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 month. Up first, JetBlue is offering up to a 40% discount, depending on the number of JetBlue TrueBlue Points you purchase. This offer expires tomorrow – January 23.
Good morning everyone, happy Friday! I was listening to the Frequent Miler On The Air podcast recently and they were discussing free night certificates. As I mentioned in my Ask Me Anything (AMA): Hotel Edition post, I have quite a few hotel credit cards that come with free night certificates. I wanted to compare the free night certificates and separate the standouts from the duds. I used Frequent Miler’s Reasonable Redemption Values (RRV) for the hotel point values. Some of these credit cards are available for new members, while some are no longer available (NLA), but you may be able to convert to them if you have the correct credit card.
I looked at the credit card’s annual fee and the category cap that the free night certificate is good for. I also included Radisson Rewards anniversary points, even though they are points and not free night certificates. I did not take into account any addition benefits other than the free night certificate (like elite status or the ability to earn an extra free night certificate).
This is how I read the chart: the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Premier Credit Card (NLA) has an $85 annual fee and comes with a free night certificate worth up to 25,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points. Each Marriott Bonvoy Point is worth 0.72 cents per point (CPP), so the free night certificate has a value of $180. When I subtract the $95 annual fee, the credit card provides $95 in value on top of the annual fee.
| Hotel Credit Card Name (NLA = No Longer Available) |
Annual Fee |
Category Cap |
RRV CPP |
Free Night Value | True Value (FNV – AF) |
| Marriott Credit Cards | |||||
| Chase Marriott Bonvoy Premier (NLA) | $85.00 | 25,000 | 0.72 | $180.00 | $95.00 |
| Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless | $99.00 | 35,000 | 0.72 | $252.00 | $153.00 |
| Chase Marriott Bonvoy Premier Plus Biz (NLA) | $99.00 | 35,000 | 0.72 | $252.00 | $153.00 |
| American Express Marriott Bonvoy Biz | $125.00 | 35,000 | 0.72 | $252.00 | $127.00 |
| American Express Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant | $450.00 | 50,000 | 0.72 | $360.00 | -$90.00 |
| JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton (NLA) | $450.00 | 50,000 | 0.72 | $360.00 | -$90.00 |
| Radisson Rewards Credit Cards | |||||
| US Bank Radisson Rewards (NLA) | $50.00 | 25,000 | 0.38 | $95.00 | $45.00 |
| US Bank Radisson Rewards Biz (NLA) | $60.00 | 40,000 | 0.38 | $152.00 | $92.00 |
| US Bank Radisson Rewards Premier | $75.00 | 40,000 | 0.38 | $152.00 | $77.00 |
| Hyatt Credit Cards | |||||
| Chase Hyatt Hotels (NLA) | $75.00 | 15,000 | 1.50 | $225.00 | $150.00 |
| Chase World of Hyatt | $95.00 | 15,000 | 1.50 | $225.00 | $130.00 |
| IHG Credit Cards | |||||
| Chase IHG Rewards Select (NLA) | $49.00 | 40,000 | 0.57 | $228.00 | $179.00 |
| Chase IHG Rewards Premier | $89.00 | 40,000 | 0.57 | $228.00 | $139.00 |
| Hilton Credit Cards | |||||
| American Express Hilton Honors Aspire | $450.00 | 95,000 | 0.45 | $427.50 | -$22.50 |
| American Express Hilton Honors Aspire | $450.00 | 120,000 | 0.45 | $540.00 | $90.00 |
Good afternoon everyone. As part of my “Keep, Cancel or Convert?” series, I like to evaluate and reevaluate credit (and charge) cards to make sure they still deserve a spot in my wallet. Last month, the $595 annual fee posted on my American Express Business Platinum Charge Card. I have read a few recent blog posts about whether to keep or cancel the AMEX Platinum Card (from Frequent Miler and Your Mileage May Vary), so I wanted to share my view on this card.
First things first, I added my brother as an authorized user so he could access the Centurion Lounges, Escape Lounges, and Priority Pass Lounges (no more restaurants). He used the card a few times, but he decided that the $300 annual fee was not worth it to him. My statement closed on December 2, I called AMEX on December 2 or 3, and said I would like to downgrade my brother’s AMEX Business Platinum to a no annual fee AMEX Business Green (which comes with no perks, other than the $100 Global Entry credit). AMEX processed the downgrade request right away, but did not provide a full refund (I was charged $1.64 for those 2 days). Seems kind of petty to me, but let’s see if I decided to keep, cancel, or convert my AMEX Business Platinum.
Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend. A few days ago, I wrote Ask Me Anything (AMA): Credit Card Edition. I had some great reader questions and I am doing the second AMA, this time on hotels. I like to describe myself as loyal to hotel loyalty programs, but not loyal to a specific hotel chain. Here is a screenshot from AwardWallet of the hotel loyalty programs I belong to and their elite status:
Here is a quick rundown of how I have these hotel elite statuses:
Good afternoon everyone. Generally, at the end of the year, I like to review my travel predictions for the past year and make new predictions for the coming year. After a long streak of poor prediction performance (2018 prediction results, 2017 prediction results, and 2016 prediction results), I decided not to make any travel predictions for 2019. But my predictions are coming our of retirement / hibernation today. I really recommend reading the travel predictions that Stephen at Frequent Miler made, especially his top 5 predictions:
I am going to piggy back on his predictions and add a few of my own. So without further ado, here are my travel predictions for 2020