Tag Archives: Hotel Loyalty Points

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10 Day Asia Trip Report Summary (China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan & Nepal)

Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  By the time you read this post, I will be flying Cathay Pacific business class back to San Francisco.  At the beginning of the trip, I flew Air China business class from San Francisco to Beijing.  For the last 10 days, I have been hopping around Asia and I visited these cities:

  • Beijing, China (1 night)
  • Yangon, Myanmar (3 nights)
  • Dhaka, Bangladesh (1 night)
  • Paro & Thimphu, Bhutan (2 nights)
  • Kathmandu, Nepal (2 nights)
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Great Circle Mapper: http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=PEK-RGN-DAC-PBH-KTM

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4 Buy Miles/Points Promos Ending Soon: Alaska (50%), Choice (30%), JetBlue (50%) & Southwest (40%)

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, Alaska Airlines is offering up to a 50% bonus, depending on the number of Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles you purchase.  This offer expires today – September 14. 

There is also an Alaska Airlines 2-for-1 promo going on today with the San Francisco Giants.

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4 Tools I Use to Keep Track of My Credit Cards and Money

During my time as a professional travel hacker, I’ve found that the best way to stockpile points and miles is to intelligently stockpile credit cards. Over the years, I’ve collected over 30 credit cards and have accumulated hundreds of thousands of points and miles in almost every currency out there, so you can imagine that organizing my accounts has the potential to turn into a messy logistical nightmare. Fortunately for me, there are several tools out there that were designed to help people like me manage multiple accounts. Here are four of my favorite, go-to apps and tools that I use to keep myself organized.

1. Travel Freely

Travel Freely is a webapp that is dedicated to helping travelers optimize their points and miles game, which is exactly why I use them. Not only is Travel Freely great for learning the ins and outs of rewards programs, but it’s also a hugely practical tool for organizing the rewards credit cards that you already have. For me, I use it to keep track of annual fee and bonus deadlines as well as 5/24 status. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the 5/24 rule, it’s specific to Chase accounts. Chase does not approve applicants for a new card if they have opened 5 or more credit cards (from any bank) in the past 24 months. Travel Freely has all of my logistical credit card information stored in one place so that I don’t have to go back and individually search for deadlines or have to guess my 5/24 status.

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Keep, Cancel or Convert? Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card ($95 Annual Fee)

Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  As part of my “Keep, Cancel or Convert?” series, I like to evaluate and reevaluate credit cards to make sure they still deserve a spot in my wallet (or credit card drawer). For today’s post, I was reviewing my Chase credit cards and noticed that the $95 annual fee posted to my Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card.  I have had this credit card in various forms over the last few years, starting with the $395 JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton Visa Infinite Credit Card, then to the $85 Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card, then to the $95 Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card, and now the $95 Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card.  Hopefully that all made sense to you.

Even though I do not love Marriott Bonvoy (even more so after the upcoming Peak and Off-Peak pricing goes into effect), I have continued to keep this credit card for the free night certificate.  I can usually get $150-$200 of value from the Marriott Bonvoy 35K Free Night Certificate.  I always call when an annual fee posts and ask the credit card company to waive the annual fee (a really long shot), provide a partial statement credit (occasionally), or provide a targeted retention offer (sometimes).  If you do not ask, you have a 0% chance of success – the worst they can say is no.  So, what did I get offered and what I learn from the call?

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Join Me @ FBZ Elite Summit in Austin, Texas (Oct 26, 2019)

Have you been trying to figure out ways to travel more and spend less? Do you wonder how people stock up enough points to stay in luxury hotels and fly first class? Or maybe, you’re just trying to figure out how to divvy up your points for the maximum amount of free stuff. If any of this interests you, then join me at this year’s FBZ Elite Summit in Austin, TX!

FinanceBuzz is proudly hosting the FBZ Elite Summit for FBZ Elite members, which will be a day-long conference that aims to help attendees learn how to manage points and miles, travel frugally, save money, and connect with other travel enthusiasts. Most importantly, the main FinanceBuzz goal is to help people become financially independent and aware of the clever financial footwork involved in the points and miles game, ultimately resulting in free and discount travel for you and your friends.

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