I love credit cards so much!

[Alice Sr.]

My oldest who went 'vintage, dapper Minnie-inspired' to a drama awards and dance party tonight. My other dd went also but bailed on the dapper disney theme at the last hour.

ETA: Sorry the pic is huge! I have no idea how to resize. I'll try and if I can't figure it out, I'll delete!

Arg! Why can't I see it Maybe you could PM me

 

[Judique]

Arg! Why can't I see it Maybe you could PM me

I couldn't see the picture either, but did enjoy seeing the dress on Amazon which I thought was really cute!

 

[miztressuz]

I checked and did not get a 2nd email, hope they're not going to say, "nope just kidding, no SPG for you". Yes I have the reference # and it does end with USD. Was your SPG account number linked to the page that opened (based on the reference #)?


I don't mind the two different accounts with Chase but like the idea of both being on one site if it's like you say "clean". Thanks

That's what I am wondering will happen if I use @miztressuz's link.

So how do you like 2 separate Amex account logins? Do you have two with Chase also? Do you have a preference between the 2 Amex account sites or are they basically the same? Thanks!

So the link they send you before you have the card uses the Ref number to associate your account. It prefills the reference number field from the URL and then asks for your year of birth and zip code. The only way I could get to that page was with the button in the email. If you try to register without that URL it kept asking for card number and the usual info. There's something in the URL path that prompts the reference number page rather than the card number page.
I played with it and when I changed the digits in my ref number and refreshed it updated the reference number field to match, so I can't see any reason why you couldn't just plug your ref number in there and get setup... not saying I'm 100% sure but on the surface it should work.

Edit: Oh, and the main question, Yes soon as I created the account it had my SPG card with the last digits of the account number shown.

 

[havaneselover]

Spg biz will be here today! Will pay my car insurance and August whale watching excursion in Juneau tonight.

 

[Judique]

Well, finally got the opinion survey to work, finished my first survey for the 1000 IHG points, kept clicking around and got 20 points for not qualifying four times (5 points each time) and then got offers for multiple surveys, all of which were varying small point amounts. 90 points, 60 points, 20 points, 30 points. I qualified for a 30 point one and went to sleep after earning 1050 IHG points. This took about 2 hours! (At 2am mind you!) I am not on a good sleep schedule since I retired. So you may see me posting at all hours, except 4-6 when the disboards go down here. If I'm awake I often click open a bunch of pages to read while its down as I'm often awake and well, not doing anything else.

Anyway, I figure I earned about $6 worth of IHG points! But don't see much hope for earning on this page because it takes a lot of time to find a survey and they are pretty long. If I wasn't retired I would have given up faster and forgot about it. (And I would probably been asleep anyway!)

 

[miztressuz]

Well, finally got the opinion survey to work, finished my first survey for the 1000 IHG points, kept clicking around and got 20 points for not qualifying four times (5 points each time) and then got offers for multiple surveys, all of which were varying small point amounts. 90 points, 60 points, 20 points, 30 points. I qualified for a 30 point one and went to sleep after earning 1050 IHG points. This took about 2 hours! (At 2am mind you!) I am not on a good sleep schedule since I retired. So you may see me posting at all hours, except 4-6 when the disboards go down here. If I'm awake I often click open a bunch of pages to read while its down as I'm often awake and well, not doing anything else.

Anyway, I figure I earned about $6 worth of IHG points! But don't see much hope for earning on this page because it takes a lot of time to find a survey and they are pretty long. If I wasn't retired I would have given up faster and forgot about it. (And I would probably been asleep anyway!)

Yeah, it most likely won't be a huge earner, but if you get on a hot streak (qualify for a bunch of short guys) then it'll add up eventually. I only do eRewards occasionally but usually get enough each year for a few thousand points to somewhere. Lately swagbucks has been using my survey time so eRewards and the SW one have suffered... and now I'm adding another, hehe. But couldn't pass up the 1000 pts for the first survey.

 

[hsmamato2]

Just keep in mind that more POINTS does not necessarily equal more VALUE. I have NO idea what Jetblue or United points are worth but TPG (boy I hate using him as an example but I'll do it) lists the following:
Jet Blue = 1.3cpp // United = 1.4cpp // Southwest = 1.5cpp

Now one thing I am an expert on is Southwest points and I almost always get 1.6cpp out of my Southwest points. SO while yes you would get 10% extra points with United...it may still fall short of the value of Southwest. It seems that Jetblue would be a bad option based solely on these numbers.

Regarding Availability: Any hotel with 7 consecutive nights of standard award availability (search at Marriott.com) will allow you to redeem your 7 night certificate. I would assume the key here is booking early. Also if you aren't sure what category you're going to book in just get the Cat1-5 cert. for now and you can pay the difference (30k pts per category upgrade) later when you book your room......

Regarding the value of the points: Understand that the math here is basically this: you get to book 7 nights at a Marriott property and pay EXACTLY what you would have if you had just booked it on points PLUS transfer to an airline partner USUALLY at 1:1 (Southwest, Alaska, American, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, British, AirCanda, AeroMexico, Virgin, Iberia). The major exceptions are Jetblue which is 2:1 (pts cut in half) and United which is 1:1.1 (10% bonus points). A bunch of other foreign airlines are available at 10:7 ratio.

Using Southwest as an example...So you get your 7 night certificate at a Cat 5 property for 150k point - which again is exactly what you'd pay for a 7 night stay at ANY cat 5 property. Then you can transfer 50k, 70k, 100k, or 120k additional Marriott Points for Southwest RR points at a 1:1 ratio. Marriott points are typically worth somewhere between 0.8cpp and 1.3cpp in my experience and so now you are getting 1.6cpp out of them by transferring to Southwest. That's what makes this a good deal. AND You truly get the same value whether you transfer 50k or 120k or anything in between.

I've read numerous articles on these packages and very few seem to actually explain the math (the way I just did). IF you really think about it hard, they're simple to understand and it either makes sense for you or it doesn't. The big thing is if you can't do the 7 night stay in once spot or if that "cramps your style" then these packages may not be a good deal for you. I personally think they can make great sense on a Disneyland trip if you plan to stay 7 nights in Anaheim. Happy to answer more questions if anybody has any...

Award availability..... tell me more about that.... some awards seem to never be available (IHG I'm looking at you) while some are easy to find (SPG,if a night is open you can take it) how IS Marriott with these certs? Will I end up holding a useles cert. desperately trying to find a place to stay to use it? any experiences here? esp.since they seem to have so few great choices...AND I'm also wondering if a cert can be used at swolphin..... IDK on the merger thing but our last trip the tv said 'welcome to Marriott' ate the Dolphin.... would this mean (maybe) that it could be booked as a Marriott property?(maybe soon?) and if so,I wonder which level.
As far as upgrading the cat level later, do you mean that if I have a 1-5,and want to book a 6,it's an extra 30k in total? for the 7 nights? and if I wanted cat 7,that would be 60k?

 

[hsmamato2]

Yes BJ’s counts. (Hello discounted Disney Gift cards!). Another option to use up the bonus category is Costco online. You can’t use Discover in store but online you can. Get on Costco online and you can buy whatever with Discover or if nothing else get the Costco gift cards. They actually have a few discounted restaurant gift cards on Costco online you might want to look at too.

where's the stacking opportunity for BJ's?....yeeesh.... this thread is the best thread around! it moves so fast

 

[hsmamato2]

I had to make a separate login for Amex Biz, admittedly I didn’t dig deep to see if I could merge it with my personal login (this was my first Amex biz card).

when I applied I used my spg # already on the log in, it shows on my same page (which I need b/c streamlining is best for me)

 

[Judique]

Yeah, it most likely won't be a huge earner, but if you get on a hot streak (qualify for a bunch of short guys) then it'll add up eventually. I only do eRewards occasionally but usually get enough each year for a few thousand points to somewhere. Lately swagbucks has been using my survey time so eRewards and the SW one have suffered... and now I'm adding another, hehe. But couldn't pass up the 1000 pts for the first survey.

I just spent the last 40 minutes clicking and only got 5 points.

 

[hsmamato2]

I just spent the last 40 minutes clicking and only got 5 points.

I used to love Erewards as the points earned counted towards a companion pass.... I worked hard to get those extra points! Now I'm more of a slacker and have better things to do....

 

[Judique]

Award availability..... tell me more about that.... some awards seem to never be available (IHG I'm looking at you) while some are easy to find (SPG,if a night is open you can take it) how IS Marriott with these certs? Will I end up holding a useles cert. desperately trying to find a place to stay to use it? any experiences here? esp.since they seem to have so few great choices...AND I'm also wondering if a cert can be used at swolphin..... IDK on the merger thing but our last trip the tv said 'welcome to Marriott' ate the Dolphin.... would this mean (maybe) that it could be booked as a Marriott property?(maybe soon?) and if so,I wonder which level.
As far as upgrading the cat level later, do you mean that if I have a 1-5,and want to book a 6,it's an extra 30k in total? for the 7 nights? and if I wanted cat 7,that would be 60k?

Can you book the certificate in some one else's name? I've been able to book IHG and SPG nights for my kids with no problems.

 

[Judique]

I used to love Erewards as the points earned counted towards a companion pass.... I worked hard to get those extra points! Now I'm more of a slacker and have better things to do....

I think I'm rapidly turning into a slacker with this program.

 

[pillow]

Can you book the certificate in some one else's name? I've been able to book IHG and SPG nights for my kids with no problems.

I've wondered this too - about Marriott specifically (since its so dang hard to use the cat 5 cert - this is a recurring theme with me - can you tell I'm bitter about this??). I have read some data points that suggest you CAN use the cat 5 Marriott cert for others, but I've also seen data points where folks said it didn't work for them. I haven't tried with Marriott - just figured it was too risky.

 

[afan]

I used to love Erewards as the points earned counted towards a companion pass.... I worked hard to get those extra points! Now I'm more of a slacker and have better things to do....

I rarely do survey's on there any more because I can do better on swagbucks and other survey sites. Erewards was one of my first survey sites though so I do still try and so them but if the email isn't for a specific survey. I also used to get a lot more emails from them.

 

[pillow]

Award availability..... tell me more about that.... some awards seem to never be available (IHG I'm looking at you) while some are easy to find (SPG,if a night is open you can take it) how IS Marriott with these certs? Will I end up holding a useles cert. desperately trying to find a place to stay to use it? any experiences here? esp.since they seem to have so few great choices...AND I'm also wondering if a cert can be used at swolphin..... IDK on the merger thing but our last trip the tv said 'welcome to Marriott' ate the Dolphin.... would this mean (maybe) that it could be booked as a Marriott property?(maybe soon?) and if so,I wonder which level.
As far as upgrading the cat level later, do you mean that if I have a 1-5,and want to book a 6,it's an extra 30k in total? for the 7 nights? and if I wanted cat 7,that would be 60k?

Have you crunched the numbers to see if the package would make sense even if you never used your hotel cert and basically just used the package to get the miles? I would have a hard time doing that simply because I would feel I missed out on a free 7 night stay. However, I have read that the redemption value is good enough that its worth buying a package for the miles even if you don't use the hotel cert. Is this accurate?? I'm sure someone more well versed on this can chime in about whether that makes sense.

Also, I've read where some have called Marriott near cert expiration and have been able to get the cert extended for another year. So that might be a possibility for you. Your numbers look right regarding points to upgrade.

 

[GlamMistress]

Went ahead and applied for the Delta plat for DH. No auto approval but I'm used to that since our credit accounts are frozen. Unfroze Experian (which cost $5 and is extortion, grr) so we'll see. I want those 70k points for my Europe stash! I figure I'll just fly Delta to Disney for Food and Wine in October now too. I've got gobs of Amex gift cards sitting around from Amex plat credits, plus I've got Amex PRG credits left to spend and this Delta plat comes with a $100 statement credit with a Delta purchase so... might as well be more comfortable than on Frontier. Free is free. #YesImCheap

 

[elgerber]

From Amazon, of all places! It really is so cute and very well made. I'm so impressed with this dress.
https://www.amazon.com/White-Dress-Bridesmaid-Dresses-BP08-7/dp/B01J5EZQOG/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1520574342&sr=8-5&keywords=red+&+white+polka+dot+dress&dpID=61ZPBWX1bkL&preST=_SX342_QL70_&dpSrc=srch&th=1&psc=1

We added the petticoat. Bought a white and black set of those off amazon also.

I can't see you pic either, but this dress is ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it.
I have 8, yes 8, Amex logins. One each for my personal cards, dh's personal cards, my dds card on my account, my ds card on my account, my dh card on my account, my card on his account, and each of our BIZ card accounts.

 

[tink1970]

Amex Biz Plat spend will be done by Apr 17th and Amex SPG by Apr 3. Whew! My last Chase card was in November but I'm trying to slow down with them so might not have a min spend to meet for a while. Since my home (windstorm and flood) insurance is due in July I suspect I'll wait until then. Fingers crossed for a new Amex of the Marriott variety by then!

 

[GlamMistress]

I can't see you pic either, but this dress is ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it.
I have 8, yes 8, Amex logins. One each for my personal cards, dh's personal cards, my dds card on my account, my ds card on my account, my dh card on my account, my card on his account, and each of our BIZ card accounts.

I bow to you. I just can't with the multiple log ins. That's where I'm either lazy or scared. I'm just too afraid I'll miss a payment or weird charge. It's worth it to me to give up some Amex offers money in exchange for peace of mind. But I don't go hard like most of the bloggers do, either.