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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OC Travel Hackers Meetup Saturday, July 1 @ 12pm at Tustin District In-N-Out

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Good afternoon everyone.  I can’t believe it is almost the Fourth of July!  I will be flying down to Orange County this weekend for the Fourth of July holiday and I want to do a travel hackers meetup on Saturday afternoon.  If you are free this Saturday, I would love to meet you and talk about frequent flyer miles, hotel points, credit card rewards and MS.

  • Where: In-N-Out Burger, 2895 Park Ave, Tustin, CA 92782 (Google Maps)
  • When: Saturday, July 1 @ 12-2PM

In-N-Out Tustin District Map

There is no need to RSVP to the meetup, just show up at 12pm and be ready to talk travel.  I hope to see some of you there!  Have a great day everyone!

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Need to Change Hilton Reservation? Call to Keep Same Points Price (Don’t Change Online)

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Good morning everyone, happy Thursday!  I’m going to Iceland in September, I already booked my Icelandair flights (Booking my First 5x Membership Reward Points Flight on AMEXTravel.com Using American Express Business Platinum Charge Card), and 3 nights at the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night). So what’s the problem?  The problem is that I land in Reykjavik, Iceland, on Saturday night, but I don’t have a reservation for Saturday night. Uh oh…

I booked the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica several months ago before the new Hilton Honors program was announced and I was able to get pretty good prices on the rooms.  For 2 nights, I used cash + points (16,000 Hilton Points + 7,407.67 Icelandic Krona = $70.73 USD) and the third night, I used 40,000 Hilton Points, since there was no cash + points option available.

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$10 Off Frequent Traveler University (FTU) Expo & Signature Tickets (Chicago November 17-19)

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Good morning everyone.  Today, tickets to the Frequent Traveler University (FTU) Travel Expo and FTU Signature go on sale.  Some of your/my favorite travel bloggers will be in Chicago in mid November to share their travel knowledge, photography, and stories from the road.  I was just at FTU Advanced in Minneapolis a few weekends ago and I had a great time.  I might even speak at this coming FTU conference about hacking Southwest Airlines, hacking US Bank FlexPoints, or my credit card retention/reconsideration strategies. Stay tuned…

FTU Travel Expo – Marriott O’Hare Hotel, Chicago – Saturday, November 18, 2017

FTU Travel Expo will comprise of 36,000 sq ft of exhibition space and 4 simultaneous educational stages. Upwards of 3,000 travelers are expected to attend. With sponsors such as Marriott and Norwegian Airlines, we will have travelers of all experience levels. Confirmed speakers include FTU regulars plus guest speakers Rudy Maxa, Nomadic Matt, Chris Guillebeau, Chris McGinnis & Johnny Jet, and more.

Tickets are $39, but if you purchase by July 31, you can save $10 with promo code FTUEARLY (link)

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I spy a Travel with Grant blogger in attendance

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World of Hyatt Glitch: Anniversary Free Night Certificate Showing for Category 5-7 Properties (But Not Bookable)

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YOU CANNOT BOOK CATEGORY 5-7 HYATT HOTELS WITH THE ANNIVERSARY FREE NIGHT CERTIFICATE – SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION AND CLICKBAIT-SOUNDING TITLE

(Hat Tip to the Travel Hacking 101 Facebook Group)

Good morning everyone.  Yesterday, I was in my World of Hyatt account and I wanted to see when my Chase Hyatt Credit Card Anniversary Free Night Certificate was set to expire.  To see when you certificate will expire, log into your Hyatt account, click the My Account header, and click on My Awards.  My certificate will expire on November 9, 2017, and I have to complete my stay by that date. While I was looking for hotels to use my certificate at, I discovered a glitch where the certificate will show up as a payment option when it is not supposed to.

a screenshot of a hotel

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How to Redeem Virgin America $150 Companion Discount Code & My Important Warning

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Good morning everyone, happy Sunday!  I wanted to quickly thank everyone who braved the 100+ degree weather in Sacramento to attend my Sacramento Travel Hackers Meetup at In-N-Out yesterday.  It was great talking to you about miles and points.  I look forward to returning when the weather cools down a little bit.  A few weeks ago, I needed to purchase flights from San Francisco (SFO) to Las Vegas (LAS) on Virgin America.  I needed to go to Las Vegas for a specific weekend and I bought tickets somewhat last minute, so flights were expensive.  Here was the price for 2 round trip tickets on Virgin America. I found it odd that if I purchased the flights from Virgin America or through Google, the price was $729 total, but if I bought the same flights through Alaska Airlines, the price was only $613 total.  That seemed really strange to me.

I currently have a Comenity Virgin America Premium Visa Signature Credit Card which includes a Virgin America $150 Companion Discount Code.  A few months ago, I wrote Comparing the Alaska Airlines $120 Companion Fare Code vs. Virgin America $150 Companion Discount Code.  I remembered that I still had my Virgin America $150 Companion Discount Code available that was going to expire in the next few months.  In this post, I will show you how to redeem your Virgin America $150 Companion Discount Code and provide a warning before you use your Companion Discount Code.

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