Original Mosaic Floor in Lobby of the Radisson Martinique
We recently spent a delightful weekend at the Radisson Martinique on Broadway in New York City.
This hotel is part of the Club Carlson chain, and I was lucky enough to secure a two-night stay for 50,000 points with their “second night free” option for Club Carlson credit card holders.
I earned the points as a bonus when I opened the Club Carlson credit card, and paid the annual fee of $60 for the business card. Thus technically speaking, two free nights cost me $60.
Are the eStandby Upgrades Worth It?
When I booked my stay online, I was offered the option of several eStandby upgrades.
High Floor: Enjoy your stay about the streets of NYC, $30 extra per night ($40 value);
Martinque Club Level – 1 King bed, includes a complimentary breakfast and access to the Executive lounge, $0 extra per night ($75 value); or
Executive Suite – 1 King bed, separate living room area with sofa bed, complementary buffet breakfast and access to the Executive lounge, $69 Extra per night ($100 value.)
The deal is that you find out at check-in if you are awarded any of the add-on offers, and if so, you are obligated to pay the up charge.
I chose option 2, which had no added cost. I didn’t particularly care about being on the Club Level, because I had heard they didn’t serve refreshments there like at many other hotels, but the notion of free breakfast seemed worth a try.
Free Breakfast Vouchers at the Hotel Martinque in NYC
Ad things turned out, I was not offered the upgrade when checking-in. But I had a back-up option: the Radisson Martinque App! The iPhone app contains a coupon that you can redeem for a free breakfast buffet.
I was surprised when the front desk clerk provided vouchers for the full breakfast buffet for two mornings. I was traveling with my sister and my daughter, so we received 6 free breakfast vouchers in total. The regular price of the breakfast buffet is $29.95 per person.
Because I had Gold status (a perk of holding the Club Carlson credit card) I received a welcome gift of a small box of Belgian chocolates.
The breakfast buffet offered lots of choices, including fresh fruit, tomatoes and cucumbers, cheese, bacon, omelets, home fries, french toast, pastries, cereals, juice and coffee. It wasn’t the best breakfast buffet I’ve ever seen — I certainly wouldn’t pay $30 for it — but it offered a nice selection, and it enabled us to get an early start on our day.
What I Loved About the Martinque on Broadway
1.5 block walk from Penn Station
Clean, comfortable rooms, and fairly large for NYC
Free wifi
Literally on top of the Subway station and an easy walk to midtown or SoHo
A park across the street
Belgian chocolates on your pillow at night
In Korea town, across the street from Macy’s, and near many cheap jewelry stores
Beautifully preserved historic hotel with gorgeous mosaics in the lobby and a 15-story marble spiral staircase
International clientele including many airline personnel
Genuinely friendly staff and good service
Free bottled water in your room and a Keurig coffeemaker
Free Admission to 10 Historic House Museums in Richmond, VA September 13-14, 2014
Residents of Washington, DC are spoiled by easy access to free museums.
Here’s a reason to expand your horizons and travel to Richmond, Virginia.
On September 13th and 14th, 2014, ten historic home museums in Richmond are putting out the welcome mat and offering free admission.
Free Admission to Richmond’s Historic Home Museums — No Strings Attached
Ten of Richmond’s historic homes and museums will offer visitors a passport to time-travel during a special admission-free weekend on Saturday and Sunday, September 13 and 14, 2014.
Ten participating sites will offer complimentary admission to visitors who show a Time Travelers Passport available for free online.
If you manage to max out this offer, it equates to savings of more than $55 per person. Here’s the link for more information.
Some of the highlights include:
Agecroft Hallwas first built in England in the 1500s, then transported across the ocean and rebuilt in Richmond in the 1920s. The Tudor mansion is furnished with art and artifacts from 17th century England and there are manicured gardens overlooking the James River.
The John Marshall House, built in 1790 in the fashionable Court End neighborhood of Richmond, was the home of the Chief Justice for forty-five years. Listed on the National and Virginia historic registers, the John Marshall House has undergone remarkably few changes in the last 200 years.
The Poe Museum holds the world’s largest collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s manuscripts, letters, memorabilia and personal belongings. The Poe Museum provides a peek into early nineteenth century Richmond where the author of The Raven lived and worked. One of the structures in the museum’s four-building complex is the 1754 Old Stone House, the oldest residential structure within city limits.
Maymont, a 100-acre estate, was the home of businessman James Dooley and his wife Sallie from 1893 through the 1920s. The Maymont Mansion with 21 restored rooms offers a complete depiction of upstairs-downstairs life in the Gilded Age. The upstairs interiors are adorned with Tiffany stained glass, and frescoed ceilings and filled with original furnishings and artwork. Downstairs service rooms tell the story of household tasks and technology and the challenges of working in domestic service during the Jim Crow era. The surrounding landscape features Italian and Japanese gardens, and a carriage display as well a children’s farm and nature center.
Wilton House Museum overlooks a placid stretch of the James River. It was constructed in the 1750s as the centerpiece of a tobacco plantation by the prominent Randolph Family. An impressive example of 18th-century Georgian Style architecture, Wilton House boasts its original detailed paneling and a collection of fine and decorative arts from the Colonial and early Federal eras.
I’ll cut to the chase. If you ever miss a credit card payment and are socked with big fees and interest charges, you can call the bank and ask them to waive the fees and charges.
Don’t make a habit of this. But if it is a rare occurrence, and a genuine mistake, the bank may forgive your lapse.
If You Miss a Payment, Call the Bank
This month, my husband was set to pay his Chase United Mileage Plus card via an electronic payment. He had scheduled the payment, but failed to “verify the details.”
As a result, he missed the payment deadline, and was socked with a $25 late payment fee and over $32 in interest charges.
The statement warned that if he was late on another payment, they could charge him a $35 late fee and an interest rate of 29.99 percent. What’s more, a lapse like this could adversely impact his credit score.
In this case, he called the bank and offered to pay the bill in full immediately, The customer service rep said they would remove all the fees and interest charges, and that they would not report anything to the credit bureaus. Phew!
If you are prone to this kind of error, the points and miles game is not for you. You will end up paying more in fees than you earn in rewards.
To be frank, I have also made this mistake. Last summer, when we were traveling, a bill came due and I missed the payment deadline. Since it was a one-time mistake, the bank graciously waived my excess fees.
Just remember, most everything in life is negotiable, especially when dealing with banks.
Have you made a similar mistake? What was your outcome?
Click here to compare current rewards credit card offers.
There is a rewards credit card flying under the radar that pays 5% cash back on gas, 3% cash back on all travel, and dining out, and 1% cash back on everything else.
Can you guess which card this is?
Here’s a hint:
it is a no annual fee card;
it requires you to be a member;
membership is open to everyone but costs $45.
This Card Pays Higher Cash Back on Travel Than Better Known Rewards Credit Cards
No, it is not the PenFed Premium Travel Rewards American Express Card. The PenFed card earns 5x points on airline tickets, and 1x point on other purchases. It offers a signup bonus of $200 after spending $2500 in the first three months and has no annual fee.
No, it is not the Barclaycard Arrival™ World MasterCard® which pays 2x points on restaurant meals and all travel expenses, and redeposits 10 percent of redeemed miles back into your account. The Barclaycard Arrival™ World MasterCard® card offers 20,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days and has no annual fee.
No, it is not the Chase Sapphire card which pays 2x points on dining, 1x points on other penes, and an extra point on hotels and air fares booked via Chase Ultimate Rewards. The Sapphire card offers 10,000 points after spending $500 in the first 3 months and has no annual fee.
Meet the Sam’s Club 5:3:1 Cash Back MasterCard
Sam’s Club 5:3:1 Cash Back MasterCard
The Sam’s Club 5:3:1 MasterCard pays 5x points on gas purchases, 3x points on all travel, 3x points on restaurants, and 1x points on other purchases.
I don’t know of no other no annual fee rewards credit card that pays 3 percent cash back on restaurants, hotels, rental cars, airline tickets, train tickets, buses, cruises, tours, and timeshares! (If you have any contenders, please share in the comments.)
Some cards pay bonus points on car rental and hotels, others on restaurants or air tickets. But the general travel rewards credit cards like the Chase Sapphire or the Barclaycard Arrival™ World MasterCard® pay 2 or 2.2 percent respectively on travel and dining.
The Sam’s Club credit card comes with the latest chip technology for added security. The card will be PIN enabled, meaning it can be used in situations such as overseas train stations where a PIN is required.
If you apply by August 31, 2014, and you will earn a $20 statement credit after spending $50.
There is no annual fee for the card, but membership in Sam’s Club is required, and membership costs $45.
There is a maximum of $5,000 in cash back rewards during any “reward period” which is a calendar year. You’d have to be a real big spender to exceed that cap!
Sam’s Club 5:3:1 Cash Back MasterCard
Here are some specifics:
5 percent cash back on fuel at gas stations (for the first $6,000 spent on fuel each calendar year). That’s good at all gas stations in the U.S. (except gas stations run by other warehouse clubs and super centers.) After the first $6,000 in fuel spending each year, you earn 1 percent back.
3 percent cash back on restaurants worldwide (including fast food, bars, and catering, but excluding purchases at other warehouse clubs).
3 percent cash back on all travel. Travel includes: rental cars; airlines; hotels; passenger rail; bus lines; cruise lines; time shares; travel agencies (although not those offered by other warehouse clubs); travel sites; and tour operators.
I’m sure the Sheration Park South in Richmond, Virginia isn’t the only hotel to do this, but it put me off.
When I was checking out earlier this week, the front desk clerk asked me if I enjoyed my stay.
The conversation went something like this:
Clerk: Did you enjoy your stay?
Me: Yes
Clerk: Was everything OK?
Me: Everything was fine.
Clerk: Did you get room service?
Me: No, we ate in the restaurant.
Clerk: How was the food?
Me: It was fine.
Clerk: Was your room clean?
Me: Yes it was very nice.
Clerk: We are undergoing renovations. I hope you weren’t disturbed by the noise.
Me: No, not at all.
I guess I made it through the gauntlet, because the clerk then handed me business card and suggested I write a review on TripAdvisor.
There was really nothing of note about this particular Sheraton. It was just like many others I have stayed in, no more, no less.
I wouldn’t bother to write a review on TripAdvisor unless there was something terrible or something outstanding about my experience. I did not appreciate being screened in this manner.
Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite
Of course, I check TripAdvisor when I travel. The big thing I noticed about hotels in Richmond and Petersburg were the reports of bedbugs. Not just reports, but pictures! These pictures gave me the creeps!
It doesn’t seem to matter if it is a 4 star hotel or a 1 star hotel — bedbugs are a big problem in Richmond. In fact, I read an online review of this very hotel that reported a recent occurrence of bedbugs.
Was that why the hotel was prompting guests to write favorable reviews on TripAdvisor?
When I logged into my Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) account today I noticed a special offer:
upgrade to Gold Preferred Guest® status after two eligible stays at SPG hotels by October 15, 2014.
The promotion is offered to “select” Starwood Preferred Guest members who register by August 31, 2014.
The Gold Preferred Guest status will be good through February 2016.
Certain exclusions apply: bookings made through third parties such as online travel agencies do not count, nor do award night booked with Starwood points or Cash & Points.
Normally, ten separate stays or 25 nights in a year are required to earn Gold status, so this is indeed a fast track.
Is SPG Gold Status Worth It?
Here are the benefits of Gold Status:
Three Starpoints for every dollar spent – a 50% bonus over basic membership.
4 p.m. late checkout.
An “enhanced” room at check-in, when available.
Your choice of a welcome gift: bonus Starpoints, complimentary in-room Internet access, or a free drink.
So far as I am able to gather, the “enhanced” room may be a room on a higher floor, but is not a suite.
The welcome gift is a choice of:
250 Starwood points (125 points at Aloft, Four Points and Element);
high speed internet access for the entire stay; or
a complimentary beverage at the restaurant/bar, maximum value of $15.
No Status, No Problem
I have a couple of hotel stays coming up but I am not going to go out of my way to stay at a Starwood hotel just to earn gold status. I can almost always get a cheaper rate going through Priceline or Hotwire, and I am unlikely to have enough paid stays at Starwood hotels in the next 18 months to make this deal worthwhile for me.
What about you? Is this a deal, or no deal?
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It was a perfectly nice hotel — exactly what you’d expect from a Sheraton. It offered nothing particularly noteworthy, except for the complimentary shuttle service which was outstanding.
I booked a “Cash & Points” stay. As a Category 3 Starwood hotel, the fixed Cash & Points rate is 3,500 points per night plus $55 (plus tax).
This four night holiday put a big dent in my SPG points balance.
Cash & Points stays do not earn Starwood (SPG) points. To replenish my account, I took advantage of a couple of promotions to earn a total of 2,500 points:
Make a Green Choice — 1,500 points
Local restaurant promo — 500 points
2x points using Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card to pay the cash portion of the bill — 500 points
Make a Green Choice
Get 500 SPG points per night
SPG’s environmental initiative — “Make a Green Choice” — aims to conserve water and energy. The Ann Arbor Sheraton offers guests the option to decline daily housekeeping service in exchange for 500 Starpoints per night (except day of departure). Since I was not sharing the room, I opted for the Starpoints.
Welcome SPG Members!
The hotel website indicated another welcome offer was in effect. You could earn 500 Starpoints by showing your SPG card and spending $25 in food and drink in the hotel restaurant.
* * *
Starpoints are the most difficult currency to accumulate. There are no bonus points categories, save for 2x points at Starwood hotels. Unlike most other points programs, there is not a shopping portal to earn extra points for shopping online.
I was pleased to get 2,500 points back for this stay — to go toward my next trip!
As Kermit once said, it’s not easy being green.
Do you participate in hotels’ environmental programs? Should hotels incentivize these programs by offering points in their loyalty programs?
I love to read those silly What’s in My Wallet blog posts. I guess it’s because before I got into points and miles, I would not have believed that you could open an insane number of rewards credit cards without ruining your credit.
It does raise some questions, though:
How could the banks keep extending you credit?
How many times can you earn big bonuses?
How do you remember which card to use for which purchases?
How could you possibly keep track of all those credit cards without missing a payment?
15 is My Limit on Schnitzengruben, I mean Credit Cards
I recently counted 14 credit cards in my wallet from five different banks. That is crazy! I don’t recommend that for anyone.
Miss a single payment and you will be socked with a $35 fee and a major ding to your credit score.
With fourteen active credit card accounts, it is taking too much of my time to track expenses and pay the bills. Let’s face it; my office is cluttered and my wallet barely closes.
I am looking to thin out my collection.
Rewards Credit Cards Aren’t for Everyone
Travel rewards credit cards aren’t for everybody.
First off, you need to have a stellar credit score to be eligible for the best offers.
Most people prefer to carry only one or two cards, to simplify things and minimize the hassle. There is merit to this approach, particularly if you are disorganized and don’t keep current with paying your bills.
A perfectly reasonable strategy is to earn free travel is to focus on one airline or one type of flexible rewards such as Chase Ultimate Rewards points or cash back travel cards like the Capitol One Venture Card, or the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®.
But if you have a credit score in the excellent range, and you pay your bills on time and in full every month, rewards credit cards can be incredibly lucrative.
Once you have experienced the large bonus offers for opening a new credit card, which can be worth $500 or more, it is easy to get sucked into to opening more and more accounts to earn free travel.
Know Your Credit Score
Barclay’s Offers Free Access to Your Transunion Credit Score
From personal experience, I have watched my credit score progressively improve the further along I got in this game. Barclay’s bank offers its credit card customers free access to their official FICO credit score once every three months.
My most recent FICO score is 837, with 14 open accounts, and five additional credit card accounts that I have closed in the past year or so.
That is because my credit line has increased dramatically with all these cards, and my monthly spending is just a small fraction of the available credit.
The banks appear willing to extend me credit well beyond my annual income. Be careful. Like with the mortgage crisis, a lot of people get in debt over their heads from credit cards and can’t make the payments, or end up paying exorbitant amounts of interest, at rate as high as 28 percent annually.
This much is clear: the banks are making plenty of money, but probably not from people like me.
Starting Out with Rewards Credit Cards: The Chase Freedom Card
When I started my environmental consulting business 15 years ago, I opened the Chase Freedom credit card in order to keep my business expenses separate from my personal expenses. Chase Freedom is a personal, not a business credit card but I was using it for business purposes. It carries no annual fee, and earns 5x rewards on select categories of spending. This is a card that I would highly recommend for someone just starting out. The points can be taken as cash back on your next statement, or used as Ultimate Rewards Points. Ultimate Rewards Points are quite flexible and can be transferred to many airline and hotel loyalty programs but you need to have one of the premium credit cards from Chase to enable transfers.
If you are just starting out with travel hacking, the Chase Freedom card is a great place to begin because you can earn cash back or travel rewards, depending on your needs. Because the card has no annual fee, you can keep it forever, thus increasing the length of your credit history over time. This card earns 1x points on all purchases, and 5x points on select categories, that vary each quarter on up to $1500 of purchases per quarter. Generally, the 5x points is good for gas purchases for six months of the year. This spring, the card offered 5x points on restaurants, and sometimes you can get 5x points on Amazon.com, Lowes, or Kohls.
Right now, Chase is offering a $100 bonus for new applications, but I have seen this bonus go as high as $200 after spending $500 on initial purchases within three months. From time to time there is an extra $25 incentive for adding an authorized user to your account. There are cards with bigger bonuses but they usually entail annual fees and larger initial spending requirements.
Pick a Card, Any Card!
Whenever I show anyone what credit cards are in my real wallet, they look at me like I am crazy. I often get looks as I fumble through my wallet looking for the card that earns bonus points at this store or that.
Because I run a small business, I am eligible to apply for business credit cards. This allow me to “double dip” on account bonuses. I travel for both business and personal reasons and must keep my expenses separate for tax purposes. I caution you that business cards can only be used for genuine business expenses and they lack some of the consumer protections of personal credit cards.
What’s in My Wallet?
Here’s a quick rundown of what is in my wallet and why, and which cards are candidates for culling.
Chase Rewards Credit Cards
Quicken Rewards,personal (authorized user): The credit card I’ve had the longest is the Quicken Card issued by Chase Bank. We opened this card over 15 years ago because at the time, it was the one of the few cards that allowed you to download your statements into the Quicken personal accounting software. The Quicken Rewards card pays cash back rewards and carries no annual fee. This cash back card pays 2x drugstores, restaurants, and office supply stores, and 1x points on other purchases. Redemptions for airline tickets can be worth up to 1.25 cents per point, but only if you redeem at the top of a price bracket, e.g. a $500 ticket for 40,000 points. This is a keeper.
Freedom,personal:I love the Chase Freedom card because I can earn 5x points on practical things like gas and restaurants and there is no annual fee. It is a keeper because it pads my Ultimate Rewards point balance, and contributes to the length of my credit history, which is a factor that improves my credit score.
Ink Plus,business: The Chase Ink Plus is my primary business credit card. When I opened the card, I earned 50K Ultimate Rewards points after spending $5,000 in 3 months. This card pays 5x points at office supply stores and on telecommunications and 2 points on gas stations and hotels. The points easily transfer to Amtrak, Southwest Airlines, and United — three of my preferred carriers. Chase offered me a fabulous retention offer which I declined, but I plan to keep the card open.
Ink Bold,business: This is a charge card, not a credit card. The differences is that balances must be paid off every month. I opened this card for my blog business in June 2014 when there was a special bonus offer of 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $5,000 in three months. This card has a $95 annual fee which is waived the first year. This card has the same bonus categories as the Ink Plus. The usual bonus is 50K points.
Southwest Rapid Rewards,business:I opened the Southwest Rapid Rewards card for the 50,000 mile bonus. That is an offer that rolls around every couple of months. Southwest claims that you can get two roundtrip flights for 50K miles, and that has been my experience. The Southwest Rapid Rewards card has a $69 annual fee that is not waived the first year. You get 3,000 bonus miles every subsequent year. Last year, I was offered an additional 3,000 points as a retention bonus, and this year I received this offer again! I highly recommend the Southwest Rapid Rewards card for budget domestic travelers because of the excellent availability of award tickets on Southwest Airlines.
United Mileage Plus Explorer,personal (authorized user): This is my husband’s card. He opened it because there was a targeted offer for 50,000 miles. The card carries an annual fee of $95 which is waived the first year. When the fee came due, he was offered a retention bonus of 15,000 miles which offset the annual fee, and then some.
Barclays Reward Credit Cards
Barclaycard Arrival™ World MasterCard®, personal: I have the no annual fee version of the Barclaycard Arrival. I opened it because of a targeted offer for 40,000 bonus miles and the ongoing benefits including 2x points on restaurant and travel spending. You get a ten percent rebate on your travel redemptions, so this card effectively pays 2.2 percent cash back. I love the access to my free credit score and the free TripIt Pro subscription. The card now pays a bonus of 20,000 miles for new applicants. This is another keeper.
The US Airways® Premier World MasterCard®, personal:I opened this card because it offered me 35,000 miles after making a single purchase. There is an $89 annual fee which is waived the first year. My version of the card awarded 10,000 bonus miles on your anniversary. It has a number of additional benefits such as one free checked bag for up to four family members, a free lounge pass, and 5,000 fewer miles needed for reward tickets. With this card, you can get 2 companion passes for $99 each, but there are lots of strings attached. I just received the 10,000 mile annual bonus. I called to cancel the card because I did not want to pay the annual fee. This card currently pays a 40,000 mile bonus after the first purchase, but does not offer the annual 10,000 bonus points. It has an $89 annual fee which is waived the first year.
US Airways Dividend Miles,business:I opened this card by “accident.” I had applied for a different version of the US Airways card, but was informed that that it was not possible to have two different personal cards. I was able to switch my application to this business card, and earn 25,000 Dividend Miles upon the first purchase. The annual fee of $89 is waived the first year.
