I love credit cards so much!

[hsmamato2]

Posted this on the Sheraton Vistana Page, but figured I’d ask here for you seasoned travelers...

A friend just got an offer from Sheraton to come stay at the Sheraton Vistana Villages timeshare in a suite for five nights for $199 plus 15,000 Marriott points. Obviously this is a sweet deal at $40/night. There’s no fine print on the welcome letter, but what should he beware of if he books?

I realize there will be strong pressure to join the sales pitch presentation. He’s not one to give into pressure though.

Has anyone done this or something similar?

I got this too....just sitting on it wondering if I should go for it or not.... I don't know if I could get DH to sit and listen to the timeshare pitch

 

[Alexle2007]

Here's a new (to me) SWA CP and points booking question- P2 is almost at CP, but I needed to book a flight for him using my old points stash from my acct- what I want to do is add the companion flight to his already booked flight when we get the CP in a couple of weeks. Will that work out? (It's booked via my points, but the CP will be his)

Yep. You’ll just cancel the flight and rebook him as your companion. SW will deposit the points back into your account. Did you buy EBCI for him?

 

[Alexle2007]

I made a purchase at staples yesterday and used my CSP to get the 30%. When should I expect to see that posted on my account. This is the first time redeeming a Chase offer.

About 7-10 days. They have been taking a bit to post. I typically get an email first that the offer was redeemed before the credit posts.

 

[hsmamato2]

@georgina your story makes me feel better!

@MarBee I signed up for a similar deal as your friend this summer and long story short am just going to forfeit the money I put down on it and honestly I would tell your friend to not do it. Mine was a good deal (for Sheraton in AZ) but basically you could not even read the fine print on it until you were signed up. I paid the money and then later tried to book and to get a weekend that would work it was extra. I ended up reserving but we aren’t going to be able to keep it. I actually called yesterday to cancel because they were hounding me (getting the timeshare presentation ready I guess) and they said if you cancel within 60 days you forfeit all funds. I would have called before but had already been told that to rebook you had to pay like $75 fee. I am trying not to think about it and rationalizing it that it was the travel credit for my upgraded SPG Lux anyway.

thanks for the DP..... I'll ignore our offer then. Besides I'm 100% spoiled with travel hacking so I wasn't too keen on it anyway, but I don't invite extra hassle into my life (well maybe for a million dollars or a trip back to Maui I'd do it)

 

[MrPTato]

I’ve read varying times, but when I did it last year it took about two days.

Thanks! I am not sure what gift card was used so if I don't see it back on one of the cards in my gift card account, I will probably have to call reservations.

 

[trenty]

About 7-10 days. They have been taking a bit to post. I typically get an email first that the offer was redeemed before the credit posts.

Ok. Thanks. I did not get an email. With Amex I usually get an email immediately that I redeemed an offer.

 

[hsmamato2]

Pretty sure you can’t pay for Prime with GCs.

yes,you can do it. I forget how, it's a small process. I googled and found a page with the steps. It involves canceling prime,and then using a gc to repurchase when the old one expires. I did mine on that same day so no interruption. I wanted to use my discounted gc's to re-up.

 

[GlamMistress]

Just realized I used my pink gold to pay for lunch at Bravo yesterday... when I had a Chase Bravo offer on my United card. Ugh.

Doc is reporting the Fidelity 2% card is offering a $100 signup. I got targeted for $150 earlier this week (by mail). If you have a Fidelity account and want this card, you might wait around for a targeted offer. I know of no referrals for this card.

It's issued by Elan.

 

[trenty]

@Judique -just wanted to thank you for letting me know about paying DVC dues with gift cards when on auto pay. I have earned a few free gift cards since then and managed to pay my Jan and part of my Feb dues with them. I am hoping to continue this so that I have no (or very little) OOP for expenses for dues this year.

 

[hsmamato2]

combining P2's chase biz and personal accts.... how to do this?

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Ok. Thanks. I did not get an email. With Amex I usually get an email immediately that I redeemed an offer.

I received an email today on an offer redeemed 1/7...so took about a week

 

[miztressuz]

Question for those of you who do bank account bonuses - Do the banks send you 1099s to report the income? Or do they not send if less than $600?

They send 1099-INT where the threshold for reporting interest income is $10. Just got the first one of the season, Discover They did include the $200 bonus in the amount of interest earned and included a FAQ sheet that outlined why.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

combining P2's chase biz and personal accts.... how to do this?

From what I’ve read you have to call Chase

 

[MrPTato]

Anyone know if FedEx Office sells gift cards?

 

[MarBee]

Here's a new (to me) SWA CP and points booking question- P2 is almost at CP, but I needed to book a flight for him using my old points stash from my acct- what I want to do is add the companion flight to his already booked flight when we get the CP in a couple of weeks. Will that work out? (It's booked via my points, but the CP will be his)

Yep. You’ll just cancel the flight and rebook him as your companion. SW will deposit the points back into your account. Did you buy EBCI for him?

Maybe I’m reading the original question wrong, but I thought @hsmamato2 coukd just book the flight. Then once the companion pss is achieved, add on the companion.
All the time I book flights for DH using my points and then I just add his companion.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Ok PNC debit card still not working for Amazon reloads... anyone have any ideas?

 

[CoP Luv]

I made a purchase at staples yesterday and used my CSP to get the 30%. When should I expect to see that posted on my account. This is the first time redeeming a Chase offer.

For Staples, it took 7 days to get an email and 8 days for it to post online. I did a Dunkin one and that only took 3-4 days.

 

[WVMomof3]

My aunt is staying at the swan for our extended family trip in May.
I’m looking at it and see that for my points booking they want to charge me for a night in advance for prepayment. I assume if I cancel I get that back? And if I don’t cancel do they apply it to the resort fee or something? It is rather annoying really, to have to pay a fee now to redeem points in 4 months.

As long as you cancel within the cancellation policy you get that money back. I’m assuming they apply it to your bill so it’s essentially prepaid. It actually worked out for us because I upgraded to the Lux and got $300 credit and 100k pts for the spend. I paid cash for night one. They charge you the first full night with the booking (which I find bizarre) but it worked out better for us b/c when I booked I had a $60 off $300 amex marriot offer. That applied in addition to the $300 credit (room was $275 + fees so 345 total). So I made $15 on that night. The AF was prorated so i think it was around $290 when I upgraded. I just used pts for night 2 as the rates were higher (like $375). So I think the 50k per night is high unless you go during a super busy time and then it’s prob a good deal if the rates are 400+ night.

I wonder if that is new? They did not charge us anything before our points trip last June. It was all billed on the last day.

 

[Judique]

@Judique -just wanted to thank you for letting me know about paying DVC dues with gift cards when on auto pay. I have earned a few free gift cards since then and managed to pay my Jan and part of my Feb dues with them. I am hoping to continue this so that I have no (or very little) OOP for expenses for dues this year.

Glad you picked up on it! I wish I had caught on how to do this years ago, even though we didn't always have the ability to do it so easily by computer. Apparently we were still able to apply gift cards by phone. This my 19th year paying dues, and that's been a lot of dues but most importantly a lot of vacation memories made with my family.

 

[Judique]

For Staples, it took 7 days to get an email and 8 days for it to post online. I did a Dunkin one and that only took 3-4 days.

Mine was Jan 3 to Jan 12 so 9 days. I had an earlier one credit to my account in 7 days. I think they may have been busier with the 30% - I'm sure a lot more people jumped on that one.