The all encompassing travel thread (for your tips, tricks, recs, questions, help).

[Warhead36]

2 hours ago, purbeast said:

Oh one more thing.

 

Generally speaking, you are going to get way more bang for your buck with points if you use them on flights.

 

Like you mention you have some hilton points and stuff to use for hotels.  The effort it takes to get hilton points or marriot points, etc, is not worth the rewards you get out of them at all compared to flights.

 

Like 100k points to get you a hotel room will not save you nearly as much as money as 100k points to book a flight on United or Southwest would.  

The only exception to this is Hyatt. The point value on redemption is insane. And they transfer from Chase, so like you said definitely get a Chase card(Chase also transfers to United as well).

 

I got a Marriott Boundless Bonvoy strictly because our wedding was at a Marriott, so we used that card to pay the hotel itself, which got us enough points for 5 nights at the Ritz Carlton in Maui. Other then that though I agree with you, hotel cards aren't ideal.

Edited May 20 by Warhead36

[EmirOfShmo]

21 minutes ago, purbeast said:

When I looked at using some Marriot Bonvoy points for a hotel we frequent in the Keys, it was like 250k points for a 5 night stay, that would have cost like $1800 if I paid in cash.  So say you get like 80k points for a bonus (which is even high) and that is worth like $600'ish if I were to use those points for the hotel.

 

On the flipside, the flights down there, I got 4 of them for like 50k total on Southwest.  Had I paid for those flights it would have been like $1500 or so.  

 

I've just never seen anything remotely close to being worth it for hotel points which is why I always go for points I can use for flights, and it also doesn't force me to use a certain brand of hotels, especially when going out of the country, which I tend to stay in non-US chain hotels.

 

As for the Hyatt cc, I am not sure what company makes that.  I just know that Chase has the 5/24 rule and that is basically all I get for cards anyways.

 

For the SW ones yeah I get one personal and one business.  I don't own a business or anything either and it's super easy to get one still.  I don't apply at the same time though I will apply for one, get the bonus, then apply for the other.  I tried doing both at once before and I didn't get auto approved for them so I just do em apart since I'm not going to be using them at the same time anyways.

 

Yeah, I get it on the hotel cc's. However, with Marriott if you book 5 nights you are only charged points for 4 nights. I'm definitely not saying to convert any points to Marriott from other cards. And the actual card bonuses aren't anywhere near what they used to be nor are the room rates!

 

3 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

The only exception to this is Hyatt. The point value on redemption is insane. And they transfer from Chase, so like you said definitely get a Chase card(Chase also transfers to United as well).

 

I got a Marriott Boundless Bonvoy strictly because our wedding was at a Marriott, so we used that card to pay the hotel itself, which got us enough points for 5 nights at the Ritz Carlton in Maui. Other then that though I agree with you, hotel cards aren't ideal.

 

Good to know about converting Chase points to Hyatt. Thanks!

[purbeast]

6 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

The only exception to this is Hyatt. The point value on redemption is insane. And they transfer from Chase, so like you said definitely get a Chase card(Chase also transfers to United as well).

 

I got a Marriott Boundless Bonvoy strictly because our wedding was at a Marriott, so we used that card to pay the hotel itself, which got us enough points for 5 nights at the Ritz Carlton in Maui. Other then that though I agree with you, hotel cards aren't ideal.

I guess it is where you want to stay at a Hyatt.  I rarely travel in the USA, and I just looked at the Hyatt in Aruba, and booking with points it is 15k + $338 per night.  So for a week I mean you are wasting 105k points AND paying $2366 + taxes.  

 

The hotel I usually stay at in Aruba would cost like $2800 for a week and is nicer than the Hyatt there.

 

Would much rather use points on flights to get there and pay $2800 for the hotel, then spend 105k points and pay $2400 for the hotel + like $2500 - $3000 in flights.

 

(assuming you could only accumulate X amount of points and had to have one or the other)

[TheGreatBuzz]

Fwiw I think it's better to get a card with some form of cash back over some airline/hotel rewards points.

[purbeast]

13 minutes ago, TheGreatBuzz said:

Fwiw I think it's better to get a card with some form of cash back over some airline/hotel rewards points.

Not even close to the same value. 

 

But if you don't travel, then it's worth getting one of those instead of using your debit card or something with no rewards.

 

EDIT:

 

And I am mainly referring to the intro bonuses here.  Not like if you aren't working for a bonus and just are getting the "normal" rewards.  In that case, the cash one may be the better option for you.  But for me personally there are only a couple months out of a year I may not be working towards a bonus, and in those cases, it's just me waiting to be able to open another travel reward card for those new bonuses.

Edited May 20 by purbeast

[The Evil Genius]

Re: southwest card

 

They run intros several times a year where you can get a companion pass (for almost a year) if you spend x amount (usually 3k) within the first few months. 

 

Worth it alone if you use Southwest. Especially now that they have Hawaii flights. 

[purbeast]

Just now, The Evil Genius said:

Re: southwest card

 

They run intros several times a year where you can get a companion pass (for almost a year) if you spend x amount (usually 3k) within the first few months. 

 

Worth it alone if you use Southwest. Especially now that they have Hawaii flights. 

Yeah we got one of those last time I opened it for my wife.  It was like for a year I believe after spending $3k, which was great.  

 

That was the only time I've seen that one though.  You've seen it more than once?

[TheGreatBuzz]

22 minutes ago, purbeast said:

Not even close to the same value. 

 

But if you don't travel, then it's worth getting one of those instead of using your debit card or something with no rewards.

 

EDIT:

 

And I am mainly referring to the intro bonuses here.  Not like if you aren't working for a bonus and just are getting the "normal" rewards.  In that case, the cash one may be the better option for you.  But for me personally there are only a couple months out of a year I may not be working towards a bonus, and in those cases, it's just me waiting to be able to open another travel reward card for those new bonuses.

 

It seems we manage our credit scores differently. We almost never open up new cards. 

[purbeast]

4 minutes ago, TheGreatBuzz said:

 

It seems we manage our credit scores differently. We almost never open up new cards. 

Then you are missing out on a thousands of free money per year.

 

That is the whole idea of this discussion.  It's to open a new credit card and get the intro bonus, then open up another one and get the intro bonus, rinse and repeat.

 

People think that opening/closing cards affects your credit score, and it does, but it's so minimal that you don't even notice.  Like my score will drop from like 810 to 805 or something if I open or close a card.  But then it goes right back up the next month and it makes no difference in the end.

 

There is no point in having a good credit score if you aren't going to use it for anything and/or take advantage of it to open new cards to get all these intro bonuses.

[TheGreatBuzz]

4 minutes ago, purbeast said:

Then you are missing out on a thousands of free money per year.

 

That is the whole idea of this discussion.  It's to open a new credit card and get the intro bonus, then open up another one and get the intro bonus, rinse and repeat.

 

People think that opening/closing cards affects your credit score, and it does, but it's so minimal that you don't even notice.  Like my score will drop from like 810 to 805 or something if I open or close a card.  But then it goes right back up the next month and it makes no difference in the end.

 

There is no point in having a good credit score if you aren't going to use it for anything and/or take advantage of it to open new cards to get all these intro bonuses.

 

I'm just giving my perspective. I appreciate yours. I'm curious, when you get a loan for something or a new card, do you always get the lowest rate? 

[purbeast]

2 minutes ago, TheGreatBuzz said:

 

I'm just giving my perspective. I appreciate yours. I'm curious, when you get a loan for something or a new card, do you always get the lowest rate? 

Yes.

 

I refinanced my mortgage in 2021 when the rates were low, and I could get the rate so low that I changed my mortgage to a 15 year loan from a 30 year loan, and shaved off 7 years of what I would have been paying, for like a $10 increase in my mortgage.  My current mortgage rate is 1.675%.

 

As for the rates with the credit cards, I have no clue because I don't care what the rate is.  I pay my cards off every time I get paid so I never carry a balance.  I do get large credit limits, usually ranging from 17k to 30k.  Sometimes I will call and tell them to lower my limit though because I don't want to have all this unused credits if I'm going to be opening up new cards down the road.

[TheGreatBuzz]

1 minute ago, purbeast said:

Yes.

 

I refinanced my mortgage in 2021 when the rates were low, and I could get the rate so low that I changed my mortgage to a 15 year loan from a 30 year loan, and shaved off 7 years of what I would have been paying, for like a $10 increase in my mortgage.  My current mortgage rate is 1.675%.

 

As for the rates with the credit cards, I have no clue because I don't care what the rate is.  I pay my cards off every time I get paid so I never carry a balance.  I do get large credit limits, usually ranging from 17k to 30k.  Sometimes I will call and tell them to lower my limit though because I don't want to have all this unused credits if I'm going to be opening up new cards down the road.

 

Interesting. I'll keep this in mind.