Good morning everyone. I will be flying down to Orange County this weekend to watch the Super Bowl with my family, so I decided to do a miles and points meetup on Saturday afternoon. If you are free this Saturday, I would love to meet you and talk travel, miles and points, MS, and politics blogging.
Good morning everyone. This post only affects people who have plans to visit Argentina, but there was a new rule/policy passed recently that if you use a foreign credit card (any credit card issued outside Argentina), you do not pay the hotel VAT (value added tax) for your stay. I’m not sure when the new rule/policy went into effect, but when I was staying at the Sheraton Libertador Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina 2 weeks ago, the front desk agent mentioned that if you pay with a credit card, you do not have to pay the hotel tax. This caught us off guard, but we didn’t ask any questions.
According to the Latin America Tourism Association:
Tourists will receive a refund for the VAT, which today stands at 21%, when they pay for their accommodation. To receive the refund, they must pay with a foreign credit or debit card, provide their passport number and confirm their address. Tour operators and travel agents who take bookings must provide this information on their behalf.
“We anticipate that the move to reimburse foreign tourists for the VAT on their hotel stays will boost tourism to the destination, increase the number of foreign tourists in the country and reinforce Argentina’s status as one of the must-see destinations in Latin America.”
“The new law not only emphasises the importance of tourism to the Argentine economy but will also improve the competitiveness of the destination’s tourism industry, which will inevitably have a long term positive effect on tourism numbers.”
“This new law, combined with the development of tourism infrastructure and the launch of new direct flights from Europe to the region, reflect the efforts being made by governments to open up Latin America to international tourism and to better promote the destination.”
There you have it, visit Argentina and avoid the 21% hotel VAT when you pay with a credit card. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!
Good evening everyone, I wish I had better news to share, but I am very sad to let you know that today it was announced that the Nationwide Visa Buxx Card program is shutting down on February 28, 2017 (according to the announcement on their homepage). You will still be able to reload your Visa Buxx Cards until January 31, 2017, which gives you time for 3 more weekly reloads before the reload deadline. If you have not spent down the balance on your cards before February 28, the funds will be refunded back to your funding credit card (this refund would void the miles, points, or cash back you would have earned), so you should spend down the balance on your cards before February 28.
This shutdown is not totally unexpected, actually, it has been overdue for quite a long time. I guess Nationwide finally decided that they were tired of being used for pajama MS. My only question now is… why did they pick the below image? Why are both women smiling and looking out the window? Is Nationwide going to introduce a new product that is superior to the Visa Buxx Card? It’s unlikely, but it could happen.
Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is off to a great start. I am home in San Francisco this weekend and it is supposed to rain all weekend. Therefore, I plan on posting and scheduling several blog posts over the next 48 hours. This first post is from my close friend Jim who is a long time traveler and travel hacker. We actually have a trip to South America together next weekend (more info to come). He was recently on a delayed United Airlines flight and he shared his experience with me regarding claiming 600 Euros (~$633). Enjoy the guest post!
Good morning everyone, I’m sorry for the delay, but I have been diligently thinking about my 2017 travel predictions. I am going to channel my inner Nostradamus to come up with some outrageous travel predictions for 2017. Doctor of Credit has a good resource for all other 2017 travel predictions.
Disclaimer: I have made some travel predictions in previous years and I am more often wrong than right, but that losing streak has not dampered my prediction spirit. To see how bad I am at making predictions, please read A Look Back at my 2016 Predictions (Airlines, Hotels, Credit Cards & MS). I consider myself an optimistic pessimist (I prepare for the worst, but hope for the best), so these travel predictions will sound depressing.