This week at Frequent Miler, we brought you the best ways to rock Chase Offers (there’s a new one out for Starbucks by the way), how to rack up SPG points, how to start your 18 year old on the path to great rewards, and more. Read on for the recap.
Rocking Chase Offers
Three cheers to good old-fashioned American competition: Chase Offers have the potential to be a response to Amex Offers that I think is long overdue for Chase. Only available thus far on the Chase Marriott and Slate cards, there have been some useful offers already that can translate to big savings, both at the advertised stores and at places like Amazon with a little creativity. Read on for how to rock these offers right.
Top 10 shortcuts to SPG points
SPG points are the most valuable hotel point currency and it’s certainly arguable that they are the most valuable transferable currency, with points transferring to airline miles at 1:1 or 20K:25K with such a range of partners (or converting to Marriott at 1:3 for Travel packages). One key reason for their strong value is because they are so hard to earn. At 1x everywhere other than hotels, and no shopping portal, it can certainly be a grind trying to amass Starpoints. But in this post, we lay out how to pad your balance without breaking the bank.
Bye bye Marriott Status Buy Back
Earlier this fall, I contemplated mattress-running for SPG Platinum status. Greg wrote a post about it: Should Nick mattress run for SPG status? The piece of his argument that won me over was the ability to buy back Marriott status if I earned it through Marriott. DOH! Looks like Marriott has put the kibosh on that option. The buy-back was never a guaranteed program benefit but rather a recurring promotion. Many readers have gone to great lengths to reach for proof that the buy-back will be on during 2018, but I think it’s pretty tough to know what Marriott brass has in mind in terms of 2018’s promotions (if they even know for sure themselves). Before you get too excited about the audio from that tweet, check out the responses to this one. As for me, I’ll be dusting off my Ritz-Carlton card come January 1st.
Last call Companion Pass, adding strength with transfer partners, and more: November 2017 in review
Each month, we provide a summary of the key notes and news from Frequent Miler. Thursday’s post summarized December 2017 — check out what you may have missed last month.
My teen’s first credit card, and his next steps towards rewards
My son recently turned about -6 weeks (is your age a negative number before you’re born?). On the other end of the spectrum, Greg’s son just turned 18 — and he is now firmly on his way to earning miles without flying, raking in big cash back bonuses, and generally being the guy his friends envy (Don’t believe me, buddy? Use those credit cards responsibly for a couple of years and Spring Break 2020 could be epic). Reading about Greg’s son’s first steps on this path makes me wonder what bonuses will be available come January 2036….
That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler! Check back soon for our week in review around the web and this week’s last chance deals.
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