Podcast appearances and mentions of chase ultimate rewards

How would we use that 100K bonus, and which vacation home rental platform has the best value? We answered these questions and more on the Ask Us Anything hosted live on YouTube on May 7th, 2025.(03:54) - ​​Hi! Q for Stephen: what's your credit card strategy now that you've moved? For everyone: If you lived outside the US but could still have US credit cards, which cards would you keep?(06:45) - ​​Last month, y'all outlined how many cards you open each year- often 12-20. How many do you close each year?(10:23) - ​​I don't know if I really want to know this answer (haha) but did anyone have luck with Atlantis after the Wyndham/Caesars status match deal went dead earlier this year?(12:47) - Any news when we can book Philippine Airlines with Alaska miles? Any ideas to get more Alaska miles to book Philippine Airlines tickets?(17:21) - Am going to book an Air France award ticket. Fees are $400+. If I use Amex Plat for this, will I get 5x? Will I get trip protection/insurance?(18:38) - ​​What is the best use of the recent 100K Chase point offering in terms of Flights overseas? Read our Best Use of Chase Ultimate Rewards points resource here. (30:32) - ​​Can you explain the expiration date reset if merging Avios from other programs with different expiration dates? Read our Avios expiration dates post here.(32:14) - ​​I was just bumped from an SQ J ticket that was booked as part of my RTW itinerary. Do you guys know what kind of compensation to ask for? They offered $525 USD and a Garuda Flight(34:18) - ​​Do authorized users of Ink Preferred or Sapphire be able to transfer points to their airline accounts?(35:25) - ​​Is the option to get both personal Hawaiian cards now dead? (I have both, but P2 does not have both yet)(36:16) - Would Chase allow me to hold multiple Ritz Carlton cards simultaneously? If yes, how?(38:07) - ​​Which vacation home rental program do you recommend for its value?(43:28) - ​​Anyone get/use the Mesa card?(45:03) - Any hidden gems in Puerto Rico that you guys would recommend? I have a trip coming up later this year that I haven't planned much for(46:26) - What's the most memorable reaction you've seen from someone experiencing miles and points who wasn't used to it(47:17) - Which cards does Greg actually use for travel and dining as opposed to the one-off benefits?Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media.Music Credit – “swappin' back n' forth” by up @ night

Kelsey's Chase Sapphire Preferred Referral LinkIn this episode, I'm sharing exactly how I've been booking incredible vacations for my family without spending a dime on hotels. It all comes down to: transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt.I'll walk you through the step-by-step process, explain why Hyatt is the best transfer partner, and show you how to maximize your points for free stays at high-end resorts. Mentioned in this episode:- The Trip Tales website: www.triptalespodcast.com- Omni Grove Park Inn - Asheville, NC- The Cape - A Thompson Hotel in Cabo, Mexico- Holiday Inn Grand Canyon- Hyatt Place Page / Lake Powell- Grand Hyatt ScottsdaleSUPPORT: Buy me a coffee to show your support for the Trip Tales podcast! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/kelseygravesFOLLOW: Kelsey on Instagram & TikTokSHOP: Kelsey's Travel Favorites from her Amazon storefront.SHARE: About your trip on the Trip Tales podcast: triptalespodcast@gmail.comPARTNER DISCOUNT CODESBling2o - 10% OFF Bling2o kids ski goggles with code: KELSEYSPANX.COM - Use code KGRAVESXSPANX for 15% OFF full-price items and FREE SHIPPING. My current fav travel outfit is the Air Essentials Jumpsuit. CHASE SAPPHIRE CREDIT CARD - My preferred points earning credit card and a great card for newbies entering the points & miles space to get started. Open a Chase Sapphire Preferred with my link and earn 60,000 BONUS POINTS.

Lyn shares how her family saved $11,000+ on free flights, hotel and vacation rental stays across six trips in 2024. This included trips to Orlando, Costa Rica, Austin, New Orleans and more.Links and Resources:PODCAST #132: Last Minute Getaways Using PointsPODCAST #129: There's No Right Way to Use Your Points PODCAST #143: Using Your Points However You Want With Pam HowardPODCAST #131: Why You Need to Have Emergency PointsPODCAST #86: All About Capital One Venture XREGISTER --> How to Fly MORE in 2025 Using FEWER Points Free Webinar, Jan. 15 or 16: https://familiesflyfree.com/2025webinarHow to Leave a Podcast Review: FamiliesFlyFree.com/ReviewJoin the Families Fly Free Email List: FamiliesFlyFree.com/EmailLearn more about Capital One Venture X: FamiliesFlyFree.com/CapitalOnePodcastWant to learn my simple system to use miles and points to always fly for free? Come join my Families Fly Free membership, where you'll learn my expert process, receive personal support and get access to lots of great travel content and regular live webinars and Q&As. Learn more at https://www.familiesflyfree.com/joinJoin the Families Fly Free email list at https://www.familiesflyfree.com/emailGot questions about Families Fly Free? Email info AT familiestravelfree.com or text 844-403-2263

Ever wonder what kind of points and miles traveler you are? In this episode, the Travel Mom Squad dives into the different types of travelers and how your personal travel style can shape your points strategy. From planners to luxury travelers to earn-and-burn enthusiasts, we break down the styles that work best for different lifestyles and goals—and share what type of travelers we are, too!  Alex: The Planner and Strategist Alex kicks things off by sharing how her style has evolved. As a planner, Alex focuses on specific trips she wants to take and chooses credit cards to make those trips happen. She balances planning with flexibility, chasing transferable points and limited-time offers that align with her travel goals. Her advice? Always keep the 5/24 rule in mind and prioritize cards that fit your long-term plans. Pam: The Type-A Luxury Traveler Pam describes herself as a “no-chill, Type-A overachiever” who loves the finer things in life. With over 5 million points and miles, Pam can book anything at a moment's notice. Her strategy focuses on luxury—think first-class flights and five-star hotels. For those in a similar stage of life, Pam emphasizes making points work for you while enjoying the rewards of your hard-earned travel perks. Jess: The Earn-and-Burn Expert Jess takes a completely different approach: earning points quickly and redeeming them just as fast. “By the end of this year, I'll have redeemed over a million Hyatt points,” she says. Jess avoids stockpiling points, knowing they devalue over time. Her philosophy? Use them while they're at their peak value to create unforgettable family memories.  Other Traveler Types and Strategies The Domestic Traveler: Focused on U.S. destinations, this traveler maximizes Chase Ultimate Rewards and co-branded hotel cards for family road trips or visiting relatives. The Road Tripper: Ideal for families who avoid flying, this strategy uses hotel cards like Hyatt or Marriott to save on stays during sports tournaments or weekend getaways. The Disney Fanatic: For those who visit Disneyland or Disney World annually, Capital One cards help erase ticket purchases and make magical trips more affordable. Your Travel Style, Your Strategy There's no “right” way to approach points and miles. The best strategy is the one that fits your lifestyle and goals. As Pam puts it, “You do you!” Ready to Find Your Traveler Type? Tune in to the full episode to hear more about each style and figure out which one resonates with you. Whether you're just starting out or a seasoned pro, this episode will help you refine your strategy and make the most of your points.   Links: Links For All Things Travel Mom Squad: stan.store/travelmomsquad   Episode Minute By Minute: 00:30 – Introduction: How your travel style shapes your points strategy 01:15 – Alex: The planner and how she prioritizes flexibility 10:08 – Pam: The luxury traveler with 5 million points 15:23 – Jess: The earn-and-burn approach to points 21:30 – Domestic travelers, road trippers, and other styles 27:55 – Takeaways: Why any strategy can work for your goals

Thinking about diving into points and miles but feeling overwhelmed by annual fees? You're not alone! In this episode, we're breaking down our favorite no-annual-fee credit cards and those with annual fees waived for the first year. These cards are not only budget-friendly but also offer incredible rewards to help you travel more for less. Chase Freedom Flex: A Keeper in Every Wallet Alex kicks off the episode with her top pick, the Chase Freedom Flex. This no-annual-fee card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points and offers 5% back on rotating categories like PayPal and grocery stores. With a 20,000-point welcome offer after spending just $500, this card can easily cover a one-way flight to Europe. Alex highlights how pairing this with a Chase Sapphire card allows you to transfer points to travel partners, unlocking even more value. Chase Ink Business Cards: Pam's Love Language Pam shares her favorite no-annual-fee business cards, the Chase Ink Cash and Chase Ink Unlimited. These powerhouse cards earn Ultimate Rewards points on categories like office supply stores and internet or offer a flat 1.5% back on every purchase. With a whopping 75,000-point welcome offer (after spending $6,000), these cards are a cornerstone of her strategy for racking up points. Maximizing American Express Options Jess introduces the Amex Blue Business Plus card, a no-annual-fee option that earns 2X Membership Rewards points on every purchase up to $50,000 annually. She also mentions the Hilton Honors card, which comes with no annual fee and Hilton Silver status, unlocking perks like the fifth night free on award stays. For anyone looking to maintain Hilton points without paying a fee, this is a fantastic option. Waived Annual Fees: United and American Airlines Cards The team also highlights cards like the United Explorer and Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select, which waive their annual fees the first year. These cards offer valuable perks like free checked bags, priority boarding, and extra award availability for flights. No-Fee Travel Wins From Alex's PayPal points strategies to Jess's tips on tracking targeted offers, this episode proves that no-annual-fee cards can still pack a punch. Whether you're just starting with points and miles or looking to add another card to your wallet, these recommendations are the perfect way to travel smarter without extra costs.     Links For This Episode:  Chase Freedom Flex℠: https://travelmomsquad.com/cff Chase Freedom Unlimited®: http://travelmomsquad.com/cfu Ink Business Cash® Credit Card: https://travelmomsquad.com/cic Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card: https://travelmomsquad.com/ciu United℠ Explorer Card: https://travelmomsquad.com/uecp United℠ Business Card: http://travelmomsquad.com/ubc How to Qualify for a Business Card   Links For All Things Travel Mom Squad: stan.store/travelmomsquad   Episode Minute By Minute: 00:30 – Introduction: Why No-Annual-Fee Cards Matter 01:37 – Chase Freedom Flex: Rotating Categories and Welcome Offers 06:00 – Pam's Favorite: Chase Ink Business Cards 16:00 – American Express Options for Hilton and Membership Rewards 23:00 – United Explorer and AAdvantage Platinum Select Benefits 30:00 – Wrapping Up: Maximize Value Without Annual Fees

Dreaming of setting sail on a luxurious cruise without paying full price? In this episode, I'm diving deep into how you can use travel points to book cruises—yes, cruises! I'll walk you through the best credit cards to earn points for cruising, which loyalty programs to focus on, and how to combine points and perks to enjoy your dream vacation at sea for a fraction of the cost.Key Takeaways:The best credit cards to earn points for cruise travel How to use flexible points from programs like Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards to book cruises.Resources Mentioned:Travel Tribe Membership: The Travel Tribe | Points Too Paradise (teachable.com)Capital One Venture: Capital One Venture Rewards Card | Travel FreelyJoin the Conversation:Have you ever booked a cruise using points? Share your tips or questions with me on Instagram @pointstooparadise—I'd love to hear about your experiences or help you get started!If you loved this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with anyone dreaming of their next vacation at sea!

Learn about the Chase Sapphire Preferred card's limited time sign-up bonus and understand the impact of Federal Reserve interest rate changes. What is the economic impact of lowering interest rates? Does lowering interest rates increase people's spending power? Host Sean Pyles leads discussions around the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and the Federal Reserve's interest rate adjustments to help you understand how to optimize travel rewards and navigate economic shifts. Travel Nerds Sally French and Meghan Coyle start the episode with a discussion of a limited time sign-up bonus for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, offering tips and tricks on integrating the card into a long-term financial strategy. Then, NerdWallet's Senior Economist Elizabeth Renter joins Sean to discuss the impact of lowering interest rates. They delve into how the Federal Reserve uses interest rate changes to manage inflation and employment, how changing rates can stimulate economic growth, and the implications of recent Federal Reserve rate cuts on the broader economy. Use NerdWallet's free tool to compare mortgage rates: https://www.nerdwallet.com/mortgages/mortgage-rates  In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: travel rewards, Chase travel portal, interest rate impact, Federal Reserve, economic growth, credit card sign-up bonuses, credit card offers, inflation control, student loan rates, mortgage interest rates, Chase Ultimate Rewards, travel credit cards, Federal Reserve rate cuts, economic trends, credit card bonuses, travel statement credits, Chase travel credits, rewards points, and the impact of lowering interest rates. To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email podcast@nerdwallet.com. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend.

Now that you've amassed a huge stash of Ultimate Rewards points after listening to Episode 271, how what? Today, we talk about the top 10 best (and bottom 5 worst) uses of Chase Ultimate Rewards points. 00:00 Intro 01:10 Announcements 01:12 New "How to" series on Youtube 02:54 Using buying groups to increase spend 04:10 Giant Mailbag: Online grocery is more broadly useful than you think 07:43 Card News 07:45 Increased offers on the Wyndham cards https://frequentmiler.com/increased-welcome-offers-on-all-3-wyndham-credit-cards-earn-up-to-80k-bonus-points/ https://frequentmiler.com/how-to-get-free-cruises-by-gaming-casino-status-matches/ 11:39 What crazy thing.....did Wyndham Rewards do this week? https://frequentmiler.com/apparently-wyndham-credit-card-points-never-expire-positive-change/ 17:00 Mattress Running the Numbers: Aeroplan to Marriott to MGM 23:41 Award Talk 23:47 United vs Aeroplan https://frequentmiler.com/united-vs-air-canada-which-is-the-better-chase-transfer-partner/ 29:59 Discount partner awards for United Premier status https://frequentmiler.com/united-giving-award-flight-discounts-to-premier-members-cardholders-even-on-partners/ 33:12 Which award search tool is best? https://frequentmiler.com/united-vs-air-canada-which-is-the-better-chase-transfer-partner/ 37:50 Graduate Hotels via Hilton Honors (earn & redeem is now live) 38:47 Main Event: Top 10 best and 5 worst uses of your Chase points 39:21 #10: Booking travel through the Chase Travel portal with the Sapphire Reserve at a value of 1.5c per points 40:40 #9: 70% transfer bonus to Marriott 42:07 #8 Transfer to Emirates and book first class from New York JFK to Milan or Newark EWR to Athens for 102,000 points + ~$130 https://frequentmiler.com/how-to-find-and-book-emirates-first-class-awards/ 44:41 #7 Transfer to United for positioning flights 48:10 #6: Transfer to British Airways Avios to fly Qatar Qsuites to Doha for 70K https://frequentmiler.com/how-to-find-qatar-q-suites-award-space/ 49:58 #5: Transfer to Iberia Avios to book business class from the east coast to Europe from 34K Avios one-way https://frequentmiler.com/best-uses-of-avios-british-airways-iberia-qatar-aer-lingus-finnair/ 53:33 #4: Transfer to Hyatt to book a suite https://frequentmiler.com/how-best-to-book-hyatt-luxury-suites/ 56:10 #3: Transfer to Air Canada Aeroplan and book a multi-partner award with a stopover for just 5,000 additional miles https://frequentmiler.com/nicks-6-country-5-airline-award-ticket/ 01:00:36 #2 Transfer to Flying Blue to book Air France or KLM Business Class for only 50K one way https://frequentmiler.com/air-france-klm-flying-blue-lowers-business-class-award-cost-from-the-us/ 01:05:33 #1 : Transfer to Hyatt to book hotels for great value 01:12:18 In-between: Cash out for $0.01 per point 01:14:18 The worst of the worst uses of Chase points 01:14:23 #5 Transferring to any program to book a low-value award 01:16:23 #4 Buying gift cards with your points 01:17:16 #3 Transfer to Marriott without a transfer bonus 01:18:45 #2 Using your points to shop at sites like Amazon 01:20:54: #1 Transfer points to IHG One Rewards 01:23:59 Question of the Week: How do you protect your miles and points? Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads

We love Chase Ultimate Rewards primarily because of the ability to transfer to partners (and we specifically love the ability to transfer to Hyatt.) Chase Ultimate Rewards is actually one of the best ways to get Hyatt points, in fact. We'll talk more about amassing Chase Ultimate Rewards (and why you would want to) in this episode of Frequent Miler on the Air. (01:18) - A reader experiences an issue with a price on his Etihad award that was not as advertised... (08:43) - Read more about the Chase Ink Business Unlimited card here. (10:21) - Read more about the U.S. Bank Smartly credit card here. (19:47) - Read our Guide to Credit Card Application Rules by Bank here. (21:29) - Double Elite Night Credit on Marriott Homes & Villas (Targeted, Book by 9/20, stay by 12/31) Read more about the double elite night credit here. (32:34) - 30% transfer bonus from Amex Membership Rewards to Hilton Honors (thru 9/30) (33:24) - Reminder: 30% transfer bonus from Amex Membership Rewards to Avios (thru 9/30) (33:40) - 20% transfer bonus from Capital One to Air France / KLM Flying Blue (thru 9/29) (35:20) - Preferred Hotels now up to 118,000 Choice points (not long ago 55K max!). Read more about great value preferred hotels, bookable with Choice points here. (40:03) - We all know that Chase Ultimate Rewards points are super valuable... Learn more about Chase Ultimate Rewards sweet spots here. (41:55) - How to get the Chase Ultimate Rewards points... (42:04) - Chase Ultimate Rewards welcome bonuses Read more about Chase's best credit card sign up offers here. (42:22) - What are the rules for applying for Chase cards? (What is the 5/24 24 month, 48 month, etc): See our Complete Guide to Credit Card Application Rules by Bank here. (42:59) - There are lots of Chase cards available... Again, you can learn more about Chase cards here. (45:29) - Which Ink Business card is not like the others (and will not earn you points that can be transferred to partners)... (48:59) - Earning Chase Ultimate Rewards via referral bonuses (51:06) - 2 Player Mode for Chase Ultimate Rewards (54:28) - What can you earn as you spend on Chase cards? Learn more about spending options here and here. (1:05:12) - Chase's shopping portal (and other miscellaneous ways to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points) (1:07:12) - When does it make sense to credit paid flights to a different airline's frequent flyer account (within the partner airline)? (1:10:23) - Learn more about our 40K to Far Away challenge here. (1:11:59) - Learn more about wheretocredit.com here

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are a valuable transferable points currency, and the Chase Ink Business Preferred card is a great card for earning this valuable currency. In this episode, we discuss what makes this a great card, and if it's a good card to keep year after year. (00:30) - Learn more about the Chase Ink Business Preferred card here. (00:34) - The Chase Ink Business Preferred card earns Ultimate Rewards points (00:48) - Usually has great welcome bonus (01:30) - Earning rate: 3X travel, shipping, internet, cable, phone, and advertising with social media sites (up to $150K spend per year) (02:44) - Other noteworthy perks of the Chase Ink Business Preferred card (04:34)- What are the approval rules for this card? (For example, what is the 5/24 rule and how does it apply here?) (07:19) - Is this a keeper card?  

Welcome back to another episode where we dive into the fantastic possibilities of points and miles! Recently, one of our favorite cards introduced a welcome offer of 120,000 points! We thought it'd be fun and incredibly useful to share how we each would plan a trip using those points. Whether you're looking to learn about maximizing point value or just dreaming up your next vacation, this episode is packed with insights and real-life travel plans.   Maximizing Chase Points for Dream Vacations Join us as we explore diverse travel dreams that can be realized with 120,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards® points. From the romantic streets of Paris to the enchanting world of Disneyland, learn how each of us would use these points for a memorable adventure, including detailed breakdowns of flights, accommodations, and more.   Planning Your Next Adventure with Points Ready to turn your travel dreams into reality without the hefty price tag? Hit play to discover how you can leverage 120,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards® points for almost any travel goal. Whether you're planning a solo adventure or a family getaway, this episode will guide you through the nuances of award travel with real examples and actionable advice.   Expert Tips on Travel Planning with Points Gain expert insights on booking award flights, choosing the right hotels, and maximizing your points. Discover our strategies for stretching 120,000 points to cover comprehensive travel experiences, ensuring you get the most value from every point spent.   Hit play now to learn how you can turn 120,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards® into your next vacation reality!   Links: Find the Best Card Offer For You and Your Trip! Click Here: https://travelmomsquad.lpages.co/bestoffers Links For All Things Travel Mom Squad: stan.store/travelmomsquad   Episode Minute By Minute: 0:00 - Kickoff: Introduction and why we're focusing on 120,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards®. 1:00 - Alex shares how she'd use the points for a trip to Paris, including flights and accommodations. 3:00 - Detailed look at Alex's booking strategy for Paris, maximizing point value for travel. 5:00 - Pam's plan to revisit the Seabird Resort in Oceanside, California, using her points. 7:00 - Jess outlines a family trip to Scottsdale, including flights and hotel bookings with points. 10:00 - Tips on how to use Chase points effectively for different types of travel. 15:00 - Exploring the transfer value of Chase points vs. booking through Chase Travel℠ 25:00 - Closing thoughts: Encouraging listeners to use their points creatively for upcoming trips.

The Chase Ink Business Preferred card, which earns Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, one of my favorite flexible travel points, currently has its HIGHEST EVER bonus for a limited time (there is no end date, meaning it could end at any time). This is ALSO highest bonus currently available to earn Chase points. In this episode, I explain why this is such a great card and include a replay of episode 138 about why I love Chase Ink Business cards. If you decide to apply for this card, I super appreciate you using my affiliate link found in the post below to support this podcast and my small business! It will also ensure you are on the correct 120,000-point offer.Chase Ink Business Preferred Review - https://familiestravelfree.com/chase-ink-business-preferred/

Learn all about my favorite travel card, Chase Sapphire Preferred, before the amazing 75,000-point offer goes away on Thursday, June 13 at 1pm EST (though I'd apply by June 12, as often the offer comes down early). I explain the offer, the card's features, how you can earn $1100+ in FREE travel, why it's my favorite travel card and walk you through how to fill out the card application. Thanks for using my affiliate link if you decide to apply in support of my small business and free podcast: https://www.familiestravelfree.com/chasesapphirepreferred 

Today we are chatting with Kelsey Habermehl, a speaker at the Bougie in a Backpack Virtual Travel Summit, about her experience with credit card points and miles, specifically with Southwest Airlines. Kelsey shares how she got into points and miles through Southwest and how she discovered the Southwest Companion Pass. She discusses the benefits of the Companion Pass and shares her favorite Southwest tips. She also shares her strategies for earning Southwest points and maintaining status with American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. In this episode, we chat about: How the Southwest Companion Pass is a valuable tool for maximizing travel with Southwest Airlines, offering buy one get one free flights for a companion for two full years. Southwest Airlines' customer-friendly baggage policy, allowing two free checked bags per passenger. How earning Southwest points is easy through credit card sign-up bonuses and transferring points from Chase Ultimate Rewards. Maintaining status with American Airlines and Alaska Airlines can be achieved through shopping portals and credit card benefits. Flying Spirit Airlines can be a cost-effective option, especially for short flights, but it's important to be aware of the airline's policies and fees. The Southwest program is beginner-friendly and offers many customer-friendly policies. The Southwest Companion Pass is a valuable benefit, especially for families and travelers from smaller airports. Early bird boarding and standby options can be useful for securing preferred seats and flights. Making the best of middle seats can be a trade-off for earlier flights or other benefits.and more! You can find Kelsey on instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! You can get your VIP ticket with replays to the Bougie in a Backpack Virtual Travel Summit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can find our FREE Travel Beginner's Blueprint ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/457913/90732056966858389/share Want to submit a question or comment to our Bougie Mailbag? You can do so here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/Hb3iAbCfsK5BWnii8⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Be sure to join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: facebook.com/groups/bougieinabackpack Bougie in a Backpack is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as Milevalue.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. One of the best cards for beginners who want to stay at Hyatt hotels is the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Chase Sapphire Preferred⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more at our affiliate link. If you need help figuring out the next credit card to open, check out our top credit card recommendations ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you want to learn more! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠milevalue.com/best-credit-cards/?aff=biab⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CardPointers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to know the right card to use when, and to track your credit card offers across cards! Using this link, you can save 30% or more on a Pro membership. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠cardpointers.com/bougie⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find us on instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/bougieinabackpack/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/travelmack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠enzie⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/pennywisetraveler

These are the cards we have that earn us Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Hyatt points-Chase Ink Business Cards - we have all 4 of these cardsChase Sapphire Preferred / Chase Sapphire ReserveWorld of Hyatt Chase Business CardIn this episode we share our experience visiting the Arizona Snowbowl. While it was only our second time ever skiing/snowboarding, we had a blast. Next time we're going to take a lesson though! We also enjoyed several great Flagstaff restaurants, including Fat Olives and a few others. 

In this episode, Megan provides an ultimate guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards. She explains what Ultimate Rewards are, how to earn them, and why people are kind of obsessed with them. She also explores the different cards that earn Ultimate Rewards and how to build a points family. Megan covers redemption options through the Chase portal and transfer partners, and more!Resources:Written guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards: https://www.dailydrop.com/pages/daily-drop-s-guide-to-chase-ultimate-rewards  2 player mode podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/2playerddpod Portal podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2253039/13973904 Transfer Partner Cheat Sheet: https://bit.ly/ddtransferpartners Miles and Points 101: https://www.dailydrop.com/course-videos/what-are-miles-points Episode Time Stamps:1:08 - What are Chase Ultimate Rewards 4:16 Prioritizing Chase Points5:55 Different Cards that Earn Ultimate Rewards10:10 Why is everyone obsessed with Chase Sapphire Preferred17:50 - Ultimate Reward Redemptions 20:20 - Final thoughtsKeep Up With Daily Drop: Read the newsletter: https://www.dailydrop.com Join the Lounge: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dailydroplounge Check out our top cards: https://dailydrop.com/pages/our-top-credit-cards Follow along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailydrop/ Hang out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDrop Prefer a video podcast? Head over here: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDropPodcast

On episode 243 of Frequent Miler on the Air, Greg and Nick dissect the different factors that make a transferable program "the best". Use the timestamps below to navigate to each individual topic within the episode.  (Our apologies for the continued audio issues with Nick's mic.) (01:38) Uni Portable Toll Transponder (Mail Bag) - Find the Uni transponder here. (07:22) Capital One to acquire Discover (Card Talk) (12:12) New Amex refer-a-friend bonuses through May 22 (+10x restaurants worldwide, up to $25K spend for 3 months) - Learn more about the  Amex refer-a-friend bonus here. - Learn about the Amex Consumer Gold Card here. - Learn about the Amex Blue Business Plus Card here. - Learn about the Amex Business Gold Card here. (19:22) AA charges more per person for 1 person to fly Madison to Phoenix than for 2 (Crazy Thing) (22:52) Hyatt Bonus Journeys through 4/30/24 (Mattress Running the Numbers) - Learn more about the  Hyatt Bonus Journeys here. (29:29) Citi 30% transfer bonus to Virgin through March 16th (Award Talk) - Learn more about Virgin Sweet Spots here. (31:50) AwardTool (one-ups PointsYeah, but with controversy...) -  Learn more about AwardTool here. (37:13) PointsYeah adds child award search - Learn more about PointsYeah updates here. (39:40) American Airlines news - Read more about  transferring American Airlines points at half cent here. - Read more about  American Airlines no longer offering points for flights booked through OTAs and raised checked bag prices here. (46:05) Contenders for best transferable points program: Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Bilt Rewards (Main Event) (48:01) Best transferable points program for: point earning opportunities (56:00) Best transferable points for: transfer partners (1:03:19) Best transferable points for: pay with points awards (1:09:04) Best transferable points for: points management (like moving from one person to another) (1:19:49) Nick's pick for overall best transferable points program (1:21:26) Greg's pick for best transferable points program (1:23:27) Nick's runner-up pick for overall best transferable points program (1:25:42) Greg's runner-up for overall best transferable points program (1:31:04) Would you feel comfortable booking a Small Luxury Hotel of the World property knowing that the relationship with Hyatt will be ending soon and would you wait for the hopeful integration of Mr. and Mrsh. Smith properties... (Questions of the Week) Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit: "Ocean Deep" by Annie Yoder

Just a few years ago Chase Sapphire Reserve was THE luxury travel card to own, but these days, there are better options that offer the same perks for a lower cost. Lyn explains why she doesn't recommend getting Chase Sapphire Reserve, except for a rare group of people.Want to get on the fast-track to always fly your family free? Come join us inside the Families Fly Free membership, the BEST way to learn how to fly free using travel rewards...Learn moreDownload Lyn's FREE list of 7 INSIDER hacks she uses to personally fly her family free...https://familiestravefree.com/7hacksResources:Chase Sapphire LoungesChase Travel CategoriesRelated Articles & Podcasts:Chase Sapphire Reserve ReviewChase Sapphire Reserve vs Preferred: Which Card Should You Choose?Chase Ink Business Preferred: How to Travel Free With This High-Bonus Business CardEpisode 86: All About Capital One Venture XEpisode 136: Why I Love the Chase Ink Business CardsVIDEO: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Chase Sapphire Reserve ComparedVIDEO: Capital One Venture X vs Chase Sapphire Preferred | Which Card to Use for Your Everyday Spending?

The podcast name changed to Wonderland on Points on 2/9/24 - Thank you for your patience as we make these big adjustments! Please find the correct contact info below!Join us as we talk all about our FAVORITE transferable points and how to earn them. In this episode, we do a deep dive into the world of Ultimate Rewards and how to spend them! We will also walk you through the benefits of the all-time favorite beginner card- the Chase Sapphire Preferred.Email us with your questions: WonderlandonPoints@gmail.comFind us on Instagram:Jo: @PointstoWonderlandMary Ellen: @FamilyTravel4TheWinPoints to Wonderland BlogCredit Card Referral LinksChase Sapphire PreferredChase Ink Cards

www.atravelpath.com Ryan and Katie's Social and Website: https://www.instagram.com/smilkos_lens/ https://smilkoslens.com/ Ryan and Katy Smilko share how they made their travel dreams come true after many, many years of trials and tribulations. Their itch for traveling together began after their wedding in Maui and they soon discovered the online content creation world and were all in.

Today, I'm going to share my favorite Bank Rewards Program with you, why it's so great for travel of all kinds and I'll give you the tools to get started with this program today. Don't forget to snag your FREE guide here to help you get started with Chase Ultimate Rewards. Ads: Travel Freely Lindsay Letters Co. - use CROMPTONCHRONICLES for 10% Off Your Order Article from The Points Guy mentioned in today's episode Roame Travel - my favorite resource for booking luxury flights Cards I Talked About Today: Chase Sapphire Preferred Chase Business INK --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/travelhackwithme/message

Welcome back, travel hackers! Do you have some American Express Membership Rewards points and aren't quite sure how to use them? Or have you heard about the program but aren't sure how it works? If so, this episode is for you. Keep listening as we cover all things American Express Membership Rewards.  If you are a loyal listener, you know we've previously taken a deep dive into the realms of Chase Ultimate Rewards and Capital One Venture Miles. But today, we're turning our attention to another significant player—American Express Membership Rewards! First thing you need to understand is AMEX's lineup. With a plethora of cards under its umbrella—from personal cards like the Gold, Green, and Platinum to business ones—knowing which card to snag can be a bit tricky. Our top picks? The personal Gold, personal Platinum, and the business Platinum. These cards not only earn you some major points but also come with perks that make the annual fees worthwhile. This isn't even scratching the surface of how many points and miles you can rack up in the AMEX world. And as with all travel hacks, knowledge is key! Want to delve further into the American Express narrative? Tap that play button! Learning how to navigate the AMEX landscape could be the next thing you need to unlock your dream trip or vacation! As always, if you need more help with Travel Hacking and where to start, follow the links below to connect with us!   Links:  Free Gifts and Resources To Start Your Travel Hacking Journey: Free Webinar: How to Start Traveling for Nearly Free Best Current Credit Card Offers: Best Rewards Card Offers | Travel Hacking Mom Award Travel Academy: Award Travel Academy Our Website: https://travelhackingmom.com Connect With Us: Newsletter signup: https://travelhackingmom.com/newsletter Instagram: Alex + Pam + Jess | Points & Miles (@travelhackingmom) TikTok: travelhackingmom's Creator Profile Facebook group: Travel Hacking Mom Group | Facebook Links For This Episode:  American Express Membership Rewards Explained: https://travelhackingmom.com/american-express-membership-rewards-explained/  Using Airline Incidental Credits: https://travelhackingmom.com/using-airline-incidental-credits/  Transfer partner cheat sheet: https://travelhackingmom.ck.page/cheatsheet  Alex's Rakuten link: https://www.rakuten.com/r/ALEXPA114?eeid=28187  Pam's Rakuten link: https://www.rakuten.com/r/PAMIOR?eeid=28187  Jess's Rakuten link: http://www.rakuten.com/r/PWRJES?eeid=28187    Episode Minute By Minute: 00:44 Getting into the different AMEX cards and how they stack up to competitors  04:43 The pros and cons of the AMEX Gold card  06:13 Here is the breakdown of the AMEX Platinum card 11:34 Jess talks about confusing new rules in regards to opening multiple AMEX cards  16:24 Pam breaks down the public offers for the AMEX cards  18:01 Alex talks about AMEX pop-up jail, what it means, and how to avoid it  24:30 Jess talks about AMEX card offers 28:31 Using retail offers with shopping portals to save even more money 31:07 The pros of using a shopping portal like Rakuten  32:29 Here's the breakdown on combining points and points expirations  34:42 Here are some of our favorite ways to use AMEX points  41:34 Hotel options for AMEX rewards, but they are limited  

Get Thrifty Traveler Premium deal/award alerts sent straight to your inbox. Use promo code “AT101” for $10 off your first year. Head to ThriftyTraveler.com for more details and check out their Google Flights guide. Recent finds include:Business class to Rome for 58KBusiness class to Tokyo for 60KPremium Economy to Europe for 36K R/TYou can find these at ThriftyTraveler.com/Premium.Post of the weekElizabeth Holmes Hanes posted about needing to up her hotel redemptions. Was she blinded by status when there was a gorgeous Marriott right around the corner?NewsGet Bonus Hilton points -Is it worth purchasing points? There's a 100% bonus, and it could make sense in certain situations.What's going on with certain Award tools? ExpertFlyer and Seats.aero are having issues. Expertflyer is removing all Star Alliance carriers, plus seats.aero received a cease and desist order from Aeroplan. Is Expertflyer becoming useless?Support the AT101 Podcast/CommunityTrip updatesAngie - has both Australia and a safari booked but can she convince P2 to go?Allison - Still doesn't love her Brazil flight. 2 options booked - which would you choose? Booked a hotel finally, Hilton Copacabana (5th night free). There was a JW Marriott with similar points price, so why did she choose the Hilton?What bonuses did we get?Angie - closed first Business Platinum. Calling to start the Chase Sapphire Reserve product changeAllison - has been holding steady. Should she get something new?Highlight feature: Bali! Doing a $12k trip for less than $1500 out of pocket plus some pointsHow we Booked FlightsBoth of us booked Qatar (QR) by transferring American Express Membership Rewards to British Airways. 100K plus $202Angie: DPS-SIN 14K Lifemiles plus $40.60 then SIN-JFK for 112.5K transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards (took FOREVER) to Singapore Airlines (SQ) plus $59.92Allison: Same QR price, DPS-SIN was 8.5K SQ miles +$15.95 (transferred from AMEX), plus Etihad Business Class SIN-AUH-JFK was 87.5K and $122.63 booked through Aeroplan.How we Booked HotelsAngie and Allison discuss their Bali Girls Trip:A $12k trip for less than $1500 out of pocket plus some pointsFull trip report posted in the Award Travel 101 Community w/hotel and airline reviewsTip of the weekGo to meetups to make frWhere To Find the Award Travel 101 Community For questions, you can join us in the free 100,000+ member Award Travel 101 Community. For more intermediate and advanced strategies, join Award Travel 201 community To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1. You can also email us at contactawardtravel@gmail.com. Our next meetup is located in San Antonio, TX on April 26–28, 2024, and it's SOLD-OUT. You can get on our wait-list, but to learn more visit Taco 'Bout A Fiesta! Support the AT101 Podcast/Community

(Disclaimer: Click 'more' to see ad disclosure) Hey there, points people! Today, I'm talking with from Daniel Braun from @_danbraun Daniel currently runs a YouTube channel that teaches millions of viewers everything from “credit card basics” to “how to get more value out of their points and miles” and has grown the channel to over 100,000 subscribers in 2 years. In this episode, Daniel and I go through our wallets. We're letting you in on the cards that we use every day, which ones we have that we don't use, and which ones we don't really think are worth having. Daniel also highlights the Chase Freedom Flex℠ in his trifecta strategy, emphasizing its ability to earn valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards points without any annual fees. If this sounds interesting to you, then check out the Chase Freedom Flex℠ card. You can easily earn 5x on nearly anything this quarter, since one of the special bonus categories is PayPal! All you need to do is link your Chase Freedom Flex to PayPal to earn 5x on any purchase you make with PayPal. Remember, if you decide to apply for the Chase Freedom Flex℠ or any other card, never apply directly through Google – always use a friend or creator's referral link. If you are interested in supporting this show when you apply for your next card, check out geobreezetravel.com/cards and if you're not sure what card is right for you, I offer free credit card consultations at geobreezetravel.com/consultations ! And we have the links to the Chase Freedom Flex℠ and the free consultation form for you in the show notes as well. And now, on with the show! ➤ Sign-up and subscribe to Thrifty Traveler for more epic flight deals (Code: GEO10) ➤ Check out the Chase Freedom Flex℠ card HERE === ➤ You can find Daniel through his Instagram | YouTube ➤ You can find Julia through her ⁠Free Course⁠ (includes hotel upgrade email template) | ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠Credit Card Links⁠ | ⁠Patreon⁠ | ⁠YouTube⁠ ➤ ⁠Sign up⁠ for the newsletter and get exclusive access to sign up for free coaching calls! ➤ Ask me a question or request a free award search tutorial ⁠HERE⁠! Geobreeze Travel is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as milevalue .com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress .com to learn more.

Sophie and Joe discuss news, their newest cards, trip updates, and how Sophie has transitioned into the travel business. Get Thrifty Traveler Premium deal/award alerts sent straight to your inbox. Use promo code “AT101” for $10 off your first year. Head to ThriftyTraveler.com for more details and check out their Google Flights guide. Recent finds include:First class to Hawaii for 31,000 milesBusiness class to London for 61,000 milesFlash Sale for 19,000 miles (Round-Trip) to MexicoYou can find these at ThriftyTraveler.com/Premium.Highlight feature:Meet Sophie KellerBackground - 1st card- Chase Sapphire Preferred/United ExplorerHighlights - Hyatt Zilara Cap Cana right after it opened last year, Park Hyatt New York and Flagship First before award price hike for 25K Amex Membership Rewards JFK-SFO, and multiple Visits to Secrets Impressions and MoxcheTravel style - A mix of budget and Luxury, typically soloFavorite programs - World of Hyatt, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and American AAdvantagePost of the weekWe received some great feedback on the PodcastNewsMaximizing Hilton Honors 5th Night Free - Joe's story on mistakePromotions endingEnhanced Alaska Card $95 card offerFrontier Status (actual) Match90K Bonuses are back from ChaseTrip updatesSophie - Getting ready for ZorkFestJoe - Father son tripLie-flat seats for 25K Citi ThankYou PointsCheap Car Rentals plus status upgradesHyatt Free Night Award at Expensive ResortFun Activities & PlanespottingHyatt Free Night Award Plus Suite UpgradeHilton Free Night Award at Expensive Boutique PropertyLounge Passes from Credit CardLots of (Nearly) Free Food What bonuses did we get?Sophie -Chase Ink Preferred bonus hitJoe - Where To Find the Award Travel 101 Community For questions, you can join us in the free 100,000+ member Award Travel 101 Community. For more intermediate and advanced strategies, join Award Travel 201 community To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1. You can also email us at contactawardtravel@gmail.com. Our next meetup is located in San Antonio, TX on April 26–28, 2024, and it's SOLD-OUT. You can get on our wait-list, but to learn more visit Taco 'Bout A Fiesta! Support the AT101 Podcast/Community

Don't settle for mediocrity - get great value from your credit card points by utilizing some of our favorite techniques to save big on both economy and business class airfare and hotels ranging from simple to simply luxurious. 00:00 Intro 00:48 Giant Mailbag: Trouble with the Schwab debit card and a workaround 06:14 What crazy thing . . . did Bilt Rewards do this week? 14:29 Mattress running the numbers: Frontier's GoWild pass promotion 20:55 Award Talk 20:59 Nick's experience with a British Airways award via American Airlines 26:05 Greg gets the Bilt card 26:47 Alaska trick for saving miles 29:51 Southwest is adding free standby on all fares 33:32 Choice suites thanks to Radisson 34:32 Main Event: Chase Ultimate Rewards points: Best ways to get great value 34:48 Hyatt 40:00 Using Chase Ultimate Rewards points via airline programs 40:39 United Mileage Plus 43:23 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club 55:38 Air France / KLM Flying Blue 1:03:40 Air Canada Aeroplan 1:09:48 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer 1:11:37 Avios 1:16:01 Question of the Week: Which comes first -- the chicken or the egg? Do you book the flight or hotel first to maximize value? Music credit: Annie Yoder

Ever wonder how we manage to open so many credit cards and score loads of points? Well, today, we're going to spill the beans! Get ready for a deep dive into our credit card strategies. We'll also share how many points we've racked up in 2023. Can you believe one of us has already hit a whopping 1.8 million points this year? Can you guess who? Here's a pro-tip: most business cards don't count towards the 5/24 rule, which is why we've been going hard on business cards this year. They're essential to our strategies, and it's surprisingly easy to qualify for one—even without a formal business! It's been a fantastic year for travel hacking so far, and business cards have been the secret sauce! But hey, remember, everyone's situation is different, and what works for us may not be the best fit for you. So, always do your research and find what suits your goals and lifestyle. Hit the play button to discover more travel-hacking tips!   Links For This Episode:  Can I Get a Business Credit Card?: https://travelhackingmom.com/can-i-get-a-business-credit-card/  Chase Ultimate Rewards as an Endgame: https://travelhackingmom.com/chase-ultimate-rewards-as-an-endgame/   Travel Freely App: https://my.travelfreely.com/app_store?bref=hmin   Free Gifts and Resources To Start Your Travel Hacking Journey: Free Webinar: How to Start Traveling for Nearly Free Best Current Credit Card Offers: Best Rewards Card Offers | Travel Hacking Mom Award Travel Academy: Award Travel Academy Our Website: https://travelhackingmom.com Connect With Us: Newsletter signup: https://travelhackingmom.com/newsletter Instagram: Alex + Pam + Jess | Points & Miles (@travelhackingmom) TikTok: travelhackingmom's Creator Profile Facebook group: Travel Hacking Mom Group | Facebook   Episode Minute By Minute: 00:02 What's inside today's episode on credit card strategies!  01:22 Jess gives a recap of what the Chase 5/24 rule is  03:32 Diving into each of their 5/24 strategies  11:39 The reveal of how many points have been accumulated this year 13:29 Alex reveals how many cards she's opened in 2023 and how many points she's accumulated  15:49 Pam reveals how many points she has saved up in 2023  19:34 Pam talks about how she reached her minimum spend on new cards 21:16 Jess talks about all the cards she has opened this year and the massive points savings  27:04 General life expenses can be put the credit card to meet minimum spend faster  29:09 Remember, building points and miles is not a sprint, it's a marathon!   

Welcome back to the Travel Hacking Moms podcast! Today, we (Alex, Pam, and Jess) shared our experiences and compared two fantastic Hyatt properties in Hawaii - the Grand Hyatt Kauai and the Hyatt Regency Maui. Let's dive into our adventure and see which resort came out on top! First, let's talk about the booking process. We booked our stays using Hyatt points, which we mostly earned through Chase Ultimate Rewards cards. We highlighted the incredible value of using points for these luxury resorts, as award stays at Hyatt properties don't incur any resort fees or taxes. Can you imagine staying at a luxurious hotel for $0? Yep, that's right - zero dollars! Now let's dive into our experiences at the resorts. Jess shared her thoughts on the Grand Hyatt Kauai, describing it as beautiful but enormous. You'll definitely get your steps in, as she mentioned clocking in over 15,000 steps just by staying on the property. The Grand Hyatt Kauai is spread out horizontally, while the Hyatt Regency Maui is built vertically. While we felt the rooms at the Grand Hyatt Kauai needed some updating, the hotel is in the process of renovating and upgrading all of their rooms. As for the Hyatt Regency Maui, Alex and Pam both had upgraded rooms with a king bed, a queen bed, and a sofa bed. We found the rooms spacious and perfect for a family. The layout of the resort is more compact compared to the Grand Hyatt Kauai, but still offers a beautiful experience. In terms of amenities, all three of us have Globalist status, which granted us access to club lounges, free valet parking, upgraded rooms, and complimentary breakfasts. We were amazed by the value we received during our stays. So, who won the battle of the Hawaiian Hyatts? The verdict is still out, as each resort offers unique experiences and layouts. Both the Grand Hyatt Kauai and the Hyatt Regency Maui provide luxurious accommodations and amenities, making them excellent choices for your next Hawaiian vacation. If you're interested in learning more about earning Hyatt points and maximizing your travel experiences, don't forget to check out our show notes for our ultimate guide to Ultimate Rewards and our guide to Hyatt points.   Links:  Free Gifts and Resources To Start Your Travel Hacking Journey: Free Webinar: How to Start Traveling for Nearly Free Best Current Credit Card Offers: Best Rewards Card Offers | Travel Hacking Mom Award Travel Academy: Award Travel Academy Our Website: https://travelhackingmom.com Connect With Us: Newsletter signup: https://travelhackingmom.com/newsletter Instagram: Alex + Pam + Jess | Points & Miles (@travelhackingmom) TikTok: travelhackingmom's Creator Profile Facebook group: Travel Hacking Mom Group | Facebook Links For This Episode:  Chase Sapphire Preferred Ultimate Guide to Ultimate Rewards: https://travelhackingmom.ck.page/ultimateguide Guide to More Hyatt Points: https://travelhackingmom.ck.page/30d86a9455 Episode Minute By Minute: 0:00 Let's talk about our favorite Hawaiian stays!  1:27 Grand Hyatt Kauai vs Hyatt Regency Maui - how we booked them 4:27 The hotel itself - Grand Hyatt Kauai 10:39 The hotel itself - Hyatt Regency Maui 18:55 Location and beaches - Grand Hyatt Kauai  26:22 Location and beaches - Hyatt Regency Maui 30:35 Pools and grounds - Grand Hyatt Kauai 33:56 Pools and grounds - Hyatt Regency Maui 37:53 Clubs at the Grand Hyatt Kauai  44:19 Clubs at Hyatt Regency Maui  47:05 Flavored water and restaurants available 52:39 Which is truly better?  

Want piles of American Airlines miles? Here are your best strategies for amassing a massive amount of miles in the valuable AAdvantage rewards program. 00:00 Intro 01:03 Award Talk 01:04 Booking The Signature at MGM Grand via Airbnb https://frequentmiler.com/hacking-las-vegas/ 07:10 Roame.Travel adds JetBlue 08:07 Seats.Aero helps Greg find Qsuites availability 09:28 Giant Mailbag: Laddering flights 12:40 Giant Mailbag: Can I transfer Ultimate Rewards to American Airlines miles at a rate of 2:1 right now? 16:10 Card Talk: American Airlines cards 16:55 Citi AAdvantage MileUp card https://frequentmiler.com/aamileup/ 19:17 Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select https://frequentmiler.com/aaplat/ 22:50 Citibusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select card https://frequentmiler.com/aaplatbiz/ 23:31 Citi AAdvantage Executive card https://frequentmiler.com/aaexec/ 28:14 Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red https://frequentmiler.com/aviatorred/ 30:24 Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Silver https://frequentmiler.com/aviatorsilver/ 36:16 Barclays Aviator Business https://frequentmiler.com/aviatorbiz/ 38:36 Main Event: Amassing American Airlines miles 38:40 Credit card strategies 49:47 AAdvantage Shopping Portal 53:06 SimplyMiles 56:48 Rewards Network AAdvantage Dining 57:38 Hotels: Rocketmiles / BookAAHotels https://frequentmiler.com/best-way-to-earn-aa-miles-status-via-hotel-bookings/ 1:00:36 Hotel partnership with Hyatt https://frequentmiler.com/hyatt-american-airlines-partnership-now-live-link-your-accounts-now/ 1:02:46 Car Rentals 1:04:10 Shell partnership 1:04:40 Banking: Bask Bank & Citi Checking bonus 1:10:36 Question of the Week: How can you value Hyatt points more highly than Chase Ultimate Rewards points? https://frequentmiler.com/what-are-hyatt-points-worth/#How_can_Hyatt_points_be_worth_more_than_Ultimate_Rewards Music credit: Annie Yoder

POST OF THE WEEK (from the group)Christie Berkseth-Rojas - London, Paris, KLM Business Class, Lounges, and incredible experience for her mom, husband, daughter. Very first points booking! Do you remember your first points booking?NEWS & ENHANCED OFFERSMarriott Online Transfer toolCiti AA Personal Card 75kANA cuts fuel surcharges by 40%-(Angie not familiar with ANA, Joe?)Wyndham Vacation Rental Condos in the US Bookable for Just 7,500 Points Per Night25% Transfer Bonus from Chase Ultimate Rewards to Air France/KLM Flying Blue and 30% Transfer Bonus When Transferring American Express Membership Rewards to Hilton Honors through May 15WHAT BONUSES DID WE GET? Hilton business card bonus postedSchwab Plat final charge pending so waiting for those points to postJust approved for Marriott Boundless card-wanting the extra 15 EQN nights plus hope to product change to the Ritz card next year. Closing an Amex personal Platinum this month so using up remaining credits (Saks and airline) Joe - no new cards from last week, but did a one and done day of Chase Ink Cash arrival, and am still working on wife's Minimum Spending Requirement, but will knock that out soon with some upcoming expenses. Looking to get Amex Business Gold nextTRIP UPDATES? Switzerland dead, lots of short trips for meetups and P2 meetings, no biggies until Bali in September (but seriously-who does Africa and Bali in the same year?!!?)Working on a family trip to the beach, Cleveland Meetup, trip to visit brother, trip with P2, and 6 weeks away from CroatiaHIGHLIGHT (Main Feature) Status Matching Angie - AeroplanJoe - CasinosSpirit Status Match (BEFORE IT'S GONE) - Notice: The Free Spirit® Status Match offer will end on Sunday 23 April at 11:59pm PST.WHAT YOU DIDN'T KNOWPortals - which ones do we use and why?Stacking: what it is, websites to use (cashbackmonitor.com, United Mileage Plus X, Rakuten, Simply Miles).Where To Find UsFor questions, you can join us in the FREE 92,000+ member Award Travel 101 Community. Where To Find the Award Travel 101 Community For questions, you can join us in the free 100,000+ member Award Travel 101 Community. For more intermediate and advanced strategies, join Award Travel 201 community To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1. You can also email us at contactawardtravel@gmail.com. Our next meetup is located in San Antonio, TX on April 26–28, 2024, and it's SOLD-OUT. You can get on our wait-list, but to learn more visit Taco 'Bout A Fiesta! Support the AT101 Podcast/Community

Manning Field is CEO of Follow, a B2C retail investing marketplace that connects influencers with people who automatically want to follow their money moves. Prior to Follow, Manning was the Chief Operating Officer for Acorns, overseeing the business with direct accountability for growth, retention, experimentation, customer service, analytics, project management, and Acorns' regulated entities. Manning launched market-leading products and programs at JPMorgan Chase like Chase Sapphire, Chase Freedom, and Chase Ultimate Rewards, and was named an Ad Age “40 Under 40.” He also spent four years in Beijing, China, as CMO of JPMorgan Chase's consumer team and while there, founded a local credit card business. During his 18-year tenure at Chase, Manning oversaw many departments including Branding, Advertising, Product Development, Marketing, Corporate Development, Innovation, B2B Corporate Sales Strategy, and, lastly, as the Managing Director of Loyalty Innovation. He graduated from Indiana University and he and his wife have three future Acorns investors.Connect with Behind Company Lines and HireOtter Website Facebook Twitter LinkedIn:Behind Company LinesHireOtter Instagram Buzzsprout

Let's talk about credit card minimum spend! This is a GAME CHANGER for racking up those valuable points and miles fast. If you're new to travel hacking, this concept may seem a bit daunting, but don't worry, we've got some tips and tricks to help you out. First off, we define what we mean by minimum spend. It's the minimum amount you need to spend on a credit card within a specified timeframe to earn a welcome offer. For example, you may need to spend $4,000 in the first three months to earn 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points or 75,000 Capital One Venture Miles. Now, you may be thinking, "How on earth am I going to spend $4,000 in three months?" But the truth is, it's easier than you think. You don't need to be spending frivolously or charging things you don't need. We're talking about charging your everyday expenses like groceries, gas, utilities, phone bills, eating out, and even medical expenses. You can even prepay some bills ahead of time to give yourself a boost! Trust us, meeting minimum spend requirements is easier than you think. Just charge your everyday expenses and pay them off in-full each month. Be sure to choose credit cards with minimum spend requirements that fit your budget, and don't go into debt just to earn points. With these tips and tricks, you'll be earning points and miles in no time! P.S.— Make sure to stick around until the end as we'll be sharing some of the craziest things we've done to hit minimum spend requirements. You won't want to miss it—it's sure to give you a good laugh!   Links:  Free Gifts and Resources To Start Your Travel Hacking Journey: Free MasterClass: How to Start Traveling for Nearly Free Best Current Credit Card Offers: Best Rewards Card Offers | Travel Hacking Mom Award Travel Academy: Award Travel Academy Our Website: https://travelhackingmom.com Connect With Us: Newsletter signup: https://travelhackingmom.com/newsletter Instagram: Alex + Pam + Jess | Points & Miles (@travelhackingmom) TikTok: travelhackingmom's Creator Profile Facebook group: Travel Hacking Mom Group | Facebook  Episode Minute By Minute: 0:00 A quick challenge from Pam 0:49 Welcome and let's define what minimum spend actually is 8:31 How to open up a new cards strategically 12:00 How travel hacking can make the big purchase better! 22:00 What Pam saves up all her points for  20:57 How to meet the minimum spend on higher minimum spend cards such as business cards 28:43 A couple small disclaimers and working your way up along the way 31:02 Here's the craziest thing each of us done to reach a minimum spend!  

The most common example of social trading is when individual investors follow successful traders on social trading platforms and copy their trades. This can help investors who lack the time, experience, or confidence to invest on their own to achieve similar returns to more experienced traders. But, if you've ever traded stocks or crypto on Robinhood, and immediately received a prompt letting you know which of your friends also bought that stock earlier that same day, then you've experienced social investing. Or, if you've ever found yourself knee-deep in a Reddit thread debating the merits of bottom-up versus top-down company analysis, then you've experienced social investing as well.For better or for worse, financial influencers play a significant role in the trend of social investing because they have established a following and built a reputation for their perceived knowledge and expertise in the financial markets. They are adept at using social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Youtube to share their investment strategies, insights, opinions, and ideas with their followers. On this episode, Malcolm Ethridge sits down with Manning Field, CEO of Follow, a new social investment startup encouraging investors to bolster and diversify their portfolios by mirroring the trades of today's top financial creators. The pair share their differing opinions on the rise of fin-fluencers, the so-called Reddit rebellion, and the expected long-term impact of social investing on a generation of newer, younger investors.Manning Field discusses: The role of social media in the future of investingThe importance of vetting financial advice before acting on itYounger investors' preference for finfluencers What it means to construct portfolios of the futureConnect With Manning:LinkedIn: Manning FieldFollowConnect With Malcolm Ethridge:The Tech Money Podcast LinkedIn: Malcolm EthridgeConnect with Malcolm @MalcolmOnMoneyAbout Our Guest:Manning Field is the Chief Executive Officer at Follow. He previously worked as the Chief Operations Officer at Acorns. Prior to Acorns, he launched market-leading products and programs at JPMorgan Chase like Chase Sapphire, Chase Freedom and Chase Ultimate Rewards, and was named an Ad Age "40 Under 40." He spent four years in Beijing,China, as CMO of JPMorgan Chase's consumer team and while there, founded a local credit card business. During his 18 year tenure at Chase, Manning oversaw many departments including Branding, Advertising, Product Development, Marketing, Corporate Development, Innovation, Sales Strategy, and, lastly, as the Managing Director of Loyalty Innovation.

Our favorite 90,000 point offer is ending soon. Get yours NOW!Miles & Points for the Win (from the Community)!Antarctica Trip Inga KC - shares how to use points for a last-minute cruise experience. Share YOUR Miles/Points win in the Award Travel 101 Facebook Community.NEWS & ENHANCED OFFERSComplete Guide to American Airlines Status - JT LT EXP (JP 1st time) - why might this be important for readers/listenersNew Etihad Guest Award Chart - up to 3.2X more expensiveMarriott Drops 10% bonus to United, but… - something better for a changeVirgin ANA Chart No-notice changes - +/-s - more to come?New Bilt earnings on Lyft - why earn 5x when you can earn 12x?Stacking LifeMiles - Lufthansa biz 25k + $500WHAT BONUSES DID WE GET? JoeUnited Business - never transferred Chase Ultimate Rewards to United?What's Next - Amex Business Gold next?2023 Summary - 760K through first 2.5 months of 2023 that will purchase over $20K ($20,489) by my own personal valuations. Is it really worth that much?JTBusiness checking - 60K completed for Katie tooStill working on a 75k bonus on Blue Business Plus ($15k spend in 12 months, but foreign transaction fees)Getting close to earning 80k on Aviator Business ($2k spend in 90 days)Going to use tax payment to finish off 150k bonus on Amex Business Platinum ($15k spend in 3 months)HIGHLIGHT (Main Feature) Meet AwardWallet Editor-In-Chief JT GenterIntro to travel rewardsBackgroundTravel style - what do you love?HighlightsFavorite programsStrengthsWhat trips do you have booked now, and what are you most looking forward to?Find out where JT will be next! 2022 travel numbers: hereSocials: @jtgenterWHAT YOU DIDN'T KNOWRob DeCamp - If you're interested in seeing the total eclipse the afternoon of April 8, 2024, and you don't already live on the path, you might want to book your hotels shortly after they become available. Next total eclipse in the lower 48 States will be in 2044.This article from AwardWallet provides details on when chains open their schedules:Hyatt - 394 days 3/10/23Hilton - 365 4/8/23Where To Find the Award Travel 101 Community For questions, you can join us in the free 100,000+ member Award Travel 101 Community. For more intermediate and advanced strategies, join Award Travel 201 community To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1. You can also email us at contactawardtravel@gmail.com. Our next meetup is located in San Antonio, TX on April 26–28, 2024, and it's SOLD-OUT. You can get on our wait-list, but to learn more visit Taco 'Bout A Fiesta! Support the AT101 Podcast/Community

Today is a very different day. Chika is severely under the weather and can barely speak. Partially through the episode, our girls decide to cut it short for the day but not before discussing plans for some much needed in-person time together, their busy schedules and the downside to poor planning at schools. Shanea's birthday is coming up and she's excited even though she keeps forgetting it.Sending healing vibes your way Chika! Feel better!

Hey there, fellow travelers! Alex, Pam, and Jess here, also known as the travel hacking moms. :) Today, we want to talk to you about our favorite points and the many cards we have that help us earn even more of these points. If you follow us on Instagram @travelhackingmom or read our blog, then you already know that our go-to points are Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Not only do they offer fantastic travel partners to transfer your points to, but there are two best-ever offers on two of our favorite Chase cards that are ending soon. So this is an urgent episode! If you are on the fence about Travel Hacking, this is your chance! It's never been easier to earn points.  Let's dive a little bit deeper into these offers on the Chase Ink Business Unlimited and Ink Cash. Not only have the welcome offers increased, but the minimum spend has decreased, which is a rare occurrence. So, if you're looking to maximize your travel rewards, now is the time to take advantage of these offers. The eleveated offers on these cards is ending March 21, 2023 at 9 am ET.  Again, we love Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Firstly, they are easy to earn. There are so many cards that earn these points, which makes it easy to accumulate them quickly. Secondly, you can combine your Chase Ultimate Rewards points with anyone else who lives in your household and has a card that earns these points. This makes it convenient for families to pool their points together and book trips. Plus, Chase is the only bank that transfers to Hyatt, which is a hotel brand that we are obsessed with!  Being able to transfer points from Chase to Hyatt makes them extremely valuable for us. If you have listened to our recent episodes, you know that we have stayed in some once-in-a-lifetime hotels and resorts thanks to Hyatt!  Hit play to learn more!  We hope this has been helpful and has inspired you to take advantage of these fantastic rewards. Happy travels! Links:  Free Gifts and Resources To Start Your Travel Hacking Journey: Free Webinar: How to Start Traveling for Nearly Free Best Current Credit Card Offers: Best Rewards Card Offers | Travel Hacking Mom Award Travel Academy: Award Travel Academy Our Website: https://travelhackingmom.com Connect With Us: Newsletter signup: https://travelhackingmom.com/newsletter Instagram: Alex + Pam + Jess | Points & Miles (@travelhackingmom) TikTok: travelhackingmom's Creator Profile Facebook group: Travel Hacking Mom Group | Facebook Links For This Episode:  Ink Business Cash Affiliate Link: Travel Hacking Mom | Card Offer Ink Business Unlimited Affiliate Link: Travel Hacking Mom | Card Offer Ultimate Guide to Ultimate Rewards: https://travelhackingmom.ck.page/ultimateguide Can I Get A Business Credit Card?: Can I Get a Business Credit Card? - Travel Hacking Mom How to Combine Ultimate Rewards: How to Combine Ultimate Reward Points - Travel Hacking Mom Transfer Partner Cheat Sheet: travelhackingmom.ck.page/cheatsheet How to Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards: How to Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Episode Minute By Minute: 0:48 Card offer that are ending soon 1:28 Did you catch this inside joke? 3:01 Why earning Chase points are so easy to earn 6:44 How to open a business a card even if you don't have a business 8:30 The downside of cashback cards  11:33 Easy ways to get 5% cashback  16:11 A quick recap of these great cards! 18:17 How to easily combine points  23:38 Alex's #1 tip for everyone listening 26:29 Why you can earn points quickly with Hyatt 27:49 Our favorite ways to earn Chase points  35:12 How to get more of our tips to unlocking Ultimate Points 

Selecting and timing your travel cards correctly is a key part of using travel rewards in a simple and easy way. Lyn explains the Chase 5/24 rule and how it works with her fly-free strategy.Want a personalized look at what travel cards you need to have in play and when to get them to simply and easily fly free? Come join us inside the Families Fly Free membership, the BEST way to learn how to fly free using travel rewards...Learn moreDownload Lyn's FREE list of 7 INSIDER hacks she uses to personally fly her family free...https://familiesflyfree.com/7hacks Get on the Families Fly Free email list for more tips, advice and inspiration on flying -- and traveling -- for free.https://www.familiesflyfree.com/getemail

Today you are going to a little bit of real talk with Heidi. Maybe because I am on night 3 of a hotel to MYSELF while I'm at a conference or maybe I shouldn't have had that second cup of coffee (by the way if you like Real Talk with Heidi version, feel free to support this buying me a coffee) Either way, I wanted to give families a valuable way to use travel rewards to supplement their travel budget, traveling longer, farther - let's just say it's one of my favorite optimization strategies AND after 2 people it gets much more difficult - you even heard Chris Hutchins from All the Hacks say it on episode 092.  The game is harder to play with more people.       And I'll just say it, the content out there for families is eh.  I don't think you need to pay thousands of dollars to follow someone's system.  Once you learn the rules of the game you just need a reliable source to ask questions and find the answers you need. I also don't think everyone needs to take online courses to understand how points and systems work.  Many of those groups want you to use their links so that they get all the referral bonus points. Just for the record, I'm not opposed to any of those things, people can make money doing things they are good at and I know that many use the referral and affiliate links to fund their work.  I just think there is a better way to support YOU through this - what can I say, we are sherpas helping families adventure.  I think families need a fair shot at the travel rewards game.      Part of the challenge with travel hacking is that the rules change often.   It takes time to understand and let's be frank - we don't have time to scurry down the rabbit hole of travel rewards.  For this episode I am going to highlight some of the travel hacking resources I have and walk through three examples of how we recently used travel rewards.  I also am announcing a FREE Live Family Travel Hackers Q/A Session so stick around and make sure to register to get EVEN more tips.   First to highlight some of my previous content: On episode 018 | Travel Rewards tips with Melissa Lagerquist.  We talk about some of the basic terminology, approaches and ways she has used points to hack cruises.  Full disclosure - Melissa is connected to the Choose FI Travel Rewards course.  If you want to go down the rabbit hole that free course is where I started when it was launched probably close to 5 years ago.  On episode 019 | Our approach to travel rewards I walk through our strategy and I give you a free downloadable planning guide to help you through the process.  That is available at: https://ordinarysherpa.com/rewards/   Episode 032 | How to Fly a family of 5 to Hawaii for under $500 I dive deep into Southwest Companion Pass which we have had for 4 years straight.  We are not renewing next year because we will be traveling in the RV next year and as you will soon hear we have a different strategy.  Episode 070 | Hacks to Optimize Family Experiences without Sacrificing Value offers an updated approach to how I plan our summer vacations in particular.   We also reference travel hacking in episode 084 with Ed Tee adventuring near and far; Episode 040 Interim Expat with Scott Barrett, and Episode 077 | Funding the Fun with Jen of Investor Mama.     The DIY approach to learning travel hacking can seem like an uphill slog.  I may have said on more than one occasion “Can someone just tell me what to do?!” Stick around until the end to get the link to register for our Free Family Travel Hacker LIVE Q/A.  Tonight I wanted to share a few behind the curtain tips to help you travel more for less.     Hawaii flights for 5 for under $300 It's no secret here that we used 2 Southwest Companion Passes.  RIGHT NOW is the best time to start earning the Southwest Companion Pass to give you the maximum amount of time where one person flies free with you (-$5.50 per flight in taxes and fees). If you have ANY questions about earning the Companion Pass make sure to sign up for my Free Q/A!    Many people tell you to design your strategy based on a destination you want to travel to.  That is one approach, but I also like to think about the experience.  From Wisconsin to Hawaii is 8+ hours of flying, and direct flights don't exist.  Instead of designing this trip to be a long-haul with 3 kids, we broke it up into smaller segments which meant we also had so many more options on what that experience could look like and created a schedule that worked best for our family.  Instead of looking for fare sales from our home airport of Milwaukee, I look for routes to our destination and work backwards. Our route was Milwaukee-San Jose (staying a night in San Jose and making a mini-vacation of it), from San Jose to Kona (big island) for 5 nights, from Hilo (Big Island) to Honolulu (Oahu) for 4 nights, from Honolulu to Kahului (maui) for 5 nights, from Maui to Los Angeles for 2 nights, and from Los Angeles back to Milwaukee for 3 nights.  In many ways it felt like we had 5 different vacations.     Now that might seem much longer in terms of days and number of flights overall that you want to spend, but keep in mind we were on 3 islands and planes are really the easiest way to get between them.  Because we had utilized the best fares and designed an experience, the total number of points needed for this entire itinerary was 60,168.  Because we had 2 companion passes we only needed this number of points for 3 of our family members (which was 180,504).  Because both my husband and I had attained Companion Passes we earned over 240,000 points (at the time the requirement was only 120,000). Part of the reason I like Southwest is because they use a standard formula based on price/points as opposed to dynamic points systems that are difficult to figure out how many points you need to earn to redeem your family flights.  Harry Potter World (tickets and hotel) for $0.  This was a recent “can we do it challenge.” that we booked for 2023.  Universal Orlando (which is where Harry Potter World is Housed) often offers a 2-day+2 Day Promo (PS. It's still happening right now for travel before March 2, 2023 if you are interested). We used a travel eraser card like the Capital One Venture X card.  We bought the tickets through Undercover Tourist (which was just under $1,500 for a family of 5 for 4 days) and then were able to wipe that travel expense out with points.  There are general rules of thumb, often a point equals a $.01 so in this case would be 150,000 points.  I can go into much more detail on how we reach those minimum spends and when we apply for credit cards as a part of our regular family budget on the Q/A call.  I did some research into what hotel works best for our family in the area and I'll jump into that in a bit below.  Ultimately we landed on Cabana Bay Beach Resort and used the Chase Ultimate Rewards to pay for our hotel.  It doesn't always make sense for us to use reward points for hotels and car rentals. I can go into much more detail on what we look for and when it makes sense to pay for accommodations/transportation to earn bonus categories vs. when it makes sense to use rewards if you want to have insight into my brain and how we approach this. Best Hotel-hacking options for larger families.   Hotels in general can be tricky for families.  As your kids get older it's not as easy to coordinate sleeping arrangements.  We have found several specific hotels within the various hotel families.  As a family of 5 hotels in general are harder.  As I was finding the right formula for our family I would look at things like: was there free parking or free shuttle to the airport? Could we make a meal in the room?  Was there free breakfast or perks with hotel status that we could optimize?  Usually the selling factor for the kids, is there a pool?  Within the 3 major families of hotel Marriot, IHG, and Hilton there are several branches that offer options for families.  Three of our favorites are: Residence Inn or Springhill Suites by Marriott Embassy Suites by Hilton Hyatt House or Hyatt Place by IHG And if I am paying cash I appreciate Comfort Suites.   As I alluded to at the start of this episode, travel rewards can be overwhelming and the content out there is not always geared towards families of 3 or more.  Register for our LIVE EVENT to answer your Questions on Family Travel Hacking for those interested in becoming a (or improving your) Family Travel Hacker skills.  To register go to https://ordinarysherpa.com/LIVE Even if you are slightly interested I would strongly encourage you to sign up.  It will be recorded AND there is a surprise that will only be available to those who register - before the rest of the community and world knows about it. 

Why not start out an episode learning why Richard has sausage fingers? We take some time to do a deep dive into my Amsterdam and London trip.  Flight reviews, hotel reviews and some touristy stuff is all thrown in there. We heard from a couple dozen listeners about problems they're having with the Capital One Venture X card.  Richard and Ed detail what folks are experiencing right now.  Ed also shares a problem he's having with Chase Ultimate Rewards. Lastly, Ed is happy Hilton is putting Peloton bikes in all of their hotels.  Richard rains on his parade to finish things off. Don't forget that you can leave us a voicemail or text us at (571) 293-6659‬. Listen for your question on a future show! Shoot us an e-mail (ed@pizzainmotion.com) or you can tweet me and Richard if you have questions. And, you can also find me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and ask your question there. If you enjoy the podcast, I hope you'll take a moment to leave us a rating. That helps us grow our audience! Hope you enjoy the show!

Did you know it's possible to perpetually open Chase cards and earn more Ultimate Rewards? Listen as Heather from @Homeschoolingonpoints explains her methodology for funding all her Disney trips with Chase Ultimate Rewards! She's an expert on opening Ink Business cards, and we discuss how to open a business card with a side income as low as $500. She's also reopened American Express cards, and explains which ones the "once in a lifetime" actually applies to. Credit Cards mentioned in this episode: Chase Ink Business Cash Credit Card (the 5x Office Supply One) Chase Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card (the 1.5x on Everything One) Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card (allows you to convert the cash back into Ultimate Rewards) Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/samantha-holland3/support

Stella has been a long-time aviation and points and miles enthusiast, and she currently works in Corporate Communications at JetBlue! Prior to this role, she has freelanced and written full-time for The Points Guy. She can not only tell you all about maximizing points and miles for your dream trips, but from the unique angle working in the aviation industry — and how points and miles are incredibly important to use, even when you get “free” space-available flights from the airline (and its partners)! In this episode, Stella and I dive into the True Blue loyalty program and how you can get some incredible points experiences with JetBlue – everything from cheap $39 flights to experiencing the luxurious JetBlue Mint cabin across the Atlantic. Quick note though – this episode was recorded before the news about the JetBlue and Spirit merger, so we don't touch on that in this episode. If you are looking to book flights on JetBlue, Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer to JetBlue as well as many additional hotel and airline partners. The Chase Sapphire Preferred is one of the most popular starter cards for people looking to get into the game of points and miles and that sign-up bonus can cover quite a few JetBlue short-haul flights, especially during the flash sales! Remember, if you decide to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred or any other card, never apply directly through Google – always use a friend or creator's referral link. If you are interested in supporting this show when you apply for your next card, check out geobreezetravel.com/cards Chase Sapphire Preferred: https://milevalue.com/creditcards/chase-sapphire-preferred/?aff=gbt Download App in the Air at: https://links.appintheair.mobi/geobreezetravel You can find Stella at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stellajshon You can find Julia at: Website: https://www.geobreezetravel.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geobreezetravel Credit card links: https://www.geobreezetravel.com/cards Masterclasses: https://www.geobreezetravel.com/hangouts Patreon to access recordings of masterclasses: https://www.patreon.com/geobreezetravel Award travel coaching call: https://www.geobreezetravel.com/calendly Sign up for the newsletter and get exclusive access to sign up for free coaching calls: https://www.geobreezetravel.com/free-coaching Geobreeze Travel is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as milevalue .com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress .com to learn more.

Website for this episode: https://ordinarysherpa.com/077Will you leave Written Review on Apple Podcasts:  https://ordinarysherpa.com/review/ Subscribe to the email List:  https://ordinarysherpa.com/subscribe/ Join the Everyday Adventure Challenge  for simple adventure tips to create a summer to remember. https://www.ordinarysherpa.com/challenge Our guest today has an obsession with financial independence. After years of consuming content she thought it was about time she produced and shared her obsession with others. She realized there was a gap in resources around personal finances geared towards moms. Trying to get ahead with money is one thing, trying to get ahead as a mom is whole other ball game. In an effort to learn and crowdsource the best, she is on a mission to find moms who can share their money examples, interview then and share their knowledge with other mom listeners.  The Investor Mama podcast was born and the origin story of my connection with Jen was born, as we grew up in podcasting. With 2 young kids and moonlighting as a real estate agent among all the other things, Jen shares some of her money tips for making adventures fun without breaking the bank.  Jen Narcisso of Investor Mama, welcome to Ordinary Sherpa.   Key Takeaways Podcasting was in the honor of her son Nathan and brought good to his name and kept her going.  What are the things that drive you and keep you going?   House Hacking is a way to rent a portion of your house while living in another unit. When you start to see opportunities in how to use your assets differently it might create streams of income.  On the flipside, what's the point of having money if you aren't creating joy with it.   Jen's dream is to throw a dart at a map on the globe and spend 4 weeks, to create intense family connection time.  Forced family time removes you from the distractions of daily life.     Jen found a way to prove to her husband to take the family to Disney.  Her child was in early childhood intervention and the experience at Disney exploded his growth and development.   Travel with kids under 2.  They fly free.   Jen used Travel rewards through Chase Ultimate Rewards to cover flights, Hilton card has 4 nights and 5th night free and covered hotel.  Her mother-in-law had a Citi card that covered Park tickets as a travel eraser.  Jen stayed at the DoubleTree at Disney Springs and used the shuttle for free.     The Unofficial Guide to everything Disney (and other parks) from how to get discount tickets, to how to plan your day, optimize the lines.  The Wyndam Bonnet Creek is on Disney property but not a Disney property.  It's a condo with all the amenities and with a full kitchen, living room and several bedrooms in each unit.   Jen optimizes her big backyard, local playgrounds, and scavenger hunts.  Ultimately your outlook is the driving factor and if you are excited about it, the kids will mimic your energy.  Let kids' curiosity be the guide.  Find the extraordinary in the ordinary.   “My daughter doesn't know she is missing out.” Kids don't need to be signed up for a bunch of different activities.  Jen prioritizes swim lessons due to the safety concerns around water.  The better we get at getting creative at home, the easier it is to master adventures on the go while traveling.   There is no bad weather, just bad attire.  By focusing on good gear they are able to spend more time outside. Having an intention to go outside allows you to focus on the options versus being comfortable inside.   Kids don't need to be told what to do if we encourage them to be creative and model excitement.  Leaning on your community helps to get you unstuck from lulls in the season.  Nobody wakes up to say, I'm going to be a bad parent today.  Give yourself grace, you just survived your first pandemic.   You don't need to spend money to be a good mom.  Finances are foundational to allow us to thrive in life so having your finances in order opens so many options.  Connect with Jen, she is amazing and loves to help.   If you are looking for simple adventures to help you make it through your summer, I'd suggest registering for the Summer Season of the Everyday Adventure Challenge from June 5th -August 5th by heading to ordinarysherpa.com/challenge To Connect with or Follow Jen from Investor MamaPodcast: Investor MamaWebsite: https://investormama.com/Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/438814630372392/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/investor_mama/

Learn all about Lyn's favorite travel card, Chase Sapphire Preferred, before the amazing 80,000-point offer goes away June 1, 2022 (even after it goes away, it's still a great card with a 60,000-point bonus). Lyn will explain the offer, the card's features, how it works as part of her Fly Free Formula and how you can earn up to $3,000 in FREE travel from this bonus (more than anyone else will tell you ;-)). Thanks for using my affiliate link below if you decide to apply for Chase Sapphire Preferred to help support free content like this podcast and webinar...Chase Sapphire PreferredRelated Episodes: 10 Creative Ways to Meet a Credit Card Minimum Spend 10 Reasons to Add Chase Sapphire Preferred to Your Wallet 5 Reasons to Make Friends With Chase Ultimate Rewards to Travel Free Want to get the MOST possible out of Chase Sapphire Preferred AND learn the easy way to ALWAYS fly your family free with personal support all along the way? Join us inside the Families Fly Free membership...FamiliesFlyFree.com/JoinDownload Lyn's FREE list of 7 INSIDER hacks she uses to personally fly her family free...https://familiesflyfree.com/7hacks

Abigail Akinyemi from @theladywhotravels_ is a travel enthusiast and she's always on the hunt for a new adventure. She enjoys traveling solo all over the world and gives tips on how to do so safely as a woman of color. She's known for planning unique and exciting trips with a blend of luxury and affordability. She's also one of my private coaching clients, and I'm so proud of all that she's been able to accomplish with her points journey in just a few months! In this episode, Abigail and I discuss her first big trip on points where she took a birthday trip to Italy and Portugal and got so many fancy upgrades and amenities! We reference the free hotel upgrade email template in this episode. If you'd like the template, check out www.geobreezetravel.com/download-gifts. If you're looking to get into points and miles like Abigail, one of the best cards to start with is the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which allows you to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to many different partners mentioned in this episode including United, Singapore Airlines, Hyatt, and TAP. Remember: never apply for credit cards through Google. Always support a friend or creator's travel habits by using their referral links. If you'd like to support this show when you apply for your next card, check out the link below. Chase Sapphire Preferred: https://milevalue.com/creditcards/chase-sapphire-preferred/?aff=gbt Download Grabr at: https://bit.ly/GrabrGeobreezetravelPodcast Download App in the Air at: https://links.appintheair.mobi/geobreezetravel You can find Abigail at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theladywhotravels_ You can find Julia at: Website: https://www.geobreezetravel.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geobreezetravel Credit card links: https://www.geobreezetravel.com/cards Masterclasses: https://www.geobreezetravel.com/hangouts Patreon to access recordings of masterclasses: https://www.patreon.com/geobreezetravel Award travel coaching call: https://www.geobreezetravel.com/calendly Sign up for the newsletter and get exclusive access to sign up for free coaching calls: https://www.geobreezetravel.com/free-coaching Geobreeze Travel is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as milevalue .com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress .com to learn more.

Wondering how to earn more points towards travel? Trying to decide which travel credit card is the best fit for your family? This week we chat with points and miles expert Jennifer Yellin about the best travel credit cards for families. Kim and Tamara also talk about the changing travel restrictions in Europe, the Caribbean, and cruises. Note that since this podcast was recorded, Italy has also dropped its testing requirement for fully vaccinated travelers. About Jennifer Yellin Jennifer Yellin is the founder of Deals We Like, where she helps her readers travel on a deal. She writes about everything travel related, such as travel credit cards, travel rewards (points and miles) and travel destinations. Jennifer is also a freelance writer for CNN Underscored and The Points Guy where she writes on similar travel topics. Jennifer loves traveling to beach destinations and embracing ski trips with her family. How to Pick the Best Travel Credit Card for your Family For family travel, you need to book early if you are looking to use points since they are popular times to travel and you need more seats than if you are traveling solo When choosing a credit card to start using points there are some that are very easy to redeem points, like Capital One which allows you to earn points and then use the points eraser to erase the travel charge on your credit card. Others, like Chase Ultimate Rewards, you transfer your points to airline or hotel programs to use your points. You can get better value that way but it takes a little more work There are also airline or hotel specific cards that provide certain perks, like a free night certificate or free baggage, that can be valuable if you are able to fully utilize it Also look at the annual fees and make sure you are getting more value than you are paying in annual fees The Hyatt card will help you earn Globalist status, which will provide nice perks like room upgrades. See our episode about the best hotel loyalty programs Southwest is a popular card for Southwest fliers that can earn the Companion Pass (see our episode about flying families for free) The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great card but wait to sign up until they have a very good sign up bonus. Points transfer easily on a one-to-one basis and you can even book through their travel portal. They have a partnership with Southwest and OneWorld Alliance members like American and British Airways If you transfer 1-to-1 to Hyatt, you will get more value out of your points then transferring to Marriott If you do decide to have multiple cards, make a note of which cards give more points for specific categories (e.g. gas, travel, supermarket) and put a piece of tape or label on each card and write on it which category to use that card for If you have a specific trip in mind, find out what hotel you want to stay at and then look at signing up for that hotel brand credit card and sign up when there is a good bonus (unless a card like Chase has a better welcome offer) You can also sign up for credit cards in you and your partner's name or a personal and business card to get multiple sign up offers if you have a specific trip in mind When you want to use points for a family, it can be hard to find enough free seats for everyone. Just keep in mind that if you book separately you may end up separated if they reshuffle the flights but you can try to get the itineraries linked to avoid this If you have status, you probably want to buy a ticket for the person with status and use points for the rest Expert Flyer is a membership website that helps you find special award availability For international airlines, it also helps to use an award booking service to help find flights to a specific destination, these usually cost about $150-200. Usually you don't pay unless you can book You can use Point.me (used to be Juicy Miles) where you put in your itinerary and the system will provide you with options that you can book and that is a less expensive service because it is automated When you transfer points, it can take 24-48 hours for the points to show up in your account and you can't book until they are available. You can Google how long it takes to transfer points between specific programs Once you transfer points from your credit card to an airline or hotel program, you can switch them back to the credit card so be sure you want to use them To earn additional points, sign up for every shopping portal available such as eBates/Rakuten (for cash back or points), some have Chrome Extensions to remind you to purchase through the portal. Most mainstream ecommerce sites will earn you points There are also a lot of sign up bonuses around big shopping weekends Cashbackholic will show you which shopping portals offer the best rates/points offers EV Rewards will also compare for you Always look at the targeted offers that are sent to you from your credit card companies to earn extra points or cash back Buy gift cards through shopping portals, put purchases on credit card and have others pay you back for group dinners, class gifts, etc. Never sign up for a credit card without a sign up offer Southwest currently has a good offer for earning a Southwest Companion Pass Make sure you can always easily meet the minimum spend requirements when signing up for a new card If you are applying for a mortgage or a loan soon, don't apply for a new credit card, but otherwise it won't hurt your credit score Cancel cards when you are no longer getting value, but you can also call and see if you can get a fee waived or reduced If you have applied for 5 or more Chase cards in 24 months, you can't get approved for a new card and Amex offers are usually once in a lifetime but you may be able to get it once they roll off your credit card in seven years or so Full Episode Transcript [00:00:00.190] - Kim Tate Stay tuned to find out how you can charge your way to free travel. [00:00:15.450] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We 3 Travel. [00:00:29.890] - Kim Tate Tamara. It's kind of a fun intro today because I feel like we're going to share some happy news for a change that's happening. Do you want to kick us off and start talking about some changes that are happening in the travel space lately? [00:00:41.710] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I mean, just overall, I think everyone feels a whole lot better than they did a month ago, for sure. And I know traffic to my website showing that people are more interested in international travel than they have been, for obvious reasons. But it's just so nice to be on the side of things where it's like things are getting better. [00:00:58.670] - Kim Tate We have good news. Yeah. [00:01:00.680] - Tamara Gruber But as you guys know, we're planning a spring break trip coming up very quickly, and we've been keeping everything crossed that everything goes okay. But we saw just actually, I just saw very recently, I think it was on February 12 that France has lifted their testing requirement to get into the country. So it's just like one of these hurdles that I can check. I can just cross off like, okay, the day before, how am I going to get the test that I need? And is it going to come back in time depending on how things are there or they're going to shut now that things are better, they're closing some testing centers. What's the best way to get this test that they need? So it's just like one of those hurdles that I don't have to go through now. And it's just it's such a relief. And also because Hannah had COVID in early January, I was actually going to get her tested to see if she's still testing positive. Do I need to get the doctor's note and go through that whole thing? And so as restrictions are lifted, it's just so nice to have one less thing that you have to do as you're getting out the door, and then one less thing that could kind of screw up the road. [00:02:11.860] - Tamara Gruber Obviously, you could still get sick, but hopefully you would know that versus like, oh, no, you're actually asymptomatic. Not that we want to be traveling asymptomatically, but you know what I mean? So I'm just encouraged that there are a number of European countries that are lifting their testing requirements at the same time, though, I should say that is for people that are fully vaccinated and different countries have different rules about full vaccination. Like, for example, for France, you need to also be boosted if it's been more than seven months since your second shot or your only shot if you're like me when it was Johnson, Johnson. So you need to follow still those kind of guidelines and all of the rest. But at least on the testing front, it's one thing. So, yeah, so France lifted it. The UK has lifted that, Ireland has lifted it. Spain lifted it. And I've seen that both Portugal and Greece have lifted it for the EU. And so my matter of time before they lift it for the US as well. And part of it might be like the US still has the requirement that people need to test, including US citizens, on entry into the US. [00:03:24.420] - Tamara Gruber So it might be one of those things where it's like, well, if you lift it for us, we'll have it for you kind of thing. But yeah, at least I mean, right now we're still going to have to get tested in France to go into Italy. But at least we know that that's pretty easy to do. Like, there's tons of pharmacies around and it's cheap and readily available and fast turn around. So I'm not as worried about that. And then I actually just ordered some testing kits from EMED, which is what you and I used when we were in Portugal because it's the proctored self testing that is accepted for return to the US. [00:04:00.540] - Kim Tate And it's instant. Yeah, it's really good. [00:04:02.170] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. [00:04:03.870] - Kim Tate That horrible one day window that the US enacted, which I hope they're going to reedit that now that Omicron is calming down because that one day is a big ask. [00:04:13.080] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's definitely and I was worried about like, oh, if we're in Italy, I know I can get tested, but will the turnaround be in time? So I just felt like bringing these along is going to be the easiest scenario. We just do that in the room and we'll be all set. So positive news on my friend. And I know you've been paying attention to some other stuff going on, so you have some positive news, too. [00:04:34.640] - Kim Tate Yeah. Well, we're headed out on a cruise for spring break, and we're getting numerous emails that keep coming in because cruises are really volatile right now with the way they're changing. A lot of them went back into even a lockdown. They canceled a lot of cruises in January. And now I think things are loosening up, and so that's kind of opening up options. And so I think that for cruising, just know that cruising is back. Cruises in general have always been, as we talked about in that episode a while back, they're pretty obsessed with cleanliness and germs because of other things like norovirus that they've had issues with. So just know that cruising is back. And so if that's an option. The other thing that I like about cruising is because we're doing a Caribbean cruise and because you come in and out of a US Port, you are waived from a lot of those testing requirements that if you were just flying directly into a Caribbean Island. So there is some benefit to that. Just know that some of the Caribbean Islands also are editing what they're requiring. And I know that, for example, I believe it's the Bahamas and maybe even Aruba, if you're vaccinated, you no longer have to submit a PCR test. [00:05:41.530] - Kim Tate You can take a rapid test. Of course, it has to be a proven rapid test. You can't just take one of the Amazon ones and take a picture of it. It has to be like the EMED ones that you're talking about. But I think for some travelers, those are way easier than, like you said, making appointments and going in through a drive through or some kind of testing site. And then that stress over. Will I get the results in time, especially if for us out here, the Sundays really throw us off because they don't run the results on Sundays and do the testing. So if you need it, you kind of have to either wait for Monday or you have to go Saturday and hope that process works. So I just know that for us, it's kind of a big thing to keep an eye on. And I do think, like you that things are relaxing, and I think everybody's ready to get back to travel. So I feel like a lot of us traveled over the past year anyways, but it's becoming more accessible for people who maybe don't want the cost or the stress of testing. [00:06:35.070] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I mean, I've talked to a couple of people recently. They were like, oh, I just paid $100 for a test, and then they dropped it the next day. The cost for a family to have to deal with that kind of testing is considerable. It's huge. [00:06:51.000] - Kim Tate Well, our in laws won't come visit us from Canada because they're a family of five and they didn't come last summer because even after the border opened, they can't pay for five test times $150 or whatever. It just was cost prohibitive. [00:07:06.880] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, I like to be an optimist, and it's been hard for a couple of years. And I know things can change and all of that, but it is just nice to see positive news, positive things happening. And I'm excited. I'm excited for where all of our travels are going to take us this year. [00:07:26.130] - Kim Tate I definitely think that it's exciting and I think that it's people I mean, governments are seeing that the travel restrictions and the testing isn't necessarily catching it. It's still spreading like wildfire all throughout the country. I think that's a bigger thing. Like, I'm fully into watching things, but the fact that obviously Omicron moved through multiple countries, it really shows that we kind of all just need to get back to living and do our responsible parts. [00:07:54.940] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Well, speaking of getting back to living, I think everyone has been thinking of the trips that they want to take. And so we've been trying to have some episodes that addressed some of that, like some of that inspirational dream travel and today we're going to talk to really a credit card expert, and she's going to help us figure out ways to earn our way to those dream trips using credit cards. So I'm very excited to kind of find some new strategies after talking to her today. [00:08:26.090] - Kim Tate Yeah, definitely. Jennifer is a true expert. So let's get talking to her. [00:08:38.270] - Tamara Gruber We are here this week with Jennifer Yellin. She's a travel and credit card expert, founder of travel site Deals We Like, and a freelance writer for The Points Guy and CNN Underscored. So, Jennifer, I feel a little bit odd to have such an expert here today, but welcome. [00:08:52.970] - Jennifer Yellin Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. [00:08:55.340] - Tamara Gruber Well, we get a lot of questions about credit cards and strategies. And there are always some of our favorite episodes, and people always have different advice. So it's really nice to talk to, like, people with different viewpoints and experience. But before we get into really talking about what credit cards families should be using to earn points, I was hoping you could inspire us a little bit with some of the trips or flights that you've been able to book using miles and points. Sure. [00:09:21.790] - Jennifer Yellin Absolutely. So this past two years, like many of you, probably has been a little bit of a pause in staying at home. But just more recently, my family was actually able to take our first trip since the Pandemic started to Aruba, and we were able to book that fully on points, utilize our JetBlue points. And with JetBlue, it's really cool that if the flight goes down in price, you can cancel now with your points and rebook it. So I was able to do that a few times and really get that price down really low. Booking with points, even during the Christmas time period, it was pretty awesome. And then we stayed at the Hyatt Regency there right on Palm Beach and used points as well. And my husband actually has global status, which is their top tier status. So we are able to apply a suite upgrade. And we're confirmed into a two bedroom suite. And my kids had their own bunkbed room, which I thought was so cool. [00:10:11.020] - Kim Tate That's amazing. That's definitely like a dream. Good job on that, because I know those suite rewards are kind of difficulties sometimes. I hear they are. [00:10:19.280] - Jennifer Yellin I mean, it wasn't available right away. I had a check online daily, maybe hourly leading up to it. And probably about two weeks before our trip. [00:10:26.930] - Kim Tate It opened up nice. [00:10:28.700] - Jennifer Yellin That was good. [00:10:29.960] - Kim Tate That definitely sounds good. I know Tamara was in Aruba, too, but I think those are the dream trips that everybody thinks about when they can do points on Airlines and hotels. So Unfortunately, I get overwhelmed at that aspect of, like, how to redeem. And so I have a whole bunch of points, but they're all just sitting in my account doing nothing for me. So I had a friend who's in the point space once say to me, what do you hate free money? Because you're not using your points. So I know that that's a good thing when you can use them. [00:10:57.520] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. Family travel, specifically points kind of early because we always are booking during the popular Christmas break, spring break time frame. And that's when everyone books early. So right now I have a bunch of trips planned for December break. Clearly, I'm not taking them all, but booking them right when the war calendar opens up has allowed like a word availability to be booked and it's easier to come by. [00:11:22.660] - Tamara Gruber That's a good tip. [00:11:23.840] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. As long as I can cancel them, I'm good. I probably have like four different trips. [00:11:28.850] - Kim Tate Yeah. It becomes you have to have a spreadsheet to manage it sometimes. [00:11:33.110] - Kim Tate Well, what do you think is some of the so let's start off by talking about what you think some of the criteria is for people to look for when they're choosing a credit card to start earning points because there are a lot of options and I know kind of what I'm thinking and what other people have said. So in your opinion, what should people look at? [00:11:50.580] - Jennifer Yellin I think it kind of depends. There's two types of credit cards out there in the points space. Forget about cash back, but there's those that allow you to easily redeem your points. Like capital One is the first one that comes to mind. You book your flight and you can kind of use your points to wipe away the charge. [00:12:10.730] - Kim Tate Like the eraser or something. [00:12:12.510] - Jennifer Yellin Exactly. Like at a very easy rate. You don't have to worry about award availability. Like you were saying that you don't want to deal with if the flight is available. The hotel is available on points. As long as you can book it with cash, you can use your points. Then there's one like the Chase Ultimate Rewards, which kind of has a few different programs, actually. But those are where you can redeem your points to various hotel and airline programs by transferring your points. But that takes kind of some motivation, I guess it takes some effort and work and you need to kind of learn the programs, but then you could actually get something of better value. So it kind of depends on what your personality is. [00:12:53.540] - Kim Tate Right. And then, of course, there's also, like specific airline credit cards, like Delta or I have an Alaska card just because it gives me some perks. But it's funny because on Alaska I still book with my Amex because Alaska pays three times, but Amex pays five times. So it's kind of funny how you have to think about that stuff. [00:13:10.330] - Jennifer Yellin Absolutely. Other things I look for is I try to keep my annual fees low because I have a decent amount of credit cards. But are there perks that come with a credit card, like a free night certificate? So like Hyatt offers a free night certificate. It's capped at a category four, but I always find that that helps pay for the annual fee and actually allows me to come out ahead. So are there any of those other bonuses or perks that you'll utilize? [00:13:35.210] - Tamara Gruber I used to have a Marriott card, and I felt like sometimes I ended up not always using that voucher for the free night because then you would look at it and when I wanted to book, it was only like $100, $150. And you're like, oh, I'm going to save it for something else. And then it never ended up happening with all these things you definitely have to stay on top of make sure you're using the perks and the bonuses that you get. Right. [00:13:58.270] - Jennifer Yellin Definitely. Because if not, you could be spending a good amount on just fees where you're really not worth it. [00:14:04.160] - Tamara Gruber I mean, I totally admit that we've had the Capital One venture card for years and years, and the Holy Racer thing is just super simple. [00:14:12.670] - Kim Tate Yeah. That's what Paul likes. He loves that one. Just for the ease of it. [00:14:16.910] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. And we've also been using a higher credit card. And even though we're not getting the best value every time you make a purchase, it helps us earn global status, which, as I've mentioned before, is like their top tier status. So by earning that status, because every time you spend, I think $5,000 on the card, you get two nights towards status. So that, combined with staying at hotels, allows us to use that and then kind of get these awesome perks. So you kind of got to look at the pros and cons of every car and see what works best for you. Whenever anyone asks me, my simple answer sometimes is it depends. [00:14:51.780] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. We talked to who is Ed Pizza, right. A few months ago, Kim, and he was really recommending Hyatt as a great program for families. So I'm glad that you brought that one up and like ways to kind of maximize that because their point redemption is certainly much more generous than, as I mentioned, the Marriott card. [00:15:11.380] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. Ed and I are big Hyatt people for sure. [00:15:15.100] - Tamara Gruber Well, it sounds like you gave a couple of good starter cards for someone that's interested in travel but maybe doesn't have any particular destination in mind, or they just want to be able to use it, like travel generally. I know some people are like, really into Southwest, do everything Southwest. We had somebody on that talked about that in the past. But are there any other kind of starter cards that you would recommend for someone that doesn't want to be loyal to a particular brand or a particular airline? [00:15:43.570] - Jennifer Yellin Sure. Yes. If you don't want to be loyal and you kind of want to be agnostic and have to diversify your portfolio, I guess the Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great card. I wouldn't say the sign up bonus is as high as it has been over the past year. So if you're not in a rush, you might want to hold off. But that is a good program where it's simple. They have really good transfer partners such as Hyatt, United, JetBlue, and then once you get more into it, you can explore some of the international airline partners as well. But it's simple. Everything transfers as one to one, and you can kind of figure out what your needs are and then transfer to the program. Or you can book through their travel portal. I think it's run by Expedia. It's the exact same process as booking as any other Expedia hotel you would or Air flight. And you can utilize your points that way, too. It's at a fixed value, so they offer a good amount of opportunities. [00:16:37.550] - Tamara Gruber And are they one that has a really broad portfolio of Airlines? I remember I used to do that a lot with Amex, and then they had gotten rid of a lot of their partners and we kind of dropped Amex for a while. Some still have limited partnerships with the one to one transfers. [00:16:55.310] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah, I think they have a broad number of transfer partners. It's on the airline front, off the top of my head. United JetBlue, British Airways, which a lot of people will book domestically. You can book their British Airways points using on American Airlines, so they're a partner. So it's really easy to travel domestically even with an international airline. And then there are some other international carriers, too, in Southwest actually is one of them as well. So I think they have a good amount. There are definitely ones that are better than others just because of not all points are pretty equal. So if you transfer one to one to Hyatt versus one to one to Marriott, Hyatt points are 20,000 Hyatt points is probably equivalent to 60,000 Marriott points. So it's slightly different when you're transferring in a one to one rate. You want to get the best value. I'd say. [00:17:45.920] - Kim Tate Yeah. I think that it's good to mention that you do have to be mindful of the transfer partners because that is where you can get into. There's a whole it's kind of like couponing, right? Where the people who are like those extreme couponers, they knew everything and they could stack stuff. And I think that people who really get into this are good at stacking stuff because it's like, oh, I know for a fact that British Airways has really high taxes. So maybe you want to fly Air Lingus into Ireland and then get to there's little things like that that you learn over time. But it is nice to have the multiple transfer partners knowing that you can kind of optimize the way the credit cards work for you. Do you have any tips? Because I know this is a big thing in the point space about deciding if you do decide to have multiple cards, how do you decide what expenses to put on each card? [00:18:29.730] - Jennifer Yellin So I have many cards, probably too many, but I kind of look at category bonuses. So some credit cards will give increased payout for gas, some will for restaurants, some for travel, supermarkets, your common purchases. And so I kind of lay it out and I actually have what's it called tape with Sharpie written on which one to use for various types of purchases. And that has helped, but that can definitely get overwhelming. I'd say if you don't want to be overwhelmed, you're probably better off with a credit card like the Capital Adventure that just offers you two points for every dollar you spent. It doesn't matter what you're purchasing. If you're buying a toy for your child, purchasing travel, going to grocery store, anything, it's the same return. So it really depends on maybe your personality and how much you want to spend on this. But if you're willing to put in the effort, you can definitely maximize every single purchase you make. But it will require a few different credit cards. [00:19:35.410] - Tamara Gruber I like that tip, though, of like putting a little note on them in some way because I have a terrible memory when it comes to numbers. And so I could see myself having a spreadsheet somewhere that says use this one for gas and this one for that. But until it becomes like routine and a habit, I would be like which 01:00 a.m. I supposed to use again. So like a little tip, right? [00:19:56.480] - Kim Tate So many people in the point space on the groups, a new quarter comes around and they change out and they have those label makers like the Dymo label makers, and they put them on their cards, which card to use? And they do it for their spouses too. That maybe aren't into it as much because sure enough, I think of that. I'm like, which one do I want to use for dining? What do I want to pay here? [00:20:24.450] - Tamara Gruber I'm thinking like when you use Apple Pay or you do online and your card saved, you can name them. Usually just name it like Amex or Visa. You could name it like grocery store, dining, gas. [00:20:36.650] - Kim Tate All the gas probably isn't needed online. [00:20:39.090] - Tamara Gruber So that kind of covers some of the general travel. I know some people have some dream trips in mind. Like say, okay, I want to go to the Maldives or I want to go to Tokyo. Like what is a good strategy to get me to a particular destination? Is that better to then look at a specific card for the airline? That might be best for that? What would your approach to that kind of scenario be? [00:21:05.080] - Kim Tate Absolutely. [00:21:05.600] - Jennifer Yellin Whenever I give anyone advice, I always actually find it's easier for me to help them when they have a specific trip in mind, because then you can have a strategy for that particular destination. So I know it was a few years back, but a friend of mine wanted to go on our honeymoon to the Maldives. Like you had mentioned, it's definitely a quite extensive adventure. So this is a prime opportunity to use your points and miles. And I said, well, the Hyatt actually has a great property there get the highest credit card. I can't remember what the actual bonus was at the time, but right off the bat, it was either two or three nights free at the Maldives. This was many years ago when before the point rates went up a little bit. But that was probably a $3,000 in savings. So I think if you know exactly where you want to stay, let's say it's the Hyatt, then look to see what the Hyatt credit card is offering at the time. Look to see what maybe the Chase Sapphire Preferred is offering at the time, since you can transfer the Hyatt and see which one is going to give you a better welcome offer for that particular destination in mind. [00:22:07.650] - Kim Tate Yeah, I know we were planning a trip to Tokyo, and Japan Airlines is a partner with Alaska, and Alaska is my airline of choice here in Seattle. And so that was easy for me because I was kind of banking those miles and I got the Alaska card because my status gives me free bags, but I was able to get free bags for my kids as well. And all that. And those points really helped in the way get us our Tokyo flights that we didn't get to use, but still there. [00:22:32.320] - Tamara Gruber You got them? [00:22:33.530] - Kim Tate Yeah. [00:22:33.910] - Jennifer Yellin I did something similar last year about probably eleven months ago. I knew I wanted to go to Hawaii over this past December break. We didn't go, therefore, we went to Aruba. But I purposely just got the Alaska credit card purely for them, based in Boston. Boston. I don't think I've actually ever flown Alaskan Airlines in my life, actually. But there was a points available I saw. So I immediately applied for the credit card and both my name and my husband's name. And actually I applied for the personal credit card and the business credit card in both of us. And I knew that immediately would give us both a one way flight there. And I already had American Airlines booked on the way home with points. So I applied for that card for that one specific destination. I now have all these Alaska airline miles, and I know that I'll just use them at another point of time to hopefully go to Hawaii again. [00:23:21.250] - Kim Tate Yeah. [00:23:22.350] - Jennifer Yellin So I did that myself, too. [00:23:24.870] - Kim Tate So let's talk about we talked about booking flights and using points because this is something that I've struggled with a lot. When you are for a family, when you are wanting to use points, do you think it's easier to just always search for four tickets? Say you're a family four. Tamara is a family, three, whatever you are, your whole family search for tickets with those points? Or do you think it's better to be willing to pay for some and get tickets for some? Because I know that I've struggled with that, especially because as a status person, I almost want to buy my ticket, which is what I did for our spring break. I bought my ticket and I use points on my family's three tickets because now I'll earn miles on that trip and they don't care about anything else. So do you have any tips about that for using points with a family? [00:24:10.340] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah, we actually do the same. We fly JetBlue a lot now. And my husband had status and actually they extended his status. So he still has his status, which actually isn't worth as much anymore. But we'll pay for his ticket and then use the points to purchase tickets for myself and my two kids. And then Jeff, who allows you if you call them and the tickets are booked within a few minutes of one another, they'll kind of link them kind of for you. So that's a strategy we use with JetBlue and Southwest. There's no capacity control. So as long as there's a paid ticket available, you can go ahead and use your points. It doesn't matter, unlike some other Airlines. But with other Airlines, sometimes I do recommend just looking at one ticket at a time, because if there's one or two tickets, you could do that. The only problem is when you're booking with multiple itineraries. And sometimes if there's schedule changes, the Airlines aren't as helpful, I guess is the right term to keep families together, necessarily if they are booked on separate itineraries. So that's just one thing to keep in mind if you're booking under multiple reservations. [00:25:15.090] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, we've actually had that happen to us a number of times. We used to travel on points much more often and we were separated. And it's one of those things that especially when you book far out in advance, they tend to reshuffle flights fairly often and equipment, and so you can easily get moved around. And it's something I'm sensitive to because I have a child who is now older, but when she was younger was also a nervous liar. So there's, like, no way I would have wanted her separated from me. I think it's a good tip to say call, tell them to link the PNR numbers on the itinerary, but it's definitely not foolproof. So if it's something that you're concerned about, definitely something to keep in mind. [00:25:59.070] - Jennifer Yellin Right. And my thought is if I'm willing to pay for two or three of the passengers and I'm probably willing to pay for all of them and then use the points at another time, I personally like to book with everything either paid or points just to keep everything clean. [00:26:15.750] - Kim Tate And I know that when you do talk about just for people who are maybe a little more intermediate or advanced well, if they're advanced they already know this. But I know that a lot of people use Expert Flyer, which is a website. You can actually pay a yearly membership fee. I think it's like $49 a year. $99 a year. I don't remember what it is. And they somehow have some magic API that looks for special award availability that's coded a certain way. And so if you are trying to play a game, I know some people set up like alerts so that if they're watching a specific flight or a specific destination, they can kind of if an award ticket becomes available, they can hurry and log in and book it. [00:26:57.950] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah, absolutely. That is one good technique. And another thing I've kind of found helpful at times is using an award booking service. I know that seems silly from someone who kind of knows as well, but specifically with international Airlines, it can be beyond overwhelming. And they have all the tools and they have the same API's. And I don't know what they do in the background, but sometimes they're able to find ways that you didn't think of to go ahead and book an award internationally using partner programs. And it can actually save you points. So if you have points on one Airlines, but then also points in a flexible program like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, which awards you ultimate reward points, you actually could potentially transfer your points to a program and then book your itinerary for less points than booking with another program. So there's so many different things to know, I guess, when it comes to that. But there are services out there. [00:27:53.490] - Kim Tate Yeah. Do you have any? Because I know a friend that I kind of met once that's in the space. And at one point when we were looking at Japan and I was trying to decide if I was going to do it myself and he charged like 150 or something to do it for you. But do you know what those typically charge or what? Is there a top one or two that you know by name that you could mention? Sure. [00:28:15.120] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. That price point sounds about right. But then there are other services that have kind of come out over the past few years. So one is Point me, it used to be called Juicy Miles, and instead of them actually booking it for you, you can kind of like Expert Flyer in a sense, somewhat. You put in your itinerary and it kind of lists out all these different options for you. So it's all system process. There's no one physically doing it for you. And that's a much less expensive option. I think that you can charge a monthly fee or maybe just you can do it a one time or even a seven day trial period. I think so. Those are some good options, too, because it's less expensive. But it will give you all these international Airlines that you do in point programs that you probably didn't even know existed. And how to book. The only problem is some of them are a little bit more challenging to actually transfer to and book. But by quick Google searching, there's, like everything out there that you can figure out on how to transfer points and everything. It's time consuming. [00:29:16.410] - Jennifer Yellin It's really time consuming. And sometimes, I don't know, it might be easier. [00:29:19.740] - Kim Tate That's what I'm saying at this point. I would pay someone $250 to do it for me because I do know how time consuming. [00:29:26.970] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. And usually you don't pay unless it works. Right. [00:29:30.550] - Kim Tate Unless they get it for you. [00:29:31.880] - Jennifer Yellin Right. If you're not happy with it, no harm. [00:29:34.500] - Kim Tate Yeah, that's good tip. And I think also just a heads up for some people realize that a lot of these, like, I know Amex and Ultimate Rewards, a lot of their transfer partners take 24 to 72 hours for the points to kick into your account, which can be a big issue, especially if you're like, oh, this airfare just became available. Now I have to transfer the points, but then you're waiting there two, three days. I'm hoping that they hit your account so you can buy that award ticket. It's very stressful. I actually did that for Alaska to get our Japan tickets. I needed like 50,000 more and I had to transfer some. And I was like, oh, my gosh, please get in my account before these disappear. [00:30:09.750] - Tamara Gruber That's a really good point. [00:30:11.620] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. If you like Google also, I don't know why has it, but if you Google, like, time to transfer points from one program to another, there's so many experts out there, points people that have kind of taken all the data and put it all together. So some of them are instant. Some of them could even take seven days. But you could probably get a good inkling based on what these other people have put together. [00:30:35.190] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Well, it's one of these spaces where there are so many experts, but trying to sort through it all on your own is definitely confusing. That idea of being able to hire someone to help you. And thinking about that, I'm such an advanced planner, you kind of want to be like, oh, well, I'm probably going to use this. I'll just switch the points over now, but then you can't switch them back. [00:30:58.030] - Jennifer Yellin That is a good tip. Once you transfer points out of, like, Capital One or City or American Express Chase, I think those are the three main ones. They're in that program of choice. They are not going back in. So once flexible, points are no longer flexible. [00:31:12.770] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. One way. [00:31:14.020] - Jennifer Yellin Yes. [00:31:15.690] - Tamara Gruber Well, we talked a little bit about some ways that you can maximize kind of your earning potential through these. But maybe we can just touch on that a little bit more deeply because I feel like it gets challenging for families that don't have someone that's like a real road warrior that's traveling a lot to kind of build up points simply from travel. So obviously you need to find other ways to earn those points. So maybe you can just touch on a few of those strategies. [00:31:41.670] - Jennifer Yellin Absolutely. So one major way is to sign up for every single shopping portal. Ebates is one that's always advertised and that will give you cash back, although you can now have those points go into American Express. But similar to ebay, you can sign up and receive points to American Airlines or United Alaska. All the Airlines have their own shopping portal. So all you have to do is Google Alaska Airlines shopping portal and it'll bring you up. And a lot of them even have those widgets on your computer where every time you go to a site, if you were to Gap.com, it'll pop up and say kind of give you a reminder, remember to shop through the Alaska Port. I don't know if that. [00:32:22.620] - Kim Tate Yeah, the extensions. Like the Chrome extensions. Yeah, exactly. And I think Ebates, just so everyone knows it's called Racketon. Now, if you're confused about that. No, it's okay. You're good. I still think of them as ebay. So I wanted everyone to yes. [00:32:35.800] - Jennifer Yellin Ebay was definitely a softer name. So every time you make a purchase online, there's no reason not to earn points unless it's more of a boutique store. But with your mainstream stores, even if you're only earning one point per dollar spent that's one point more than you would have earned otherwise. And sometimes if you sign up for their emails, if you spend $200, earn $1,000 bonus. They have these types of bonuses all the time, especially around the holidays, Black Friday, even randomly, the long holiday weekends, like Memorial Day, Labor Day, big shopping weekends, and just sometimes out of the blue. So there's ways to really accrue a lot of miles from home. [00:33:17.530] - Kim Tate Absolutely. [00:33:18.420] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. [00:33:18.790] - Kim Tate That's one of my favorite tips. I do that a lot and I really like it. And there's these websites now, the one I use the most is like Cashback Holic. And they'll compare. So if you're going to you're like, okay, I'm about ready to buy. I'm going to book this Marriott stay. You can type in Marriott and it'll show you like who, because I belong to Racketon and Top Cashback and I can compare those two. I try not to get into too many of them, so I mainly use those two. But I'm like, oh, Top Cashback is 6%. Racketon is only four. I'm going to go to Top Cashback so you can get really nerdy and kind of compare them also. [00:33:49.190] - Jennifer Yellin Oh, totally. Absolutely. And EV Rewards is another one that will also compare for you is great. [00:33:57.090] - Tamara Gruber I totally admit that. I completely suck at this. I don't use any of these. And every time you read about it, you're like, oh yeah, I should do that. And I just get excited if I actually learn how to use one of the bonuses on my credit card, like get $50, $50. [00:34:16.510] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. And another thing you want to do, I mean, this is separate from the shopping portal is I remember I think it was the last time I received an email from Barclaycard. And they are the bank with JetBlue. And it was like ridiculous offer spent $2,000 on your card over three months and earn I think it was 40,000 points. It was a targeted offer. I got it. My husband didn't. I was like, all right, moving all my spent to my JetBlue card for the next few months. Right. And they're just paying attention just helps you earn these increased offers. So there's definitely ways from home without flying to earn points and miles. [00:34:55.990] - Kim Tate I've definitely been getting better about when I'm about ready to either go on a trip or go shopping with my girls or something along those lines. I log into my Chase and my Amex accounts online and I look because they have an offer section because you have to add them to your card. [00:35:09.740] - Jennifer Yellin Yes. [00:35:10.010] - Kim Tate And I don't think people always realize that. So if it's like, oh, Levi's is having a deal, I add it to my card because maybe they're going to want Levi's jeans while we're on back to school shopping or, oh, guess what? Hilton is doing this special. If you spend if you stay two nights, you get whatever the case may be. And I don't think people do that enough. But it's a good way to really I think if you want to get serious about it, you should log in often to the offers page because they reset every month. [00:35:34.850] Yeah. [00:35:35.740] - Jennifer Yellin Every day you're going to laugh. But American Express offers used to update every day at three in the morning. And I'm not joking. And so when my kids were small and I was up in the middle of the night non stop, I was like, so excited. And that was part of my daily routine. Some people have their morning coffee. I would look at my American Express offers. I'm not even kidding. That's awesome. Daily. But I will say it used to be you could add them to every single American Express credit card you have. I can't remember when, but a few years ago, it's now just one per account. So it's not as generous as it used to be. But I used to check them every single morning. And I'd saved thousands of dollars this way because it's not earning points. Well, actually, there are offers that you can earn points, but some of them are cashback. So now there's either cash back or increase point offers. So it depends on the offer and the type of card you have, because some cards might have it somewhere, but they're really great way to earn points or offset your purchases. [00:36:33.850] - Kim Tate And like you said, so many are targeted. Like Tamara got this offer for a Marriott offer at one point on her Amex and mine. I didn't have it and I'm convinced it's because I had the Amex Marriott card. [00:36:42.870] - Tamara Gruber I don't know. [00:36:44.830] - Jennifer Yellin You'll never know. And sometimes you can even I remember I can't remember the exact offer, but it was like grocery stores and I spend $500 getting $100 offer, something like that. And I wasn't going to make $500 purchase in once because sometimes it's on a single purchase. So I just bought a $500 gift card there and then just use the gift card over the course of my shopping fees. So there are ways to kind of I don't know if scheme the system is the right term, but play the game. [00:37:13.460] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I mean, I do what you do, Kim, is when I'm shopping online, I'm like, wait, that might have an offer. Let me look. But the other thing with the gift cards is just simply like gifts, right. We give gifts and I buy gift cards for people all the time. And it's just like if it's something that you're spending anyway, just find a way to use to earn points on it, right? [00:37:34.430] - Jennifer Yellin Absolutely. Or be the one to pay the bill at the restaurant and have everyone to Mo you buy the class gifts or anything like that. Like everyone wonders why I'm always a class mom. It's to accrue all the money and then I can put all the purchases on her credit card. [00:37:49.320] - Tamara Gruber Love it. [00:37:49.910] - Jennifer Yellin Little things like that. [00:37:51.290] - Kim Tate Well, I know another big way to maximize points is with sign up bonuses. So could you give any final tips for people that are thinking of getting a new card, anything they should know about sign up bonuses or things to watch for, and then wrap it up with any final tips that you think people need to know about credit card points? [00:38:07.580] - Jennifer Yellin Absolutely. So one thing you want to make sure of is when you sign up for a credit card, make sure it doesn't have to be the best offer because you might be waiting around for a year for the best offer. But make sure it's a really good offer. I know we were speaking before and you said you apply for an offer that was like half of what it typically is. So when you see an offer, make sure it's a good value and it's going to provide you with enough points that you'll be happy with that. Even if a better offer comes along in a month or two. Pay attention to best offer. Some banks, actually, if you apply within a few weeks or maybe even a month, if you call them up and say this better offer just came out, will you match it? They may or may not match it for you, but it's always worth a try. You never know. Some banks have kind of different fools and they change every so often also. But if you're looking for a credit card right now and specifically for family travel. The Southwest Credit Card actually has one of the best offers where you'll earn the Southwest Companion Pass. [00:39:05.500] - Jennifer Yellin I don't know if you guys have discussed the Southwest Companion Pass much on the podcast, but it's definitely one of my favorite travel features. And it allows someone to fly with you for free in a limited number of times. I've been a passholder for the past 13 or 14 years at this point. And it's like the most amazing thing ever. So that's one of my favorite offers right now. If you live in a Southwest hub, if you don't live near Southwest, then it's not worth it. [00:39:33.520] - Kim Tate And I'll chime in and just say that we did cover quite extensively about that Southwest offer and stuff with Lynne and that's episode 181. If anybody wants to go back and listen to that awesome. [00:39:43.960] - Jennifer Yellin Yes, she's an expert and everything's Southwest as well. So that's one thing right now, credit card offers are changing all the time. I think Marriott just came out with something last week, United as well. So it's like hard to even keep track. But sometimes even just like Googling best credit card offers from the experts. You'll get pages, but make sure it's really the best and not just them pushing you on the best when it might not be. [00:40:11.950] - Kim Tate Yeah, I definitely think that I've done that where especially if I have a big purchase, like, oh, I'm buying a new camera or we're about ready to take a big trip and I'm going to be putting a lot of charges. I kind of go and I say, okay, best credit card offers for March 2022 or whatever. And of course, it's the points guy, nerd wallet, upgraded points. [00:40:31.310] - Tamara Gruber Like all those guys. [00:40:32.280] - Kim Tate And so it's kind of good to just read through those and kind of see which ones are popping up. And they definitely, you'll know, because it's not just an offer. Like they'll write a whole article about this amazing offer is one of the best we've seen lately, that sort of stuff. [00:40:45.640] - Jennifer Yellin Right? Absolutely. And also just another tip is make sure you can meet the minimum spend requirements. Some of the credit cards are 1000 $2,000 in three months, six months. But the Capital One Venture X card right now, for example, is like, I think it's $10,000. So that might not be obtainable for most families. [00:41:04.130] - Kim Tate Exactly. [00:41:04.910] - Jennifer Yellin So it just makes it something you can do. [00:41:07.420] - Kim Tate Those business cards can sometimes have really high spends. Because I've looked at doing a business card, sometimes I'm just like, there's just no way I can spend that right now. [00:41:15.240] - Jennifer Yellin Right. [00:41:16.170] - Kim Tate Although I know that's a whole other expert level of people who do credit or gift card buy and resell to do that. So that's a whole other level. [00:41:24.990] - Jennifer Yellin Yes, it is. If you're interested in that, go to Greg at the Frequent Mile or he is crazy when it comes to this. But awesome attitude. [00:41:32.530] - Tamara Gruber One of the things that I'm thinking about. As I'm listening to you guys, I'm thinking about what I have an upcoming trip where I'm going to be spending a lot of money and some of that's already on one of my credit cards. But maybe I should look into what bonuses are up right now. But it makes me think about when you want to churn your cards. And we obviously talked about signing up, you and your husband for a card and signing up for this card in that card. And it's like, at what point are too many cards? Like too many? Like, how long do you keep it before you get rid of it? Are there considerations to think about in terms of your credit or just eligibility for future cards? That just to make people aware of? [00:42:10.930] Sure. [00:42:11.520] - Jennifer Yellin So as long as you're responsible with your credit cards, for the most part, credit cards are not going to hurt your credit. I mean, you'll see people who have 50 credit cards and they still have these awesome 800 credit scores. If you're applying for a mortgage to get a house in a few weeks, don't apply for a credit card right now. Right. So there's definitely or even any loan I wouldn't recommend applying for a credit card. Wait. And then go and get it. In regards to when you should cancel, if you're not getting value out of your credit card, cancel it's not going to hurt you or downgrade to a no annual fee. For example, if you have the Chase Sapphire preferred card and you find that the $95 annual fee is not worth it anymore, first of all, call and see if they'll do something for you. A lot of times they might say, okay, if you spend $1,000, we'll give you a $95 credit. You just never hurt. I know. Last year I think I ended up getting about $500 back from American Express amongst a lot of my credit cards. I know COVID played a hand in that. [00:43:16.470] - Jennifer Yellin But always call and see. And if not, then see if there's a car that you can downgrade it to, and then there won't be a Ding on your credit report. I mean, it also depends on what your current credit score is. And sometimes you might get a Ding, but it will go back up in a few months. So there's a few factors depending on. [00:43:34.050] - Kim Tate Yeah, it's like ten point Ding, and it does pop right back up because we've had that opening up a credit card kind of opens up. [00:43:40.310] - Jennifer Yellin Gives you more credit, which creditors like, too. [00:43:43.520] - Kim Tate So opening up credit cards is not a bad thing unless you're applying for a big mortgage. They don't like to see your capital, your accessibility too high, right? [00:43:53.510] - Jennifer Yellin Absolutely. And then Chase also has Chase and American Express have different rules in place. So I'm not sure if you've discussed Chase is 524. [00:44:01.800] - Kim Tate Yeah, we talked about that. [00:44:03.530] - Jennifer Yellin So you've applied for five or more cards. Usually they're personal cards, but sometimes they throw business cards into it, too. Chase will automatically not approve you for another credit card. I've seen some reports that that might be changing, actually. So we'll kind of see what happens over the next few months. But that's one thing to keep in mind. It's five or more cards in 24 months, I think I said. And then American Express also doesn't allow you to get the welcome offer for I believe it's like once in a lifetime, but once it falls off your credit report, they might not know. So might be like seven years. So those are things to kind of keep in mind. That's why you want to apply when the offer is the best, because if it's not and you're going to be losing out on points if a new offer comes around and then you're not able to get it and you're no longer a card holder. [00:44:48.390] - Tamara Gruber I have one more question for you, because now I'm just going to use you as my personal source for information if you want to get an additional card for someone in your family. So, for example, I have a 17 year old that we've been waiting till she turns 18 to get a credit card for her. And we've been debating like, do you get her own credit card or do we put her on one of ours? Do we get another one of the capital one cards? Any tips for if you're adding somebody in your family, maybe a first card? Is there any advantage, like kind of getting points from them versus kind of setting them up on their own? [00:45:24.660] Sure. [00:45:25.100] - Jennifer Yellin So just remember, if someone is an authorized user, you're responsible for all of their credit card habits. So if the credit card bill is not paid or if anything happens, it kind of can hit you. So just something to keep in mind with teenagers. But I actually personally don't know a lot about the high school age and what credit cards you can and cannot apply for for that age. I'm not there yet, fortunately. But setting someone up as an authorized user, I think some credit cards you can maybe do as early as 13, you can add them on. And that actually helps them as well build their own credit score. So it's always a great thing to get add on authorized users if they're not eligible to get their own credit card. And then when they are to get them, there are various student credit cards, and a lot of times those comes with $300 spend limits or very low thresholds that you might want for your child. But yeah, definitely getting them set up will only help their credit score, which can then ultimately help them in their 20s to apply for a credit card. [00:46:26.470] - Jennifer Yellin That will be useful. But there are a lot of student credit cards out there that do give you points and miles. [00:46:32.810] - Kim Tate They do come with a really high annual fee or not annual fee interest rate. Normally, that's the only bad thing. We actually added my husband and my daughter, both as authorized users with my Amex Platinum Tamara, because of the lounge access. So now, especially if they're changing it, we're going to get Mia. And that'll be my maxed on three, because with Amex Platinum, you get three authorized users for $175 total. So you pay the $175 and then they get all the lounge benefits as well. Are they changing the lounge that you can no longer guests unless you spend like $75,000 starting in January of 2023? I think you don't get anywhere. Is that right, Jennifer? I think that's right. [00:47:15.840] - Jennifer Yellin That I don't know. [00:47:17.100] - Kim Tate Okay. [00:47:17.820] - Jennifer Yellin Sorry. [00:47:18.780] - Kim Tate No, you're fine. [00:47:19.580] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah, but I will say that the expensive credit cards a lot of times you have to pay to add an authorized user, but no annual fee or low annual fee credit cards. Usually you can add a few authorized users for no fee. [00:47:33.380] - Kim Tate Great. Well, one of our questions that we ask all of our guests is what do you wear when you travel? So do you have any favorite brands that you want to tell us about when you travel? [00:47:41.020] - Jennifer Yellin Sure. I travel as comfortably as possibly. And I also wear my everyday clothes, which consists of black as leader pants, which is side pockets, like those leggings. And then you can put your cell phone or any cars. Side pockets are a necessity. Once I found them, like two years ago, I can never go back. And sneakers or flip flops, depending on the weather. Nothing fun and exciting. [00:48:05.480] - Tamara Gruber Well, you're brave wearing flip flops on the plane. [00:48:07.370] - Kim Tate My feet are always freezing. [00:48:09.230] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah, that is a good point. It depends on the length of it's. Just like an hour flight that's going to be different. But you're right. I used to travel for work every single week for many years. And I would always be traveling like those high heels and hated every second of it. I would get off the plane and go straight to the client site for the week. And now I just want to be comfortable. [00:48:28.770] - Kim Tate And everyone has those little packable ballet flats that you can just pop in and out. Yeah. [00:48:34.610] - Tamara Gruber I'm happy, though. So work travel days are behind me, too. And just like work dress in general has changed. [00:48:41.210] - Jennifer Yellin Oh, yeah. I got rid of all of my stuff, never going back. [00:48:44.640] - Kim Tate Good. [00:48:45.030] - Tamara Gruber Well, can you remind our listeners where they can find you online or learn more about points? [00:48:51.120] - Kim Tate Absolutely. [00:48:51.940] - Jennifer Yellin So you can find me at my blog Deals We Like. You can also find me on Twitter or Facebook. Everything is at Deals We Like. And then also I'm a freelance contributor at the Point Sky and CNN Underscore. So I have some great articles there as well. That where you can learn more about credit cards, family travel, anything in the points and miles world. [00:49:10.850] - Tamara Gruber Thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge with us. It's always really great when we can get an expert on and just kind of brainstorm some ideas. Hopefully people will have something new that they can try to get them a little bit closer to their next kind of dream trip. [00:49:25.130] - Kim Tate Thanks for having me. It was great chatting with you. [00:49:27.320] - Announcer Thanks. [00:49:27.630] - Tamara Gruber You too. [00:49:31.850] - Kim Tate Well, as always, thanks for joining us for another week here and I have a little request. Tamara, I was looking at our podcast page the other day and I noticed that we were almost at 100 reviews. We are really close so I'm going to do a little bag from all of our lovely listeners and ask you guys if you're willing if you love our show, if you would leave us a five star review on your favorite podcast app, the one I looked on was Apple podcast. But wherever you're at or listen to us, if you'd leave us a positive review, we'd love it. We love hearing from you guys and I'd love to see that switch to 100 reviews. [00:50:05.780] - Tamara Gruber That would be great. I know we've been at this for almost six years and actually by the time it comes out it will be six years and we're just really bad about asking for reviews. We definitely appreciate it. I know some podcasts every day it's like the first thing that you hear is like leave us a review but we would appreciate it. We'll give you shout outs online. We'll read them especially if they're nice, but even if they're not nice, we will read them mindful of it but otherwise stay tuned because next episode we're going to be talking about sustainable travel and I think that is also on a lot of people's minds as we're getting back out there and how to be responsible and thinking about things in a more sustainable way. So join us next time talk to you again soon. Bye.

Episode Description In this episode of the Miles to Memories podcast we discuss roadtripping the U.S. including some interesting stops along the way and booking activities through Chase Ultimate Rewards. We also discuss hotel neighbor revenge, what to expect with the tru by Hilton and Avid by IHG brands, Hyatt's devaluation, why Globalist isn't for Mark and why you don't have to do what everyone else does. Episode Notes 1:20 - Road Tripping - Hyatt Regency Jacksonville & St. Augustine, FL 4:36 - Tru By Hilton - What to expect 7:30 - Arriving in New Orleans during Mardi Gras & why Elizah Jane is an awesome Hyatt redemption 13:21 - Avid by IHG - What to expect 17:07 - Booking activities through Chase Ultimate Rewards - Discount on space and the bayou 19:03 - Getting stuck by Frontier & Dallas ice storms 21:15 - 3 Options when your Frontier Flight is cancelled 24:29 - Mark walks out of a Doubletree & hotel neighbor revenge 32:14 - Breaking down Hyatt's recent devaluation 38:56 - Quitting Globalist after one year 44:37 - Why different voices and opinions matter 48:27 - Ventana Big Sur the new Maldives? You don't have to do what everyone else does Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can also connect with us anytime at podcast@milestomemories.com.  You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Sticher, Spotify, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, or via RSS. Don't see your favorite podcast platform? Please let us know! Music: Rewind by Jay Someday | https://soundcloud.com/jaysomeday Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Get more information and join Families Fly Free below:FamiliesFlyFree.com/joinDownload our FREE list of 7 INSIDER hacks Lyn uses to fly her family free:https://familiesflyfree.com/7hacks

Who knows where Richard Kerr is this week? Delta is launching some interesting new international routes next year. The UK is making it easier (kind of) for foreigners. Chase Ultimate Rewards is discounting gift cards. Should you take advantage of it? $10 AMEX credit per month on groceries. If you have a question you can e-mail me at ed@pizzainmotion.com. And, you can also find me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and ask your question there. We have a new way for you to reach us with your questions. You can text us at (571) 293-6659‬. Listen for your question on a future show! If you enjoy the podcast, I hope you'll take a moment to leave us a rating. That helps us grow our audience! Hope you enjoy the show!

You know how you always hear people talking about getting free stays at hotels or status perks? How do they do that? Find out! This week on the podcast we talk road warrior Ed Pizza from the Miles to Go podcast about the best hotel loyalty programs for families and ways to earn status and free hotel stays. About Our Sponsor: Room Steals Today's episode is sponsored by Room Steals.  Listeners may remember Room Steals from our discussion on finding hotel deals in Episode 185, but Room Steals is a Chrome browser extension that works alongside existing booking sites to show you what the wholesale price is for that room. Just install the browser extension and search for a hotel as you usually would on Hotels.com, Booking.com, Expedia, or Google. Once you've done your initial search, Room Steals will show you in a pop-up if that same room is available for less. If it is, you can click on that pop-up and book it directly through Room Steals. Downloading and using Room Steals is free; however, if you want to book a discounted room you have to pay an annual membership fee. Listeners can save 20% off the annual membership fee with promo code vacationmavens.  If you travel multiple times in a year, the subscription will quickly pay for itself. One listener already saved $400 using Room Steals on her first booking!  To learn more, visit roomsteals.com. That's roomsteals.com and use promo code vacationmavens to save 20% off your membership to Room Steals, and we thank them for their support. About Ed Pizza Ed Pizza is a road warrior and family traveler.  When we're not in the middle of a pandemic he travels 100,000 miles a year for work.  His family loves luxury travel, all things Disney and even bought an RV during the pandemic.  You can check out his podcast, Miles to Go, the same places you catch Vacation Mavens and you can find him writing about travel at pizzainmotion.com. Best Hotel Loyalty Programs for Families Hyatt offers the best loyalty program for families as it is easier to earn and use points (you need fewer points to redeem for a free night than other programs) and they offer great family-friendly perks like free breakfast, guaranteed late check out, and, if you have status with them, the concierge is good at guaranteeing connecting rooms or confirming suite upgrades in advance. The only challenge with Hyatt is that they don't have as large of a footprint as Hilton or Marriott, especially if you are traveling to smaller destinations. Hyatt does have a number of family-friendly brands including Hyatt Place on the lower end and Hyatt House for suites. A few terrific Hyatt properties in popular family travel destinations include: Hyatt Grand Cypress (outside of Disney), Ziva Resorts in Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean, the Hyatt Regency Sydney in Australia (which is more affordable than the Park Hyatt Sydney but still has amazing views), Grand Hyatt Bahia Mar in the Bahamas, and the Driscoll in Austin. Wyndham also is an excellent choice for families. In addition to the hotels, you can use points at many of their vacation rental or timeshare properties, which offer so much more room for families. Wyndham also has a partnership with Vacasa for vacation home rentals. Some great Wyndham properties include the Magic Villages in Orlando, ski lodges and log cabins in Montana, and great properties overseas. Wyndham now has a credit card through Barclay's that helps you earn points and they have bonus points on things like utility bills, which you don't find elsewhere. Hilton has some pros and cons for their loyalty programs. Hilton values treating folks well on award stays and they don't add resort fees, unlike some other programs that still charge fees on free stays. Hilton also gives away a lot of points for stays and through their credit card. The footprint isn't as big as Marriott but larger than Hyatt. Hilton Honors Gold members also receive little perks like free bottles of water at check in and free WiFi. However, Hilton recently rolled back their free breakfast offer for members (at least temporarily). Instead there will be a credit per day to use as you want (drinks from the bar, meals, etc), however it wouldn't typically cover everything that you would get at a free breakfast. Marriott has the largest footprint, but they do charge fees like resort fees and parking on award stays. IHG (which includes Holiday Inn, Intercontinental, Hotel Indigo, etc) doesn't offer as much as the other brands but can be good if you do a lot of road tripping and then redeeming points for stays overseas at classic, boutique hotels. Unless you are a road warrior traveling frequently on business, the best way to earn points is through a credit card. Instead of using the brand specific credit card, it is better to use a credit card with programs like Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards that you can transfer points to hotels to book award stays. Chase offers a bit more flexibility and value over Amex. When you transfer points, it is often 1:1 transfer so you will get more bang for your points if you transfer to a program like Hyatt where your points go further. If you are going to stay with a specific brand often, a hotel credit card can get you to the next status tier (and related perks) faster and you will often get one free hotel stay certificate per year. You need to make sure you are using the value of the cost of the annual fee. Generally it makes sense to pay for your hotel stays with that card but you will get more points per dollar for other types of stays from other types of cards.   Full Episode Transcript [00:00:00.000] - Kim Tate Which hotels deserve your loyalty? Stay tuned to find out. [00:00:15.290] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel. [00:00:29.940] - Kim Tate Today's episode is brought to you by our sponsor, Room Steals. You guys may have already heard of it. Room Steals is a browser extension that you add to Chrome, so that when you're shopping for the next hotel for your vacation, you can see if you are really getting the best rate. You plug in your destination on one of the major booking engines, whether it's Expedia or Travelocity or booking.com or hotels.com, and a window will pop up, letting you know if they found a better deal for you. [00:00:55.810] - Kim Tate The program is free to use, so you can always see and shop and figure out if the there is a better deal out there. And if you do spot a better deal, you can book it through the Room Steals site where there is an annual membership fee. But our listeners get to save on their annual membership fee with the code vacationmavens, they can save 20%. [00:01:14.110] - Tamara Gruber So I was just researching some potential hotels in Dublin in Ireland because we're still trying to figure out where to take Hannah for her graduation trip. And that's one option. And I was going through some of these options because I really want it to be like, nice hotels, like special hotel in for this trip. But obviously I would always like to save some money. So I found one on Room Steals where I could save $142 and then another one where I could save $60. So it's like all these things could add up over the course of a big trip. [00:01:46.570] - Tamara Gruber So it's like even just that one hotel stay would be saving more than the cost of the membership. So I definitely encourage everyone to go check out Room Steals. Like Kim said, it is a browser extension that you can download add to Chrome. And then when you're searching for hotels, you're able to see whether or not there's a deal that you'd like to take advantage of. And just remember, check out Room steals. Com. You can sign up using Code vacationmavens all one word, all lowercase and save 20%, and we thank them for their support. [00:02:15.280] - Kim Tate So Tamara talking about hotels and getting deals through Room Steals. Today we are going to talk with a guest that we've had on before, and he's one of my favorite savvy travel guys. And that's Ed Pizza. [00:02:27.960] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So he travels so so much every year, he knows all the hotels, all the programs, what the best deals are, what the best credit cards are, and he's going to share all of his knowledge. So I can't wait to jump into that interview. [00:02:40.540] - Kim Tate Let's chat with him. [00:02:49.470] - Tamara Gruber So today we're here with Ed Pizza. He's a road warrior, and family traveler. And when we're not in the middle of a pandemic, he travels 100,000 miles a year for work. His family loves luxury travel, all things Disney, and even bought an RV during the pandemic. You can check out his podcast Miles to go at the same places you can catch vacation, mavens. And you can also find him writing about traveling a pizza in motion dot com. So Ed, welcome back to the podcast. [00:03:15.640] - Ed Pizza Hey, thanks for having me back, guys. It's been a while and I'm excited to be back on talking stuff. [00:03:20.110] - Tamara Gruber I know you're back traveling a little bit for work, but how long did you go without being on an airplane? [00:03:25.780] - Ed Pizza So I was actually in New Zealand helping a friend on the Tarmac when the US announced that they were closing arrivals to Europeans. And that was me coming back into the country. So that was called like, March 14 ish. And I didn't get back on a plane. That was March 14, 2020. Sorry, I didn't get back on a plane until early June 2021, but I have been ramping things up, and I think it's interesting that if you guys hadn't reached doubt to have me come podcast, I was almost going to reach out to you guys because we're following this parallel track and that I spent a couple of weeks in Maine, I think right before you did, Sarah and I just finished coming back across the Canadian border on the east side, Kim to your west. [00:04:11.260] - Kim Tate Nice. [00:04:13.150] - Ed Pizza So a little bit of family travel, mostly road warrior stuff. [00:04:18.470] - Kim Tate Especially now that you have an RV that you were one of the many that jumped into that lifestyle. I've seen some of your things that's kind of funny how you're like, I'm embracing this for my family, but I am not embracing this. This is what I want to do with my life. [00:04:33.000] - Ed Pizza Yeah. I mean, as I've said jokingly a number of times if it happened to burn to the ground and I got an insurance settlement, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. But the kids and you guys know that your kids are older than mine. And so I think you probably have a better grasp of this than I do. You wake up at some point and you realize that they're going to College and you're like, Well, did I fill up the bucket enough? And our kids still love both of us. [00:04:59.150] - Ed Pizza My wife and I, and they like being with us. And they really love the camping thing. And so as much as I grumble and say bad words, sometimes when things break, which is pretty much every time we roll it anywhere, the memories that they're creating with us, I hope, will be things that when they get to College, it's, wow. That's in the bucket of things that I love doing as a kid. [00:05:21.850] - Tamara Gruber That's good. You speaking to my heart there. [00:05:24.870] - Kim Tate I was going to say Tamara and I are both right there because we both have girls going off to College. As you've probably heard, we're definitely in that wondering how we can keep scraping some more trips in there and then hoping that the College schedules will allow us to keep traveling and that our kids will keep traveling with us through those four years as well, at least for me. [00:05:47.390] - Ed Pizza And I know it's not what we're talking about today, but I think a really good point to make that I've obviously seen with the way that both of you guys travel with your family is that we all make memories in a variety of different ways. But we've all chosen travel as one of those primary ways to create those memories. And just like you, I'm hoping that the work that we put in for travel up until our daughter is a sophomore in high school. Now I'm hopeful that when she gets into College, it'll be, hey, I'd love to go take a Disney trip. [00:06:18.940] - Ed Pizza Hey, dad, mom, do you want to go or, hey, I love Lisbon. Or can we go visit Peggy's Cove in Canada? Whatever that there's a powerful enough connection to a place that they've been. They're like, I want to go and I want to go with mom and dad. [00:06:32.830] - Tamara Gruber I was just thinking mine is talking about the road trip that she wants to do with her friends post graduation, but I know she'll come back to our trips as well. [00:06:41.510] - Kim Tate Definitely. I think we're in that same boat, Tamara. So if you're listening to this and like, do you have a few more years? Definitely. Don't worry about I spent so many summers not planning and stuff because I hated crowds and also because we have such nice summers here in Seattle. But I now kind of regret not using that summertime more efficiently. Although we did take a lot of family trips and visited family and had family here. So I guess it was well used, but definitely maximize your time off with your kids. [00:07:13.940] - Tamara Gruber Well, speaking of traveling with kids and planning and thinking ahead and all of that, one of the ways that we've gotten to travel a little bit more or structure our budget a little bit more is using hotel loyalty programs and trying to maximize some free nights here and there. And I was thinking about which programs are really best for families. And I know a lot of programs have changed recently. And Ed, you came to mind because I know on your Miles to Go, you talk about this a lot, and I think I might know the answer. [00:07:47.180] - Tamara Gruber But when it comes to hotel loyalty programs, what one do you really like for families? So not business travelers, but really for families. [00:07:56.600] - Ed Pizza I'm going to give you my favorite. And then if we have time later, I'm going to give you my sleeper because I think there's someone coming up on the outside turn that maybe doesn't become my favorite, but it started to earn their keep above some of the other chains. But for me, it's it. And for many years it was starwood preferred guest before Marriott bought them because they understood that road warriors have husbands, wives, significant others, in a lot of cases, kids. And they want to take care of those other people because that makes that means the business traveler want to patronize them and high. [00:08:29.570] - Ed Pizza It just where they really get this right, and they get it right in a number of different ways. But I think primarily it's in reducing friction for family travel. So when we think about a family of three or four, we don't all live in one room at home. We certainly don't share one bathroom, especially with a teenage daughter. So being able to have space when we travel, it is huge. And it has benefits like being able to request and confirm a suite upgrade at the time of booking, which is unique amongst the major hotel chains. [00:09:00.780] - Ed Pizza And you say, well, if I know ahead of time where I can get that extra space for my family, that helps drive where we might choose to go on vacation. And there are a lot of other benefits to the world Hyatt program that I think make things easier for families, things like free breakfast, guaranteed late checkout, just things that make it easier for when family travel goes sideways, which the younger your kids are, the more frequently that happens. [00:09:23.820] - Tamara Gruber 100% agree. My husband was ambassador level with Marriott for a while, and he had these five suite upgrades of a year or something to use. And we were looking to book a suite in Amsterdam. I think it was and we like you we want the space. It's all about having a little extra space, not being crammed into those two double beds in particular. And we wanted to book this week, but we're like, do we actually pay for it, or do we take the risk that we can use one of these upgrades and not being able to confirm that, you know, you have that upgrade. [00:09:58.620] - Tamara Gruber It makes such a difference because you're making a totally different choice. And of course, we ended up just doing an Airbnb instead. [00:10:03.840] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And especially when you talk about families in Europe in that the restrictions on the number of people in a room are very different from the US. There are plenty of rooms in Europe where two is the Max Occupancy and a flu or three same in Asia. So that's a complication. And I think one of the things you mentioned, Marriott Ambassador, and I had a Marriott ambassador for a long time. In the beginning, they were great at communicating with the properties and they could advocate on your behalf. [00:10:31.470] - Ed Pizza But I'll be honest with you. For me, at least one of the biggest benefits that world of Hyatt provides for me. I have their equivalent. It's called my Hyatt concierge as part of their globalist status. It isn't even necessarily the suite upgrades. Those are great. And who doesn't love a big plus room with an awesome view and all that stuff? But for me, it can really be as simple as can you just guarantee me connecting rooms? My kids are younger, like we just want connecting rooms. [00:10:56.420] - Ed Pizza I don't need something fancy, and my Hyatt concierge would always contact the property early on my behalf, and they would work with the property to block rooms. And I can say, honest to God, I very rarely use the words always or never. In the ten or so years I've been top tier status with Hyatt, I've never shown up at a property that promised me connecting rooms ahead of time and not gotten them. And as a family traveler, that's huge. I need just a few times a year, but when I need it, I need it and they always say yes, we're going to take care of you. [00:11:29.720] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, Hyatt is not a property or a brand that I get to stay at a lot. There aren't quite as many. I think that's one of the problems that people run into. But when I've had an opportunity to stay at a Hyatt place just in terms of the lower tier, I was kind of amazed. I love this setup where it has kind of a partial dividing wall between the bed and the sitting area with the pullout couch. So when you have a younger child, you have that little bit of that separation of space without going for the larger suite or two rooms. [00:11:59.390] - Tamara Gruber So another benefit to me are some of the Hyatt brands that people may not be familiar with. [00:12:04.310] - Ed Pizza Yeah, no, I agree. And I think Hyatt House is another brand of there where they have multiple room suites. And I've had a reasonable amount of luck in contacting a property ahead of time through the concierge and asking even though it wasn't, isn't a published benefit to say, hey, can I use a suite upgrade certificate to just get a two bedroom unit instead of a one bedroom? And very rarely I've been told no for things like that. So I think it's the flexibility that they work with folks on. [00:12:30.320] - Ed Pizza It's not that Marriott or Hilton or anything to change doesn't have fabulous, unbelievable properties. I think it's for family travelers and for specific needs. We just need a little bit more flexibility at times. And Hyatt works hard to give that that's nice. [00:12:46.630] - Kim Tate I've heard a few other people that are kind of in the point space. They just love Hyatt. I'll admit, one of the things that's kept me from just going all in on them. I find I have a harder time finding properties where if you're doing like a road tripping type family or something like that, those Marriott properties, it seems like everywhere you go there's a Fairfield Inn. So that is one thing that I have noticed. Do you think there's any limitations on property availability with Hyatts? And then do you have any favorite property within that program that you think are great for families to check out if they're looking for a kind of hotel destination? [00:13:23.000] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And I think that's a fair criticism of Hyatt. If there is one is that they don't have the third tier city when you're going to visit friends and family when you're going to visit Grandma, if you're road tripping in the US, that's certainly an area where they're weaker than the other chains. They've expanded their footprint through really interesting partnerships. They have a big partnership with small luxury hotels of the world, which means that they now have over a dozen properties in Italy where they used to have one, and they things of that nature. [00:13:54.090] - Ed Pizza But as you say, I always use Williamsburg, Virginia, sort of my textbook example of the comparison between Marriott Hyatt, and each person will choose what's most important to them. Williamsburg, Virginia, Colonial, Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, all that stuff. It's a family destination. Not far from my house. There are zero Hyatts. There are no limited service properties. There are five Marriotts. They're all kind of dingy, but there are five properties there. And so the choice I make when my family goes to Williamsburg is do we drive 45 minutes from a very new Hyatt place, or do we stay right there at one of the Marriotts? [00:14:28.410] - Ed Pizza That's convenient, but not as nice as property, and I don't know that there's a right answer for that. I think every family makes that decision. But if you're going to make a compromise at times, that's the compromise you'd make with a road tripping in the US where I think they have some really specific fits, though, that work well for families. As you mentioned, what are some of my favorite properties? First and foremost, I think Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, just outside the gates at Disney World, is a big plus, and it didn't use to be as big a plus. [00:14:57.680] - Ed Pizza But as Disney has reduced the benefits you get from staying on site, the Grand Cypress, it hasn't taken anything away. And beautiful property, tons of space, lots of pools, all that stuff right outside the gates of Disney, so it's easy to get to. I think again, when we think about family travel, Hyatt has a brand called Ziva, which is a family geared, all inclusive brand with properties mostly focused in Mexico and the Caribbean, which on points can be a really great way to go on vacation without spending money, because you could generally redeem points for extra guests in your room as well as the two base guests that are normally included in a reservation. [00:15:36.710] - Ed Pizza So you can actually use points to pay for your meals at an all inclusive with Hyatt, which I think is interesting, and it might not be the best value for everyone. But again, if it's hey, how do we take an extra family vacation every year being able to use points to cover meals? It might mean that your family gets to go rent a catamaran for the day or swim with Dolphins or do some other activity that maybe you didn't have the cash for something like that. [00:16:00.530] - Ed Pizza It's a great choice. And then we were really surprised to go further afield. Everybody, all the bloggers talk about the Park Hyatt Sydney is this unbelievably beautiful property that overlooks the opera house, and it's under the Harbor Bridge in Sydney. And I agree with all those things. I stayed there a few times. It's a wonderful hotel, but right down the road from it is the Hyatt Regency Sydney, which opened up a few years ago. And it's kind of a rooftop lounge up on one of the really high floors. [00:16:26.870] - Ed Pizza And so we were there for a week right before the pandemic in 2019. And by the second day of our stay, everybody in the lounge had memorized not only our kids names but the drinks that they liked in the morning, in the evening and what they like for breakfast. And so my kids were doted on by the lounge grew all included with my room as part of our stay, and they never had to ask for anything. They were doted on. They loved it. And my wife and I could enjoy a cup of coffee or out on the terrace on our own and watch our kids through the glass and watch the staff take care of them. [00:16:59.420] - Ed Pizza And it was a really great way to sort of sneak away for a few minutes as a husband wife while our kids were still with us on this epic trip. [00:17:06.460] - Kim Tate That's important. I think that when you can find a good hotel, they kind of recognize your kids as guests as well. Kids love that. And they remember that for sure. [00:17:15.240] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And I might not get this exactly right because I didn't look it up on the charts before we hopped on to record. But I think it's half the points of the Park Hyatt, which again is a delightful hotel, but it's pricey. And then I think there's other fun things. Grand Hyatt Bahamas is a really huge resort property in the Bahamas. So if you're looking for a way to do something like in Atlantis style property, but using points, I think that's a great choice. And then I'm a sucker for old historical properties. [00:17:43.390] - Ed Pizza So the Driscoll in Austin, Texas, is the Yellow Rose, as they call it, is one of my favorite old historic hotels. That's part of it as well. [00:17:51.240] - Tamara Gruber Does it have a collection like that the way the autograph collection for Marriott or gosh, what's the Hilton one. [00:17:58.350] - Ed Pizza There's so many of those different brand like the Marriott Hilton has spawned all these names for different things of all the brands. And the short answer is not only is the answer yes, but there's a ton of them, and some. Some of my fellow travel bloggers have almost criticized the hits and the merits of the world for having you have too many brands. Those things don't necessarily matter as much to me per se. I guess I understand it to some degree, but at the end the day, I think as travelers and especially family drivers, we're just looking for interesting, unique properties. [00:18:29.110] - Ed Pizza And as long as they come up on the website, I'm all years yet they have their unbound collection. And that was where it started with some recent acquisitions. They sort of added a bunch of other brands, so they fall under a bunch of different names, and I won't list all of them out. But like unbound one destination hotels, Thompson Hotels, a bunch of collections that they've absorbed over the past few years and acquisitions. But I think one of the fun things that hit does is they have what's called a Brand Explorer program. [00:18:57.870] - Ed Pizza I don't quote me on this, but I think there are 15 brands right now across the portfolio and in the boundless portfolio and the independent collections. For every five different brands you visit with it, you earn a free night, and so you can earn up to three free nights by staying at all the different brands. So it's a pretty cool unpublished benefit of it is that every time you chalk up one of these, you're closer to a free night at a high in the world. [00:19:22.760] - Tamara Gruber That's interesting. So they really want you to explore the breath of those brands. I mean, I like those kind of collections because then, you know, you're having something that's maybe historic or at least has character and personality versus your standard Hyatt. Hilton, whatever the generic kind of business hotel cool. That's good to know. Well, I am very intrigued by your hinting at a dark horse. So before we jump into our other questions, what would be your number two? [00:19:51.760] - Ed Pizza Yeah. So I'm not sure if this is my number two, but certainly they're right there in line with Hilton, because I think Hilton's maybe just a smidge ahead of them. But Wyndham redid their credit card portfolio late last year. And honestly, it was one of the things I wasn't paying a ton of attention to and through a mutual friend they had asked about sponsoring the podcast, and I'm generally not somebody who does that sort of thing unless it's a brand that I really support a lot of like, I really want to be into something. [00:20:18.520] - Ed Pizza I was like, Wyndham, it's not my favorite. Could there are a lot of lower to your properties that weren't really my fit. The credit card is really geared up being able to maximize points for earning for families, which I think is a hard thing to do if you're not a road warrior. And where I think they really fit for family travel is they have a huge chunk of vacation rentals. So they have some of their own, quote, unquote vacation rental properties. And they have partnerships with brands like Vacasa. [00:20:47.480] - Ed Pizza I never know if I say that correctly, but because of that, that we think of again, when we think of families, or at least for me, I think of space. And so there's a property in Orlando called Magic Villages, which is a Wyndham property, and you can use your points to redeem for up to a four bedroom luxury condo with pools and all that other stuff that are beautifully appointed, big barbecue grills outside at Zero fridges, all that stuff. And you can do that with points. [00:21:18.200] - Ed Pizza And it's equidistant between Disney World and Universal. And then you've got ski lodges and log cabins in Montana and properties overseas. And so I think when I think about family travel and I think about space and Airbnb and the role it plays and how our family travel world has changed. Wyndham sort of forging this middle ground where they say like, yeah, sure. If you want a Wyndham hotel or one of our other limited service brands like, we got you covered. But if you need more space, you can turn those points into Airbnb ish type rental in hundreds of cities around the world. [00:21:56.270] - Ed Pizza And I think that adds a lot of value for family travelers. Not as much for people who like to travel in a traditional way. But I think family Traveler specifically Wyndhams carving at a niche to say you could earn a bunch of points on our credit cards and you can use them for Airbnb ish type stays around the world. [00:22:12.740] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, that's good. I think about Smugglers Notch in Vermont, which is an amazing family ski resort. I used to be part of Wyndham Vacation Rentals, and I have to double check that it is. And I know I have a friends awesome that really love the property in Orlando and love that space option. Like you mentioned. [00:22:33.490] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And the Smugglers Notch is still a Club Wyndham property. And again, people think of timeshares like, oh, I don't want to buy a Timeshare, and that's a whole other podcast for some other day. But I think Wyndham gives you the ability to stay at those properties and not be a timeshare owner. So I think that's what's unique about the them in Hyatt has a very small collection of those properties time shersh sort of residence club properties. In fact, one of my favorites is in Sedona. It's called the Hyatt Residence Club Pinon Point, not that far from the Grand Canyon, but they only have 15 or 20 of those where Wyndham literally has over 1000 with the Club Wyndham stuff, vacation rentals and the Vacasa partnership. [00:23:14.530] - Ed Pizza So if you like that sort of travel where you're not staying in a hotel and you want a little bit more space, Wyndham is really carved that niche. And before when they didn't have a really robust credit card platform, it was harder to earn a lot of points with them. And now, especially if I'm a small business owner, and I understand that not everybody is that. But if you are a small business owner, some of the stuff that they have bonus categories on are very unique, like utility bills and stuff like that, that definitely aren't for everyone. [00:23:47.230] - Ed Pizza But if you happen to be somebody who as a small business owner and you've got all that stuff, it's a great way. Wait a pile on a ton of points that you're not going to find somewhere else. [00:23:54.620] - Kim Tate And do you know, if Wyndham is a transfer partner of either Chase or Amex it's one of the downsides is that they're not really have that kind of the credit card of their own to their credit cards are issued by Barkley's. [00:24:08.960] - Ed Pizza And I think you guys know some of the Barclay cards they've had over time, but they don't really have a flexible currency. Okay, as you say, with Chase and American Express, and even sort of coming around the bend with City adding like, I a partner like American Airlines to their fold, that in doing the and the Capital One is really up their game. This is the area where I think Barclay's as weakest is that they just don't have that robust transfer network. So you'd have to invest in holding a Wyndham card to earn a bunch of Wyndham points. [00:24:41.800] - Ed Pizza And I might be forgetting some other Wyndham transfer partner out there. And if they're out there, I apologize. I'm definitely not a credit card expert, like some other folks are in the space. I my interest has been peaked in a way that I wasn't expecting. [00:24:55.860] - Kim Tate Well, definitely for families. I can see why that might be appealing. So let's quickly just finish up this little bit of a category and touch base about maybe Hilton, of course, Marriott. Maybe even if we have time, you could mention IHG do you see, what are the pros and cons for any of those three type brands for to show up on their loyalty train. [00:25:20.870] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And I'll try to cover all three quickly. I think they all represent slightly different things. One of the things that I think Hilton has in common with Hyatt is that they value treating folks well on award stays. So things like no resort fees on award stays is a really cool benefit of Hilton that it has as well. I think the benefit for Hilton is massive footprint, easy to earn lots of points. And so you sort of got this world where Marriott has really expensive properties that cost a ton of points, but they don't issue a lot of points you've hired as a smaller footprint, and their properties cost less points. [00:25:57.480] - Ed Pizza And Hilton somewhere in the middle, and that they do have an award chart where the resort property can get pricey, but they give away a lot of points for hotel stays, they give away a lot of points for folks who happen to hold their credit cards. And as you mentioned earlier about road tripping, you can find a Hilton anywhere. Marriott is the same way in terms of footprint size, but they do charge things like resort fees and parking and stuff like that on awards stays, so they're not completely quote, unquote free. [00:26:23.030] - Tamara Gruber Can you explain for our listeners what award stays are? [00:26:26.040] - Ed Pizza Yeah. So if you spend on a credit card or you stay on a paid stay, you earn points in the loyalty program. So if you have a Hilton credit card, you're in Hilton points. If you have a Marriott credit card earning Marriott points, and then there's all the transferable partners, which maybe we find time to talk about today. But as Kim alluded to Chase and American Express, so you build up these points. And those points help get you a free room. And not all points are created equally. [00:26:54.150] - Ed Pizza So we like to say that top tier property at Marriott is 100,000 points and a top tier property that is 30,000 points per night. And so it's a lot easier, cheaper in points to get a free room with it. But they don't quite give the same amount of points per dollar. That's where it gets a little bit like funny money math. But Hilton, like I said, sits in the middle where they give a lot of points for folks who stay on paid nights. And you can also earn a lot of points with bonus categories on their credit cards. [00:27:25.740] - Ed Pizza So you you can build up a pretty big balance of Hilton points quickly if your goal is to save up for a family vacation. [00:27:32.140] - Tamara Gruber Now, some of these programs have changed some things recently. Do you want to touch on that? [00:27:37.280] - Ed Pizza Yeah. So again, we talk about family travel. Things like free breakfast is important, and Hilton rolled out some changes that they say are temporary. And I'm actually supposed to be recording with an executive from Hilton on my podcast in October. So hoping to get a more final answer on this. But they've temporarily removed to a benefit where instead of getting free breakfast, you get a credit per day that you can use for breakfast. If you wanted to use it for breakfast, which you can also use it for a drink in the bar in the evening, et cetera. [00:28:08.660] - Ed Pizza It doesn't cover traditionally what a free breakfast used to cover. And sort of where this came from was during the pandemic. A lot of hotels eliminated free breakfast completely in the beginning. It was because we didn't really know how COVID was bread is now sort of become this thing of, well, gosh, we lost a lot of money during COVID, so we don't want to have breakfast out anymore. And I think it's a big question Mark right now on what the future will look like. I think hotel owners don't really want to give free breakfast. [00:28:32.760] - Ed Pizza They've never really wanted to, but it's always been a benefit that's been there. And so there's this unique most moment where a chain like Hilton is trying to move away. It seems from that free breakfast benefit, and I'm going to be really interested to see how this rolls for, because as of right now, it is only listed as a temporary benefit. You guys have been in this business long enough to know that lots of things that are temporary become permanent. So that might be where we end up with us. [00:28:57.450] - Ed Pizza But right now, the breakfast benefit, Hilton is nowhere near as good as it used to be in a vacuum. That being said in my travels, I've seen very few hotels that really have have a free breakfast out, as opposed to a Brown paper bag with a Nutri grain bar, an Apple and a bottle of water [00:29:14.620] - Kim Tate for a while there when we took our spring break road trip, they weren't even stocked with that stuff because they couldn't get supply chains as like we have one almond milk and an Orange going to the first customer down. [00:29:27.910] - Ed Pizza Yeah, it has been crazy and I didn't touch on IHG I think is sort of falls behind those others. I think at this point Wyndham has passed them in my mind and that it doesn't really have the vacation rental part of their platform. And for those that might not know IHG or brands like Holiday Inn, Holiday and Express Intercontinental, they have beautiful properties overseas, Europe and Asia, much more so than I'd say in the US where the I think they can play a role is definitely road tripping. [00:30:00.260] - Ed Pizza And then also, if you happen to be somebody who has some travel for work in the US, I think earning points stand staying at US based IHG properties and then using them for some of the really cool properties overseas. They have some really eclectic older style properties in Europe that I think are a lot of fun. So that would be how I think about trying to use is it would be saying if your traveler road warrior staying at the Holiday Express throughout the year so you can redeem for a really cool Intercontental stay in Europe or Asia. [00:30:34.620] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, they have cool. The Hotel Indigo brand properties are pretty cool too for those boutique type of stays. [00:30:43.570] - Ed Pizza And they are expanding. The Hotel Indigo brand obviously has a lot of change during the pandemic, but I do expect there to be more Hotel Indigo being built over the next handful of years. [00:30:57.260] - Kim Tate A brand I always like the decor and stuff. It's very clean and modern feel and a little bit of the local vibe with local artists and some of that stuff. So that's cool. [00:31:07.960] - Ed Pizza Yeah. Last I checked and don't quote me on this. There's probably about 100 or so Hotel Indigo in the pipeline and there's probably about 100 open right now, so they'll probably double the size of that brand over the next call, four or five years. [00:31:23.220] - Kim Tate So now that you've given us a good layout of all the great programs, and maybe people are thinking of which property or which brand might work best for them. Do you have any tips or suggestions for how to build up points with some of these programs beyond just hotel stays? So you mentioned a little bit about the Wyndham credit cards, so I know credit cards are a huge part of it. So any other tips or what info do they need to know about earning and transferring hotel points? [00:31:49.700] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And I think you keyed right there on the last two words that you said are the two ways that we're thinking about this. Are we earning points or are we transferring them? And so I think there's two separate paths, and I'm going to take them backwards because I think the transferring path is the one that's going to work for more people. Then the best example I like to use for folks is for anybody out there that has a retirement account. I hope you don't have everything all in one individual stock or mutual fund. [00:32:14.850] - Ed Pizza You're diversified. So Kim kind of alluded to this before where Chase and American Express both have their own flexible currencies. Chases is called Ultimate Rewards, and American Express is called membership rewards. And so you can spend on a credit card, a certain Chase branded credit cards and certain American Express branded credit cards. And you can then transfer those points to hotels. And for this, I specifically like Chase better than I like American Express, and that Chase has multiple hotel partners you can transfer to IG. But you can also transfer to Marriott and to High. [00:32:49.820] - Ed Pizza So lots of flexibility there. And if you ultimately decide you didn't want to transfer hotels because you got a really super deal, like you found a super cheap hotel and you want to use your money on your hotels and then use your points for airline tickets. You'd have that flexibility. But this also goes back to what the value of points are. And if you transfer points from Chase Ultimate Reward, so let's say you had, like, a Chase Sapphire preferred card, and you earn points for dining out and groceries and all that stuff. [00:33:17.670] - Ed Pizza And then you transfer those points. They're going to go a lot further with Hyatt, where the most expensive property costs 30,000 points a night versus Marriott, where the most expensive property will set you back about 100,000 points a night because you're still transferring on a one to one basis from Chase Ultimate Rewards to these different hotel programs. So for most folks, I think those sorts of cards offer great flexibility, which I think is what we want in travel, especially for family travelers. If hotels is really the thing that you're most focused on, then yes, absolutely. [00:33:49.470] - Ed Pizza They're or hotel credit cards. And not just because of my bias towards Hyatt, but I also think they have a pretty strong offering for credit cards in that they offer bonus points for dining out airline tickets, gym memberships, which is a fairly unique category. Mass transit,  tolls, taxis, just a whole bunch of different categories where you can earn points for the things that you do on an everyday basis and use those to turn into vacation points further down the road. [00:34:19.360] - Tamara Gruber So would you ever recommend having a brand specific card as well? [00:34:24.720] - Ed Pizza You know, I think if your main goal is that you're going to be a free agent from an air travel standpoint where you're never going to use points for that, then I think a hotel branded credit card can make more sense. I think the other thing, too, that's a really solid reason to pick up a hotel credit card is that some of the cards do offer some level of status along with holding the card. That's a benefit of some cards, and it's very different amongst the different cards people use Hyatt  as an example is that you do get discovered status with them, which earns you a free late checkout and a bonus on points that you earn. But it also gives you sort of a head start to the next level of status as well. So those can be great ways to sort of bridge across. Marriott has a lot more credit cards than hit us, so you have the ability to sort of maximize that if you're willing to hold multiple credit cards, they also have credit cards from both Chase and American Express. [00:35:23.520] - Ed Pizza But you really do have to sit down and think about as you start to get into multiple credit cards. Are you really getting the value for the annual fees for all these cards? Because some of them have gotten quite expensive for annual fees for five $600 a fee. And we just want to make sure that we're getting that value if we're going to keep that card in our wallet year in, year out. Whereas something like Chase Sapphire preferred annual fee is $95, and it's not hard to get $95 in value on a yearly basis. [00:35:48.640] - Kim Tate Yeah, I was going to say one of the things I have the Marriott, and it is kind of nice when I choose that knowing that I'm earning six points or ten points or whatever it is now on those hotel stays, and I don't even have to think about that. And then it's kind of funny, though, because I get gold with them, which doesn't do anything with Marriott now and then I get gold with my Amex as well. So I'm paying all the stupid fees to get overlap that still doesn't do anything. [00:36:13.730] - Kim Tate But I've been really looking at my Amex Platinum lately to see if I'm really getting my $700 worth or whatever they raise the annual fee to this year. [00:36:23.030] - Ed Pizza Yeah, not to dig too deeply into the numbers of it but again, depending on which Marriott card you have, we talked about the one to one transfer from Chase to Marriott. And so for every day spend, you could still either category where you can earn three, four, five chase points per dollar and then transfer those to Marriott in a one to one basis. So you can definitely make an argument why a Marriott card might be really good for you to pay for your Marriott stays. [00:36:53.350] - Ed Pizza The other bonus categories on those cards generally aren't as generous as some of these, like middle of the road flexible currency cards where you can come out of head. [00:37:02.330] - Kim Tate Overall, I've been trying to figure that with dining. That's been my biggest dilemma lately is when I'm eating out because I don't have, like, a freedom or any of those things. So I feel like the Marriott actually recently looked like it was more. But then when you look at the points value, my Chase ink is probably the best way to go. So I was really torn about that one. [00:37:21.960] - Ed Pizza Yeah, and dining is one of those things. It isn't necessarily a big strength of the Marriott card. The chase cards are pretty weak on those categories, and I don't remember all the American Express benefits off the top of my head. But when you think about the fact that you take a car like the American Express gold card that are in four points per one dollars on dining, that's a pretty sizable bonuses compared to the other cards. And don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure that annual fee is 250 where you're obviously a lot higher with some of the premium cards. [00:37:56.360] - Ed Pizza So you get three points per dollar on the Bonvoy brilliant. I was tell the names are confused. [00:38:01.250] - Kim Tate I know they make it. Yeah, I have their business one. I don't know which one that is. I don't have a really expensive one. [00:38:06.490] - Ed Pizza They all have B names, but that one only earns three points per dollar on dining where you're getting four on American Express gold. So again, it's a mixed bag of things. I think if you're going to have a lot of Marriott stays, those can be solid cards for you, but I think at the end of the day it's hey, sit down and make sure you're doing the math on what you're paying for annual fee to make sure you really are getting the value. Because on that one, like a big part of why that card should be in your wallet is because you're going to use that $300 credit that it comes with at a Marriott property, because if not, then you're paying $450 for a credit card on a yearly basis. [00:38:44.060] - Ed Pizza And that's a pretty big chunk of change. [00:38:45.950] - Kim Tate I have the size down one on that one. I don't have that expensive one. The other one boundless or busy. I don't know why they chose to make the full you'll never know makes them hard to say. [00:38:58.580] - Ed Pizza Yes. [00:38:59.470] - Tamara Gruber I will say that one time I got Marriott card for a while. And if anybody has an event coming up, it's a good thing to do. Right. So I hosted my daughter's, bat mitzvah party at a Marriott, and you basically got, I think, like, three times the points. If you're hosting an event there, there was some kind of calculation that I did where I was getting points for the rooms that were booked as part of my group as well as the event itself by putting it all on that Marriott card. [00:39:29.840] - Tamara Gruber So that's how I tried to maximize that for a while. [00:39:33.200] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And you can even triple up and that they have a meeting planner program. So when you're planning larger events like that, you can earn points on top of those points. [00:39:41.940] - Tamara Gruber I think that's what I did. Yeah. [00:39:45.020] - Ed Pizza That's a great way to triple up with you, as you say, when you have things like special family events that can really maximize your earnings. [00:39:51.480] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Well, as you said, we can dive into credit cards for a very long time. And I suggest anyone that really wants to get into this should definitely be subscribed to Miles to go, because sometimes you guys get into conversations on there where I'm like, Whoa, too much vernacular, too much jargon going on here because you definitely have guests that really know what they're talking about. So I would definitely recommend that. But I'm just curious. As a road warrior in so many hotels, sometimes you always want to write a post about biggest hotel pet peeves. [00:40:22.900] - Tamara Gruber But of course, who would care? But I want to hear what are your biggest pet peeves when it comes to hotels? And are they brand specific? [00:40:29.860] - Ed Pizza Well, and first off, I would care. So if you ever do write that, so let me know what I'll read it for me. Honestly, the biggest pet peeve that's developed over the past couple of years, and I hate to think of just the pandemic, but I think that this was lasting effects after we're done is what I've started to affectionately refer to as what I call no notice. No housekeeping. A lot of chains made changes to their housekeeping rules during the pandemic. In some cases, they weren't coming into rooms at all. [00:40:56.890] - Ed Pizza In other cases, like Hilton, they sort of moved away from the the standard of daily housekeeping. Two rules that make it sound like can't have housekeeping on a daily basis where in most cases, you could still ask for it. But I think the notice is the big part. We're all adults here. Let us make adult choices if you're not going to offer me housekeeping, which for the 40 plus years I've been on this planet has been a standard of pretty much every hotel in the country, minus some very limited narrow set of brands. [00:41:26.170] - Ed Pizza Housekeeping is a thing. We expect it. And so if you if you don't have enough staff or there's not enough money to do it. All those things. Just be honest about it and tell me upfront that. Hey, you're going to be here for six days and we're never going to clean your room. As with anybody in the pandemic, I can understand that hotels have gone through a real tough time not to sound sarcastic. I'm in the restaurant industry. We serve burgers and fries. If a customer pays me the same price they paid for a burger last year, I can't tell them I'm not giving them a hamburger bun today. [00:41:56.150] - Ed Pizza I still need to give them everything that they paid for. And housekeeping. I still just one of those things that I expect as part of hotel stay unless you tell me a time. And if you tell me out of time, hey, we're not going to here are the rules. At least I know the rules going into it. It's the changing of things and not telling customers clearly hear that we're not offering just like we talked about the free breakfast thing. Like, look, it's the published benefit than I expected. [00:42:17.600] - Ed Pizza And if you tell me you're not going to deliver it because of XYZ, at least I can make the choice as to whether or not I come stay at your exactly. [00:42:24.460] - Kim Tate I totally agree. They've been really lazy at notifying everyone even along on booking. I understand they can't always control third party booking sites, but on their own sites, they need to be saying if the breakfast is going to be a grab and grow bag, it should be right there on your reservation page. Or if they're not offering daily housekeeping or daily housekeeping can be added on to your even if they start saying, okay, you can get a prepay rate, you can get a regular refundable rate, or you can also book a rate that includes housekeeping. [00:42:55.990] - Kim Tate Fine, start doing that. But I think the lack of, like, housekeepers has been a big impact, and but I'm with you. Just let us know in advance. [00:43:06.360] - Ed Pizza Yeah, just be intellectually honest with your customers. We're smart enough to figure out that nobody came in and cleaned the room, and we're smart enough to remember we weren't told. So just get it out there ahead of time. [00:43:15.100] - Kim Tate That's the most annoying thing to me is just not knowing and then coming home expecting, especially when you're a family. [00:43:20.740] - Tamara Gruber Right. [00:43:20.950] - Kim Tate And you've got all of your towels are all mixed up and the kids would put theirs all over the floor, beds or carpet. And you're like, who's that never happens. You. Well, your kids are perfect. [00:43:31.790] - Tamara Gruber And not to mention there's that one tiny garbage can that fills up within a minute of arriving. [00:43:37.800] - Kim Tate And then for a while, when you were eating all your meals, like in your room, that worked really well. [00:43:43.740] - Ed Pizza Yeah, I think again, like, we're all adults, we can all cope with a new reality. If you tell me. I've got to put my trash can out by 08:00 at night, and sombody's going to pick it up. [00:43:52.060] - Kim Tate Great. [00:43:52.600] - Ed Pizza Then I know what the standard is. If we're never going to dump your trash can for five days, that's going to get ugly. [00:43:57.390] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Well, and also back in the day, you were at least given the incentive of you get some points if you bypass housekeeping with kind of I always did not trust the greenness of that. I thought it was more of a way of getting out of housekeeping, but at least you got something for for it, right? Whereas now it's like, oh, no, you have to request it like you're being a diva to request it. It's like, no, if I'm going to say that, I'm not kidding it then give me something for that. [00:44:25.090] - Ed Pizza And the height of the pandemic when hotel rates were like, 50 or $60 a night because nobody was staying, I think it was an understandable quid pro quo. As a business traveler, I paid $300 to stay in a regular old Marriott property a handful of weeks ago and was told that I couldn't get daily housekeeping. It's like I'm paying three hundred dollars a night. That rate should have enough baked into it that you can get somebody clean the room. And if you can't understand, staffing is a big issue, but you need to communicate that. [00:44:51.910] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I told this story recently on the podcast where I paid 250 a night to stay at a really crappy town place suites that was dirty and they didn't even have a pillow for my daughter to use on the pull out bed. It's like those kinds of things, like, no, sorry, it's taking it too far. Yeah, I agree. [00:45:09.430] - Kim Tate So now that we've talked about pet peeves and things that are driving us all nuts, what about some of the amenities or perks that you look for when you're debating between what hotel to choose? Yeah. [00:45:20.830] - Ed Pizza Well, we obviously talked about one of my favorites before, which were those confirmable suite upgrades at time of booking for Hyatt. So I think that's a really big one, just because I can lay that shit down when I need to for that one or two vacations a year and say, here's my ticket. I want that special room and tell me now. So I think that's a big one for me and for our family. I also think we're Hyatt and Hilton have really focused on reducing fees for folks who are on award stays. [00:45:50.310] - Ed Pizza So resort fees for Hyatt Hilton Hyatt went so far as to say we're not going to charge for parking on award stays. And it's not that parking costs a lot of money, but it's more like the nickeling and diming of stuff when you're on vacation, like, here's another fee and here's another fee and here's another fee. So I really like that those two who chains are really focusing on removing those fees when you have a, quote, unquote free room, it's actually closer to free. And that sounds funny for folks who maybe don't redeem points a lot. [00:46:17.830] - Ed Pizza But at some brands, there are lots and lots of fees. I know there are a lot of people that love club lounges. As our kids have gotten a little bit older, we probably use them just a little bit less because we like to get out and sort of explore local cities, if you will. And eating breakfast at a small cafe, Paris or Amsterdam or Lisbon is more appealing than hitting the lounge. But I still think lounges have a tremendous amount of value for families with younger children. [00:46:48.040] - Ed Pizza And so as our kids have gotten older, maybe that one's a little bit less important. But, boy, did we save a lot of money on properties that had free breakfast. And actually, I think the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress was a great example of that pre pandemic. Their lounge has been closed during the pandemic, but before going to Disney World every morning, we'd have breakfast in the lounge. And I would say that's probably worth at least 30 or $40 a day for a family of four to eat breakfast somewhere. [00:47:12.660] - Tamara Gruber Well, I'm with you on the lounges, but also one of my things that I love is free water. So it's like the Hilton will give you the bottles of water. I remember checking in with my husband to a Courtyard Marriott in Portland, Maine, and he's Ambassador level. They didn't have us an upgrade available. And I was like, Can we get a couple of waters? And they're like, oh, we don't do that here. And I'm like, Seriously, you won't give us two bottles of water and the lounges. [00:47:39.520] - Tamara Gruber I stayed recently at a Marriott in Buffalo and had access to the lounge. And I think I was wiping them out on the water because the stuff from the tap just wasn't doing it. And they didn't have any refill stations open. So those little things Kim, knows how much I need my water. So it saves me a lot. [00:47:57.040] - Kim Tate It seems like they've gotten rid of those communal water fill, you know, for, like, some hotels have the little jug in the lobby, but because a COVID they got rid of that. And I have a feeling that's going to be another thing we never see see return. [00:48:10.580] - Ed Pizza Yeah, it's a good point. And I think you're the same way I am Tamara that I drink a ton of water when I'm on the road, just trying to stay hydrated wherever I am. And so that's a huge benefit for us. And you're right, Hilton is very good about offering that every time I check in like, hey, do you need a couple of bottles of water? It's also something that IoT is very good at and not to pile on Marriott. Put your comment about we don't do that there. [00:48:35.510] - Ed Pizza It's kind of sort of like an unwritten model of Marriott. That the property sort of do what they feel comfortable with. And some properties are really good about taking care of their guests. And a lot of the other ones are like, well, there's no financial justification for us to give you two bottles of water so you can buy them. [00:48:50.330] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, they're like, there's a little shop, little. I don't know what to call it, but it's like the main marketplace. Thank you. [00:48:57.540] - Ed Pizza Where you can pay $4 for a bottle  of Aquafina. [00:49:01.840] - Tamara Gruber well, you've been on the program before, so you know that we always ask a question about what you wear. But since we've heard that, I thought maybe we would mix it up and ask if you have a favorite type of luggage or brand for a carry on bag or a rolling bag. [00:49:16.240] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And I'm among the minority here. So my favorite brand is Briggs and Riley. They're not the prettiest suitcases. Sometimes my wife kind of looks sideways at them because not all the bags are like the sexiest and sleekest suitcases. But my main Briggs and Riley bag is now almost 20 years old. They've prepared at a time or two. A true lifetime warranty. It's got over a million miles rolled on it. They're just really, really durable, functional bags again, not as pretty as to me, but never had a zipper break on a Brigand rally bag in almost 20 years. [00:49:51.190] - Tamara Gruber That's amazing. [00:49:52.420] - Ed Pizza Yeah. [00:49:52.760] - Kim Tate There's somebody else who really loves those that I'm trying to think of. [00:49:56.000] - Tamara Gruber Is it Eric? Yeah. Okay. [00:49:58.130] - Kim Tate Maybe I couldn't remember. I was like, who else do I know that's a real Briggs and Riley fan. [00:50:02.340] - Ed Pizza Yeah. I mean, I've had really good luck with them. I think the brand stands behind their bags. And I've had so many people tell me about how they tried to send there to me, a bag away to get it repaired. And it was gone for weeks and weeks, and they had to pay for shipping and all this stuff. And I'm just a no nonsense guy. And the bags just work. [00:50:24.330] - Kim Tate Well, you have given us so much great information, but as we've already shared before, you have a lot more out there. So why don't you tell our listeners where they can find you on the line and follow along with all your great travel tips? [00:50:34.900] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And thanks again, guys, for having me on this was a lot of fun for me. I live vicariously through some of the travel that you guys have done over the summer, and I can't wait to get back to some of those fun places. So it's always great to be on the show with you. We do publish a podcast on a weekly basis, just like you guys find me at Miles to go on all the popular podcasting platform where you can find vacation mavens. And you can find me writing at PizzainMotion.com and all the Twitter, Facebook Instagram stuff is all @pizzainmotion as well. [00:51:06.880] - Tamara Gruber Thanks so much, Ed. [00:51:08.100] - Kim Tate Yeah, thanks. We love having you, and we will look forward to chatting with you again sometime soon. [00:51:12.940] - Ed Pizza Thanks, guys. [00:51:17.060] - Tamara Gruber And we forgot to mention at the beginning of the episode, but Kim and I do have an announcement to make, and that is something that we talked about a little bit on the last episode, but is now official. We're going to Portugal, although I'm totally knocking wood as I say that because, oh, my God, things can totally come up last minute. Now, I'm like, scared. Did I just drink this? Kim? [00:51:37.290] - Kim Tate No, no, it's all good. We're good. [00:51:39.300] - Tamara Gruber But we're going to be in Portugal. We're going to be exploring so much of this country. Kim and I have actually gone there together in the past, but now we're going to get to Do Porto and the Duoro and Alentejo hopefully that's how you pronounce it the Algarve. We're going to the Azores. It's going to be an amazing trip. I hope that you will follow us both on social media. So Tam

The concept of “exposure therapy” can help expose you to blind spots of what is possible.  Sometimes that means practicing being uncomfortable.  Two examples this week were having her kids run in the rain, and getting out of the comfortable passenger seat and be a little uncomfortable in the driver seat of the 30+ foot RV.  If you want to practice simple ways to experience adventure and get a little uncomfortable you might want to join the 60-day Everyday Adventure Challenge.  Registration closes September 4, 2021.  To register go to ordinarysherpa.com/challenge Website for this episode: https://ordinarysherpa.com/040Join the Ordinary Sherpa Facebook Group to interact with other listeners.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/ordinarysherpa Will you leave Written Review on Apple Podcasts:  https://ordinarysherpa.com/review/ Subscribe to the email List:  https://ordinarysherpa.com/subscribe/   I was first exposed to my guest today through his brother Brad Barrett on the Choose FI podcast, where he spoke about the adventure of teaching abroad.  It sparked my curiosity. As a former teacher and student who studied abroad in high school, I never considered teaching abroad as an option.  That episode also introduced me to the concept of geo-arbitrage.  Scott Barrett taught for 10 years in the United States before moving to Chile to teach internationally and later took a year-long sabbatical at the end of the 2018-2019 school year, unfortunately ended a bit early due to covid. When I learned he was living in Madison, WI I had hoped we would be able to meet-up, however he is currently in his final year of teaching as he will retire in June at the age of 40 and be moving back out east. Scott intends to start a financial coaching business, volunteer and add on to the 50+ countries he has previously traveled to.  Scott Barrett, it is such an honor to have you as a guest today, Welcome to Ordinary Sherpa.   Key Takeaways Exposure to something that isn't “normal” can open up so many opportunities. Scott's simple curiosity led him to learn about and challenge assumptions related to international teaching.   Most international teaching schools are taught in English and based on a western style of education. Speaking another language is not required but an added benefit you bring to the experience. Resources like International School Services and Search Associates have websites and job fairs to help explore International Teaching opportunities.   A sabbatical is an intentional time away from work.  Scott and his wife decided to say yes to a year of travel rather than falling victim to the one more year syndrome.  They created a basic skeleton of a plan and filled in the details as they went.   They optimized their resources by establishing bookmarks where they had friends and contacts.  Then they purchased the big flights mostly with travel rewards they stockpiled the year prior (using flexible points like Chase Ultimate Rewards, and co-branded travel currencies through British Airways, United Airlines and Hilton.   In addition to hotels and long term Airbnb rentals they utilized Trusted House Sitters to give a local experience and create more of a homey experience after significant time on the go.   Things that don't always go according to plan sometimes make the best memories.  Keeping the mindset “we are intelligent people, we will figure this out” and not being afraid to ask for help through local expat groups or Choose FI local groups were great resources. Shared experiences don't require everyone to speak the same language.  A smile is universal sign language.   People are genuinely helpful.  Travel has renewed their faith in humanity. Exposure to something different allows you to see what is possible and also helps you appreciate what is familiar.  After many years away, coming home is a welcome feeling.   To connect with Scott:Instagram: internationalteacherslife Website:  www.mindfulmoneymentor.com Facebook: @ScottBarrett

Boy, is it a full house on this week's episode! Richard Kerr is back with us and he's not alone. Returning to the show are Julian Kheel of CNN Underscored and Summer Hull of The Points Guy. They've all been guests before but never all at the same time. We've been trying to make this happen for a while and the stars finally aligned. I'm hoping we can make it happen again soon. We're talking about the newest transfer partner for Chase Ultimate Rewards, Aeroplan. The popular flexible currency travel program has added another great option for card holders to redeem their points. We also discuss whether you should be booking great international travel deals right now. We have a new way for you to reach us with your questions. You can text us at (571) 293-6659‬. Listen for your question on a future show! If you have a question you can e-mail me at ed@pizzainmotion.com. And, you can also find me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and ask your question there. If you enjoy the podcast, I hope you'll take a moment to leave us a rating. That helps us grow our audience! Hope you enjoy the show!

Chase has added Air Canada as an Ultimate Rewards transfer partner. Having new options is always good news, but is the news "great"? 00:00:25 Giant mailbag (Airlines set award rates just above saver level) 00:04:55 Mattress Running the Numbers: Hilton Amex Offer (20% rebate) + Triple points promo + Aspire card $250 rebate 00:13:22 What Crazy Thing Did Southwest Airlines Do This Week? Southwest drops segments w/out notice. Many readers "enjoyed" the same treatment. 00:20:09 Main Event: Is the addition of Aeroplan to Chase Ultimate Rewards really great news? Greg and Nick debate. 00:45:44 New Chase Aeroplan credit cards expected in November 2021. Are we excited? What kind of welcome bonuses can we expect? 00:49:25 Post roast. Nick takes Greg to task for failing to discuss how to manage points and credit card cancellations when in "two player mode" (e.g. when managing cards and points for a significant other.) 00:55:55 Question of the week. A reader overpaid taxes (using a credit card, of course), but the IRS hasn't yet refunded the overpayment 6 months later. This is more of a caution than a question.

Win a GMC Sierra AT4 and engage in GMC's Work From Anywhere campaign below:GMC.com/WorkfromAnywhereDownload our FREE list of 7 INSIDER hacks Lyn uses to fly her family free:https://familiesflyfree.com/7hacks

Credit cards that earn flexible currency, such as Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards, have really ruled the roost when it comes to my favorite ways to earn miles and points. But, some recent changes by Capital One have really upped their game. Does that mean you should be giving them a second look? And, we'll also be joined by Richard Kerr again to go through the disaster that was our recent camping trip. If you enjoy the podcast, I hope you’ll take a moment to leave us a rating. That helps us grow our audience! Hope you enjoy the show! If you have a suggestion for a future show find me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and let me know what you’d like to hear about!

Thanks for using Lyn's affiliate link if you decide to sign up for Chase Sapphire Preferred, which you can find in the below link, as well as read my full review of Chase Sapphire Preferred, as well as some posts on its other key benefits. This helps support the podcast, so thank you!FamiliesFlyFree.com/CSPDownload our FREE list of 7 INSIDER hacks Lyn uses to fly her family free:https://familiesflyfree.com/7hacksRelated Blog Posts: Full Offer Details and Chase Sapphire Preferred Review 7 Ways Chase Sapphire Preferred Can Get You FREE Travel 4 Ways to Use Chase Sapphire Preferred to Earn Southwest Points 10 Hidden Benefits of Chase Sapphire Preferred How I Use Chase Sapphire Preferred Points for Free Hyatt Stays How I Use Chase Sapphire Preferred to Book Travel in the Chase Portal Related Podcasts: 5 Reasons to Make Friends With Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to Travel Free Don't Make These Mistakes When Earning Your Southwest Companion Pass The ONE Airline Perk That Makes Flying Free Easy for Families Beginners' Guide to Using Travel Credit Cards to Fly Free The Best Airline for Families to Fly Free

Download Mallory's Day Hiking Gear Checklist and other resources at:http://www.youradventurecoach.com/resources/Become a member of Families Fly Free and not only learn Lyn's process to ALWAYS fly your family free, but get access to National Park itineraries and videos on how to fly AND stay free at National Parks, as well as what to do at the most popular National Parks below:FamiliesFlyFree.com/joinDownload our FREE list of 7 INSIDER hacks Lyn uses to fly her family free:https://familiesflyfree.com/7hacks

Spring (sigh).  While 40 degrees and sunshine does something special to my soul after a winter freeze, it also quickly turns into a muddy sloppy mess.  Since we are in the midst of another major home renovation phase (2 of 3) it feels like a mess or spring might just be the season of life I am in right now.   As you may know we create seasonal adventure lists to help offer something exciting to incorporate over several months into our family experience.  Our Spring Adventure List includes two of my favorite things: Maple Syrup and Waterfalls.  If you follow me on Instagram I have a highlight story on our Maple Syrup making process.  We had about 40 taps on 15 trees this spring and our process is pretty manual because the season is usually only 3-4 weeks long. The excitement of tapping the trees, gathering sap, and the day-long boil are all full adventures to look forward to.   GIVEAWAY ANNOUNCEMENT...Because I LOVE my listeners SO much I am going to give away a pint of our maple syrup ($10 value + S&H) to a few lucky listeners.  All of the details to this giveaway are on the Ordinary Sherpa Instagram Page, in the Ordinary Sherpa Facebook Group, and in my email newsletter this week.   Must do the following 3 things: Subscribe to the Ordinary Sherpa Email List (ordinarysherpa.com/subscribe) and Leave a written review for the podcast (go to Ordinarysherpa.com/review)  Take a screenshot, DM or email me the screenshot and the nickname you left it under to be entered.  If you have never had real maple syrup, it is very light and truly delightful.  I love it fresh from the boil on top of vanilla bean ice cream, but my kids have become maple syrup snobs and will eat waffles, pancakes and french toast everyday of the week in order to get their maple syrup fix.  I know buddy the elf and maybe the Trina from episode 003 and 005 might put it on spaghetti and others in my Facebook Group enjoy it on oatmeal.   Last week's episode with Melissa Lagerquist on Family Travel Rewards tips, which can we just say how awesome she was, set the foundation for travel rewards with families.  For something as complicated as travel rewards she really translated into such human terms.  As promised I am going to build upon the tips from Episode 018 and share our family's travel rewards strategy.  I'll give you a sense of our travel budget, our timeline of travel rewards, which cards we use, how we optimize the benefits and how we have utilized redemptions.  Our travel budget has never been luxurious, generally speaking it is about $2,500.  As a family of 5 that can be really tricky so while we would sometimes camp, or build a network of friends and family we can stay with, find cheap or free things to do, or benefit from a good fare sale (Scott's Cheap Flights being one of my favorite sources).  The last few years the game changer for us has been adding travel rewards through the use of credit card sign on bonuses.   My first travel rewards credit card was through my local credit union and it was the least effective reward card because there were no sign on bonuses to leverage in the accumulation phase, very few 2x or 3x earning bonuses, and overall poor travel redemption rates. However it was a starting point and you never get it perfect out of the gate.    I really upped my travel rewards game in 2018 when I began studying the rules of travel rewards and designing a strategy that worked for us.  If you want the DIY version I do recommend the ChooseFI.com/travel online course.  It goes deep but gives you a good sense of all the nuances.  But if you prefer DIY with a guide on the side, that's where Ordinary Sherpa can help you design a strategy for your family.   If you download my Family Guide to Travel Rewards, available at Ordinarysherpa.com/rewards some of the questions I walk you through are your location and airports near you, Potential destinations, Preferred airlines and accommodations, Financial behaviors, and timeline for travel with whom.  Living in NE Wisconsin the two airports close to us are Appleton and Green Bay, with the hub airlines of American Airlines, Delta, and United.   Because we are a family of 5 and my husband is a teacher, most of the traditional strategies didn't work for us because we didn't have the flexibility to travel in off-seasons, and we were a family of 5.  It's frowned upon to let a stranger take care of your 3-yo during a cross-country flight.  We needed to find options where we could sit together, and redeem points for 5 at a time, which takes a substantial stash of points. Which led us to Southwest Airlines as our first choice due to their companion pass.   Southwest Companion Pass is achieved by earning 125,000 points in a calendar year, I should note they do have a special Companion Pass offer out right now.  I didn't think it was as desirable, but given that I already have Companion Pass I also didn't study it as deeply.  A companion pass through Southwest Airlines allows you to bring a traveler with you on unlimited flights for the year you achieved CP and the entire following calendar year.  There are other airlines that offer Companion Pass (such as Delta and Alaska Airlines), but Southwest has the Platinum edition.  I earned my companion pass in August of 2019 and learned the hard way on several fronts that I did it the hard way.  Ideally you want to open both cards if possible in late October, early November.  You'll need a plan to hit the minimum spends and often Christmas helps out.  Just make sure you don't hit the minimum spend before January, or the bonuses will be applied in December.  My husband and I both have Companion Pass so each of us can bring a child for free and the stash of points we accumulated can be redeemed for our flights and one of our children's flights.  The other highlight for us was that we could use Companion Pass at any time during the year as long as there is a seat available on the flights.   Strategy 1: Choose a co-branded Credit Card that aligns with brands you prefer or that have routes that align with your departure or desired destination.  If you are interested in Southwest you can explore the Card options and benefits by going to Ordinarysherpa.com/sw Strategy 2: My next recommendation is to select a card/cards that offer Flexible Point currency such as Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership points, or Citi Thankyou points.  These points are flexible because they can be transferred to many different brands. Many of these flexible currencies include things like a reimbursement for TSA Precheck or Global Entry which allows you to expedite the security process.  In addition to other perks like trip insurance and airport lounge access.  We opted to do Chase since they aligned with Southwest and also included hotels and car rentals. Again we are in 2 player mode.  I went with Chase Sapphire Reserve and my husband went with Chase Sapphire Preferred.  We each opened a business card too which was Chase Business Ink (to learn more go to Ordinarysherpa.com/chase).  We are just beginning to draw down on our Ultimate Rewards points and find them helpful to cover car rentals or accommodations.   Strategy 3: Lastly, I would suggest getting a Travel Eraser Card such as Capital One Venture or Discover also has one.  Capital One Venture was actually our second card so we could use the points for things like Airbnb stays, or in 2020 RV rentals.  Anything that codes as travel on your statement can be wiped out with points.  These can also wipe out other travel related expenses such as tours or tickets.  For example if you are going to Disney, purchase your tickets from undercover tourist and you can use the eraser card to redeem points for those expenses.  You can learn more about Capital One Venture Card at Ordindarysherpa.com/venture This framework is for the DIY version of travel rewards. To learn details about travel rewards take the free online course at ChooseFI.com/travel. If you need a guide on the side, inquire about Travel Rewards coaching by contacting us on our online form at ordinarysherpa.com/contact and we can start the  Key Takeaways Choose a co-branded card that aligns with your destination and traveler needs Southwest Companion Pass is a great goal for family travel rewards Know the rules and timelines for earning the sign on bonuses Add a flexible use rewards currency to allow for other aspects of your travel to be supported by rewards.  Beware of the Chase 5/24 unwritten rule. A travel eraser card redeems points toward any expense coded as travel on your statement.   For a downloadable guide to Family Travel Rewards with tips, our 5 card strategy, and a rewards planning template, go to Ordinarysherpa.com/rewards  Resources mentioned on this episode:Episode 018 | Travel Rewards tips for families with Melissa Lagerquist: https://ordinarysherpa.com/familytravelrewards/ Subscribe to our Email Newsletter: https://ordinarysherpa.com/subscribe/ Leave a review: https://ordinarysherpa.com/review/ *To be entered for the giveaway you need to do both, take a screenshot of your review and DM or send to heidi@ordinarysherpa.com Scott's Cheap Flights: scottscheapflights.yuy8ab.net/BmLWJ Travel Rewards Credit Cards Mentioned:Southwest Credit Card: ordinarysherpa.com/swChase Cred: ordinarysherpa.com/chase Capital One Venture: ordinarysherpa.com/venture To download the FREE Family Guide to Travel Rewards: https://ordinarysherpa.com/rewards/

Travel Rewards was a topic that seemed so elusive and complicated to me for so many years.  Now I can't imagine what our trips would look like without it. I was anti-credit card before I learned the rules to travel rewards.  Today I have 6 different credit cards in my wallet at any given time, and because my husband and I are in 2-player mode, he also has 3-4 in his wallet.  We do this all with a lens toward tax optimization, maintaining our budget (actually decreasing our travel budget) and strong financial position and credit score.   There are literally hundreds of resources that can guide you through travel rewards, however when you many of the tips and strategies are suited for solo/couples travel.  Things get a little more complicated when you add a family to the mix, which is why I invited Melissa Lagerquist to Ordinary Sherpa today.   Melissa is a freelance writer, travel hacker, cruise expert, military spouse, and mom of two boys. She has been playing the travel hacking game for over a decade and has substantial knowledge in the nuances to travel rewards, significant experience and insights for families wherever you are in your travel rewards journey.  To Connect with Melissa Lagerquist:  Website: Cruisefrugal.com Email: melissa@cruisefrugal.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cruise-Frugal-104926720896669 Instagram: cruise_frugal Twitter: @cruisefrugal   Key Takeaways First can I just say the movie Pearl Harbor, sigh, who remembers that movie.  I am imagining the premier on the Navy carrier.   Travel rewards through credits cards actually make your credit score go up. A large factor in your credit score is credit utilization.  If you open credit cards but pay the cards in full each month you will have a low credit utilization rate and improve your credit score.  Travel Rewards should only be considered if you are able to pay the balance in full every month.   Have a plan to meet the minimum spend requirements before you apply for the card.  Also, make sure to know the date that the minimum spend needs to be met by. Credit Card companies have their own lingo and unwritten rules, such as Chase, which is known as the 5/24 rule which implies you can only open 5 credit cards in a 24 month period.  Any credit card or authorized user counts towards the 5. If you have a specific trip in mind, you will want to create a strategy to account for all the aspects of your trip including airfare, accommodations and ground transportation.   The best redemption rate is the one that works best for your family!   Start with a little research to frame your questions, then join FB groups or take free online courses (like Choose FI travel rewards course).  There are a lot of resources available and generally speaking, people want to help.   A strategy for family travel rewards is to keep a combination of flexible travel rewards points (Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Points, or Citi Thankyou points) and a co-branded airline or hotel rewards.  This will allow you to mix, match, and transfer points if needed.   Cards with annual fees can offer high value and be worth maintaining.  For example many of these cards offer a $200-$300 travel credit, free airport lounge access, travel insurance, and TSA PreCheck and Global Entry to name a few.  These are all important perks to consider when traveling as a family.   Travel eraser cards allow you to erase charges codes as travel.  These are common for non-branded travel experiences such as UnderCover tourist tickets to Disney, RV rentals, or AirBNB stays.   Cruises allow for local adventures at the ports of call while reducing the overall planning while allowing accommodations for every member of your family.  This allows kids a sense of independence allowing kids to choose what they want to do, but not spending all the time together as a family.   Resources:   Choose FI Free Travel Rewards course: Your shortcut to traveling better using less money with travel rewards.  https://travel.choosefi.com    If you want to support or connect with Ordinary Sherpa here are 3 easy ways:Leave a written review:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ordinary-sherpa-family-adventure-coaching-and-design/id1539255067 Subscribe to our Adventure to-go email newsletter:  https://ordinarysherpa.com/  Join the Facebook Group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/ordinarysherpaFollow:https://www.instagram.com/ordinarysherpa/

Join Families Fly Free at:FamiliesFlyFree.com/JoinDownload our FREE list of 7 INSIDER hacks Lyn uses to fly her family free:https://familiesflyfree.com/7hacks

What are you getting hung up on with relationships and money? We continue the conversation in Part 2 of the Relationships and Money series with Jillian Johnsrud. Although March is finally here and the sunshine is motivating Jonathan to push away the processed carbs in favor of broccoli and hummus, Richmond’s recent ice storms had Brad using his stash of travel rewards for the first time in over a year. Travel rewards come in handy at home too. After losing power from the storm, Brad called up a local Hyatt to see if they had power and was able to use 5,000 with Hyatt to book a room, and quickly move his family out of a cold home for the night. If he had been short on Hyatt points, he could have quickly transferred Chase Ultimate Rewards points over to cover the rate. Even if you aren’t ready to travel now, plan ahead and start stockpiling travel rewards points now so you have them once you do want to travel again. Take the travel course at ChooseFI.com/travel to learn how. The next roundup episodes will feature Alan Donegan and focus on building a business in 2021. Submit a voicemail with the questions and concerns you would like to have addressed at ChooseFI.com/voicemail. Have a question on a different topic? Submit your voicemail and join the live radio shows held on Stereo, Tuesdays at 7:30 pm Eastern. In Episode 300 with Jillian, she discussed how your past money story motivates you and creates fear as it pertains to money and relationships. Part 2 of the series examines being financially independent while still dependent. Listener Asia is engaged and works full-time while her partner is still going to school and works part-time. They each have vastly different money stories and have started combining finances. Her partner is still receiving some financial support from her parents. While her partner wants to begin become more independent, Asia wonders if it would be smarter to continue as things are. Jonathan sees three issues with Asia and her partner’s situation: attachment, boundaries, and economics. For Jillian, one of the elements was what habits and practices Asia’s fiance can take to feel like a financial grown-up and equal partner in the relationship. She also considered what it might mean for the fiance to receive from her parents, as well as what it might mean to the fiance’s parent to give. Jonathan sees nothing wrong with accepting help so long as there are no boundary or communication issues or strings attached. Brad thinks it sounds like a positive situation but is also concerned about ulterior motives. After graduating college, Brad lived at home with his parents while saving 90% of his income which gave him a huge jumpstart on his path to FI. Jonathan noted that there could potentially be some tax-filing issues that could be related to the child tax credit and paying for dependent healthcare that could be important to figure out. Jillian says society’s rules don’t matter, you can write your own rules of what it means to be a financial grown-up without there being a contradiction. Help can be a sweet thing family can do, but even she had issues with family members trying to control her with financial assistance while she went to school. There are other things you can do to feel like a financial grown-up, like tracking expenses or coming up with a debt repayment plan. You can be a financial grown-up, take advantage of opportunities without taking advantage of relatives as long as your goals are aligned and they want to see you succeed. Brad wants to be able to help his kids out when they are older. He respects parents who charge their children rent and teach them to be financially responsible, but he hopes to instill those lessons throughout childhood. Listener Precious will be getting married soon. So far they have been sending money back and forth to each other, but she wants to be more efficient and is wondering what the best way to begin combining finances is. While Jillian wants to believe all love will last forever, she advises against opening up a credit card together in the first few years of marriage due to the bills being divided up in a painful divorce process. However, opening up a joint checking account is a good baby step since at worst only the money in the account can be spent without going into debt. How much each person contributes and what bills get paid from it opens up the lines of communication. When you are young and your finances are simple, combining all of your finances makes a lot of sense. In contrast, Jillian’s financial life is much more complicated and if she had to remarry, she isn’t sure she would combine her finances with anyone else. Credit card and car debt can be kept separate, but it’s usually better to have both names on a home loan since real estate is an asset being grown together. But also so that it doesn’t become a painful process to untether if necessary in the future. In a new marriage, Jonathan says he wouldn’t feel comfortable being a co-signer on a credit card since he would be legally responsible but have no insight into what was going on until it crashes into a wall. On the other hand, adding an authorized user gives you more control and insight into how the card is being used and it can be revoked. Brad and Jonathan have their own bobblehead figure! It was given to them by All-Star Money for being creators of content who inspire readers to improve their financial situations and helped develop an engaged personal finance community. Jillian Johnsrud Website:  JillianJohnsrud.com Podcast: Everyday Courage Resources Mentioned In Today’s Conversation Join us for the live show Tuesdays at 7:30 Eastern on Stereo.  Travel more and spend a lot less with the ChooseFI Travel Rewards 101 course. The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card—Great for Cash Back or Travel Rewards ChooseFI Episode 300 Relationships and Money with Jillian Johnsrud ChooseFI Episode 186 Multiple Generations Under One Roof With Financial Tortise Create a powerful money plan with The One Hour Millionaire Course and get $30 off with the code “ChooseFI30”. All-Star Money’s All-Star Originals If You Want To Support ChooseFI: Earn $1,000 in cashback with ChooseFI’s 3-card credit card strategy.  Share FI by sending a friend ChooseFI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence.  

The cost of a family vacation is one of the top factors preventing many families from traveling. When travel is safe, I know many families will be excited to take the skies and get away. This week we chat with Lyn Mettler from Families Fly Free to get her tips about saving on airfare and earning points to fly for free. Lyn Mettler is a longtime travel writer for US News, the TODAY Show and MSN, who in 2015 discovered a way to easily fly her family free all around the US, Caribbean and Europe. She now teaches other families her simple process through her Families Fly Free members program, podcast and blog. Tips to Help Families Fly Free To save money on airfare, book international trips at least six months in advance. Thanksgiving is a good time to search for flight deals for spring break or summer vacations. Search for flight deals using services such as Scott's Cheap Flights, Dollar Flight Club, Hopper, FlyLine, and SkyScanner. Being flexible with your departure airports, looking at major cities within a driving distance, will help you find better flight deals. If you are looking to use upgrade using miles, check the airline websites daily to see what seats may have opened up. Be sure to consider partner airlines from your preferred airline when thinking about where you might be able to fly for free. If you have an American Express Platinum card, you can book some hotels and airfares through American Express Travel and receive 5 times points on your purchases. Those points can then be transferred to partner airlines. Sometimes American Express or other credit cards offer a transfer bonus where you might be able to transfer your Amex points and instead of getting a 1:1 transfer, you might get a 1:1.5 transfer, offering up bonus points. Southwest is one of the best airlines to fly a family for free. The first step is signing up for a credit card to receive the sign up bonus, but only use it for things that you would buy anyway -- don't go into debt to fly for free. A Southwest Companion Pass is good on all flights during the year that it is earned, unlike some other airlines that have a companion pass but it is only good for one flight. Southwest is expanding their footprint of where they fly, offering many options for families looking to fly in the United States, the Caribbean, and even to Costa Rica. There is no need to sign up for tons of credit cards all the time. You can easily fly free with only about three different credit cards. Always book when a fare sale is happening to book with the fewest points, but realize that not every sale is a good sale. Luckily with Southwest you can always cancel and rebook when you find a better price. It helps to be flexible in where you want to fly and chase the best fare sales. Tuesday is generally the best day to book when the fares are the lowest. Keep checking even after you book and if fares go down, rebook those flights to save more points. For international flights to Europe, Aer Lingus typically offers the best fare and points deals. You can fly to Dublin and then from there, use cheap European airlines to hop to other places within Europe. If you fly Aer Lingus during the non-peak season, you can usually fly to Dublin for 26,000 points round trip. Chase Sapphire Reserve also offers great sign up bonuses. Aer Lingus, British Airways, and Iberia (Spanish airline) all use the Avios points program and it is easy to transfer points from Chase Sapphire Reserve to Avios and Southwest. Get Seven Ways to Earn Frequent Flyer Miles at home from Lyn Mettler.     [00:00:00.120] - Kim Start banking miles now to fly later.   [00:00:15.380] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.   [00:00:30.140] - Kim So, Tamara, we are going to be chatting all about airfare deals and a few tips for families that maybe are looking at having to buy a few tickets. And I think for a lot of us, now is a perfect time to start saving up some miles and points and looking at what we plan to do in the future when travel opens again.   [00:00:49.580] - Kim So do you have any favorite little, I guess I would say, travel hacks that you've gotten on airfare, any deals that you've scored?   [00:00:58.580] - Tamara You know, I was just posting something on Instagram recently about how I'm such an advanced planner. And all these people came back like, oh, I do it like still last minute.   [00:01:05.870] - Tamara Like, we find an airfare fair deal and we go and I know that's how so many people travel. But we tend to be more focused on, like, OK, we want to go here and then how do we get there. There are definitely been sometimes though, where an airfare deal has led us where we're going, but maybe it's helped us narrow down. I remember specifically a few years ago it was right before Thanksgiving, which is a great time to look for airfare deals, especially international ones.   [00:01:35.000] - Tamara And we were looking at a number of different cities. And Vienna came up as something that we could get to for about five hundred dollars or a little bit under per person. And we we just booked it like very much on the fly. And so that's you know, that's one that was definitely driven by that.   [00:01:49.250] - Tamara And then a couple of years ago, we were debating between a few different destinations. I think it was like Japan somewhere in South America and Morocco. And then Morocco came up with like a five hundred dollar deal. And we're like, OK, decision made we are going to Morocco, you know? So sometimes that's how it's been. I mean, I definitely use different apps and things to track airfare.   [00:02:10.160] - Tamara I just I think, as you know, I don't have the flexibility, as much on timing and such. And I am an advance planner, so I like to do it in advance. But I think my biggest tip, from that is just know when is a good time to buy.   [00:02:26.900] - Tamara For us, when we're looking at spring break airfare or even maybe summer, especially international, Thanksgiving is a really good period because there are definitely a lot of sales and definitely with internationally, you want to be a good six months out from your trip because it's just going to get more expensive from there. I remember a few years ago, Glenn and I were kind of last minute for us, which was maybe three months before I decided to go to France in the summer.   [00:02:54.680] - Tamara And I think we ended up paying eighteen hundred dollars round trip each for economy. And it was killing us, you know, that other times we've gotten that for five hundred. But it's just that's what happens when you can't make up your mind. But then you want to go to a particular place, you know. So it's like, either be very flexible with where and when you want to go or plan pretty far in advance.   [00:03:17.420] - Kim Yeah, I remember that episode that we talked to with Dia Adams and that was Episode one, our very first episode. And one of the things she had said I remember is flexibility. You've got to be flexible either on where you want to go or when you want to go. And so I think that's a big thing that people don't always consider. And we also have talked to Monet with the traveling child and they get some great airfare deals.   [00:03:41.360] - Kim But for them, it's kind of like what you saw with it just pops up where. OK, well, this is the cheap airfare. That's where we're going to go. And now we're going to plan that vacation based on that destination.   [00:03:50.720] - Kim So I think I think there's some, you know, good, good thinking of that. And when you're locked in a little more, it limits what you can do. I think for us, one of my best deals was I did a lot of research for our trip to Japan, which didn't happen.   [00:04:05.570] - Kim And I had figured out because, being an Alaska Airlines member, I found that there was a sweet spot with Alaska because they were partnered with Japan Airlines and I was able to score business class seats for us from Seattle to Tokyo nonstop. And I was so excited. Of course, now all those points are back in my account and we didn't get to use them.   [00:04:26.060] - Kim But I remember faithfully stalking the Alaska Airlines app every morning I would wake up and load it and search to see if any availability had come up for business class on those Japan Airlines flights. And I would check Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland. I think a tip is that if you have nearby airports, you can kind of search and see. And I think that Lyn will give us some of that same info that if you can be flexible with a few of your departure airports on International, that can be a real benefit.   [00:04:58.790] - Kim I know you've had that as well, where you've sometimes, of course, mostly with your international going out of Boston. It's a pretty major airport.   [00:05:06.890] - Tamara So, yeah, the one when we went through to Morocco, we did go through New York.   [00:05:13.940] - Tamara I was thinking of you and your Japan trip, when I was thinking about this episode, seemed like, well, you think about the times that we have done some of our best hacking work and we actually didn't get to take this trip. We didn't do quite the work that you did, but we had some Delta points which transfer to Air France. And then I had Glenn open up a Delta card.   [00:05:35.000] - Tamara And then I had booked our Greece trip on American Express where you got five times points for hotels and airfare. And so then I took those points and transferred them to like his Delta. So we were doing our trip to Paris with three free flights. And so now we have all these Delta points where we have nothing to do with them because we we hardly ever fly Delta. Would like to it's a nice airline. It's just usually not something that is going where we're going from, where we're going.   [00:06:10.880] - Kim Yeah, yeah. We have Delta points as well. Banked because I used our Delta points because Paul likes Delta and there a hub in Seattle after they had their big, nasty breakup with Alaska. But so we actually I wanted to fly home from Osaka. So we were going into Tokyo and out of Osaka. And the Japan Airlines flights connect from Osaka back through Tokyo. And whereas Delta goes direct from Osaka to Seattle. And so I booked I used, you know, Delta points and I transferred either Chase rewards or ultimate rewards membership, American Express points, I don't remember which one into Delta so that I could get us home and I got us in whatever like the economy.   [00:06:54.110] - Kim But yeah, those now are in my account too. And I like I said, I am a loyal Alaska Airlines flight flyer, so I kind of am like, OK, when are we going to use these Delta points? Because I always choose Alaska when I can. But yeah, I mean, I love Delta too.   [00:07:18.230] - Tamara Well it's funny because our American Express I had some points left and I used for Hannah and I to go to Marco Island in Florida and stay at the J.W. Marriott. This is not last December but the December before. And I then when I got refunded for my Greece hotels, they took away the points and now I have negative thirty five thousand points, so it's terrible.   [00:07:43.760] - Tamara But then the other day as well, another bad news thing is in the last six months I've had to replace practically all of our appliances in the house, everything keeps breaking. Our entire travel budget right now is going towards appliances, it seems like. But the other day I went to use the dryer and it was not working at all. And they're ten years old. So I'm like, OK, so we went and we were buying a new washer dryer. And I'm like, I'm going to put it on my American Express because number one, you get the extra one year of like warranty extension and then I can make up some of those negative points. I need to get back to at least a zero balance. It's really kind of sad to see negative points, you know?   [00:08:20.780] - Kim I know. Yeah, that's tough. The American Express card, by the way, right now, the platinum card, you get a thirty dollar PayPal credit.   [00:08:28.250] - Tamara I got that.   [00:08:33.620] - Kim I was paying our cell phone bill so I was getting the twenty dollar AT&T credit and then you know they need to give me something because we pay. What do we pay? I think it's four fifty a year for that stinking card. And I haven't stepped foot in a lounge for.   [00:08:50.720] - Kim Well I guess March first I think was my last flight, I flew home from Disneyland on March 1st. It's crazy to think that.   [00:08:58.820] - Tamara Yeah well American Express definitely needs to do something to keep their members happy for what we pay.   [00:09:04.280] - Tamara I know they've been doing that. Uber eats, you know, credit instead of giving you an Uber credit, but I've never actually used it because the fees and things are so expensive. And I feel bad because it takes away from the restaurant. So we tend to just order directly from the restaurant anyway. So I've had almost a whole year of those credits just disappearing.   [00:09:22.290] - Kim Yeah, we do the same thing. We try to do local because I saw a thing that showed the math that restaurants can make almost nothing from Uber and those delivery services. And so the other day when Paul took the girls skiing, I was like, oh, I'm going to splurge and I'll use my Uber credit because, you know, in December, I think it's like twenty dollars or something. That's more than the fifteen. So I thought I would splurge.   [00:09:46.310] - Kim And so I logged on to buy myself a meal from a local Mexican restaurant, and it was just one entree and some chips and salsa and it was like over thirty dollars to have that meal and it's just ridiculous. And it still took them like 45 minutes to get here because I was like drop number three or something. So I had to heat my food up anyway. So I'd rather just order my food and go pick it up locally.   [00:10:17.920] - Tamara And it's funny, because you think about these services, I'm like, aren't these what college kids are using, how they're going to afford that, right?   [00:10:26.430] - Kim So hopefully they can give us some good deals and we can all keep stockpiling our miles for when we're ready to travel again. But I wanted to give people a heads up because we're going to be talking to Lynn about her tips.   [00:10:39.210] - Kim But if you are kind of flexible on what you want to do and you are saving Miles or you're just searching for cheap flights, a few of the sites that I know that I can give you guys a little shout out about are Scott's cheap flights.   [00:10:51.480] - Kim And I believe they have like a free one and then they have a premium version. And a lot of people that have the premium say that it's worthwhile. How that works for a family that needs to buy multiple tickets, I'm not so sure. And then the other really popular cheap flight alert deal site is called Delta Flight Club. And so I know that's another one that they send you emails, you know, throughout the day of all these deals. So that's a couple of you know, if you're looking for those cheap airfare deals, those are good.   [00:11:19.680] - Kim But again, I don't know how well those work for families. I know Monet likes them, so they must work for families.   [00:11:28.110] - Tamara I've used Dollar Fly Club and I've used Fly Line, which is someone that I started working with last year and lets you kind of build together your flight using different airlines. So if you're going international, you might do one hop on one airline and the other hop on the other airline. But it puts together in one ticket. So you don't have to deal with issues of them not checking you in or something like that you can check on all the way through.   [00:11:51.300] - Tamara So that was a good one. And then I've used Hopper a lot in the past just to kind of keep an eye on things and of course, Google flights is kind of the the one that's taken over everything.   [00:12:00.600] - Kim Yeah. Not that we like, you know, giving Google all of our information, but I do know that Google flights is good because you can put in your outbound city and then like the dates you want to fly and you can leave the destination kind of blink and it'll show you flight deals for all around the United States if you're in the U.S. and then also international deals.   [00:12:22.080] - Tamara Yeah, it's a good way to take a look when you're not quite sure where you want to go. You know, you want to do it on a budget.   [00:12:27.300] - Kim Exactly. And I know that another one that people have talked about a lot that I tried to use a little bit is called Skyscanner.   [00:12:33.780] - Kim And I think Skyscanner is good. Again, it's a monitoring flight, so you can kind of monitor your destination and deals and stuff. However, I do see that Skyscanner has a lot of third party flight sale booking sites and a lot of them have very negative reviews.   [00:12:51.840] - Kim And so I kind of stopped using it just because I feel like when you you find a great deal, then you see that it's that, you know, Big Bob's cheap airfare.   [00:13:01.950] - Kim And so I haven't been, you know, totally on board with that. So just another heads up. For some people, Skyscanner works well. But, you know, a little bit of word of caution there.   [00:13:12.330] - Tamara That's why sometimes the the membership ones are interesting because they're alerting you to deals and that's how they're making their money. But you don't have to necessarily book through them. You know, I always prefer and what we've talked about this a lot is booking direct whenever we can, just because it gives you more flexibility and cancellations or changes and all that kind of stuff.   [00:13:32.760] - Tamara Well we've certainly covered different topics along the almost five years now that we've been doing this podcast, different things about traveling with points or travel hacking or how to find travel deals. So there's definitely episodes to go back and listen to, but it's always great to get people's perspectives. And so today we're going to talk to Lyn, and she works a lot with Southwest, but she has a whole program about helping families fly free.   [00:13:57.810] - Tamara And I know that for many of us, that's, you know, we're dreaming about travel, but we may not have a big budget. So it's time to start thinking about it and planning it now so that when we can travel, you've got some some miles in the bank, so to speak, and you can absolutely take off somewhere. Let's talk to Lyn.   [00:14:23.980] - Tamara Today, we're here with Lyn Mettler. She's a long time travel writer for U.S. News, The Today Show on MSN. And in 2015, she discovered a way to easily fly free with her family all over the U.S., Caribbean and Europe. And she now teaches other families her simple process through Families Fly Free Members program and her podcast and blog. So welcome, Lyn.   [00:14:44.470] - Lyn Thanks for having me and glad to be here.   [00:14:53.590] - Tamara Obviously, our listeners are interested in trying to fly free with their families. Maybe not right now, but for the future. I think everyone's budget has been a little bit crunched this year and we're looking forward to planning things in the future. So this hopefully will give them a chance to think ahead, plan ahead and start building towards that dream trip whenever whenever they can get it back out there.   [00:15:18.850] - Lyn Like, now is a great time if you're not traveling to be getting your plan in place and collecting your frequent flyer miles and whatever you need, even if you're just sitting at home so that you can do that in the future, at least it gives you something to look forward to.   [00:15:34.720] - Kim So Lyn, why don't you start off and tell our listeners a little bit about some of the awesome destinations that your family has flown for free to?   [00:15:42.490] - Lyn As Tamara said, we really just try to focus on the U.S., the Caribbean and Europe. So the first trip we took where we totally flew free, all four of us was to San Diego. That destination holds a special place in our heart and we'd love to go back there. But we also love to go to National Parks. So we've been able to go to lots of different national parks we would have never been able to do by flying free.   [00:16:06.820] - Lyn We like Disney. So pretty much every year we either go to Disney World or Disneyland. Of course, we we took our dream trip to Europe again that I never thought we'd be able to afford to do. And I was able to fly all four of us over there on miles. And then the Caribbean is awesome, too, you know, when you ready for some warm weather. And so my favorite Caribbean destination so far that we've been to is Grand Cayman.   [00:16:29.970] - Kim I like Grand Cayman, have great beaches there.   [00:16:32.730] - Lyn They do, and it's just feels very American. I think it's very especially if you haven't been traveled internationally, it's a it's an easy one to start. Yeah.   [00:16:43.080] - Tamara Until you go to drive and then they're on the other side of the road.   [00:16:46.560] - Lyn That's a little weird. My husband was able to do that, amazingly. But yeah, if you're not comfortable with that, then take a taxi or something instead.   [00:16:55.260] - Tamara It's definitely easier than in Ireland. At least the roads are much wider. But I remember the first time we landed in Grand Cayman, I got into the into the taxi and the guy just like looked at me and I realized I was sitting in the driver's seat.   [00:17:11.280] - Tamara So I imagine that took a lot of work. And there's four of you that you mentioned. So you're flying everyone for free versus, you know, getting one ticket or trying to do like the, you know, first class thing. You know, you are looking at flying a family, and that is definitely our audience as well. So can you tell us a little bit more about some of the travel hacking methods that you use? I mean, we've talked about this a couple of times with some other people on the podcast, but everybody has their own system and ways that they like to do things.   [00:17:39.090] - Tamara And some are a lot more work than others. So I'd love to hear about your process.   [00:17:43.560] - Lyn Sure. So my goals are, number one, to keep it simple and also to fly my whole family, as you said, to as many places as we can go. So we are not the people that are flying first class to Japan and fly back seat on a plane with the shower and glasses of wine. Like, I will hang on to the back of the plane if I have to, as long as I'm flying there free. So I really try to focus on the the fewest number of steps you can take yet to fly everyone free.   [00:18:13.300] - Lyn So for us, that is taking advantage of a couple of travel credit cards and of course, earning the those big sign on bonuses where you get a whole bunch of miles just in one go, just by meeting the minimum spend. And I always teach people, you to only put your everyday expenses on. There are things that you were already going to buy anyway. It's never about getting yourself in debt or buying things you shouldn't be buying.   [00:18:43.230] - Lyn I'm a big proponent of Southwest Airlines. So I think for families who again, want to keep it simple and want to travel a lot of places, they have the simplest system to do that. And one of the big reasons is the Southwest companion pass. So if you're not familiar with that, that is a pass that you earn and it lets you bring one person with you on as many flights as you want to take while you have this pass for free.   [00:19:10.020] - Lyn Aside from the five dollar and 60 cent government security fees, you have to pay per person. But other than that, you're not paying an airfare, let's just say. And that pass is good, not just once, because some airlines have companion passes, but they're good one time. This pass is good from the time you earn until the end of the following year. So that falls into my category of like the one thing you can do to save significantly on airfare, because if you don't ever have to pay for one member of your family to fly, like, there is just no better deal than that going.   [00:19:44.250] - Lyn Then to get that pass, you need to earn one hundred and twenty five thousand Southwest points to do so. And then you can use those points to book everyone else in your family free. So you've got one person you don't have to use any points or dollars for and the rest of you uses that one hundred twenty five thousand points to fly free. So it did take me about a year to kind of figure out the best process and do all the research and read all the blogs and all of that until I really streamlined how we do it.   [00:20:13.860] - Lyn And that is kind of basically how it works. And I would say the first year that I figured this out, we were able to take our family of four to six different places over the course of a year for about a hundred dollars per trip. And I've now figured out how to do that for less. And that hundred dollars comes from that five dollar and 60 cents per day per person.   [00:20:36.870] - Lyn You have to pay the annual fees for just two cards that we used. And then we ended up buying a few points at the very beginning to kind of get us to where we needed to be to actually redeem a free flight. So it's pretty amazing what you can do. And again, with Southwest, a lot of people don't like that you can't pick your seat. So you might be in the back of the plane. But who cares if you're flying for free. That's my thought.   [00:21:00.720] - Tamara Yeah, well, and you guys have teens, too. So it's if you're not all together, isn't maybe not as big of a deal.   [00:21:07.650] - Lyn Right. And we have never had a situation where one parent and one child couldn't sit together. That's how we do it. We just break it up into two and two. But I've even forgotten to like check in, which is how you get your boarding order on Southwest. And I was literally in the very back and we still could sit two and two and their flight attendants are awesome. So, if for some reason you have a young child and you can't find a seat together, they'll figure it out, it's like they'll get someone to switch with you or something, you know?   [00:21:34.930] - Kim I was going to mention also like just four people on the West Coast that, you know, side note, the Alaska Airlines card has a similar type of thing, not quite the same. Not quite the good deal. But you can if you have the Alaska Airlines credit card once a year, you get a companion certificate where you pay ninety nine dollars plus those taxes.   [00:21:54.310] - Kim And so for families, that also is a good thing if you're on the West Coast a lot and doing that kind of trip because, you know, you can pay 100 hundred bucks for what would be a 500 to 600 dollar flight, so that can be a good savings.   [00:22:14.470] - Lyn And is that just a one time?   [00:22:16.340] - Kim So it's every year it's an annual. It's just the one time. Yeah. But I would say a lot of families, it seems they take that one spring break or summer trip. We all travel a lot more than that. But for some families it's a good plan.   [00:22:36.850] - Lyn Absolutely.   [00:22:37.990] - Lyn And Southwest has added a lot of destinations in 2020. Well, they're going to be adding mostly in 2021. So they're expanding their footprint, which I like too. So if you happen to be in a place where they don't fly, they're starting to branch out a bit more.   [00:22:51.640] - Kim Yeah, and Southwest is also just good for, you know, if you are buying the other tickets as well. They're so convenient with the no change fees and free checked baggage and all that is is definitely a plus.   [00:23:05.260] - Lyn I've gotten to where I could hardly book another airline not knowing that I could change it if I wanted to, because we just book all the time with points because we think we might want to go somewhere and it's a good deal.   [00:23:18.040] - Lyn And then if we a kid gets sick or we decide we don't want to do that or whatever, easy. We just cancel the points, go right back in our account. No penalty. You know, it's just I have a peace of mind. So, I mean, in the way I show families how to do this is you really just work with the Southwest program for the U.S. and the Caribbean so you don't have to worry about is this airline a partner with this airline in which cards, you know. I like I use three travel credit cards for 90 percent of our free travel.   [00:23:50.560] - Lyn So I'm definitely not someone who recommends, you know, because it's very easy to get turned into, oh, this card has an amazing offer and I should get it because it's a limited time and whatever. And I think we've all made, like, the mistakes early on of getting a card. We wish we hadn't because it seemed like a great deal. So I have a very specific like here's the cards I recommend get them in this order and then you're done, you know, so you don't have to worry about.   [00:24:15.820] - Tamara Yeah. We're so busy. I listen to a couple of points people and they talk about the spreadsheet that they have, you know, the bonuses. And when you turn off this one and that one and I'm like, oh no thank you.   [00:24:28.450] - Kim Yeah it is. They have like sticky notes on the credit cards in their wallet. So they're like, OK, I'm at a restaurant, I'm using this one this time. And they change the sticky notes like every month on which credit card they use. And it's overwhelming. It's like you said, Tamara, it's totally like couponing.   [00:24:42.040] - Lyn I mean, like you can get into you can doing it that way if you want, for sure. You know, some people love doing that, but yeah, for busy moms, I mean, we're working and managing kids and helping parents and, you know, trying to take care of ourselves. Like we don't need to be spending hours on this.   [00:24:57.730] - Tamara You know, we want simple so that it works.   [00:25:00.340] - Lyn Keep it simple.   [00:25:01.570] - Tamara Well, in one question I have for you is you use Southwest and we fly southwest quite a bit. And I also I enjoy that airline because I know some people are uncomfortable with the method of lining up and getting on in the open seating. But I actually like it because it feels very orderly instead of everyone trying to cram in there and fight with the entire rest of the plane. So I kind of like that part of it. And I've gotten used to, you know, how things work and, you know, waking up early or whatever to try to log in right away to to get my boarding order assignment.   [00:25:39.400] - Tamara But one of the things that I found about Southwest is like if you fly, you know, at off times, like you can find some really amazing, you know, like one way is for 7000 points or these kind of really amazing, amazingly low point rewards.   [00:25:55.690] - Tamara But you have two teens. So I imagine you also have trouble like working around school schedules a little bit, what do you find?   [00:26:02.890] - Tamara Do you really look for destinations that have low points in terms of flying there? Or are you just like, here's where we want to go and when we want to go? And we'll we'll book whatever it takes.   [00:26:16.750] - Lyn So a key part of this and I have a program called Families Fly Free where I teach everyone my process and I give them, like, updated information that they need to know in real time to keep doing this. So first part is you have to kind of learn the process. Second is what you're asking about, how it's booking the flights for the fewest amount of points possible, and so we literally just flew to Las Vegas in October to drove into Utah to do the national parks. I flew us there for 2700 points per flight.   [00:26:50.890] - Lyn You you learn to you have to buy when they're having a sale. And we alert our members always when they have a sale almost every week. So they're not all good. So we tell them it's a sale, but we'll tell them this is a good sale. This isn't a good sale because Southwest lets you book in points and change with no penalty. You need to constantly check and see if the price has gone down. And when I say constantly, as much as you want, at least once a week is what I suggest on Tuesdays, because that's when airfares tend to be lowest.   [00:27:18.100] - Lyn So check and see if the price has gone down. And if it has, it's really easy to rebook on their website. And if you've booked on points, those points go right back into your account. So we have saved tens of thousands of points just by doing that alone. And most people miss that. They don't realize you can keep checking and keep adjusting and changing if you find a better deal. So and then, yes, I do look for destinations that are fewer points from my home airport, which is Indianapolis.   [00:27:48.580] - Lyn And we also are willing to drive and we do this. A fair amount will drive up to Chicago, which is about two and a half hours from us. If the airfare is significantly less. So that deal to Las Vegas, we actually did drive up and flew out of Midway because it would have been like seven thousand points per day from Indianapolis. And if I can pay twenty seven hundred points, that's another free trip my family can take right there.   [00:28:17.470] - Kim Well, we've definitely talked a lot about the United States and those kind of destinations. And with Southwest Airlines being, you know, mostly a U.S. and Caribbean airline, what about Europe? You know, I figure that's much harder. And you said you have been to Europe. So do you have any little tips for families who are thinking of a dream European vacation?   [00:28:36.160] - Lyn Yeah. So my favorite way to fly to Europe, which I think is it's the cheapest number of miles and the easiest way to do it is on Aer Lingus, which is the national airline of Ireland. And they have a really good deal where if you fly during their off peak season, which is actually two thirds of the year, so it's most of the year except for the peak summer months, spring break. And like the holidays, you can fly for twenty six thousand miles roundtrip from several major cities in the U.S. to Dublin.   [00:29:11.530] - Lyn So it's like Boston and DC and New York and Chicago and San Francisco, lots of major cities. So you may need to get to one of those major cities. And I recommend flying Southwest or using a companion pass to do so. But again, we just would drive up to Chicago and then we fly over to Dublin. And then once you're over in Europe, it's really cheap to get a flight out of Dublin like. So when we took our big trip a couple of years ago, we flew to Dublin and then we just used points to fly on into Paris.   [00:29:42.010] - Lyn And then we flew Ryanair, which is a really cheap discount airline in Europe for like three hundred dollars for all four of us to go from Paris to Bologna. And that was with all they have there, one of those that charge a bunch of fees, but that included all of the baggage fees and everything. And then we flew points from Bologna back to Dublin. And so I was able to do that with one card sign up, which happened to be the Chase Sapphire Reserve.   [00:30:09.250] - Lyn When they had that card first came out, they were offering one hundred thousand points if you met the minimum spend. So my husband was able to get that. And that was enough for all four of us to fly to Europe, which was amazing. So pretty simple, really, because it was one card sign up and then one airline.   [00:30:27.040] - Lyn And Aer Lingus uses Avios, which is we're talking about partner airlines. They are partners with British Airways and Iberia. So if you have, you can transfer or use for any of those three airlines. And the way I like to earn them is with the Chase ultimate rewards because Chase ultimate rewards transfer to Southwest super easy and they also transfer to Aer Lingus super easy. So that accomplishes my goals of US and Europe.   [00:30:57.370] - Tamara When we went to London three years ago, we flew Aer Lingus through Dublin. We didn't do it with points we paid. But just even from a cash standpoint, it was definitely cheaper than, you know, the direct flights to London, which, you know, it's added a little bit of time, but not really that much time.   [00:31:13.720] - Lyn And we just made like a day trip out of it. We stayed in Dublin actually for two nights and just saw the sights of Dublin for a day just to check that all our bucket list, you know, so that's a way to do it, too. If you want to spend a little bit of time in Ireland. And Dublin is a really, really nice airport and. Flying out of Dublin, you actually go through customs before you board in Dublin, so you don't have to do it when you get off in the U.S., which is another great benefit.   [00:31:39.540] - Tamara And they even have Global entry and everything there, too.   [00:31:42.750] - Kim They have a lounge there, too.   [00:31:48.240] - Kim Well, yeah, I think that that's I think what you said, there's two parts to that that I'll just quickly mention that I thought stood out was just be flexible and kind of be willing to look beyond just the traditional I'm going to fly from Seattle to Tokyo, you know, even though that's a common flight. But you know what I mean. You know, like you guys going to Chicago and then going to Dublin and using that as a jumping off point, I think that's really a tip for people, is to be a little more flexible and see if you can even get from one place.   [00:32:15.750] - Kim Like I know a lot of times I have looked when we were planning that Japan trip, I looked out of LAX in San Francisco because, you know, sometimes those flights to Japan were a little cheaper. And for me to get from Seattle to L.A. or San Francisco is pretty easy. So definitely be, you know, thinking outside of the box on that. And then I think one of the things I'll quickly mention is what you said about that people need to be aware of is something like Chase and the American Express cards have kind of those I don't know what the term is used, but they're universal points that can be traded into other networks and programs.   [00:32:50.070] - Kim And sometimes that can be handy for families who aren't loyal to one brand and want to kind of spread things around. So I think that that's that's something for people to be aware of, is that there is a difference where when people talk about travel credit cards, sometimes it's with one hotel like Marriott or it's with one airline, you know, like Southwest. But other times it could be just the American Express or the Chase, which are kind of universal points that can be traded in. So I think that's something for people to be aware of.   [00:33:17.250] - Lyn Yeah, I'm a big fan of the flexible points for that for exactly what you're saying. Now, if you're loyal to one airline or to one hotel brand, you really use it a lot, then you do need to probably have their card because you'll get some good perks for doing so. But then pair that with the flexible card who whose points travel to your favorite programs, you know, and Chase Ultimate Rewards works well within my system. And then it happens to transfer to some hotel programs as well. Should we have plenty of points and want to use it for that also.   [00:33:49.290] - Tamara Well, definitely lots to think about when it comes to planning some trips. I know you'd also mentioned the Caribbean. Now, would Southwest also be your preferred airline for getting to the Caribbean?   [00:33:59.280] - Lyn Absolutely. And because you can bring someone free with you. So, yeah, that's a great deal.   [00:34:06.540] - Tamara Now, what are some of the islands that they go to?   [00:34:09.930] - Lyn A lot of different places in the Caribbean. Mexico is a is very popular among families. Of course, Grand Cayman, Turks and Caicos. We've been to the Dominican Republic on Southwest. They go to the most recent like Jamaica. Yeah. And Costa Rica.   [00:34:29.760] - Lyn So, yeah. Lots of choices there. And of course they now fly to Hawaii. So for lots of families, that's their dream bucket list trip is to to go away.   [00:34:40.950] - Tamara And so for when we just talked about Hawaii too. And that is from California. Right. So if you get yourself to California, then you connect there.   [00:34:49.680] - Lyn Right. You will have to connect in California. But yeah, you can fly from major U.S. cities to connect in California and then over and there's, you know, good ones like San Francisco and San Diego, where you can if you want it again to stop and make it kind of hang out there for a weekend or something and then hop on over to Hawaii. So it's not such a long flight. That's a good option, too.   [00:35:13.140] - Kim So you mentioned it took you about a year when you first were starting. What would you say for the average family starting out? Maybe they're a family of four. How much time should they allow for kind of earning points? How does that how does that look for an average family on, you know, what would be realistic to think if they want to have a vacation and they're going to buy all their airfare with points, what does that look like, do you think, from a time perspective?   [00:35:37.410] - Lyn If you know what to do and what steps to take within two to three months, you can be flying around the U.S. in the Caribbean.   [00:35:46.650] - Lyn For Europe, I'd give yourself four to six months of time to to get those points in order. But the key is you need to know what steps to take and what order.   [00:35:56.850] - Lyn And you can definitely search online and discover a process for yourself. But like I said, I've mapped mine down just for families who want to travel to those destinations. It's really pretty simple if you know what to do when.   [00:36:14.260] - Tamara And you've talked about the companion pass for Southwest and I seem to recall like is that only offered as a special promotion at certain times of year and is sometimes limited? Like I remember there is one that I was going to do, and I didn't live in a state where it was offered or something like that. Are there sometimes restrictions that you need to look out for?   [00:36:32.500] - Lyn No, you can earn one any time of the year and it's good from whatever you earn it till the end of the following year. So there's no location restrictions. All you have to do is earn these hundred and twenty five thousand qualifying points. Boom, you got it.   [00:36:48.880] - Kim When they first launched their Hawaii one Tamara, I think that's what you're thinking of. They did it to just California residents when they first launched that, you know, and they will have like special promotions where you can earn a companion pass by just meeting a minimum spend or by flying six flights. But the typical process that you can use at any point in time is to just get those qualifying points in and then you just have your pass.   [00:37:14.200] - Tamara There was a year when my husband was flying to Milwaukee every week and he was always flying Southwest. So he made A list but for some reason we never went through getting the companion pass, like now thinking back now, why did we not take advantage of all that Southwest flying?   [00:37:30.820] - Lyn It's it's totally the number one thing you can do to fly free. That's simple. You know, if you if you just do that, you're in good shape for a while for even for a whole thing.   [00:37:43.690] - Kim So do you have any final tips that you want to share with our listeners, just about, you know, helping families fly free?   [00:37:51.760] - Lyn One thing I want to make sure families know is that you can earn frequent flyer miles for whatever your preferred airline from home. That was the big light bulb moment for me. When I started into this, I thought people who flew a lot is who earned frequent flyer miles and I didn't fly a lot. So how can I earn frequent flyer miles?   [00:38:13.210] - Lyn So, I mean, making sure, you know, there's a lot that you can do from home right now, like taking advantage of airline shopping portals, which just means you start your online shopping in their portal and then you earn points for things you were going to be buying anyway. You earn frequent flyer miles or travel points, right. Or dining at restaurants.   [00:38:33.340] - Lyn All of the airlines have dining programs where you can earn points just by getting carry out at your local restaurant or eating there. There's a lot of different things. In fact, I have a list on my go to travel gal dot com blog of 101 Ways You Can Earn Southwest points and very few of them are by I mean certainly you can earn them by flying, but that's not the way I recommend doing it. We get all of our points mostly without flying.   [00:39:00.250] - Lyn They're earned without flying is what I should say. I also have a list of seven different ways you can start earning frequent flyer miles from home that you can download and that you can find that at families fly free dot com slash vacation mavens. So that's just for you guys. It's a PDF that you can download and it's easy things you can start doing today even if you're not traveling and start accruing those points for your future travels whenever you're ready to travel again.   [00:39:28.420] - Tamara Perfect. And we'll definitely link to that in our show notes because. I think that's really sort of us these days, like I can't remember things, so to have something written down that we can follow. That's what I mean.   [00:39:41.480] - Kim Great. So we will start wrapping up by asking our question that we ask all of our guests. And that is, what do you wear when you travel?   [00:39:48.590] - Lyn Yes. I can't wait for this. Been waiting for this question. So my favorite thing are Ofos flip flops. They were originally designed to be like a recovery shoe for runners. And I had a son who was a runner and I just happened upon them at the running store one day and I was like, these are the most comfortable, supportive things I have ever put on. So I got myself a pair and I have one. I'm on pair of number three. I think now take I wear a mountain about a year, but I have worn them all over the world, like at Disney, on the cobblestone streets of Europe, on the beach, you name it, you know.   [00:40:25.640] - Lyn And I love them because they're not your flat flip flop where you're, you know, that hurt your feet if you do much walking like these are more supportive than any sneaker or tennis shoe I've ever owned. And I at one point I had plantar fasciitis and that was the only thing I could wear that kept my feet from hurting. So I absolutely loved those. And they now come in all kind of different stylish designs and colors because people beyond runners have now have now figured out how great they are.   [00:40:52.100] - Tamara Yeah, I actually have a pair of their recovery slides and my husband had gotten them first and we we laughed at him that he called them recovery slides. But then I tried them on one day and I'm like, oh, these are so comfortable and I have plantar fasciitis too. And I needed something for just around the house. Like I can't just walk around barefoot, you know, it just will bother it. So I started using those as well. And I noticed last time I was in a running store, they have all pretty styles as well.   [00:41:19.760] - Kim I wonder if they have closed toed ones because Lizzie has a lot of trouble. She works in retail and she's on her feet like her whole shift and she comes home with a bit of the plantar fasciitis, like her feet are swollen and really hurt. And so I wonder if those would be if they have those toed ones that they do.   [00:41:35.030] - Lyn They do. And they look like they now they have boots. So I wear them in the winter for my boots. And they have kind of clogs which are but they're made out of material, not they're super soft kind of foamy stuff. But I think they have close toed ones, like the flip flops too.   [00:41:52.190] - Tamara So maybe you can just remind our listeners where they can find you online.   [00:41:56.810] - Lyn Sure. You can find me at Families Fly Free dot com. And then I also have a podcast where I teach families how to fly free, and that's called the Families Fly Free podcast. And then you can find me on Instagram as families fly free and then Facebook and Twitter is go to travel go, which is my blog. So great.   [00:42:19.730] - Tamara Well, thank you so much for sharing some of your process and your insights. And I'm sure everyone that wants to get more into this can go and download the PDF that you mentioned. So thank you for that as well.   [00:42:30.620] - Lyn Great. Yes. I love to show people how to fly free. Everyone needs to know how to do it.   [00:42:35.660] - Kim Thanks so much, Lynn. We appreciate you all the tips.   [00:42:42.860] - Tamara Well, thanks for joining us for another week on Vacation Mavens. We are coming up on our five year anniversary. So if you guys have any suggestions on a special episode that you would like to hear or recaps or anything like that, please let us know. In the meantime, stay tuned. Our next episode in two weeks is going to be all about travel to the Catskill Mountains in New York, which is a great destination in the winter and the summer and the fall. Not so sure about the spring, but we're going to find out more next week.   [00:43:12.080] - Kim Thanks for joining us and we'll chat with you again soon. Take care.  

It's our last pod before Christmas! Jake talks about how he used his few minutes with Alicia Keys via a company (SiriusXM/Pandora) sponsored Zoom meet & greet to confirm details of something he saw at the JFK Concorde Room in 2014 (at the start of "#mileburn2014"). Plus we dig up a quick tip on "secret" Chase Ultimate Rewards partners, find out we're not CNN's fave podcast AND finish our interview with our YouTube pal Joel Bruner. Listen now.

00:27 Giant Mailbag gets lost in the mail 1:01 What crazy thing did IHG do this week? Extending free night certificates in the most confusing way possible. https://frequentmiler.com/rumor-ihg-to-extend-free-night-certs-but-too-late-for-most/ 8:24 Mattress Running the Numbers: Is it worth the time to do a survey to get 10K Hilton points? 13:13 Main Event: Chase Ultimate Rewards: More ultimate than before https://frequentmiler.com/chase-to-add-air-canada-aeroplan-as-transfer-partner/ https://frequentmiler.com/chases-secret-transfer-partners/ https://frequentmiler.com/resources/ https://frequentmiler.com/air-canada-aeroplan-guide/ https://frequentmiler.com/latam-pass-a-sweet-spot-to-south-america-hiding-in-chases-secret-transfer-partners/ 50:36 Post Roast: Nick roasts Greg for Marriott post https://frequentmiler.com/marriott-devalues-homes-villas-point-redemptions-bonvoyed/ 54:33 Greg roasts Nick on purchase protection https://frequentmiler.com/amex-purchase-protection-to-the-rescue/ 1:03:05 Question of the Week: How do I use the rest of my Amex airline fee credits? https://frequentmiler.com/amex-airline-fee-reimbursements-still-works/ Don't forget to like, subscribe, and comment below! Music credit: Annie Yoder

Aruba is a strip of simple paradise surrounded by beautiful oceans. The island is peaceful and safe; a Jeep is all you need to make your own private beach. And, low-cost carriers like Southwest Airlines fly there. Combine that with IHG, Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott properties where you can use points, and this island can provide a very affordable Caribbean vacation. In travel news, we're talking changes to the CDC quarantine guidelines and an incredible award sale for flight to Europe if you hold any of the Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards credit cards. Links: Video tour of Aruba Awesome award sale to Europe! Hilton makes it easier to earn Diamond status CDC gets rid of 14-day quarantine requirement for people arriving in the US Are Uber and Lyft disappearing from California? Aruba Marriott Stellaris Review Hilton Aruba Review If you enjoy the podcast, I hope you’ll take a moment to leave us a rating. That helps us attract more listeners! Hope you enjoy the show! If you have a suggestion for a future show find me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and let me know what you’d like to hear about!

NowBoarding, your daily travel news in 7 minutes or less. This is your host, Ed Pizza, bringing you the latest travel deals and travel news you need to know Monday through Friday.  No more worrying about missing out on the best deals.  Give us a couple of minutes every day and we’ll give you what’s going on in the world of travel. Look for links to all of today’s stories in the show notes on whatever podcast platform you’re listening.  And, please share the show with a friend! First up today is hunting for extreme luxury with your hotel points.  On the heels of a story last week about a private island that you could redeem your Hyatt points at, Frequent Miler has found a number of other luxurious opportunities for Hyatt award stays.  Some of these hotel rooms go for over $1,000 a night and can be booked with your Hyatt points.  You can also transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt to take advantage of these opportunities. Want a free night in a luxurious Presidential suite or first class on a long international flight?  Then you need to find Gilbert.  Where’s Gilbert? That’s exactly the name of this fun game that Gilbert from God Save the Points is playing.  Tune in before he’s gone. From good news to bad news, Gilbert also brings us the news that you may want to avoid South African Airways for future flights.  The airline is definitely going through some turmoil.  Similarly, we could see the end of Hong Kong Airlines in the next few days.  They’ve been warned by their regulator that they’ll lose their ability to operate flights this week if they can’t raise cash.  Check your reservations and look for alternate solutions if these airlines were in your plans. Berlin may finally be getting a new airport, almost 10 years after it was scheduled to open.  And, as Ben from One Mile at a Time points out, it’s only fitting that some executives say everything is great while others say the airport still has problems. Wrapping up today with a 30% transfer bonus from AMEX Membership Rewards to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.  Virgin Atlantic has a strong product flying between London and the US.  But, they also have a friendly award chart that can get you to places like Japan without breaking your mileage bank. That’s a full wrap on today’s travel news.   That’s a full wrap on today’s travel news. If you’ve got a piece of travel news that you think I should feature on NowBoarding, you can e-mail me at ed@pizzainmotion.com, or find me on social media, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. And, you can find me blogging daily at pizzainmotion.com. And, since we’re still getting started on this new format, you can do me a big favor and leave me a review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to.  Reviews and ratings are a huge part of what helps us reach a larger audience.  And, if you’re enjoying the show, please tell a friend.  That’s your travel news in 7 minutes or less.  I hope you’ll join us again on a future flight!  

Episode Description We discuss some of our roughest hotel experiences ever and debate how much value Chase Ultimate Rewards and Chase in general has lost with all the recent changes. In outtakes we find out why we never record in the morning. We'd really appreciate if you subscribed to the podcast to get new episodes every week! See the subscription links below. This episode is sponsored by Travel Freely, the MtM recommended tool for tracking & organizing credit cards. Episode Notes 0:00 - Pain points when prepping for travel 3:54 - Rough hotel experiences and trips 19:43 - Break  20:38 - How much value has Chase lost with all the new changes? (United partner booking changes.) 28:55 - Timeshare offers and "reconsideration" 30:58 - Sofi Money - (MtM full review and our referral link) 33:14 - Amazon and Chase Ultimate Rewards Promotion 33:50 - The Plastic Merchant Bankruptcy Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Sticher, Spotify, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, or via RSS. Don't see your favorite podcast platform? Please let us know! Want some easy money? SoFi Money is offering $50 for signing up through our referral link and funding your account with $100. It only takes 2-3 minutes! Get 1.8% APY and unlimited ATM reimbursements worldwide with no monthly fees and no hoops to jump through for an easy $50 bonus! Then get $100 when you refer your friends!  Music: Rewind by Jay Someday | https://soundcloud.com/jaysomeday Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

This week Shawn Coomer from Miles to Memories is back to chat with Ed Pizza about some of the top news and posts of the week on BoardingArea. Topics this week include how to book cheap United Polaris award flights as well as United's newest international routes. The gents also talk about visiting London in 48 hours, the impending British Airways pilot strike, and why Citi Thank You points might be a better award currency than Chase Ultimate Rewards! Links Miles to Memories Podcast Booking a United Polaris Transcontinental Seat for Cheap! British Airways Pilot Strike Fiasco - What Should You Do? London 48 Hour Guide: Where To Stay, What To Eat And Best Neighbourhoods Citi ThankYou Points: Why I'm Earning Them More Than Ever United Airlines Adding New Routes to Europe and Caribbean, Increasing Frequency Thanks to Our Sponsor AutoSlash AutoSlash's mission is focused and clear: to help you get the best possible rental car rate, and then to share their expertise with you so you have the best trip possible. They take the same flexible rates you find on the rental companies’ own sites and then apply the best coupons to them. Sometimes the savings are modest. A lot of times they’re big. Sometimes they’re massive. They do in minutes what it would take you hours to do. And they do it all for free. Miles to Go: Travel Tips, News & Reviews You Can't Afford to Miss Don't forget to check out the Miles To Go Podcast where we bring you the latest travel news, tips and tricks each week to help you save money and travel better.

This week, join Talking Points on a trip over to Chase’s flagship branch in New York City. JP Morgan’s head of branch banking and wealth management, Pam Codispoti led a conversation with Brian Kelly to find out how he earns and redeems his Ultimate Rewards, and Brian shares tips for those looking to do the same. You’ll also hear a bit about how The Points Guy got its start, TPG's favorite redemption and advice for separating personal and business spend. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Guest Host Ed Pizzarello from Miles to Go is filling in for Jeff while he's on vacation with the family. This week we tackle a on of questions submitted with the Award Travel 101 Facebook Group. Touching on elite status, flight bookings, point transfers and the like. Speaking of transfers, Gary Leff from View from the Wing joins us for a special discussion on how to best transfer any Citi ThankYou Rewards points. If you are planning on closing accounts due to their recent cut to card benefits you can't miss Gary's expert tips and advice!Today's GuestGary LeffGary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler(2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. Thanks to Our SponsorEarn Instant Gold status when you join Fuel Rewards. Save 5 cents/gallon on every fill-up. Terms and Conditions apply, max 20 gallons per fill-up. Visit AwardWallet for more info on the Award Travel 101 Podcast!

This week, Spencer Howard from God Save the Points and the mastermind behind the Straight to the Points Awards Alerts Newsletter joins Richard for a chat about all things award travel. They tackle the breaking news on Marriott getting sued over resort fees, the big changes to Citi credit cards and a whole lot more!Timestamps1:54 - Meet Spencer Howard4:10 - Marriott getting sued over Resort Fees9:45 - Burning is more important than earning14:00 - Resistance to paying for valuable services21:50 - People (trolls) who are loud online are usually quiet in public25:50 - Big changes to benefits for Citi credit cards32:12 - What's coming in the future for points and miles?LinksCiti's Own Goal On Travel Protection Is Great News For ChaseStraight to the Points Awards Alerts NewsletterToday's GuestSpencer Howard is a credit card rewards and award travel expert. He’s living proof that points and miles can unlock many of the greatest travel experiences and uses his skills to tick off new bucket list items and help others do the same. A native of Kentucky and resident of Washington, DC, he’s a fan of fine bourbon, good debate and usually a combination of the two.Thanks to Our SponsorFly smarter by receiving premium flight deal alerts straight to your inbox from Thrifty Traveler Premium. This includes mistake fares, tailored deals from your selected departure city and even Delta SkyMiles Flash Sale alerts. Sign-up today and try it for free.

“An agent informed me she was making an exception and correcting the problem…(by refunding)…me back 65,000 miles and then proceeded to take out 15,000 more.”After Richard's Bonvoy'd anniversary trip battle of wills, it seems like Ed Pizza is set to give him a run for his money. This week's program that is behaving badly is none other than United MileagePlus. Ed recounts all the headaches and hassles from spending 9 hours on the phone for a simple route change request, only to have 170k miles just go missing. Just goes to show that no matter your status level, sometimes you can't get any love. This week the fellas also dish up an intro to manufactured spend. Best case example? Richard spending $10,000 at a Dollar General in one transaction! Tune in to hear the benefits and risks associated with this type of earning strategy.Timestamps2:00 - Richard & Ed = the new Statler and Waldorf3:25 - Spending 9 hours on the phone with United MileagePlus7:45 - Ed is a points hoarder11:00 - Losing options for booking travel when agents give you the wrong info17:55 - What is manufactured spend?19:55 - Who drops $10k at a Dollar General?24:41 - Walking the fine line between legal vs. ethical27:36 - Risks of manufactured spendToday's GuestEd Pizza founded the Pizza In Motion blog on the BoardingArea network. He's considered one of the preeminent voices in the loyalty program space and is a successful entrepreneur. He's also the host of the Miles to Go and NowBoarding podcasts.Thanks to Our SponsorFly smarter by receiving premium flight deal alerts straight to your inbox from Thrifty Traveler Premium. This includes mistake fares, tailored deals from your selected departure city and even Delta SkyMiles Flash Sale alerts. Sign-up today and try if for free.

Ed still hasn't been to Hawaii, but that doesn't mean he's not looking to learn and share all the different ways you can get there! Leslie Harvey from Trips with Tykes one of our resident Hawaii experts shares her experience flying Southwest Airlines from Oakland to Honolulu! Our "It's a Big Deal" this week is a great airline transfer bonus. Jen Yellen from Deals We Like has all the info you need on a promotion offering bonus British Airways Avios when you transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards.LinksSouthwest to Hawaii Flight ReviewChase Ultimate Rewards First Transfer Bonus to British Airways AviosThanks to Our Sponsor!AutoSlashDon't forget to check out the NowBoarding Podcast - with a NEW show format! Tune in for a recap of the week's latest news, deals and top posts on BoardingArea!

Episode 7 - What Happens to Points after Death?"My husband and I were saving up for a big trip for our family. Over half of the points we were planning to use would be from his accounts. Due to his unexpected passing, are all those points gone or can we still use them?"What happens to our points and miles after we die? On Feb 6th, Greta Anderson posted that very question in our Award Travel 101 Facebook group. Her husband passed unexpectedly at the age of 43, just days before leaving for one of two trips they were planning with points and miles. Greta so graciously shares her experience with Richard on how to secure not only your loved one's points and miles but also how to protect their identity.Show Timestamps1:10 - New features at AwardWallet3:45 - What's AwardTravel Advanced?9:05 - What happens to points and miles after you die?14:30 - A hotel program going above and beyond vs. one doing the bare minimum20:20 - Protecting your credit and identity of those who have passed27:00 - The importance of passwords and willsThanks To Our SponsorEarn Instant Gold status when you join Fuel Rewards. Save 5 cents/gallon on every fill-up. Terms and Conditions apply, max 20 gallons per fill-up. Visit AwardWallet for more info on the Award Travel 101 Podcast!

Kristin Lemkau, chief marketing officer at JPMorgan Chase, tells The Points Guy about the marketing and evolution of the Chase Sapphire products and what customers can expect from Sapphire lounges. Afterward, Sarah Silbert, TPG's senior credit cards editor, breaks down Chase Ultimate Rewards, transfer partners and booking through the Chase Travel Portal. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Mentioned on the show: watch my Chase Ultimate Rewards video here. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Have a business? Use the Chase Ink credit card to get 5x Chase Ultimate Rewards points with my hack!Watch me explain. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Talk about the weekend DC, Baltimore, Virginia trip, and Chase Ultimate Rewards ultimate screw up costing me hours. Intro: Foo Fighters - Arlandria

Korean Airlines offers an elite business and first class product for travel from North America to Asia. Like Singapore and Lufthansa, Korean offers extra availability to members of their Skypass frequent flyer program. Today, we’ll cover how to use Chase Ultimate Rewards to book these tickets, and how to navigate Koreans unique award redemption process with minimal effort. www.abroaders.com/201.

On episode #500, Eric and Neil discuss the value of credit card points programs and how you can use them to your advantage. Tune in for some great tips on how to make money while spending money. Time-Stamped Show Notes:  [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Fly First Class Around the World for Free [00:37] As entrepreneurs and marketers, you have probably spent a good deal on Facebook or Google Ads. [00:50] Neil recommends getting an American Express Gold Card, because they give you 3x the points for every dollar you spend. [01:05] For example, a first-class round trip ticket from LA to Dubai will cost roughly $30,000. If you use a cash back credit card, you will get 1.5-2% cash back. [01:30] For every $100,000 spent on advertising, the AmEx gold card will give you three times the points. [02:00] Unfortunately, the gold card only gives you 3x cash back on your first $100,000. So Neil keeps applying for more gold cards. [02:35] If you can put your client’s cost on your card, you will rack up points very quickly. [03:20] If a client wants to spend money on your card, you can charge them more for doing that. [03:41] If you use AeroPlan, you can end up getting a business class ticket for 55,000 points. [04:15] Checking deal sites is helpful and will save you money/save you points. [05:05] Using Expert Flyer helps you track when seats are available. [05:15] That’s all for today! [05:28] Make sure to sign up for an AmEx Platinum or Gold Card to take advantage of the amazing points program. [05:40] Chase Ultimate Rewards is also a card with a great points program. [05:56] Eric and Neil recommend the Problem Solvers podcast, because there is a great episode about the Hello Fresh CEO. To listen go to singlegrain.com/solve. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu

On episode #500, Eric and Neil discuss the value of credit card points programs and how you can use them to your advantage. Tune in for some great tips on how to make money while spending money. Time-Stamped Show Notes:  [00:27] Today's Topic: How to Fly First Class Around the World for Free [00:37] As entrepreneurs and marketers, you have probably spent a good deal on Facebook or Google Ads. [00:50] Neil recommends getting an American Express Gold Card, because they give you 3x the points for every dollar you spend. [01:05] For example, a first-class round trip ticket from LA to Dubai will cost roughly $30,000. If you use a cash back credit card, you will get 1.5-2% cash back. [01:30] For every $100,000 spent on advertising, the AmEx gold card will give you three times the points. [02:00] Unfortunately, the gold card only gives you 3x cash back on your first $100,000. So Neil keeps applying for more gold cards. [02:35] If you can put your client's cost on your card, you will rack up points very quickly. [03:20] If a client wants to spend money on your card, you can charge them more for doing that. [03:41] If you use AeroPlan, you can end up getting a business class ticket for 55,000 points. [04:15] Checking deal sites is helpful and will save you money/save you points. [05:05] Using Expert Flyer helps you track when seats are available. [05:15] That's all for today! [05:28] Make sure to sign up for an AmEx Platinum or Gold Card to take advantage of the amazing points program. [05:40] Chase Ultimate Rewards is also a card with a great points program. [05:56] Eric and Neil recommend the Problem Solvers podcast, because there is a great episode about the Hello Fresh CEO. To listen go to singlegrain.com/solve. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu

Citi ThankYou Rewards adds Avianca Lifemiles as it's newest transfer partner, and opens up some great opportunities to save on StarAlliance awards. Not to be outdone, Chase Ultimate Rewards adds AerLingus AerClub and Iberia Plus to it's list of transfer options. Singapore announces a significant devaluation for Krisflyer miles on StarAlliance redemptions and gives members just over 3 weeks to book tickets before prices go up. www.abroaders.com/196

How exactly can you maximize your Chase Ultimate rewards? This week AJ and Erik review the different type of transfers along with what is qualified as a "good use of points" and what's not. They also review some changes with routes that United is implementing soon, reviewing some listener email questions on last's weeks show and a way to get past 5/24 with Chase if you get denied being an authorized user. http://bit.ly/2s2CFEf

How exactly can you maximize your Chase Ultimate rewards? This week AJ and Erik review the different type of transfers along with what is qualified as a "good use of points" and what's not. They also review some changes with routes that United is implementing soon, reviewing some listener email questions on last's weeks show and a way to get past 5/24 with Chase if you get denied being an authorized user.www.abroaders.com/178

024R | In today's Friday Roundup we discuss Episode 24 with Joel and Alexis from FI180 as well as some expert voicemails from Chad Carson about real estate plus Ken talking about ESPP options. In Today’s Podcast we cover: Friday Roundup after Episode 24 with Joel and Alexis from FI 180 Camp Mustache tickets for January 2018 are available for sale, so come and join us! The letter Joel wrote to his younger self and the emotional value of it The sacrifice for living an opulent lifestyle is too great in our opinion as you have finite resources and have to make the best choices Joel and Alexis had a true choice and inflection point where they chose Financial Independence They looked at FI as a game and had fun trying to gain a quicker path to FI. It made them happier and brought them closer together The 72 hour no buying rule that Liz from Frugalwoods informed us about Brad’s new favorite card game: Monopoly Deal Feedback from the audience: Austin’s email about his path to FI with a career that didn’t require a Bachelor’s Degree. He is now earning 6-figures at 25 years of age Itunes review from Derek who is teaching his 5th grade students how to look at money, index fund investing and much more. Geri’s question about reinvesting dividends when you invest in mutual funds. You generally want to reinvest the dividends Question from John about investing in VTSAX in a “taxable” investment and what bucket to put it in? Our advice is to open a standard brokerage account and invest in VTSAX Index fund investing is the most tax efficient investing since there is low turnover and thus lower capital gains that would be taxed in the current year Email from Matt describing how he’s thinking more deeply by listening to our show and reading FI blogs ChooseFI mentions on other blogs FI hack from Ken on ESPPs and Jonathan’s response since he can benefit from it at his job and purchase his company stock at a 10% discount Follow up from our in-house expert on real estate: Chad Carson who gives us a background on how to evaluate the financials behind a rental real estate purchase Travel rewards question about how to review flight and alliance award options. Our  thought is to look at traveling differently and build in flexibility and find saver award availability Travel rewards question about combining Chase Ultimate Rewards points Hot Seat intro music update Itunes reviews and The Simple Path to Wealth book giveaway Links from the show: FI 180 Monopoly Deal card game Winning Williams The Green Swan article: Never Pay Taxes Again Done by Forty article:  Spending is Arbitrary Ken’s blog: TheOptionToSell.com Chad Carson’s articles: How to Run the Numbers for Rental Properties How to Travel & Invest in Real Estate - 10 Essential Tools of the Trade Award Hacker

022R | In today's Friday Roundup we discuss the True Cost of Car Ownership, how to maximize your travel rewards points plus a big announcement on a new in-house 'expert' for ChooseFI! In Today’s Podcast we cover: Episode review of our podcast Episode 22 on The True Cost of Car Ownership Your best-case scenario is buying a 5 to 10 year old gas sipping car Even a low cost car is going to cost you at least $2,000 per year Your fixed structural expenses move the needle significantly on your path to FI, and the car is the easiest one to change. Comment from Matt on how he introduced this to his algebra class on why buying a new car is a bad decision and what it amounts to when compounded Second generation Fire: Starting out right and not buying an expensive car (plus house hacking) will set people up for Financial Independence by 35 Question on Saverocity about living close or far from work and how that impacts your path to Financial Independence Is bicycling a pillar of FI or is it unrealistic for the vast majority of people and might even turn people off from pursuing FI? In a post-FI lifestyle, does bicycling make more sense? Comment from the audience on Cargo Bikes Voicemail from Rebecca on what to do with her car situation Our thought is that it makes sense for Rebecca’s life and financial situation to move towards the Honda Fit Our final thought on cars: Don’t buy a new car; buy a used car and drive it into the ground Choose FI is bringing on in-house experts on real estate, taxes, business building and all things number crunching Alan’s brainstorming ideas for helping the community build businesses Should building a side hustle be a Pillar of FI? Travel Rewards question from Noah: Should he cash in his miles & points and invest them in VTSAX or save them for future travel? Brad’s advice is to save them for future value where the value can be 2x-4x or more How the Millionaire Educator takes his rewards points to invest in an ESA fund Travel rewards question from Satya on travel to India using Chase Ultimate Rewards points Feedback from the audience: Kevin’s follow up to Friday Roundup 18. He spoke with his wife and she just wants to spend more time with him where she gets his full attention Human connection is the most important aspect of happiness FI in the news: Our upcoming guest ESI from ESI Money was featured on the Washington Post FI in the News: Article that Brittinni sent in about net worth being the key to wealth, not income Frugal Wins of the week from the audience Aaron’s feedback about the true cost of car ownership and he teased us with how he sells boats for a profit Final word on Jonathan’s pullups 

018R | In Today’s Podcast we cover how to harvest long term capital gains tax free. Friday Roundup 7 Review of Monday’s episode with Jeremy from Go Curry Cracker Brad and his family just visited Washington DC for the weekend and used Chase Ultimate Rewards points to stay at the Hyatt Place National Mall Brad’s trip to Walt Disney World with his family, parents and in-laws Jonathan now understands harvesting capital gains and losses after the episode with Jeremy Unconventional choices: Jeremy and Winnie haggling at the farmer’s market near the close of business. Brad going to Disney World before Molly turned 3 so they could get her park ticket for free. Jeremy taking his son on a flight the day before he turned 2 so he could be a lap child on a business class flight Quick hit takeaways from the Jeremy episode: He told his mom he had a ’60 year emergency fund’; he opened a Roth-IRA for his son for earned income on the website. The power of having money and financial independence enabled Jeremy to walk out of his job instead of doing something that he didn’t want to do. Brad’s story of when he left his job and taking the power back from corporate America Investing philosophy and the importance of taking your brain out of financial decisions His financial freedom clock started when he ‘got to broke’ and paid off his student loans Capital Gains Harvesting | Avoiding long term capital gains tax Case study: Married couple with one child. 30 years old.  $120,000 of income and maxing their 401k ($36k in total) Qualified dividends and long-term capital gains are taxed at 0% if you’re in the 10% or 15% marginal tax bracket Understanding how marginal tax rates work for income taxes The definition of FI: having 25 times your annual expenses saved up and invested The long term capital gains tax The long term capital gains tax  defined & explained How the Roth-IRA conversion ladder would work for this couple and how they can harvest long term capital gains tax free by using advanced FI techniques Itunes reviews and questions from the community Reader case study from Kevin: How to work with a spouse from an ultra-wealthy lifestyle and bring them over to the FI lifestyle Find what makes you happy in life and what you value and spend accordingly Kevin’s scenario is almost exactly like our case study on this episode Travel Rewards question: How to maximize hotel points with Hyatt and Starwood hotels What’s coming up on ChooseFI: JL Collins talks about the Stock Series, the Stapes of FI, JD Roth and Kristy from Millennial Revolution, the true cost of car ownership Links from the show: Podcast episode with Jeremy from Go Curry Cracker Hyatt Place Washington DC National Mall How to take a nearly free trip to Disney World with rewards points from Richmond Savers Personal Capital signup link – free net worth and financial tracker JL Collins’ Stock Series Podcast episode: Travel Rewards points Hyatt House Emeryville, CA Recommended Content Introduction to Free Money Part 1 of the Never Pay Taxes Again series

Is your travel appetite larger than your travel budget? This week, Kim and Tamara speak with Dia Adams, The Deal Mommy, about how to hack your way to free or cheaper travel. We cover the best hotel and airline programs for families, which credit cards provide the best rewards, and some of the amazing trips Dia has taken with her family through her travel hacking efforts. But don't despair that all this takes a ton of work! Dia walks us through how to get started.   ON THE PODCAST: 1:03 What we are talking about this week -- Travel Hacking with Dia Adams 1:24 Kim and Tamara's favorite credit cards for earning points for travel 2:00 Tamara's travel hacking with the Marriott 3:15 Kim's Norwegian Cruise tips for earning points 4:00 Travel Hacking with Dia Adams 4:40 About Dia 5:50 What is travel hacking? 7:05 Scoring free rooms through sweepstakes 9:05 Why Dia doesn't like the Marriott program 10:15 IHG Point Breaks 10:55 Best deal Dia has scored 12:58 First steps to start travel hacking 13:29 Set a goal 14:25 Get on Twitter 15:35 Strike when the iron is hot 17:12 Book award flights 11 months out 18:15 Free rebooking on Southwest 19:06 Alaska airlines 19:55 Favorite credit cards - American Express Membership Rewards 23:20 Chase Ultimate Rewards card 23:25 Best airline reward programs - Southwest 24:51 British Airways 26:15 Flexibility is key! 27:50 Book one-way tickets for reward travel 29:27 Award wallet -- free app for tracking programs 29:55 Favorite travel gear 31:00 Family Travel for Real Life Conference 33:30 Next week -- San Diego with Mary from The World is a Book About Dia Adams, The Deal Mommy & MacGyver of Family Travel Dia Adams, AKA The Deal Mommy, is a real-life Mom of two tweens in the DC Metro area. Between growing up foreign service and working in consulting, she built up a serious love of travel that included visiting over 30 countries and living in Thailand, China, and Ireland (where Deal Kid was born). After Deal Kid and then Deal Girl came along, Dia and Deal Dad struggled to balance their passion for travel with the realities of, well, real life with two kids. They have been able to show their kids the world while still maintaining their savings and sanity. She developed The Deal Mommy to create a community of Moms and fellow travelers who can share tips and tricks and motivate each other to get out there! Dia writes about family travel and real life at TheDealMommy.com and TravelingMom.com.  She also leads the "Family Travel for Real Life" conference which brings together leading family travel experts to share tricks and tips. Travel Hacking Defined Simply put, “travel hacking” is the art of strategically crafting the best in travel and loyalty programs for your benefit. Another way to think of a “travel hacker” is MacGyver: give me some salt and a paper clip and I’ll make you a trip! Best Hacking Deals Dia's most ambitious hacking deal was crafting a month long Asia trip with first class tickets (typically $12K each) to Japan. It took a year’s worth of miles, but the out of pocket was $117/person.  Another one was Bastille day in Paris in a 1,500 sq. ft suite for $100/night. On the podcast, she tells us how she used 94 stamps to enter an IHG sweepstakes with a minimum prize of 500 points and earned a total of 150,000 hotel points. Best Credit Cards, Airline & Hotel Programs Marriott is Dia's least favorite hotel point program. Generally you shouldn't pay more than a penny a point and sometimes the Marriott might be 70,000 points per night for a $200 hotel room. Marriott does have good promotions where for two stays you can get a free night. If you pick two nights at a cheap hotel, you can earn one night at a nicer hotel. IHG Point Breaks are great promotions and perfect for those "obligation" type of stays. It is easy to earn points on Hilton, but it takes a lot of points to redeem them for a stay. Dia's favorite hotel programs are Hyatt for service and IHG for coverage. Depending on your travel goals, Dia's favorite credit card for earning points is American Express Membership Rewards Gold, which is a $95 fee but gives you a $100 credit toward airfare and gives two times points on groceries and other common expenses. They also are easy to transfer points to Delta, Virgin America, and others, and offer transfer bonuses. They also transfer to Hilton and Starwood (which aren't at good rates), but also Best Western and Choice, which can be good in Europe. Her other favorite is the Chase Ultimate Rewards card, which has a $95 fee, but you can then transfer to a no-fee version after the first year. They transfer on a one-to-one ratio to Southwest or Hyatt. If you know you want a specific airline, get a Chase Southwest card for example. Southwest is the best airline reward program by a mile, especially if you are flying in the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean. They offer free luggage, no change fees, and a lot of flexibility. For international travel, Dia recommends the British Airways program, where you can book via British Air, but then fly on either American or Cathay Pacific (for Asia), which is the best program in the OneWorld Alliance. They offer a distance-based program, where a flight from Washington DC to Florida would cost 12,500 points on American and 7,500 points when booked through British Airways. Getting Started The first step is figuring out where you want to go! Then you can map out how you can get there, where you can stay, and where you need to focus your efforts. Not all airlines fly to each destination so it really helps to start with a destination in mind. Flexibility is key when your dates are fixed! Use the “just get over the pond” strategy for both Europe and Asia. Once you can get to Europe or Asia, it is inexpensive to use low-cost carriers or high-speed trains to bounce around. Otherwise, don’t redeem for less than a penny a point- use cash if it’s less than that. To get the best deals, you need to follow the hotels, airlines, and travel companies on Twitter to find short-term deals. But remember, you need to strike when the iron is hot and jump on great deals. To find the most reward seats on airlines, book 11 months or 330 days in advance. They will continue to release them throughout the schedule, but especially if you are looking for a larger family, you will have the most selection the farthest out. Southwest has a great policy where you can book and rebook without any change fees if the price drops. Favorite Travel Gear  Dia likes traveling in clothing from Soft Surroundings and FitFlops, which are thongs with bling that are super comfy, or Memphisto shoes. App of the Week Dia recommends AwardWallet is great for keeping track of your point programs. Posts mentioned in the podcast: List of Twitter accounts to follow Daily Getaways List This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, we may earn a small commission to help offset our fees.

Leigh tells us about her personal favorite, the Chase Ultimate Rewards Cards. We learn about how their points work, and who their Airline and Hotel Transfer partners are. Then they talk about their New Years Eve trip to Key West, Leigh’s review of the Chive’s New Year’s party, and Sean fondly remembers drunkenly befriending a stray cat.