Tag Archives: Hotels

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Unsolicited Advice: How I Would Price Vacasa Vacation Rental Point Redemptions If I Ran Wyndham Rewards

Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I’ve been a huge fan of Vacasa Vacation Rentals using Wyndham Rewards Points and have booked 6 Vacasa properties in California and Hawaii over the last few years.  Back in October, Frequent Miler discovered that Vacasa now has a lower cap on reservations booked with WR Points.  You can now only redeem WR Points if the price per bedroom per night is $350 or less, down from the previous $500 per bedroom per night.  That is a major blow to the value you could get booking Vacasa Vacation Rentals.

Here is the current chart that shows the price in dollars and WR Points needed, based on the number of bedrooms and the average nightly price (including taxes and fees).  If you have a Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus or Earner Business credit card, you get a 10% discount on the number of WR Points needed.  Based on those numbers, the maximum cents per point (CPP) is 2.33 CPP for all members and 2.59 CPP for Earner Plus and Earner Business CC members.

# Bedrooms
Avg Nightly Price Cap
# WR Points
10% Discount
CPP Standard
CPP Earner CC
1 $350 15,000 13,500 2.33 2.59
2 $700 30,000 27,000 2.33 2.59
3 $1,050 45,000 40,500 2.33 2.59
4 $1,400 60,000 54,000 2.33 2.59

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Friday Funny: ChatGPT Brainstorms New Top Tier Elite Status Name Above Hyatt Globalist

Good afternoon everyone.  As I was going on my daily walk listing to my favorite miles and points podcast, I thought of a crazy idea.  With the recently announced changes to the World of Hyatt Milestone Rewards Chart, and the addition of the Ultimate Free Night Award at 150 elite nights, I thought about Hyatt Globalist elite status.  Since Hyatt Globalist elite status is achieved once you hit 60 elite nights, but the new Milestone Rewards chart goes up to 150 elite nights, it seems like there is a big hole for Hyatt to come up with a new top tier status that supersedes Globalist.  As a reminder, the current elite status tiers are called:

  • Discoverist (achieved with 10 elite nights)
  • Explorist (achieved with 30 elite nights)
  • Globalist (achieved with 60 elite nights)

With elite status tiers that start with the letters D, E, and G (I guess Hyatt decided to skip F words), maybe the new top tier would start with the letter H.  I decided to ask my AI friend ChatGPT for help.  Here is our conversation:

Grant: Hyatt elite status tiers are Discoverist, Explorist, and Globalist. What is the next status tier that starts with the letter H?

ChatGPT: Actually, the Hyatt elite status tiers don’t currently include a tier that starts with the letter H after Globalist. As of my last update, Globalist is the highest tier within the World of Hyatt program. There might be future changes or additions to their tier system, so it’s worth checking directly with Hyatt for any updates or new tiers that might have been introduced since then.

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My Las Vegas Weekend: Linq Hotel, Caesar’s Diamond $100 Celebration Dinner & 2 InKind Restaurants

Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  Last weekend, I was in Las Vegas with my family.  I haven’t visited Las Vegas in probably 2 years, so it was nice to be back for a visit.  I flew Avelo, the new low cost airline, from Sonoma / Santa Rosa Airport (STS) to Las Vegas (LAS) and then took an Uber to the Linq Hotel (the hotel with the Linq High Roller observation wheel).  I used my Caesar’s Diamond elite status when booking the room so I got a good deal on the room and paid no resort fees due to my elite status.  After checking in, I went to the Caesars Rewards desk and asked for a new rewards card (my old card expired January 2023).  I then checked to see what promos I had available and there was a coupon for 2 free tickets to the Linq High Roller observation wheel and my $100 Celebration Dinner.

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Timeline of American Express Hilton Surpass Credit Card 170,000 Hilton Points Sign Up Bonus

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  Last month, I wrote Timeline of Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red Credit Card 75,000 American Airlines Miles Sign Up Bonus and thought I would do a similar post on my American Express Hilton Honors Surpass Credit Card.  I signed up for the credit card through the no lifetime language link on October 26 and was able to get the card approved by calling the American Express reconsideration department by closing my no annual fee American Express Hilton Honors Credit Card.  The sign up bonus was 170,000 Hilton Honors points after spending $3,000 in 3 months.  I received the card in the mail in early November.

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4 Buy Miles / Points Promos Ending Soon: United (100%), Hilton (100%), Air Canada (100%) & JetBlue (70%)

Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  I was working on my Buy Miles & Points Page and found 4 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 4 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 on November 20.

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