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

[afan]

Booked a long weekend in Palm Springs for mid Feb. Any suggestions or restaurant recs?

Looking for low key with lots of hotel time ro read and relax. Staying the double tree using a combo of citi strata hotel credit and hilton points. Wanted to split with strata and csr edit but couldn't find anywhere I wanted to stay for 4 days that worked well enough with those credits. It's also on the resort list so I'll use my Aspire credit.

 

[Road_Dog]

Yeah, we need someone basically on property now to give us a heads up!

I'm mostly curious because I'm staying at POP next week and want to put my CSR as the card on file. So if we can't get an answer by then, I guess I'll give my feedback in roughly 2 weeks time!

Hey everyone, I just want to confirm that room charges will code as "DISNEY RESORTS" and code as "+ 4x points on hotels" on the new Chase Sapphire Reserve!

We just got back from a weekend trip at POP Century and I was mostly using a gift card, but I did charge our Beak and Barrel bill to the room with my magic band, along with a few items from the POP Century store, and I had my CSR on file.

The charge finally settled today and I was very happy to see 4x UR points. While I still think buying discounted GC is better to use as spending cash on property, getting 4x is pretty great.

 

[Road_Dog]

It seems to be the new normal. Our flights have now increased since day one booking to be 63,000 one way.

Southwest is getting more and more expensive. I was awake the morning that the new schedule dropped, which included our travel dates (March 2026), and even with the companion pass, my family of 4 (so 3 paid tickets) was 180k RR points roundtrip. 60k/person seems crazy high, the cash equivalent of that is close to $650+ for a round-trip ticket from MKE to MCO.

Usually when the schedule drops, they don't release Basic fares qute yet, so you have to choose Choice. If you are paying with points and you have a Southwest CC, there is zero incentive to pick anything other than Basic fares for the savings (IMO).

I have been monitoring it and the price has dropped slightly. I do book one-way tickets only so I have more flexibility shifting one leg of the flight if needed. We actually decided to charge from the 11:30AM flight to the 6:45AM flight on departure day, and I was thrilled to see that that particular leg was down to 28.5k/person, so I did get some RR back into my account upon making the switch.

 

[eticketplease]

Southwest is getting more and more expensive. I was awake the morning that the new schedule dropped, which included our travel dates (March 2026), and even with the companion pass, my family of 4 (so 3 paid tickets) was 180k RR points roundtrip. 60k/person seems crazy high, the cash equivalent of that is close to $650+ for a round-trip ticket from MKE to MCO.

Usually when the schedule drops, they don't release Basic fares qute yet, so you have to choose Choice. If you are paying with points and you have a Southwest CC, there is zero incentive to pick anything other than Basic fares for the savings (IMO).

I have been monitoring it and the price has dropped slightly. I do book one-way tickets only so I have more flexibility shifting one leg of the flight if needed. We actually decided to charge from the 11:30AM flight to the 6:45AM flight on departure day, and I was thrilled to see that that particular leg was down to 28.5k/person, so I did get some RR back into my account upon making the switch.

That $650 sounds like a bargain for a RT compared to ours


I learned my lesson along time ago and also only book 1 way flights esp with SW for maximum flexibility.

For what it’s worth our flights have had the basic or wanna get away fares at opening until this one during Spring Break. Not sure if this is a time of year or because of the switch to assigned seats.

 

[elgerber]

I agree about SW. I fly them once a year to Nashville to do my step moms taxes. The miles this year are insane, and the flight times are horrible!! I am not sure what I am going to do.

 

[eticketplease]

I agree about SW. I fly them once a year to Nashville to do my step moms taxes. The miles this year are insane, and the flight times are horrible!! I am not sure what I am going to do.

Yes and that is going to one of their main airports!!

 

[IFlossU]

Any VPN recommendations? I'm thinking of getting one for my trip to Rome in Feb.

We use Surfshark. Seems reasonably priced. Downloaded the app, and it’s been working great. Easy to turn off/on.

 

[Twilghtsprkle]

Any VPN recommendations? I'm thinking of getting one for my trip to Rome in Feb.

We use Proton on our trip to Japan. Since we used the free version sometimes we had to disconnect a few times before it gave us a US connection.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

I am new to booking hotels with credit card rewards or portals, except for the odd Hyatt on points, usually when on a road trip.

So, 2026 is my travel year and I have a bunch of hotel reservations to make!

I don't have any hotel certificates because I never could use any free nights previously. Anyway I have been looking at all the portals (Amex, Chase, and Capital One) in order to use up the credits available to us.

I found that hotels on Capital One seemed over priced and/or restrictive (non-refundable) the $300 credit did not go far. I wind up using the CO credit on booking AA plane tickets from LAX to YVR that I would have paid cash on anyways because there were no good point redemptions that made sense. Economy ticket redemption on Air Canada would not include checked luggage.

I am LOVING the Chase EDIT hotels with the $250 EDIT credit and point boosts! I tried looking at the same hotels on AMEX with the FHR and THC to use the $300 credit and it seemed that I would have to use a lot more $ OOP or a lot of MR points. The points boost in combination with the EDIT credit is such a sweet deal.

I am having trouble finding places I want to stay to use the Amex FHR/THC $300 credit...

 

[Road_Dog]

I am having trouble finding places I want to stay to use the Amex FHR/THC $300 credit...

Disney Swan and Dolphin are part of THC--requires a 2-night minimum stay to get the credit.

 

[eticketplease]

I found that hotels on Capital One seemed over priced and/or restrictive (non-refundable) the $300 credit did not go far. I wind up using the CO credit on booking AA plane tickets from LAX to YVR that I would have paid cash on anyways because there were no good point redemption's that made sense. Economy ticket redemption on Air Canada would not include checked luggage.

They will price match and I have had them do so for me.

Unfortunately their price match is refunded in a credit to use in the portal for future use.

I think the airline tickets are the best way to redeem the $300 credit as the prices are fairly competitive and you can continue to earn points with the airline partner unlike the hotels.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Disney Swan and Dolphin are part of THC--requires a 2-night minimum stay to get the credit.

Good to know as this is a Disney board! Lol.

I love the location of the Swan and Dolphin!

We have DVC and so have never needed hotels at Disney except one time where we stayed at the Hyatt Place Orlando last minute on the way through town. Our kids and my aunt also live in Orlando, so about 25% of the time I wind up canceling our DVC reservation and staying with one of them.

They will price match and I have had them do so for me.

Unfortunately their price match is refunded in a credit to use in the portal for future use.

I think the airline tickets are the best way to redeem the $300 credit as the prices are fairly competitive and you can continue to earn points with the airline partner unlike the hotels.

Yeah. I had always used the CO credit on airfare when commuting between NY and FL either for myself or my parents or for my kids. It seemed the easiest way to use it up especially since we were booking the cheapest non-refundable airfare anyway.

 

[calypso726]

I am new to booking hotels with credit card rewards or portals, except for the odd Hyatt on points, usually when on a road trip.

So, 2026 is my travel year and I have a bunch of hotel reservations to make!

I don't have any hotel certificates because I never could use any free nights previously. Anyway I have been looking at all the portals (Amex, Chase, and Capital One) in order to use up the credits available to us.

I found that hotels on Capital One seemed over priced and/or restrictive (non-refundable) the $300 credit did not go far. I wind up using the CO credit on booking AA plane tickets from LAX to YVR that I would have paid cash on anyways because there were no good point redemptions that made sense. Economy ticket redemption on Air Canada would not include checked luggage.

I am LOVING the Chase EDIT hotels with the $250 EDIT credit and point boosts! I tried looking at the same hotels on AMEX with the FHR and THC to use the $300 credit and it seemed that I would have to use a lot more $ OOP or a lot of MR points. The points boost in combination with the EDIT credit is such a sweet deal.

I am having trouble finding places I want to stay to use the Amex FHR/THC $300 credit...

Here are a few we have booked with the FHR credits on dates that the rate was right at or just a smidge above $300 for next year. We have used the credit to book the Waldorf Astoria in WDW and will use the Aspire credits to splurge at Bull & Bear. We booked the Andaz in Prague and we also booked the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe.

 

[calypso726]

Good to know as this is a Disney board! Lol.

I love the location of the Swan and Dolphin!

We have DVC and so have never needed hotels at Disney except one time where we stayed at the Hyatt Place Orlando last minute on the way through town. Our kids and my aunt also live in Orlando, so about 25% of the time I wind up canceling our DVC reservation and staying with one of them.

We also have DVC points which takes care of most of our trips, especially the ones where we are hosting family/friends since they are planned way in advance for the most part.

We are semi local at 3 hours away and are in WDW fairly often. We have used many of our credit card hotel credits or free night certificates for WDW stays. They come in handy for those last minute trips and DVC is booked solid. They also come in handy to use in WDW on the rare occasion when we don't have another use for them. Here are my WDW go to's for the free night certs and credits we have if I am not using them for something else.

Free night certs
Aspire: Waldorf Astoria or Conrad since both count as resorts for Aspire resort credit and we can charge the dining to the room and cover it with that. It's a nice double dip.

IHG: Candlewood Suites

BonBlah: If I'm on a downgrade year with the standard Bonvoy (old SPG) card then I use the 35k FN cert in Marriott Village either the Fairfield, Springhill or Courtyard. If I'm on an upgrade year with the Brilliant then I can use the 85k FN cert at Swan Reserve

Hyatt: Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress is cat 4, Hyatt Regency Orlando is cat 4, Hyatt Place is cat 2

Hotel credits
Amex FHR: I'd be looking at the Waldorf Astoria

Citi Strata Elite: Any two nights that would be covered for that $300 and there are tons of choices in and near WDW. This year I will be using them for Christmas markets stays.

Chase Edit: To be determined. I have not even looked yet to see when/where and how for WDW LOL

 

[eticketplease]

IHG: Candlewood Suites

Candlewood Suites Orlando - Lake Buena Vista?​

I can't ever seem to get it available for points when I search. Is this better than the DS Holiday Inn?

Sorry I have never used my IHG FNC at Disney and am on the old card that I am limited to 40k

 

[calypso726]

Candlewood Suites Orlando - Lake Buena Vista?​

I can't ever seem to get it available for points when I search. Is this better than the DS Holiday Inn?

Sorry I have never used my IHG FNC at Disney and am on the old card that I am limited to 40k

Yup! That's the one. I have not stayed at the DS Holiday Inn. But I like the Candlewood Suites!

Me too. I only have the old $49 a year card with the same 40k limit. I almost always use it at Candlewood Suites.

 

[wanderlust7]

I am having trouble finding places I want to stay to use the Amex FHR/THC $300 credit...

MaxFHR is great for ideas since you can sort on price with no date.