Good afternoon everyone. I was working on my Buy Miles & Points Page and found a few offers ending soon. 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 8 offers that end this month. Up first, Hilton is offering a 100% bonus, when you purchase at least 10,000 Hilton Honors Points. This offer expires today – February 19.
Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well. I love going to hockey games and cheering on my local San Jose Sharks hockey team. If you live in the Bay Area and are a hockey and Alaska Airlines fan, here is a deal for you. If you go to the New Jersey Devils at San Jose Sharks hockey game on Thursday February 27 at 7:30pm at SAP Center, you will receive a Buy One, Get One Free voucher for an Alaska Airlines flight – you just need to pay the taxes and fees on the second ticket. According to StubHub, tickets to the game are currently selling for less than $20, but I usually buy my tickets a few minutes before the game starts for a few dollars cheaper. This is pretty similar to the yearly San Francisco Giants & Alaska Airlines deal for BOGO tickets.
If you are not a local, I recommend staying at the AC Hotel by Marriott San Jose Downtown (category 4, 20k-30k points / night) or the Hyatt Place San Jose/Downtown (12k points / night). Both hotels are a short walk away from the SAP Center and there are several good restaurants in the area.
Image source: https://www.alaskaair.com/ondemanddiscount/ssl/discountcodeclaim.aspx?campaignid=ec6588
Good afternoon everyone. I apologize for not blogging much the last 2 weeks. My real job (day job that pays the bills) has been really busy the last 2 weeks and I haven’t had the energy to write on my blog. Laura and I are going to a wedding next weekend, so we don’t have anything special planned this weekend. I’m very excited to spend Valentine’s Day with my wife (our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple) and we are going out to dinner tonight (Thursday) to avoid the craziness of Friday.
With that said, I wanted to hear what my readers are up to for Valentine’s Day and President’s Day this weekend. If you have any special plans or just spending a relaxing weekend at home, I would love to hear about it. Share your thoughts in the comments section. Happy Valentine’s Day from the Thomas’ and have a great weekend everyone!
The media has been abuzz since the Chase Sapphire Reserve was first announced in 2016, and with the recent annual fee increase, many people are wondering if this card is still the premium card it once was. If you haven’t yet taken the plunge, there are a few things that you might want to know before applying. Here’s a complete rundown of one of my favorite credit cards: the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
…it comes with a ton of perks, which I’ll talk about in detail later. In fact, the Chase Sapphire Reserve annual fee has been the talk of the town over the past few weeks because Chase just upped the annual fee from $450 to $550. Honestly, this change hasn’t been as catastrophic as some folks projected it to be; the extra hundred bucks is peanuts compared to the benefits and entitlements that Chase already had. Chase has added partner benefits to offset the bump, and they’ll be more useful for some people than others. Either way, if you take advantage of your card benefits, you’ll easily end up saving more than $550 per year.
Continue reading
Good morning everyone. This past weekend, Laura and I did a mini road trip from the San Francisco Bay Area down to Carmel / Monterey. If you fly into San Francisco (SFO), Oakland (OAK), or San Jose (SJC), it is a 1.5 to 2 hour drive, depending on traffic. Alternatively, you can fly directly into Monterey (MRY), but that airport has a smaller route network and more expensive flights. I have been visiting Carmel / Monterey for 25+ years. Every year for Thanksgiving week, my extended family would drive up from Southern California to Carmel / Monterey and I would spend time with my grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. As far as I can tell, not much has changed during that time in Carmel / Monterey. Here are some of my favorite places to stay, eat and visit.
Laura and I stayed at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel twice in the last 3 years. This hotel is a category 4 Hyatt which costs 15,000 World of Hyatt Points or you can use your Free Night Certificate from the Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card. As of January 2020, there is minor construction on the main entrance road and outside the hotel lobby. They are also refreshing the hotel rooms and we stayed in one of the refreshed rooms. The hotel has plenty of parking (all free) and no resort charges. It is very easy to get to various parts of Carmel / Monterey within a 10-15 minute drive. I highly recommend this hotel and plan to come back next year after the construction and room renovations are complete.
Image source: https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/california/hyatt-regency-monterey-hotel-and-spa-on-del-monte-golf-course/mrydm
