Excellent Award Redemption by Andrew
Posted by Andrew Thursday, November 24, 2011, No Comments
Update For Newbies and Veterans Alike: The PointsBreak list of hotel offerings is out again. These are hotel nights worldwide available for 5000 Priority Club points per night. One of the best values in the hotel market.
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| Cable Beach Sunset, Broome, Western Australia, photo by Andrew Ingersoll |
Excellent American Airlines Award Redemption
by Andrew Ingersoll
A friendly “hello” to new readers. I’m Andrew, the son of Rick the Frugal Travel Guy. I’m currently living and studying a postgraduate law degree in Sydney, Australia. For more on how I got to where I am click the “about” tab. I contribute weekly to the blog my experiences traveling to various places around the globe. I love getting into a culture and experiencing life as a local. I’ve been really lucky to travel to some cool ultra-expensive places using frequent flyer miles.
This past week, I went to Broome, Western Australia. Broome is the gateway to the remote Kimberly region of Northwestern Australia. What made this trip remarkable was the amount of money I saved on the flights.
Whenever I am contemplating a new trip, I start with Kayak.com and use the +/- 3 day feature to get an idea of 1) cost of a ticket, 2) airlines that serve the destination, 3) timing of flight arrival and departure. A SYD-BME (Sydney to Broome) round-trip flight on Virgin Australia was roughly $750-800. A flight on Qantas was $1270. Not having enough Virgin Frequent Flyer miles, I logged into my American Airlines account to check my mile balance. (For newbies, Qantas and American are OneWorld Alliance partners). Having taken advantage of last year’s Citibank American Airlines credit card deals, I had plenty of AA miles for the journey to Broome.
The American Airlines website has a chart which illustrates the number of miles required for redemption; in my case, 10,000 miles each way within Australia or New Zealand. So that’s a total of 20,000 American Airlines miles for the round trip to Broome via a connection in Perth as opposed to $1270! Considering I received 50,000 miles for the Citibank card signup, this is a big win for me!
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| Port of Broome Beach, Western Australia, photo by Andrew Ingersoll |
I rang up the American Advantage desk and was flexible with my dates. The agent was able to find times and flights that suited me. I provided my points earning credit card to pay the taxes and reservation fee. All up $67 +20,000 miles. Whenever I ring, I am always thankful and appreciative of the agent on the other line. I can’t imagine what sort of flack they must get.
Again, for newbies, this is one of many examples of how frequent flyer miles and credit card sign up bonuses can take you to some incredible locations at prices we can all afford. At the risk of sounding like a cheesy ‘plug’, the Frugal Travel Guy Handbook really is a great starting point for new people to this fun hobby. As Rick has mentioned, profits for book sales go to the Wounded Warrior Fund. Many of these travel tips and tricks work all over the world. I saved almost $1200 here in Australia.
Next week, I’ll share some of the things I was able to do while in Broome.
50,000 Point Offer EXPIRES November 28th
How I Book Hotel Rooms, and Delaying Our Churn Date
Posted by Rick Monday, May 23, 2011, No Comments
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| Photography by Anne Cabo San Lucas |
We made it to Kos, Greece without a hitch. Room is very nice and overlooks the ocean in the distance. Our stay is on points and my Gold status gets us free Internet and I think breakfast is included. I tried to tip the front desk for a better room but they didn’t understand since they said they had already upgraded us. Oh well, I tried to help the economy. Tomorrow’s post will give first impressions of the island and resort.
How I Book Hotel Rooms
Remember from yesterday’s post that I do not have the luxury of a business expense account. I pay for every room night out of my own pocket. The techniques for business travelers would be controlled by different factors:
1. Company contracts with hotel chains.
2. Price limits for employee-done bookings
3. The best promos at the time that result in free nights and other benefits that pass on to the traveling businessman.
For us “Pay from your pocket travelers”:
This is a reprint of a post I did earlier this year. Try the technique yourself for an upcoming real or phantom stay.
All seasoned “travel hackers” have their own method for getting the best deals we can with hotel room bookings. I’ll describe mine step by step as I try a phantom booking in Indianapolis, Indiana.
I’m choosing Indianapolis because I’ve never been there, I haven’t done any prior research, and because I want to see how long the process would take (35 minutes, as it turned out). My hotel location will be determined by the availability of public transportation and the cost. I tried this booking for the evening of April 11, 2011. (I’m telling you this because deals change all the time. This was what I found that night.) My phantom meeting is downtown the next morning, with an evening departure that night. I am a three-star hotel kind of guy, so no Econo Lodges for me.
I start at my computer by opening some browser windows:
- Indianapolis Airport Official Website
- Kayak.com
- BiddingForTravel.com
- TripAdvisor.com (for unbiased reviews of hotels)
- SPG.com (Starwood Preferred Guest’s hotel offers and loyalty program)
- PriorityClub.com
Step One is the airport website and ground transportation. I hate renting a car in a strange city for one meeting downtown, and I’ve found that I can get an Express Bus for $7 each way. This information not only helps me get downtown, but it also opens up airport hotels and their shuttle buses back to the airport to catch the Express Bus downtown. Airport hotels are quite often cheaper than downtown hotels. I have that covered. Now it’s time to check out some prices.
So I head over to Kayak (www.kayak.com/hotels) where I can compare hundreds of travel sites at once. Kayak shows me that the least expensive, well-known, three-star chain hotel in downtown Indianapolis is the Sheraton at $129 per night. The airport search shows rates of $89, $87, $110, and $119 for hotels with shuttles.
I now have retail prices so let’s find the deal. So it’s time to head over to BiddingForTravel.com where page one shows accepted Priceline bids of $45 and $61 for higher-rated downtown hotels and $40 for a Radisson airport hotel. I may just stay downtown if it’s only $5 more, go the night I arrive, and be downtown already in the morning for my phantom meeting.
Now I have more work to do. I’d better do a TripAdvisor search on those three hotels to see if any of them are lemons. Since I’m a month out, I have plenty of time to bid on Priceline in the range of accepted bids, but I’d better have a back-up plan.
The next step: http://www.priorityclub.com/. I’m looking for Priority Club Points Breaks hotels for 5000 rewards points per night, and I find one: The Crowne Plaza airport location is a Points Break hotel for that night. My search may be over. I could also check Hilton Point Stretchers and the Marriott’s discounted awards as well, but I find that the Priority Club Points Break is usually the best deal in town.
So I decide on the Priority Club hotel where I’ll redeem 5000 points (which costs me $30 to obtain). Remember: The lowest retail price I found was $87. The airport has a 24-hour shuttle to and from the airport and TripAdvisor gives the hotel a solid thumbs-up. I think I’m done and happy.
This example is from this April but clearly shows the savings that can be had by a seasoned frugal traveler.
What if I hadn’t found the Points Break hotel? I could have gone with the Expedia Best Price match guarantee to take $50 off the retail rate of another hotel. The lowest retail rate was $87 for an airport hotel, so I could have gotten in for $87 minus $50 or $37. Or I could have bid in the high $30s to low $40s for a room downtown or at the airport on Priceline. And if those ideas hadn’t found results, I would have checked SPG.com (Starwood Preferred Guest) for cash-and-points or all-points redemption with Starwood. It’s tough to beat that Points Break deal, though, when you can find it.
I posted information on the blog about Expedia Best Price Guarantee and Priceline / BiddingForTravel.com. Good luck with great deals!
Delaying Our Credit Card Churn Date
After reviewing our credit reports and credit scores, we are delaying our churn date until June 20, 2011. My misguided attempt to get the Citi 75K card and Capital One card a month after a successful six-card churn in February leads me to this decision. Based on my on stupidity, greed, and Cap One’s triple inquiry, I have 12 inquiries between February 18 and March 17th. My inquiry total at present with Experian is 16 with one to fall off today. Katy has 15 inquiries on Experian with one to fall off on June 19th. Hence our new date.
The biggest mistake I see rookies make (and I made it myself this last time around) is trying to “get it all now.” There are indeed great offers out there for new credit card sign-ups but your credit is your most important asset. People are surprised by denials. You never should be surprised. You should receive all approvals if you play the game correctly. They want instant approvals, and that is just not always going to happen with every application.
By taking an extra month to churn cards again, I gain three things:
- My mass of February and March inquiries will all be 90+ days old. There will be no discussion of “too many recent inquiries” when I apply for cards again.
- I will realign myself with Katy’s schedule for applications and give her file a chance to shed that extra Experian inquiry.
- It will line us both up for a churn again in early October just after our September 2009 inquiries fall off our report.
Be patient. Protect that credit file. Accept the fact that you won’t get every big offer. Some just won’t fit in your churning cycle. Have a plan. Work your plan and, lastly, Don’t be Greedy. There are so many good offers. If you miss a nice one, there will be another right around the corner.
How I’m Increasing my Hotel Points with Priority Club Let Me Refer You
Posted by Rick Thursday, April 21, 2011, No Comments
Several readers have asked how I’m bumping up my balances. A year ago in Chicago, my buddy Bikeguy made a suggestion I never got around to. Now is the time and, Dave, thanks for the info. Better late than never.
Priority Club has numerous promotions running constantly for additional points above and beyond the actual stay credit. You must register in advance and many times there is a posting from multiple promotions for the same stay. Dave’s Chicago Seminar stay at the Elk Grove Holiday Inn paid him around 20,000 points IIRC. Mine was the measly 2000 we were promised.
The key, according to Dave, seems to be to register for the multiple promos just prior to the upcoming stay. I can’t tell you how often the computer looks for multiple registrations, but why take a chance? Register just before your stay.
The registration page for Priority Club promos is here Save this page in your bookmarks or favorites. There is a thread on Flyertalk (and probably on Milepoint as well) that lists all the current promotions found by other travel crazies.
Read through the thread for promotions that may fit your upcoming stay and register one by one on the registration page you saved in your favorites. You might be surprised by the number of points one stay can earn you. For my stay last weekend in College Park, I registered for 13 different promotions.
And here, provided by a reader Gary G is a link to all the current promos as provided by a PriorityClub Insider. This one is worth bookmarking or saving as a favorite.
Good luck and I’ll let you know how I do. UPDATE: As of this morning my promo points are posting. I’ve eanrned 13,000 points from this one nights stay.
BTW: DO NOT call Priority Club to try to register for multiple promotions in one phone call. As always, try and complete registration online and accept the ultimate results without calling for an update of one that did not take. The less said, the better.
Let Me Refer YOU to Priority Club and We Both Win
If you let me refer you and you make a stay (hopefully using this technique ) you’ll get 7500 extra points for staying in an Staybridge or Candlewood Suites in the next 90 days, or 5000 points for staying at any one of the other brands. I get matching points as well. Drop me an email and I’ll get us both some points. ingy104@gmail.com
Rookie Travel Tips With Shannon, and the Capital One Reconsideration Phone #
Posted by Shannon Friday, March 18, 2011, No Comments
Friday we talked about e-Rewards surveys and how to use them to earn free bonus points. The winning tip goes to Issac. “G” also had a great insider tip that came in by email. (Issac, send Rick your email address!)
“Hi Rick
I am a great admirer of your blog. I just saw Shannon’s post and here are my two cents.
The surveys on E-rewards are long and often boring and you have to concentrate to get past the pages.
How do we maximize return for effort?
Two tips:
1. For surveys that have “e-rewards” even in the redirected URL where the survey is happening. This means, e-rewards hasn’t subcontracted this survey but is conducting it itself, and not just acting as a router. Do these diligently. Fooling around with answers on these may result in disqualification.
2. For other surveys, which are about 80% of them, clicking on the initial e-rewards link will take you to an external survey website. They take a long time and most people quit half way through. What do you do? Well. If you DO NOT qualify, you generally get 25 cents, sometimes more. It is easy to self-disqualify. Give absurd ages, say you don’t live in USA, say you never went to any school, whenever there is a choice – check “prefer not to answer.” In short, be a survey taker who is weeded out before they get to the main survey. It will take < one minute and you will get your 25 cents. I have racked up &got; $200 like this. Have received Skymiles, dividend miles, border bucks. Borderbucks are by far the best redemption option.
Hope that helps.
“G”
On to Opinionplace.com:
Opinionplace.com, like e-rewards. is another online survey provider who offers rewards for surveys completed by consumers. To join is free. I joined and found the process quick and easy.
On the Opinionplace.com main page, hit the “Get Started” button and follow the directions. Basically, first they want you to fill in some personal demographic information then set up a log-in. They will ask you if you want to receive survey opportunity alerts by email or not. If you don’t, you must log in and check your account for surveys.
After the demographics, you must answer a household survey, two short “check the box” segments asking you what items you make primary purchasing decisions for in your home and then a segment asking what industry you and those in your household work for. It takes 30 seconds. After that they check for available surveys. I had no available surveys so I will be checking my emails.
An important note before signing up: The site allows only ONE member per household to participate. If their system detects more than one person in the household with an account, they will terminate the whole household. After answering the household survey I think it would be smartest to have the person who makes all the major purchasing decisions for the house join because it will open you up to more surveys. They aren’t going to send surveys on electronics or financial services to someone who only checked that they only make major grocery buying decisions.
As you qualify for surveys, Opinionplace.com will notify you ahead of time of the subject, length and reward for each available survey. They say their surveys on average take 10-15 minutes, but they can take up to 25 minutes. And the longer the survey, the greater the reward. The rewards come from four places: Amazon.com, PayPal, AAdvantage, and an Opinionplace sweepstakes. Amazon.com rewards using claim codes that usually pay from $1-$5. PayPal gives credits of $1.50-$5. AAdvantage rewards 75-150 bonus miles per survey and you have an additional option to enter yourself into a $1000 dollar Opinionplace.com monthly sweepstakes drawing.
E-miles:
The E-miles program offers bonus points for “reading and responding to marketing messages.” From what I’ve seen you are exposing yourself to advertising in return for frequent flier miles. There are three ways to join: respond to an e-miles enrollment invitation, get referred by a fellow member, or simply join on the site. I joined from the site. They offer Bonus points for the following: AirTran, Alaska Airlines, Continental, Delta, US Airways, Frontier, and Hilton Honors.
They offer you 100 bonus points for filling out the enrollment information. It took 5-10 minutes to fill in all the demographic data as they were a bit more detailed than Opinionplace.com. This is also where you log in to your program of choice to receive your bonus points, so have your member number handy. After I was finished and logged in my balance showed 200 points! That was an easy 200 frequent flier miles! WAHOO!
E-miles will email members a weekly reminder with earning opportunities. From that email you can click the “continue” link to view your latest points opportunities. Some offers are only available for short periods of time, so respond, if interested, as soon as you can. The site keeps “profiles” of your personal information used as targeting (for the advertisements). The more up-to-date your information means the more opportunities you will be offered.
Under your “Account” you can also set the maximum number of emails you want to receive from E-miles. The miles are deposited into your chosen program account in 500-point increments. You must request they be deposited from the E-mile deposit page and they may take 7-10 days to show up.
The award points offered are to the right of the “opportunity.” Many of mine now offer five points and the profile updates are 15 points. I tried a few of my new offers available. The first one exposed me to a page advertisement then a pop-up window with a brief article. Then I answered three questions about my travel preferences. It took 30 seconds and I earned five points. The second one I did was a 30-second video advertisement, a pop-up to the company’s website, and a 10-question survey.
I wish you all many free bonus points!
-Shannon
Submit your Frugal Travel Tips this week for a chance to win a $100 gift card!
-title your comments Rookie Tips and include your first name and last initial.
Capital One Reconsideration Phone Number
John provides this phone number to a real person for the Capital One reconsideration phone # 1-800-955-1455
Platinum Card for the Delta Transfer Bonus, Elite Status, Lounge Access, $200 Incidental Credit and More. Read my February 6th blog post for details.
