Author Archives: Whitney

About Whitney

Whitney is a deal hound who caught the travel bug in 2014, a bit later in life than most so now she's playing catch-up with credit card bonuses and manufactured spending. Find her on Twitter @WhiskiBravo.

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American Express SPG Personal vs. Business: Which Credit Card is Better on August 1?

Good afternoon everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve posted here but I think I’ve stumbled across some juicy information that warrants coming out of hiding. Lately, there’s been a lot of blog coverage regarding the change to the Marriott/SPG loyalty program. However, American Express also announced a change to the earning categories of their personal and business SPG credit cards. Both credit cards will continue to have the same annual fee, however 1 will earn TWICE as much as the other in certain popular categories.

I currently hold both the personal and business SPG credit cards and I have decided that I need to cancel one credit card because the annual fees just posted on both credit cards. My SPG business credit card has a lower APR (although you shouldn’t be carrying a balance and paying interest if you’re travel hacking) but my personal SPG credit card has been open for a longer period of time. There are no downgrade options so closing one of them and hopefully transferring the credit limit of that credit card to another credit card might be the best way to go. I initiated a chat with American Express to discuss my options. I asked the agent if there were any benefits that one credit card had over the other. (I know this info is available on the web but I’m at work and didn’t have the time to do a search and compare.) What I found out was exactly what I needed to decide which credit card to close and which credit card to keep open.

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My 2017 American Airlines AAdvantage Status Challenge

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Hi everyone.  This is just a short post to share my American Airlines AAdvantage Status Challenge with you.  I’ve gone from Platinum in 2015, to Gold in 2016 to nada this year.  I purposefully fell short of re-qualifying for Gold this year in hopes of doing this status challenge and now I’m $86 Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQDs) short of completing it thanks to just 1 flight purchased with my Citi Thank You Points.

This status challenge was not targeted.  I just called AAdvantage and asked them for a challenge so they offered me 2 different challenges, 1 for Gold and 1 for Platinum, each with the option to pay extra to have the status during the challenge.  Below is the breakdown of the 4 options that I had to choose from followed by my reasoning for the option that I chose.

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I Made $570 Last Month Renting Out my Car with Turo

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Hello everyone!  It’s been a few months since my last post.  I had a bit of a hectic summer but I’m hoping to get back to regular posts now.  It’s been about a year now since I’ve had a regular job.  I’ve been subsisting on a few different side hustles and my newest side hustle has been renting my car out via Turo (get $25 off your first Turo rental with my referral link).  I’d like to share my experience thus far with you and why I think this applies to frequent travelers.

Turo is like Airbnb but for cars instead of housing.  It’s a car rental marketplace where travelers can rent any car they want directly from a community of local car owners throughout the US, Canada & UK for as much as 30% less than traditional car rental agencies.  Obviously, this applies to frequent travelers who need to rent a car wherever their destination is.  However, I believe it can also apply to frequent travelers who are leaving their personal vehicle behind when traveling.  Why not make some passive income renting your vehicle out to others while you are out of town?

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My Delicious Experience using EatWith.com in Barcelona

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Earlier this month I wrote a post asking for your suggestions for my solo trip to Barcelona.  I got some great suggestions (thanks again!) and I will be following up with a full trip report soon….stay tuned :)  One of the things I mentioned wanting to try was EatWith.com and since I haven’t heard much about it from other people I wanted to share my experience with you.

The website was pretty easy to use, I’d say even easier than AirBnB.  Just type in your city and the date that you want to dine.

eatwith.com search

As you can see the options are listed in chronological order and the price as well as rating are displayed.

eatwith.com selection

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Why You Should Take Advantage of Random Status Matches

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Good morning everyone!  Earlier this month I traveled solo to Spain on a mistake fare that I got with TAP Portugal early last year.  I live in Charlotte but the fare was from JFK so I used Citi ThankYou points to get myself a positioning flight on American from CLT to JFK.  TAP Portugal is a no frills airline which can be painful when you have a long journey like I did.  I had a 3 hour layover at JFK and what was supposed to be a 3 hour layover after a red-eye to my connection in Portugal.  My return journey included a 4 hour layover in Portugal and an overnight near JFK before taking the first morning flight to Charlotte.  When you are on such a long journey lugging around heavy bags, long waits in security lines and sitting at gates during layovers can be painful.  Luckily I took advantage of a random status match on an airline I had no plans of flying with at the end of 2015 and that afforded me a few comforts that may have saved me from losing my mind.

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