I love credit cards so much!

[Ngwira]

Had an amazing churning day. The Fairmont card I got in January has given me an excellent redemption. I received my two free nights today and was able to convince them to extend my certificate until the end of March since our trip is next Easter.
Certificates are only good for a year so mine expire on March 14,2018. It wasn't easy convincing them but it was so worth it as I saved $690 Canadian a night. So $1300 plus for the two free nights.

We're staying at the Chateau Lake Louise in Banff national park in Alberta, Canada. My family has been dreaming of visiting for decades. It's definitely a bucket list trip. It's such a gorgeous area, a Unesco World Heritage Site.

We will also be spending 3 nights in Calgary at the Fairmont Palliser booked at the AAA rate of $169 Canadian a night with the 3rd night free thanks to the Fairmont card.

If that wasn't amazing enough, I was able to use suite and room upgrades that come with the card to book a junior lake view suite which costs $1250 a night. So I saved $2500.00 by churning the Fairmont card.

All for no fee the first year and only $95.00 the second year. So, for an annual fee of $95.00, I received a $2500 hotel stay. Mind blown and wish I started this years ago.

 

[afan]

I would do club Carlson as I hear there are some very nice raddison hotels in Europe. The card sign up only gives 80,000 points for $1,000 spend right now. Don't know how far that will stretch..maybe two nights? You may need to pair it with a another card. Also keep in mind that many hotels in Europe have double occupancy max, so a family of 4 would need 2 rooms. This makes it hard to churn when you have a large family traveling together.

Good point about typical hotels in Europe being double occupancy only, but another plus for the Club Carlson card is that we've been successful in places like Copenhagen and Edinburgh finding family rooms at Radisson Blu that comfortably accommodate 4 people.

It's just two of us, but we would want two beds. I'm leaning towards Choice simply because they have more options and when I searched the club carlson site there was only two properties in Paris. I'd hate to go into it thinking we'd be able to use the points and then not be able to. Is it hard to redeem for nights with Club Carlson? I know with Choice as long as there's a room available you can redeem points for it.

 

[Ngwira]

It's just two of us, but we would want two beds. I'm leaning towards Choice simply because they have more options and when I searched the club carlson site there was only two properties in Paris. I'd hate to go into it thinking we'd be able to use the points and then not be able to. Is it hard to redeem for nights with Club Carlson? I know with Choice as long as there's a room available you can redeem points for it.

I don't think it's difficult to churn club Carlson. Most people churn IHG, Starwood, Marriot, Hilton and Hyatt.


Don't forget to check Reddit to see if you are getting the highest sign up bonus before you apply.

 

[calypso726]

It's just two of us, but we would want two beds. I'm leaning towards Choice simply because they have more options and when I searched the club carlson site there was only two properties in Paris. I'd hate to go into it thinking we'd be able to use the points and then not be able to. Is it hard to redeem for nights with Club Carlson? I know with Choice as long as there's a room available you can redeem points for it.

Club Carlson aka Radisson Blu has been our go to for all international stays. We have redeemed thousands of dollars in value for the $75 annual fee. DH and I each have the card and keep it for the 40,000 points each year on the card anniversary date. We have had no issues redeeming our points for our stays. We have used them for stays in Scotland, Ireland and London. Each time we have received a complimentary upgrade plus early and late check out.

 

[afan]

Club Carlson aka Radisson Blu has been our go to for all international stays. We have redeemed thousands of dollars in value for the $75 annual fee. DH and I each have the card and keep it for the 40,000 points each year on the card anniversary date. We have had no issues redeeming our points for our stays. We have used them for stays in Scotland, Ireland and London. Each time we have received a complimentary upgrade plus early and late check out.

That's good info to know! I think I'll apply soon so I can use it for vacation expenses in May to help meet the spend and that should get me the anniversary points before we go, not that we've talked dates but I think August or September would be better than spring.

 

[Ngwira]

Club Carlson aka Radisson Blu has been our go to for all international stays. We have redeemed thousands of dollars in value for the $75 annual fee. DH and I each have the card and keep it for the 40,000 points each year on the card anniversary date. We have had no issues redeeming our points for our stays. We have used them for stays in Scotland, Ireland and London. Each time we have received a complimentary upgrade plus early and late check out.

That may be my next card as I need a free night at Country Inn and Suites in Port Canaveral before our DCL cruise in 2018.

 

[calypso726]

That may be my next card as I need a free night at Country Inn and Suites in Port Canaveral before our DCL cruise in 2018.

We've been lucky and found the suites available for about $114 -$130 the night before our cruises with DCL. On those, we will use the statement credit from the CSR now or suck it up and pay out of pocket. However, that is because we do hoard the Club Carlson points for hotels stays in Europe which are generally way more out of pocket. Our two nights in London for that weekend Harry Potter play trip were booked using points. I think it was 40 or 50 thousand a night. The hotel was over $300 a night in real money. I know earn and burn is the rule of thumb but for our Club Carlson card points it's save, hoard, exploit LOL

 

[platamama]

It's just two of us, but we would want two beds. I'm leaning towards Choice simply because they have more options and when I searched the club carlson site there was only two properties in Paris. I'd hate to go into it thinking we'd be able to use the points and then not be able to. Is it hard to redeem for nights with Club Carlson? I know with Choice as long as there's a room available you can redeem points for it.

Club Carlson has good availability, but it's not true that as long as there's a room available that you can redeem points for it. I looked to book in Paris a couple summers ago, and there wasn't availability for the dates I was looking. I just now looked for a random day in August 2017 and it looked like there was standard room availability (70,000 points) at both properties. You can check out the website and see if there's availability for your dates.

 

[jujubiee4]

Is anyone keeping the Chase Sapphire preferred and the Chase Reserve?

Now after getting the Reserve I see no need for the Sapphire but I just
took a survey from them and looks like they may be tweaking some
things.

450 annual and 95 annual. The reserve is no brainer or me but
the other one hmmm......

 

[Psychodisney]

Is anyone keeping the Chase Sapphire preferred and the Chase Reserve?

Now after getting the Reserve I see no need for the Sapphire but I just
took a survey from them and looks like they may be tweaking some
things.

450 annual and 95 annual. The reserve is no brainer or me but
the other one hmmm......

I downgraded my Preferred to a Freedom with no annual fee. The only downside was I had my DH and DD as authorized users on the Preferred for no additional cost. I kept them on the Freedom but did not add them to Reserve due to the fee to add authorized users. My DH got his own Reserve to get the big bonus. We'll have to decide next year if it's worth it to have both.

 

[jujubiee4]

I got the extra 5,000 for adding authorized user on Preferred. Did you get it twice? Wondering
if I should add someone else.

I will definitely check out Freedom. My AF for preferred is not until later in year. I'm dropping
Barclay as it is useless now and Amex prg use to be good until they closed the loophole for
airline credit so that will go also.

I keep reading blogs that say keep the Chase card family and those are the best.

 

[havaneselover]

Is anyone keeping the Chase Sapphire preferred and the Chase Reserve?

Now after getting the Reserve I see no need for the Sapphire but I just
took a survey from them and looks like they may be tweaking some
things.

450 annual and 95 annual. The reserve is no brainer or me but
the other one hmmm......

My plan is to get the Preferred but keep the reserve then downgrade from Preferred to FU. I see no reason to have both long term.

 

[afan]

Club Carlson has good availability, but it's not true that as long as there's a room available that you can redeem points for it. I looked to book in Paris a couple summers ago, and there wasn't availability for the dates I was looking. I just now looked for a random day in August 2017 and it looked like there was standard room availability (70,000 points) at both properties. You can check out the website and see if there's availability for your dates.

Choice hotels is the one I was talking about being able to book with points as long as there's availability.

 

[wendow]

I got the extra 5,000 for adding authorized user on Preferred. Did you get it twice? Wondering
if I should add someone else.

I only got it for the first AU.

 

[wendow]

Is anyone keeping the Chase Sapphire preferred and the Chase Reserve?

Now after getting the Reserve I see no need for the Sapphire but I just
took a survey from them and looks like they may be tweaking some
things.

450 annual and 95 annual. The reserve is no brainer or me but
the other one hmmm......

Only need one of the cards...reserve or preferred...In my current position, the Preferred makes the most sense but if the AF changes on the Reserve to less then maybe that one will make more sense. I will be keeping one and downgrading the other to the CFU.

 

[calypso726]

Is anyone keeping the Chase Sapphire preferred and the Chase Reserve?

Now after getting the Reserve I see no need for the Sapphire but I just
took a survey from them and looks like they may be tweaking some
things.

450 annual and 95 annual. The reserve is no brainer or me but
the other one hmmm......

DH and I both kept the Reserve. I downgraded my Preferred to a Freedom Unlimited and DH downgraded his Preferred to a second Freedom card.

 

[Alice Sr.]

not sure if its too late but u might be able to apply and get both cards with 1 hard pull.

Also, RIP 100k CSR. Hello 100k Ink Preferred? lol

Ok ready to apply for the two Southwest cards, can I apply for both online, is it better to go through Chase or Southwest or one each or it doesn't make a difference? Also, should I apply for the personal card 1st and then the business or does it not matter? TIA!

 

[Psychodisney]

Ok ready to apply for the two Southwest cards, can I apply for both online, is it better to go through Chase or Southwest or one each or it doesn't make a difference? Also, should I apply for the personal card 1st and then the business or does it not matter? TIA!

I went through the SW website and did the Business one first. That is the one with 60K. My train of thought was as long as I got approved for that I knew the CP was possible. I'm not sure what the pros think.
What is funny is my bonus points posted within a few days of paying my personal bill. I'm still waiting going on 2 weeks for the business card. Hoping the points hit before our flight next week!

 

[ski_mom]

Ok ready to apply for the two Southwest cards, can I apply for both online, is it better to go through Chase or Southwest or one each or it doesn't make a difference? Also, should I apply for the personal card 1st and then the business or does it not matter? TIA!

I went through the SW website and did the Business one first. That is the one with 60K. My train of thought was as long as I got approved for that I knew the CP was possible. I'm not sure what the pros think.
What is funny is my bonus points posted within a few days of paying my personal bill. I'm still waiting going on 2 weeks for the business card. Hoping the points hit before our flight next week!

I just applied for the 2 personal cards for DH - I was afraid he would have to talk to someone if I did the business card in his name.

Even though I applied for both on the same day, one has a due date of 4/15 and one is 5/1. I'm sitting on pins and needles hoping that the $2,000 I put on the first one will post to the account before the statement closes. It's sitting there pending and I'd imagine my statement will process today or tomorrow - please go through lol!

I need to starting researching the best cards to put some spend on - our oldest DD is going on a study abroad program called Semester at Sea and it looks like you can put it on a credit card without any fees. I could definitely hit some minimum spend levels with that! Decisions, decisions...

 

[mhartman09]

Ok ready to apply for the two Southwest cards, can I apply for both online, is it better to go through Chase or Southwest or one each or it doesn't make a difference? Also, should I apply for the personal card 1st and then the business or does it not matter? TIA!

I did the same as ski_mom and recently applied for the 2 personal cards online for DH. I knew he DEFINITELY WOULD NOT speak to anyone for recon on a business card, so I stuck with personal instead. However, going for 1 business and 1 personal is for sure the easiest route to CP. I used someone's referral links for my 2 apps online. First was approved, but second was denied due to too many cards. I was able to recon that via SM to Chase a couple of days later and we just received the second card in the mail this week.