Tag Archives: Travel

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Stay at this Cool College-Themed Hilton Hotel in San Luis Obispo

Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great Easter and Passover.  A few days ago, Laura and I did a roadtrip around California and stayed at The Kinney San Luis Obispo, Tapestry Collection by Hilton.  The Kinney is a few blocks from downtown San Luis Obispo (SLO) and a short drive / bike ride to the campus of Cal Poly SLO.  Since the hotel is close to the university, the hotel has a college theme.  Basic rooms are called Campus Rooms and the suites are called Grad Suite, Dean Suite, and Professor Suite (see all pics and room descriptions here).  I used points to book a Campus Room and was upgraded (thanks to my Hilton Diamond Elite Status) to a Grad Suite.  I enjoyed staying at this hotel and the location was great for exploring downtown SLO and the surrounding area.  I would definitely stay here again the next time I visit SLO.  Here are some pics of my room and of the hotel.

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Image source: https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/oakerup-the-kinney-san-luis-obispo/

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I Texted Alaska Airlines to Cancel My Reservation and it was Easy

Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  Long story short, I booked an Alaska Airlines flight using my Citi ThankYou Points (1.25 cents per TYP value until April 10).  A few weeks later, I decided to cancel the flight.  Since I didn’t book the flight directly with Alaska Airlines, I wasn’t able to cancel the flight online.  When I called Alaska Airlines, the recording said that I could text Alaska Airlines instead.  Alaska Airlines then sent me a text (820-08) and I responded directly to the text.  The agent was very helpful and was able to cancel my flight and apply the travel funds to my Alaska Airlines wallet.  The whole process took less than 10 minutes and couldn’t have been easier.  If you’ve never texted Alaska Airlines before, I recommend saving the text number (820-08) to your phone.

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Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card: Category Bonus Points Now Posting Correctly [Fixed March 2021]

Updated at 1:50pm PT on 3/15/21: I logged into my Wyndham Rewards accounts and saw that I received 462 points as a “Barclays Adjustments.”  See the screenshot below.


Updated at 12:40pm PT on 3/11/21: I received a letter from Barclays stating that they are aware of the issue and that they are crediting my account for the correct number of points I earner.  See the full letter below.


Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  Last month, I wrote Category Bonus Points Not Posting Correctly for Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card.  In that post, I wrote about a few examples where bonus categories were not earning bonus points on the new Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card.  I am happy to report that Barclays has fixed the issue.  Here is the update I received from Brian today:

My most recent Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Card statement closed and I received both (a) 5x on new utilities charges for electric and gas charges (each of which received only 1x on the previous statement) and (b) an “adjustment” of points equal to the additional 4x on the electric and gas charges from the last statement about which I inquired via secure message via the card’s website.  So, hopefully, the issue is fixed now!

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Last Day to Register for Tomorrow’s FTU Virtual Seminar (Saturday February 20)

Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I just wanted to remind you that today is the last day to register for tomorrow’s FTU Virtual Seminar.  If you have no plans tomorrow (Saturday February 20), I highly recommend attending the FTU Virtual Seminar (tickets available for $25).  The seminar starts on Saturday at 11am ET / 8am PT and will run for 3 hours with a virtual social mixer afterwards.  I really enjoyed attending the first FTU Virtual Seminar back on December 12 and I’m sure this seminar will be just as entertaining and educational.  If you have the FTU Online Annual Membership, you can attend the seminar for free.

If you register for the seminar, but are unable to watch the live stream, you can access the recording of the seminar and watch later on.  This is also a great way to re-watch your favorite presentations and catch any details that you may have missed.

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Category Bonus Points Not Posting Correctly for Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card [Fixed March 2021]

Updated 1:40pm PT on 3/8/21: According to Brian, Barclays has fixed the issue with bonus categories not posting correctly.  Here is what Brian said:

My most recent Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Card statement closed and I received both (a) 5x on new utilities charges for electric and gas charges (each of which received only 1x on the previous statement) and (b) an “adjustment” of points equal to the additional 4x on the electric and gas charges from the last statement about which I inquired via secure message via the card’s website.  So, hopefully, the issue is fixed now!

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Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  A few months ago, I wrote about the Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card Application & Reconsideration Process along with the Strange Things About my New Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card.  A few days ago, my friend Brian reached out to me about this credit card to ask if I had noticed an issue with category bonus points not posting or posting slowly to my Wyndham Rewards account:

Hi Grant,

Have you noticed a delay (or non-posting) of points greater than 1x in the bonus categories with your card?

My first statement recently closed. On it, I had charges for 3 different utilities (water, gas, and electric). Two of the three even had the merchant category as utilities (water was from my municipality; so, merchant code was “government services”). However, none of my charges received the supposed 5x on utilities. I’m curious whether you’ve had similar experiences with your card for 8x on gas or 5x on marketing, advertising services, and utilities?

As a reminder, this credit card earns 8x at Wyndham Hotels and at gas stations; 5x on marketing, advertising services, and utilities; and 1x on everything else.

After digging into my credit card statements and searching on FlyerTalk, here is what I found out…

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