Author Archives: Grant

About Grant

Grant is an expert in frequent flyer miles, hotel loyalty points, credit card rewards, and cash back deals. He also has a pretty cool travel blog. Find him on Twitter @travelwithgrant.

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My Underwhelming Experience with MaxMyPoint, Awayz & StayWithPoints Hotel Award Alerts

Good evening everyone, I hope you all had a great Mother’s Day Weekend.  Last week, I wrote about my Summer plans to Europe, including stops in Dublin, Helsinki, and Stockholm.  We are starting in Dublin and wanted to stay 4 nights at the Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin.  The Hyatt Centric is centrally located and costs 18,000 Hyatt Points per night.  Unfortunately, there was a small issue… the 4th night of our stay was completely sold out on points and cash.

We booked the first 3 nights of the stay using a combination of Laura’s Hyatt Free Night Certificate and 36,000 Hyatt Points for the next 2 nights. I then set up hotel alerts for the last night of our stay in the hope that award availability would open up before our trip.  Here is my underwhelming experience with MaxMyPoint, Awayz & StayWithPoints hotel award alerts.

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Image source: https://www.hyatt.com/hyatt-centric/dubct-hyatt-centric-the-liberties-dublin/gallery

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4 Buy Miles / Points Promos Ending Soon: Air Canada (85%), Hilton (100%), Southwest Airlines (50%) & Choice Hotels (30%)

Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  I was working on my Buy Miles & Points Page and found 4 offers that end this 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 the 4 offers that end soon.

Up first, Air Canada is offering up to a 85% bonus, depending on the number of Air Canada Aeroplan Miles you purchase. This offer expires tomorrow – May 11.

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Transfer Limits & Times for Wyndham Rewards to Caesars Rewards; No Taxes on Hotels Booked with Points

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I am planning a trip to Las Vegas in the coming weeks and wanted to stay on the Las Vegas Strip at a Caesars Rewards property since I can use my Caesars Diamond Elite Status to get waived resort fees and easy access to the $100 Celebration Dinner voucher.  I am also planning on doing a few status matches to other casino programs and following the excellent guide created by Nick at Frequent Miler.

I also did some research on Caesars Rewards redemption options and you can use Caesars Rewards Points to pay for your hotel booking (during the booking process) and also during the hotel check-out process.  That lead me down the rabbit who to learn how the process worked and how long point transfers from Wyndham Rewards take to post to Caesars Rewards.

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Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card Cellular Wireless Telephone Protection Ending July 1, 2024

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I just downloaded my recent Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card statement and noticed that there is an upcoming change to one of the card benefits:

“Effective July 1, 2024, Cellular Wireless Telephone Protection will be removed. For details about your individual benefits, please see the Benefits section of the customer website at Wyndhambusinesscard.com.”

I was not even aware of this benefit, but wanted to do some digging to learn more.

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My Scandinavian Summer: Helsinki & Stockholm Recommendations Needed

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  A few days ago, I wrote Comparing Alaska Airlines, British Airways & Qatar Airways Award Prices for 2 Finnair Flights (DUB-HEL & HEL-ARN).  At the end of that post, I hinted that I needed some recommendations for things to see and do in Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden.  That is where this post comes in.  I have never been to either city and wanted to reach out to my readers to see if they had any recommendations.  Here is what I have in mind, but I am open to your suggestions as well.  Thank you!

Helsinki, Finland for 2 Days in the Summer

Laura and I love going on canal tours (we did 4 river / canal tours last summer in Prague, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Giethoorn, which is about an hour outside Amsterdam).  I was excited when I came across the Helsinki Canal Cruise on Viator.  I love booking activities on Viator because you can often get 10-15% cash back by going through an online shopping portal and most activities have the “Reserve Now & Pay Later” feature where you can cancel for free up to 24 hours in advance.  Viator also occasionally has card linked offers like AMEX Offers, Chase Offers, and Citi Merchant Deals, so I am hoping one of those deals pops up before my trip.

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