Tag Archives: Marriott Hotels

Look Mom, I’m on the Home Page of Boarding Area and my Chicago FTU Advanced Review

FTU Advanced Badge Front

Look Mom, I’m on the Home Page of Boarding Area and my Chicago FTU Advanced Review

Greetings Boarding Area readers! This week, Travel with Grant will be a featured blogger on the Boarding Area home page (thank you Randy for inviting me to be a Prior2Boarding blogger). If this is your first time reading my blog, this is all you need to know:

  • I talk a lot about manufactured spend and have several detailed guides about Bluebird, Serve, and various money saving deals like AMEX Offers, Chime Card, and Staples Easy Rebates.
  • I am very disloyal when it comes to airline and hotel “loyalty” programs, but I prefer the term “free agent” instead. I have airline miles in several frequent flyer programs and hotel points in several hotel reward programs.
  • I fly economy 95% of the time and will redeem frequent flyer miles if award space is available *and* the cheapest paid ticket is more than I want to pay.
  • I believe in “earning and burning,” rather than hoarding miles/points for aspiration international first class flights or $1,000+ hotel rooms. Spending fewer miles/points allows me to travel more often.
  • Last but not least, I have 27 credit cards (link) and I am only 24 years old – pretty good credit card to age ratio, right? Credit cards are an amazing tool if used responsibly. To put it bluntly: if you pay interest or late fees on your credit cards, you are subsiding our travel lifestyle/hobby. Please don’t pay interest or late fees!

FTU

Continue reading

Is the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card Worth the $95 Annual Fee?

CSP

Is the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card Worth the $95 Annual Fee?

Thank you Amanda for asking me why the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card was not used on my recent trip to Cabo.  Great question Amanda, let me explain why…

There is no doubt that the Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great credit card.  Double points on travel and dining purchases is awesome.  Transferable points to many of the best airline and hotel loyalty programs is awesome.  No foreign transactions fees and no annual fee (for the first year) is awesome.  I think that if you could only have 1 Chase credit card, most people would say the Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card (we will assume you are not a business owner).  I totally agree 100%.  But what about the second year and the third year and the fourth year when you have to pay the $95 annual fee.  Is it still worth it?

Yes and no.   Continue reading

Random News: Ads Coming to TWG, Free Paper from Staples, Expiring Hotels.com Credits, Chase Marriott Retention Offer Letter, Uber Airport Rides, British Airways Avios Award Cancellations, and New AMEX Offers

960x250 TWG Logo

Random News: Ads Coming to TWG, Free Paper from Staples, Expiring Hotels.com Credits, Chase Marriott Retention Offer Letter, Uber Airport Rides, British Airways Avios Award Cancellations, and New AMEX Offers

Good evening everyone, let’s get to today’s random news…

First off, as I slowly transition under the Prior2Boarding / BoardingArea umbrella, you will probably notice some changes, like the Prior2Boarding banner showing up at the top of my blog.  I will remain self-hosted, so all my page URLs will stay the same.

Prior2Boarding Logo

I have some bad news for those of you who hate ads (probably all of you).  I have partnered with BoardingArea to show their ads on my blog.  You will see them in the coming days on the right hand side of my blog and toward the bottom of the blog.  If you use an ad blocking software/plugin, I won’t be mad.  I actually use Chrome’s Adblock Plus myself.  If the ads are really annoying, distracting, or obstructing content, please let me know ASAP and I will fix them.  Thank you for understanding.

Now to the good stuff…

Like clockwork, Staples has another ream of paper that is free after rebate and coupon.  These reams go for about $2 at garage sales, so stock up!

Staples Paper Rebate 8-17-2014

Continue reading

Weekend Cash Back Update: AMEX Offers (Bed, Bath & Beyond, Courtyard Marriott, and Five Crowns), Staples ($5 Chime Rebate + Easy Rebate Paper), Vons / Pavillions / Safeway (MasterCard Gift Card Promo)

Gift Cards

Weekend Cash Back Update: AMEX Offers (Bed, Bath & Beyond, Courtyard Marriott, and Five Crowns), Staples ($5 Chime Rebate + Easy Rebate Paper), Vons / Pavillions / Safeway (MasterCard Gift Card Promo)

Happy Sunday afternoon everyone, I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve been busy this weekend.  Busy saving money!

Yesterday afternoon, I stopped by my local Bed, Bath, & Beyond store and bought 4 $25 gift cards (Chipotle, Panera, and 2x Subway) to qualify for the $5 AMEX statement credit offer (link).  I used 4 different AMEX credit cards.

Bed Bath Beyond AMEX Offer

My iPhone was going crazy, thank you AMEX.

AMEX Offers iPhone

Continue reading

Chase Marriott Rewards and Chase Southwest Airlines Premier Credit Card Retention Successes

Chase Logo

Chase Marriott Rewards and Chase Southwest Airlines Premier Credit Card Retention Successes

It’s that time of the year… annual fees start charging, free night certificates start appearing, and bonus points start posting.  Earlier this week, I received the following email from Chase / Marriott about my free night certificate valid at any Marriott hotel category 1-5.  The one thing I don’t like about the Marriott free night certificates is that they are only valid for 6 months from the date they are issued.  If you cannot use them by then, call Chase and they will usually extend the certificate for another 6 months.

Since my free night certificate posted to my Marriott account before the annual fee posted to my Chase Marriott, I was planning on closing the credit card and keeping the free night… for free.

Marriott Free Night Certificate Email

Continue reading