I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[FoxC63]

Idk if anyone posted this because my brain has been scattered but I got an email from universal saying if you buy 2 days you get 3 free

Oh, I got that email too! and we need tickets!

 

[FoxC63]

I was just going to ask about this...we’ll have four in our room in Tucson in a few weeks. So only two of us will get the free breakfast then.

It should be on your reservation. Ours are always on there.

 

[CoP Luv]

Chase Freedom categories are up!! Grocery stores and home improvement stores for Q2!

So glad we are just finishing up a remodel this week!

 

[FoxC63]

Hilton status get you free breakfast but it varies by chain. If you stay in a Hilton, you can only get breakfast for two. In some places, we only go to breakfast every other day and then give them 4 certificates so everyone can eat. Sometimes we carry food back to the room, if we are only staying one night. Some Hilton's let 12 and under eat free, but we are way past that point now.

The best deal we have had recently was staying at the Hilton Conference Center in Gainesville, FL. We paid $95 for the night and the Executive Lounge was closed (DH is Diamond), so they allowed all 4 of us to eat breakfast at Shula's. Breakfast was more than the night's lodging!

It's interesting you bring up the breakfast certificates. The only place we've ever encountered that has been overseas, like Japan, only 2 ppl allowed. But never here in the states: Denver / Colo. Spgs. / Cadillac MI / Southern CA = no vouchers. It was listed on the reservation though and we all ate free, 3ppl.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Free breakfast is a benefit of Hilton Honors Gold or Diamond Elite status.

Amex Platinum and Business Platinum cards come with complimentary Gold status.
The Amex Hilton Business card comes with complimentary Gold status.
The Amex Hilton Ascend card comes with complimentary Gold status.
The Amex Hilton Aspire card comes with complimentary Diamond status.

I originally booked the O’Hare Hilton because our flight out left at 0700 and I hate getting an Uber at 0500 (or earlier) I was bummed we wouldn’t get our free breakfast since they don’t serve that early. AA has now pushed the flight back to 1030. Thanks AA, now I can get my free breakfast! (Ok I’d really rather get to Vancouver at 0900 but I guess getting free breakfast isn’t all bad)

 

[snugglebug]

Instant approval for me for Hilton Aspire!

I was little worried because I haven't touched my SPG Biz (as long as it's purple it's SPG Biz to me) for 2 months, but I've been pretty consistent with my RoseGold for awhile now.

Next up, CIP for P2, but I want to get started on this spend first.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Ho ho bloody ho! Have a great time, we did during the holiday season. “Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning. ”

Thanks! London is our favorite city. It's will be my 5th time in a 12 month period. All the other trips were on points. I'm definitely making use of our new time share

 

[FoxC63]

Thanks! London is our favorite city. It's will be my 5th time in a 12 month period. All the other trips were on points. I'm definitely making use of our new time share

Well dang! Can't say I'm NOT jealous! Would LOVE to check out Platform 3/4 store Kings Cross Station.

 

[elgerber]

.

 

[kittykorat]

Not gonna lie- the size of this thread totally intimidates me!!

I have a SW rapid rewards card - approved in January 2019. Already spent the $4K, should be getting the bonus points and companion pass at the end of this statement period.
We haven't had credit cards in years.. so this is new to us.

Looking for one for my husband to get also. He currently has none.

2) Secondly we'll want to know a little bit about you. Specifically - what you spend, and what you want to earn!

• What amount of spend would you put on a card monthly (i.e. groceries, gas, insurance, cable, cell phone, other expenses)?

Groceries is our biggest expense at around $1000/mo (4 kids, teenagers and athletes!), gas, car insurance, cell phone, and cable, and some various expenses - so $4000 in 3 months is doable.

• Do you currently payoff your CCs in full every month or do you carry any balances/pay any interest?

Plan to use it as a debit card for normal expenses and pay weekly.

• What airport(s) do you typically fly out of?

Providence PVD

• Do you have a preference of Frequent Flyer program?
• Does SOUTHWEST service your airport?

Yes - SW offers direct flights to MCO from here.
I already have the SW rapid rewards card- but now that I have earned the companion pass and bonus it is not the best rewards after that 1pt/$1

• Do you have a Hotel Rewards program preference? No
  
• Do you currently have any travel points in any program? (if so, which programs and how much

4000ish currently, plus will have another 40,000 bonus pts at the end of this billing period with SW rapid rewards.

• What at your specific goals for churning credit cards? (i.e. Disney World Trip, Cruise, European Trip, Cash Back to pay-off a mortgage or student loans, etc. - you can have multiple goals too!)

I have no idea what churning means

• Who does your travel party consist of? (Spouse, Kids (& ages), other relatives/friends)

Myself, my husband, and our 4 kids - we go to Disney about every 12-18 months. Also a few nights in hotels around New England for my kids sports competitions.

 

[FoxC63]

We stayed at Embassy Suites by Hilton Irvine-Orange County Airport - no vouchers there.
Includes: Breakfast x3, pool & Free Airport Shuttle
Saturday, Aug 25, 2018

 

[amalone1013]

I'm trying to tell myself not to put in DHs CIP app since it'll probably go pending and then I'll have to wait all weekend, vs it going pending Monday morning...

 

[FoxC63]

@elgerber just call to confirm. I made a reservation that stated 2 people so I called and was told it was for the amount booked in the room.

 

[Haley R]

View attachment 388387



Looks like they do through the UR portal. [GALLERY=][/GALLERY]

Hmm I’m not sure we would use it by december of this year. We’ll have to think on this one

 

[calypso726]

Which Bonvoy do you have?

Pretty sure @calypso726 has all of them.

Relatedly, the Bonvoy Amex (the legacy Amex SPG that's no longer available to new applications), the Bonvoy Business Amex (formerly the SPG Biz), and Chase's Bonvoy Boundless (formerly the Marriott Premier Plus) and legacy Marriott Business card (also no longer available to new applications) all come with a free night certificate upon your cardmember anniversary that's redeemable at Marriott properties up to 35k/night. Amex's Bonvoy Brilliant (formerly the SPG Luxury) and Chase's Ritz-Carlton cards come with a 50k/night free night anniversary certificate.

I wish I had all of them. If I had known SPG would switch to free night certs back in the day, I would never have cancelled my personal SPG. Currently, I have the Bonvoy Business Amex, the Bonvoy Boundless from Chase and the Bonvoy Brilliant from Amex. DH and I each have the same cards so that is 4 FN certs for 35k properties and 2 FN certs for 50k properties.

I am toying with the idea of upgrading the Boundless to the Ritz card if that is still an option down the line. First. I want to see how things shake out this year with our first set of 50k FN certs.

I definitely want to make my way towards 2 Aspire cards each. Between the FN weekend certs and $250 resort credit, I can get a huge bang for the annual fees bucks.

 

[amcc]

On the breakfast topic, has anyone ever stayed at an Embassy Suites were vouchers or tickets are used for breakfast? Every one I have stayed at just has it in the atrium. I am looking at booking on AA and they have different rates per night, one that has higher miles required says breakfast. I cannot imaging the lower rate not including breakfast, based on my past stays.

We stayed at one by savannah and they gave us vouchers for the 6 of us. 2 days they asked and took the vouchers, 2 others they didn’t. The
Embassy Suites website promotes free breakfast so I figured we were covered either way. I just checked again and the website still promotes free breakfast (and it was by far the best hotel breakfast I’ve ever had).

 

[magickingdomprincess]

I'm so old I remember when Southwest was cheap. I just looked at a flight from CVG to MCO for a weekend in the fall because I'm apparently nuts (#SWGE) and I can't believe how expensive those flights are. Goodness.
#TooRichForMyBlood

I was also searching around for some upcoming flights I still need to book and was shocked SW was coming up more expensive than United.

Totally agree with both of you on the SW prices today! We were planning a 4 night adults only trip for 10/7-10/11, but after seeing the flight prices we moved our dates back 2 weeks to 9/23-9/27. Not only were the Oct flights approx twice the price, there weren't any return flights at a time that we want (late afternoon/evening). I was able to move our Dolphin reservation dates back, and also our Beach Club ressie (still deciding which to keep). It's all coming together!

 

[mmmears]

I clearly don’t know much about technology. Lol. Thought I could post DDs blog on the sly. And she texts me with did you post my blog on your Disney board? Um, yes I did, my friends want to know about your travels. Had no idea she could tell that I posted it. She didn’t tell me to take it down, so I guess it is ok.

My DD would kill me if I did something like that. But since you left it up I peeked. Great blog, and so interesting, too. I have a good friend from South Africa and she tells me about it. I hope to go there some day and see for myself. Also interesting as a Mom whose DD will be going abroad for the next year. While the cultural differences won't be as great, I think it will still be eye opening. If all the paperwork and red tape gets taken care of so she can actually go...

I was going to write something and now that I am caught up...

This happens to me all the time on this thread.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Well dang! Can't say I'm NOT jealous! Would LOVE to check out Platform 3/4 store Kings Cross Station.

It’s very cute! Got DH a very funny Dobby shirt from there a couple Christmases ago.

 

[Natgridenergy]

Not gonna lie- the size of this thread totally intimidates me!!

I have a SW rapid rewards card - approved in January 2019. Already spent the $4K, should be getting the bonus points and companion pass at the end of this statement period.
We haven't had credit cards in years.. so this is new to us.

Looking for one for my husband to get also. He currently has none.

2) Secondly we'll want to know a little bit about you. Specifically - what you spend, and what you want to earn!

• What amount of spend would you put on a card monthly (i.e. groceries, gas, insurance, cable, cell phone, other expenses)?

Groceries is our biggest expense at around $1000/mo (4 kids, teenagers and athletes!), gas, car insurance, cell phone, and cable, and some various expenses - so $4000 in 3 months is doable.

• Do you currently payoff your CCs in full every month or do you carry any balances/pay any interest?

Plan to use it as a debit card for normal expenses and pay weekly.

• What airport(s) do you typically fly out of?

Providence PVD

• Do you have a preference of Frequent Flyer program?
• Does SOUTHWEST service your airport?

Yes - SW offers direct flights to MCO from here.
I already have the SW rapid rewards card- but now that I have earned the companion pass and bonus it is not the best rewards after that 1pt/$1

• Do you have a Hotel Rewards program preference? No
  
• Do you currently have any travel points in any program? (if so, which programs and how much

4000ish currently, plus will have another 40,000 bonus pts at the end of this billing period with SW rapid rewards.

• What at your specific goals for churning credit cards? (i.e. Disney World Trip, Cruise, European Trip, Cash Back to pay-off a mortgage or student loans, etc. - you can have multiple goals too!)

I have no idea what churning means

• Who does your travel party consist of? (Spouse, Kids (& ages), other relatives/friends)

Myself, my husband, and our 4 kids - we go to Disney about every 12-18 months. Also a few nights in hotels around New England for my kids sports competitions.

Wow, another Rhode Islander? Welcome to the board. Don't be intimidated by the size, the folks here are awesome. I've learned so much here but I will let the others get you started.