Quick hit: no, Freedom family product changes don't reset your quarterly bonus spend
One of my favorite techniques is requesting product changes from Chase personal credit cards where I received a signup bonus to Freedom cards that earn 5 Ultimate Rewards points ..
TravelStories Episode 35: Long Weekend in Madrid
While today is all about a long weekend in Madrid, Thomas and Trevor go on their usual tangents to bring you yet another information-drenched…
Impressed by first MaxMyPoint hotel award alerts
A few weeks ago I read a post comparing various hotel award alert tools that concluded MaxMyPoint was the only one that did the job (since the internet is no
Quick hit: two more free options for manufacturing debit transactions
I wrote recently about some tools I use to manufacture debit card transactions in order to trigger the highest rates on rewards checking accounts (often but not exclusively marke..
TravelStories Episode 34: Chatting with Nick Reyes of FrequentMiler
Chatting with Nick Reyes of FrequentMiler Episode 34: Show Notes. Few things are as exhilarating as a competitive travel challenge among like-minded peers! Speaking…
Venti reads my blog and makes some big, immediate improvements
Back in February I wrote about Venti, a very-high-interest savings account with a gimmicky twist: the “interest” on your savings is credited to a separate “points” balance that c..
TravelStories Episode 33: Cruise Loyalty with Traveling Well for Less’ Debra Schroeder
Are you interested in cruises, and want to capitalize on miles and points, but feel unsure of where to start? Then this episode is…
How I'm thinking about money these days
Personal finance and travel hacking in the United States are almost always linked through the intermediary of credit cards, which unlike in most civilized countries are allowed t..
"How do we scale this?"
One of my favorite questions travel hackers ask is “how do we scale this?” The implicit answer is, usually, “we don’t.” Contrary to what economists pretend to believe, the world
TravelStories Episode 32: A Quick Cairo Trip
A Quick Cairo Trip Episode 32: Show Notes. After a two-plus year-long wait, Tom finally used his Qatar booking credit from the pandemic (just…
Credit cards I'm eyeing for my first round of applications in years
Longtime readers may know that I don’t chase signup bonuses in the way a lot of travel hackers do. This is not because I have anything against signup bonuses, it’s
Quick hit: free HotelSlash membership
AutoSlash is getting into the hotel game with a new search product, appropriately called HotelSlash. After poking around on it for half an hour I didn’t see anything special about
The Tesla Protocol, Boeing, and the regression to the minimum viable product
One of the most striking stories I’ve heard about Tesla vehicles had nothing to do with exploding cars, drowning shipping magnates, or spontaneous highway shutdowns. It was a sim..
TravelStories Episode 31: All About Baha Mar with Joey Redmond
Episode 31: Show Notes. When you talk to folks in the community, people have strong opinions about Hyatt’s Baha Mar property, and its not…
TravelStories Episode 30: First Time Istanbul Visit with Han
A First Time Istanbul Visit with Han Episode 30: Show Notes The Turkish Airlines Devaluation was a big deal. We covered our trip to…
Robinhood Gold versus Bank of America Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors
[To the reader: since I think a lot of people will be using affiliate links to sell this product, I’m not including any links, including my own referral links, in
How does Hilton price 5th-night-free awards?
I manufacture a lot of Hilton Honors points with the American Express Surpass co-branded credit card, and I redeem almost as many. The Surpass earns a free night certificate that
10 Tips for Travel to Kauai
Time FLIES. If you’re looking for proof of that look no further than this very blog, which quietly celebrated it’s 10th anniversary last year….
TravelStories Episode 29: An Enchanted Princess Cruise Trip Report
Episode 29: Show Notes This episode on Travel Stories, we dive deeper into sharing our cruise line experiences, and if you have any of…
Manufacturing transactions is harder than you think
There are countless methods of manufacturing credit card spend, but the basic principles are simple: generate a credit card purchase (usually at some cost), liquidate the purchas..
Manufacturing transactions is harder than you think
There are countless methods of manufacturing credit card spend, but the basic principles are simple: generate a credit card purchase (usually at some cost), liquidate the purchas..
How much is World of Hyatt credit card spend towards Globalist status worth?
It sounds like a cliche because it is, but World of Hyatt points are virtually the only loyalty currency to have retained a large part of their value in the
Checking In Ep 26: What’s It Like to Work with a Disney Travel Agent?
Planning a Disney World vacation can be an overwhelming experience. With four theme parks, over twenty resort hotels, and dozens of restaurants – there’s…