It’s crazy. I’ve got so many points, but my imagination has been running wild, and I’ve managed to ‘half book’ enough trips to put some real pressure onto my points strategy. I’ve not got enough in the bank to really meet my obligations… the situation is so dire I’m thinking about going on a budget!
It’s an interesting feeling for me. I’ve been debt free for about a decade, but now I feel a pressure that means I need to go back to the old days of thinking about spending less, or earning more. These are the roots of any cash flow changing budget.
My unmet obligations:
To name a few.. Flights to BCN and more…this is a real problem. I could fly all 3 of us roundtrip in Business Class today, but if I do I lose efficiency… if I booked one way using AA and one using UA I’d achieve the goal, but I’d burn the chance at something free. It’s an interesting thing how ‘expert’ knowledge can actually restrict us, and in this case add stress.
I decided that I would use UA to fly us over AA because of the free one way option.. but that only triggers if I can book the entire trip roundtrip. I had about 10-15K UA at the time I made this choice… but we also had:
- Me 150K Ultimate Rewards
- Her 40K Ultimate Rewards
- Me and her 300K Marriott pts
I figured we could load up via the Marriott nights and flights thingy, and when there was a recent bonus offered on top of this I went all out, transferring 270K Marriott for 132K UA, and the chance at 20K more UA if a stacked transfer bonus pays off… So right now if we push in all our miles we will have about 330K. That puts us in an awkward spot, because I feel that we need to buy 3 seats these days, and that is something like 420-480K pts.
That cert is poop too
When I jumped on the Marriott exchange in the hope of 20K more miles, I accepted a crappy 1-5 7 day cert. I guess we are about 120K short of that too… as I’d wanted to pick a nice Ritz Tier 1-3 category hotel. That’s another obligation I need to meet, and has a time limit (even if it can be extended).
I really want Hyatt Platinum
I’m working on something big right now that I plan to share at TravelCon in Vegas. It’s hard to explain in the written word, and its not a gig per se, but I think it’s really interesting, more of an approach to life, and a practical example of it would work better if I had Hyatt Platinum. And what’s worse, I’ve mentally committed now.
It’s gonna get worse
If my plan for Vegas works, and if I get Hyatt Platinum, then I’ll have free nights to spend (from the Credit card signup), and I might even be a Hyatt Diamond for the first time… that means that I need to book another trip somewhere to get great value of those free nights… and maybe book more to use up the Suite nights… and meanwhile, I need to book another trip to use up the Marriott (hopefully Ritz) nights.
Chase are being fickle
They gave me all these goodies, but now are slowly turning the tap off… and all 3 of my debts are in the Chase program.. if I go for Platinum, I risk losing a chance at goosing my UA pts.. as I can’t see me getting two cards from them anytime soon. I tried to see if I could product change (change one credit card to another) but my options were as follows:
- Marriott PCs to another Marriott
- Freedom PCs to Slate or CSP
- Ritz Carlton doesn’t PC
What choices do I have?
I can earn more, or spend less… just like any budget. Time is in short supply right now, so earning will be hard. Chase clamping down on things makes that harder still. That means I can maybe do a bit more earning, but will need to focus on spending less. I see that coming in a few ways: losing efficiency, shooting lower (maybe not a Ritz Carlton?) or maybe.. ironically.. spending more. It might be times like this when I look into buying points as they would get me out of a hole, and mean that I don’t have to sacrifice on experience.
Funny how knowing more, and having more can create stress that you don’t have enough….
(oops – I confused Hyatt Gold and mLife Gold, because the latter is what I’m chasing)
Lot of bloggers tries to portray the Marriott nights/flights 7 days option as a great opportunity. In a limited case, it might be but overall I am not sure if it is a good idea. I don’t like to stay 7-day in one Hotel in a vacation. 4-5days max. You are totally tied to the Hotel and the area for 7 straight days. There are too many other places in the world to stay/visit..
The value comes from the miles aspect I believe, a way to turn Marriott into UA etc.. I agree though, I used to be happy with 1-2 nights in even big cities, but we’re definitely slowing down with a baby.
FWIW, the “issue” of having a baby with you points to simplifying as much as you possibly can. There is enough day to day problem solving in dealing with a soon to be toddler, without angsting over which of 15 complex options gets you the best deal for travel.
Pick one or two options that seem reasonable (not necessarily best, just reasonable) and figure out which you like best, go with it, and be happy.
I’ve done what you are doing now, both with miles/points and with real money. Which of the 20 B&Bs in rural Ireland looks the best, for the rounded differences of about $10/night among them? One time, I picked one after, literally, two evenings of research for those 2 nights of our trip, only to find that the owner was pregnant, due at the time of our trip. Luckily, she recommended another nearby I’d not even considered (it was $15 more!) and it was, undoubtedly the nicest place we stayed at the entire trip.
Yep, we’re heading that route, hence buying the third seat and whatnot… Though in this case it causes some problems at the same time 🙂
Absolutely OT, Matt…Everytime you say, “whatnot…” I smile. Because my oldest son uses the word a lot, and is the only person I know who uses it at all. Therefore, you say “whatnot” and I see my son, who lives on the West Coast, while I live in the Upper Midwest.
Thanks!
🙂
Matt, when you mention buying points, you don’t mean buying them from programs, right? I’ve had good experience with the exchange forum on Flyertalk, and there are also “underground” forums that allow you do the same with more transparency.
I don’t really mind where you buy them, as long as it is legal 🙂
You’ll find out that Hyatt Platinum Elite in center cities = no Elite at all. No breakfast, no parking, no club.
Yeah I’m not interested in it for Hyatt, I was trying to use it for mLife. It’s an elaborate caper.