I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[GlamMistress]

Remind me - how fast can you apply for a Barclays BIZ card after canceling a personal? It doesn't matter, right? I've held lots of Barclays personal cards but never a biz.

 

[Alice Sr.]

Yeah...my costco is about 20+ minutes away,and I hate shopping in gigantic places that make me feel like a wandering orphan that needs to buy $8 million worth of stuff to get out....(yeah,I know I'm weird) I much prefer small grocery stores that are quick in/out and I know what I need to buy (I'm talking to you Aldi) HOWEVER I've been a member for at least 5 years now! I do shop there once or maybe twice a year just for fun (and spend too much) but the rental savings is what keeps me a member, I can't beat it anywhere. That combined with the 2nd free driver always got me. And I save far more than that $60 AF I pay. once we had a regular schedule of car rental/travel 3-4 times a year it was worth it.
I would not use them for regular grocery shopping either but would probably check it out a couple of times a year. I have used them for rentals in the past but didn't have a ongoing/recurring need. That's changed and having a go to rental option sounds wonderful.

I don't travel for work but I started the switchover last year,now flush with Hh points,and Bonvoy points are dwindling (sadly) b/c they're just not useful to me anymore. Hh points are so much easier to get and use! I love Hyatt too(just discovered those) but use it less.

I am so happy that I don't (at this point) need to add the hotel matrix into my travel plans, I can barely keep up with the air.

i go the lowes offer on a couple of cards, I guess I can use them on amazon gc-whole foods gc...love that store but I need to save some $ there!

I never seem to get the great amex offers that everyone gets, I'm sure I am not hitting some trigger but you would think they would throw me some as encouragement to move in new directions.

 

[amalone1013]

Amex needs to hurry up with the DEN Centurion Lounge.

No kidding. Also, they just renovated their kitchen last month and had a limited menu

 

[amalone1013]

I cant find anything on Timberline, I wonder where it came from? If you read the post the previous date about the limited menu links to some semi off the wall comment... just saying they cant grill bc of the smoke in the air at the airport (uh DEN has multiple steakhouses) and that's also why they closed the smoking lounge (or maybe its because the entire airport went smokefree?)

 

[Psychodisney]

The sofa bed was good. My 2 boys shared and they seemed fine. The two sides are fairly close, but not right next to each other. Maybe a little more than a block away? I don’t you would want to be constantly walking back and forth a lot.

Thanks for the reply! I think I will change our Marina room to the ocean suites. I wish I would have taken the time to explore this before the new Marriott pricing went into effect. What was 70k points for two nights is now 80K. Oh well. Seems like it will be worth it.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I am sure all of the rewards programs have their faults. I haven't used them enough to really be familiar with the ins and outs of each. For this Thanksgiving trip, though, I was able to book all four nights through Hilton getting a value of about .06 per point, which from my brief google search seems to be within the standard value. For the two nights that Marriott was going to let me book, I would have been getting about the same value--but from what I understand, Marriott points are supposed to be worth more than Hilton points. Plus the "you can't book this with points but you can pay cash" message just irked me.

I’m not loyal to any program. I have points and free nights at Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt. I just use what fits best for each trip. Our NOLA trip now has rooms available at Hilton, but prices are all over the board. 60k points for a $270 room and 70k points for a $250 room down the block.
The issue you have with Marriott is likely they have “no standard rooms” which is what is bookable with points. I had the same issues you’ve been having at Hyatt in Vancouver. I stalked their website for months trying to get the Saturday and Sunday night we needed pre-cruise. I could get Sunday but no Saturday. “No standard rooms” Finally, someone here noticed Friday thru Sunday was bookable, so I booked that and called a few weeks later to have them drop the Friday night and apply my free night. I have to say besides the booking issue, I have been treated very well at Hyatt, including having them send welcome gifts to our room.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Is GSB the only bank that you can use CC to fund with? Looking to open a couple accounts to meet MSR on new cards.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/does...dit-card-count-as-a-purchase-or-cash-advance/

 

[wendow]

Doc is reporting Timberline is closing... again....

This is my fault, I’m sure. We just PCed a CF to a CSR. Was excited to have PP for Timberline again

 

[StephPlum]

No kidding. Also, they just renovated their kitchen last month and had a limited menu

Was just there at the end of August. Have only visited on my outbound flights which are normally in the morning. So we've done breakfast a few times. In August they had the limited menu. Didn't bother me too much though it was odd they could do scrambled eggs but not over easy. I wasn't sure what type of equipment was different for those two types of eggs but maybe it was just the fact that they had limited space and doing one type of egg made it go faster.

I'll miss it if it is really gone

 

[Haley R]

Idk. My girls said it was dumb lol!

Disclaimer: I've not seen any of those movies...

I’ve seen parts of the first one and don’t understand it at all. I think it’s really dumb lol

 

[Alexle2007]

Has anyone stayed at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress? Any thoughts on it?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I wasn't sure what type of equipment was different for those two types of eggs but maybe it was just the fact that they had limited space and doing one type of egg made it go faster.

You can cook 10 or 20 scrambled eggs at once in a pan, plus your idea of limiting to one type of egg helps with time and space.

 

[marsh0013]

@marsh0013 So I am looking at some August fares through the UR portal and some NYC to LAX flights booked directly with URs and a CSR may actually be better than transferring to United

View attachment 437858

This flight uses 2,220 more points than a saver award, but would save 12,780 - 22,780 points depending on what United is charging and the $5.60 fee and you would earn MileagePlus points.

Hmm, I'm going to have to take a look at this! Thanks for the info. I just assumed cash price (even 1.5x on CSR) would be outrageous.

 

[mmmears]

My niece told me about it a few years ago. I just watched the first two within the last week finally. I will keep my expectations low for number 3. It's about the children of the Disney characters we all know, including the villains. The main characters are the daughters of Maleficient and Evil Queen and sons of Beauty and the Beast, Cruella and Jafar and their high school experience. It's format reminiscent of High School Musical. It's cute, but I thought the songs in HSM were better. Although, I am enjoying the costuming. I'm watching so I don't feel as out of touch LOL

Thanks for the explanation. I'm in a Disney cruise magnet graphics group, and it's been coming up lately as a request, but that's all I knew. I guess I can see how there would be an audience for this. Maybe I can check something out from the library and check it out.

 

[Haley R]

I posted my review of our hotel for this past Friday. We stayed at the Radisson Hotel Orlando-Lake Buena Vista:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...it-cards-so-much-thread.3680669/post-61096500

 

[marsh0013]

@PolyRob chase won't let me search my date yet, aug 20. It only goes to aug 17 currently. But cash price on United is $799 for most aug 20 flights so about 53k points. If it was as close as that other one you posted, it would be a no brainer, as @calypso726 said. I'm so nervous that either I'll miss the savers or they'll never release them. Patience is hard!

 

[RoyalJay]

We are a Hilton family here. DH is only a year or so from lifetime diamond. He travels about 100 nights a year for work...all Hilton unless I force him to use an amex deal or something at a marriott. (hey, free money is free money).
Before the merger, I was planning to have him start splitting his stays to accrue both types of points. Once he renewed diamond for a year, move over to marriott to hit status there. He is currently gold at marriott from his amex plat, but that really is nothing. Well, during/after the merger they infuriated me more than once so I we are just sticking with hilton. I have 3 free 35k night certs to use and a 7 night cert and literally have nothing to use them for at the moment. I think that is mostly mental because I despise marriott so much.

As for Hilton, they have never really made me mad. Sure, they have devalued over time, but so has every program. He earns tons of points from work travel and we reap the rewards of free personal travel to some great properties for it. A lot of the complaints of super high points I think comes from nonstandard room rewards. The resorts we frequent have remained at a fairly constant rate over time. I see the smaller hamptons in random towns fluctuate more, but I don't often use points for that type of place. I do wish there was a way to book upgraded rooms with a reasonable amount of points, but there just isn't. So we do a standard room and ask nicely for an upgrade. Sometimes it works, sometimes not....but when we are in a free room at a nice beach resort, I can't get too mad about that.

I know a lot of people jumped ship from marriott during the merger and came to Hilton. I'd say give it a try and see how you like it. You can always go back.

I'd love to have him stay at Hyatts, but the footprint is just too small.

Thanks this is exactly what I was wondering. I’ve been reading up on doing a challenge for diamond until I can get the aspire, but I’m not sure I’ll meet the threshold which I think is 19 nights in 90 days.

So yesterday I posted that I was just going to stay with Marriott through the end of the year, and now you’ve got me rethinking. Sigh. Funny, it’s not like it’s that big deal but I’m sure making it into one.

 

[RoyalJay]

FYI TopCashback has Raise at 15% today. Pretty good deal.

 

[Haley R]

FYI TopCashback has Raise at 15% today. Pretty good deal.

It sounds like it might be targeted. Only some people have gotten the 15% to work

 

[bernina]

Has anyone stayed at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress? Any thoughts on it?

We did when we had an overnight at Port Canavaral on a cruise. We loved it! The rooms were large and modern and very clean. Staff super friendly and some good restaurant options. We had a car and I think we were supposed to pay for parking but they didn’t end up charging. We used Hyatt points (actually free anniversary night since it’s a Cat 4) and it’s an awesome value. We’ll be back for sure. Pools are really neat too. And they have laundry which as you all know is a huge bonus for me and my vacation laundry obsession.

SIL has stayed a few times and they love it as well.

I didn’t use the shuttle to the parks so not sure about that. We were not charged a resort fee for our award stay and SIL has not been charged for parking or resort fee when she’s gone (on points).