Tag Archives: Free Stuff

Hotel Review: Sweet Upgrade to the Presidential Suite at Historic San Diego Courtyard Marriott

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Good afternoon everyone.  After our short Alaska Airlines flight from Santa Rosa / Sonoma County to San Diego, we took an Uber to the Courtyard San Diego Downtown Hotel.  I picked this hotel because the “hotel is in the former San Diego Trust and Savings Bank building, and the old vault has been converted into a one-of-a-kind meeting space that your colleagues will be talking about for years to come.”  I love staying in old, historic, charming hotels, like my Amazing Stay at DoubleTree Arctic Club Hotel in Seattle (Historic Building Built in 1917).

This hotel costs 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points per night, so I used my Free Night Certificate from the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card to book the first night and then I used 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points for the second night.  Somehow, I received 5 free Suite Night Upgrades in my Marriott Bonvoy account (probably from combining my SPG & Marriott Rewards accounts and from having several Marriott credit cards with elite nights stacking).  I decided to use my last 2 Suite Night Upgrades at this hotel because they were going to expire on December 31, 2019, and I don’t have any other Marriott stays booked or planned for the rest of the year.  This turned out to be a great use of my Suite Night Upgrades…

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Say Hi to Me at the Chicago Seminars Travel Conference (October 18-20)

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Good afternoon everyone.  We are a few days away from the Chicago Seminars travel conference!  It is held every October near Chicago O’Hare at the Holiday Inn Elk Grove.  Tickets are $125 and still available.  Tickets include access to the conference (runs Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon), lunch Saturday & Sunday, coffee/snack breaks, and a complimentary drink at Saturday’s Happy Hour.  Here is the current schedule and speaker topics.  I won’t be presenting at the conference, but some of my favorite bloggers will be (Frequent Miler, Rapid Travel Chai, One Mile at a Time, Bald Thoughts, etc).  If you see me there, come say hi :)

Hopefully I will see a few Travel with Grant readers at the conference.  Safe travels to Chicago!

4 Hotel Buy Points Promos Ending Soon: Marriott (30%), Hyatt (40%), IHG (80%) & Hilton (100%)

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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 4 offers that end this week.  Up first, Marriott Hotels is offering a 30% discount, when you purchase Marriott Bonvoy Points.  This offer expires on October 18.

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Robinhood Relaunches Savings Account with 2.05% APY

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If you haven’t heard of Robinhood, now is an excellent time to join the team. Starting this week, the commission-free investment company has grown from its roots in portfolio development and day trading to becoming a solid cash management option. As of October 8th, you can open your own brokerage checking/savings account with Robinhood and start earning over 2% APY.

This may not be the first you’ve heard of this as last year, the company announced their intentions to unveil the Robinhood Cash Management product with a 3% APY; a notably competitive rate for the industry. As it stands, the actual introductory APY sits at 2.05% which isn’t bad, but it isn’t 3%. As with any percentage yield, though, it varies with the market and the market has dropped since the initial announcement. Currently, Robinhood is accepting additions to the waitlist for the product, and once you elect to participate in Robinhood Cash Management, all previously uninvested funds will be swept into participating program banks that will pay the 2.05% APY.

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How I Did Reselling the WW Presents Oprah’s 2020 Vision Live on Tour Tickets

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Good morning everyone.  I am taking a page out of Miles Per Day’s book and sharing my success with ticket reselling.  Long story short, I purchased 2 tickets to the WW Presents Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus Live on Tour from Ticketmaster during an American Express presale.  Due to a scheduling conflict, I couldn’t use the tickets, so I decided to sell them back on Ticketmaster.  By sheer dumb luck, I ended up making $476.58 after the tickets sold.  Here’s what happened…

Image source: https://www.livenationentertainment.com/2019/09/oprah-winfrey-and-ww-announce-oprahs-2020-vision-your-life-in-focus-tour/

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