Platinum Hotel Status At Accor

If you missed this earlier in the year, you have another shot. Get free Platinum status at Accor hotels (their Sofitel brand is amazing). It’s nice to have, and you can get some other hotel brands to match your status – great for upgrades, late checkout, etc. Click here.

How To Get Better At This In 2013

We’re all at different levels of this game, but there’s room to grow no matter who you are. If you don’t have a goal in mind for 2013, here’s some thoughts for each level:
  • Emo People – If you’re too cool for this hobby, quit lingering. Saving thousands of dollars on vacations isn’t worth an hour per week to you? If that’s the case, pick a side. Get in or get out.
  • Newbies – Educate yourself and move past the newbie stage. If you stay a newbie for more than a year, you’re not actually a newbie. You’re lazy. Flyertalk, blogs, and my Newbie Guide are places to start. You’ll get a basic understanding of how it works in just a few hours. Read, read, read!
  • Bad Credit People – You have bigger problems than a shortage of miles. If your credit is bad, that’s your main concern. The equivalent of Flyertalk for credit is www.creditboards.com.
  • Credit Wusses – If you have great credit but are scared to apply for cards, how long are you going to keep reading without diving in? Fair question. To me, it seems like you’re wasting a lot of time.
  • Sloppy People – Are you making up information on your AmEx card applications? Are you now stuck with a Financial Review? Did you overdo a Paypal card and get your Paypal account shut down? Stop making things so obvious. Don’t be dumb.
  • The Middle Class – This is most of you. You have a fair amount of cards and you earn a decent amount of miles. Are you using Bluebird? Are you doing anything with prepaid cards or gift cards? Have you discovered loopholes to exploit? Do you have any buddies in the game with you? The way this hobby is trending, it’s important to network with people because deals are getting killed faster.
  • The Studs – You have more miles than you can use. You know more than most. So what? Don’t be like one of those rich old jerks who sits at home and doesn’t spend his money. Use your miles more. The point of this is to have fun experiences. And when people try to learn from you, don’t be so paranoid. Very few people are trying to screw you over. Most just want to learn from you.

Holiday Flowers

Sending flowers for the holidays? Get either 30 United or American miles per dollar spent.

Again, based on the number of emails I’ve gotten, I don’t think anyone missed my post from 2 weeks ago. But I did promise I’d do it the next 2 Mondays, so here it is. That’s the last time I’m posting it. I’ve got a message board to build!

Why Starwood Points Rule

I get asked what my “go-to” credit card is. Well, when I’m not trying to meet a minimum spend, it’s the Starwood Preferred Guest Amex. Why?

  • Starwood points are the most flexible (see the airline mile partners here).
  • For every 20,000 points you transfer into miles, you get a 5,000 mile bonus.
  • If you’re short on hotel points (most people), the Cash + Points hotel options are incredible.
On top of that, they have transfer bonuses every so often. In March, it was a 50% bonus to US Airways. Right now, it’s a 25% bonus to British Airways. 
***No, British miles aren’t the best around, but they are giving out bonuses like candy (see the 30% bonus from Membership Rewards). ***

Contests

A few current contests for those of you who enter these (I’m one of you):

  • Cathay Pacific trip to Hong Kong here
  • 3-night Wyndam getaway here (Facebook)
  • 100,000 JetBlue points here (Facebook)
  • 1 million Southwest Airlines miles here 
  • Trip to the Maldives here