I love credit cards so much!

[pillow]

I just looked and he spent $299.27 on his 2 stays. So now I will have to have his next stay go on there too for our little experiment, to hit the $300 spend. Such a waste since I am trying to meet MSR on the Hilton biz.

ETA: typos

Can he just split the payment when he checks out of the hotel and have them charge $1 to his SPG card and rest to Hilton Biz? Thats what we did this past December when we had this same offer on several cards. I had the Dolphin charge exactly $300 to each card when we checked out.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

You could probably buy a coke LOL from the front desk.

That’s what I was thinking. Have a snack!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I applied for the Hyatt CC last June when the bonus was two free nights at any Hyatt. My annual free night just posted but my annual fee won't post until July 1. I was on the fence about keeping the card but plan to do so now.

We have an upcoming stay at the Hyatt Regency MCO tomorrow night. I hold discoverist status which comes free with the credit card. I received an email earlier from the hotel thanking me for my loyalty and asking for any requests. I mentioned that we are traveling with the kids and would love a high floor so our kids could see planes landing and departing. My request was granted! Little things like this make a difference!

I also booked my free night at the Hyatt Place Dewey Beach in Delaware for a Saturday night in July. Rates are $400 plus a night so the $99 fee is so worth it.

That is awesome! So far, I’m disappointed in trying to book Hyatt. Got it mostly to try for Vancouver. Neither my pre or post cruise dates accept points/free nights thus far and I’ve checked every day since they opened booking. I did manage to book the pre-cruise dates adding an extra day at the beginning. I will try to call and adjust the booking in a week or two but if they won’t change it, I’m not sure if I should cancel or have DS skip school and fly in a day earlier (it’s the last day of school, so awards assembly and all)

 

[pillow]

I'm thinking of applying for the IHG card as we are tentatively planning a trip to the UT national parks next year and IHG seems plentiful there.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Zion, and it was terrific! They've really increased the points/night there though. The views from the pool and hot tub are gorgeous!

 

[GlamMistress]

Just posted on the gift cards thread (but not at all Disney related) . . . For anyone out there who does Kroger and MIGHT need Lowe's gift cards. They are doing $100 for $90 (limit 3) and you get 4x right now with the digital coupon. Heres the thing though - I bought 3 x $100 for $270 and I got 3,240 fuel points!! Thats a whopping 12x. The same thing happened the last time they ran one of these promos. For some reason, they are awarding a ridiculous number of points. The math:

3,240 points = $3.24 off of 35 gallons = $113.4
So, $300 worth of Lowe's for $156.60

I suspect the "bonus" points will be YMMV depending on where you live, but its still a good deal stacking the 10% discount with the 4x coupon.

Note: Even though you buy from Kroger, the cards are sold by Gift Card Mall, so no 5% back on Discover/Freedom.

https://giftcards.kroger.com/deal/kroger/lowes-egift-30

Ugh I just spent $101 at Lowes tonight. Painting my office tomorrow. I even saw the gift card promo on DoC today and plum forgot. Used my Delta Plat - still banking points for Barcelona.
I usually do Sherwin Williams paint exclusively but for this little job, went cheaper. I swear @Judique is right about money evaporating.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

They never travel, they don't go out to events/theatre/etc, very minimal living expenses... soooo where does it go?

A couple I knew like that. High salaries, crappy little house, old cars (at least for the husband). Turns out she had a bad shopping habit (and who knows what else) and loads of credit card debt she hid. After they divorced he got custody of the kids. Last year he bought himself a ridiculously expensive pickup truck after driving junk cars for years.

 

[Judique]

if only they let me buy more... haha.

Same here. I let my daughter stash 30K in my account and gift herself through my account so I'm done buying.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

So I, I mean my mom, applied for CF today with my referral, and approved. So we’ll both make some cash. I ended up going with CF in part because of Walgreens being included next quarter. She spends ridiculous $ at Walgreens on meds, so 3rd Quarter will be no problem. I’ll just have to activate the bonus for her each quarter and remind her. Plus I’ll put a couple of her bills on autopay with CF.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

That is awesome! So far, I’m disappointed in trying to book Hyatt. Got it mostly to try for Vancouver. Neither my pre or post cruise dates accept points/free nights thus far and I’ve checked every day since they opened booking. I did manage to book the pre-cruise dates adding an extra day at the beginning. I will try to call and adjust the booking in a week or two but if they won’t change it, I’m not sure if I should cancel or have DS skip school and fly in a day earlier (it’s the last day of school, so awards assembly and all)

Im not sure if this will help but it might be worth looking at.
http://www.godsavethepoints.com/2017/02/02/hack-unlock-hyatt-blackout-dates-using-points/

 

[pillow]

Heres what I'm wondering . . . if the current Marriott Biz cardholders are converted over to the "new" card on 8/26, will the opportunity to earn an elite night for every $3k spend die on 8/26? Or will it be grandfathered? No way I can get the rest of my spend done by then!

 

[DaveL]

You guys talk alot! I was over 100 pages behind, I read back a few pages but no way am I reading all 100+! Trip was great, first time I can say a vacation was long but it was super enjoyable. However I must say I am really disappointed in these room checks. I need to find the Disney guest services email and send a letter. They woke my 5yo up during nap time several times and that made for a very rough evening, so I stopped by the front desk and they said they would move the times... Next day they insisted on entering waking my wife while my DD slept and I was in the shower... That made me uncomfortable that they insisted they had to enter... Again stopped by the front desk, again they stopped by the next day so I returned to the front desk... The next day Mousekeeping stopped by saying I requested room service. I stopped by the front desk to verify I was not going to now get charged to sending them away and talked to a supervisor or manager and they pretty much just told me they dislike this too and to follow up with my thoughts on the survey but that has yet to come. Finally on Day 10 we had a successful uninterrupted nap. Now considering moving our Oct trip off site for the first time.

Theoretically, anyone in the Cruise and Tour Department should be able to do it for you. However, if you call and get someone who says they can't, hang up and call back and dial the extension for Melissa x. 4179. Others have had success with her before, and I booked my trip with her.

Yeah be persistent! It took me four reps before I found someone that was able to make it happen. Two said they didn't do any Disney packages ect!

I think it was DaveL. Unless he's the one that suggested Leon.

That was me.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

You guys talk alot! I was over 100 pages behind, I read back a few pages but no way am I reading all 100+! Trip was great, first time I can say a vacation was long but it was super enjoyable. However I must say I am really disappointed in these room checks. I need to find the Disney guest services email and send a letter. They woke my 5yo up during nap time several times and that made for a very rough evening, so I stopped by the front desk and they said they would move the times... Next day they insisted on entering waking my wife while my DD slept and I was in the shower... That made me uncomfortable that they insisted they had to enter... Again stopped by the front desk, again they stopped by the next day so I returned to the front desk... The next day Mousekeeping stopped by saying I requested room service. I stopped by the front desk to verify I was not going to now get charged to sending them away and talked to a supervisor or manager and they pretty much just told me they dislike this too and to follow up with my thoughts on the survey but that has yet to come. Finally on Day 10 we had a successful uninterrupted nap. Now considering moving our Oct trip off site for the first time.

Oh. my. goodness. I would be livid! This is exactly what I was concerned with when these checks started. I have been reading about them on another thread and others are having trouble as well. Then there is a thread about early knocks on check out day if you are DVC. Ummm, no. Checkout is 11, don't wake me up at 8am. And certainly don't wake my toddler during a nap!!!

Definitely send an email about it. That is unacceptable. The Swolphin is looking more and more appealing.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Im not sure if this will help but it might be worth looking at.
http://www.godsavethepoints.com/2017/02/02/hack-unlock-hyatt-blackout-dates-using-points/

No, the website shows no standard rooms for my dates. I also called to check and they said the same. There are balcony rooms, high floor rooms, city view rooms, etc., no standard rooms. I just can’t believe no standard rooms since opening those dates. What are there, 3 std rooms in the whole place?

 

[liloca]

You guys talk alot! I was over 100 pages behind, I read back a few pages but no way am I reading all 100+! Trip was great, first time I can say a vacation was long but it was super enjoyable. However I must say I am really disappointed in these room checks. I need to find the Disney guest services email and send a letter. They woke my 5yo up during nap time several times and that made for a very rough evening, so I stopped by the front desk and they said they would move the times... Next day they insisted on entering waking my wife while my DD slept and I was in the shower... That made me uncomfortable that they insisted they had to enter... Again stopped by the front desk, again they stopped by the next day so I returned to the front desk... The next day Mousekeeping stopped by saying I requested room service. I stopped by the front desk to verify I was not going to now get charged to sending them away and talked to a supervisor or manager and they pretty much just told me they dislike this too and to follow up with my thoughts on the survey but that has yet to come. Finally on Day 10 we had a successful uninterrupted nap. Now considering moving our Oct trip off site for the first time.




Yeah be persistent! It took me four reps before I found someone that was able to make it happen. Two said they didn't do any Disney packages ect!



That was me.

Did they come in every day?! No matter what that seems supper annoying. I will be bring a toddler that needs her naps and would be furious if that happens to us as well!

 

[kmc8826]

Oh. my. goodness. I would be livid! This is exactly what I was concerned with when these checks started. I have been reading about them on another thread and others are having trouble as well. Then there is a thread about early knocks on check out day if you are DVC. Ummm, no. Checkout is 11, don't wake me up at 8am. And certainly don't wake my toddler during a nap!!!

Definitely send an email about it. That is unacceptable. The Swolphin is looking more and more appealing.

Yes between the room checks, paying for parking, and then for my upcoming October trip with my folks uncertainty about getting connecting rooms, I feel good about the decision to rent a house in Windsor Hills again. Can’t use points but I am such a point hoarder lately it is probably for the best. Person we are renting from did let the payment go through PayPal. So at least we were able to not only save a bunch of points but gain some as well with the Freedom!

 

[Disneyonmymind]

Ha I also thought about cancelling and re-booking the identical package in a few weeks but I'm not sure how that would affect ADRs (our 180 days is June 26).

Well I just re-booked my identical package. Tomorrow, I will cancel the first one. I was too stressed about the 30 day window to transfer it to Chase. Now I can just worry about my 180 day ADRs first and then do the transfer. Plus, the new $200 deposit will go against the MSR on my new CSR. It’s a Win-Win for me, lol.

 

[calypso726]

Not CC related, just venting. Last night we were talking about the family cruise trip, and DH mentioned he's feeling like it will be just us and the ILs, because one brother is acting weird and he doesn't think the other can afford to go and chip in on ILs cabin. Also, neither brothers have booked anything yet, which is whatever. Not my fault if the price goes up... We've offered to change to a different cruise, that would cut each brother's cruise by $1k+ and their share of ILs by $400ish (because the price has gone up since opening day, we're not paying that much for ours or ILs right now) but they said no... and so far signals are pointing to not going. And second brother is the one that gave us a 20 day window for this trip.

I will be a bit irked if we end up on a cruise, practically at the most expensive time for everything, because we accommodated some people's schedules and then those people decide not to come.

I know how you feel. A few years ago one of our cruise buddies suggested that the 30 of us go on a DCL Alaska cruise. Everyone thought this was a great idea. The cruise buddy that suggested the cruise and one of the other families asked that we stick to a specific date because that was the only date that they could make work. Of course, that date was a lot more $ than the other dates but everyone agreed. In the end, both the cruise buddy that suggested the cruise to begin with and the other family that wanted the specific date did not go on the cruise. Sigh.

damn, my redbird got shut down... :\ oh well, was fun when it lasted.

Here I thought it has been secretly resurrected to take CC again and was being kept a big secret or something. Made me nauseous for a second there wondering how much MS I missed out on with zombie red bird.

Take 35% off when you buy 5,000+ Starpoints® is back through July 20, 2018.

P.P.S. Frequent Miler has a post with more details here: 35% off Starpoints is back.

You're killing me smalls! *wonders how many more people can I have move in and open SPG accounts*

So does anyone know if a person, say one's mom, can redeem a flight and hotel travel package and credit the flights part to someone else's, say her daughter's, frequent flier account? Asking for a friend.

 

[wendow]

Asking for a friend.

 

[miztressuz]

I discovered there is no fee to *temporarily* unfreeze our credit reports in our state. What time period should we choose for an application? 30 days? Or fewer?

Does this beginning Chase strategy make sense: one of us applies for CSP or CSR (not dd) and the other either CFU or CF? (I'm leaning toward the CFU in this case because of the 1.5x but some of the CF 5x categories look tempting.) And then we'd refer each other to the other when ready?

Off to regular life now so I'll be seeing replies later today. Thanks as always

Thought about this off and on tonight while making jello shots for a baby-q (yeah, I know, that whole sentence is just wrong....)

It's not a bad strategy. I'd like to refer back to @SouthFayetteFan 's wonderful list of right ways to churn I would just caution that you have some sort of long term roadmap to see where all this goes and make sure you're not setting up dead end in the future. Let's see if I can sneak a peak into @Lain 's spreadsheet … looks like 0/24, Australia 2019 and possibly other international for DD (plus SW domestics) so may want to leave some room for co-brand cards to points stash. So I think you said you only have 2 major CC's opened a while ago, did you open any store cards in the last few years? Chase is going to look at anything revolving that shows on your CR as opened in the last 2 years. If you open a Sapphire and a Freedom that'll take 2 slots, then a SW when the bonus is right for slot 3, so only 2 more cards to go assuming you're starting from 0 Personally I think it's doable if you can get an idea of what airlines or alliances you may want to fly, and how best to accumulate points for those. But also think of that x2, if you refer each other to the same cards, then you each take away the same 2-3 slots.

I think we discussed which Sapphire before so you're still mathing that out. As for which of the Freedoms, I feel that if you can utilize at least 2 quarters of categories the CF is probably the better option. Here's an example with a random amount of annual spend on the card:
$3000 on the CFU at 1.5% gets $45 cashback (4500 UR)
$3000 on the CF with half being 5% and half at 1% gets $90 cashback (9000 UR)
So even if you don't max out the quarters, if you can get at least 15% of that spend at the higher return you'll come out ahead with the CF.
($450 @ 5% + $2550 @ 1% = $48)
[it's late but I think I did all those numbers right i'll not be offended if someone fact checks me ]

Now what would make that better is putting 5% spend on the CF and then all other spend on the CFU for 1.5%, but that's a future option, IMO. I imagine that you won't be keeping 2 of the same card, so what to do with the extra? For me, PC to the CFU so you have at least one of each amongst you. That way you're not using a 5/24 slot on another Freedom family card; unless there's absolutely no other Chase cards you care about or may care about in the future, in which case (assuming you have an opening) then apply for the little bonus

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[miztressuz]

can I product change my Amex gold card to something and still keep my MR's or should I apply for the blue no fee first? then just close the gold, I don't want to pay the annual fee, and do i do this before or after the AF post?

I don't believe there's anything to product change to without an annual fee, so far as I recall all charge cards have an AF. so if you don't have another MR card apply for the blue everyday first (not the cash ones) then once that's in place you can look at closing the gold. you have 30 days from the annual fee posting (I think it's the post date at least) to get a refund.​