Tag Archives: Hilton Hotels

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AMEX Offers: FedEx Office, Sony, Petco, Waldorf Astoria, Conrad Hotels & More

Happy Monday morning on the first Monday of November!  Only 24 more days until my birthday, woo hoo!  Anyway, this post was brought to you by the letter “A”merican Express…

First off, all my American Express credit card statements close at the beginning of the month and I noticed a $75 annual fee on my American Express Hilton HHonors Surpass Credit Card.  This card is only good if you want Hilton Gold Status and stay in domestic Hilton Hotels, since you earn 12x.  I also have the Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Credit Card which offers Hilton Gold Status and 10x at Hilton Hotels.  Plus it has no foreign transaction fees and earns a free weekend night after spending $10,000/year.  For even more analysis, please read MSing for Hilton HHonors Points (4 Credit Card Comparison) and Reykjavik, Iceland Hotel Options.  Long story short, the American Express Hilton HHonors Surpass Credit Card is not worth the $75 annual fee.

I was hoping to convert this AMEX card into a AMEX Everyday Credit Card, but the representative could only downgrade me to the no annual fee Hilton AMEX or convert the card to a Delta AMEX.  I declined both offers and asked if I could move the credit to an existing AMEX credit card.  He said yes, so I was able to move a big chunk to my Old AMEX Blue.  My new credit line on the Hilton Surpass was lowered to $500 and the remaining credit line was moved to the Old AMEX Blue, bringing that credit line up to $13,000.  Excellent!  The Hilton Surpass Credit Card was then closed, per my request (annual fee refund pending).

Hilton HHonors Surpass New Credit Limit

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Random Offers: $20 Softcard Promo, $20 Citi Tabbed Out App, $50 Discover Bank Checking, Targeted Citi and US Bank Offers, and a Bunch of Random AMEX Offers

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Random Offers: $20 Softcard Promo, $20 Citi Tabbed Out App, $50 Discover Bank Checking, Targeted Citi and US Bank Offers, and a Bunch of Random AMEX Offers

Good morning everyone, here is a collection of random offers that might interest you.  Full disclosure, I have no participated in any of these offers, so I have no further details about how the promos work.

The first deal comes from Mike (thank you for forwarding this email to me).  If you have Softcard (formerly known as ISIS Wallet), you might be eligible for this promotion.  Get a $20 Amazon Gift Card for adding a credit/charge card to Softcard and making at least 1 purchase with that credit/charge card.  The offer wording makes it sound like you can get the $20 Amazon Gift Card multiple times, but I am not sure that will be honored (link).

Softcard $20 Promo

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Random News: Ebay and PayPal Split, Hilton Free Night Certificate, RebAgents, Emirates Miles, $160 AirTran Credit, and Nickelodeon AMEX Offer

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Random News: Ebay and PayPal Split, Hilton Free Night Certificate, RebAgents, Emirates Miles, $160 AirTran Credit, and Nickelodeon AMEX Offer

Before I dive into the random news, today is the last day of September.  Make sure you max out your Amazon Payments, Bluebird reloads, Server Reloads, etc. before the limits reset tonight at midnight.  With that said, here are some random news topics…

I just received the following email from Ebay.  Sometime in 2015, PayPal will become a separate company (probably going IPO as well).  I’m not sure how this will affect anything, but I think it is worth sharing.

Ebay PayPal Split Announced

 

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Citi Hilton HHonors Free Night Certificates (link) and received a helpful email response regarding how Citi calculates your $10,000 annual spend to qualify for the free night certificate:

The screenshot you posted says you only get credit for charges after your annual fee date. I assumed that was the day I activated the card so I spent $10,750 on the card in my first year with some cushion to be safe. I never received the annual certificate and when I asked, Citi said I only spent $9,800. I checked my statements and that number excluded the $950 I spent in the few days between when I activated the card (around 7/25) and the date the first annual fee was charged (8/2). Citi is investigating for me and it seems like this is a technicality that will ultimately be resolved in my favor, however, if I had known I either would have not spent anything until I saw the annual fee hit or would have spent the extra $200 to hit the bonus before moving on to a different card.

Hopefully this warning can help avoid potential time spent on the phone with Citi for you and others that may be cutting it tight on the $10K spend.

 

A friend of mine writes for the blog RebAgents (rebate + agents) and sent me the following link: Why finding a Real Estate Agent or Realtor should be the last step in your home search checklist (link).  If you are in the market for buying or selling your house, check out the link to learn more about how to reduce your real estate agent’s commission and buy/sell your house faster.

 

A reader of mine has Emirates miles and wants to know what to do with them.  Any advice?

I have like 14500 skywards emirates miles what will be best way to redeem it ?? I tried to do some research on it , I cannot find anything.

Also I have 5 different accounts with emirates ( my relatives ) all has 8k miles

 

I have $166.45 in AirTran credit that will expire on October 30, does anyone have any experience converting this credit to Southwest Airlines credit?  Any way to extend the expiration date?

$160 AirTran Credit

 

Last but not least, I checked my AMEX accounts and this AMEX Offer caught my attention.  If you have kids (or are a kid yourself), you probably watched Nickelodeon at one point.  I spent a large chunk of my childhood watching these shows and it would have been awesome to go check out Nickelodeon Suites Resorts when I was younger.  I am too old now, but maybe you can take your kids and give them the best vacation ever!

Nickelodeon Suites Resorts AMEX Offer

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!

Hurricane Odile Ravages Los Cabos / Cabo San Lucas Hotels and Community

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Hurricane Odile Ravages Los Cabos / Cabo San Lucas Hotels and Community

(Hat Tip to Brian Cohen for the news)

I wasn’t aware of the severity of the damage to Los Cabos, Cabo San Lucas, and other Baja California cities until I saw the photos from this article from The Daily Mail UK.  I was in Cabo last month, so seeing some of the photos from the destruction is very sad.  It was such a beautiful region of Mexico with very friendly people.  It is sad to see what this storm did to the landscape.  It really hit home when I saw the photos from the Hilton Los Cabos resort where I was staying.  I can’t imagine what it was like to stay there during the storm.  I can only imagine the hours of non-stop terror, extremely load noises, and fright-filled sleepless nights.  Here are some of the photos from the article.  If you have ever stayed at the Hilton Los Cabos, you will recognize the location of this photos.

Hilton Los Cabos Damage1

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More Info Regarding Chime Card Loads After October 8 and my App-O-Rama Planning

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More Info Regarding Chime Card Loads After October 8 and my App-O-Rama Planning

Literally a few minutes before writing this post, I received the following email from Chime regarding the previously announced changes to debit card loads (link). Starting October 8, you will be able to load up to $200 per day, with a minimum load amount of $25.  If you use a debit card from Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, Comerica Bank, or USAA, your debit card loads will remain free.  If you use a different debit card (including the PayPal Business Debit Card), you will *most likely* get hit with a “fee of up to 3%” per load.  We still need to wait and see what Chime does regarding the PayPal Business Debit Card.  If you use a debit card from one of the previously mentioned banks, the October 8 change will benefit you.

Chime Debit Card Updated Terms

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