Friday, September 25, 2015

Credit Card Junkie

Well it is official, we have booked our next trip! And I felt like a credit card junkie while doing it - you see, its all about the rewards points. I had 3 cards on my desk while booking this travel.

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1 - United: Our trusty United card. We actually paid for our flights this time since they were so cheap! I used Google Flights to watch the prices and when it went down lower than I have seen we booked! Since we used our card on United's website we'll get 2 points for every dollar we spent and we'll get the points for the mileage this time (*when you book a reward flight you don't get points for that travel).

2 - Hyatt: We have never stayed at a Hyatt hotel so I am excited to try the brand. Hyatt offers 2 free nights with their credit card if you spend $2,000 in 2 months. *And you can collect this bonus every 24 months. The free nights can be used anywhere! Inculding thier all inclusive resorts in Mexico and their amazing hotels/resorts in Hawaii. So if you and a spouse both sign up for the card you can have 4 free nights at any of their hotels! This is a pretty good deal!

*Hyatt does not offer a points bonus (i.e. 30,000 points for spending $x,xxx). Our hotel would normally go for 15,000 points a night.

3 - SPG: I had this card out to reserve the extra night we are paying for (at the AAA rate of course) - I opted not to use the Hyatt card because we are done with that one and have moved on to collecting the bonus for SPG brand of hotels (Sheraton and co.). We signed up for their annual bonus offer of 30,000 points if you spend $3,000 in 3 months. We plan on using these on our trip to Australia in 2017. We are looking at the Four Points by Sheraton in Brisbane which is 10,000 points a night (so for us its 3 free nights). I took advantage of this when we went to Hawaii back in January and now its my husbands turn to collect the points in his name. He also signed up for the card under my referral link so I will get a 5,000 point bonus too!

So... where are we going?! We're going to Boston! We're going early next year and it will be COLD! We have never traveled together to a northern climate during the winter so it will be something different. We are use to packing swimsuits and flip flops and now we need to pack heavy coats and boots!

If travel hacking peaks your interest visit The Points Guy; I use his website all the time. We take our time with the earning of points but there are way to do it quickly with many, many credit cards. You have to play the game to get the rewards!

* denotes a travel hacking tip


2 comments :

  1. We love the SPG account, they have some great deals. Last year I stayed at one property for two nights and they gave us two free nights in return - it was seriously crazy! We stayed one night at the W Hotel in London and got upgraded to their top suite worth £3500 a night....these guys have some great deals. I'm a IHG girl at heart but sometimes I like to sleep around and try out SPG hotels hehe. Have a great trip to Boston x

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    Replies
    1. hehe, sleeping around :P cheeky

      I love both brands! We are saving our IHG for Australia in a few years. I am anxious to see what Spire Elite status will do for us! SPG has great redemption rates!

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