I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[DisMommyTX]

No, I didn't factor that in, but it makes me think even more so that I should save my points for something else and pay cash for this one. We can only do 4 nights for this trip so I'd hate knowing I could've had a 5th free and didn't.
I'm also back to leaning towards Expedia because it's fully refundable up to 5 days before and booking directly with Marriott is non-refundable.
I'm definitely not willing to book non-refundable these days.

Flexibility is king for us right now. I would be massively stressed booking anything nonrefundable. What if one kid has even the regular flu right before your trip? Vacations are all about decreasing stress, so non-refundable is not an option for me.

 

[platamama]

For those with Amex personal gold DH’s card came up with AF due. First year of him having it. I did the chat to ask for retention offer. I said I liked the card but had overlap with others and didn’t want to pay AF. Rep said “but what about grocery stores.” I then explained “my wife had one.” It ended with so you will keep it? And I said I was thinking unless he could give me any other reasons to keep it open. After that long game finally got 20k MR’s on agreement to keep it open another year. I was fine with it as I do like card. (He doesn’t care or know really).

The feature now if being able to chat for a retention offer is huge when you have a reluctant or ambivalent spouse.

Thanks for the reminder. I just chatted for DH's Schwab Plat since the AF is due in three days and got a 50K MR no spend retention offer as long as it stays open for 12 months. I swear he gets the better offers on his cards. I only got 20K in Sept for my retention offer on my card.

 

[becauseimnew]

No, I didn't factor that in, but it makes me think even more so that I should save my points for something else and pay cash for this one. We can only do 4 nights for this trip so I'd hate knowing I could've had a 5th free and didn't.
I'm also back to leaning towards Expedia because it's fully refundable up to 5 days before and booking directly with Marriott is non-refundable.
I'm definitely not willing to book non-refundable these days.

I was just on the Marriott website trying to figure out why it's non-refundable, I think you are looking at the Pre-pay and save rates on the Marriott site. You can book the same refundable rate as Expedia. But what is COMPLETELY NUTS is that they are trying to charge you $100 per extra person, starting with the second person. What the poop is Marriott trying to do? I would book it as 1 person.
Also, don't forget you'll have to pay the $120 resort fee, I don't think that is included in the Expedia price.

 

[hsmamato2]

Can I ask about his stats? What other cards does he have? How old was his credit history? Also, did he go ahead and apply yet for the Flex?

i'll share a few- credit history about 2 years- had amex blue,BoA rewards,and CiP- he hasn't apped for flex yet bc he wants to just use the CiU for awhile....

 

[KPK02090]

I was just on the Marriott website trying to figure out why it's non-refundable, I think you are looking at the Pre-pay and save rates on the Marriott site. You can book the same refundable rate as Expedia. But what is COMPLETELY NUTS is that they are trying to charge you $100 per extra person, starting with the second person. What the poop is Marriott trying to do? I would book it as 1 person.
Also, don't forget you'll have to pay the $120 resort fee, I don't think that is included in the Expedia price.

OMG you’re right. I didn’t notice those tabs before - “standard rates”, “prepay and save” “Deals and packages” - somehow I was on “prepay and save.” I did think is was weird they wouldn’t allow changes or cancellations.
Anyway, having it be refundable is a game changer. Back to booking direct through Marriott.

 

[Mswiza]

Looking for some First class international flight help. Planning ahead for late 2022 or early 2023 and would like to go to Dubai and Maldives. I am trying to decide which currency I should be building up, it looks like Emirates is the best way to do this from the research I have done so far (please let me know if there is a different recommendation). I don't have any Alaska airline miles so should I focus on MR/UR to transfer to Emirates even though it would take more miles then using Alaska (from what I have researched 150,000 RT using Alaska vs 212,000 Emirates) or should I figure out how to build up Alaska airline miles? Thanks!

 

[afan]

Looking for some First class international flight help. Planning ahead for late 2022 or early 2023 and would like to go to Dubai and Maldives. I am trying to decide which currency I should be building up, it looks like Emirates is the best way to do this from the research I have done so far (please let me know if there is a different recommendation). I don't have any Alaska airline miles so should I focus on MR/UR to transfer to Emirates even though it would take more miles then using Alaska (from what I have researched 150,000 RT using Alaska vs 212,000 Emirates) or should I figure out how to build up Alaska airline miles? Thanks!

I'd look at transferring to Emriates. I can't remember if it linked to something, but I saw on reddit yesterday, and I can't remember if it was award travel or churning, that Emirates is going to take away the ability for partners to book F. I'd look into that before getting stuck with a partner that doesn't give you any other options. Also always a good idea to figure out a B and C option in case A fails, but I'd hate for your A to be in a partner airline to start. It's the one issue with Alaska since nothing transfers to them aside from Marriott at a poor value.

Also with Alaska joining the new alliance no one really knows what'll happen to their values and partner awards.

 

[Alexle2007]

Looking for some First class international flight help. Planning ahead for late 2022 or early 2023 and would like to go to Dubai and Maldives. I am trying to decide which currency I should be building up, it looks like Emirates is the best way to do this from the research I have done so far (please let me know if there is a different recommendation). I don't have any Alaska airline miles so should I focus on MR/UR to transfer to Emirates even though it would take more miles then using Alaska (from what I have researched 150,000 RT using Alaska vs 212,000 Emirates) or should I figure out how to build up Alaska airline miles? Thanks!

From the Alaskan website: Book your First Class award travel with Emirates by March 31, 2021. Beginning April 1, 2021, Emirates will no longer allow partner access to First Class award bookings. Mileage Plan members can continue to redeem on the Emirates’ award-winning Economy Class and Business Class.

Based on your timeline, I would definitely focus on MR or URs since Alaskan miles will not be an option.

 

[djmeredith]

Yup, the extra person fee was $200! When you take that out it's more inline with Expedia.

If I book as 2 adults I wonder if I can just call and say, "Oh yeah, we also have 3 kids with us..." From a quick search online it seems like they aren't supposed to charge it for kids.

Since the cash price is pretty low ($155/night) I think you're right about using the points for a higher value redemption.
I could just pay cash and I could use the Capital One points to off set the park ticket prices on undercover tourist.

I don't seem to have that offer in the offer section for my card. Should I be looking somewhere else?

I just stayed at Dolphin over fall break and kids are definitely free. However, it is apparently impossible to add them to the res without getting charged. I called the onsite line before my stay and confirmed the 3 kids were free. They told me not to add the kids because their system will automatically add the fee if they added the kids to the res.

 

[Mswiza]

I'd look at transferring to Emriates. I can't remember if it linked to something, but I saw on reddit yesterday, and I can't remember if it was award travel or churning, that Emirates is going to take away the ability for partners to book F. I'd look into that before getting stuck with a partner that doesn't give you any other options. Also always a good idea to figure out a B and C option in case A fails, but I'd hate for your A to be in a partner airline to start. It's the one issue with Alaska since nothing transfers to them aside from Marriott at a poor value.

Also with Alaska joining the new alliance no one really knows what'll happen to their values and partner awards.

Thank you for your thoughts and for the reminder of having alternate plans!

From the Alaskan website: Book your First Class award travel with Emirates by March 31, 2021. Beginning April 1, 2021, Emirates will no longer allow partner access to First Class award bookings. Mileage Plan members can continue to redeem on the Emirates’ award-winning Economy Class and Business Class.

Based on your timeline, I would definitely focus on MR or URs since Alaskan miles will not be an option.

thanks for posting that, confirms that I shouldn’t go the Alaska route!

 

[KPK02090]

I just stayed at Dolphin over fall break and kids are definitely free. However, it is apparently impossible to add them to the res without getting charged. I called the onsite line before my stay and confirmed the 3 kids were free. They told me not to add the kids because their system will automatically add the fee if they added the kids to the res.

Thank you for posting this.
I definitely won’t be adding them to the reservation online. It really helps to hear from people with first-hand experience.

 

[WendiDarling]

Questions for anyone who's used CSP at WDW. Do the Disney restaurants all code and qualify for PYB? I've noticed that sometimes my restaurants qualify and sometimes they don't. Wondering about first hand experience with Disney.

 

[ten6mom]

I think some folks upthread were commenting on the Chase website just recently... I just logged in (as I do daily anyway) and today the site popped up a little survey asking questions about how I liked the site, how useful it was, and how I liked its appearance.

I only mention it because perhaps many Chase customers don't like it!

 

[platamama]

I just stayed at Dolphin over fall break and kids are definitely free. However, it is apparently impossible to add them to the res without getting charged. I called the onsite line before my stay and confirmed the 3 kids were free. They told me not to add the kids because their system will automatically add the fee if they added the kids to the res.

This has been my experience as well, @KPK02090, at other Marriott properties. I would follow djmeredith's advice about calling to confirm with the onsite property to get the "ok." The extra person fee doesn't seem consistently applied 100% of the time with online reservations, I do play with the #guests when I'm checking out the costs, and sometimes there's no extra person fee. I have no idea why.

 

[Limes96]

Did anybody get the Chase targeted offer (DoC reported it yesterday I think) for 5% UR on utilities and insurance?

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Did anybody get the Chase targeted offer (DoC reported it yesterday I think) for 5% UR on utilities and insurance?

Unfortunately no

 

[LynnTH]

FYI if anyone was wanting to do the ATT upgrade offers, today is the last day. I had to go an change what I was doing completely since they said a line was eligible for an upgrade but really wasn't.

I chatted with ATT yesterday because both my kids and I were wanting to do upgrades but wanted the Iphone 12 Pro Max which was not available for pre-order until today. New Promo started today with $700 off instead of $800 but now includes the 12 Pro Max. So, I pre-ordered 3 phones this morning.

 

[afan]

Did anybody get the Chase targeted offer (DoC reported it yesterday I think) for 5% UR on utilities and insurance?

Yes but I've got to figure out how to do it. Meeting an msr so I need to make sure I can make up the difference there. I do at least have a few small one's I'll do. My car ins renews in Jan. I'll have to see when it asks for the money and if I can pay the 6 months at the end of Dec. I hadn't thought about that. They don't take amex and their website still won't let me pay on it since july so that could work.

 

[becauseimnew]

I upgraded DH's Amex Bonvoy to Brilliant 10/01/2019, received the 125K upgrade bonus 12/08/2019... am I good to downgrade?

 

[lsutigers03]

Did anybody get the Chase targeted offer (DoC reported it yesterday I think) for 5% UR on utilities and insurance?

I got it on my CSP. It also includes phone, internet, and cable. I had the same offer for my CF a few months ago. The last time I paid my insurance in full and was able to max out the offer. This time I don't think I have enough to max it out in just November and December.