I love credit cards so much! v7.0 - 2025 (see first page for add'l details)

[Judique]

I did want the Aspire card, now I might aspire not to get one. A lot of redemptions seem to be bonvoyed.

That's how I'm feeling.

 

[calypso726]

I did want the Aspire card, now I might aspire not to get one. A lot of redemptions seem to be bonvoyed.

Yes, the HH point redemptions have been Bonvoyed. However, the Aspire card still pays for itself if one is able to use it's benefits. The annual FN certificate is not capped to a certain point value. The FN cert can be redeemed for any standard award room. Often the FN alone is worth more than the annual fee. Right now a standard king room at the Waldorf Astoria Orlando is $678 for NYE.

We have 4 Aspire cards. The AF on each card is $550. I would not keep 4 Aspires if I could not get amazing value that I actually use. The card also has the $400 resort credit which is divided into $200 between January and June and $200 between July and December. We can use that to book another night at a qualifying resort, like the WA in Orlando or a really nice dinner or spa on property at whatever qualifying resort we are staying at.

Having done this a few times already at the WA in WDW, we will make dining reservations at the Bull & Bear on property and charge it to the room. There's the 14X for spending on the Aspire card at Hilton properties. This means I earned 2,800 points for each $200 resort credit that I used. There are a ton of qualifying resorts and this perk is one we can easily use whether we are using it in the Maldives, Bora Bora, Moorea, Disney or a staycation at a nearby Conrad.

On top of that the card has a $200 flight credit which is divided into quarterly $50 credits. I add them to UTB every quarter.

There is also a $209 Clear Plus credit. I have found we wind up using Clear a lot when we travel and the security line is way shorter than the standard TSA pre check.

Lastly, the card comes with Hilton Diamond status which provides lounge access, some sort of dining credit each stay. At the WA WDW we get a $50 max for the two of us per night. Diamond members get 100% bonus points on Hilton stays. We do often get upgrades as HH Diamond but I never expect that. Nice when it happens though.

The Hilton Aspire cards we have are my favorite sock drawer cards that come out for Hilton stays and purchasing UTB every quarter. If I didn't care about staying under 5/24 and shutting myself out of max credit cards allowed with Amex, I'd be inclined to have 6 Aspires between me and DH. Ok, I will step off my Aspire card soapbox now

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

If you take the retention offer, you have to keep the card a year or it'll be clawed back. If you want to cancel the card, that would mean being locked into 2 years of the AF.

A strategy I've seen for what to do if you're past the 30 days for refund is to downgrade the card, get a prorated refund, and then cancel the downgraded card. I feel like that might be poking the bear though.

I think I'll just ignore the retention, it's small anyway, and then base the decision for keeping solely on how useful the potential new benefits will be over the next year, if they do get launched by my 30 day mark. Thanks for your help!

 

[djmeredith]

Also, thanks for writing this up. What was your original plan and how are you pivoting?

I was only aware of the 500K max transfer per year. So, I planned for 3 family to use their Bonvoy accts to purchase the current bonus max of 120K and then transfer them to me. My current plan is amass the pts via purchase/transfer as the rules allow and book individual nights as they become available and i have the pts. Hoping to cobble together 5 nts in a row to merge (or cancel/rebook) and get the 5th nt free promo. I don't think I will have the full 944K pts until after the first of the year, so I know I will be pushing it to find 5 nts in August. I am prepared to be disappointed and potentially delay my trip. Just hoping they don't up the pts again as I am accumulating these pts.

Ah, good point. I remember in my much younger years I had a card (Disney maybe?) with 0% and I maxed it out, then my insurance rates went up. Car & home ins will renew in October, I guess as a biz card shouldn't affect that.

We flew through Doha 10 days ago, I had been nervous about it with unrest in the Middle East, everyone said it would be fine. Glad I wasn't flying today!

I thought of this thread when I heard the news because I know many of us have flown/want to fly the Q Suites. Including me for my planned safari next year. Definitely adds another factor to consider when planning.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Booked the Park Hyatt Los Cabos while waiting to see if more nights open at the WA. They just pushed back opening again, so I got a call. Was offered to move to the Cape or a different date. Decided to cancel. I asked about courtesy points and they gave me 20k. DPs on FT are 10k, so I'm happy about it.

So your dates are in the October range? Hopefully WA doesn't push back their reno dates. Also, not loving the room renos from the photos, but perhaps they will be better in person. Definitely not worth a points increase. Glad you got 20k- that is much better than other FT DPs. I didn't care for the Cape BUT I don't have Hyatt status so perhaps it would be more enjoyable status. Specifically the pool has a vegas vibe and is very uncomfortably hot. I think you made the right decision.

Are you approaching your cancellation window for WA? What will you do if dates don't open up for more nights? I think Hyatt recently opened a hotel in Todos Santos. We really like the Todos Santos/Pescadero area if you are willing to drive.

Rumor of the change is 9/19.

I've been out of the loop on the 9/19 change. This is for the Amex Plat? I thought there was some speculation of trying to use credits before the change. Can anyone talk more about that and share their thoughts?

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I was only aware of the 500K max transfer per year. So, I planned for 3 family to use their Bonvoy accts to purchase the current bonus max of 120K and then transfer them to me. My current plan is amass the pts via purchase/transfer as the rules allow and book individual nights as they become available and i have the pts. Hoping to cobble together 5 nts in a row to merge (or cancel/rebook) and get the 5th nt free promo. I don't think I will have the full 944K pts until after the first of the year, so I know I will be pushing it to find 5 nts in August. I am prepared to be disappointed and potentially delay my trip. Just hoping they don't up the pts again as I am accumulating these pts.

Yes, when I was working through this, I too felt like I would need the calendar to turn over to the new year in order to be able to reset the annual rules. It sounds like you have a great attitude about the potential pitfalls with availability, cancel/rebooking and potential price increases. Too bad they don't offer points advance bookings anymore!

 

[ten6mom]

Well, I just went ahead and applied for the Chase Biz IHG card and I got a "review" message. Fingers crossed!

Thanks all for your advice.

 

[wanderlust7]

So your dates are in the October range? Hopefully WA doesn't push back their reno dates. Also, not loving the room renos from the photos, but perhaps they will be better in person. Definitely not worth a points increase. Glad you got 20k- that is much better than other FT DPs. I didn't care for the Cape BUT I don't have Hyatt status so perhaps it would be more enjoyable status. Specifically the pool has a vegas vibe and is very uncomfortably hot. I think you made the right decision.

Are you approaching your cancellation window for WA? What will you do if dates don't open up for more nights? I think Hyatt recently opened a hotel in Todos Santos. We really like the Todos Santos/Pescadero area if you are willing to drive.

I've been out of the loop on the 9/19 change. This is for the Amex Plat? I thought there was some speculation of trying to use credits before the change. Can anyone talk more about that and share their thoughts?

Funny you ask because my alert just hit and I booked the remaining 2 nights I wanted at the WA. So 5 nights, all on FNC. If it hadn't opened up, I would have just done 3 nights. Booked UA awards with return flights for both 3 and 5 nights.

Going late October. I hope the reno doesn't get pushed back. But I don't feel too attached to the trip, would just try again some other time. Now if I had booked at a lower points rate and it got pushed back, I would be very upset. But with FNC, makes no difference.

If anyone is looking for the WA Los Cabos - almost all of November and first 3 weeks of December are wide open.

Rumored 9/19 change is for both Amex plat and biz plat. Hotel credit change appeared on Amex website and then was taken down. Airline credit change was a screenshot (so maybe less certain). But no downside to using them up in case they reset.