250K points from a single card, the best hotels you can book with points, Hilton galore, and a lot more [Week in Review]

This week at Frequent Miler, we wrote about how you might be able to find a newly-targeted chance at 250,000 points from a single new card introductory bonus and which hotels are the best bookable with points for outsized value. Speaking of outsized value, we talked a lot about using Hilton points to incredible value, whether for an overwater villa or an all-inclusive ranch in Montana and a lot more. Read on for more from this week at FM.

This week on the Frequent Miler blog…

The Points Parade marches on thanks to a new round of targeted 250K offers

Amex continues marching to the beat of its own drum and I am here for that drum line. I recently applied for yet another Business Platinum card thanks to an offer to earn 250,000 points for opening one and meeting minimum spending requirements. In this post, I detail where I found it as a reminder that there are many different ways to check for targeted Amex card offers.

Podcast: Winning the Alaska x Hawaiian Airlines Merger | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep273 | 9-20-24

Now that we have a much clearer picture of how the merger between Hawaiian and Alaska will go down (and a much nearer-term timeline than we expected), what next? On this week’s Frequent Miler on the Air, we talk about how long we think transfers from Amex to Hawaiian will last, what we think about getting the credit cards, and more.

Before you book award travel, watch out for these pitfalls

Miles and points and the experiences they unlock are awesome. However, there are a number of pitfalls that can feel far less awesome if you don’t know what to avoid. This post is an attempt to pull together nuggets of wisdom like airlines with hard expiration policies, programs with exorbitant cancellation fees, hidden surprises that may show up during checkout, and more. Bookmark this post to make sure to avoid common problems on your next award booking.

The Best Points-Bookable Hotels in the World (2024)

If you’d like to live the dream, you may wonder where to find the best hotels in the world to book via points. While we don’t consider Travel & Leisure’s list of the best 100 hotels in the world to be a be-all and end-all definitive resource on the actual best hotels in the world, let there be no doubt that the 100 hotels they selected are all likely to be very, very nice. Nicer yet is the chance to book 28 of them using points for outsized value. See this post for more about which ones and how to book them.

Big SLH Redemption: 130K Hilton points for a ~$4,500/nt ranch in Montana

While not in the list of the 100 best hotels in the world, in what looks like it could be a Wild West type of redemption, there’s a ranch in Montana that is part of Small Luxury Hotels of the World and is thus bookable via Hilton. The place costs 130,000 Hilton Honors points per night, which is a steal compared to the nightly cash rate of around $5K per night. Note that I made a couple of updates because some readers were being told that reservations would be cancelled and/or that there is a steep fee for kids in the room, so I might not transfer over from Amex until we see how this shakes out for those of us already holding reservations. That said, with horseback riding, ATVing, Jet skiing, and countless other activities and all meals and even alcoholic drinks included in the nightly rate, this does look like a steal for the Hilton points.

Hilton has added 102 more Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) properties

RiverView Ranch & Western Adventures isn’t the only new SLH property to come on board with Hilton as of late. This week, Hilton has been in the process of adding 102 SLH properties to its booking platform, so you should have a slew of new options for using your Hilton points to book what are in some cases fantastic properties (like that ranch in Montana!).

Bottom Line Review: Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

If you can’t get enough Hilton but a secluded overwater bungalow and dinner in an underwater restaurant is more your speed than four wheelers and jet skis, you’ll want to check out Stephen’s review of the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island. He and his wife recently celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary (Happy Anniversary!) and had what sounds like a fantastic stay that can be booked with points & free night certificates through Hilton.

Podcast: Debate: 30% Amex to Hilton Transfer Bonus. Should we do it? | Coffee Break Ep26 | 9-17-24

Does all of this talk about Hilton have you wondering whether you should transfer Membership Rewards points to Hilton before the current point transfer bonus expires? If yes, you’ll want to listen to our Coffee Break podcast where we discuss whether this is a good deal and whether you should do it. You should take particular enjoyment in how lukewarm I sounded about this a few days ago only to find myself transferring almost 200K points to Hilton yesterday to book RiverView Ranch in Montana.

Podcast: Chase Ink Business Unlimited | Card Talk Ep6 | 9-19-24

Enough about Hilton! On this week’s Card Talk episode, Greg and I talk about the Chase Ink Business Unlimited, including what makes the card worthwhile yet also underwhelming in comparison to its consumer card counterpart.

Which Amex Cards are Credit Cards? How many can you get?

American Express has unwritten rules about how many credit cards they will let you have, so it’s worth knowing which cards they consider to be credit cards (versus what they now call “pay over time cards”) and how many of them you might be able to get.

LoungeReview: Excellent alternative to LoungeBuddy

In this post, Greg takes a look at LoungeReview, an app he’s recently been using to find lounges and access rules in various airports. I’ve actually never used either app myself. Instead, I usually just Google for the lounge finder tool for the alliance I’m flying (i.e. “Star Alliance Lounge Finder”) and then check the Priority Pass app and the Plaza Premium lounge website. Hmmm — it sounds like LoungeReview might save me some time . . . :-). I’ll have to download this one and give it a shot on my next trip.

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