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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American Express Cards Will No Longer Earn 2x Membership Reward Points on Uber Rides (Effective February 1)

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Updated 11pm PT on 1/4: This change affects all American Express cards, not just the American Express Platinum Card.

Good evening everyone.  I was reviewing my American Express Platinum Business Charge Card statement this afternoon and spotted this announcement.  Effective February 1, American Express Platinum cardholders will no longer earn 2x Membership Reward Points on Uber rides.  I believe this change affects all version of the Platinum Card.  I think this change has to do with the new Barclays Uber Visa Credit Card which earns 2% cash back on Uber rides.  A few months ago, Tonei wrote Lesson Learned: International Uber Rides Do Not Earn 2x Membership Reward Points, but international Uber rides haven’t earned 2x Membership Reward Points in a long time.  I looked all over my statement but could not find any more information about this announcement.

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Hotel Review: Boutique King George Hotel Near Union Square in San Francisco

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Updated 12pm PT on 1/8: FTC Disclosure: This was a hosted stay, but all reviews and opinions are my own.

Good morning everyone.  A few weeks ago, my girlfriend and I had the pleasure of staying at the King George Hotel in the heart of San Francisco’s Union Square.  The hotel is part of the Greystone Hotel Group which has a few boutique hotels along the West Coast.  The hotel has a British theme in a charming location.  When I stayed at the hotel, the restaurant / bar near the lobby was going through a renovation (photo at the bottom of this post).  Out front, there is a large British flag flying.  Check in was easy and we took the elevator up to the eighth floor.

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How Much Money Did I Make from Bank Account Bonuses in 2017?

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Good morning everyone, happy last Friday of the year!  A long, long time ago, before Doctor of Credit was as popular as he is now, he did a guest post for me back in March 2014: Guest Post from Doctor of Credit: Bank Account Sign Up Bonuses.  DOC has always been a big fan of bank account bonuses, but it took me a long time to get on the bandwagon and now I am hooked.  Earlier this year, I wrote about my 2016 Roundup of Bank Account Bonuses.  In 2015, I made $1,175 in bank account bonuses.  In 2016, I made $2,850 in bank account bonuses.  And this year, I made $3,700 in bank account bonuses.

Here are all the bank accounts I opened, the date they were closed and the bonus I received.  To be fair, I am still waiting for the $200 bonus to post from my Capital One 360 Money Market account, but I met the requirements already, so now I just need to wait.  I learned about all of these bonuses on DOC and he keeps a very detailed and up-to-date bank account bonuses page.

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(Reposted 12/29: 724 FlexPoints Left) Take a Point, Leave a Point! Share your Leftover FlexPoints to Help Other Travel Hackers

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Updated 12/29 at 7am PT: I still have 724 FlexPoints ready to give to readers.  If you need a few extra FlexPoints to book an award ticket by 12/31, please read this post and leave a comment below. Thank you.

Good afternoon everyone.  As you probably know, beginning on January 1, 2018, FlexPoints will be worth a fixed 1.5 cents per point (CPP) down from their current value of up to 2.0 CPP.  This is definitely a big blow to the US Bank FlexPerks Rewards program.  I’ve been a long time fan of the US Bank FlexPerks Rewards program and first got into the program when US Bank ran their 2014 Winter Olympics promo with an increased sign up bonus for their US Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card.  Since then, I’ve earned and redeemed 200,000+ FlexPoints over the last 3+ years.

Since I can get 1.5 CPP value with my new Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card and Chase Ultimate Reward Points are so much easier to rack up than US Bank FlexPoints, I have decided to liquidate my FlexPoints stash.  It is a sad day and an end to an era, but all good things must come to an end.  But there is good news!  I have decided to share my 4,793 leftover FlexPoints with my readers.

If you need between 1 and 4,793 FlexPoints to book a travel redemption (at the 20,000 or 30,000 FlexPoint threshold), please leave a comment with the number of FlexPoints you need.  After a few days, I will email each commenter, starting with the smallest FlexPoint request and ask for your FlexPerks account number.  I will then transfer the number of FlexPoints you need.  This is my small gift to my readers.

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Most of my 2017 Travel Predictions Were Wrong (Who Could Have Predicted That?)

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Good morning everyone, happy almost New Years Eve.  Earlier this month, Doctor of Credit wrote how bad travel bloggers are at making predictions (I came in last at 33% correct), but he only reviewed our credit card predictions.  I made a lot of other predictions in January 2017, so let’s see how good or bad my predictions were.  I covered airlines, hotels, credit cards, and MS.  I will put my thoughts in bold at the end of each prediction.

Airlines

  • Southwest seems bent on making the Companion Pass very difficult to get unless you fly Southwest every week.  I believe credit card signup bonuses will no longer count toward the Companion Pass and Southwest might kill the whole concept of the Companion Pass entirely or switch to a certificate program similar to the Alaska Airlines companion fare or Virgin America companion ticket.  Southwest Airlines did eliminate hotel transfers counting toward the Companion Pass, but credit card spend and sign up bonuses still count toward the Companion Pass.  I am also the proud companion on my girlfriend’s Companion Pass.
  • Other airline credit cards will adopt the Alaska Airlines companion fare (you pay full price and your companion pays up to $120) or the Virgin America companion ticket (you pay full price and your companion pays full price minus $150).  No, I don’t think any other airline added a companion fare as a credit card benefit.
  • American will introduce a basic economy fare class to compete/copy Delta and United.  Yes, I got this one right!
  • Alaska Airlines will introduce a new level of elite status (maybe MVP Gold 100K?)  No, Alaska Airlines MVP Gold 75K is still the highest elite level.
  • More airlines will get away from the 12,500 one way domestic ticket and start to introduce 5,000, 7,500, and 10,000 mile awards.  Yes, I think Alaska Airlines announced cheaper awards on shorter flights.
  • British Airways will kill the 4,500 Avios award band globally and possibly remove one of their lower award tiers.  No, 4,500 British Airways Avios tier is still available outside the US.
  • Singapore Airlines will allow us to book Star Alliance awards online, rather than calling in.  Partially true, but not rolled out completely.
  • Hawaiian Airlines will get bought by a low cost airline, Southwest Airlines or JetBlue.  No, no one bought Hawaiian Airlines.
  • We will see 1 or 2 more mileage matching promos, this time from a big legacy airline.  No, no mileage matching promo like the JetBlue / Virgin America match last year.
  • My ~20,000 Spirit Airlines miles will expire and I won’t care.  Sort of, my Spirit Airlines miles did expire, but I still shed 1 tear.

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