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

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That sounds like it would work for me then. If I get the card 8/1, meet MSR by 11/1, then conceivably I would have the free night somewhere around 1/1-2/1. Can I book a weekend night and then apply the free night later? I'd like to book the Conrad Osaka and I see that there is also a deal with the card to do a 2 night minimum stay at a Conrad and get $100 in additional resort credits. If I can make all that come together for Japan next June, then I think this card could be a really good contender for us!

Theoretically if the weekend night you book is in a standard point rate room and you book it with points as a separate reservation you should be able to covert it to a FN cert room. I have not done this yet but it will be part of my strategy the next time (after the Japan ABD Trip) that I go to Japan. I’d also do this on a future Maldives trip. This year’s free weekend night certs are being used for the Waldorf Astoria by Disney World.
 
Got the cert converted with Bonblech. Now to find a cat 1-4 that we actually want to stay at for 7 nights lol. Hard to complain really. The 120k SW points were really what I was after and again, I knew the risks going into it. I'd do the same all over again :)

Same here. Just wanted the Alaska miles. We used one of them for our New Orleans trip but only stayed 4 nights. We have one that we extended until next year. No idea what we will do with it yet. It will likely wind up being for a visit to WDW or DLR.
 
Hey @Lain - I went back and found my “down moment” last year from Sept. As I suspected it was related to death of double dip and URs for Disney.

So...I said I was rattled the other day, and I still am now...even worse.

The weird thing though is I am MUCH MORE upset about all the (now) bad advice I gave newer folks here though than my own loss (the ability to book Disney with URs). I REALLY REALLY am feeling sad about all the people (here, on reddit, in real life) who I have advising up to this point and now all these changes/issues. I honestly don't even know what to say...I know it's not my fault and yet I feel ilke a complete and utter jerk.

EDIT: This is just crazy - I was helping my Pastor at church earn enough URs for a Disney trip next fall, I was advising friends and family on the double dip and now they may have points in limbo...Wow...not to mention all our friends here where we've openly discussed/advised using URs.

And then I broke into song...

It probably won't surprise many of you that I don't drink... hahaha!

But you know what...I will survive this...yes I will...We ALL will :)

At first I was afraid, I was petrified
Kept thinking Chase would always be right there just at my side
But then she went and changed the rules oh how you did me wrong
And I grew strong
And I learned how to get along
And so I'll burn
URs from Chase
I just won't let you see that disappointment on my face
I should have known you'd make a change, I should have not waited to see
If I'd known for just one second, you'd turn your back on me
Go on now, go, Take your cruises and Tour
Just turn around now
'Cause you're not welcome anymore
Did you just think I'd give up on this and just stop to try
Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
Do you think I'd crumble
Did you think I'd lay down and die?
Oh no, not I, I will survive
Oh, as long as I know how to Churn, I know I'll stay alive
I've got all my life to live
And I've got all my spend to give and I'll survive
I will survive, hey, hey

But you encouraged me! Keep your head up friend. You are so important to this community my man!!

...(Quoted Comment: you can only give advice based on what is known at the time. You have no reason to feel like a jerk! People will still be traveling for free, it will just take more effort)...
I couldn’t have wrote this better myself.

@SouthFayetteFan, you gave the best advice based on your own experience, and what was known and could have reasonably been expected. The double dip existed long before the one card/bonus per family rules popped up; and even though it was a loophole that could’ve been patched at any time, no one thought Chase would go back and cancel cards it already approved. And Disney, hotels at least, have been bookable with URs for years. That’s what got me into this game two years ago — because we took a trip to WDW, stayed in a Magic Kingdom view room at the Grand Floridian and an Arusha Savanna view room at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, wanted to do it again, but didn't want to settle for anything less, but also didn’t want to pay full price for it. No one saw Chase dropping Disney as a redemption option. I’m still hopeful it’s temporary, but the worst case is still one where URs are worth 1 cpp that can pay for a Disney vacation in cash, statement credit, or apparently still bookable through the Freedom portals.

I did my own share of soul searching when Plastiq 3x died on the CIP. Everyone knows I was a big cheerleader of this method for generating lots of UR from regular bills. I always advised that the coding could change suddenly at any time, but it still hit me hard when it finally did end, especially for those who only got on the ride very recently. I tell myself that we do our best to share good deals, tips and tricks, we do our best to discuss based on our experiences how things have worked in the past and what we think might happen, and help others evaluate the risk and come to their own decisions. There are just so many things outside of our control. We ultimately are playing in the banks’ house, and they can change the rules at any time.

EDIT: it seems super hard to quote comments from the old thread lol! (But I figured it out somehow) :D
 


Same here. Just wanted the Alaska miles. We used one of them for our New Orleans trip but only stayed 4 nights. We have one that we extended until next year. No idea what we will do with it yet. It will likely wind up being for a visit to WDW or DLR.
I still have that Marriott village outside WDW, that you first mentioned, on my radar for next year. @disneymagicgirl sent me some ideas for the panhandle of FL that are on the beach. I see some nice options there but I don't see any availability at all through July 2020 so I gotta figure out what's up with that. I'm interested in DLR options as well so I'll be looking into that too!

Where did y'all stay in NO?
 
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Hey @Lain - I went back and found my “down moment” last year from Sept. As I suspected it was related to death of double dip and URs for Disney.



And then I broke into song...



But you encouraged me! Keep your head up friend. You are so important to this community my man!!



EDIT: it seems super hard to quote comments from the old thread lol! (But I figured it out somehow) :D
Y'all's bro love brings tears to my eyes :lovestruc This thread is the BEST!
 


Y'all! We leave for WDW in a little over 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's been two years since we've been there for a family vacation - dh & I have been there for a resort stay but it's not the same - I am so psyched to get to go back with my family!!!!

If you've hung out on this thread for long, you know I love split-stays! My sweet dh indulges me. He despises having to pack up and move but he knows how much this makes the kids and i happy. Well, this trip, I get a triple split-stay cause we are 1 night at Pop, 4 nights at POR and 5 nights at Swan. I am so stinking excited!!! Two new resorts (Pop and Swan) and a fav (POR). Life is good and we are blessed!

Thank you ALL for sharing your knowledge and encouraging each other! This trip is costing us <$1k OOP. How is that even possible with all the hits we've taken over the years?? Welp, despite the hits, there is always another way. This group keeps finding and sharing. Love you all! Keep on keeping on, my friends!
 
Y'all! We leave for WDW in a little over 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's been two years since we've been there for a family vacation - dh & I have been there for a resort stay but it's not the same - I am so psyched to get to go back with my family!!!!

If you've hung out on this thread for long, you know I love split-stays! My sweet dh indulges me. He despises having to pack up and move but he knows how much this makes the kids and i happy. Well, this trip, I get a triple split-stay cause we are 1 night at Pop, 4 nights at POR and 5 nights at Swan. I am so stinking excited!!! Two new resorts (Pop and Swan) and a fav (POR). Life is good and we are blessed!

Thank you ALL for sharing your knowledge and encouraging each other! This trip is costing us <$1k OOP. How is that even possible with all the hits we've taken over the years?? Welp, despite the hits, there is always another way. This group keeps finding and sharing. Love you all! Keep on keeping on, my friends!

Which day are you at Pop? That's where I am. I can't remember how much before me you get there.
 
Thank you! Your pixie dust was great! Got the cert converted without any hassle and refunded 30k points!

We used our Cat 4 cert for a week at the Springhill Suites in Wisconsin Dells last month. I usually use one of my summer weeks in my Wis Dells timeshare to extend our vacation there. Instead, I deposited that summer timeshare week into the trading company and was able to trade my silly little timeshare for a week in a 2BR at Marriott Ko Olina on Oahu. My 2nd trade came through a few days ago for a studio. Since a studio only sleeps 4 I will need to supplement the trip with 3 hotel days for three of our group. I found a new Marriott Residence in that will be opening in October that will be just a few miles away.
The SW points that I got along with that Marriott nights and flights cert covered a VERY good portion of what we needed to fly 7 of us RT from MN.
Without all the sharing from this group I would have known nothing about the best use of those Marriott points and I can’t imagine there would be any way I would be able to take my family to HI.
 
You may want to take the time to add your bank account now, since it has to do verification deposits that may take a few days. It under "Withdraw money" on the Serve website, then "transfer to a bank" and then set it up from there.

I do mine at FD and DG. When I get the gift card, I go to the card provider's web site (on my phone in the parking lot) and set the PIN. I believe many of the cards will let you use the last four digits of the card number as the PIN if you don't set it to something else. Then I just drive over to FD or DG and load it to serve. Then, in the parking lot of that store I use the serve app to transfer the money to my checking account.
Thanks for this! Unfortunately there aren’t any FD stores around here at all and only one DG store about 10 miles away. We do have 2 Walmarts within 10min though so I’ll try all of them with smallish amounts. I mostly just want to use this method to try and hit the annual spend on the Hilton Ascend/Surpass to earn the free night and rack up some more points!
 
I think it may have been @Haley R that posted you could purchase Tokyo Disney tix by charging to the room if you were gold or higher.

My weekend night did not post after MSR right away. The points did. It took about 8 - 10 weeks after meeting MSR for the free weekend nigh to post. On our card anniversary, which is Jan 18 since we applied on day 1, also did not have our FN post right away. The actual post date for this year was April 4 which is 11 weeks from card anniversary.
That wasn’t me that posted about that. I think it was @Andysol maybe? I would’ve done that but we didn’t know we could do it and bought them at the ticket center.
 
Which day are you at Pop? That's where I am. I can't remember how much before me you get there.
Only the night/morning of Aug 5th/6th lol! We land at 1:20am on the 6th. When are you there? We plan to check out at 11 and head over to POR for pool time.
 
We used our Cat 4 cert for a week at the Springhill Suites in Wisconsin Dells last month. I usually use one of my summer weeks in my Wis Dells timeshare to extend our vacation there. Instead, I deposited that summer timeshare week into the trading company and was able to trade my silly little timeshare for a week in a 2BR at Marriott Ko Olina on Oahu. My 2nd trade came through a few days ago for a studio. Since a studio only sleeps 4 I will need to supplement the trip with 3 hotel days for three of our group. I found a new Marriott Residence in that will be opening in October that will be just a few miles away.
The SW points that I got along with that Marriott nights and flights cert covered a VERY good portion of what we needed to fly 7 of us RT from MN.
Without all the sharing from this group I would have known nothing about the best use of those Marriott points and I can’t imagine there would be any way I would be able to take my family to HI.
There is a Courtyard (pretty sure that is it) in HI that I have my eye on. It's cat 4. Just not sure we can get there before the cert expires next July.
 
DISchurners Announcement #1:

The DISchurners news thread has reached its 6 month limit so I have refreshed it. If you don't know what this is - you should check it out. It's a way to keep up with the highlights and major news on the thread each day. Sometimes it's hard to read the 1,000+ comments we generate on a weekly basis, lol! This can help!!

You can find the NEW thread here: NEWS & DISCUSSION THREAD v2.0

There is a link to the old news thread in there as well if you wanted to review recent info. Thanks!

Quick Reminder: ANYBODY can post on that thread, but try to follow somewhat of a consistent format as follows:**
  • Create a new top level comment for each "newsworthy topic"
  • Start with a date
  • BOLD a short headline by using "**" before and after that sentence.
  • Include a link back to a pertinent (preferably the first) comment on the DISboards on the topic
  • Try to credit whomever shared this piece of information (if you weren't the first to report it)
Of course we are SOOOOO lucky to have @Lain who often populates that thread. He spends a lot time doing that - thanks @Lain! Also thanks to @miztressuz, @gottalovepluto and @Albort who I know have helped there as well. (If I forgot anybody else, I apologize!!)
 
Only the night/morning of Aug 5th/6th lol! We land at 1:20am on the 6th. When are you there? We plan to check out at 11 and head over to POR for pool time.

Morning of the 7th so the next day. I just need to get through jury duty and whether I go or not Monday evening and then I'll know if I can start getting into vacation mode or not.

DISchurners Announcement #1:

The DISchurners news thread has reached its 6 month limit so I have refreshed it.

You can find the NEW thread here: NEWS & DISCUSSION THREAD v2.0

There is a link the old news thread in there as well if you wanted to review recent info. Thanks!

Quick Reminder: ANYBODY can post on that thread, but try to follow somewhat of a consistent format as follows:**
  • Create a new top level comment for each "newsworthy topic"
  • Start with a date
  • BOLD a short headline by using "**" before and after that sentence.
  • Include a link back to a pertinent (preferably the first) comment on the DISboards on the topic
  • Try to credit whomever shared this piece of information (if you weren't the first to report it)
Of course we are SOOOOO lucky to have @Lain who often populates that thread. He spends a lot time doing that - thanks @Lain! Also thanks to @miztressuz, @gottalovepluto and @Albort who I know have helped there as well. (If I forgot anybody else, I apologize!!)

I feel like you always post these so I see them at the time of day when I can't update stuff and then I forget. I even have emails from cards telling me to refer people sitting in my inbox and I still do nothing though. I'll add it to one of my many post it note lists :)
 
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