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Yesterday, we reported a Chase spending offer on the British Airways visa Signature card that is being emailed out to some cardholders. Over the past day, spending offers have come out on many other cards — each with targeted email registration. Here are some of the offers to watch out for if you have any of these cards:
- British Airways Visa Signature card: Get 3x bonus Avios on purchase transactions of $1K+ (up to 9K bonus Avios)
- Hyatt Credit Card (old version, no longer available for new applicants): Earn 2K bonus points when you make purchases totaling $4K or more (Expires 9 /15)
- Marriott Rewards Premier (old version, no longer available for new applicants): Earn 2K bonus points when you make purchases totaling $4K or more (Expires 9 /15)
- Ritz-Carlton Rewards: Earn 2K bonus points when you make purchases totaling $4K or more (Expires 9 /15)
- United MileagePlus card:
- Spend $4,000 on purchases and get an additional 2,000 miles H/T: My Points Life via Doctor of Credit
- Earn an extra 3x miles on purchases of $1,000 or more, up to a limit of 9,000 miles. This means the card earns 4x miles on all purchases of $1,000+. H/T: Doctor of Credit
- Southwest: Spend $4,000 on purchases and get an additional 2,000 points (works out to be an extra 0.5x points per $1 spent). H/T: Doctor of Credit
Do you need to register before making a purchase?
Of course, I was kicking myself when I saw the email about the bonus on my Ritz card. I am completing the $10K spend necessary for previous cardholders (I’ve had my Ritz card a couple of years) to earn “old Gold” that we expect to transition to “new Platinum” next month, and I spent almost enough to trigger the 2K bonus in the past 24 hours before seeing the email.
However, a read of the terms indicates to me that you do not need to register prior to making purchases. The terms state that you must register prior to September 15th. And indeed, since the bonus is valid on purchases beginning July 15th and the email only came through on July 19th, that makes sense. Here’s the pertinent part of the terms:
* To be eligible for this bonus offer, you must log on to the website referenced in this offer and enroll by 09/15/18 11:59 p.m. ET. You will qualify for and receive your bonus if you make Purchases with your credit card that total an amount at or above the specified target amount during the promotional period. Purchases posted to your account with a transaction date during the offer period are eligible for this offer.
It doesn’t state that you must register first, so I think I’m a stone’s throw away from a bonus 2K points. I’m a little short, but I’ll hold off on making those last few purchases until August 27th, since my Ritz card will then earn 2x everywhere (See: New details on Marriott & Ritz cards: no more elite credit per $3K spend, free night changes, more). Those who haven’t yet done any purchases during the promo period (and aren’t spending towards status on the card), would be better off waiting to make purchases until after the new benefits take effect. That’s because you’ll earn a total of 2.5x per $1 with the bonus offer (2x everywhere + an extra 0.5x). That’s still not a great return by any stretch, but if you know you’ll get enough value out of the points to make it worthwhile, it might not be bad.
Airline and Hyatt offers are the best
All that said, since Marriott points are only worth about 0.72 cents each, 2.5x only works out to a return of about 1.8%. You certainly can get a better value out of your points, but it’s not a given.
On the other hand, the airline and Hyatt offers can easily work out to beat a 2% cash back card, especially if you use them for particularly valuable redemptions. While there are ways to earn even more points on many purchases since these loyalty programs are Ultimate Rewards transfer partners, those with low-cost Manufactured Spending options can still make out well ahead.
Bottom line
If you’re a Chase co-branded credit card holder, be on the lookout for a targeted spending offer. Even if you don’t intend to spend on that card, it’s always a good idea to register for a promo like this just in case. You obviously should not dedicate this much spend on one of these cards if it detracts from more valuable return elsewhere, but there are some scenarios where each of these offers could make sense.
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So you’re saying if I spend 10k on Ritz B4 Aug even if statement closes after Aug1 I’ll qualify Platinum for next year?
@Nick Reyes – let me ask you:
Re: the old Hyatt card offer for spending for $4k – what if I upgraded to the new WoH card? Would I still get that spending offer?
Thanks!
Just an observation: Received the Hyatt offer even though I transitioned to the “New” card. It is so worth it. For example, 3 Hyatt points instead of 2 on dining. Simple enough.
I don’t think these offers are worth the time to register. I got the United and Hyatt offers. 2K bonus after spending $4k. So not worth it.
How do you figure? Our Reasonable Redemption Value for Hyatt points is 1.74 cents each based on their median value in relation to paid rates. Earning 1.5x is like a ~2.61% return on spend. There are only a couple of cards on the market that earn better than that on unbonused spend. And that’s assuming median value — if you use your Hyatt points on a high-value redemption, you can certainly do much better. Spending $4K will get you 6K Hyatt points. It’s not uncommon to find a Hyatt Cat 1 for 5K points that normally costs ~$150 with taxes. Getting $150 back on $4K spend is a return of about 3.75% — and you’d have another 1K points left over.
It obviously depends on how you’ll use the points, and you can already earn 1.5x everywhere with a Freedom Unlimited (and have the added benefit of more flexibility), so it wouldn’t make sense to take part in the spending offer if you have that card. But I wouldn’t say “so not worth it”. If you end up with an unexpected paid Hyatt stay, you cold earn 3.5x on the stay by paying with the Hyatt card if you have the offer registered. That’s pretty good IMO.
Those are a lot of numbers you are throwing out. At the end of the day you are earning an additional .5 Hyatt points, if you spend exactly $4k. You also have to consider that the $4k you are putting on the Hyatt card is earning lower value points, then a lot of other options. If you put exactly $4k on a Sapphire card and on a Hyatt card (with this bonus) you’d probably come out about $20 ahead with this bonus. $20 is $20, but for me to find $4k of unbonused spending in the next few months would be a challenge. Seems like much more hassle than it’s worth though.
That makes sense. That’s why I said at the end of the post that this wouldn’t make sense if it detracts from more valuable spend elsewhere. If you’d struggle to find $4K in unbonused spend, it definitely wouldn’t make sense. On the other hand, some readers will MS $4K very easily and/or have enough expenses to do so without sacrificing somewhere else.
I’m not sure I’d agree that Hyatt points are lower value than “a lot of other options”. Lower than some, yes. But I transfer plenty of Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt every year. There is obviously added value in the flexibility of URs, but if Hyatt points were worth much less, I’d never transfer URs there (I never transfer to IHG, for example). I know I’ll transfer way.more than 6K URs to Hyatt this year, so if I can earn an extra half a point with Hyatt instead, great (I’m not actually a Hyatt cardholder – just theoretically saying I see the value in it). It’s not for everyone though.
2.61% is still less than the 3% on a Discover It Miles, or the 2.625% on a BofA TR (with Honors status). Or just open a random card and put the same spend against a sign up bonus.
Right. Those are two of the three I thought of when I said only a couple cards earn better. The third is Alliant (ignoring SPG since it is on its death bed). But if you don’t have $100K w/ BOA, it’s just Discover or Alliant. Alliant isn’t a terribly easy approval for everyone. You’re right that you can earn better than the median value of Hyatt points with this deal using the Discover card. On the other hand, if you redeem your Hyatt points for better than average value, you could con come out ahead on this. It definitely comes down to your plans.
One could also spend on CFU for 1.5x UR, transfer to a Sapphire or Ink and move to Hyatt for that same 1.5x, any time. One could figure out something similar value with many banks.
Point was, this is a lukewarm offer. Use it if you don’t have anything better, but don’t bother if you do.
Yup. Mentioned that above.