Tag Archives: Hyatt Hotels

Ask an Expert Interview Series: Casey from Points Away

Points Away Logo

Ask an Expert Interview Series: Casey from Points Away

I know there are already a million interview series on miles and points bloggers, but my goal is to interview a handful of some of the smaller bloggers you may not be familiar with. My second interviewee is Casey who writes at www.pointsaway.com and has written a cool travel eBook titled The PointsAway – The Deluxe Edition (read review here).  Without further ado, here are Casey’s answers:

1) How did you first begin to discover the power of miles and points programs?

Luck, as much as anything. I was planning about a year in advance for a conference in Portland last Summer and was unhappy with how expensive airfare was for the dates I was looking to travel. Around the same time, I received an offer for a Gold Delta SkyMiles card by American Express with a hefty mileage sign-up bonus. I applied and was quickly approved and earned my sign-up bonus in the first month. Shortly thereafter, my first award trip was booked. Though it was scheduled for many months in advance, I didn’t need to set foot on a plane to be convinced; the itinerary confirmation in my hand reading $10 instead of the $460 or so the cash ticket would’ve cost was all I needed to see!

Casey Points Away Bio Pic

Casey @ the Beach

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My 2014 Resolution: Travel Somewhere Every Month!

Happy New Years 2014

My 2014 Resolution: Travel Somewhere Every Month!

Good morning 2014!  I hope you all had a fun and safe New Years Eve, from wherever you are.  It’s January 1st and time to make your New Year’s resolution.  This should be something fun and exciting, not something boring like losing weight or cleaning out the garage.  Which is why (for the second year in a row), I have decided my 2014 New Years Resolution is to travel somewhere every month.  Here is how I did in 2013:

  • January – 2 weeks in Europe (Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Paris, Munich, Cologne, and Brussels).
  • February – Albuquerque, New Mexico for 4 days by myself, such a strange city.
  • March – Honolulu for a week (First Class via IcelandAir/Alaska Airlines deal) for my brother’s Spring Break (you’re welcome Davis!).
  • April – Delaware to visit a friend and drove to FTU DC / Tyson’s Corner.
  • May – nothing :(, well, I started Travel with Grant on May 1.
  • June – nothing :(
  • July – Vancouver and Whistler for 2 weeks with my parents and brother.
  • August – nothing :(
  • September – FTU Tampa for the weekend with my friend Jim.
  • October – Galápagos Islands for a week with Jim (great deal from Miami for $380 round trip).
  • November – Las Vegas Hilton Timeshare for the weekend and Carmel / Monterrey Bay for Thanksgiving week.
  • December – Does driving to Six Flags Magic Mountain count?  I got a season pass!

This  photo should sum up my travel for 2013.  Any questions?

GC Map for 2013

What is your New Years resolution for 2014?

Some Other Non App-O-Rama Credit Card News

CCs

Some Other Non App-O-Rama Credit Card News

I had my dad apply for the Bank of America Alaska Airlines credit card last week.  Well the card hasn’t arrived yet, but the miles did.  30,000 Alaska Airlines miles on credit card approval!  I love this offer so much, I took advantage of it in my recent App-O-Rama.

Dad Alaska Miles Post

This morning I received an email from American Express alerting me that me $20 Walmart statement credit had posted to my account.  Read my original post $20 off Walmart (American Express Offer) and 2,500 American Airlines Miles.

$20 AMEX Walmart

I bought a $200 Visa Gift Card and a $50 Southwest Gift Card.  Total with shipping and processing came to $256.88 – $20 = $236.88.  Profit of $13.12 plus 257 SPG points.   Continue reading

Cancelling a Hyatt Points Reservation and Using a Marriott Free Night Certificate

Hyatt Sad MT Happy

Cancelling a Hyatt Points Reservation and Using a Marriott Free Night Certificate

I personally love the image above because it looks like Hyatt has a sad face and Marriott has a happy face and all I had to do was add some eyes to both logos. 

Anyways, plans change, so booking hotel stays on points or at a refundable/cancellable rate is really important.  My US Airways round trip flight from SFO to AMS has had several schedule changes and I was able to book SFO to AMS to LAX (I live in Orange County).  Therefore, I needed to cancel my SFO hotel stay at the end of my trip.  Luckily, I used Hyatt points and was able to cancel the stay, but it was not easy.

After logging into my Hyatt account, I wanted to cancel this reservation.  I saw the cancel button on the bottom, hoping that it would be a simple, quick, straightforward process.

Cancel Hyatt

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Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum Elite Status gets you MGM M Life Gold Elite Status

Hyatt MGM Logo

Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum Elite Status gets you MGM M Life Gold Elite Status

Today (August 20), Hyatt and MGM announced that Hyatt elite members will now be MGM M Life elite members, and vice versa.  If you have a Chase Hyatt Credit Card, you are automatically a Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum Elite Member.  Here are the current elite status matches:

M Life Tiers

I’m going to assume everyone has a Hyatt account already, but do you have an MGM M Life account?  If you do not, you can sign up here as a regular member and then upgrade instantly (detailed instructions below).  Click Join Now in the upper right corner, enter your email address, and click submit.

Join M Life

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