Tag Archives: Hyatt Hotels

Random News Part 2: Ritz-Carlton Statement Credits, Lounge Club Card, Freedom 5% at Grocery Stores, and a Hyatt Retention Bonus

Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards Credit Card

Random News Part 2: Ritz-Carlton Statement Credits, Lounge Club Card, Freedom 5% at Grocery Stores, and a Hyatt Retention Bonus

Good afternoon everyone, here is part 2 of Random News for today (part 1 from earlier today).  My Chase Ritz-Carlton Credit Card statement closed on January 4, so I have some information regarding annual fees and statement credits.  There has been a lot of confusion regarding “reimbursable travel expenses” and this lengthy 90+ page FlyerTalk thread has all the details.  Basically, if you buy airline gift cards, Chase knows about it now.

The $395 annual fee posted during the first billing period.  I was able to purchase 2 $150 Southwest Airlines eGift Cards and get both purchases reimbursed by Chase.  One reimbursement is posted as a courtesy credit and the second is posted as a statement credit.  As far as I know, Chase will no longer reimburse any Southwest Airlines Gift Cards or eGift Cards.  The transactions show up online as “SOUTHWES 5260***” and Chase is able to see the purchase as a gift card.  I don’t know why I was able to get both charges reimbursed, it just depends which representative you get.  Definitely YMMV situation.

Chase Ritz-Carlton SWA eGC Statement Credits

I found it interesting that both Southwest Airlines gift cards earned 2x for airfare and also counted toward my $3,000 minimum spend.  I am about $1,000 short of completing my minimum spend.

Chase Ritz-Carlton Statement Credits

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Dallas Centurion Lounge and FTU Advanced in Washington, DC this Weekend

AMEX Centurion Lounge

Dallas Centurion Lounge and FTU Advanced in Washington, DC this Weekend

This weekend is FTU Advanced in Washington, DC.  FTU stands for Frequent Traveler University and the Advanced means that we will cover more advanced miles and points topics than a basic event.  And for good measure, the DC stands of District of Columbia.  Now that that is all cleared up, I wanted to see if anyone else was going to FTU Advanced this weekend.  Here are this weekend’s speakers:

  • Ben Mutzabaugh, USA TODAY Travel
  • Gary Leff, View from the Wing
  • Ben Schlappig, One Mile at a Time
  • Greg Davis-Kean, Frequent Miler
  • Stefan Krasowski, Rapid Travel Chai
  • Matthew Klint, Live and Let’s Fly
  • Scott Mackenzie, Travel Codex
  • Daraius Dubash, Million Mile Secrets
  • Summer Hull, Mommy Points
  • Ed Pizzarello, Pizza in Motion
  • Chris Guillebeau, The Art of Non-Conformity
  • Matthew Kepnes, Nomadic Matt
  • Randy Petersen, Godfather of Frequent Flyer Miles and founder of online communities Milepoint & Flyertalk

If you read my blog, I’m sure you will recognize most of the other Boarding Area bloggers who will be speaking.  One speaker you might not be as familiar with is Chris Guillebeau; he has been to every country in the world and wrote a book called the $100 Start Up, which was the motivating factor for me to start my blog.  It will be great to hear Chris speak again.  More important that listening to the presentations, I really enjoy interacting with the other attendees.  Everyone has so much travel knowledge that you will definitely learn something new from everyone you speak to.  Learn more about FTU Advanced here.

I am staying at the host hotel, Hyatt Regency Crystal City, on Friday and Saturday night, and then moving down the street to the Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel for Sunday night.  I will be wearing my famous / infamous Travel with Grant t-shirt all weekend, so if you see me, come say hello.  For the record, I have several TWG shirts, so I will not be wearing the same shirt the entire weekend, in case you were thinking that.   Continue reading →

Southwest Airlines Companion Pass – Part 3: Hyatt Points and E-Rewards Transfers

Southwest Airlines Companion Pass Logo

Southwest Airlines Companion Pass – Part 3: Hyatt Points and E-Rewards Transfers

Good evening everyone, this is part 3 of my Southwest Airlines Companion Pass series.

This post is probably several weeks overdue, but better late than never.  I was waiting for miles and points to transfer and post, then I had to follow up with Southwest Airlines and Hyatt over some issues, and eventually this post got pushed off #backblogged.

Before I get deeper into this post, I have a personal gripe with my Chase Hyatt Credit Card.  This credit card is the only travel credit card (that I know of) where points are deducted from your account if you return something or get a refund to your credit card.  Recently, I canceled an airline ticket that I purchased on my Chase Hyatt Credit Card and the Hyatt Points were removed from my Hyatt account.  Most other travel credit cards will not touch your miles/points if you return an item or get a refund, you will just end up with a positive balance on your credit card.

Chase Hyatt Credit Card Subtractions and Additions Hyatt Points

Because of this “feature” of the Chase Hyatt Credit Card, I mis-spent on my Chase Hyatt Credit Card in terms of earning Hyatt Points.  Oh well, live and learn I guess.

Hyatt Account Balance 11-06-14

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Transfer Chase Ultimate Reward Points from the Chase App

Chase-Ultimate-Rewards

Transfer Chase Ultimate Reward Points from the Chase App

Chase recently updated their smartphone app for iOS and Android with the ability to transfer Chase Ultimate Reward Points to their travel partners.  I will show you how I recently transferred Chase Ultimate Reward Points to Southwest Airlines on my iPhone.  The process should work the same on an Android phone.  You can follow these steps to transfer Chase Ultimate Reward Points to any of their travel partners.  Without further ado, download the Chase app to your smartphone and log into your Chase account.

Log Into Chase App

Navigate to the Chase account that has Chase Ultimate Reward Points – either a Chase Sapphire Preferred (personal account) or a Chase Ink Bold/Plus (business account).

Select Chase Account

To read the entire post, please click here.  Have a great Thanksgiving holiday everyone!

San Francisco Weekend Trip – Part 2: Hollywood Cafe Breakfast, SF Half Marathon, Lombard Street, and Sea Lions

San Francisco Logo

San Francisco Weekend Trip – Part 2: Hollywood Cafe Breakfast, SF Half Marathon, Lombard Street, and Sea Lions

This is part 2 of my short weekend trip to San Francisco.  Please check out Part 1: Cable Car Ride and Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf Hotel Review to see the first half of my trip report.  As I mentioned in part 1, our room was overlooking the Hollywood Cafe, a small family run restaurant with crowds always waiting outside.

Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf Window View

On Sunday morning, we were looking for a place to get breakfast and Yelp told us the best place within walking distance was the Hollywood Cafe, how convenient…

Hollywood Cafe Yelp

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