In nearly nine years of working for Frequent Miler, I’ve seen countless opportunities come and go. From amazing limited-time offers to deals that died as fast as we could cover them, and from award chart sweet spots uncovered to programs unexpectedly shuttered, the constant is that this hobby is always changing.
Looking back at this year’s Bonvoyed of the Year and Deal of the Year picks reminds me to appreciate those deals that we hold dear, while recognizing that the next big thing is always just around the corner. We said goodbye to some long-held favorites this year (we’ll miss those cheap award tickets to Hawaii and the Southwest Airlines culture that some of us had loved for decades), but I am as excited as ever as we head into 2026 riding the wave of several of our Deal of the Year picks. I look forward to whatever 2026 holds in store and taking full advantage of all the opportunities it affords.
This week on the Frequent Miler blog…
2025 Deal of the Year | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep338 | 12-26-25
While the year 2025 had hot competition for our Bonvoyed of the Year award, the competition was also surprisingly tight for this year’s Deal of the Year. Particularly interesting is the way that “Chase complex-ifies, coupon-ifies, and cost-ifies the Sapphire Reserve card” ran away with the People’s Choice award for Bonvoyed of the Year, but Amex positioned itself as a top contender for Deal of the Year with the refresh of their own ultra-premium Amex Platinum card.
Your turn: Frequent Miler’s People’s Choice Bonvoyed Awards 2025
At the opposite end of the spectrum from Deal of the Year is our annual Bonvoyed Awards. In this post, find the poll where you can weigh in on your pick for the most customer-unfriendly moves of 2025, and see where the rest of the contenders stack up in the minds of other Frequent Miler readers.
Frequent Miler’s 2025 State of the Business Report
Every year, Greg reports on the state of the business side of Frequent Miler to give readers (and the rest of the authors on the team!) a rare peek behind the curtain. Interestingly, as he mentions in the post, Frequent Miler does not use the statistics noted in this post to drive the business. We don’t write posts with an eye toward “getting clicks” or influencing site revenue. We simply write about the things we find interesting in this hobby and try to create resources that we would find useful while also covering as much of the important news in the hobby (including promotions, offers, award chart changes, etc) as possible each week. Thankfully, a growing number of people seem to share our passion for miles and points, and a growing number of folks keep reading/listening/engaging with Frequent Miler. We have a lot of fun doing what we enjoy most (in a team that feels more like great friends than coworkers), and we appreciate all of you who tune in one way or another and enjoy points and miles alongside us.
How Frequent Miler makes money | Coffee Break Ep83 | 12-23-25
The companion piece to the State of the Business is our Coffee Break episode, laying out how Frequent Miler makes money. As important perhaps are the ways that we don’t make money: we don’t write sponsored posts, we don’t include affiliate links within our posts (you will only find those on individual card pages, and only when we have an affiliate link and that link is good for the best publicly available offer for the card in question). You’ll notice that this coffee break episode was recorded before Greg wrote the State of the Business post, because he is clearly ballparking the numbers since he doesn’t regularly look at site revenue. We’re all incredibly fortunate to have a thriving business at FM, but I think those of us who are employees of Frequent Miler feel particularly fortunate to work for a boss who believes in focusing on the product and people over the pursuit of maximum profit.
Looking back: Nick’s 2025 rewards plans and end results
In 2025, I began the year planning a more dedicated pursuit of cash bonuses from checking account bonuses and credit card spend. In the end, I added more points and miles than expected and missed what should have been an easy checking account bonus, but I did cash in some points from a good credit card offer. In this follow-up, I compare my numbers from the beginning of the year to the end of the year and offer some analysis about how I ended up where I did.
Frequent Miler’s Favorite Hotels of 2025
Members of the Frequent Miler team ended up in some interesting places in 2025, spanning a multitude of countries across the globe. In this post, each of us recaps our favorite hotels of 2025, offering some insight into why we picked them and links to where you can read more about each stay. This year’s top picks lean extra European, but you’ll also find entries in Asia, Africa, and the United States.
Which Amex Cards are Credit Cards? How many can you get?
Amex has both “credit cards” and what they dub “Pay Over Time” cards. There are different limits as to how many you can get of each card type. This post lays out the differences and everything you need to know about how many Amex cards you can get.
The GigSky free eSIM plan really came in handy
During my recent trip to Europe, I remembered to take advantage of an underappreciated benefit of Visa Signature and Visa Infinite credit cards: a free GigSky eSIM and data plan. Actually, I took advantage of this benefit on three different Visa Infinite cards, and it was a seamless experience and really useful benefit.
Hyatt Regency Birmingham, England in a Regency Suite: Bottom Line Review
Birmingham isn’t on my short list of places to visit, so I didn’t immediately read Stephen’s review of the Hyatt Regency Birmingham. However, I’m glad that I went back to check it out later, because Stephen had a great reminder/tip in this post that reaches beyond Birmingham: Some suites include Club Lounge access, so he was able to get Globalist-like benefits for travel companions without using a Guest of Honor award. That’s a really handy tip that will surely be handy for me in the future, whether in Birmingham or elsewhere.
That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Keep an eye on this week’s last chance deals and don’t forget to use all your coupons before year’s end!
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