I love credit cards so much!

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So United sucks and you can't book a one way flight without the prices going up like crazy. The flight to Paris via Dulles was great but the flights back weren't going to work so I wanted to mix and match as I often do. When I searched it as a one way instead of round trip all of the cheap economy went away and the flights were over 2k. If I did it as round trip the flight was 805. So we're flying Iceland Air and meeting in Iceland instead. Not looking forward to the nonstop from Seattle to there but it was the cheapest option and the flight times worked. But I'll earn Alaska miles which are worth more to me than anything United would get me.

The awesome news is I was able to use my 2 free Hyatt nights at the Paris Vendome and then when I get my points from the CSR I'll book the 3rd night we need. And since I just put DLP and my flight on my card with some other shopping I'm only 1k away from meeting min spend, yay!

The other awesome thing was DLP had a special of 2 nights paid 2 nights free or 2 nights paid 1 night free, so for the same price we're staying there 4 nights. We also splurged for club level at the Sequoia Lodge to get free breakfast buffet, the drinks/snack and the daily hotel fast pass.

This is my first trip with a mix of paying and points/cc bonus stuff which was planned and I'm excited about. I'm hoping to pay less oop for trips going forward with all this but for now I'm excited and happy.

We're flying into De Gaulle but out of Orly, does anyone have any tips with either? Orly seemed closer to Paris and easier to get to/go through as far as coming home.

Awesome! Yeah, United does suck but I’ve been lucky a few times finding award flights at the saver level and booked one ways with UR points transferred to United. We flew out of CDG once and it was not at all pleasant. I imagine flying in wold be easier though. You’ll have to let us all know what they Hyatt in Paris is like please!

I love reading about your travel/rewards adventures.

I copied the part about Hilton and gold status because I also have gold status thanks to the AmEx Platinum and really have no idea how this whole upgrade thing works.

We are staying at the Hilton in Chicago that's next to the theater where Hamilton is playing in December. I have three rooms booked for our party of 6 - standard rooms, two queen beds. Do I ask whether there are any upgrades available when we check in? Would they be willing to upgrade some but not all 3 of the rooms, if 3 upgrades are not available?

Anything else I should know -- but obviously do not, because I really know nothing - except that I got $900 worth of room reservations for free, thanks to AmEx and Citi :santa:

The terms and conditions do state space available upgrades. I’d advise checking in and asking very nicely. The worst they could say is none are available. I’d ask and take what they have even if all of the rooms can’t be upgraded. Are you going to go see Hamilton while you are there? New York, Chicago, London and Puerto Rico Hamilton shows are on my list of Hamilton performances I want to see.
 
Do I ask whether there are any upgrades available when we check in? Would they be willing to upgrade some but not all 3 of the rooms, if 3 upgrades are not available?


Another view of this. Wife and I have both been Diamonds off and on through the years- and we have both been Golds through the years as well. In your situation, really depends on how full the hotel is, and how many people with elite status are staying there at the time. When we were Diamond- they ALWAYS came through. We were always upgraded to the best available room on property- often a corner suite on the top floor is what we would go for- and if someone beat us to it (or paid for it) then the next best room available. When Gold- it's a crap shoot depending on the property and the desk person. Oftentimes we would get upgraded, and sometimes we didn't. The times we didn't were at smaller properties. With multiple rooms and Gold status- don't count on or assume anything. If there is availability and all the Diamonds have checked in ahead of you, you could get anything from zero to three upgrades. Another trick... After you get upgraded (if you get upgraded), casually ask if there is any way they would grant you complimentary executive lounge access. It worked for us some of the time, other times they just coded our key to give it to us automatically without asking, and sometimes it was a 'no'. Breakfast is ALWAYS included when you are gold. We never tried to get breakfast for multiple rooms, so not sure how that will work out for you- but you should at least ask- all they can do is say no. Lastly, with all that said- in January the game will change. With the new AmEx Hilton card coming out that grants automatic Diamond status- IMHO Gold's will be turned down a lot more often since there will be a lot more Diamonds. There are rumors that Hilton might be adding a new tier to the elite categories as well (doubt that will happen right away, though, if at all). We are getting one card just so one of us keeps Diamond status- but we stay at Hilton's a lot- many times a paid stay through LMT or whatever. We are retired and travel a lot- and have no day-to-day expenses other than utilities, taxes, household upkeep, and food- and simply cannot manufacture enough spend to cover all of it. So, some of our 'travel expenses' become ‘manufactured spend’. Bottom line is ask- a lot of people don’t, and just take what they get. This goes for all hotel chains where you have some sort of status, not just Hilton. Ask- and you might receive J A quick example- we are gold with Marriott, and were checking into the Marriott Waikiki for a cruise. Asked for an upgrade (nicely) and got the corner suite on the top floor overlooking Diamond Head. Ya' never know...
 
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My hubs has been Hilton diamond for years (from stays) and we don’t often get upgraded. It is worth asking, but go in expecting nothing. We do always get access to a lounge if there is one, even if they don’t upgrade us to the club level floor.

The terms and conditions do state space available upgrades. I’d advise checking in and asking very nicely. The worst they could say is none are available. I’d ask and take what they have even if all of the rooms can’t be upgraded. Are you going to go see Hamilton while you are there? New York, Chicago, London and Puerto Rico Hamilton shows are on my list of Hamilton performances I want to see.

Another view of this. Wife and I have both been Diamonds off and on through the years- and we have both been Golds through the years as well. In your situation, really depends on how full the hotel is, and how many people with elite status are staying there at the time. When we were Diamond- they ALWAYS came through. We were always upgraded to the best available room on property- often a corner suite on the top floor is what we would go for- and if someone beat us to it (or paid for it) then the next best room available. When Gold- it's a crap shoot depending on the property and the desk person. Oftentimes we would get upgraded, and sometimes we didn't. The times we didn't were at smaller properties. With multiple rooms and Gold status- don't count on or assume anything. If there is availability and all the Diamonds have checked in ahead of you, you could get anything from zero to three upgrades. Another trick... After you get upgraded (if you get upgraded), casually ask if there is any way they would grant you complimentary executive lounge access. It worked for us some of the time, other times they just coded our key to give it to us automatically without asking, and sometimes it was a 'no'. Breakfast is ALWAYS included when you are gold. We never tried to get breakfast for multiple rooms, so not sure how that will work out for you- but you should at least ask- all they can do is say no. Lastly, with all that said- in January the game will change. With the new AmEx Hilton card coming out that grants automatic Diamond status- IMHO Gold's will be turned down a lot more often since there will be a lot more Diamonds. There are rumors that Hilton might be adding a new tier to the elite categories as well (doubt that will happen right away, though, if at all). We are getting one card just so one of us keeps Diamond status- but we stay at Hilton's a lot- many times a paid stay through LMT or whatever. We are retired and travel a lot- and have no day-to-day expenses other than utilities, taxes, household upkeep, and food- and simply cannot manufacture enough spend to cover all of it. So, some of our 'travel expenses' become ‘manufactured spend’. Bottom line is ask- a lot of people don’t, and just take what they get. This goes for all hotel chains where you have some sort of status, not just Hilton. Ask- and you might receive J A quick example- we are gold with Marriott, and were checking into the Marriott Waikiki for a cruise. Asked for an upgrade (nicely) and got the corner suite on the top floor overlooking Diamond Head. Ya' never know...

Thanks everyone. I will ask, and just see what happens. And yes, we are going to see Hamilton! I bought tickets in February - can't believe it's less than a month now.

I also need to figure out what to do with the Hilton cards. I got them both this year and probably will keep the AmEx one for a while longer so I don't raise any red/yellow flags but I have read that the Citi Hilton cards are being automatically converted to some kind of AmEx card, which I'm pretty sure I don't want to happen. So I think I am going to cancel that one now.
 


Thanks everyone. I will ask, and just see what happens. And yes, we are going to see Hamilton! I bought tickets in February - can't believe it's less than a month now.

I also need to figure out what to do with the Hilton cards. I got them both this year and probably will keep the AmEx one for a while longer so I don't raise any red/yellow flags but I have read that the Citi Hilton cards are being automatically converted to some kind of AmEx card, which I'm pretty sure I don't want to happen. So I think I am going to cancel that one now.
I have been wondering what to do about that also. DH and I both have Citi cards that will be converted to Amex. Anyone know if there is any benefit to letting this happen, if it's already a card we don't use?
 
I bought tickets in February - can't believe it's less than a month now.
That is awesome! I live in Chicago (burbs) but can't afford tix My niece wants to go so I have been entering the lottery for $10 tix. If I win I have points to cover an overnight stay nearby
 


So much I need to read on this thread but I'm back from a couple weeks of adventuring in FL and here's a mini-report on the credit card aspect of our trip first!
-Got the Delta credit card before flying so free bags ($200 value right there for our fam of 4). Boarding zone was Sky due to flying Comfort+ so didn't utilize the gold amex boarding zone (gosh those zones are confusing! I literally googled "delta boarding zones" while at the gate finding out if Sky = Sky Priority. It does for boarding, but not for checking-in (I think). [Comfort+ was a great splurge (we paid aprox $180 per person for the roundtrip upgrade for all legs) and we have zero regrets, one of us is 6'4" and another 6', the others were shorter but even they liked the legroom, the legroom was noticeable on the SkyWest hop flight AND the main Delta flight. Sometimes on United I'm not sure if there's actually any extra legroom in that section! 10/10 would book the upgrade again even paying cash.]
-UR for National car rental, great deal. Grabbed a car for first 2 days and went to Kennedy Space Center. National couldn't link our reservation prior to travel but when we exited with our rental the person at the booth was able to register the rental to the National account so it shows as a rental now in our past trips. (Now to contact them about our Hawaii rental earlier this year, I just assumed booking through UR we were out of luck- wrong!)
-UR for Kennedy Space Center tickets, didn't get any of the extras and no regrets. We were quite busy seeing everything and closed the place down and still didn't see everything
-What we didn't cover with gift cards at WDW we charged to Barclay Arrival+. I ran the math prior to the trip to make sure we maximize using the 5% back in points. Our charge was $417 and to my surprise we were able to apply our Barclay points to cover the exact charge, I thought it had to be done in $25 increments for some reason but apparently not
-Disney Visa has to be used for Disney Visa discounts. Just reiterating because people keep asking. Also, Joffrey's refused the 20% discount due to it being an alcoholic beverage but I thought others were getting the discount applied on those? Whatever, I just wanted my coffee with a nice boozy shot that morning :)
-Minnie Vans charge through Lyft so 3x on CSR (except for Accessible Minnie Van which is now billed to your room, I'll do a write up on those in the transportation board in the next day or two for those interested)
-UR at Drury Orlando for day between WDW and Universal. Parents were disappointed and we don't recommend this hotel, very motel feeling (parents said they had a much nicer hotel at their first Drury stay in AZ last year, I'd never stayed at one). No Drury Points if you book through UR, front desk said loyalty points are only available if you book through Drury.
-UR for RPR at Universal. Basically no more Amex discounts anymore in the parks despite all the signs reminding you to use an Amex. I remember discounts from a couple years ago but didn't find any this year. Didn't use the lounge benefit, who has the time with 1 day? Express Pass is TOTALLY FREAKING AWESOME OMG, UR was a great use at RPR for us.
--Charging to your room at RPR/Loews. This is weird. We enabled it when we checked in but it didn't work, we contacted the hotel and they told us room charging won't go active until your room is actually ready. Charged on our CSRs and got 3x on food purchases but not merchandise (same experience I've had a Disneyland and Kennedy Space Center) the ECV we got at the front gate also only got 1x. We charged to the room after we got back to the hotel and during the next morning, decided to just charge the hotel bill to the CSR on file and use the rest of the Barclay points later. The credit card statement shows Loews charging each charge individually, so any room charge under $100 won't be eligible for Barclay Arrival+ point redemption. Although, gift shop and food charges all coded 3x. (If you want one of those $120 Harry Potter robes buy it at the hotel for 3x before going into the parks (maybe? idk if it codes differently if you don't charge it to the room- admittedly I'm also assuming they're the same price as in the parks.)
 
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So much I need to read on this thread but I'm back from a couple weeks of adventuring in FL and here's a mini-report on the credit card aspect of our trip first!
--Charging to your room at RPR/Loews. This is weird. We enabled it when we checked in but it didn't work, we contacted the hotel and they told us room charging won't go active until your room is actually ready. Charged on our CSRs and got 3x on food purchases but not merchandise (same experience I've had a Disneyland and Kennedy Space Center) the ECV we got at the front gate also only got 1x. We charged to the room after we got back to the hotel and during the next morning, decided to just charge the hotel bill to the CSR on file and use the rest of the Barclay points later. The credit card statement shows Loews charging each charge individually, so any room charge under $100 won't be eligible for Barclay Arrival+ point redemption. Although, gift shop and food charges all coded 3x. (If you want one of those $120 Harry Potter robes buy it at the hotel for 3x before going into the parks (maybe? idk if it codes differently if you don't charge it to the room- admittedly I'm also assuming they're the same price as in the parks.)

That's strange. We've been to Universal twice over the summer and are going again in Dec but we checked in early both times and had no problem charging to the room before our room was ready in the parks. The only place it wouldn't work is when I tried to purchase our annual passes at the hotel. I had to use my credit card.

The robes are the same price in the park and at the resort. DS will probably get one this time since my nephew works there and gets 50% off during the holidays.

How did you like RPR? We are staying there for the first time in Dec that I booked through UR. We have stayed at PBR over the summer and love that resort.
 
question for Chase FR Walmart purchases..... If I buy online, thru Chase portal which is offering 2% bonus, and use my Fr card for 5x points, and then chase pay ,will that give me an extra 4x points basically? (or 4% in my case?) that's 5x + 2x +2x ,right?
 
-UR for National car rental, great deal. Grabbed a car for first 2 days and went to Kennedy Space Center. National couldn't link our reservation prior to travel but when we exited with our rental the person at the booth was able to register the rental to the National account so it shows as a rental now in our past trips. (Now to contact them about our Hawaii rental earlier this year, I just assumed booking through UR we were out of luck- wrong!)
Can you elaborate a bit on this? I booked a National rental with UR through the portal and it asked for my National number at the time of booking. Is that not sufficient to link the reservation to my account?
 
question for Chase FR Walmart purchases..... If I buy online, thru Chase portal which is offering 2% bonus, and use my Fr card for 5x points, and then chase pay ,will that give me an extra 4x points basically? (or 4% in my case?) that's 5x + 2x +2x ,right?

is there a promotion on using chase pay?
 
Can you elaborate a bit on this? I booked a National rental with UR through the portal and it asked for my National number at the time of booking. Is that not sufficient to link the reservation to my account?
No it's not, the number doesn't pass along to National, I put it in when I made the reservation as well. I tried to see the reservation in the National app but had to input the reservation number every time. I contacted national on twitter about linking them and they said because a TA (Chase UR) had control over the reservation they couldn't add the loyalty number. But, they said I could talk to an attendant when I pick up the car and get the loyalty number added then. We were told to talk to the National attendant at the gate when we exited the parking garage housing the cars. It took a couple mins but she linked our loyalty number to the reservation and now it shows as a completed trip in my National app. I'm gonna contact them next week about getting credit for my past trip on UR that also failed to link to my loyalty account.
 
No it's not, the number doesn't pass along to National, I put it in when I made the reservation as well. I tried to see the reservation in the National app but had to input the reservation number every time. I contacted national on twitter about linking them and they said because a TA (Chase UR) had control over the reservation they couldn't add the loyalty number. But, they said I could talk to an attendant when I pick up the car and get the loyalty number added then. We were told to talk to the National attendant at the gate when we exited the parking garage housing the cars. It took a couple mins but she linked our loyalty number to the reservation and now it shows as a completed trip in my National app. I'm gonna contact them next week about getting credit for my past trip on UR that also failed to link to my loyalty account.
Excellent. This is the first time I've gone through the portal for a car rental. Thank you so much for the heads up!
 
That's strange. We've been to Universal twice over the summer and are going again in Dec but we checked in early both times and had no problem charging to the room before our room was ready in the parks. The only place it wouldn't work is when I tried to purchase our annual passes at the hotel. I had to use my credit card.

The robes are the same price in the park and at the resort. DS will probably get one this time since my nephew works there and gets 50% off during the holidays.

How did you like RPR? We are staying there for the first time in Dec that I booked through UR. We have stayed at PBR over the summer and love that resort.
It was weird, when the charge didn't work we texted RPR at the number they had texted us a welcome to and they responded that we couldn't charge until our room was ready. We checked in around 8am. We didn't keep trying and just switched to the credit card for the rest of the park day.

50% off on that robe is AWESOME! Those things are insanely priced.

This was my 2nd one night stay at RPR. We liked it, but it doesn't have the upscale feel I got at PBR when I pool hopped over there a couple years ago. We just needed a place to sleep and express passes & it did the job. The showers were great, the door to the bathroom is super weird. Lots of light in the bathroom! Gorgeous Christmas tree was installed when we were there (the rest of the fam thought it was ok but I really loved it). We were leaving for the airport the next day around 1pm so I asked for late checkout for our rooms the night before but they said no availability and to call the next morning. I talked to them the next morning and they gave us a noon checkout for free so that was nice. The boat was pretty convenient to Tower 3 where we stayed (I requested T3 so that was great), we didn't have a chance to pool this trip. 2 of our family were sick so they ordered the world's most expensive Chicken Noodle Soup from room service but it helped them and kept them off their feet so it was worth with it. My dad & I went down to Jakes because we were hungry & tired late that night, food was fine, the wine was nice. We all went back there for lunch before our flight because of how convenient it was (our 2 sickies had very little energy and a flight across the country ahead of them). If not for the extenuating circumstances we would have done that dinner & lunch at city walk. Oh, their grab and go breakfast is convenient but the espresso drinks suck. Grab Starbucks at City Walk if you want espresso.
 
question for Chase FR Walmart purchases..... If I buy online, thru Chase portal which is offering 2% bonus, and use my Fr card for 5x points, and then chase pay ,will that give me an extra 4x points basically? (or 4% in my case?) that's 5x + 2x +2x ,right?
I thought there was.... now I'm confused maybe not?
 
only promo i know of for UR is Sapphire is +1 if u use mobile pay(apple pay/samsung pay).

I thought this was a special promo that had ended recently... I remember getting an email for it but thought it was only a limited time.
 
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