Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
Until July 28 (Saturday), OfficeMax is offering a $50 hotel cash card when you make a purchase of $175 or more.
The cash card has some restrictions:
- Your hotel must be booked via www.redeemhotelcash.com (which probably means you won’t get elite stay credit or earn hotel points)
- Your stay must be two nights or more
- The card must be redeemed by January 1, 2014 (but it looks like your stay can be later than that as long as it is booked by that date – I’m not 100% sure).
Leveraging the Deal
Option 1: Buy gift cards through OfficeMax.com
- As I’ve reported before (see “10% off everything and 7% off everything else”), you can use an American Express business card to get 10% back from all OfficeMax orders greater than $250. It appears that you can use this promo code “TRAVEL” when ordering gift cards.
- Assuming you buy $300 worth of gift cards, you will get $30 back from Amex OPEN Savings, and $50 back in the form of this hotel cash card. Not bad.
- Use the gift cards for future OfficeMax purchases, or use them in-store to buy other gift cards (this has worked multiple times for me, but others have reported difficulty so try at your own risk).
Option 2: Buy OfficeMax stuff
- Go through TopCashBack to PlasticJungle to buy OfficeMax electronic gift cards for 11% off (and you should get additional cash back from TopCashBack). Don’t buy physical gift cards because you won’t get them in time before this promotion ends.
- Go through ShopAtHome or TopCashBack to OfficeMax.com for up to 6% cash back. Alternatively, go through the Ultimate Rewards Mall for 3 points per dollar.
- Add $175 worth of stuff to your cart, and then add promo code “TRAVEL”
- Use your electronic gift cards to make your purchase. Try to make a small part of the purchase with a credit card – otherwise the cash back portals might not kick in.
- If you didn’t buy gift cards first, pay with an Ink Bold card (5X), or an American Express Simply Cash card (5% back + 5% or 10% back via OPEN Savings), or any Amex business card (5% back for purchases of $250 or less; 10% back for purchases greater than $250).
- Total potential savings: ~15% (TopCashBack + PlasticJungle) + 6% (ShopAtHome) + $50 (Hotel Card). With a $175 purchase, that comes to about $86 in savings or almost 50%.
Is it worth it?
Certainly, if you plan to make OfficeMax purchases anyway. I’ve never used one of these hotel cards, but it looks pretty useful. I browsed to the redemption website and found that hotel prices were competitive and in some cases better than I’ve been able to find elsewhere.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
James: Thanks for checking
RZ: yes, as long as you book at Marriott.com, you’ll get points and stay credit regardless of whether you go through the UR Mall
Thanks FM,
Do you if you will receive Marriott Points and Marriott night’s credit if you book online through the UR mall? Working on a status and do not want to lose a night’s credit.
FM, tried to use the card to sync. No go. 🙂
James: I don’t think so, but that would make a great experiment (with a cheaper item, though)
Stvr: I expect so. Justt make sure the system accepts the promo code each time
Sorry for an unrelated question. Can the prepaid card be synced with Twitter to get the AMEX bonuses? T&C say no GC and Serve.
There is a great $100 cash back on $600 Dell purchase that I would like to do with Twitter. Any ideas?
Can we do multiple $175 transactions with the same CC (but maybe different addresses) to get multiple cards?
Thanks!
Caveman –
Read here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marriott-rewards/1362511-master-thread-current-marriott-gift-card-cash-back-tricks-promos.html
Do you get UR points for buying giftcards at Staples through the Ultimate Rewards Mall? The last time I tried I didn’t get any points.
snn: Reports have been mixed, but most people have reported success in getting points from Staples when buying gift cards. Several very recent attempts were successful. However, this deal is for OfficeMax which does not give points for gift card purchases.
Slightly off topic, how do you advise on obtaining marriott gift cards. What would be the best strategy?
caveman: If you have a Chase Ink card, go through the UR mall to Staples.com (4X), and buy with your Ink (5X). Alternatively, go to GiftCardGranny.com to see if there are any good deals.