I love loyalty program surveys. At least I love ones that: Don’t take very long Offer insight into the strategic thinking that a program is going through So I always at least try to start surveys, though sometimes I give up along the way. I used to play all the time with e-Rewards, opinionplace, e-miles, and the other survey programs but for those the rewards were never worth the time. I liked having a stash of points with e-Rewards and e-miles that I could transfer on demand to generate partner activity in a mileage account when there was a bonus for doing so, but even those offers have been fewer and farther between. But at least that provided some leverage. The straight-up earning for time is weak. That said, I’ll check out surveys done directly…
American Reducing the Value of Its Miles: And Why That’s a Good Thing
This has nothing to do with American’s elimination of stopovers at North American gateway cities and distance-based oneworld awards> I’m not talking about American making changes that reduce how we value their miles. I’m talking about changes to how they value miles when reporting prizes for tax purposes. There was a story in 2005 that garnered significant attention about a man who turned down a prize offering him 12 roundtrip coack tickets for two to anywhere American flew. He won American’s ‘We Know Why You Fly’ contest. I always found that to be one of the creepiest ad campaigns, in a pre-Snowden and before the NSA was cool kind of way. The man turned down the prize because American reported that each ticket would be worth $2200, and so his tax liability was going to…
Starwood Offering Double and Triple Points from May Through July
Starwood’s new promotion, Earn Away, Get Away, is double points for three months — with stays that include a Sunday night earning triple points (stays in the Middle East that include a Saturday night will earn triple points instead). Registration is required by June 30, but there’s no reason not to register now — just in case — even if you don’t expect to make any eligible stays during the promotion period. Perhaps you’re like me: I often find that I don’t know where my future self is going to stay… Here’s the list of non-participating hotels, which is to say that Starwood Preferred Guest isn’t picking up the whole cost of this promotion out of its own marketing budget and so hotels had to be solicited to sign on and had to be willing…
Final Day for 50,000 Signup Bonus for the No Fee Hilton Visa
Citi® Hilton HHonorsTM Visa Signature® Card 50,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first four months $50 statement credit after you spend $50 or more on your first hotel stay within the Hilton HHonors Portfolio during the first six months of cardmembership This is the best offer for the no annual fee Hilton card that I’ve seen and it expires tomorrow. This free card gives you free Hilton Silver status. Better to walk into Hilton as a silver than as a base member. First, because of the bonus points and in some cases free bottled water. But second and more importantly is that it serves as a reason not to be given the worst room on property, the one above the HVAC system or overlooking construction. That’s not a guarantee, but it helps. It also…
How to Be a Travel Ninja With Reservations That Stay Perfect
Many things can go wrong after you make a reservation. You don’t want them to go wrong for you, and you want to be able to fix them proactively when they do. Don’t get caught off-balance. Just yesterday American Airlines posted this advisory for travel agents about making double booking mistakes. American loves issuing debit memos to travel agents. Point is, though, ticketing problems happen. You may never really have a confirmed reservation in the first place. A third party hotel booking site may not have properly communicated with the hotel you’re staying at, or a problem especially common to United an award ticket may never have been issued in the first place. Schedules change. Sometimes it’s a modest change but even 15 minutes could change when you’d want to leave for the airport. Schedule…
6 Simple Ways to Enjoy Your Vacations More
This is all advice I’ve shared before but really does bear repeating — we take trips but do we get the most out of them? Or are we traveling, putting too much pressure on our trips, and letting great opportunities go to waste? The best advice comes down to: spend time planning vacations, take more trips, work while you’re gone, and experience new and unusual things. Planning vacations contributes more to your happiness than actually taking them. Of course you may need to go on vacation to justify all of the planning time, and to convince yourself that the planning is meaningful. You get all of your relaxation benefits on the trip itself, but don’t expect to be relaxed when you get back. We quickly snap back into the stress of daily life, sans any…
30% Bonus for Transferring American Express Points to Virgin America Through April 30: Good Deal?
American Express is offering a 30% bonus on transfers to Virgin America through April 30. This isn’t unusual, they had a 40% transfer bonus to Virgin America in January of this year and also in the latter half of September 2013. Both of those offers, of course, were better. A year ago they even ran a 50% transfer bonus. Should you transfer? Normally American Express points transfer 2:1 into Virgin America. A 30% bonus is significant, but it’s important to understand how Virgin America points can be valued. My rule of thumb is that Virgin America’s points are deflated, that one Virgin America point is worth about 2 points in a European airline frequent flyer program. Their points are reasonably good, then, for redeeming on partners (with fuel surcharges). You can use the points for…
How to Handle Travel When Things Go Wrong
If your flight is delayed or cancelled, don’t be a wallflower, don’t be at the airline’s mercy. There are things you can do to proactive solve problems that come your way, and ways to handle travel stress effectively. Whom to Seek Out for Help The Customer Service counter at any airport is usually the least customer and service-focused place at the airport. The lines are long serving everyone that’s displaced. The agents deal only with unhappy passengers. No matter their disposition, after a day of getting yelled at it’s tough to be proactive and helpful. They’re beaten down and just want to get through the day. While sometimes you’ll get stuck in this line, the first thing I do if there’s an airline club lounge I have access to is go there. The lines will…
Starwood Offering Up to 25% Off Purchased Points: When It Makes Sense — And Doesn’t
Starwood is offering up to a 25% discount on purchased points through May 31. The same discount applies to gifting points as to buying them for yourself. Buy Starpoints® for yourself or as a gift now through May 31, 2014, and get up to 25% off the regular price. • Get 10% off 500–9,500 Starpoints • Get 15% off 10,000–14,500 Starpoints • Get 20% off 15,000–19,500 Starpoints • Get 25% off 20,000 Starpoints Now let’s do the math. 20,000 Starpoints still costs you $525. That’s 2.625 cents per point. Starwood points are worth a lot, and I’ll usually get at least 2 cents per point out of my hotel redemptions. But even for ‘topping off’ towards a hotel award this is dicey. Remember, you’ll get a better deal than buying Starpoints at 2.6 cents with…
20% Off United Economy Saver Awards to Mexico City
United MileagePlus is offering a 20% discount on roundtrip saver economy awards between the US (excluding Hawaii) or Canada and Mexico City if you book by April 29 and travel in May. That’s a 7000 mile discount — 28,000 miles instead of the usual 35,000. Of course travel must be booked less than 21 days out to qualify for this discount, so most members will have to pay United’s close-in booking fees ($75 for general members, $50 for Silver, $25 for Gold, waived for Platinum and above). You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss…
