Tag Archives: Hotels

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The Results Are In! My Wild & Crazy 2023 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

Updated at 7am PT on 12/28/23: 1 correction made to the UA “Miles & Money” prediction.  I am now up to 4 / 31 :)


Good morning everyone, I hope you are having a great holiday season so far!  Now that we are approaching the end of 2023, it’s time to review my 2023 predictions and see how (badly) I did.  Correct predictions are in green and incorrect predictions are in red.

My 2023 Airline Predictions (1 / 4)

  • American Airlines or Alaska Airlines will be added as a transfer partner from a transferable points currency. – No, AA and AS were not added as a transfer partner in 2023, but AA is still a transfer partner of Bilt.
  • British Airways will change their award chart to calculate the number of Avios needed on a combined distance flown, not on a segment by segment basis. – No, BA has not changed their award chart to calculate combined distance flown.
  • Delta Airlines or United Airlines will introduce a “Miles and Cash” payment option for award tickets (pay 10,000 miles or pay 8,000 miles + $40). – Yes, UA does have a “Miles & Money” payment method that offers between 0.75 CPP – 1.0 CPP (Frequent Miler article).
  • Southwest Airlines will work very hard to make up for their December 2022 travel nightmare by offering a transfer bonus from Chase and spending offers on their credit cards in January 2023. – No, SWA did not introduce any transfer bonuses in 2023.

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10 Buy Miles / Points Promos Ending Soon: United (100%), Alaska (50%), Southwest (50%), LHW (100%), IHG (100%), Wyndham (40%), Air Canada (20%), Avianca (175%), Hilton (100%) & Virgin Atlantic (70%)

Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  I was working on my Buy Miles & Points Page and found 10 offers that end this month!  Always check the math to make sure that buying miles & points makes sense for you.  Do not buy miles & points speculatively unless you have a use in mind.  With that said, here are 10 offers that end soon.

Up first, United Airlines is offering up to a 100% bonus, depending on the number of United Airlines MileagePlus Miles you purchase.  This offer expires today – December 22.

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I Paid $4,807 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2023 – Was it Worth it?

Good evening everyone, I hope your holiday season is going well.  With the end of the year right around the corner, I decided to publish my 2023 version of credit card annual fees I paid this year.  For comparison, here are my previous credit card annual fee posts:

For this year’s post, I decided to break up the list of credit cards into 5 sections:

  • New credit cards with sign up bonuses
  • Credit cards with retention offers
  • Credit cards that have been upgraded / downgraded / product changed
  • Annual fees saved on closed credit cards
  • All other credit cards

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6 Buy Miles / Points Promos Ending Soon: British Airways (40%), Choice Hotels (30%), Marriott (30%), Air France / KLM (100%), Radisson (50%) & United Airlines (100%)

Good afternoon everyone, happy Thursday!  I was working on my Buy Miles & Points Page and found 6 offers that end in the next week.  Always check the math to make sure that buying miles & points makes sense for you.  Do not buy miles & points speculatively unless you have a use in mind.  With that said, here are 6 offers that end soon.

Up first, British Airways is offering up to a 40% bonus, depending on the number of British Airways Avios you purchase.  This offer expires tomorrow – December 15.

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Unsolicited Advice: How I Would Price Vacasa Vacation Rental Point Redemptions If I Ran Wyndham Rewards

Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I’ve been a huge fan of Vacasa Vacation Rentals using Wyndham Rewards Points and have booked 6 Vacasa properties in California and Hawaii over the last few years.  Back in October, Frequent Miler discovered that Vacasa now has a lower cap on reservations booked with WR Points.  You can now only redeem WR Points if the price per bedroom per night is $350 or less, down from the previous $500 per bedroom per night.  That is a major blow to the value you could get booking Vacasa Vacation Rentals.

Here is the current chart that shows the price in dollars and WR Points needed, based on the number of bedrooms and the average nightly price (including taxes and fees).  If you have a Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus or Earner Business credit card, you get a 10% discount on the number of WR Points needed.  Based on those numbers, the maximum cents per point (CPP) is 2.33 CPP for all members and 2.59 CPP for Earner Plus and Earner Business CC members.

# Bedrooms
Avg Nightly Price Cap
# WR Points
10% Discount
CPP Standard
CPP Earner CC
1 $350 15,000 13,500 2.33 2.59
2 $700 30,000 27,000 2.33 2.59
3 $1,050 45,000 40,500 2.33 2.59
4 $1,400 60,000 54,000 2.33 2.59

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