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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Why Did American Express Enroll Me in Cash Advance Program?

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Good afternoon everyone.  A few weeks ago, American Express sent out emails with the subject line “Cash Advance Enrollment Update.”  Uh oh, “cash advance” are bad words to any travel hacker and credit card user.  I decided to investigate further to see what American Express was up to regarding the cash advance feature on one of my credit cards.  Based on the context of the email, it looks like American Express proactively enrolled me in the “Cash Advance program” without getting my permission.  I decided to log in and see what was going on.

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Day Trip: San Salvador Volcano & Restaurant La Pupusa Loka

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope you enjoyed reading about the amazing category 1 SPG hotel (3,000 or 4,000 SPG points per night) in San Salvador: Sheraton Presidente San Salvador Hotel.  When we were not eating in the Sheraton club lounge or eating breakfast in the restaurant, we went on a day trip to a local volcano and pupusa restaurant.  The whole tour with admission to the volcano and transportation cost $40 per person.  Lunch was not included, but only cost me ~$7.  We started the tour at our hotel, picked up another person at a nearby hotel, and then drove to the volcano (~30 minute drive).  The volcano is in Parque El Boqueron.  Here is a beautiful painting on a brick wall.

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Hotel Review: Sheraton Presidente San Salvador Hotel (Great Location, Lounge & Breakfast)

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  After a quick stop in Guatemala City with a 1 night stay at the Courtyard Marriott Guatemala City and a fun afternoon trip to the Guatemala City Zoo, we flew from Guatemala City (GUA) to San Salvador (SAL), the capital of El Salvador.  We stayed at the Sheraton Presidente San Salvador Hotel using 4,000 SPG Points (it would have been only 3,000 SPG Points if we stayed on the weekend).

The property is beautiful, with lots of palm trees and country flags near the hotel entrance.  The hotel is ~45 minutes away from the airport, so we asked the hotel to organize a taxi for us (cost was $30).  After we checked out, we used Uber to get back to the airport for ~$21. Checking into the hotel was easy and we were upgraded to a nice room on the club floor thanks to my friend’s SPG Platinum Elite Status.  We had access to the Club Lounge (great food and snacks) and free breakfast in the restaurant.

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Sheraton Presidente San Salvador Exterior. Image source: https://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1597&language=en_US

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Convert any Citi Card to the Citi AT&T Access More Credit Card

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Good afternoon everyone, I have another short post for you guys.  Recently, I decided that I no longer wanted my Citi Dividend Credit Card – the bonus categories did not excite me this year.  So, I called Citi and asked if I could convert my Citi Dividend Credit Card into the Citi AT&T Access More Credit Card.  Unfortunately, the rep said that credit card was not available as a conversion option on my Citi Dividend Credit Card.  No worries, I asked if I could convert to the no annual fee Citi AT&T Access Credit Card instead.  Yes, she said, I could convert to that credit card.  I then asked her if I could then convert my Citi AT&T Access Credit Card to the Citi AT&T Access More Credit Card and she was not sure.  I had a hunch that it would work, so I went ahead and converted my Citi Dividend Credit Card into the no annual fee Citi AT&T Access Credit Card.  A few days later, I received my new Citi AT&T Access Credit Card.

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Should We Call for AMEX Hilton Ascend Credit Card Retention Offers on January 30?

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Good afternoon everyone, I just had an idea and I wanted to run it by you guys.  According to Reuters, American Express paid Citi $150 million dollars for their Hilton credit card portfolio.  I couldn’t find out how many cardmembers that covers, but I assume American Express paid a few bucks per cardmember.  If I were American Express and paid a lot of money for cardmembers and then cardmembers started canceling their new American Express Hilton Ascend Credit Cards before they started using the credit cards, I would be pretty annoyed.  I wonder if American Express thought about that and is prepared to keep cardmembers with decent retention offers.

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