Clik here to view.
What’s the Best Hotel Rewards Program for Earning Free Nights?
When it comes to the ease of earning free nights based on paid stays, people always scoff when I cite Hilton HHonors and Club Carlson as the best hotel rewards programs. “What about Hilton’s inflated...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Saving Big on Hotel Bookings with HotelsCombined
A while back, I came across HotelsCombined.com, a great new hotel booking site that I thought was worth sharing because of some of their incredibly low rates. HotelsCombined searches over 50 travel...
View ArticleClik here to view.
American Airlines Off-Peak Saver Awards to Europe Still Bookable for 20,000...
One of the best things about the American Airlines’ pre-devaluation award chart was the ability to book off-peak saver awards to Europe for just 40,000 miles roundtrip. These prices were valid October...
View ArticleHow I Booked a $5,000+ Trip to Thessaloniki, Calais and London with Points...
About a month ago, I booked a spontaneous trip to Europe in order to volunteer with two organizations helping refugees in Greece and France. The route outlined in the title is the same one hundreds of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Air France KLM Lounge at San Francisco International Airport
Just over a month ago, I set off on a trip to Thessaloniki, Calais, and London booked with points and miles after finding business class award space on AirBerlin a few days before departure. My first...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: AirBerlin Business Class A330 San Francisco to Dusseldorf
When I was still in the planning stages of booking this trip, I found myself with two options for the flight from San Francisco to Dusseldorf: AirBerlin Business Class on the A330 or American Airlines’...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What Are the Best Hotel Credit Cards for Earning Free Nights?
A while back I wrote about the best hotel rewards program for earning free nights based on non-elite earning rates, which came down to Hilton HHonors, Club Carlson and Wyndham Rewards. Barring a really...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Redeem an American Airlines Travel Voucher
One of the easiest ways I’ve ever gotten “free travel” was by offering to get bumped off my flight to Chicago last year in exchange for a travel voucher. I was flying American Airlines out of San...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My Week in Manufactured Spending: A Downward Spiral
Last week was a pretty crappy week on all fronts and to top it all off, things went south in terms of manufactured spending. My Wells Fargo card got shut down for literally no reason. I barely took...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why I Caved and Got the Club Carlson Credit Card Again
It was only seven short months ago that I wrote about cancelling my Club Carlson credit card after the annual fee was up. At the time I had decided that my (at the time somewhat limited) manufactured...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What Are You Saving Airline Miles and Hotel Points For?
I met up with my friend and fellow blogger Kendra a few months ago and at one point she asked me about my travel plans for the summer. I told her I was likely not going anywhere and her plans were the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
10 Best Credit Cards for Manufactured Spending
Whether you’re new to the game or a a seasoned vet, most of you guys probably read this blog for the manufactured spending content. Determining the best way to manufacture spend depends entirely on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
No, the Chase Sapphire Reserve is NOT The Best Credit Card Ever
If you’re losing your mind over the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card, which came out yesterday to an outstanding level of hype, don’t. Contrary to what is being written about it, the Chase Sapphire Reserve...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Most Useful Resource for Learning About Points and Miles
It’s been about five years since I got involved in the points and miles game, and it’s really changed my life for the better. Not just in terms of how I’m able to travel, but how I earn a living and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My Second Club Carlson Credit Card Sign-up Bonus Posted
About a month ago I wrote about how I re-applied for the Club Carlson credit card after cancelling it seven months before. This decision was mainly based on the ease of earning free Club Carlson nights...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Meeting Large Spending Requirements Without Manufactured Spending
A 100,000 point sign-up bonus isn’t rare for the American Express Platinum Card. In fact, there have been bonuses out there for up to 250,000 Membership Rewards points after a total of $55,000 worth of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Discover’s Strange Classification of Travel Merchants
The way merchants are classified varies by credit card issuer, and each bank has its idiosyncrasies that people in this hobby have exploited to generate points and miles at an accelerated rate. For...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why You Need to Load Up on SPG Points AND Transfer Them to Marriott
The first steps in the Starwood-Marriott merger were taken last week, when reciprocal benefits were announced for members for both programs. This was a positive step, with generous elite status matches...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Marriott Hotel + Air Awards vs. Starwood Nights & Flights: Which Provides...
The Marriott takeover of Starwood is off to a great start, with generous status match offers and a 1:3 transfer ratio for SPG point transfers to Marriott and Ritz Carlton. I’ve already covered how much...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why $400 Economy Fares to Asia Don’t Excite Me
Over the past couple of months, we’ve seen some incredibly fares between the West Coast and Asia. Back in July, The Flight Deal shared a $330 roundtrip fare between San Francisco and Hong Kong. Since...
View Article