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This week, the Capital One Venture X card has gotten a lot of buzz and so on the Frequent Miler on the Air podcast, we talked about the award sweet spots that make the card and ecosystem exciting now that miles transfer 1:1 to almost all of Capital One’s transfer partners. We also talked about the “sour spots” — our favorite sweet spots you would be missing if you gave up all other rewards programs for Capital One. While there are a few holes I’d hate to miss, it turns out that Capital One sure does tick a lot of boxes.
You can watch or listen to the show below for our thoughts on those sweet and sour spots or read on for more from this week at Frequent Miler about a mistake to avoid with Hyatt free night certificates, updated travel protection comparisons, and why you need cash back to keep you honest. All that and more below.
Frequent Miler on the Air
- 00:44 Giant Mailbag
- 2:14 What crazy thing did…Hyatt do this week?
- 6:17 Mattress Running the Numbers: Who should mattress run Hyatt’s targeted promo for 30K points after 10 nights?
- 12:12 Main Event: Our favorite Capital One Sweet Spot Awards
- 34:14 Capital One Sour Spots: What’s missing?
- 42:28 Question of the Week: My Chase Ink Business Preferred wasn’t instantly approved. Should I call or wait?
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This week at Frequent Miler
Help Wanted: Join the FM team!
Have you been reading these emails and thinking that you could do this job? Do you know your miles, points and deals and have good attention to detail? If yes, Frequent Miler might be looking for someone like you. Responding to an opportunity like this one was one of the best decisions I ever made. Now it’s your turn — and I’m excited to see who joins us next.
Everything you want to know about Capital One and the Venture X
The Capital One Venture X went live for applications this week and while we already knew it would have a great bonus, it was exciting to get a closer look at the benefits as well (see Capital One Venture X live, benefits as good as hoped and our previous coverage of the announcement of the card, which has more detail about its structure and benefits: Capital One Venture X Card: A strong new ultra-premium contender). Capital One has long shut out customers with a lot of credit cards, but this week many have been surprised with approvals. Since most didn’t have much previous experience with Capital One and the Venture ecosystem, I wrote this post to answer some of the most common questions and highlight some of the key benefits you might have previously missed.
Which Premium Cards are Keepers?
A lot of newly-minted Venture X cardholders have asked us what the card means for others in their wallets. With free authorized users who each get free Priority Pass, Capital One lounge access, and Hertz President’s Circle status, and more solid benefits this updated tool can help you determine whether your existing cards are keepers in comparison.
Ultra-Premium Credit Card Travel Protections
Now that we have a new ultra-premium card on the market, it made sense for Greg to revisit this ultra-premium travel protections post to include the Venture X so that you can compare and know which card to use when booking your trips. How does the new kid on the block compare to the establishment? See this post for more.
Is Venture X Too Good to be True? | Ask Us Anything | Ep 39
Frequent Miler has moved the time and frequency for our Ask Us Anything Youtube Live show — we now answer your questions live online on the second Wednesday of each month at 9pm. This week was our first evening episode and we fielded a lot of questions about the Venture X, including whether it is too good to be true (will it last?). But that’s not all — we also answered your questions about phone insurance, Marriott cards, whether Barclays is going to exit the US market, Amex upgrade offers and a lot more. See this post for the timestamps so you can hunt around for the questions that interest you most.
Cash back is looking better than ever (On Nick’s mind)
They say that cash is king. Whether or not you subscribe to that philosophy when it comes to your credit card rewards isn’t the point but rather that if you choose to collect points and miles you should be aware of the cost. With hotel programs continuing to devalue and mileage sales a regular fixture of the landscape, cash back is looking better and better for unbonused spend. On the other hand, with the glut of opportunities to earn 4x, 5x, 10x, or even 15x points on purchases, in some cases the cost is lower than ever — which might make now an ideal time to stock up on rewards while the math makes sense.
Nordic Choice Sweet-Spots: Great Value w/ Choice Points
Rewards points enthusiasts have long trumpeted the great value to be had with Choice Privileges points in Scandinavia thanks to Nordic Choice, but if you haven’t ever actually looked at it you may be very surprised to see just how good it can be. In this post, Greg highlights a host of high-end properties that are fantastic values for Choice points and downright steals with Citi points now that they transfer 1 Citi point to 2 Choice Privileges points. Keep in mind also that many Nordic Choice properties (I believe all “Clarion Collection” properties and perhaps some others) offer both free breakfast and free dinner. Considering a McDonald’s meal in Oslo cost my wife and I about $35 a decade ago, that can be a better value than you may expect.
Caution: Don’t accidentally use a Hyatt 1-7 certificate for a Category 4 stay
I’m including this quick tip post in week in review because I know there are many relatively newly-minted Hyatt Globalists who may have both a Category 1-4 and 1-7 free night certificate thanks to Milestone benefits. Unfortunately, Hyatt doesn’t provide a way to choose which certificate to use, nor do they make it clear which one has been applied to your stay. You’ll want to avoid using a 1-7 on a Category 4 (or lower) property. A technique to “solve” that problem would be to attach that 1-7 cert to a placeholder reservation far in order to make sure it doesn’t accidentally get pulled, though if you have more than one 1-4 certificate, you’ll still want to pay attention to make sure that your sooner-expiring cert gets pulled first. This is frustrating stuff, but good to know.
That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. As always, keep an eye out for this week’s last chance deals.
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Great episode! FYI Cathay now flies a350 to/from ORD. No more F. Sigh.