marriott-bonvoy-refer-a-friend

It’s Not You. It’s the Marriott Bonvoy Refer-a-Friend Program

Ostensibly, Marriott has a program for you to refer people to Bonvoy.You are supposed to start on this page and enter your friend's email. And this is how it should work: When a MilesTalk Facebook group...
Status Match Merry Go Round

The Status Match Merry Go Round® Explained (Using Both Hotel and Casino Status Match...

This page will be updated sometime in March, 2025 reflecting the loss of Caesars on the Merry Go Round and with advice on where to go with what you have. With Ocean and now Hard...
a close-up of a person's face

MGM Brings Back Status Match – March through July 31, 2025

MGM Rewards has brought back the same Status Challenge as last year, from now through July 31, 2025 (unless extended). Like last time, you'll get your Gold status for 3 months unless you earn a...
VISTA Palazzo Lago di Como

Hilton Adds 29 More SLH Properties into the Hilton Honors Fold

The news came out last week but I waited until I could produce a list of exactly which hotels were added, which Hilton has kindly provided for me today. 29 New Hilton Honors Participating Hotels The...
W Maldives

Marriott’s Bonvoy Devaluation is Pretty Bad….

A few days ago, we started hearing about how many (most?) Marriott properties suddenly were requiring anywhere from about 10% more points than the day before to in some cases around ~80% more (!). Now...
The Shay Culver City Pool

Lightning Review: The Shay, Culver City, CA (Hyatt) + Cole’s French Dip and Sheng...

Updated January 29, 2025 to reflect some changes since this initial review in March of 2023. Ironically, in this last stay, I was in the *exact same room* as the one here during my...
Marriott Bonvoy promo double elite nights

Marriott’s New Promo is Out: Double Elite Nights + 1,000 Points Per Night

It's been widely expected for a week or two now and registration is now open. Hopefully you have some (paid) Marriott travel coming up during the promotion period, as award nights won't count the way...
Sunset at the JW Marriott Guancaste

Bonvoy Bold Adds Pay Yourself Back + Best Ever Bonus Offer

Long a feature of Chase's own Ultimate Rewards cards, the Pay Yourself Back feature (where you can redeem points for statement credits against various categories that generally match what you would get redeeming at...
Sotovento at Andaz Mayakoba

Andaz Mayakoba to Transform into Alila Mayakoba

I already alluded to this in my review of the Andaz Mayakoba earlier this month, but we didn't have details.  Today, Hyatt has put out an official Press Release with the announcement.  Key Takeaways:  The Andaz...
caesars rewards status extension

Caesars Part 2: Cards Printing with 1/2026 Expiration Date?

It gets even stranger. Multiple MilesTalkers in the Facebook group are reporting that not only can they book Atlantis through 2025, their Caesars Diamond cards are printing with 1/2026 xxpiration dates. This would be truly bizarre, after...