Tag Archives: Travel

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Booking Vacasa Vacation Rentals with Wyndham Rewards Points is Really Easy (Just Call)

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Good afternoon everyone.  A few months ago in April 2021, I wrote about My Experience Booking Vacasa Vacation Rentals with Wyndham Rewards Points.  The booking process has come a long way since April, so I wanted to provide an update and show how easy and quick it is to book a Vacasa Vacation Rental using your Wyndham Rewards Points.  Here are the steps I recommend:

  1. Start your search here: https://www.vacasa.com/search?maxbeds=1&maxrate=350&place=/usa/ (this will show all properties that have 1 bedroom and cost less than $350 / night)
  2. Enter the city or state you are interested in
  3. Enter your check in and check out dates (this will only show properties that are available for the duration of your stay)
  4. Then look at all the properties that have ratings / reviews, focusing your attention on properties that have the best / most / recent ratings
  5. Then look at the photos and read the description (some properties charge a resort fee or parking)
  6. Once you have identified your top 1-3 properties, it is time to book the reservation

For an upcoming trip to Maui, I settled on this Vacasa Vacation Rental: Hale Kai O Kihei 207 – Kihei, HI

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My 4 Night IHG Award Reservation Dropped from 90K to 76K to 48K Points Total

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  I had a great time attending yesterday’s FTU Virtual Seminar and I enjoyed chatting with other attendees at the virtual mixer.  Last week, I wrote PSA: Keep Checking IHG Award Prices for Price Drops, Then Rebook or use Free Night Certificates.  In that post, I showed you how I kept checking award prices of the Kimpton Muse Hotel in NYC and used an IHG Free Night Certificate once the price dropped to 40,000 IHG Points and below.  In today’s post, I will show you how I rebooked a 4 night award stay twice and saved 42,000 IHG Points.

Since I have the Chase IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card, I took advantage of the fourth night free benefit where the fourth night is completely free.  I have an upcoming Crowne Plaza Hotel stay that I originally booked on October 31 for 90,000 IHG Points total.  As you can see, the first 3 nights are 30,000 IHG Points per night and the fourth night is free.  90,000 IHG Points for a 4 night stay is an average of 22,500 IHG Points per night which seemed like a good deal to me.  Fortunately, the deal was about to get much better over the coming weeks.

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Last Day to Register for FTU Virtual Seminar on Saturday, November 13 ($25) or Free with Online Annual Membership

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Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  If you have no plans tomorrow (Saturday, November 13), I highly recommend attending the FTU Virtual Seminar (tickets available for $25) or free if you have the FTU Online Annual Membership.  The seminar starts on Saturday, November 13 at 8am PT / 11am ET.  I have attended all of the FTU Virtual Seminars over the last year and they are always well done, educational, and entertaining – and I am sure this seminar will be no exception!  Here is the schedule and lineup of speakers.

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Reminder: Max Out 10% Citi ThankYou Points Rebate on Citi Rewards+ Credit Card (10K Annual Limit)

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  One of my favorite sock drawer credit cards is the Citi Rewards+ Credit Card.  This credit card has a pretty decent sign up bonus at the moment (20,000 Citi ThankYou Points after spending $1,500 in 3 months), but my favorite feature of this credit card is the 10% rebate on redeemed Citi ThankYou Points.  You can receive up to 10,000 Citi ThankYou Points rebated each calendar year, you just need to redeem at least 100,000 Citi ThankYou Points in a calendar year.

So why am I reminding you about this today?  The 10% rebate posts to your Citi ThankYou Points account when your statement closes.  If your statement closes on or after January 1, that will count toward your calendar year 2022 10,000 Citi ThankYou Point limit.  Therefore, you probably only have 1 or 2 more statements between now and January 1, 2022.  I will show you how to see how many rebated Citi ThankYou Points you have already received this year and suggest 2 good Citi ThankYou Point transfer partners to use.

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Wyndham Timeshare Vacation Package: 3 Nights + 15K Points for $149 in Las Vegas, Orlando, Oceanside & More

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Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  This morning, I received an email from Wyndham Vacation Resorts for a 3 night stay in Las Vegas, Orlando, Oceanside and 6 other cities + 15,000 Wyndham Rewards Points for $149.  You have more destinations available and it’s $50 cheaper than the Wyndham Vacations Resorts deal I wrote about in September.  These vacation packages require attending a 2 hour timeshare presentation (please see the terms and conditions before booking).  You may be able to get an even better deal if you call the Wyndham Vacation Resorts phone number (1-877-393-8405).  The phone reps really want people to attend the timeshare presentation and have the power to give you more incentives, like more free points or a $100 Visa gift card.

I’m not sure if this matters, but I am in California, I have Wyndham Rewards Diamond Elite Status and I have the Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card.  You need to book your reservation by November 24 and you must complete your stay within 12 months.  Here is the email I received from Wyndham Vacation Resorts:

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