Chasing great hotels, common transfer partners, and multiple seats up front [Week in Review]

Some are in it for the thrill of the hunt and this week we give you some tools to hunt down great hotel awards between a list of the best Category 4 Hyatts and a Coffee Break dedicated to the best points-bookable hotels in the world. Continue around this week in review to learn about the transfer partners common to all of the major currencies, strategies for finding premium cabin awards for a family, and a lot more.

This week on the Frequent Miler blog…

Best Hyatt Category 4 Hotels & Resorts

Are you eyeing up that new offer for 5 free night certificates and wondering how to best put them to use? This post can be your vacation inspiration as it showcases your best options for outsized value at a Hyatt within Category 4. Keep in mind that those Category 1-4 free night certificates are valid even when peak pricing is in effect. Some of these Category 4 properties can otherwise be quite expensive at peak times.

Chasing Hilton points: Transfer with a bonus, or apply for Hilton cards?

Hilton’s partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) has been exciting for those with large stashes of Hilton points. I’ve personally run into several situations lately where an SLH property would fit my needs perfectly, but unfortunately I am out of Hilton points. Should we open a Hilton card / cards? Should we pursue more Amex points and wait for the next transfer bonus? In this post, I walk through our best options for generating more Hilton points.

Podcast: How to book the world’s greatest hotels with points | Coffee Break Ep28 | 10-1-24

Speaking of chasing great places to stay, do you want to book some of the best hotels in the world using your points? On this week’s Coffee Break episode, we talk through Greg’s recent analysis of the points-bookable hotels on Travel & Leisure’s Top 100 best hotels list. I’m always instantly skeptical of subjective “best” lists, but the thing about a list of the best hotels in the world is that even if there are places that have been omitted, you can expect that any that were included are going to be pretty swanky. I love being able to use points to stay at places that would otherwise be out of reach, so I’ll probably return to this list now and then to see if any of my travel plans could line up with the chance to book them.

List of Current Hotel Promotions for October 2024

As much as we all enjoy getting outsized value for points, sometimes it just makes more sense to pay cash. When I need to pay out of pocket, I typically like to get the most bang for my buck. Comparing booking options means not only comparing prices, but also current promotions since the return in points can vary widely from one program to the next depending upon current offers. This resource page lists the current known promotions so you can be sure you register and get properly rewarded for your business.

Best uses of Amex Membership Rewards points

American Express Membership Rewards points can be incredibly valuable. This post pulls together all of the best sweet spots, whether you’re looking for an economy class flight to Africa or a business class award to Asia or you want to leverage your points to book an 8-stop 12-segment round the world journey in business class. This is a post to bookmark as we keep the various sweet spots up to date to reflect award chart changes, so this one should always give you some help in planning for your redemption options.

Here’s what you need in order to find business class awards for 3 or more people

The biggest challenge in taking advantage of great award chart sweet spots is finding award availability, particularly for a family or group. Looking for the secret day of the week when airline computer systems do an automated inventory refresh that momentarily makes 4 seats available in business class using miles that you can snag if you click quickly enough immediately after the clock strikes 1am Eastern time? Yeah, that doesn’t exist. Instead, you’re going to need more money, more miles, or more flexibility. Thankfully, we write about how to increase each of those things — even the ones you don’t think are possible.

The most promiscuous airline programs

You won’t find it difficult to accumulate more miles with the more promiscuous airline programs. One of the many reasons that you need to get to know your foreign frequent flyer programs is because it is exponentially easier to amass the rewards necessary for a valuable award since you can combine forces by transferring points from multiple ecosystems. That’s because you can stack together rewards from as many as six transferrable currencies — which means the chance to put together new card intro bonuses from potentially dozen of different credit cards. Learning the best uses of these “promiscuous” partners can help you up your game and get to your next award even faster.

1 month of notice: Virgin Atlantic to go to dynamic award pricing

One of the most promiscuous airline programs is Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. That means you can accumulate a lot of Virgin points with relative ease. Unfortunately, you’re soon going to need a lot of points if you want to book an award through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Virgin has gotten in the habit of overnight, no-notice and no-notification devaluations. To their credit, the latest program devaluation was communicated a month in advance. That’s better than past devaluations, but that comes as little comfort since this is the devaluation that is bringing dynamic pricing to Virgin’s program, which is likely to be a doozy of a deval for those who have been enthusiastic about Virgin’s award chart. Thankfully, dynamic pricing is only coming to Virgin’s own flights…..for now.

Podcast: 10 Best and 5 Worst uses of ThankYou Rewards | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep275 | 10-4-24

Last week, we talked about how to amass lots of Citi Thank You points. This week on Frequent Miler on the Air, we discussed the best of the best sweet spot redemption options and the worst of the worst uses that you should avoid like the plague.

Capital One Miles Complete Guide

If you’re setting your sights on some of the other airline programs shared in common by many of the transferable currencies, you might want to check out Capital One. Since launching their transferable points program a couple of years ago, Capital One Miles have grown into an excellent transferable currency. This updated complete guide to the program includes everything you need to know about the Capital One program.

Podcast: US Bank Altitude Connect | Card Talk Ep8 | 10-3-24

The US Bank Altitude Connect is one that might not be top of mind for many readers, but it can be a great complement to a wallet if you are aiming to keep annual fees low while maintaining a couple of nice category bonuses and benefits. The 4 Priority Pass lounge visits per year can be to restaurants (where you could get up to $28 off the bill each time for a total of $112) and the Global Entry or TSA PreCheck reimbursement is another great deal with no annual fee. I’d probably recommend this card for someone who only travels once or twice a year for those benefits and 4% back on travel and gas.

That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Keep an eye on this week’s last chance deals and mark your calendar to grab them before they’re gone.

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