If you like more hotel for less, we’ve more or less got you covered this week at Frequent Miler. From family rates to stacking 4th nights free, whether you’re looking to pay with points or just pack a few more on the pile, read on for this week in review at FM.
St. Pancras Renaissance Junior Suite. Wow!
If you like opulence and old money, if you want to step off the train and be swooped into your hotel, if you’d like to ask the butler to draw your bath, you need to check out Greg’s post on the St. Pancras Renaissance. Half the fun of earning a bajillion points is putting them to use on experiences you might not otherwise be willing to buy for the going rate. On Greg’s recent trip to London, he stayed in what looks like a swanky suite at the St. Pancras Renaissance in London. See if the Chambers Wing lived up to the hype.
Should you book Prestige 4th Night Free online?
We have covered the changes to the Citi Prestige card extensively here at Frequent Miler – from the rumored rumblings to the confirmed key details. Arguably the most valuable benefit on the Prestige card (and perhaps the most valuable single benefit offered on any card) is the 4th night free on hotel bookings — you could easily save hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year depending on your travel patterns. A new feature that rolled out this week is the ability to make 4th night free bookings online through the ThankYou travel portal. Online, that sounds convenient. But should you do it? Spoiler alert! Probably not. Read on to find out why.
Up to 1.67 cents per point value from ThankYou points
Hold up — on second thought, maybe you do want to book that 4th night free through the ThankYou portal after all. At least, some people might. As Greg points out in this post, the math gets a little murky here — but if you’re swimming in points and wouldn’t otherwise consider paying in cash, this is a look at how to stretch your ThankYou points to try to get the most you can for the least number of points possible. And isn’t that the point of the points?
Did you know about the Hyatt family rate?
Did you know that families could get half off the price of a second room for the kids? File this under things I can’t believe I’d never read about before (and knowledge I’m sure will come in handy down the line). Read on to find out how you can add a second room at a fraction of the cost, even when room #1 is reserved on points.
Newbie’s progress and his 3X surprise
If there is something more fun than earning 10K extra points, it’s earning 10K extra points that you didn’t expect. It’s a nice feeling — a large purchase codes as something you didn’t expect and you’ve suddenly got a bigger pile of points than you expected. Ben, our rewards card newbie friend, got such a surprise during his first month in the game. That’s where it all starts — I’m willing to bet that if he wasn’t hooked on this before, he’s in it for the long haul now. Follow his progress as be plows through the first few signup bonuses and plans his next steps.
Stack two free night promos + 10K bonus @ Hyatt all-inclusive
I might live in a frozen tundra during the winter, but make no mistake about it: my blood is tropical. Give me palm trees and sunshine and a Hawaiian shirt and I’m a happy guy. One thing I love even more than palm trees and sunshine is paying less to stay near them. If you like piña coladas and the taste of champagne, it’s time to plan your escape. Hyatt is offering a big discount plus the 4th night free. Now that the Citi Prestige is basing their 4th night free on the average cost per night, you can stack the two promotions. You could pay less than $200 a night for an all-inclusive hotel and rake in a nice haul of points to boot. Read on for more.
My Business Platinum retention call
Every businessperson out there will tell you that it’s a heck of a lot more cost effect to keep your current customers than it is to hunt for new ones. Banks are no different than any other type of company in that regard: they would like to keep your business. Sometimes, if you’re thinking about cancelling, they will make leaps and bounds to keep your business. Sometimes it’s just leaps. Sometimes, they will step in your general vicinity and feign concern at the prospect of losing you. But it’s worth calling to see where you stand. Based on recent reports, Greg called to see if there was an enticing offer to keep his Business Platinum in his pocket. Find out how it went.
That’s it for our Frequent Miler week in review. Check back soon for our weekly review around the web and this week’s month-end last chance deals.
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I wanted to request a bit of advice. Im looking to book a flight via AA in business from the North East to Peru. I cant book directly through AA (its a LAN flight) but here are my options:
1. I can book through Iberia for 100,000 Avios +$73. (I have the Avios or can transfer approx 70K amex MR points with the current bonus)…
2. The flight is pricing out at just under $2K. I still have my 50% point rebate on my amex business platinum and could go that route for just over 90K points. The benefit here being that I would earn 10K AA points and elite qualifying miles as well. I also think i would earn 10K amex MR points back since id be paying through amex travel though and then “wiping the charge with points” though im not sure if you earn the 5x MR points when using the 50% rebate.
Which do you think is a better use of points/the better route?
If anyone is aware of any other better ways of booking a LAN flight id be most appreciative as well.
Thanks!