I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[brownhaired_girl]

I was just able to trade into a second studio unit in Oahu for December. We now have a 2BR unit the first week and 2 studios the second week. Not perfect, but DDs family will be able to stay on site at the Ko Olina Resort with us. Aaaand I’m done with 0330 AM alarms to check inventory.

@palhockeymomof2 how do you like Lakeshore Reserve?

 

[Judique]

@disneybirds - I almost booked the Residence Inn Seaport myself today - DH and I just decided to do a weekend in Boston later this fall. But I wound up using the Amex Fine Hotels program to book the Liberty (yay!) because it was only $279 on the date I was looking at. Yes, expensive, but cheap for the Liberty. Deciding factor was that we have an offer on DH's platinum card for $100 off a $500 stay at high end Marriotts. I can spend the remaining $200 needed for the offer on a work trip of mine where I'm staying at a JW Marriott.

The FHR rate gets us a $100 F&B credit, plus breakfast for 2, and some kind of upgrade to our room (I've been lucky with these and gotten suites on occassion). I pre-paid, so I get 5x MR points on the spend.

So with the offer, it looks like this:

Hotel Cost $ 344 (includes tax/resort fee)
Amex Credit $(100) (cheating a little here - crediting entire credit to this stay, although it requires another stay, but I was doing that stay anyway)
F&B Credit $(100)
Breakfast for 2 $(50) (cheating a little here - I would get breakfast anyway because I'm a platinum member)
Value of MRs $(17)
Cost of room $77

FHR rates are only available if you have an Amex Plat, but can be really good value if you hit them right!

ETA- there may be a fly in my ointment here. I'm not sure that my pre-paid FHR stay is going to trigger the amex credit - if it comes up as a charge to amex travel, I may be out of luck. May need to forego the 5x amex points, cancel this reservation and plan to pay the hotel directly when we stay. That will definitely trigger the credit.

What time frame is your stay? I could use a Boston trip, in early October.

 

[ten6mom]

Well, I think the Hilton Aspire may not work out for me after all. Keeping in mind that the ONLY reason I would get such a card is for my Japan stay in November 2020:

• The 5th night free is only on a 4 night stay booked completely with points, and even at the "low" of 66K points per night that I saw last week (looking at this coming November for a general idea), that would be 264K points. Even if, between me and P2, we managed to acquire 2 cards and get their SUBs (probably one at 150K and another at 125K), there is no way we can continue to meet a healthy spend on 2 Amex cards while still trying to meet MSRs for other needed things. So I don't see us being able to even book the first 4 nights on points in order to take advantage of the 5th night free while we are still working on Chase URs to take care of the other hotels (the flights should be taken care of in the next month).
• And, just for kicks, I tried to go to November 2020, which is, of course, not available yet (to try to see about points). Since it will only accept up to one year out, I changed to search to something like September 15-18, 2020. It says they are SOLD OUT for those dates. I kept going "one week earlier" and finally found availability... in August 2020. I am very concerned about this lack of availability in September, which is after the Olympics are over.

Can any Amex and/or Hilton experts share any thoughts on this? It's perfectly OK for the advice to be "stick with Chase and book at this hotel with URs like you originally planned." It certainly is not going to kill me to not be a Diamond member and get the perks. But now I am worried about there being any rooms at all, whether with cash, URs, or HH points.

Oh and ETA: The Diamond benefits are only for the primary cardholder, so I guess my husband couldn't have breakfast with me or go into the lounge with me... so that doesn't help either!

There. I think I just talked myself out of it for good!

 

[1st*toright]

What time frame is your stay? I could use a Boston trip, in early October.

The weekend before Thanksgiving. Not sure you will do well on a weekend in October - leaf peepers and people wanting to go to Salem for Halloween stuff make Boston in October fairly busy. Plus college parent weekends/homecoming stuff. I usually find really good rates in late November and December. But, of course, it isn't nearly as scenic then .

 

[disfanforlife]

To me a sugar cookie is almost white (pale) compared to the dough of a chocolate chip cookie. Is it really the same thing? I like the darker brown. Maybe it's brown sugar instead of white?

Can you tell I'm not a baker? I can't make decent cookies to save my life. It's sad, really...

I am the opposite. I don’t buy store bought cookies. I bake every week. Huge varieties, cakes, cookies, brownies, pies. I have always enjoyed baking since I was a kid and I like to share with others too.

 

[Haley R]

It's crazy - you guys got rain when Dorian rolled through though, lol so I think you have me beat.

It rained in Pittsburgh overnight on 9/1 and since then it has not rained...at all...once... I know this because I got our driveway re-done & a basketball court put in back and then I planted a bunch of grass the week after Labor day... and now every night I get to spend an hour of quality time with my hose watering said grass because IT WON'T RAIN!!!!! I seriously do not understand how it has not rained at all in almost 3 weeks. And our long term forecast shows no rain until Monday... This is nuts!!

I finally put in all kinds of drainage (and spent a lot of money doing it) to avoid getting water in my basement, (for those of you that recall that story from 2018 right before we went to Myrtle)...and now it will never rain in Pittsburgh again. Haha!

We only got like 3 or so inches from Dorian. It barely filled our pool. We had to fill it back up some with our hose yesterday lol. We did have a really nice, hour long rain last night. We aren’t showing rain again until next Thursday and it’s a 30% chance.

We’re lucky that we have in ground sprinklers because I’m lazy and wouldn’t want to go water the grass every day. Even with the neighborhood having the sprinklers some yards look so bad and yellow. When I moved here I expected storms every afternoon and I think I’ve seen 2 storms in this house in 2 1/2 months.

 

[ten6mom]

I am the opposite. I don’t buy store bought cookies. I bake every week. Huge varieties, cakes, cookies, brownies, pies. I have always enjoyed baking since I was a kid and I like to share with others too.

I am more than happy to share my address so that I may partake of all the brownies (with no frosting and no nuts!) and the chip-less chocolate chip cookies!

 

[happ]

Ugh! Plastiq fixed my account to allow my MA tax payment to be submitted and it posted as a cash advance! Now I have a huge bank fee and no credit card rewards on the purchase. I just sent Plastiq a message. Am I completely delusional thinking something can be done at this point to reverse this?

 

[GlamMistress]

Well, I think the Hilton Aspire may not work out for me after all. Keeping in mind that the ONLY reason I would get such a card is for my Japan stay in November 2020:

• The 5th night free is only on a 4 night stay booked completely with points, and even at the "low" of 66K points per night that I saw last week (looking at this coming November for a general idea), that would be 264K points. Even if, between me and P2, we managed to acquire 2 cards and get their SUBs (probably one at 150K and another at 125K), there is no way we can continue to meet a healthy spend on 2 Amex cards while still trying to meet MSRs for other needed things. So I don't see us being able to even book the first 4 nights on points in order to take advantage of the 5th night free while we are still working on Chase URs to take care of the other hotels (the flights should be taken care of in the next month
• And, just for kicks, I tried to go to November 2020, which is, of course, not available yet (to try to see about points). Since it will only accept up to one year out, I changed to search to something like September 15-18, 2020. It says they are SOLD OUT for those dates. I kept going "one week earlier" and finally found availability... in August 2020. I am very concerned about this lack of availability in September, which is after the Olympics are over.

Can any Amex and/or Hilton experts share any thoughts on this? It's perfectly OK for the advice to be "stick with Chase and book at this hotel with URs like you originally planned." It certainly is not going to kill me to not be a Diamond member and get the perks. But now I am worried about there being any rooms at all, whether with cash, URs, or HH points.

Oh and ETA: The Diamond benefits are only for the primary cardholder, so I guess my husband couldn't have breakfast with me or go into the lounge with me... so that doesn't help either!

There. I think I just talked myself out of it for good!

Remember there are some other ways you can get Hilton points. You can transfer Hawaiian miles over and get points, so you can get the Barclays Hawaiian card if you are close. Hilton allows family pooling.

When I was a Hilton Diamond (not from the card) my DH always got to eat and went to the lounge with me, but YMMV on that I guess. I never even thought about it - 2 adults, one room and I just took him everywhere.

 

[disfanforlife]

I am more than happy to share my address so that I may partake of all the brownies (with no frosting and no nuts!) and the chip-less chocolate chip cookies!

Brownies are one of my husbands favorites too!

 

[disfanforlife]

Brownies are one of my husbands favorites too!

But it’s Apple season here now. Apples cake I made yesterday.

 

[ten6mom]

Remember there are some other ways you can get Hilton points. You can transfer Hawaiian miles over and get points, so you can get the Barclays Hawaiian card if you are close. Hilton allows family pooling.

When I was a Hilton Diamond (not from the card) my DH always got to eat and went to the lounge with me, but YMMV on that I guess. I never even thought about it - 2 adults, one room and I just took him everywhere.

Good point; thank you.

As far as ONLY the cardholder getting to use breakfast/lounge, I am of course going by what the fine print says. I have zero personal knowledge. But I would hate to get there and find out that particular perk can't be used!

 

[Judique]

My ebags order arrived! My cat is currently rolling around in all the packaging.

The motherlode jr. looks great. A bit boxy but it’s not going to be my everyday backpack (I don’t think). Just for travel and I love the organization! Although for those that have it, do you pack a separate smaller backpack for the parks?

Love my new toiletry bag too. It’s just what I needed. Compact but room for the things I need and no mesh to rip like the previous one I had.

And the ultra lite cubes weigh absolutely nothing (I thought they were packing material at first!) and look roomy.

Which toiletry bag did you get? I'm still messing with my Amazon order. There are ebags packing cubes on Amazon plus others. Since I order a lot of pet food on line, I did a single bag order and got the 40% off coupon for subscribe and save, plus added packing cubes and got them for $3ish. I'll change the subscribe and save for next month. Amazon plays games with prices so I'm willing to pay to play....I think I won this time, but still waiting for another MR offer. I'm used to buying the pet food at regular price so I ascribe the savings to the packing cubes.

 

[1st*toright]

But it’s Apple season here now. Apples cake I made yesterday.

Thank you- I would LOVE some apple cake. Please send along ASAP.

 

[Alexle2007]

Brownies shouldn't have frosting! That's a cake with sprinkles. It's just as bad as the people that ruin perfectly good brownies by putting nuts in them.

Agree! Although they are good with peanut butter in them. Yum!

 

[bernina]

Which toiletry bag did you get? I'm still messing with my Amazon order. There are ebags packing cubes on Amazon plus others. Since I order a lot of pet food on line, I did a single bag order and got the 40% off coupon for subscribe and save, plus added packing cubes and got them for $3ish. I'll change the subscribe and save for next month. Amazon plays games with prices so I'm willing to pay to play....I think I won this time, but still waiting for another MR offer. I'm used to buying the pet food at regular price so I ascribe the savings to the packing cubes.

This is the bag I got. So far it looks great and I like that it zips all around. My previous one was a tri fold.

https://www.ebags.com/product/suvel...ravel-kit-organizer/326646?productid=10488668
Great deal on the subscribe and save order!!

 

[Alexle2007]

I love my junk food especially when traveling. Possible there is candy & jerky in my current possession and I’m looking to replace the super unhealthy chips that I love (because I already ate them)...

Martin’s BBQ chips for the win! Or Utz BBQ if Martin’s aren’t around.

 

[Lain]

Well, I think the Hilton Aspire may not work out for me after all. Keeping in mind that the ONLY reason I would get such a card is for my Japan stay in November 2020:

• The 5th night free is only on a 4 night stay booked completely with points, and even at the "low" of 66K points per night that I saw last week (looking at this coming November for a general idea), that would be 264K points. Even if, between me and P2, we managed to acquire 2 cards and get their SUBs (probably one at 150K and another at 125K), there is no way we can continue to meet a healthy spend on 2 Amex cards while still trying to meet MSRs for other needed things. So I don't see us being able to even book the first 4 nights on points in order to take advantage of the 5th night free while we are still working on Chase URs to take care of the other hotels (the flights should be taken care of in the next month
• And, just for kicks, I tried to go to November 2020, which is, of course, not available yet (to try to see about points). Since it will only accept up to one year out, I changed to search to something like September 15-18, 2020. It says they are SOLD OUT for those dates. I kept going "one week earlier" and finally found availability... in August 2020. I am very concerned about this lack of availability in September, which is after the Olympics are over.

Can any Amex and/or Hilton experts share any thoughts on this? It's perfectly OK for the advice to be "stick with Chase and book at this hotel with URs like you originally planned." It certainly is not going to kill me to not be a Diamond member and get the perks. But now I am worried about there being any rooms at all, whether with cash, URs, or HH points.

Oh and ETA: The Diamond benefits are only for the primary cardholder, so I guess my husband couldn't have breakfast with me or go into the lounge with me... so that doesn't help either!

There. I think I just talked myself out of it for good!

- You need 2 Hilton SUBs. Amex is not going to hit you with a pop up on your first app, and if they do on your second app, you have P2. One possibility is for you (P1) to apply for two different Hilton cards back to back, as in apply for a second Hilton card while you're still working (or finishing up) the MSR on the first Hilton card, i.e., while your spend is still "high" during the MSR period and before it's had a chance to dropped off. Once your spend does drop off, you risk the pop up on future applications, but the pop up is dynamic and it's hard but possible to get rid of it.
- Have you looked into whether MS is feasible in your area as a way to increase your spend?
- Diamond status will almost certainly get you a better room, possibly a suite, which your husband/all your guests could enjoy. Complimentary breakfast for Diamond members almost always includes one guest, and sometimes all guests under your reservation (YMMV, check with the hotel or Flyertalk DPs). Lounge access almost always allows guests as well (again YMMV).

 

[Alexle2007]

Rushes off to go look at red....

Let me know if you find them. I’d love some red sandals!

 

[elgerber]

Remember there are some other ways you can get Hilton points. You can transfer Hawaiian miles over and get points, so you can get the Barclays Hawaiian card if you are close. Hilton allows family pooling.

You can transfer Hawaiian? So if I get the Hawaiian card, and end up flying another airline, I won't be stuck with miles I can never use?