I love credit cards so much!

[kmc8826]

Just to clarify on the booking Disney with UR deal, I could book two rooms with UR through Chase and then get my reservation set up with My Disney experience and purchase my tickets and dining through Disney, correct? My long term goal is to book two rooms at a moderate with UR, then purchase tickets and dining through disney with Disney gift cards. Just want to make sure I’m embarking down the right path with my accumulations of points and gift cards!

Yes you can do that. For our family of 5 I booked myself in one room at CBR and DH in one room. Don’t add anyone else because that can increase the point cost. I could have done another moderate when I first booked but it was the cheapest and I am not worried about construction. After booking room through UR call Disney Wholesale at 407-939-7671. They go by resort check in date and name and can find your reservation. Add other people to the party. That is what I did; Disney put the kids on the reservation and notation for requested connecting. Why I was on phone with her I put in reservation numbers she gave me into MDE. Easy as can be. (Thanks again to all those on here who walked me through it for first time).

Fingers crossed rooms end up connecting; will know in a couple weeks!

 

[pillow]

Just to clarify on the booking Disney with UR deal, I could book two rooms with UR through Chase and then get my reservation set up with My Disney experience and purchase my tickets and dining through Disney, correct? My long term goal is to book two rooms at a moderate with UR, then purchase tickets and dining through disney with Disney gift cards. Just want to make sure I’m embarking down the right path with my accumulations of points and gift cards!

That should work. One suggestion though - you might want to price tickets through other outlets in addition to Disney. For example, right now a 5 day hopper from WDW = $473.92. If you use the Touring Plans ticket finder, your lowest price would be $431.93, which is the equivalent of a 9% discount (https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/ticket-calculator). As long as you're getting over a 9% discount on your Disney gift cards, you'll be coming out ahead. Just over a year ago, there was a great sale on the United vacations site (and I think Southwest too), where I was able to get the same ticket for $368. To be fair, I think WDW increased ticket prices after that, so you can't really compare that to the prices above, but it was still a great price. We ended up buying our tickets out of pocket (paid with CSR) and used the discounted Dis gift cards for food.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Yes you can do that. For our family of 5 I booked myself in one room at CBR and DH in one room. Don’t add anyone else because that can increase the point cost. I could have done another moderate when I first booked but it was the cheapest and I am not worried about construction. After booking room through UR call Disney Wholesale at 407-939-7671. They go by resort check in date and name and can find your reservation. Add other people to the party. That is what I did; Disney put the kids on the reservation and notation for requested connecting. Why I was on phone with her I put in reservation numbers she gave me into MDE. Easy as can be. (Thanks again to all those on here who walked me through it for first time).

Fingers crossed rooms end up connecting; will know in a couple weeks!

Thank you so much! Sounds like I'm planning to do something pretty similar to you- family of 6 and hoping to get two connecting moderate rooms. Not the end of the world if we don't (all adults going), but hoping it'll work out. I had head about not adding other people to the reservation so I'm planning to book one room in my name and another under my MIL.

That should work. One suggestion though - you might want to price tickets through other outlets in addition to Disney. For example, right now a 5 day hopper from WDW = $473.92. If you use the Touring Plans ticket finder, your lowest price would be $431.93, which is the equivalent of a 9% discount (https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/ticket-calculator). As long as you're getting over a 9% discount on your Disney gift cards, you'll be coming out ahead. Just over a year ago, there was a great sale on the United vacations site (and I think Southwest too), where I was able to get the same ticket for $368. To be fair, I think WDW increased ticket prices after that, so you can't really compare that to the prices above, but it was still a great price. We ended up buying our tickets out of pocket (paid with CSR) and used the discounted Dis gift cards for food.

Thanks! I'm not planning this trip until end of 2019, but I am definitely going to look into those options as well! Right now I'm getting Disney gift cards for free through Swagbucks and other rewards programs, so it'll probably depend on how much I have when I go to book as to where I buy the tickets from.

 

[Alexle2007]

Patiently awaiting SW to post my CC points now that their account maintenance is completed. They did post my 10 points for using the shopping portal but I'd prefer to have other 122,000 Visa points.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

EDIT: Bad information - removed post

 

[Judique]

So bummed about the MASSIVE devaluation of IHG points. Had planned to use my signup bonus at the HIE Springdale which is next to Zion NP. It's now going to be 40,000 IHG points a night when rates are showing $97 for a night in February. The cpp is terrible.

I went ahead and used 60,000 points to book the Intercontinental Times Square for NY Comic con weekend (october). It's going up to 70,000 IHG points soon so figured to get in while the getting is good.

Talked to my daughter earlier. She stayed at the Intercontinental Barclay on 48th street in midtown because it was closer to go see the Rockettes. She said the hotel was very nice and she would stay there again and did not find the room to be small or run down in any way - in fact she really enjoyed it! Pretty sure she did 'free' for her two nights. She mentioned the very small Holiday Inn down by Wall Street that we stayed at a few years ago on my dime/points. I had to keep reminding her that was free also and to stop complaining because you had to climb over the bed to get to the bathroom, lol!

 

[sunrise717]

Patiently awaiting SW to post my CC points now that their account maintenance is completed. They did post my 10 points for using the shopping portal but I'd prefer to have other 122,000 Visa points.

Me Too..
Do you have any idea when they will add the points

 

[Lain]

Thanks so much for your responses! To explain a little more, I'm at 4/24 now (assuming the SW biz card doesn't count towards the 5/24 - correct?). I'm hoping to make the last Chase card count as I won't be under 5/24 again until Nov. 2018. The Plus card actually already renewed in Dec. and I paid the annual fee, I just don't really have a reason to keep it and would like the annual fee back, plus I'd I'd like to be able to apply for it again in 2 years or so. As for the checking acct, I don't really use it for anything, I solely signed up for it for a bonus, and it's just kind of a pain to transfer money every paycheck. Also I'd like to be eligible for another signup bonus sometime if it's offered, and I believe you have to have not had an acct for 6 months. I'll keep both open until I apply for the Premier and then look at closing them. I'll definitely checkout the disboards churners page on Reddit when I'm ready to apply, I think I saw a link a few pages back. Thanks again!

I would be interested in applying for 2 cards when I try for the premier, can you direct me to the instructions for that please? Also, not sure what adt'l card I should try for. I currently have chase plus and chase biz cards, along with Disney visa. My goals are to get cp and SW points for disney trip this summer, then saving for a Hawaii trip for our family of 5 in 2019 if possible. Also would like to throw in a quick trip to vegas with DH sometime. Any advice would be appreciated!

Without a fuller picture of what's in your wallet, please take the following with some caution.

Regarding your SW Plus card, which you say renewed in December and for which you already paid the annual fee, Chase's policy is to allow cardholders a period of 30 days after your annual fee is billed to cancel their card and request a refund. Billed means when the annual fee posted to your statement, not when it was paid. After 30 days, you'll get some mixed data points that say Chase may refund you a prorated amount.

You may want to keep your SW Plus card open while you are trying to apply for two more cards from Chase, because your Plus card has a credit line that is presumably propping up your credit score (available credit, utilization %), and you could offer to reallocate credit from the Plus to a new card if Chase is on the fence about approving more cards because they feel they've already extended you too much credit.

Which two cards are you planning to double dip with your last slot? The SW Premier and ...? I ask because there may be certain rules a general instruction may miss. I can follow up with instructions how to do it.

Please note that if you double dip, you're getting two bites at the apple, not a free bite. So those two cards at 4/24 will bring you to 6/24 and you very likely won't be under 5/24 again in November 2018. The sixth card essentially gave you a shot at one of Chase's cards early, and will push when you'll be under 5/24 again out to the next oldest card.

 

[Alexle2007]

Me Too..
Do you have any idea when they will add the points

I wish I knew. I was expecting at least my points from my statement that closed on 1/1 to have posted since the prior months, they had posted the next day. But alas, they are not there yet. My other statement closed on 1/3. So hopefully, they will be there tomorrow I am just going to keep checking on a regular basis. I was able to at least verify on the statements that the 60k bonuses are coming...

 

[pillow]

Another retention offer on Southwest . . . a couple days ago, they offered me $70 to keep my personal card open, which I agreed to do. Today, I called to cancel my business card, and they offered me a $100 statement credit to keep it open. Score!

 

[Alexle2007]

Is the 25k points for $5k spend AMEX SPG Biz the best offer available?

 

[amalone1013]

Another retention offer on Southwest . . . a couple days ago, they offered me $70 to keep my personal card open, which I agreed to do. Today, I called to cancel my business card, and they offered me a $100 statement credit to keep it open. Score!

I hope I have such luck when I call to cancel mine in the summer

 

[pillow]

I hope I have such luck when I call to cancel mine in the summer

Today when I called, the first rep I spoke with after requesting cancellation sent me to someone else. That person gave me a pretty hard sell to keep my card. It was only after I declined that they offered me the retention offer.

 

[kmc8826]

Hey this UR booking discussion is quite helpful - so one quick comment to make sure I understand this:

Once you book your ROOM ONLY through the UR portal you can then make changes with Disney like add tickets or dining. And you can just pay Disney the difference directly (i.e. for the increased cost). Do I have that correct?

You book room only through the UR portal. As I explained above you contact Disney Wholesale and get the room into MDE. You can make FP’s etc. But it is listed in MDE as “NMB room only.” The Disney CM’s can’t access the reservation so can’t add dining plan or anything. You can buy tickets separately and add them to MDE but you cannot convert the room into a disney package. So no you are not correct...

 

[Judique]

Another retention offer on Southwest . . . a couple days ago, they offered me $70 to keep my personal card open, which I agreed to do. Today, I called to cancel my business card, and they offered me a $100 statement credit to keep it open. Score!

Question: with the retention offer are you still getting the annual points allocation of 3000 or 6000? I have the $99 card and if I thought they would give me the 6000 points for free, I'd call and try to cancel also.

The small allotment of points has worked well for me - I've been able to find flights as low as 1727 one way - MCO to DCA. Family is driving down with me next week and flying back on that fare to Washington, DC. Can't beat it, other than getting a big bonus again. I see the flight still there for 1921 points - still outstanding if the dates work - usually tues or wed.

 

[Alexle2007]

Question: with the retention offer are you still getting the annual points allocation of 3000 or 6000? I have the $99 card and if I thought they would give me the 6000 points for free, I'd call and try to cancel also.

The small allotment of points has worked well for me - I've been able to find flights as low as 1727 one way - MCO to DCA. Family is driving down with me next week and flying back on that fare to Washington, DC. Can't beat it, other than getting a big bonus again. I see the flight still there for 1921 points - still outstanding if the dates work - usually tues or wed.

Wow, those rates are even lower than BWI! Too bad it would make it a 2 hour drive instead of 1 hr to BWI. I might need to start checking there though also. DH would definitely want to spend the night closer to the airport but we typically do that even with BWI flights. Especially, when they are early.

 

[jhoannam]

Help... my MIL got 2 SW cards but failed to get a RR account before, now she has 2 RR reward accounts... how can she combine them on her CCs and her RR account? Any detailed steps?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Is the 25k points for $5k spend AMEX SPG Biz the best offer available?

AMEX and SPG did do a 35k offer for $10k spend somewhat recently but that is obviously expired. Yes currently the 25k for $5k is the best offer available and is available either through the AMEX site or through Referral Links.

Also, just an FYI - there are no "incognito" offers on biz cards so there isn't a secret better offer out there like there is on the personal.

 

[Alexle2007]

Help... my MIL got 2 SW cards but failed to get a RR account before, now she has 2 RR reward accounts... how can she combine them on her CCs and her RR account? Any detailed steps?

She should be able to call SW CR dept at 855-234-4654 or reach out via Twitter to @Southwestair.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Just to clarify on the booking Disney with UR deal, I could book two rooms with UR through Chase and then get my reservation set up with My Disney experience and purchase my tickets and dining through Disney, correct? My long term goal is to book two rooms at a moderate with UR, then purchase tickets and dining through disney with Disney gift cards. Just want to make sure I’m embarking down the right path with my accumulations of points and gift cards!

Yes you can do that. For our family of 5 I booked myself in one room at CBR and DH in one room. Don’t add anyone else because that can increase the point cost. I could have done another moderate when I first booked but it was the cheapest and I am not worried about construction. After booking room through UR call Disney Wholesale at 407-939-7671. They go by resort check in date and name and can find your reservation. Add other people to the party. That is what I did; Disney put the kids on the reservation and notation for requested connecting. Why I was on phone with her I put in reservation numbers she gave me into MDE. Easy as can be. (Thanks again to all those on here who walked me through it for first time).

Fingers crossed rooms end up connecting; will know in a couple weeks!

That should work. One suggestion though - you might want to price tickets through other outlets in addition to Disney. For example, right now a 5 day hopper from WDW = $473.92. If you use the Touring Plans ticket finder, your lowest price would be $431.93, which is the equivalent of a 9% discount (https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/ticket-calculator). As long as you're getting over a 9% discount on your Disney gift cards, you'll be coming out ahead. Just over a year ago, there was a great sale on the United vacations site (and I think Southwest too), where I was able to get the same ticket for $368. To be fair, I think WDW increased ticket prices after that, so you can't really compare that to the prices above, but it was still a great price. We ended up buying our tickets out of pocket (paid with CSR) and used the discounted Dis gift cards for food.

Hey this UR booking discussion is quite helpful - so one quick comment to make sure I understand this:

Once you book your ROOM ONLY through the UR portal you can then make changes with Disney like add tickets or dining. And you can just pay Disney the difference directly (i.e. for the increased cost). Do I have that correct?

You book room only through the UR portal. As I explained above you contact Disney Wholesale and get the room into MDE. You can make FP’s etc. But it is listed in MDE as “NMB room only.” The Disney CM’s can’t access the reservation so can’t add dining plan or anything. You can buy tickets separately and add them to MDE but you cannot convert the room into a disney package. So no you are not correct...

Ok - just wanted to summarize these comments because they can be confusing.

• When @DisneyMandC said "dining" in the first post I assumed they meant Dining Plan as you wouldn't "Purchase" Dining through Disney if you meant book ADRs.
• @kmc8826 then said yes you can do that - but I don't think meant add dining plan - was saying yes to purchasing tickets through Disney.
• @pillow also said that would work (probably only referring to the tickets) but then went on to advise purchasing tickets elsewhere for a larger discount. (which makes a lot of sense)
• I was reading all of this and thought it meant you could actually add the dining plan to your hotel reservation. I was surprised at that so I posted my little summary to confirm.
• @kmc8826 clarified that you cannot add dining on and then further clarified that you really aren't adding tickets on either - you can just buy tickets separately which anybody can do at any time.
• I seemed to recall you actually COULD book a Disney package with URs so I did some searching. I found on Reddit (r/churning) on the "Churning for Disney: Walt Disney World Megathread" written by the Reddit Disney expert u/nuhertz that you can book a package through URs. You do this by calling Chase at 1-855-234-2542 and asking for the "Cruise and Tour Department." Tell them you want to book a Disney Vacation Package. They can book a package with hotel, park tickets, and DINING PLAN, using your Ultimate Rewards. I do not know if they can handle a partial points/partial cash reservation this way.
• You can obviously just book room only reservations through the Chase UR Portal online as people previously indicated too if you aren't interested in tickets or dining plan.

So hopefully this information is helpful!

EDIT - one more added comment regarding a Hotel/Dining package with URs (no tickets)

• @kmc8826 posts that they were told "you can book a Disney package with UR points. You have to call and talk to the Cruise/Tour section. I called them and was told that you could book the UR Disney package but it had to include room and tickets in order to have dining. Directly with Disney it is possible to do room and dining no tickets, but with UR apparently that is not possible. If you want dining on a room you have booked with UR points you would have to buy tickets too."