Category Archives: Credit Cards

a logo for a hotel

What Should I Do with my Stash of 200K Radisson Hotels Americas Points?

Posted on by . 26 Replies

Updated at 8:45am PT on 5/4/22: Fixed a few cents per point typos and added info about the speed of the Global Points Transfer.

Good afternoon everyone.  A few weeks ago, I wrote Reminiscing About and my Plan for my US Bank Radisson Rewards Premier & Business Credit Cards.  In that post, I covered the history of events from Club Carlton to Radisson Rewards to Radisson Hotels Americas and all the major changes in between.  I also covered the upcoming credit card changes and ultimately decided to keep my current credit cards as is and let the product changes occur (to get the prorated annual fee refunds).  But the next big question to answer is: What should I do with my stash of 200K Radisson Hotels Americas Points?  I don’t have an exact answer, but I will share some of the best options that are currently available.

First off, I have both a personal and business Radisson Hotels Americas account with a combined point balance of around 200K points.  Remember, you can easily move points between accounts, just call the customer service number (888-288-8889).

The easiest option would be to redeem your points for an award stay within the Americas.  Here is the award chart for all hotels in the Americas.  Most of the best properties in the Americas are in the 60K – 75K range per night, so I should be able to get about 3 nights in a nice Radisson Blu property.  If you are not interested in an award stay in the Americas, keep reading to find out what other options are available.

a screenshot of a hotel room

Continue reading →

a colorful streamers and confetti

Travel with Grant Turns 9 Years Old & My 9 Favorite Posts from the Last Year

Posted on by . 6 Replies

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend.  9 years ago today (back on May 1, 2013), Travel with Grant was born!  Even though I am not a full time blogger and writing this post from a tropical beach, I’m still very happy and grateful to still be writing and sharing my thoughts with my readers.  Every year (when I remember), I like to write a birthday / blogiversary post about TWG.  If you want to reminisce through the years, check out these old posts: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6, no Year 7 (I forgot about it during the pandemic), and Year 8.

I cover a wide variety of travel topics and don’t tend to follow the travel blogging crowd (I think of myself as Dory from Finding Nemo, just swimming around doing my own thing).  Some of these posts were very popular and got lots of pageviews, but others didn’t get as much love as I thought they would.  But without further ado, here are my 9 favorite posts from the last year (May 2021 – April 2022) in chronological order. Continue reading →

a close-up of a logo

Did Caesars Rewards Says No $100 Dining Credit for You? Check with the Participating Restaurants

Posted on by . 13 Replies

Good afternoon everyone.  Last week, I was in New Orleans for the 31st annual Freddie Awards.  During my visit, I went over to the Harrah’s New Orleans, Caesars casino property, to pick up my new Caesars Rewards Diamond card.  Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot of drama over Caesars Rewards Diamond matching from Wyndham Rewards Diamond.  I have the Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card which comes with Wyndham Rewards Diamond Elite Status and I was able to match to Caesars Rewards Diamond Elite Status pretty easily (without the upgrade, downgrade, and upgrade drama).

My favorite perk of Caesars Rewards Diamond Elite Status is the $100 dining credit you get each year.  After having diamond status for the past 3-4 years, I was finally able to use the $100 dining credit for the first time.  Unfortunately, when I went to the Caesars Rewards desk at Harrah’s New Orleans, the agent said I wasn’t eligible for the $100 dining credit since I did a status match.  Hmm, I thought I was eligible, so I decided to do some more research.  In this post, I will show you what I did to confirm my $100 dining credit and how I used my credit.

Continue reading →

a close-up of a logo

2 Hawaii Timeshare Vacation Package Deals: Hilton Grand Vacations Honolulu (Oahu) or Waikoloa (Big Island) & Westin Vacation Club Kaanapali (Maui)

Posted on by . 8 Replies

Updated at 7:20am PT on 4/27/22: Hawaii is very popular this year, so instead of booking the timeshare vacation package and picking your dates later, I would suggest locking in your dates when you book the package.  Here is a recent horror story of the Sheraton Kauai on FlyerTalk.

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  Last week, I wrote Stop Ignoring Vacasa Vacation Rentals! Get Awesome Condos for 13,500 Wyndham Rewards Points per Night.  In that post, I shared my recently booked Vacasa Vacation Rentals in Hawaii.  If you prefer hotels over condos, I have 2 great timeshare vacation packages available.  The first is with Hilton Grand Vacations and is available to the public.  The second is with Westin Vacation Club and looks targeted, but you can reach out to Westin Vacation Club to see if you are eligible.  I have experience with timeshare presentations and have stayed at a few of these properties before.  I will go through the booking process of each to show you what it is like, what is included, and how much it costs.

Let’s get started with the Hilton Grand Vacations offer.  Here is the link to the landing page with the various properties.

a advertisement for a hotel

Continue reading →

a blue letter with a white background

Stop Ignoring Vacasa Vacation Rentals! Get Awesome Condos for 13,500 Wyndham Rewards Points per Night

Posted on by . 26 Replies

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  A few days ago, I booked 3 more Vacasa Vacation Rentals for an upcoming trip to Maui and Oahu.  I am a huge fan of Vacasa (especially in Hawaii) and the booking process is pretty easy, you just need to call Wyndham Rewards. The price is right too at only 13,500 Wyndham Rewards Points per bedroom per night, if you have the Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner+ Credit Card or the Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card (or 15,000 points per bedroom per night without the credit card).  Here are the 6 Vacasa properties in Hawaii that I have booked and stayed at / will stay at.  There are actually a few ways to earn Wyndham Rewards Points that I will show you later in the post.  Let’s get started.

Continue reading →