I love credit cards so much!

[jen7233]

We are going to go on an 8 day, 7 night trip in late January. We have a family of 4; 2 adults and 2 children ages 5 and 8 at time of travel.

It will be a split stay:
4 Nights @ Disney's Boardwalk Resort in a Standard Room
3 Nights @ Disney's Contemporary Resort in a Theme Park View Room

We will not rent a car and will use DME and Disney Transportation (primarily we'll be walking to most parks).
- We will go to Epcot, HS, Epcot, HS the first 4 days. (walk or boat)
- We will take a bus to MK on our resort transfer day and then walk back to Contemporary that evening to checkin
- We will bus to AK and back on the 6th day
- We will walk to MK on day 7 and 8.

We are flying roundtrip nonstop on Southwest Airlines. 3 of the tickets are on SW RR points @ 18,399 each (55,197 SW RR points total). The 4th ticket is booked on a companion pass which I have through the end of 2019. The cash cost would have been $1,128. We do have to pay the $44.80 in Taxes/Fees on the flights but that will be covered with some misc CC cashback I earned so the flights in my accounting books is 100% free.

The rooms are rack rate $4,233 and my spreadsheet assumes we will get a 20% discount for a net cost of $3,386.40. Our tickets are $1,767.92. TOTAL Disney package cost will be $5,154.32 - requiring 343,621 URs (which we have). If the 20% discount doesn't come through it will require another 56k URs which we would have by the time I book it...but I'm pretty confident in getting some hotel savings.

Our dining and souven'ear budget is assumed to be about $1,400. That includes 7 table service meals and the rest quick service (with breakfast being cereal in our room each morning). I have the $1,400 fully covered with Disney Rewards dollars. I was very fortunate to max out fully referrals on 3 Disney credit cards via DoctorOfCredit and r/churning earlier this year when they released that new $200 offer. So the $1,400 is fully covered via those rewards.

So in total we are taking an $8,500 trip rack rate fully loaded. It will cost us nothing - FREE - and it's all thanks to this hobby! It's crazy to type all of this out...it's just insane, LOL!

EDIT: For anybody new to our thread reading this - this is not bragging. This is what we do here! Anybody can do this with some pre-planning. Sure the Disney Rewards is a little bit of a fluke, but put that aside...fully covering flights, hotel and tickets (and maybe dining) is possible with 6-8 credit cards, meticulously planned. If 2 spouses are willing to play the game you can earn that amount of points in a year pretty easily!

That’s amazing! No worry on bragging at all!
How do you book Disney World hotels using UR or is there another way to do that besides the UR portal? I didn’t know that was possible. I tried to see what Chase had on the explore travel tab in the UR portal and I get any other hotels in the area but the Disney ones.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

That’s amazing! No worry on bragging at all!
How do you book Disney World hotels using UR or is there another way to do that besides the UR portal? I didn’t know that was possible. I tried to see what Chase had on the explore travel tab in the UR portal and I get any other hotels in the area but the Disney ones.

You can book Disney room only through the portal (I think you just have to search the right way). To do a package you actually call into the Cruise and Tour department and they can book full Disney packages (room, tickets, dining, w/ discounts) just like you would on the Disney site. It's pretty amazing and a bunch of people on our thread here have done it.

 

[WVMomof3]

Sorry if this has been discussed but I can't go through 2200+ pages....

Has anyone ever booked a rental car using Chase UR points and had problems? I was saving all our points to do a trip to Europe but that has been put on the back burner for a while. Our family of 4 (ds21 & ds18) is taking a trip out West in Sept/Oct and while I currently have 2 rental car reservations booked through Costco, one for LAS and one for PHX, I just discovered that I can use points to book the car too. Not so much for seating room but mostly for luggage space, we booked a standard SUV. When I try to book it using UR, it just says 'standard car' on the details but it does state Hyundai Santa Fe or similar. I'm afraid we'll get to the airports and be given a hard time. A 'standard car' with Alamo is a Kia Soul. I don't even think a full size car or premium (Impala) would hold 4 full size suitcases. Not to mention, the SUV is a lot more points in cost than a car. Would you feel ok with this terminology?

Please share your experience or tips if you can. Thanks!

We just went through this last weekend. I was also very concerned about the “standard car” for a SUV. I screenshotted the car and the suv just in case there was a problem to show they were not same price. My email confirmation reservation did say standard car but underneath it listed a suv. In the end, we had no issues but I was prepared to fight just in case.

 

[JKalai]

Does anybody else like to obsessively check their point balances? I probably login to Chase, AMEX, Marriott, Southwest 2-3 times a day...

I know nothing is gonna change but it just makes me happy to visit my friends...my points, LOL!

It's gonna be super hard to part with 300,000+ URs when we book our Disney trip...but SO worth it to go for free, LOL!

I'm going to miss my 200k that I transferred to VS for our Tokyo flights.

We had a great time together while it lasted...

 

[kmc8826]

UR-Disney question

Can you get memory maker only or add hoper to tickets you already have with URs?
I am thinking probably not but trying to lower my op in case I go for the AP!

Apologize if this was answered earlier but I started a response and then got busy with work (and life) and had to leave.

When is your trip? Could you just cancel your rooms with UR’s and then book with Disney (however you want your ultimate package to look) and then call Chase Cruise and Tours and have them take over the package? In January I booked rooms with UR’s and then after fact tried to add dining plan. No luck. But for upcoming October trip just booked with Disney and then transferred. Easy to do if within 30 days. If you have time and there is room availability I would cancel your trip, redo reservation with Disney directly, then transfer reservation to Chase and pay with UR’s.

 

[MrPTato]

Does anybody else like to obsessively check their point balances? I probably login to Chase, AMEX, Marriott, Southwest 2-3 times a day...

I know nothing is gonna change but it just makes me happy to visit my friends...my points, LOL!

It's gonna be super hard to part with 300,000+ URs when we book our Disney trip...but SO worth it to go for free, LOL!

The bigger the balances, the more I hate to part with them and just want to pay OOP. I find it tricky to cash out my Discover CB but it doesn't make sense to just keep it in there. At one point I had over $2k in there.

We are going to go on an 8 day, 7 night trip in late January. We have a family of 4; 2 adults and 2 children ages 5 and 8 at time of travel.

It will be a split stay:
4 Nights @ Disney's Boardwalk Resort in a Standard Room
3 Nights @ Disney's Contemporary Resort in a Theme Park View Room

We will not rent a car and will use DME and Disney Transportation (primarily we'll be walking to most parks).
- We will go to Epcot, HS, Epcot, HS the first 4 days. (walk or boat)
- We will take a bus to MK on our resort transfer day and then walk back to Contemporary that evening to checkin
- We will bus to AK and back on the 6th day
- We will walk to MK on day 7 and 8.

We are flying roundtrip nonstop on Southwest Airlines. 3 of the tickets are on SW RR points @ 18,399 each (55,197 SW RR points total). The 4th ticket is booked on a companion pass which I have through the end of 2019. The cash cost would have been $1,128. We do have to pay the $44.80 in Taxes/Fees on the flights but that will be covered with some misc CC cashback I earned so the flights in my accounting books is 100% free.

The rooms are rack rate $4,233 and my spreadsheet assumes we will get a 20% discount for a net cost of $3,386.40. Our tickets are $1,767.92. TOTAL Disney package cost will be $5,154.32 - requiring 343,621 URs (which we have). If the 20% discount doesn't come through it will require another 56k URs which we would have by the time I book it...but I'm pretty confident in getting some hotel savings.

Our dining and souven'ear budget is assumed to be about $1,400. That includes 7 table service meals and the rest quick service (with breakfast being cereal in our room each morning). I have the $1,400 fully covered with Disney Rewards dollars. I was very fortunate to max out fully referrals on 3 Disney credit cards via DoctorOfCredit and r/churning earlier this year when they released that new $200 offer. So the $1,400 is fully covered via those rewards.

So in total we are taking an $8,500 trip rack rate fully loaded. It will cost us nothing - FREE - and it's all thanks to this hobby! It's crazy to type all of this out...it's just insane, LOL!

EDIT: For anybody new to our thread reading this - this is not bragging. This is what we do here! Anybody can do this with some pre-planning. Sure the Disney Rewards is a little bit of a fluke, but put that aside...fully covering flights, hotel and tickets (and maybe dining) is possible with 6-8 credit cards, meticulously planned. If 2 spouses are willing to play the game you can earn that amount of points in a year pretty easily!

Love the souven'ear term!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Yes, I’m still able to access his CIP account. The IHG account hasn’t even been set up online yet. We hadn’t even been able to activate it yet.

Not caught up so idk if this was resolved but FYI he probably hasn’t been shutdown then- the cards would show $0 limits when you logged in and any Chase cards in a mobile wallet would have been removed and the user is usually notified when that happens.

We had one case of mistaken ID here that led to someone being shutdown for one of their Chase cards and while it was a total pita for them to sort it out Chase figured it out in the end, but it took time and persistence on the person’s part.

 

[wendow]

We are going to go on an 8 day, 7 night trip in late January. We have a family of 4; 2 adults and 2 children ages 5 and 8 at time of travel.

It will be a split stay:
4 Nights @ Disney's Boardwalk Resort in a Standard Room
3 Nights @ Disney's Contemporary Resort in a Theme Park View Room

We will not rent a car and will use DME and Disney Transportation (primarily we'll be walking to most parks).
- We will go to Epcot, HS, Epcot, HS the first 4 days. (walk or boat)
- We will take a bus to MK on our resort transfer day and then walk back to Contemporary that evening to checkin
- We will bus to AK and back on the 6th day
- We will walk to MK on day 7 and 8.

We are flying roundtrip nonstop on Southwest Airlines. 3 of the tickets are on SW RR points @ 18,399 each (55,197 SW RR points total). The 4th ticket is booked on a companion pass which I have through the end of 2019. The cash cost would have been $1,128. We do have to pay the $44.80 in Taxes/Fees on the flights but that will be covered with some misc CC cashback I earned so the flights in my accounting books is 100% free.

The rooms are rack rate $4,233 and my spreadsheet assumes we will get a 20% discount for a net cost of $3,386.40. Our tickets are $1,767.92. TOTAL Disney package cost will be $5,154.32 - requiring 343,621 URs (which we have). If the 20% discount doesn't come through it will require another 56k URs which we would have by the time I book it...but I'm pretty confident in getting some hotel savings.

Our dining and souven'ear budget is assumed to be about $1,400. That includes 7 table service meals and the rest quick service (with breakfast being cereal in our room each morning). I have the $1,400 fully covered with Disney Rewards dollars. I was very fortunate to max out fully referrals on 3 Disney credit cards via DoctorOfCredit and r/churning earlier this year when they released that new $200 offer. So the $1,400 is fully covered via those rewards.

So in total we are taking an $8,500 trip rack rate fully loaded. It will cost us nothing - FREE - and it's all thanks to this hobby! It's crazy to type all of this out...it's just insane, LOL!

EDIT: For anybody new to our thread reading this - this is not bragging. This is what we do here! Anybody can do this with some pre-planning. Sure the Disney Rewards is a little bit of a fluke, but put that aside...fully covering flights, hotel and tickets (and maybe dining) is possible with 6-8 credit cards, meticulously planned. If 2 spouses are willing to play the game you can earn that amount of points in a year pretty easily!

So happy for you and your fam! This is awesome! I love what this hobby allows us to do.

 

[wendow]

Does anybody else like to obsessively check their point balances? I probably login to Chase, AMEX, Marriott, Southwest 2-3 times a day...

I know nothing is gonna change but it just makes me happy to visit my friends...my points, LOL!

It's gonna be super hard to part with 300,000+ URs when we book our Disney trip...but SO worth it to go for free, LOL!

Um, ok, I'm gonna say no, I don't check my points balances near as often as you do lol. But you are a 'numbers guy' so maybe that is why you like to see them in 'print'

I was wondering how you were feeling about parting with 300k+ UR's all at once I'm sure knowing how much value you are getting is helping taking...*some*...of the sting out.

 

[wendow]

@Limes96 I haven't been online much at all today (my mom is visiting and she likes to constantly lol...). Anyways, I haven't seen all that is going on but just hoping this can get resolved quickly!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Um, ok, I'm gonna say no, I don't check my points balances near as often as you do lol. But you are a 'numbers guy' so maybe that is why you like to see them in 'print'

I was wondering how you were feeling about parting with 300k+ UR's all at once I'm sure knowing how much value you are getting is helping taking...*some*...of the sting out.

I am a numbers guy LOL! I just read your comment and had to laugh as I’m sitting here at almost 1am analyzing corporate tax returns for a deal I’m working on. Numbers are my friend haha.

 

[wendow]

I am a numbers guy LOL! I just read your comment and had to laugh as I’m sitting here at almost 1am analyzing corporate tax returns for a deal I’m working on. Numbers are my friend haha.

And nothing would put me to sleep faster at 1am than analyzing corporate tax returns You are definitely in the right line of work though!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Right, I probably should have said I wouldn't go by just that. But for both the Marriott and Southwest cards, the expiration date was/is posted on their respective sites, just not the Chase site. It does get harder for Chases' own products as they don't always advertise expiration dates for those (the meanies) and so we jump on anything. Have to imagine they had a nice spike on the CIC around May 20 from that internal memo leak... it got me

But I totally agree with your recommendation, if you were planning it anyway can't hurt to get it before the 20th. Since they are New cards/offers I imagine they will drop at some point but it may come around again so not worth jeopardizing the Chase plan.

I will now fully concede that you are correct here per this comment on r/churning:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/99ce24/daily_discussion_thread_august_22_2018/e4ob1hd/

Looks like these dates are just marketing strategies to get people to apply. It seems CIU AND CIC 50k offers are here to stay! False alarm...except nobody really truly knows anything LOL!

 

[miztressuz]

I will now fully concede that you are correct here per this comment on r/churning:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/99ce24/daily_discussion_thread_august_22_2018/e4ob1hd/

Looks like these dates are just marketing strategies to get people to apply. It seems CIU AND CIC 50k offers are here to stay! False alarm...except nobody really truly knows anything LOL!

Did see that and thought it would make sense, I think the one they sent earlier this year was about 30 days from date of email. The first one they sent to me last year was out of the blue, I know I didn't look at it first on the web or anywhere. I only clicked one of the emails after following along here on a regular basis. Before that it just didn't interest me. So I can see it popping up every few months after that but I always assumed they were desperate for business on the first one

 

[Lain]

I haven't been online much at all today (my mom is visiting and she likes to constantly lol...)

Is your Texas twang comin’ out heavy again?

 

[wendow]

Is your Texas twang comin’ out heavy again?

Oh yeah! And will only get worse as I’ll be back in Texas in a couple of weeks. Going back home and being surrounded by the twang really brings it out lol!!

Speaking of family, is your dw and her family going to be affected by this hurricane headed for Hawaii?

 

[striker1064]

Amex SPG Luxury card now live, and it looks like anyone can get it up until the 26th. I think I'm going to be sitting this one out, but good for anyone who can use it!

 

[Lain]

Amex SPG Luxury card now live, and it looks like anyone can get it up until the 26th. I think I'm going to be sitting this one out, but good for anyone who can use it!

Only 100k Marriott points for $5k spend tho.

 

[Lain]

Speaking of family, is your dw and her family going to be affected by this hurricane headed for Hawaii?

Thanks for thinking of my family. My wife is in Hawaii now taking care of some final business and staying with family. She’s been tracking the storm since the weekend, and she’s always had this got to be prepared mentality even though most people in the islands were kind of dismissive at the time (hurricanes and tropical storms are always heading towards Hawaii, but almost never hit), so she’s stocked up and hunkered down for the storm. It looks like it’ll cause some damage this time, but not as bad on Oahu where she is, and hopefully not too bad generally. My daughter and I are flying to HNL next week to attend my MIL’s funeral. On the points side, we used UR points to book the last two seats on a United flight flying out of SFO on Thursday evening and HawaiianMiles for book 3 return flights from HNL on Sunday for 17,500 each. Made a small dent in our stashes.

 

[Limes96]

DH got home later than expected last night and didn’t feel like dealing with Chase, but he said he’d call them today. Hard to meet an MSR if you can’t use the card. The way he described them reading off addresses to him that he’d never been associated with makes me think it’s mistaken identity. I remember reading about the one case like that in June maybe? If that’s the case, it’s upsetting to think Chase doesn’t confirm the identity of people when issuing them cards. But my husband does have a relatively common Hispanic name.

Just to recap...brand new, unactivated ihg Premier (card is in hand) is under “special review” for ten days, and the almost one month old CIP was declined twice yesterday. We have over $3000 charges on the CIP already.