I love credit cards so much!

[1st*toright]

@Lain- So sorry to hear about your MIL. As hard as it is not to have the time for final goodbyes, I am so glad your wife had a good visit the last time she was with her mom. Sounds like your MIL was a wonderful person.

 

[Lain]

Haven't seen this posted, but just noticed an Amex offer for JetBlue - spend $200 get $40 back (exp 11/20/18). Its on several of my cards - PRG, Blue Cash, Everyday, Hilton.

On another note - is anyone changing their evaluation of their Amex cards based on the closure of the multi-tab loophole for Amex offers? Some of my Amex cards have only been kept because of the ability to use Amex offers multiple times. Now that is gone there seems little point in keeping some of the cards so I am probably going to close a couple to free up space for future Amex cards.

I'll be closing my PRG. I was on the fence about it this year because of the pathetic retention offer, but the Amex Offers tipped the scale in favor of keeping it. That's gone. Next year, I expect I'll also have 3 SPG credit cards and bumping against the 5 credit card limit so I need to decide which to close.

 

[dhardawa]

Also, depending on your travel plans and what you're comfortable with or interested in learning, we can save you more than $200 on your Disney trip We're friendly!

My travel plans are me leaving 9/19 for a week with two Disney adult kids with free dining. But, I’m always open to learning for future trips!

 

[1st*toright]

Just logged into SPG account and saw that I am Platinum Elite! I was Gold for both Marriott and SPG and did not expect this. Anyone else Platinum Elite and can tell me what to expect? We are staying at a few Westin hotels in a week.

When will this level expire? I know I won't be able to earn it again.

My read on the elite levels is that you should hold on to whatever level you achieve via the program combination through Feb of 2020. So enjoy your year of Platinum - which is basically what old SPG Gold/Marriott Gold got you. Gold in the new program is kinda useless - no breakfast, no lounge, 2pm checkout (if available) no 4pm checkout. Marriott has always been stingy with upgrades, even at platinum level, but the "suite nights" benefit of 4 special upgrade nights that Platinums get might be worth something, maybe?

The bloom is definitely off the Marriott rose. I will need to do some research on Hilton and Hyatt and see what might make sense going forward. In the meantime, I have my Cat 1-5 N&F and a Cat 1-4 annual free night to use up - at least I will be Platinum for those!

 

[SBWB48]

For those who called in and received retention offers on the SW cards...about how long did it take Chase to post the credit to your card....

I seem to recall 2-3 days.

I think it took up to a week for DH's $100 statement credit we got on the Premier to post after the call was made.

I couldn’t login to my SPG/Marriott account all day yesterday. It wasn’t showing any of my points said maintenance etc and now it’s working today but there is no availability for Bora Bora. I even am searching for flexible dates.

I booked a stay at the Prince de Galles in Paris. I think this is temporarily discounted too but I could be wrong. I am like 50/50 on canceling though. We tentatively have Rome in April and I got dates for this in May so it may not work.

Was anyone able to book any of these category 7s that are going up in price next year?

It's hit or miss. I couldn't log on all weekend or even earlier this morning. Just tried again, it worked, tried again a few minutes later, nope. No rhyme or reason.

 

[hsmamato2]

Trying to make lemonade, I checked with my daughter who is my main travel partner. Gave her a choice of 1) Acadia NP in Maine, 2) NY City museums/Broadway, 3) Orlando - either Universal or Disney. She picked Acadia NP. I had looked for hotel openings before giving her choices. I never go anywhere spontaneous so planning in less than a week is terrifying for uber planner like me!

That will make one more NP off our bucket lists and 2 more states we haven't been to - Maine and NH (making a side trip to Mt Washington in the White Mountains). Off to complete all the reservations.

Love all those choices! have fun! I have family visiting the white mountains right now but I was too busy to join them.... I wish I were there....

 

[DisneyMandC]

FYI I was able to login to my Marriott account. Looks like things have largely updated. It now shows that I'm 2 nights away from Gold status and my points are correct. I did not have an SPG account so nothing to merge there...

 

[hsmamato2]

By no means am I an expert on the bank bonuses but I also wanted to see what I might be able to fund with an Amex. I pulled up Doc's bank bonus page and did a search for "american Express" and wrote down about 10 banks that did not seem to exclude Amex. This of course is assuming the the DPs and information is current.

Eastern Bank $2k
Fidelity (PA) $500
First Midwest $2500
Great Western $1k
Memory $500
My Northerst Savings $1k
Rockland Trust $2500
Star One $1k
TruMark Financial $1k
Union Bank & Trust $2k

 

[SBWB48]

Forgot to mention, applied for and was approved for the Hilton Biz

Have about $5K left on the Amex Biz Plat and done with Citi AA Biz, so taking on another 3K felt ok, but DH applying for the CIP soon, so I guess that's back to $13K for the next 2-3 months...

Couldn't use a link from DISChurners, though, since it required a dummy booking to pull the offer

 

[WardFam]

I couldn’t login to my SPG/Marriott account all day yesterday. It wasn’t showing any of my points said maintenance etc and now it’s working today but there is no availability for Bora Bora. I even am searching for flexible dates.

I booked a stay at the Prince de Galles in Paris. I think this is temporarily discounted too but I could be wrong. I am like 50/50 on canceling though. We tentatively have Rome in April and I got dates for this in May so it may not work.

Was anyone able to book any of these category 7s that are going up in price next year?

I called In To ask about Bora Bora and there was availability for my dates. She said I would be booking a king overwater villa! But they can't book any SPG properties with points for another 24-48 hours. Guess I will be repeatedly calling back!

 

[Lain]

So if you had a choice to collect any hotel points which hotel group would you choose? DH has some travel coming up so thinking Marriott but figured this group would be great to get input from.

Our upcoming travel goals are disney land, gibraltar(spelling) universal studios Orlando.

We love Hyatt, the problem is that they have a smaller footprint. But the UR to Hyatt transfer has gotten us some really sweet deals.

It's also hard to earn Hyatt points through signup bonuses on their ONE Chase card (that's fortunately still not subject to 5/24).

Between Marriott and Hilton, I'd initially say whichever loyalty program you've already got a good cache started. But also look at each chain's hotel offerings at your planned destinations.

Marriott points were easy to accumulate between Chase and Amex cards, but will be much more difficult due to the restrictions going into effect 8/26. Marriott members earn 10x points on eligible hotel charges (5x points at Element, Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites hotels). Elites status will get you more, between 11 and 17.5 points per dollar spent. You can earn another 6x Marriott points by charging your stay on one of Chase's new Marriott cards or Amex's SPG cards. With the merger, Marriott now has a LOT of hotels around Disneyland, most at 35k, at which you could use the Free Night certificates that come with the anniversary of the new Marriott and SPG cards.

Amex has 4 Hilton credit cards (3 personal, 1 business) with welcome bonuses (none at an all time high currently), but keep in mind you can hold only 5 credit cards (regardless of business or personal) at a time with Amex. And since 3 of these cards are personal cards, they will add to your 5/24 count if you're not done with Chase. Hilton points aren't worth much, but if you actually stay at Hiltons then they're so easy to earn because of the high multiples for stays depending on status, paying with a Hilton card that carry their own earning bonuses for hotel stays, and bonus points promotions they seem to be running all the time.

I also like that it's easy to pool points with Hilton. Hilton members can transfer a maximum of 500k points into a pool each year, and receive up to 2 million points in a calendar year for no fee. This makes it really easy for a 2+ player household to earn points separately but combine them for more expensive redemptions.

Marriott seems to have really taken the low road in their merger with SPG. SPG used to allow members at the same address to transfer unlimited points between each other for free. While Marriott doesn’t require members transferring points to share the same address, members can transfer up to only 50k points each year with a $10 transaction fee (Gold and Platinum members aren't charged this fee). I believe Marriott allows point transfers of more than 50K over the phone if it's being done to complete an award redemption.

 

[speedyfishy]

I called In To ask about Bora Bora and there was availability for my dates. She said I would be booking a king overwater villa! But they can't book any SPG properties with points for another 24-48 hours. Guess I will be repeatedly calling back!

OMG. that would be amazing if you are able to secure that. Let me know. Maybe ill try calling too.

ETA: How are you planning on getting there? are you using miles? I thought I would figure that out after I got a reservation.

 

[1st*toright]

My one and only Plastiq charge on the CIP posted on 8/17 - sounds like I'm only going to get 1x URs out of it. Bummer! Oh well, there was no way I would meet the Amex MSR otherwise, so the fee is just the cost of doing business, I guess.

We used our local Amex lounge on the way out of town on Friday and again when we got home on Sunday (no groceries in the house!). Was really nice - got coffee, good soup, other noshy things. I even ran into a friend I hadn't seen in a while in the lounge on Sunday! I've used the $100 global entry credit and the $200 travel credit (SW gift cards), so my net fee is $150 at this point - I'd value our lounge visits at about $10pp (so $40 for our usage this trip), so I'm well on my way to justifying the AF for my Amex plat.

Our Chicago trip was fantastic. I will do a review of the hotel we stayed at over on the hotel review thread when I have a minute. Good food, beautiful weather, a very cool city (plus time to just hang out with my sweet DH, who is awesome). No room upgrade - even though I'm old gold/new platinum and it was our 20th anniversary. They did give us 2 drink vouchers for the bar, which was better than nothing! The lounge was closed for the weekend, but we did get breakfast in the restaurant (their "continental breakfast" was fruit/yogurt or we could get $15pp off whatever we ordered).

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Forgot to mention, applied for and was approved for the Hilton Biz...Couldn't use a link from DISChurners, though, since it required a dummy booking to pull the offer

Congrats! Don't feel bad about the link...Nobody should ever feel bad for taking advantage of a higher public offer. We all love supporting each other, but YOU come first in this game

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I had asked in another thread about getting the best sign up bonus on a non-premier Disney visa and was told there was a way to get $200. Can anyone help with this.

There are referral links for that offer..not no the Disboards though...if you pm @SouthFayetteFan he can give you the information

 

[amalone1013]

My travel plans are me leaving 9/19 for a week with two Disney adult kids with free dining. But, I’m always open to learning for future trips!

We are headed down 9/13 for a week and a half

I was happy to get some savings on my first trip, but learned more and more and have saved large amounts on the trips I've taken since. Like this next trip will be 10 hotel nights and I am paying $300 total OOP for them, plus flights and Disney tickets were purchased with credit card points. So any time you are ready to start learning, we will be here! The best way to start is to let us know what credit cards you have opened in the last 24 months (month and year opened), if you have a spouse or partner who would also be willing to open cards, and your travel goals (maybe family size too). We have all sorts here, bargain travel, luxury travel, big families, small families, couples, solo travelers. And you can do as much or as little as you'd like.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I seem to recall 2-3 days.

Thanks for the DP..called on Thursday...so I’ll wait not so patiently for it to post

 

[amalone1013]

My one and only Plastiq charge on the CIP posted on 8/17 - sounds like I'm only going to get 1x URs out of it. Bummer! Oh well, there was no way I would meet the Amex MSR otherwise, so the fee is just the cost of doing business, I guess.

If your charge has posted, you can see if it coded as 1x or 3x. You will have to go into the UR site and see how many points are pending for your next statement.

Glad you had a good trip!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Thanks for the DP..called on Thursday...so I’ll wait not so patiently for it to post

I probably wouldn't get concerned until Friday - I always "give it a week" lol!

 

[PolyRob]

I pay my cards every day, essentially using them as debit cards. As soon as a purchase posts (not pending) I pay it. I do this even if working on MSR.

Thank you! I wasn't sure if paying it early would almost trick the system into not thinking I have met my MSR. I did return $50 worth of clothes so I lost some MSR there. Not to worry, more charges are coming!

I actually find Target limits my number of payments. I tried to make 3 within a 14-day period when purchasing Disney gift cards and it would not take my payment!

I haven’t had any issues with my URs posting and I’ve paid the cards online weekly priorto the statement closing for years and have continued to do so with my new accounts....

Thanks! Hoping both MSRs will be 100% complete before the first statements close. With my large charge coming this week, I was contemplating paying some of the cards down, especially on the CSP since the CL is lower. It will only be about 20% of its CL so I guess it will be fine. I just want mitigate any possible red flags with Chase.