bad!

Maximizing Hilton points

If I’m strategic, each month I’d earn 2 nights at a Category 1 property or 1 night at a Category 2 property… and there are a lot of Hilton Category 2 hotels all over the US and Europe.

If I’m doubly strategic, I can save up some points and get the 5th night free on a 5-night award stay.

5 nights at a Category 2 hotel costs 40,000 points. So the sign-up bonus alone would be good for 10 nights at Category 2 hotels.

And 20 nights at Category 1 hotels! Useful if you want to go off the beaten path.

I already have Hilton Gold status through FoundersCard, but this card does offer Hilton Silver status automatically, which unlocks the 5th night free benefit.

I wish it offered an ongoing annual benefit for renewal, but since it’s a Citi card, you can’t rule that out. Citi is known to have generous, aggressive retention offers.

Because it’s a no annual fee card, you can get the points and throw it in a drawer if you hate it. And let it age your credit accounts.

A good deal considering it doesn’t have an annual fee – but not as good as the Amex no annual fee Hilton card.

Still, for 75,000 points… I’m thinking of pulling the trigger on this one.

Bottom line

So interesting to see the sign-up bonuses on various cards come and go, benefits get added and taken away, devaluations, and new perks… and how they all tie in together.

If you can live with Hilton’s categories, maximize the Category 1 and 2 properties, and take advantage of the earning structure, this card might be a good one to add to the arsenal.

If you hate it after the initial sign-up bonus, who cares? Throw it in a drawer and let it age your other credit accounts. And Citi is known for retention bonuses, so you might get an annual injection of Hilton points by calling and asking.

I’m thinking of doing it… 5 nights for the price of 4 at a Category 2 hotel costs 40,000 points, so the sign-up bonus on this card right now would be good for 2 such jaunts.

Is anyone else thinking of getting in on this offer? 

Thank you for using my links! (And yes, the 75K offer is available there!)

DTMFA: Barclaycard Arrival Plus. Still a good card?

by Harlan 16 Comments

Also see: 

So torn. Always kinda have been.

The Barclaycard Arrival Plus. I’ve always wondered what it was, in the sense that it was a bit of an enigma.

In the crosshairs

In the crosshairs

I got this card in May 2013. The annual fee was waived for the 1st year.

I got a retention offer the 2nd year.

I just paid the $89 annual fee about a month ago. I want to cancel this card. But it has 1 good use left in it…

Is is worth it?

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Targeted Citi AA Cardholders: 2X Miles in Bonus Categories / 10X Miles with Apple Pay

by Harlan 4 Comments

Just saw this and wanted to put it up.

Keep an eye on your mailbox. It seems Citi is targeting American Airlines credit card holders for bonus offers:

a close up of a card

Letter from Citi

Here are the deets: 

  • Earn up to 2,500 bonus miles
  • Earn 2X miles in certain categories (below)
  • Earn 10X miles if you pay with Apple Pay
  • Promo runs through 9/30/15

2X / 10X categories: 

  • Grocery stores
  • Gas stations
  • Drugstores
  • Restaurants
  • Commuter transportation

Couple of thoughts. Citi is going after Barclays in the promo department.

And they’re going after pretty much every other card with the categories. Including drugstores?

If you max out the 10X with Apple Pay, that’s only $250 in spend. So it’s not stellar.

However, Citi sometimes mixes up their promos and sends different offers out.

Did anyone else get one of these recently? Was your offer different? 

Reminder: Club Carlson Program Changes in One Week! Book awards by May 31st

by Harlan 3 Comments

Also see: 

The time draws near.

RIP

RIP

I managed to burn most of my Club Carlson points during my trip to Ireland earlier this month (reviews of Radisson Blu Royal in Dublin and Radisson Blu in Galway are up so far). But I also had a paid stay at the Radisson Blu St Helens and ended up earning ~44,000 Club Carlson Gold Points between that and the room charges in Dublin.

Nearly enough for 2 nights at a Category 5 property... if booked before next week

Nearly enough for 2 nights at a Category 5 property… if booked before next week

Book now, change later?

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Is the Fidelity Amex the best cashback card in the universe?

by Harlan 22 Comments

<3

<3

Sorry for the hyperbole slash clickbait-y title. I thought I was being on trend.

But seriously, I love this card. I’m close to being obsessed with it:

We all love our points and miles. But I’ve been reading about straight cashback cards for a sec now, and the poor Fidelity Amex always gets swept under the rug.

Well no longer. This card is a gem. It has so much going for it. And it might just be the ace in the back pocket of cashback cards, which by default makes it the best cashback card in the universe.

Let me extoll the ways

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Enroll in Citi’s 60-Day Return Guarantee Program

by Harlan Leave A Comment

I was trolling around on the Citi website today and decided to look through my Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Amex benefits. Lots of good things in there. I like this card because it’s an American Express card not issued by Amex and is no longer open for enrollment. I can use it for Amex Sync offers, Small Business Saturday, and possibly to load up my Serve account (haven’t gotten that far yet).

As I got to the “Shopping benefits” section, I noticed there was one for which I had to manually enroll in on the website.

The 60-Day Return Guarantee program

There it was, hanging out there in the corner like a creep.

asdasd

Citi 60-Day Return Guarantee program

Screenshot 2015-05-15 11.30.58-1

Enrollment screen – good for a year

I clicked on it, and there was a little button that said “Enroll.” If I enrolled, it would be good for a year. 

So I did it. Why not. Then I was told about the benefits:

Citi 60-Day Return Guarantee

How to use the Citi 60-Day Return Guarantee

The benefit is good for $250 per claim and up to $1,000 annually. Things returned must be new and unopened. Fair enough. Really not so shabby at all. But then I thought…

WHERE DO I SEND THE STUFF? 

Apparently to their office in Ohio lol. But whatever. Then I was like… uhhhh… do I pay for the shipping (I think so)?

And then I started to think if I’d ever wanted to return something after a merchant’s return period had run out. Or what if I bought something while traveling and can’t get it back to the shop? Or what if the store doesn’t allow returns?

It hasn’t happened a lot, but here and there… yeah, definitely. Maybe once or twice a year. As long as I put the entire amount of the purchase on this card, I could return it and get the money back. Nice.

This is old news

So I thought I’d stumbled upon something new and exciting but nope. This thing’s been around since 2012. Practically Stone Age for the points and miles crowd.

I wanted to mention it here because I’d never heard of it in all my excavations about terms and conditions. Maybe it’s been around so long that it’s not mentioned any more? In any regard, it lives!

Discover, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and Chase Freedom all have similar programs. And the one for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, anyway, is up to $500 per item and you have 90 days to return it. A month more and double the protection that Citi offers.

Chase Sapphire Preferred

Chase Sapphire Preferred return protection

However, I couldn’t find much online on the Chase website, so kudos to Citi for making it so easy to find and understand.

Also, apparently, you have to enroll manually for this benefit with Citi – it is not an automatic feature of Citi credit cards. So I wanted to toss it out there in case it might help someone and they’d like to enroll.

Bottom line

Citi has a program that I didn’t know about before today called the 60-Day Return Guarantee.

They’ve kinda hidden under the “Card Benefits” section of the their website, near the bottom. You have to find it and manually enroll to receive the benefit for 1 year for free.

Has anyone else, um, heard of this? Has anyone ever actually used this perk – or something similar offered by another credit card? How was your experience? 

Club Carlson eliminating free night for award stays on June 1st

by Harlan 2 Comments

This changes things

This changes things

Ever have those moments where everything is turned upside down in an instant? Where everything you thought you knew went out the window in a split second?

Club Carlson devalues

That happened to me this morning when I saw that Club Carlson will be eliminating its free award night for credit card holders on award stays, effective June 1st.

That makes this post about how much the annual bonus is worth, um… worthless.

This benefit is literally the only reason I have the US Bank Club Carlson Visa. And I’ve been such a fanboy about it here on Out and Out for so long. In fact, I’ve been geeking out about staying with them in Ireland for about a month by now.

I’ve gone out of my way to stay in their properties. But, given their tiny footprint, they can’t compete with Hyatt or Starwood (similar footprint) or with the big guns (IHG, Marriott, Hilton).

Some of their Category 1 and 2 properties will still be good deals, but those are few and far between, and in some really far-flung places.

The elimination of the free award night brings them more in line with Hilton and IHG prices, which they can’t compete with. Period.

Their only saving grace is the generous earning ability with the co-branded credit card. But given the sparseness of their hotel network, I’m not sure if it’s worth it any more.

Bottom line

I’m torn between hanging on to the US Bank Club Carlson Visa for one more year just to get the anniversary bonus one more time, then canceling and… dumping them right now out of spite.

I’ll probably hang on to it, but my spending on it will drop like a stone.

I think I’ll turn to Hyatt now as my primary chain, and not go out of my way for Club Carlson any more. If one of their properties work, then great… but when I have the choice, I won’t make them my go-to any more.

Very, very disappointed. But can’t say I’m really surprised.

My prediction for next devaluation: sadly enough, American’s AAdvantage program.

Does this news affect your relationship with Club Carlson? Will you burn your points and dump the card when June 1st rolls around? 

HT to Frequent Miler for breaking the news!

New Barclays AAdvantage Aviator MasterCard: Will you still get the 10,000 mile anniversary bonus if you upgrade?

by Harlan 10 Comments

The new Aviator Red MasterCard

The new Aviator Red MasterCard

I wanna dig into this a little, in part because it’s a topic I don’t know the answer to (spoiler alert!), and in part because I would like to upgrade.

As part of Barclays’ discontinuation of the US Airways credit card products, they’ve sent out materials for which version of the Aviator existing cardholders should expect to receive.

I was selected to get the AAdvantage Aviator Red MasterCard.

Barclays' mailed communication about the product change

Barclays’ mailed communication about the product change

Note that they mention the 50% bonus miles promo at the bottom of the page.

They also included a page of FAQs:

Aviator Red FAQ page

Aviator Red FAQ page

But what about the anniversary bonus?

I’ve done a little digging, and Barclays has confirmed that cardholders will continue to receive the 10,000 mile anniversary bonus if they keep the product they are selected to receive. Which is great news. (I barely eked my way in at the last minute into the card with the 10,000 bonus miles.)

But what about if you want to upgrade from Red to Silver? That’s where the murkiness is coming in, and I’ve read reports that if you upgrade (or downgrade) from what’s been pre-selected for you, you will forfeit your 10,000 mile anniversary bonus. Which is not-so-great news.

The other side of the coin is that since this product is so new, and in fact hasn’t even been sent out yet, we still don’t know exactly what will happen.

So here’s my dilemma.

I want the Aviator Silver

Read More

Barclays Rewards Fan Zone: Earn 500+ FREE Arrival+ Miles

by Harlan 9 Comments

Barclays Arrival+

Barclays Arrival+

Note: this may be a targeted offer, but definitely worth it to see if it’s on your account. 

Barclays is now offering the “Rewards Fan Zone” where you can earn extra Arrival+ miles by completing various (easy) “activities”.

Rewards Fan Zone

To see if you’ve been targeted, simply check your Arrival+ card on the Barclays website. Here’s what showed up for me:

Barclays Arrival+ Rewards Fan Zone

Barclays Arrival+ Rewards Fan Zone

After you log in to the Barclays website, navigate over to the “Barclaycard extras” tab to see what shows up for you.

I was on the cusp of 5,000 Arrival+ miles, and the activities chosen for me to complete were enough to put me over the edge for my next $50 award redemption, with absolutely no spend required.

Rewards Fan Zone interface

Rewards Fan Zone interface

A couple of my tasks

A couple of my activities

As you can see, the activities are super easy to complete, and really only take a second or two per task:

My activities

My activities

It’s stuff like connecting your Barclaycard to social media, following them on Twitter, watching a short video, etc. The miles posted instantly, right after I completed each activity.

My Rewards Fan Zone activity

My Rewards Fan Zone activity

Bottom line

Nothing major, but you can get an extra few bucks worth of travel redemptions for clicking a few buttons.

If you’re on the cusp of your next award redemption, it’s totally worth it to check to see if you’re targeted for this.

More than anything, I’m glad Barclays is continuing to offer enhancements on the Arrival+ cards like:

I’m curious to see what else they continue to roll out for this card and for the new Rewards Fan Zone to make it competitive within the rewards card industry. That curiosity has been my biggest driver for keeping this card as long as I have (along with a great retention offer).

Kudos to Barclays for continuing to innovate in a crowded market, even if it is only for a few extra hundred miles. I’m looking forward to seeing what they roll out next.

Was anyone else targeted for this? Are your offers better than mine? Would love to hear if offers differ from what I’ve posted!

I’m dumping the Chase British Airways Visa – and you should, too

by Harlan 29 Comments

For a long time, the Chase British Airways Visa has offered 1.25 points per dollar on non-bonus spend.

But starting April 30th, 2015, the card will become worthless. And you should dump it.

Rest in pieces

Rest in pieces

I’ve seen a lot of other bloggers saying how you can still get 50,000 Avios, without paying the annual fee of $95 the first year, and that the card is still worth it for that reason alone. No.

Dump it

I’ve long been a supporter of the Chase British Airways Visa. I’ve even toyed with the idea of putting $30,000 of spend through the card to trigger the Travel Together companion certificate, despite the outrageous (!!!) fuel surcharges. I even researched Fifth Freedom flights, in part to defend the usefulness of Avios.

But this new earning structure, combined with the changes to their business/first class award redemptions, renders the card completely useless.

In fact, many other cards offer better earning rates for British Airways Avios:

  • The Chase Ink Plus will continue to offer 5 Avios (Ultimate Rewards points) per dollar on office supply and telecommunication spend
  • The Chase Sapphire Preferred will continue to offer 2 Avios per dollar on all travel (a very broad category already) and dining (also very broad)
  • The American Express EveryDay Preferred will offer 4.5 Avios (Membership Rewards Points) per dollar on all grocery spend up to $6,000 per year (after 30 transactions per month), 3 Avios per dollar on gas, and 1.5 Avios on all other spend – this alone beats the socks off the Chase British Airways Visa – and it has the same annual fee (!)

Other thoughts

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