I love credit cards so much!

[miztressuz]

A Sapphire card does make sense for your first step, but really make sure you don’t want the double dip. If I had to pick I’d probably do the CSP for the first year since you get the AU bonus and waived annual fee the first year. The second year I’d probably upgrade to the CSR. Personally I think the CSR is worth an extra $55, but not an extra $150 which is the difference the first year when you have an annual fee waiver.

Definitely wait on the Southwest card. 40,000 is the lowest bonus I have seen since I started this. When I flew recently they had a 50,000 offer on the plane hopefully they make that available to everyone again soon. Also, since you only want one card they should be releasing a premium one soon that you should consider.

I like this approach for the Sapphires, and was thinking of doing the same thing initially if we couldn't get both with a double dip. This way you're only paying the crazy AF for one year instead of two but getting the better redemption rate when you need it. Unless you travel and dine out a lot, I don't think the extra 1 pt the CSR gives you is worth the AF when you're building the points stash. At least it didn't work out for our numbers, especially with the CSP fee being waived the first year.
It's a bummer missing out on the bonus for the CSR but if you can only do one I preferred this trade off as a close second to best of both worlds.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Didn't someone here do a Phoeniz/Grand Canyon/AZ trip recently? Or am I making that up?

Flagstaff/Williams/Grand Canyon. Just returned last Saturday.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Flagstaff/Williams/Grand Canyon. Just returned last Saturday.

Did you guys enjoy it? I’d love to do maybe a 4-5 day trip or so just driving through the state. It looks like there are usually decent point savers awards on AA from my home airport into both Phoenix and Tucson.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Thanks!

@CyndiLouWho how long did you guys do your trip for? Sorry, should've kept up more when you were posting, I'll try to scroll back and find it.

We were in AZ 7 nights. Flight was ORD to FLG. One night Flagstaff (visited long lost family) then one night Williams AZ to catch the train into Canyon next morning. 2 nights at the rim, then back to Flagstaff for 3 nights.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Thanks!! It occurred to me that our annual anniversary trip in April would be a nice time to go out there, of course I know that's peak season. I was thinking more like a 5 day trip flying into Tucson and sort of driving through the state spending a night in Tucson, Phoenix, Flagstaff, etc. Hiking isn't really our forte. I'm happy to stare at a mountain or big hole in the ground, but I'm not really into climbing up or down either of those things haha.

I would guess most people don’t really “hike”the Canyon. The rim trail is basically walking a paved trail. Once outside the Village (hotel/restaurant area) it is more hilly but there are buses that run up and down the trail. I have a bum knee and hiked into the canyon for all of 10 minutes, then back up. We did walk the rim trail back and forth past the hotels and gift shops then took buses the rest of the time. The weather at the rim was pleasant, 75-85 and breezy most of the time, cool at night. I wouldn’t go out hiking far in mid afternoon (took that time to relax and have ice cream) but otherwise it was good. Phoenix however was 105+ and I wouldn’t enjoy that at all.

As for peak season, I’m not sure April is peak in the Canyon (some seasonal stuff doesn’t open til May there) but they book 11 months out, so you can check to see what’s available now if you want to stay at the rim (grandcanyonlodges.com) We stayed at the Hampton Inn Flagstaff East which has been open maybe 6-8 months and is very nice. Also stayed in Williams AZ, which is on Route 66, one night.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I would guess most people don’t really “hike”the Canyon. The rim trail is basically walking a paved trail. Once outside the Village (hotel/restaurant area) it is more hilly but there are buses that run up and down the trail. I have a bum knee and hiked into the canyon for all of 10 minutes, then back up. We did walk the rim trail back and forth past the hotels and gift shops then took buses the rest of the time. The weather at the rim was pleasant, 75-85 and breezy most of the time, cool at night. I wouldn’t go out hiking far in mid afternoon (took that time to relax and have ice cream) but otherwise it was good. Phoenix however was 105+ and I wouldn’t enjoy that at all.

As for peak season, I’m not sure April is peak in the Canyon (some seasonal stuff doesn’t open til May there) but they book 11 months out, so you can check to see what’s available now if you want to stay at the rim (grandcanyonlodges.com) We stayed at the Hampton Inn Flagstaff East which has been open maybe 6-8 months and is very nice. Also stayed in Williams AZ, which is on Route 66, one night.

Thanks! I’m going to play around with the idea some more and see what I can get put together. If I can get good deals on airfare on points, I’ll probably try to make it happen. It’ll have to be almost an all point trip for us since I want to keep some cash budgeted for WDW that fall

 

[DisneyMandC]

Booooo I just got denied for the Barclays AA Business card!! My first denial ever!! It said they’ll mail me the letter but I wonder if I can call and recon at all. I don’t know why I’d be denied other than maybe too many recent inquiries.

 

[Psychodisney]

Another family that requires 2 rooms....I feel your pain. Oldest DD won't join us if we do spring break, so we may be able to get by with 1 room this trip.
I was looking at the website and we can do our nights for 27k points/night club level. I am thinking thats best. Regular rooms are 20k a night. Booking through hyatt appears better than the UR portal.
I need to call and see if we can have the toddler in the 2 queen room on a cot (total of 5 people). I am guessing she would need a wrist band or something at the pool, so it would be hard to just sneak her in.
My boys and hubby are all about the beach all day long, so I don't think they'd miss a waterpark. That is awesome that kayaks etc are included. I need to run this place by DH tonight and see if he is onboard. Thanks!

Another benefit to using Hyatt points is that the resort fees are included. They add up quickly. It definitely seems worth it to upgrade to club level for the lounge. Your boys will love the pool with the cliff jumping too. My big boys (22 and 24) did!
The wrist bands are the rubber wrist bands. They gave me a 5th no questions asked last spring.
We're a family of 5...never really fit in a hotel room which was the #1 reason we bought DVC. My kids are in a limited Disney phase these days (DD19, DS23, DS25) but still enjoy travelling with us. We've been renting out a large portion of our points the past few years to try different vacations. My DD's spring break is the first week of March, I'm hoping the Bahamas will be warm enough.

 

[Psychodisney]

Another family that requires 2 rooms....I feel your pain. Oldest DD won't join us if we do spring break, so we may be able to get by with 1 room this trip.
I was looking at the website and we can do our nights for 27k points/night club level. I am thinking thats best. Regular rooms are 20k a night. Booking through hyatt appears better than the UR portal.
I need to call and see if we can have the toddler in the 2 queen room on a cot (total of 5 people). I am guessing she would need a wrist band or something at the pool, so it would be hard to just sneak her in.
My boys and hubby are all about the beach all day long, so I don't think they'd miss a waterpark. That is awesome that kayaks etc are included. I need to run this place by DH tonight and see if he is onboard. Thanks!

Forgot to mention, SWA flies direct to Nassau from FLL.

 

[mom2elal]

Thanks!! It occurred to me that our annual anniversary trip in April would be a nice time to go out there, of course I know that's peak season. I was thinking more like a 5 day trip flying into Tucson and sort of driving through the state spending a night in Tucson, Phoenix, Flagstaff, etc. Hiking isn't really our forte. I'm happy to stare at a mountain or big hole in the ground, but I'm not really into climbing up or down either of those things haha.

Look into Sedona, too. It looks amazing! And if you're interested in the Petrified Forest, check out the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook. You get to stay in super cute teepees, like the cone motel in Cars. Of course, I haven't stayed there in over 20 years, and it's not fancy AT ALL, but it seems to still get good reviews and it's adorable!

 

[Alexle2007]

Sorry for multiple posts...just thought of a few questions...

Has anyone stayed in the Jurassic Park suites at Uni? We have never done Uni, but DS10 LOVES Jurassic park. Was thinking could be a fun mom/son bday weekend the first of March.
The other thing we could do is wait til spring break week, 3/18 I think, and do 3 nights there followed by 5 down at Baha Mar in Nassau.

So on that note, has anyone gone to the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar yet? Trip advisor reviews seem good except food prices. I can deal with that I guess. Better than @speedyfishy 's review of Atlantis.

It looks like the Jurassic Park suites are new RP based on this review- https://www.travelpulse.com/news/en...als-details-of-jurassic-world-hotel-room.html. We stayed at RP in Dec and really liked the resort. We usually stay at Portofino so this was different. They had a nice character breakfast there on Sun morning (I think that was the day we went.) Annual passes just expired so I doubt we’ll be back anytime soon.

 

[speedyfishy]

Booooo I just got denied for the Barclays AA Business card!! My first denial ever!! It said they’ll mail me the letter but I wonder if I can call and recon at all. I don’t know why I’d be denied other than maybe too many recent inquiries.

Did it say a denial with the online status checker? I checked my status on that and it said a denial, but then I got the letter requesting proof of my identity. I submitted that and then got approved. SO applied before me and sent in his documents and we haven’t heard anything since then.

 

[chattadisser]

Thanks!! It occurred to me that our annual anniversary trip in April would be a nice time to go out there, of course I know that's peak season. I was thinking more like a 5 day trip flying into Tucson and sort of driving through the state spending a night in Tucson, Phoenix, Flagstaff, etc. Hiking isn't really our forte. I'm happy to stare at a mountain or big hole in the ground, but I'm not really into climbing up or down either of those things haha.

We didn't go to Tucson but we stayed at a really nice Holiday Inn in Flagstaff, it's fairly new. We stayed at the rim of the Grand Canyon at Bright Angel Lodge for 2 nights. It's rustic and would have been more fine had it not been so hot. Since it's a historic hotel there is no AC which is OK, at night but forget able going back to your hotel room to relax during the day. We didn't hike too much as we had our kids with us and the elevation changes at the south rim are no joke. We took the internal bus that take you around the rim to the different viewing spots...kinda like a Disney bus. In April it might be cold, I think it snowed at the Grand Canyon in May this year. I would recommend stopping in Sedona to see the red rocks. Take a pink jeep tour!

 

[DisneyMandC]

Did it say a denial with the online status checker? I checked my status on that and it said a denial, but then I got the letter requesting proof of my identity. I submitted that and then got approved. SO applied before me and sent in his documents and we haven’t heard anything since then.

Yes it did! Hmm so maybe there’s hope for me yet. I wonder if I can find a number to just call tomorrow or if I should just wait.

I’m deeply offended by this Heaven help me if I’m ever part of a Chase shutdown because I’ve never been denied for a credit card and am mad enough about this one haha!!

 

[DisneyMandC]

We didn't go to Tucson but we stayed at a really nice Holiday Inn in Flagstaff, it's fairly new. We stayed at the rim of the Grand Canyon at Bright Angel Lodge for 2 nights. It's rustic and would have been more fine had it not been so hot. Since it's a historic hotel there is no AC which is OK, at night but forget able going back to your hotel room to relax during the day. We didn't hike too much as we had our kids with us and the elevation changes at the south rim are no joke. We took the internal bus that take you around the rim to the different viewing spots...kinda like a Disney bus. In April it might be cold, I think it snowed at the Grand Canyon in May this year. I would recommend stopping in Sedona to see the red rocks. Take a pink jeep tour!

Thank you!! And I didn’t realize it would get that cold there so late! The weather I looked at for Phoenix made it seem like pretty pleasant temps in april so a lot of websites were saying that was peak season. That was also reflected in the hotel prices. I noticed several Marriotts were $400 a night in April and we’re $140 in August. It’ll definitely be a points trip if I do it!!

 

[trenty]

I'd like some advice as to which cards to start with

Our credit scores are somewhere around 800 (can't check right now; that's what they were before we froze the accounts last year after fraud). We only have 2 credit cards, a Discover and a Citi MC, and have held both since the 90s. We only use the mc when we can't use the discover. We attempt to max out the quarterly categories. I know we're missing soooooooo many opportunities!

We are not comfortable with double dipping. I am also not comfortable at this point with business cards. (Dh has not side hustle at all.) I have tutored in the past but have not for the past four years as I was homeschooling a high school student. Now that she's heading off to college, I'm taking a year off to decide what I want to do If I do jump back into tutoring I might consider business cards at that point. MS makes me twitchy lol

So I think one of us should begin with a Chase Sapphire product---correct? And then refer the other to the same?

I do want us to get SW cards (we fly SW almost exclusively) but we'd want to wait until the bonus goes back up. Might that happen in the fall? Because of not wanting to double-dip, the companion pass is probably out of reach.

I want to proceed slowly with opening cards. We shouldn't have problems meeting most minimum spending amounts though doubling up to say $8K/3 months could get a bit tricky.

Help, please!

(I will use the referral links from DISchurners )

I feel the same as you. Don't feel comfortable with the double-dip or business cards. And I am very cautious with this hobby and churn slowly. I am not always working on a minimum spend.

I started with the Chase Sapphire Preferred. It has a $95 annual fee that is waived the first year and gives 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4000 within the first three months. I then moved onto the Chase Freedom to get the 5x points that I can transfer to the CSP. I did also get the Companion Pass by opening 2 SW credit cards (before Chase prohibited this). After that I slowed down a lot.

I earn enough to cover my family's airfare for one or two trips a year, and to fly my DS to and from college several times a year.

My present philosophy is to earn as many travel rewards as possible with little out of pocket expense. So I tend to gravitate towards the low annual fee/no annual fee cards.

 

[WVMomof3]

I would guess most people don’t really “hike”the Canyon. The rim trail is basically walking a paved trail. Once outside the Village (hotel/restaurant area) it is more hilly but there are buses that run up and down the trail. I have a bum knee and hiked into the canyon for all of 10 minutes, then back up. We did walk the rim trail back and forth past the hotels and gift shops then took buses the rest of the time. The weather at the rim was pleasant, 75-85 and breezy most of the time, cool at night. I wouldn’t go out hiking far in mid afternoon (took that time to relax and have ice cream) but otherwise it was good. Phoenix however was 105+ and I wouldn’t enjoy that at all.

As for peak season, I’m not sure April is peak in the Canyon (some seasonal stuff doesn’t open til May there) but they book 11 months out, so you can check to see what’s available now if you want to stay at the rim (grandcanyonlodges.com) We stayed at the Hampton Inn Flagstaff East which has been open maybe 6-8 months and is very nice. Also stayed in Williams AZ, which is on Route 66, one night.

We hiked all the way down to Skeleton Point on the South Khabab trail. It was so cool. Six mile round trip with 2000 ft elevation change. It was so hard coming up but I am so glad we did it. My son wanted to go all the way to the bottom. Maybe one day we come back and try that. There may still be snow in April though. I tried to post some pics but my file said too big.

 

[GZanta77]

I feel the same as you. Don't feel comfortable with the double-dip or business cards. And I am very cautious with this hobby and churn slowly. I am not always working on a minimum spend.

Not seeking to change your mind, but just wanted to say.....3 months ago I was also very apprehensive about applying for business cards.....and I do actually have a legitimate, but small, business. 3 months later and my wife and I now have 3 business cards between us and a load more points for the trouble.

I really don't think Amex or Chase care all that much. If you are applying as a sole proprietor, they are assessing your personal credit risk, not how good your business is. Why else are they routinely giving out credit limits of 7k+ to people who claim to have annual business revenue of only $1k. So if you have the slightest claim to having any "business" revenue, you could perfectly reasonably take advantage of the extra points offered by business cards.

Of course, if that doesn't work for you - that is OK too. Everyone has a different approach to risk and reward. Find what works for you and seek to maximise your rewards within your comfort level. Be warned though - it is a slippery slope once you get your first business card.

 

[Lain]

I'd like some advice as to which cards to start with

Our credit scores are somewhere around 800 (can't check right now; that's what they were before we froze the accounts last year after fraud).

I forgot to mention -- I noticed your credit is frozen. This could lead to some complications when applying for new credit cards. As long as you have a credit freeze, it's likely you will not be automatically approved, and the issuer may call you or you'll have to call them to lift the freeze and go through some verification questions. So, you may want to lift any freeze before applying for a new card.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

We didn't go to Tucson but we stayed at a really nice Holiday Inn in Flagstaff, it's fairly new. We stayed at the rim of the Grand Canyon at Bright Angel Lodge for 2 nights. It's rustic and would have been more fine had it not been so hot. Since it's a historic hotel there is no AC which is OK, at night but forget able going back to your hotel room to relax during the day. We didn't hike too much as we had our kids with us and the elevation changes at the south rim are no joke. We took the internal bus that take you around the rim to the different viewing spots...kinda like a Disney bus. In April it might be cold, I think it snowed at the Grand Canyon in May this year. I would recommend stopping in Sedona to see the red rocks. Take a pink jeep tour!

We stayed at Kachina Lodge, it does have air conditioning. Our room looked right out on the rim. It was less expensive than El Tovar but not the cheapest (there is at least one hotel off the rim that is less expensive )

And those buses, almost exactly like Disney buses! The first time we got on one was at night & I guess everyone was heading back. It was packed and SRO, just like Disney buses.