As always, when I get a bit behind on things, I make sure you don’t miss anything you “need to know” so let’s jump right in.
In this article
You Can Now See Your Hilton Free Night Awards Online!
Years in the making…
While you still can’t actually book your awards online, you can at least see how many you have and when they expire. As a reminder, these have historically only been valid on weekends but are valid any night of the week at least through Dec 2022.
You earn these via the Hilton credit cards. Aspire comes with one annually and a second after $60,000 in spend in a calendar year. The Surpass and Business cards give you one after $15,000 in spend in a calendar year. They are uncapped and can be used anywhere as long as there is a Standard Free Night available.
Note that you can only view on a mobile or desktop browser – not the app.
Marriott to Display All-in Rates – Will Include Resort Fees in Rate
The most important news of the last few days is that Marriott has settled a case with the state of Pennsylvania regarding resort fees. The PA AG said in a statement that “Hotels shouldn’t be able to slap hidden fees on top of your bill at the last minute, and thanks to this settlement we’re putting the hotel industry on notice to put an end to this deceptive practice”
Marriott agreed that it will adjust its website to include all mandatory fees (resort, destination, fee just to have a fee, etc) in the price from the start. No more $69 rooms with $59 resort fees disclosed at the end.
In fairness, Marriott did somewhat recently move to include a tick box to display rates as all-in prices, but this settlement and change will make it the default, which is a huge win for consumers. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end for the resort fee disease, which does nothing but obfuscate the price to consumers and cost OTAs rightfully earned commissions.
Credit Card Linked Offers
Chase has greatly increased the number of offers on many/most people’s cards. Check yours for 10% back at Office Max / Office Depot (hello, gift cards!) and 10% back at Hyatt’s Zilara/Ziva brands. Also, look for 10% back at Dunkin or Starbucks (or both), 5-10% back at Exxon Mobil, 10% back at Whole Foods, 10% at CVS, 10% at RiteAid, and many more nice deals. Remember you can have Chase Offers on multiple cards and accept / use them on multiple cards – unlike with Amex.
On the Amex side, there’s a $60 off $300 at Wynn in Las Vegas and many are also being sent $50 off $250 at Lowes. Lots more, of course…
Buy Hyatt Points for 1.68 Cents Each
Through Dec 30th you can buy Hyatt points at 30% off, which comes to 1.68 cents per point. While I’m in no way saying to load up literally ever on any program’s currency, this is about the cheapest Hyatt ever sells them and I don’t know about you, but I tend to have no trouble getting a floor of 2 cents in value from Hyatt – especially with no resort fees and free parking on awards. Still, all things equal I would rather transfer in from a credit card that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points – but I also get that we all run low from time to time. <Link to sale>
Chase Offers $10 Monthly GoPuff Credits
If you use the delivery service (convenience items) GoPuff, you can get a $10 monthly credit by adding your Chase credit card to GoPuff. Details are here. The credits will run monthly until January 2023.
Just about every Chase credit card seems eligible.
Eligible credit cards: Chase Freedom card, Chase Freedom Unlimited card, Chase Freedom Student card, Chase Freedom Flex card, Chase Sapphire card, Chase Sapphire Preferred card, Chase Sapphire Reserve card, J.P. Morgan Reserve card, Aer Lingus Visa Signature® Card, British Airways Visa Card, British Airways Visa Signature® Card, Disney® Premier Visa® Card, Disney® Visa® Card, World of Hyatt Credit Card, Iberia Visa Signature® Card, IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card, IHG® Rewards Club Select Credit Card, IHG® Rewards Club Traveler Credit Card, IHG® Rewards Club Classic Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy™ Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy™ Premier Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy BoldTM Credit Card, The Ritz-Carlton™ Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Employee Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card, Starbucks® Rewards Visa® Card, United ClubSM Card, UnitedSM Presidential PlusSM Card, United MileagePlus® Select Card, United MileagePlus® Awards Card, United MileagePlus® Card or UnitedSM Explorer Card.
Thoughts?
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You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards.
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.
