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Welcome to our Frequent Miler Week in Review Around the Web, where we recap some of the stories that caught our interest around the Internet. This week, there were some great tips — from saving on your mortgage to how to handle an Act of God and quite a few things in between.
How to Remove Escrow From Your Mortgage and Save Hundreds Each Year
I’ll admit to asking this question more often than the average person: “Can I pay for that on a credit card?”. If I have to pay for something, I’d like to get something back. In this post from Money Metagame, Noah looks at money you’re leaving on the table if you’ve never thought about removing escrow from your mortgage. Whether or not the potential earnings/savings are worth the time will likely depend on the cost of your property taxes and insurance — but this could be pretty low-hanging fruit if you’re looking to meet a new minimum spend or capitalize on a Big Spend Bonus. Read on for a balanced analysis of the pros and cons.
70 No-Surcharge Flights To Europe With American AAdvantage Miles
If you’ve ever looked up flights to Europe via AA.com, you’ve surely seen results on British Airways — and probably had sticker shock over the price of the surcharges/fees. But did you know that there are 70 routes from the US that include no fuel surcharges when using American Airlines miles? This post from Milecards.com lists those routes in a handy chart to assist your award searches. This is a handy resource to bookmark for your next trip to Europe. Less money in fuel surcharges = more money in your pocket.
Watch Your Hyatt Globalist Suite Upgrades For Errors
This post from Jetsetter’s Homestead is a good reminder to monitor both your bill at checkout and your account for unexpected deductions. With a number of programs to track, this is one of the conveniences that makes me grateful for Award Wallet Plus. While Award Wallet won’t prevent the hotel from mistakenly deducting an extra suite upgrade award from your account, it does ensure that such a deduction won’t go unnoticed — avoiding a circumstance where you try to redeem the award and find it isn’t there. That said, this is the second story I’ve read this week about Hyatt being unable to return a suite upgrade award (the other was here at The Free-quent Flyer, where the author didn’t get the suite confirmed and accepted a resolution from the property that included the return of the suite upgrade award). In both cases, Hyatt promised to work with the property to upgrade the next stay — hopefully they follow through. The moral of the story: keep an eye on your account and be aware that getting a suite upgrade award back if something goes wrong may be challenging.
Uh Oh! Your hotel lost power. Now what?
Sometimes things happen that are just beyond the control of the airline/hotel/etc. Whether it’s weather, noisy guests, or a water-main shut down that makes all toilets and showers inoperable from 10pm-7am (which has happened to me more times than I can count on a single hand), the hotel doesn’t always have the power to fix the problem itself — instead, their power lies in making it right with the guest. In this case, Jon of No Mas Coach writes about his hotel losing electricity — and his response to the front desk agent’s refusal to help was priceless.
Quickly Earn Top Tier Kimpton Status and Two Free Nights in Just Seven Stays?!
Kimpton is a program with a cult following. If you attend travel conferences like the upcoming FTU Minneapolis, you’ll often find a fellow attendee eager to sing the praises of Kimpton’s Inner Circle Status. In this post from Mommy Points, Summer summarizes how you can earn two free nights after just seven stays and enjoy the ongoing benefits of Inner Circle Status. Compare that to the 60 nights Hyatt wants for Globalist status and this looks like a great deal. Unfortunately, Kimpton’s limited footprint will probably prevent me from taking advantage of this one — but if you have upcoming stays in cities with Kimpton hotels, this is definitely worth a look.
South Korean politician, Kim Moo-sung, exits arrival hall like a boss
I close out this week in review around the web with a clip that’s still got me smiling days after I saw it.
That’s it for this week in review around the web. Check back soon for last chance deals.
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