Tag Archives: Choice Hotels

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My 2024 Travel Recap: Elite Statuses, Flights & Hotel Nights

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I thought it would be cool to share the hotel and airline elite statuses I earned (and matched to) in 2024 along with the number of flights I flew and the number of nights I stayed in hotels.  Fun fact: I might be the only travel blogger without Hyatt Globalist Elite Status (I actually don’t have any Hyatt status).  Read on to learn more interesting facts about my 2024 travel recap.

2024 Flights & Airline Elite Statuses

  • Alaska Airlines is the only airline status that I earned (and care about).  I took 14 flights and earned 13,658 elite miles.  I also earned 8,000 elite miles from spending $20,000 on my Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card.  I am looking forward to earning Alaska Airlines MVP Elite Status in 2025 with several Companion Fare flights and awards booked with Alaska Airlines miles.
  • SFO is my nearest international airport, but I only flew United Airlines 3x last year.
  • Before the end of 2024, I status matched to Hawaiian Airlines Pualani Gold (allows better seat assignments on Hawaiian Airlines) and Southwest Airlines A List, but I don’t have any Southwest Airlines flights planned in 2025 since all my favorite routes were moved from SFO to OAK.
Loyalty Program Status Status from Credit Card Notes Flights
Alaska Airlines MVP 13,658 Elite Miles from flying + 8,000 Elite Miles from credit card spend 14
Delta Airlines 3 trips: SFO-ATL-DAB, DAB-ATL-SFO, and MIA-JFK 5
United Airlines 3 trips: SFO-SNA, SNA-SFO, and SFO-DEN 3
Air France / KLM 1 Business Class Award: ARN-AMS-LAX 2
Avelo Airlines 2 trips: STS-BOI and BOI-STS 2
Finnair 2 trips: DUB-HEL and HEL-ARN 2
Aer Lingus 1 Business Class Award: DEN-DUB 1
JetBlue 1 trip: SFO-FLL 1
Hawaiian Airlines Pualani Gold Status matched from Alaska Airlines MVP Elite Status (Dec 2024) 0
Southwest Airlines A List Status matched from Alaska Airlines MVP Elite Status (Dec 2024) 0
Total Flights:  30

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My Overly Ambitious 2025 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

Good morning everyone, happy Sunday!  Not to be deterred by my abysmal 2024 results (How Right (& Wrong) were my 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions?), 2025 is a fresh year and the year all most some a few of my predictions will come true.  Without further ado, here are my predictions for 2025:

My 2025 Airline Predictions:

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will bring back their “convert travel funds to airline miles” feature.
  • Alaska Airlines will let you use the Companion Fare to book Hawaiian Airlines flights.
  • American Airlines will return as a Citi ThankYou Points transfer partner.
  • British Airways will lower their partner redemption prices for American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
  • Delta will increase the annual fee on their credit cards and increase the Delta SkyMiles discount to 20%-25%.
  • JetBlue will allow you to redeem points on a new partner airline (besides Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways).
  • Southwest Airlines will do a status match once they start selling seat assignments.
  • United Airlines will bring back their “family pooling” feature.

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8 Miles & Points Predictions from the Past that Came True Too Late

Good evening everyone, happy Wednesday Thursday Friday (or whatever day it is).  I hope you enjoyed reading How Right (& Wrong) were my 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions?  Admittedly, my track record on making accurate predictions is pretty bad, but I decided to play Monday Morning Quarterback and take a loooooong look back at travel predictions I made over the last 7 years.  I dusted off my prediction archives and found 8 predictions that came true, but just a couple years too late.  Here they are:

2017 predictions that came true too late:

  • Alaska Airlines will introduce a new level of elite status (maybe MVP Gold 100K?) – Alaska Airlines added MVP Gold 100K elite status in January 2022 (link).
  • Citi will stop issuing the Citi Prestige and focus more on improving the Citi Premier. – Citi stopped accepting applications for the Citi Prestige in July 2021 (link) and rebranded the Citi Strata Premier in May 2024 (link).

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Buy Miles / Points Promos Ending Soon: Air Canada (80%), IHG (100%), Leading Hotels of the World (100%), Choice (60%), Spirit (40%) & Many More in December

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  I was working on my Buy Miles & Points Page and found 5 offers that end this week and many more end in December (see the list at the bottom of this post).  Always check the math to make sure that buying miles & points makes sense for you.  Do not buy miles & points speculatively unless you have a use in mind.  With that said, here are 5 offers that end soon.

Up first, Air Canada is offering up to an 80% bonus, depending on the number of Air Canada Aeroplan Miles you purchase. This offer expires tomorrow – December 10.

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3 Buy Miles / Points Promos Ending Soon: JetBlue (125%), Choice Hotels (50%) & Hawaiian Airlines (100%)

Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday! I was working on my Buy Miles & Points Page and found 3 offers that end in the next week.  Always check the math to make sure that buying miles & points makes sense for you.  Do not buy miles & points speculatively unless you have a use in mind.  With that said, here are 3 offers that end soon.

Up first, JetBlue is offering up to a 125% bonus, depending on the number of JetBlue TrueBlue Points you purchase. This offer expires today – November 8.

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