I don’t really get the bloggers who claim to earn gazillions of frequent flyer miles by shopping via online shopping portals.
Sure I try to rack up a few extra points when shopping online, but more often than not I find that bonus offers are not honored, probably due to some fault of my own.
For instance, if you enter a coupon code found elsewhere your bonus points will not be credited. If you already have items waiting in your shopping cart, you might not earn the extra points. If sales post after the promotion closes, you may be out of luck.
CITIbank Apologizes for Shopping Portal Payout Error
The AAdvantage shopping portal was offering a holiday promo some months back. I never received the bonus points, but past experience has taught me that it might not be worth the effort to try to straighten it out.
Today I received a surprising email from Citibank. Here’s what it said:
We didn’t give you the correct incentive
You recently enrolled in an offer to earn 3X AAdvantage® miles for eligible online purchases through March 31, 2015. After reviewing your Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Visa® card account, we found we didn’t give you the correct bonus incentive for the qualifying purchases made during the offer period.
What we’re doing to fix this
We added 562 AAdvantage® miles to your card account. You’ll see this adjustment on your card statement within two billing periods.
The email is referring to this offer for 3x extra points for purchases made via the AAdvantage shopping portal:
Bonus AA miles for Shopping Online
Well CITIbank, apology accepted.
Many of the online shopping portals are run by a company called Cartera. You can read more about their business model here. There is a whole thread on Flyer Talk discussing the ins and outs of online shopping portals.
Do you ever find that you are not credited what you expect from your online purchases?
Mermaid fountain at entrance to Radisson Suite Hotel Oceanfront in Melbourne Beach, Florida
If you have Club Carlson points to burn and you need to burn them fast — consider the Radisson Suite Hotel Oceanfront in Melbourne Beach, Florida.
Melbourne Beach — where’s that?
That’s the question I was asked repeatedly whenever I mentioned our Spring Break trip to Florida.
Melbourne Beach is on a barrier island about half an hour south of Cape Canaveral. This area along the eastern seaboard in Florida is known as the “Space Coast.” Melbourne Beach is a low key beach town. There’s no boardwalk or amusements — just a broad sandy beach, the wind, the waves, and the Atlantic Ocean.
Melbourne Beach is a quiet residential area with four high rise hotels, some condos and and garden apartments, and single family homes. The beach is very clean and not crowded at all. Day visitors will find free beach parking at a municipal park next door to the Radisson.
The view from our balcony at the Radisson Suite Hotel Oceanfront
Burn Your Club Carlson Points at the Radisson Suite Oceanfront in Melbourne, Florida
The Radisson Suite Hotel Oceanfront is a gem of a property, and is especially well suited to families traveling with kids. It was built in 1984 as condos, but was immediately purchased by Radisson for use as a hotel.
The view from my balcony at the Radisson Suites Hotel Oceanfront
We used 44,000 Club Carlson points to stay for two nights at this magnificent property where every room is a suite and has a balcony overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Through the end of May 2015, holders of the Club Carlson credit card can get a second night free when redeeming award nights.
As a Club Carlson Gold member (due to having the credit card), I landed a top floor suite. The welcome gift was a bowl full of fruit and pastries.
The “rooms” are actually more like one bedroom apartments. Both the bedroom and large living room have floor to ceiling windows overlooking the ocean, and all the rooms have an oceanfront balcony. The decor is modern. Each room has a king sized sleep number bed in the bedroom, and a queen-sized sofa bed in the living room. I especially loved that the floors were travertine tile, which is so much cleaner than carpet.
I didn’t take any pictures of our suite because the panoramic photos on the hotel website are so drop dead gorgeous. But I can tell you this: every single room in this hotel is has a full oceanfront view. Every room is a large suite — modern, clean, and comfortable.
There is a pool, hot tub, sundeck, and poolside bar. Two beach chairs and an umbrella rent for $20 a day, but beach toys are free to borrow. My only concern: no lifeguard on the beach.
If you make your reservations before the end of May 2015, you can have a two-night stay in a gorgeous oceanfront all-suites hotel for just 44,000 points. Award room availability is wide open through December 2016.
The view of the bay from the room entrance at the Radisson Suite Hotel Oceanfront
There is a shopping center with a Walmart and a supermarket across the street from the hotel. The Walmart features a large selection of beach items at the front of the store. There’s also a pizza place, a Thai restaurant, and a Friendly’s.
Did I mention that there are laundry machines at the Radisson? That is a necessity for our family when traveling with kids.
I am grateful to The Deal Mommy for introducing me to this place.
Everything is super easy, relaxed and convenient.
Where to Eat in Melbourne Florida
If you love seafood you can’t do better than Shells of Melbourne, which features about a dozen different kinds of fresh fish and seafood daily. Shells of Melbourne is a family style restaurant located inland, near the Melbourne Mall.
Another place we tried was Squid Lips, located just over the bridge on the mainland. It’s a rambling bayside bar and restaurant, with a view of the fishing pier. The virgin coladas are highly recommended!
To the extent possible, I’d like to leverage my hotel points to book as many free nights as possible.
To that end, I started by exploring availability in the the two programs where I have the most points: Club Carlson and IHG.
Not surprisingly, award availability for our travel dates was hit or miss.
Which Hotel Chain has the Most Hotels in Paris?
There are quite a few Holiday Inns and other IHG hotels in Paris, but only 4 Club Carlson Radisson Blu hotels.
Are these the best loyalty programs if you are looking for free nights for your Paris holiday?
If you read a number of other travel blogs, you’ve probably heard about the Park Hyatt Vendome, and how you can stay there for free by opening a Chase Hyatt credit card.
There are 2,400 hotels in Paris. Why do all the bloggers stay at the same place?
On the one hand, I’d really love to stay in a boutique hotel on the Left Bank or the Marais. On the other hand, I need to economize.
I went to Award Mapper to get a rough count of which chains have hotels that you can book for points in Paris. I was surprised by what I found.
Best Western Has 42 Hotels in Central Paris
Best Western Hotels in Paris via Award Mapper
Here are the tallies I came up with for the major hotel chains:
Best Western: 42
Choice: 15
Club Carlson: 4
Hilton: 1
Hyatt: 4
Intercontinental (IHG): 14
Marriott: 9
Starwood (SPG): 4
Wyndham: 2
Best Western has the most properties — 42 hotels in many different neighborhoods in Paris. Hilton has the fewest — just one hotel. Hyatt, Starwood, and Club Carlson each have four hotels.
Are you surprised by these results? Were you able to book award stays in Paris?
Hogwarts Castle Photo by Rstoplabe14 at en.wikipedia
A visit to Harry Potter World was on the agenda for our recent spring break trip to Florida.
Onsite hotels at Universal StudiosOrlando were very expensive in early April.
I wanted to stay as close as possible in an offsite hotel, so that we could easily walk to Universal Studios. I knew that we would be doing a lot of walking once we got to the park.
Many offsite hotels offer shuttle services, but these can be quite limited in terms of the hours and frequency of service, and their capacity is capped
Stay with points at chain hotels across the street from Universal Orlando
Which Offsite Hotels are Closest to Universal Orlando?
A lot of hotel properties advertise that they are within walking distance of Universal Studios.
But the Doubletree (by Hilton at the entrance of Universal Studios) is the absolute closest offsite hotel to the main gate.
The map above indicates where the hotel sits in relation to the massive parking garage at the entrance to Universal.
How Many Points Do You Need for a Free Night at a Hotel Near Universal Studios Orlando?
Several hotels are within a long block of the Doubletree. Most of these are chain hotels that participate in the major hotel rewards programs.
Here’s how many points you need for a free night at each of these hotels:
Fairfield Inn & Suites — 25K points
Best Western Plus Universal Inn — 16K points
Doubletree — 20K points
Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites — 25K points
Hyatt Place — 8K points
I imagine these hotels offer similar amenities such as outdoor pools and free breakfast.
But there a lot of variability in the number of points you need for an award stay.
What’s All the Fuss About Hyatt’s Gold Passport Rewards Program
Hyatt Place Universal Orlando — 8,000 Points
At 8,000 points, Hyatt Place Orlando Universal is the clear winner in terms of least number of points needed for a free night.
A lot of travel bloggers rave about Hyatt’s loyalty program — Hyatt Gold Passport. I never really understood the appeal.
In my mind, Hyatt Hotels are bland business class hotels in office parks or other sub-optimum locations.
Clearly, that’s an overgeneralization.
Now, after completing a stay near Universal Orlando during spring break, I finally get what all the Hyatt fuss is about.
In a word: value.
The obvious value here was the 8,000 point redemption cost for the Hyatt Place. Because we there on a peak travel day, the rates at the hotel were very high — $200 a night. While the rates fluctuate according to demand, the points cost is generally fixed. (A major exception is Starwood resorts, which sometimes jack up the points cost during high season.)
Hyatt Place Orlando Universal — My Take
Typical room at Hyatt Place Universal Orlando –2 full size beds and a pullout couch
The Hyatt Place is about a 15-minute walk to the entrance of the Islands of Adventure or Universal Orlando Theme Park.
This hotel had very high ratings on TripAdvisor, so I decided to book it for two nights. I transferred the points to Hyatt from the Chase Ultimate Rewards Program.
We chose a room on an upper floor with a view of Universal Studios, so we could watch the fireworks at night. The room was well designed and functional. The room had two beds and a pullout couch so it was perfect for myself, my daughter, and her friend.
The free hot breakfast was generous and varied, with real Starbucks coffee and Tazo tea.
The small outdoor pool was not crowded, despite the hotel operating at full capacity.
There was a convenient Universal ticket desk in the hotel lobby.
TGIF is right next door for teen-friendly meal options.
I would be loathe to pay $200 per night for this hotel, but for 8,000 points, it’s a good deal.
Our 40-year old townhouse is in desperate need of repairs.
What with the original bathrooms, and leaks springing left and right, it was past time to take action. Of course if you defer your home repairs like we did, you find yourself facing some major expenses all at once.
Luckily, I met Carlos the contractor when I was out walking the dog one day. Carlos can fix anything and is super nice and flexible. Our arrangement was that we would pay Carlos for the labor, and that we would purchase the materials.
Since I knew we would be racking up charges, I saw this as an easy way to meet the minimum spend requirements on some new travel rewards credit cards.
My Travel Rewards Credit Card Applications
My remodeled bathroom
It had been over six months since I had applied for a travel rewards credit card, and there were several cards with large sign-up bonuses on my wish list.
Purchasing materials for the home renovation would be an easy way to meet hefty initial spend requirements.
Warning — if you don’t pay your credit cards in full and on time every month, you should not be in this game!
Barclay’s U.S. Air Dividend Miles Card
The Barclay’s U.S. Air Dividend Miles credit card was offering 50K bonus miles after the first purchase and payment of the annual fee. This card was on the verge of retirement due to the US Air – American Airlines merger. I had applied once before, and was not approved, so this was my last ditch effort to rack up 50K miles before the merger. I applied, and was denied once again, for having too many recent credit card applications. Fortunately, the bank did not do a hard pull of my credit report, so no skin off my back. This card is no longer being offered.
Chase’s Sapphire Preferred Credit Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card offers 40K bonus points after completing a minimum spend requirement of $3,000 within the first three months. You can get an additional 5,000 Ultimate Reward Points by adding an authorized user. Ultimate Rewards points are great because they are easily transferred to a variety of frequent flyer programs. The card pays two times points on travel and restaurants. There is a $95 annual fee that is waived the first year. I wrote yesterday how I used 45,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points earned from opening the Sapphire Preferred credit card to finance our Amtrak Auto Train trip to Florida.
Capital One’s Venture Card
The Capital One Venture rewards card offers 40,000 bonus points to new applicants who meet a minimum spend of $3,000 within the first three months. The card pays two times points on all purchases, and carries a $59 annual fee which is waived the first year. After meeting the initial spend requirement, I had 46,000 points which could be used to offset $460 in travel expenses. The Venture card is not a favorite among travel bloggers — which I think is crazy because it has a decent sign-up bonus, earns a great rate on all spending, allows flexible redemptions for travel expenses (while still earning frequent flyer miles on your purchases.) I have read numerous reports of people having success in getting the annual fee waived, sometimes for two years in a row.
Gift Card Purchases for Home Improvement Stores
The last method I used to accrue free travel to Florida was to purchase gift cards for Home Depot and Lowes at an office supply store with my Chase Ink Bold business credit card. The Ink Bold card earns 5x Ultimate Reward Points for purchases at at office supply stores like Staples and Office Depot and Amazon. My contractor used these gift cards to purchase supplies for the renovation, and we used the cards to order plumbing parts, medicine cabinets, light fixtures and more. When possible, we shopped through an online shopping portal to earn extra points and miles for our purchases.
A “Free” Trip to Florida for Spring Break
My daughter is graduating from high school this year so this was our last chance to take a spring break trip together. She asked if she could invite a friend to come along, a request that was easy to accommodate thanks to miles and points.
Our trip was not completely free, of course. But through the strategies outlined above, and prior accrual of points, we were able to enjoy our round trip travel on the Auto Train and four out of five nights hotels in Florida for free.
We stumbled upon India House in Sandy, Utah via one of those restaurant business card displays you often see in hotel lobbies. They were offering a 10 or 15 percent discount, so we thought we’d give it a try. Sandy is about 15 minutes south of downtown Salt Lake City.
If you are traveling along the I-15 corridor in Utah you will find a lot of chain hotels and franchise restaurants. Think Texas Roadhouse, Olive Garden, or Chili’s. At home and when traveling, we prefer small, local, ethnic restaurants, whether Thai, Afghan, Indian, Mexican, or whatever.
India House is an unassuming family run restaurant, with the most diverse selection of naan I have ever seen. They run a lunch buffet on weekdays for $8.99, including soup, salad, dessert and an array of fragrant vegetarian selections and chicken kormas. You can also order from the menu. The dishes are flavorful and reasonably priced.
I can recommend the Peshwari Naan — a homemade bread with a marzipan like filling. The lamb saag and butter chicken are delightful too.
1) It is part of at the Rewards Dining program — allowing you to earn frequent flyer miles for eating out.
2) It is next door to an eclectic antique consignment shop — really 20 shops in one as they rent space to various vendors.
Earn 2,500 Delta SkyMiles Miles for Eating at India House in Salt Lake City
It was a great surprise to discover that we had earned United Mileage Plus frequent flyer miles for our lunch at India House. This restaurant participates in the Rewards Dining network. You can register to earn miles with your choice of frequent flyer programs.
Early in the year is a good time to take advantage of bonus offers for signing up with various Rewards Dining programs. Different airlines have different offers. The most lucrative offer right now for new sign-ups is with the Delta Skymiles rewards dining program.
New members of the Delta Rewards Dining program earn 2,500 bonus miles after spending $30 at a participating restaurant. Register by March 1, 2015.
Salt Lake City is a Delta hub so 2,500 Skymiles could come in handy.
Sandy Antique Mall Photo by Joel Shprentz
Sandy Antique Mall
India House Restaurant and Sandy Antiques Mall
The Sandy Antique Mall is next door to India House. It’s an agglomeration of several buildings that seem to go on forever.
Vendors specializing in everything from vintage clothing and jewelry to antique furniture and gadgets have “booths” here.
It’s fun to browse because you never know what you might find.
Many of the restaurants in the Rewards Dining program are unremarkable but India House is definitely worth seeking out.
Do you participate in the Rewards Dining programs?
Hold on to your hats, hotel snobs. I just joined RediCard, the loyalty program of Red Roof Inns.
The reason: not only are Red Roof Inns pet friendly, but pets stay free.
From time to time, we travel with our cockapoo, Mitzy. We’ve encountered up-charges at hotels ranging from $20 per night to $75 per stay.
To be honest, I’ve only stayed at one Red Roof Inn, and it was a new hotel in Garden City, Long Island.
The decor was very modern and the room was comfortable. What I liked best, though, was that the floors in the room were a laminate, and that seemed so much cleaner than a carpeted floor. There was free wifi, but no free breakfast.
Reasonably priced hotels are scarce on Long Island. I got the room via a Priceline bid for a 2 star hotel. I was impressed enough with the place that I reserved directly the next time I was in the area. My second visit occurred after Hurricane Sandy, and the hotel was housing many families and their pets that had been displaced by the storm.
Pets Always Stay Free at Red Roof Inns
The hotel I stayed at in Garden City, NY had interior corridors and was designated a Red Roof Inn Plus property.
Our room at the Red Roof Inn on Long Island looked pretty much like this.
Red Roof Plus properties feature: modern decor, flat screen TVs, vessel sinks, wood-like floors, additional electrical outlets, a 100% smoke-free designation, high-end bedding, in-room red accent wall and renovated lobby featuring stone accent wall.
In 2013, USA Today readers voted Red Roof Inn the best budget hotel brand.
All but three of 375 Red Roof Inns accept pets. The exceptions are: Oxon Hill, MD; Flushing, NY; and Queensboro Long Island City, NY.
Red Roof Inn’s Pet Policy
Here is the Red Roof Inn Pet Policy:
One well-behaved family pet is permitted unless prohibited by state law or ordinance
Service animals are always welcome
Pet must be declared during guest registration
Please keep your animal on a leash when outside your room
In consideration of all Red Roof guests, pets must never be left unattended in the guestroom
When you walk your pet on property, please be considerate and clean up after your pet
Check out their pet Facebook page for special deals.
RediCard — The Loyalty Program of Red Roof Inns
The benefits of the RediCard, the Red Roof Inn loyalty program are that you earn 10x points per stay, and a free night with 6,000 points. At that rate, it would take between six and ten paid stays to earn a free night.
You also get free bottled water in your room each day, and a discount of up to 20 percent off the best available rate when you book ten days in advance.
I hear that Red Roof Inn is coming out with a co-branded credit card in 2015. Any takers?
Some generous bonus offers in the last quarter of 2014 have boosted the balance of frequent flyer miles and hotel points in some of my favorite programs, and should help fund travel in 2015.
15,000 American Airlines AAdvantage Miles
I earned 7,500 AAdvantage miles for test driving a Cadillac, and 7,500 miles for two stays at Radisson hotels, for a total of 15,000 bonus miles. The test drive was actually a fun time, because I got to experience the Cadillac’s electric vehicle, with an $82,000 price tag, no less.
11,000 United MileagePlus Miles
The United Mileage Plus dining program was offering 10,000 bonus miles for ten dines at restaurants in the rewards dining program.
I purchased gift cards for some of my favorite restaurants, which earned me 3-5 times points per purchase, for a total haul of 11,000 miles. I can spread out the dines over a number of months next year. A number of the restaurants were offering bonus coupons with the gift card purchases — a nice additional incentive.
30,000 Club Carlson Gold Points
I had two nights paid stays at Radisson hotels which yielded 40 times bonus points thanks to a double points offer, plus 6,000 points for booking the two reservations via the mobile app, for a total of 20,000 points.
The Club Carlson Visa was also offering an extra 5,000 points for restaurant purchases, above their normal 5x points, so I earned an additional 10,000 Club Carlson gold points for participating in the United Dining Rewards program bonus offer.
Were you able to take advantage of any year-end bonus offers?
“New York is where I’d rather stay. I get allergic smelling hay. I just adore a penthouse view. Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue.” — Green Acres Theme Song
My husband is incredibly supportive, but when it comes to collecting frequent flyer miles and points there are things he simply willnotdo.
Some things are too much trouble; others he considers to be ethically suspect.
Let’s face it: this is a crazy hobby and the lengths we go to maximize our miles can be excessive, to say the least.
Every one has their own take on what they are willing to do, and on where to draw the proverbial ethical line.
Here are the nine things my husband won’t do.
Where a Reluctant Spouse Draws the Line
1. Change hotels midstream: Once we arrive at our destination, my husband will not change hotels just to get a free night. For that reason, credit cards that offer a free night every year are not attractive to us, because it means paying a high rate for the remaining nights — compared to a a low rate we could get on Priceline for the entire stay.
2. Open excessive numbers of credit cards: The fewer cards the better, as far as my husband is concerned. He will not apply for a credit card with a fabulous bonus if we do not have an immediate use for the miles.
3. Call to request a retention bonus: No one likes to call the credit card company only to be placed on hold or transferred to another department, especially my husband. If he is the primary cardholder and an annual fee has posted, I place the call to request a fee waiver, and he affirms whatever deal is offered.
4. Go on “mattress runs”: Some people will book phantom stays at hotels just to earn extra points or to gain status in a hotel loyalty program. No way, Jose!
5. Charge small purchases at local restaurants or the neighborhood dry cleaner: My husband prefers to pay cash for small purchases when he goes out for lunch or patronizes small businesses. He thinks the swipe fees the banks charge merchants are too high for small businesses to absorb.
6. Open a Bluebird, a Red Card, a Serve account, or any other manner of reloadable debit card: Fuggedaboutit, he says. These accounts do not function like an FDIC insured bank.
7. Fly an indirect route: My husband doesn’t mind changing planes if it gives him a chance to stretch his legs and grab lunch, even if it adds a couple of hours on to a trip. But there is no way that he is going to fly around in circles just to earn miles, or accept some crazy routing to save miles.
8. Buy gift cards: Gift cards lack the consumer protection of credit cards, and they make it more difficult to track your spending for budget purposes. They are too much of a hassle when buying gas and they hold you up in the check-out line.
9. Hang up and call again: My husband doesn’t have the patience to spend hours on the phone to book an award ticket, and I don’t blame him.
Can you relate to any of these? Please share in the comments.
This post contains affiliate links. Thanks if you choose to use them!
Earn extra United miles shopping at local merchants with the MileagePlus X app
United Airlines is beta-testing a a new way to earn bonus miles when shopping at brick and mortar stores or for online purchases.
MileagePlus X mobile app lets you earn extra miles for every dollar you spend at participating merchants.
If used strategically, the new app can enable triple or even quadruple stacking of bonus MileagePlus miles.
Many readers take advantage of bonus cash back or miles by doing their online shopping through portals likeFatWallet, or the United MileagePlus Shopping portal. With MileagePlus X, you can now earn extra points when paying for in-store purchases.
MileagePlus X Earnings
The bonus points range from 2-4 extra points for purchases from national retailers such as Lowe’s, Sears, Gap, AMC Theaters, and restaurants chains, up to to 20-24 points for purchases at local restaurants, spas, beauty shops, exercise studios, entertainment, nightclubs, and other activiites.
Earn Bonus Points Up To Four Ways With MileagePlus X
Here’s how it works. The app indicates participating businesses near your location, and the amount of miles you can earn.
At the register, customers enter the total dollar amount of their purchase via the app, and purchase a digital merchant gift card.
The cashier scans the barcode to complete the digital gift card purchase. Award miles instantly appear in members’ accounts in addition to any miles the customer may earn purchasing the digital gift card with a MileagePlus Credit Card from Chase.
MileagePlus X Earnings
Chase United® MileagePlus Credit Card holders earn a 25% bonus on the miles for purchases made through MileagePlus X.
The MileagePlus X app can also be used for online purchases with many merchants. While you are checking out, use the MileagePlus X app for the amount due and enter the gift card number and PIN that is generated to pay with a gift card at the merchant’s web site.
The Considerable Downsides to MileagePlusX
Because you are purchasing and paying with a gift card, many of the consumer protections of credit cards, such as extended warranty and loss replacement do not apply to these purchases.
Your ability to return items will also be limited, most likely to store credit.
The MileagePlus X Triple Dip
If you use your MileagePlus credit card, your purchases will earn:
MileagePlus X Earnings
traditional mileage for using your MileagePlus credit card
miles for paying with MileagePlus X
a 25% cardmember bonus.
The 25 percent cardmember bonus does not apply to authorized users of the credit card.
How to Do The MileagePlus X Quadruple Dip
If a merchant is included in both MileagePlus X and the MileagePlus Shopping portal, use your MileagePlus credit card within MileagePlus X, and then pay for your purchase online with the gift card number and PIN from MileagePlus X after clicking through to the merchant at MileagePlusShopping.com.
Have you received an email inviting you to test the MileagePlus X app? What has your experience been? Please share in the comments!
Click here to compare current rewards credit card offers.
