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

[Twilghtsprkle]

FYI US Bank offers has a banner in the app that they will double your bonus for bonuses redeemed Nov 26-28. However it also states that the purchase must post to your account during the offer period. I know some got the 10% back at Best Buy, up to $23. If you haven’t redeemed then it may make sense to make the purchase on the 26th and hope it posts by the 28th.

 

[hsmamato2]

so I have the OG IHG cc...just got an email telling me it's now called IHG select.... does this change anything about the card?

 

[Psychodisney]

FYI, anyone inclined to make donations to a food panty, Ink cards include $20 per month and free instacart plus. Food banks are listed on the home page making it easy to pay it forward with this card benefit.

 

[StephPlum]

so I have the OG IHG cc...just got an email telling me it's now called IHG select.... does this change anything about the card?

I thought it was always called select. I got this email...

Doesn't seem like a huge change. Some extra benefits.

 

[hsmamato2]

I thought it was always called select. I got this email...
View attachment 1021384
Doesn't seem like a huge change. Some extra benefits.

ok thanks...

 

[afan]

Woo! Got my hilton fnc and was able to switch one of my nights at Tokyo Station to it so I got back 105k points.

 

[VGCgroupie]

FYI, anyone inclined to make donations to a food panty, Ink cards include $20 per month and free instacart plus. Food banks are listed on the home page making it easy to pay it forward with this card benefit.

Id love to see this for the DoorDash benefit too. I looked and saw nothing.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

FYI, anyone inclined to make donations to a food panty, Ink cards include $20 per month and free instacart plus. Food banks are listed on the home page making it easy to pay it forward with this card benefit.

Homepage for Chase? Or Instacart? I'm not seeing anything.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Working on DS graduation trip to Hawaii. I think the most we can do is 2 islands, 5 nights each. Not ideal but I'll likely never see Hawaii again and I'd like to see at least 2 islands. Oahu is for sure, DS wants to see Pearl Harbor.

Other things on his list are seeing a volcano, hiking and snorkeling. We are also foodies and love to eat. Trying to decide between Maui and the Big Island. DS seems to think there are more things to do on the big island but I'm not sure. Road to Hana looks interesting. Other things to do? Suggestions for hotels/resorts on either?

 

[wiscbugs]

Working on DS graduation trip to Hawaii. I think the most we can do is 2 islands, 5 nights each. Not ideal but I'll likely never see Hawaii again and I'd like to see at least 2 islands. Oahu is for sure, DS wants to see Pearl Harbor.

Other things on his list are seeing a volcano, hiking and snorkeling. We are also foodies and love to eat. Trying to decide between Maui and the Big Island. DS seems to think there are more things to do on the big island but I'm not sure. Road to Hana looks interesting. Other things to do? Suggestions for hotels/resorts on either?

Why would you only go to Hawaii once? We went for the first time for spring break trip 3 years ago...and loved it so much we went back last year for spring break...and I am sure will go many more times! Hawaii is absolutely amazing!

 

[mom2febgirls]

Working on DS graduation trip to Hawaii. I think the most we can do is 2 islands, 5 nights each. Not ideal but I'll likely never see Hawaii again and I'd like to see at least 2 islands. Oahu is for sure, DS wants to see Pearl Harbor.

Other things on his list are seeing a volcano, hiking and snorkeling. We are also foodies and love to eat. Trying to decide between Maui and the Big Island. DS seems to think there are more things to do on the big island but I'm not sure. Road to Hana looks interesting. Other things to do? Suggestions for hotels/resorts on either?

The Road to Hana was too scary for me to drive. We quit at Auntie Sandy's. We love Maui, but mainly for the whale watching. For Oahu, on our first trip the winds were too strong and we weren't able to visit the USS Arizona memorial. We've only been to Hilo, but we loved the hiking at Volcanos National Park.

Our first trip was going to be our only trip so we did 3 islands. But we ended up going again the next year and DH is already talking about trip #3.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

Other things on his list are seeing a volcano, hiking and snorkeling. We are also foodies and love to eat. Trying to decide between Maui and the Big Island. DS seems to think there are more things to do on the big island but I'm not sure. Road to Hana looks interesting. Other things to do? Suggestions for hotels/resorts on either?

Volcanoes national park is awesome, as is Haleakala. Road to Hana was one of our best memories!! We drove it in the rain, and stopped to get out at most waterfalls to hike/swim. It was absolutely epic. Maui and the Big Island are our two favorites; both had amazing snorkeling. I’d say Maui has more in terms of a food scene. On Oahu, we liked Kualoa Ranch and hitting up Matsumoto shaved ice.

 

[wanderlust7]

Working on DS graduation trip to Hawaii. I think the most we can do is 2 islands, 5 nights each. Not ideal but I'll likely never see Hawaii again and I'd like to see at least 2 islands. Oahu is for sure, DS wants to see Pearl Harbor.

Other things on his list are seeing a volcano, hiking and snorkeling. We are also foodies and love to eat. Trying to decide between Maui and the Big Island. DS seems to think there are more things to do on the big island but I'm not sure. Road to Hana looks interesting. Other things to do? Suggestions for hotels/resorts on either?

To potentially see volcanic activity, it would need to be the Big Island. I like staying a couple nights in Volcano Village, especially if there is lava flow somewhere accessible to see the glow at night. With 10 days, I'd probably do 3 nights Oahu, 2 nights Volcano, 5 nights Kona side. But plan out what you want to do first before deciding.

For snorkeling on the Big Island, Kealakekua Bay is bathtub calm. We've gone twice with FairWind. Snorkeling with manta rays at night was also memorable.

In Hilo, we like to stop by Two Ladies Kitchen for mochi and Big Island Candies (cookie factory). The Hilo Farmer's Market was great on a big market day (Wed and Sat). We like trying the different poke in grocery stores, especially the local chains. Costco also has some good poke.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Why would you only go to Hawaii once? We went for the first time for spring break trip 3 years ago...and loved it so much we went back last year for spring break...and I am sure will go many more times! Hawaii is absolutely amazing!

Because I am getting old, have limited funds and limited mobility. There are many other places I wish to see before I die & I will not get to see them all.

 

[Twilghtsprkle]

Working on DS graduation trip to Hawaii. I think the most we can do is 2 islands, 5 nights each. Not ideal but I'll likely never see Hawaii again and I'd like to see at least 2 islands. Oahu is for sure, DS wants to see Pearl Harbor.

Other things on his list are seeing a volcano, hiking and snorkeling. We are also foodies and love to eat. Trying to decide between Maui and the Big Island. DS seems to think there are more things to do on the big island but I'm not sure. Road to Hana looks interesting. Other things to do? Suggestions for hotels/resorts on either?

Road to Hana is very scary and I got so car sick. And my husband got altitude sickness at the top of Haleakala. So I’m not the biggest fan of Maui.

If a volcano is a must then Big Island, no question. But if you are splitting between the Big Island and Oahu then I’d do 6 nights big island, 4 Oahu.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Road to Hana is very scary and I got so car sick. And my husband got altitude sickness at the top of Haleakala. So I’m not the biggest fan of Maui.

If a volcano is a must then Big Island, no question. But if you are splitting between the Big Island and Oahu then I’d do 6 nights big island, 4 Oahu.

So much to see in Oahu, like 2 days seeing all the Pearl Harbor sites.
He's technically seen volcanoes before in Costa Rica but doesn't recall much.
Where to stay on the Big Island? I see lots of Holiday Inns and such. No Hyatt (which I like for UR transfers.)

 

[wanderlust7]

So much to see in Oahu, like 2 days seeing all the Pearl Harbor sites.
He's technically seen volcanoes before in Costa Rica but doesn't recall much.
Where to stay on the Big Island? I see lots of Holiday Inns and such. No Hyatt (which I like for UR transfers.)

We've stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacation Club Kings' Land before on timeshare exchange. In general, all the HGVCs are pretty nice. Since it's suites only, it's expensive with Hilton points. But I've seen cash rates around $200 (of course depends on season), so maybe it makes sense to go through a portal. Or maybe a Hilton timeshare package where you have to listen to a presentation. But I don't know which resorts you can pick.

Have also stayed at the Westin Hapuna when it was 50k Marriott points, but unfortunately it's gone up a lot.

There is a Doubletree in Hilo (Hilton points) that I considered before, but reviews are rather mixed, so we ended up at a vacation rental in Volcano Village.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

So much to see in Oahu, like 2 days seeing all the Pearl Harbor sites.
He's technically seen volcanoes before in Costa Rica but doesn't recall much.
Where to stay on the Big Island? I see lots of Holiday Inns and such. No Hyatt (which I like for UR transfers.)

We were just in Hawaii. Big Island has more volcanoes but I found Haleakala in Maui more impressive. The views up there were really amazing. The active volcanoes are on big island, but the ascent to the national park is very gradual so you hardly notice. The opposite is true at Haleakala so the views of the coast while going up were really cool, and then the crater is high and above the cloud cover. The crater was so massive that all of Manhattan would fit in it!

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

We love Christmas in Iceland. We did already a few years ago and loved it. The highlight was probably the ice caves at Vatnajökull park/glacier. They melt every year then reform in winter so allegedly they're never the same; I think we'll test that! We'll probably also do some version of the Golden Circle tour plus some lava tubes. Then spend time in Reykjavik. We only have 4.5 days. It's a direct 6hr flight from our airport, and one can now book Iceland Air with Alaska miles.

Yes, staying at the EDITION: first two nights on FHR credits (one on each of our Plats, still had to pay ~$300 per night after credits). Then last two nights using The Edit credit plus 55K URs (point boost so at least it was 2x value). I'm not too happy about the price, but it's Christmas so anywhere will be expensive and I guess I'm glad to be knocking out some of these new hotel credits, so many coupons...

I'm reading your trip report and now I'm worried that room charges will get messy at checkout. I just hope we can stay in the same room all 4 nights despite having 3 reservations. The Parliament Hotel is also on Amex as part of the Hotel Collection so needs 2-night bookings; I've been wondering if we should switch to that hotel and just use the FHR credits.

I think you'll love the EDITION. The food and beverage is much better there and since you get some many credits with FHR and the daily resort fee, I think that's the preferred option. I bet they'll allow you to stay in the same room- I'd just reach out in advance. Iceland sounds incredibly cozy for Christmas!

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Because I am getting old, have limited funds and limited mobility. There are many other places I wish to see before I die & I will not get to see them all.

Totally agree with this. Hawaii is a pain to get to from Chicago, and such a long flight, compared to so many other places I want to visit in the world. And really incredibly expensive. We travel to a lot of islands, so we know island life is expensive. But it was expensive, expensive. We enjoyed our trip and wouldn't mind going back someday if it made sense as a stopover flighting west.