Greetings from sunny Las Vegas, where I’m spending a few days at the Money 20/20 conference seeing what’s new in Fintech. Bilt used the conference to announce its Venmo partnership yesterday. So, while I’m a bit preoccupied at the moment, here’s a roundup of what’s happening in miles and points…
In this article
Amex Opens Salt Lake City (SLC) Centurion Lounge
American Express has opened its 31st lounge today, in Salt Lake City. The Centurion
Lounge is located in Concourse B by Gate 31 within SLC. Opening hours are Sunday – Saturday from 4:45 a.m. – 11:15 p.m. MT.
Highlights of the new lounge include, per Amex:
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Hearth Room Inspired by a Luxury Lodge Experience: A striking 360-degree fireplace encircled by plush lounge seating and a custom, locally woven art piece echoing the surrounding natural landscape creates the feeling of a premium hearth room.
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An Outdoor Terrace with V
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iews of the Wasatch Mountains: A year-round outdoor terrace offers guests fresh mountain air and the ability to relax by a fireplace while enjoying the mountain views.
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Recovery Room for Luxurious Post-Adventure Renewal: Guests can unwind in plush loungers while enjoying the restorative benefits of wellness amenities including compression boots and massage guns, complemented by health-conscious bites for an elevated wellness experience.
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Seasonal, Elevated Menus: Guests can enjoy a rotating selection of seasonal dishes curated by The Culinary Collective by the Centurion Lounge, which is made up of James Beard Award® winning Resy chefs. The offerings will include a full-service Blue Roast by American Express coffee bar featuring espresso drinks, cold brew, and rotating seasonal specialties.
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Comfortable Seating Areas for All Types of Travelers: Guests can choose from an array of seating options, including comfortable armchairs, cafe tables, dining banquettes, quiet workspaces, group seating, reservable meeting rooms, and a VIP room for Centurion Members.
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Signature Centurion Lounge Amenities: Guests will enjoy signature Centurion Lounge amenities, including premium shower suites and restrooms, private phone nooks, abundant power and USB access, and complimentary high-speed Wi-Fi.
Bilt Adds Venmo
You can now use Venmo natively inside the Bilt app. You add it just like adding a card.
Hilton Lowers Some Redemption Rates
I’ve seen multiple reports on this the last few days. Seems legit. Here’s a Reddit thread. A linked post on Thrifty Traveler also discusses some hotels that have decreased. They note the Grand Wailea in Maui dropping 50k a night from 160k to 110k and the Hermitage Bay in Antigua edging down from 250k to 230k, among others.
This is welcome news following two recent Hilton devaluations. Maybe the pendulum swung a bit too far?
Wells Fargo Adds New Transfer Partner
The first new transfer partner in a while for Wells Fargo’s transferable points program (which has not moved very fast on additional partners beyond a pretty generic starter mix) just added JetBlue at a 1:1 ratio – on par with Chase and Citi and better than Amex and Capital One. We’ve updated our matrix of transferable points. (Side note: Google is saying that the matrix has some malicious malware or some such nonsense. I had the page scanned and this is a total error by Google so feel free to click the button that says “Report an error” or just click through. I’m working on appealing this with Google but your help marking it as an error will speed things along…
Capital One New “Family Rule” for Venture / Venture X
There is now a “family” rule when you apply for a new Venture X or Venture credit card from Capital One.
You are not eligible for this product if you have received a new cardmember bonus for the Capital One Venture card or the Capital One Venture X card in the past 48 months.
Previously, they only cared if you had the specific card you were applying for so this is obviously a negative change, although also one that probably (sadly) makes sense for them.
New Southwest Personal Credit Card Offers
While the Southwest Performance card offer for 120,000 bonus points ended yesterday, those only eligible for personal cards will be happy that the offers on the Southwest personal credit cards (Plus, Priority, Premier) have increased to 85,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Obviously that beats the previous 50,000 point offer on personal cards, but given that the Performance offer that just expired was enough for Companion Pass for nearly two years in one shot, these aren’t nearly as good. Even after accounting for the 10,000 Companion Pass points you get yearly, you’ll only be at 98,000 points after meeting minimum spend for the bonus out of 135,000 required. See our Guide to the Southwest Companion Pass for all details.
New Southwest Debit Card Launches
Doctor of Credit reports on the previously teased Southwest debit card form Sunrise Banks going live. While earn rates pale compared to credit cards, it’s interesting for both the potential ability to use where credit cards either aren’t accepted or have high % fees (like taxes) and for a few perks offered, namely 7,500 annual Companion Pass points which presumably stack with 10,000 you get with a Southwest credit card, making the Southwest Companion Pass a bit easier to obtain.
The annual spend bonus and yearly promotion code help make up for the opportunity cost of having enough on deposit ($2,500) in lost interest at ~4%.
Thoughts?
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New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
