I just discovered an important task that somehow never got done. Small tasks often have big benefits, and I don’t want to miss this bonus. Maybe because I was traveling during October, but holy cow, I never activated my Freedom card for this quarter’s bonus spend.
Everyone loves AMEX offers, right? Amex offers are one of the most reliable benefits of the card. But why should AMEX get all the love. Chase ended their Chase Offers program back in April leaving us with a promise of a new and improved one. I’m thinking many of us are happy to hear that in a few days, Chase is bringing back Chase Offers. Continue reading
Good morning everyone. A few weeks ago, Chase changed their travel provider for their Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal to Expedia, so I decided to do an updated guide on how to book travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal and pay with your Chase Ultimate Rewards Points. To get started, sign into your Chase online account and click the Go to Ultimate Rewards button on the right side of the page.
World of Hyatt program changes have been coming at us from all sides. I wrote about the major ones last week. Because of how Hyatt is now charging on their Cash+Points rate, going forward the math makes more sense to book rooms using an all points rate. Then it struck me. I better start accruing way more Hyatt points if I won’t be able to stretch points and their value like I used to. So I began looking at my options for increasing my Hyatt points stash. Continue reading
Some rumors stay rumors and some materialize. In the case of Hyatt’s acquisition of Two Roads Hospitality, I’m thrilled the rumor materialized. Bringing Two Roads Hospitality under the World of Hyatt umbrella adds 23 new markets and potentially 85 properties. Any increase in Hyatt’s footprint is a good thing. More opportunities to both redeem and earn Hyatt points are always welcome.
I wasn’t living under a rock yesterday when this news broke, but I was preoccupied with drinking coffee and talking with baristas in one of my favorite cities thereby creating another Bean Around the World post for TWG readers. I’m late to the announcement party, but in this case better late than never.
Even though the integration of these new properties won’t happen until 2019, I’m looking ahead and was actually surprised when I looked at the list of properties being added to the Hyatt portfolio how many I’ve either stayed at, knew about, or would be interested in visiting. I may even have to get my skis out of storage for some of these fun locations!
It will be interesting to watch this unfold, see which properties do become Hyatt properties, how elite benefits will be honored, and the points award charts for some of these unique properties. For me, one major disappointment in this acquisition is that even though Hyatt’s expansion with Small Luxury Hotels increases its scope in Europe, this acquisition does not. Come on Hyatt, show Europe more love!
Do any of the properties Hyatt’s bringing on board through this acquisition peak your interest? Any you’ve already stayed at you’d recommend?