Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday! I was working on my Buy Miles & Points Page and found 5 offers that end this month. 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, United Airlines is offering up to a 100% bonus, depending on the number of United Airlines MileagePlus Miles you purchase. This offer expires today – July 23.
Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well. One of the current card benefits of the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card is the $20 monthly dining credit. Unfortunately I ran into an issue using this card benefit in April on 2 restaurant purchases (In N Out Burger and Panera Bread). As you can see, I never received the $20 dining credit for my April purchases, but I did receive the credit automatically in May, June, and July. Based on my transactions, the $20 dining credit posts ~3 days after the restaurant charge posts to your account. I contacted AMEX on May 1 and again on July 13 to check on the status of the dining credit and received conflicting answers. Here is what I was told and what I learned…
Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well. In the last 24 hours, I have received 2 vacation package offers that I wanted to share. The first is from Hilton Grand Vacations where you can get a 3 night stay in Orlando or Las Vegas + 15,000 Hilton Points for $149. The second offer is from Wyndham Vacation Resorts for a 3 night stay in Orlando, Myrtle Beach, Branson, Smoky Mountains, Las Vegas, San Antonio, or Destin + 15,000 Wyndham Rewards Points for $199. Both of these vacation packages require attending a 2 hour timeshare presentation (please see the terms and conditions before booking). I’m not sure if this matters, but I am in California, I am Diamond Elite Status with both chains, and I have credit cards with both chains. Here is the email I received from Hilton Grand Vacations:
Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great Easter and Passover. A few days ago, Laura and I did a roadtrip around California and stayed at The Kinney San Luis Obispo, Tapestry Collection by Hilton. The Kinney is a few blocks from downtown San Luis Obispo (SLO) and a short drive / bike ride to the campus of Cal Poly SLO. Since the hotel is close to the university, the hotel has a college theme. Basic rooms are called Campus Rooms and the suites are called Grad Suite, Dean Suite, and Professor Suite (see all pics and room descriptions here). I used points to book a Campus Room and was upgraded (thanks to my Hilton Diamond Elite Status) to a Grad Suite. I enjoyed staying at this hotel and the location was great for exploring downtown SLO and the surrounding area. I would definitely stay here again the next time I visit SLO. Here are some pics of my room and of the hotel.
Image source: https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/oakerup-the-kinney-san-luis-obispo/
Good morning everyone, happy Friday! After I published How Much Did I Pay in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2020?, several readers asked if I could share how much value I received from each credit card in 2020. Today’s post is also a sequel to my 2019 post (I Paid $4,588 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2019 – Was it Worth it?). All 24 of these credit cards were opened before January 1, 2020, and no sign up bonus is included. For simplicity, I did not include the value of miles or points earned from credit card spend, since that is somewhat subjective (and most of the miles and points were not spent in 2020). I counted all credits, reimbursements, retention offers, and referral bonuses at dollar face value. For hotel free night certificates, I have several from 2020 that expire in 2021 and 2022, so I am using a standard value of $100 for each hotel free night certificate.
I went through all of my credit card statements and online accounts to see which Credit Card Benefits I used in 2020 and those values are summed up in the CCB $ column. If I received a retention offer, that is listed in the RO $ column. I listed the credit card annual fee in the AF $ column. Lastly, I used this formula to calculate the Profit or Loss (P / L column) for each credit card: CCB $ + RO $ – AF $ = P / L
I sorted the credit cards alphabetically and split them up into 3 smaller groups. Here are some thoughts from the first group:
| Credit Card Name | Credit Card Benefits | CCB $ | RO $ | AF $ | P / L |
| AMEX Business Platinum | $400 Dell credit; $198 airline reimbursement; $160 wireless phone credit; $158 shipping credit; $96 AMEX Offers for Dell & AT&T | $1,012 | $200 | $595 | $617 |
| AMEX Gold | $120 dining credit; $100 airline reimbursement; $60 AMEX Offer for Shop Small | $280 | $0 | $250 | $30 |
| AMEX Hilton Honors Aspire | $250 airline reimbursement; $250 resort credit (used at restaurants); 1 Free Night Certificate (expires 7/2/22) (worth $100) | $600 | $0 | $450 | $150 |
| AMEX Platinum Delta SkyMiles | Downgraded to no annual fee American Express Blue Delta SkyMiles Credit Card to avoid paying annual fee | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Bank of America Alaska Airlines (LT) | Alaska Airlines $99 Companion Fare expired in 2020 | $0 | $0 | $75 | -$75 |
| Capital One Venture Rewards (LT) | $100 referral bonus | $100 | $59 | $59 | $100 |