This week at Frequent Miler, we covered topics including which chain is best for manufacturing free nights, where to find awards night bargains in the United States, and and how to maximize the use of free rental car days. Read on for this week’s recap.
A valuable use of one two free: one-way rental
Free days earned from One-Two-Free expire in about a month. I had one such free day in my account and it came in handy for a one-way rental to drop off at the airport (and therefore save on both one-way and parking fees). If you have free days remainding, one-way rentals can be one of the best uses.
Cathay Pacific business class: a good use of AA miles
I burned some AA miles for a trip I’m on this week and wrote about my experience with Cathay Pacific business class. In a nutshell: I was very happy with the seat as it enabled me to get the rest I very much needed en route to Asia, but the overall experience was lacking a bit. I think it makes a solid redemption as it is a good way to get to Asia; that said, if you’re looking for a luxurious experience, it might not fit the bill.
Here’s A List Of All The 10,000 Point Hilton Properties In The US
Some people like to use their points to stay at the most outrageously expensive far-flung resorts they can find; others would just like to stretch their points for as many nights as possible and/or would be thrilled for a few cheap staycations with a swimming pool and maybe even free breakfast. If you’re in that latter group, Stephen has created a list of all of the Hilton properties in the US where you can really stretch the value of your points, paying just 10K per night (or 8K average for 5-night stays), which could be an excellent deal.
10K points or loyalty benefits – which is a better deal?
There is a new Amex Offer out for 10,000 points back on a $600 prepaid hotel booking via Amex Travel (some people got an offer for $100 back, which is less valuable in my opinion). Does it make more sense to utilize this offer and forgo your loyalty benefits? Or are the benefits of your elite status worth more than 10,000 Membership Rewards points? I thought this one was an easy answer until I started considering the numbers. The outcome surprised me some.
Manufacturing free nights (Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott)
Several years ago, before becoming a blogger, I attended an FTU session where the speaker explained that they no longer thought about hotel redemptions in terms of the cent-per-point value in relation to the room rate, but rather his cost to MS the points for a free night. This post breaks down how much spend you will have to put on the relevant cards in order to earn a free night — from the bottom to middle to top of the charts. You might be surprised as to the best options in each category.
That’s it for this Frequent Miler week in review. Check back soon for our week in review around the web and this weekend’s Last Chance Deals.
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Can anyone explain how reselling is a viable way of accumulating points and miles? I’ve done some selling on ebay, etc. and people are claiming stuff is stolen off their porch, never arrived, etc. all the time. Now that we live in a world where Amazon will overnight you a replacement no questions asked small sellers have no chance. Maybe I’m missing something, but for all the work that goes into reselling and then having to write-off all the losses, it just seems like a bad use of time to me.
In some cities, money orders can be bought in Walmarts using PIN-enabled gift cards but not in other cities. Any logic to this? It should be uniform and standardized company wide. I’m in Dallas, Texas and can’t buy them. A response from Walmart said it can’t be done. I need cities where it can be done to refute that wrong response. Please help.