I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 (see first page for add'l details)

Has anyone done any of the Hilton timeshare deals? I got an email for one, $149 for 3 nights, plus 100,000 points. We are planning to go to Orlando at some point late summer/early fall, and I like the fact that Orlando is one of the options. Plus 100K points doesn't seem too shabby. We've never done a Hilton one. We don't have a problem saying no repeatedly to high pressure sales, and not interested in purchasing. It'd be solely for the cheap stay/points.

Any feedback on this offer, or their timeshare deals in general? Anyone done one in Orlando? There are several options in Orlando - SeaWorld Orlando, Tuscany Village, Las Palmeras or Parc Soleil. Not sure if you get to pick, has anyone stayed at any of these?
I’ve never done a timeshare deal..only because my son use to worked for Wyndham and I know they usually get 1, maybe 2 tours a day…and I’d feel guilty knowing we were taking away the possibility of a sale from someone.

We have stayed at Parc Soleil twice, in a 1 bedroom unit…loved it.
 
I’ve never done a timeshare deal..only because my son use to worked for Wyndham and I know they usually get 1, maybe 2 tours a day…and I’d feel guilty knowing we were taking away the possibility of a sale from someone.

We have stayed at Parc Soleil twice, in a 1 bedroom unit…loved it.
I'm not sure about Wyndham but Hilton seems to do a lot of these. Our initial presentation had at least 6 couples/families and the tour of the unit had at least 15 people wandering around looking. It seemed pretty busy.
 
Ohhhhh OK. I defintely was not clicking on each date!

One more (hopefully the last... I'm so sorry) question... when I click, where does it say it's a Web Special?? I clicked on several different ones and all I am seeing is something like this. (I could be blind)

View attachment 748427
In this case you would click where it says main cabin 45k and it should tell you if it’s a web special.
 


I need help from all you Europe travelling peeps.... Leaving in May. Two nights in Rome, then a cruise that goes to different ports in Italy, Greece and Turkey - ending up in Athens with a few nights there.

Everything is booked - including all Transportation and all Tours/Drivers. We booked all the tours as private tours, just for the 7 of us going. All of them have requested to be paid in Cash Euros at the time of the transportation/tour.

So, trying to figure out how many Euros to get in total with some extra. Will use credit cards for what we can.

I know tipping is different but should we still expect to tip like 20% on our private tours and private drivers?

At the stop we have in Santorini we have a tour and the owner of the tour company is also a photographer. So, we have hired her to "take family photos" - when in reality she is being hired to capture the proposal of my son and his girlfriend. Everyone knows the real reason, except the girlfriend thinks it is family photos. Do we tip her also - and if so, 20%??

So clueless about all of this and trying not to stress... but that is not working very well!!

When I tip in Europe I do so based on service and the price that I paid for the tour. Since private tours tend to be costly, I will do things like have the guide join us for lunch and / or dinner (and pay for their meal), then tip up to 10%, maybe 15% if I am very happy with the tour and service.
 
I'm not sure about Wyndham but Hilton seems to do a lot of these. Our initial presentation had at least 6 couples/families and the tour of the unit had at least 15 people wandering around looking. It seemed pretty busy.
i know when he worked there probably 5 years ago, they had the large presentation, they each couple/person as assigned a salesperson. At his location the only way you’d get a chance to have a second tour was if you had one of the top spots…which were assigned by your previous sales. Don’t know how many salespeople they had on staff each day, he hated that job, but it was a stepping stone to his next one
 


Taking care of business on vacation. DD applied for a new passport Monday and I got a new photo (need a new passport because of my name change). Did my taxes today (although I really can't file because I'm a partner and my company filed for an extension--ugh). Tonight I have my cost accounting class.

I need help from all you Europe travelling peeps.... Leaving in May. Two nights in Rome, then a cruise that goes to different ports in Italy, Greece and Turkey - ending up in Athens with a few nights there.

Everything is booked - including all Transportation and all Tours/Drivers. We booked all the tours as private tours, just for the 7 of us going. All of them have requested to be paid in Cash Euros at the time of the transportation/tour.

So, trying to figure out how many Euros to get in total with some extra. Will use credit cards for what we can.

I know tipping is different but should we still expect to tip like 20% on our private tours and private drivers?

At the stop we have in Santorini we have a tour and the owner of the tour company is also a photographer. So, we have hired her to "take family photos" - when in reality she is being hired to capture the proposal of my son and his girlfriend. Everyone knows the real reason, except the girlfriend thinks it is family photos. Do we tip her also - and if so, 20%??

So clueless about all of this and trying not to stress... but that is not working very well!!
We tipped $10/person on our dcl tours (average excursion was $300/person). This was consistent with what others were tipping. No one was tipping even close to 10% from what I could tell. If we had multiple guides (like one from the port then another in Rome) we obviously tipped everyone. Not sure about the specifics, but 20% sounds really high in Europe.
 
No experience with corporate MRs, is it still 1 to 1 Marriott? Marriott to United, there is a 10k bonus for every 60k you transfer. 60k Marriott would be 30k United. 60k MR to 30k United doesn't seem great to me, but maybe there are specific cases where it would make sense.
Yep. 1,000 points = 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points. I have 150k MR's just sitting around accumulating. I've been wanting to do something with them, but 60kMR's to 30K United is not going to be what I do! I'll continue to wait and accumulate. Thanks!

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Taking care of business on vacation. DD applied for a new passport Monday and I got a new photo (need a new passport because of my name change). Did my taxes today (although I really can't file because I'm a partner and my company filed for an extension--ugh). Tonight I have my cost accounting class.


We tipped $10/person on our dcl tours (average excursion was $300/person). This was consistent with what others were tipping. No one was tipping even close to 10% from what I could tell. If we had multiple guides (like one from the port then another in Rome) we obviously tipped everyone. Not sure about the specifics, but 20% sounds really high in Europe.
Thanks. Been trying to google and read but getting a ton of conflicting info. Will aim maybe for 10% instead of 20%.
 
When I tip in Europe I do so based on service and the price that I paid for the tour. Since private tours tend to be costly, I will do things like have the guide join us for lunch and / or dinner (and pay for their meal), then tip up to 10%, maybe 15% if I am very happy with the tour and service.
Thanks for the info!!
 
Our Viking river cruise guidelines say 1 euro/person for the bus driver and 2 euros/pp for the tour guide. I have not been able to locate my stash of euro coins since we moved houses 2 years ago. (These are not private tours, but the ones through Viking)
 
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Our Viking river cruise guidelines say 1 euro/person for the bus driver and 2 euros/pp for the tour guide. I have not been able to locate my stash of euro coins since we moved houses 2 years ago.
I just wasn't sure if it mattered that all transportation and tours are private booked tours for just the 7 of us. So, like when we arrive in Rome the company we have booked is bringing us 5 to the hotel (my Brother and SIL are on different flights and get in 3 hours after us). So, our cost is 80 Euros and theirs is 80 Euros.

When they get to the hotel - the same company is bringing us on a half day tour to include the churches. Total for that is 420 Euros and then the next day, the same thing. Half day tour for 420 Euros.

Normally, I would tip the driver 20 Euros for each trip and then the driver/guide about 80 Euros for each tour... but thinking maybe cut that in half??
 
Does anyone have experience filing for trip delay insurance know if my situation qualifies? A couple weeks ago, we had our 1st outbound leg delay by 2 hrs, and due to this delay we missed our connection. The rebooked 2nd leg was 12 hrs later. So the letter from AA only shows 125 mins or so delay, but we had airport meal expenses (and a few incidentals) for the 12 extra hrs we had to spend at the airport. Would this qualify for reimbursement and would the AA letter showing 125 mins delay be sufficient?

Is this for the CSP/CSR? The criteria is that you are delayed for more than 12 hours, not that the flight is delayed that long, so I would think it's covered. They will ask for the confirmation or boarding pass of the original flight and the boarding pass of the new flight. It does need to be a covered hazard - "equipment failure, inclement weather, strike and hijacking/skyjacking". Your AA letter will need to show the reason for the delay.

Were you able to get Hyatt to not charge the cash rate for your missed award night? That's a fear of mine when booking high value award stays. I don't think you can even insure against that as it wouldn't be "prepaid". I would have hoped hotels would be more understanding!
 
Has anyone done any of the Hilton timeshare deals? I got an email for one, $149 for 3 nights, plus 100,000 points. We are planning to go to Orlando at some point late summer/early fall, and I like the fact that Orlando is one of the options. Plus 100K points doesn't seem too shabby. We've never done a Hilton one. We don't have a problem saying no repeatedly to high pressure sales, and not interested in purchasing. It'd be solely for the cheap stay/points.

Any feedback on this offer, or their timeshare deals in general? Anyone done one in Orlando? There are several options in Orlando - SeaWorld Orlando, Tuscany Village, Las Palmeras or Parc Soleil. Not sure if you get to pick, has anyone stayed at any of these?
did one in Myrtle Beach. wow I didn't get 100k points!
it was long and w kept saying no. but worth it for the 3 nights at Myrtle Beach for $149!
 
@MarBee This is a great idea to recoup some of the cost that @FreeDiningFanatic mentioned.
If you have CSR PYB is offering the 1.25 back on Groceries where you can get Disney Gift cards and buy tickets with those. I did this for a bunch of gift cards during the pandamic when it was offered at 1.5. Obviously this is not as good as 1.5 but still better than a straight 1 cent per point!!

The prices I'm seeing on the Chase portal look higher than direct with Disney. You can save even more by buying from Undercover Tourist. You may not miss out on much with a straight cash out at 1 cent per point or the 1.25 Pay Yourself Back with gas/groceries if you have a CSR.

For example, I'm seeing $409 for a 3 day non-hopper on the portal. That would be about 32720 URs with a CSP and 27300 with a CSR. But the Undercover Tourist price is only $340. If you have a CSP and do a pure cash out at 1 cpp, you would only need 34000 URs, so difference is not much. If you have a CSR and PYB groceries, you would need to do 27,200 to cover that amount, also not a big difference.

I hope you're able to keep your trip. :)

Thanks! I only have CSP and Ink Business. Would they work? 🤞
 
Thanks. Been trying to google and read but getting a ton of conflicting info. Will aim maybe for 10% instead of 20%.
We have a very similar trip booked, and I also booked all private tours. I'm stressed about how much cash we are going to need to carry with us, and I hadn't even thought about tips yet. I'm glad you asked, and I hope you have a great cruise.
 
Is this for the CSP/CSR? The criteria is that you are delayed for more than 12 hours, not that the flight is delayed that long, so I would think it's covered. They will ask for the confirmation or boarding pass of the original flight and the boarding pass of the new flight. It does need to be a covered hazard - "equipment failure, inclement weather, strike and hijacking/skyjacking". Your AA letter will need to show the reason for the delay.
It was on my Venture X, but I read the booklet on coverage and I think I qualify. Original departure was 10:30am and rebooked was 12:45am (red eye) so definitely more than 12 hours. I worry about the AA letter because it said due to "maintenance" so I hope that qualifies as equipment failure. It was broadly announced at the gate the 1st plane got "overfueled" for the size and duration of the flight (I didn't even know that was possible!) and the replacement 2nd plane they got had a broken lavatory.
Were you able to get Hyatt to not charge the cash rate for your missed award night? That's a fear of mine when booking high value award stays. I don't think you can even insure against that as it wouldn't be "prepaid". I would have hoped hotels would be more understanding!
This experience soured me a bit with Hyatt. I specifically called to let them know our new arrival time and made sure they saved our room. The front desk assured me it's ok, no worries. If they told me then that I would be charged the 1st night in cash, I would even be ok. The front desk manager told me it's up to Hyatt, there's nothing they can do. I tweeted Hyatt and they opened a case # for me and said they'll reach out to the hotel management team. I haven't seen any follow up message, but my card hasn't been charged or points refunded. Fingers crossed it's all behind me now!
 

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