Columbus, OH

Frequent Miler

Hilton has a weird hybrid approach to free night awards. Like IHG, they no longer publicly assign hotels to categories and can therefore dynamically price award nights. But, really, they don’t. They do dynamically (over) price premium rooms, but not standard rooms. Behind the scenes, they maintain a categorization and assign standard room award prices to each property (or to each category… or something). They seem to also maintain an internal peak/off-peak type of approach in that some properties have different standard award prices at different times of year. Due to category-ish award pricing, it’s possible to get outsized value from Hilton points when cash prices are high compared to their relatively fixed award costs. That’s the good news.

What are Hilton points worth?

There’s a new targeted Amex Offer out this morning that is good for 5% back on Hilton stays. You’ll need to enroll if targeted, though I am not terribly excited about this one given the fact that we’ve seen offers good for a much higher percentage as compared to spend. Still, if you have a very expensive Hilton stay coming up, the $100 cap here could be handy.

5% back on Hilton stays with new Amex Offer [targeted, enrollment required]

Las Vegas, NV

Atlantic City, NJ

Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, NJ has long offered a status match for those with competing casino status all the way up to Ocean Prime status. We’ve covered that match pretty extensively in our post about How to get free cruises by gaming casino status matches. One of the other benefits of Ocean Prime status was a complimentary 2-night stay at Resorts World Las Vegas (I reviewed my complimentary stay at Conrad Las Vegas here). As of today (7/1/24), the partnership with Resorts World has ended, but some will be excited to see that Ocean is back to partnering with Wynn Las Vegas — so Ocean Prime members now get a complimentary 2-night stay at Wynn Las Vegas, which can be an incredibly valuable benefit.

Ocean Prime now offering 2 free nights at Wynn Las Vegas + $50 dining credit

Update 6/26/24: This increased welcome offer on the Chase Ink Business Preferred card is now available in-branch. There is a new offer out for the Chase Ink Business Preferred that is good for 120,000 points after $8,000 in purchases in the first 3 months. The Deal. There is a new...

(Now In-Branch) 120K points with new Chase Ink Preferred bonus

Capital One Shopping is currently offering some very generous cashback rates for a wide range of retailers and travel companies. These rates are likely targeted, but it hopefully won’t take much effort to get these higher rates showing for you within a day or two. The Deal. Capital One...

Targeted Capital One Shopping offers: $66 for AARP membership, 15% Choice, 24% Sixt, 12% Dell & more

Hawaii State

Save up to 40% on flights to/from Hawaii with Southwest when using promo code HAWAII40. Up to 40 percent promotion code savings valid for round trip Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away Plus fares booked on Southwest.com from July 9-11, 2024 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time (the “Booking Period”) and flown between August 13-December 17, 2024 (the “Travel Period”).

Southwest Hawaii sale: Save up to 40% with promo code HAWAII40

Mark your calendars: if you have Bilt points, Monday will be a great day to consider transferring them. If you’d like to fly Air France or KLM in business class, we published a couple of helpful tricks this week, whether that’s how to find a calendar of availability or how to book via chat with Virgin Atlantic. Read about all that and a lot more in this Frequent Miler Week in Review.

Bigness from Bilt, tricks for booking Air France & KLM, updated hotel point values and more [Week in Review]

The 2024 Frequent Miler annual challenge is over, with Flying by the Seat of our Points being won by Tim (congrats again Tim!) Our 2024 team challenge Flying by the Seat of our Points tested our last minute award booking skills with a series of last minute travel challenges assigned and judged by Stephen and Carrie. Over the span of a week, Greg, Nick, and Tim used their knowledge, points, elite standings, and even upgrade instruments to tackle each challenge with the best combination of frugality and luxury they could, all before the next assignments were given. Final Scores: Tim won this challenge by the seat of his points!

The challenges of crafting the Flying by the Seat of our Points challenge

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The Shy Green

Salt Life Beer, a beloved brand synonymous with ocean enthusiasts and craft beer lovers, is facing turbulent times as it files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Known for its crisp and refreshing lager inspired by the sea, Salt Life Beer has become a staple for those who cherish the ocean's allure.

Another famous beer brand is going bankrupt and will file for Chapter 11

Save 20% when booking Southwest award flights and using promo code MAX20. Must book by June 30th and travel between August 20th and November 20th. 20 percent promotion code savings valid for one-way or round trip Wanna Get Away® and Wanna Get Away Plus® fares booked on Southwest.com® from June 28-30, 2024 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time (the “Booking Period”) and flown between August 20-November 20, 2024 (“Travel Period”). Travel to/from Orange County (SNA) excluded. Promotion code savings are applied before government taxes and fees.

Southwest Sale: Get 20% Off Both Cash and Points Bookings

I recently flew the first half of a round trip on Spirit Airlines, which gave me a chance to give a few aspects of the Spirit Airlines Free Spirit and Saver$ Club experience a spin, including the discount for booking at the airport vs the Savers Club and both of those as compared against using Spirit Free Spirit points to book. I don’t often think of Spirit or its programs, but this experience left me thinking that I really ought to consider using Spirit more often….while simultaneously teaching me now to get not just low value, but negative value from their points.

Taking Spirit for a spin to test the value of the Savers Club and Free Spirit points

In the points and miles world there are lots of acronyms and phrases that get thrown around. As you get deeper into the game, you learn more and more, but sometimes it can be helpful to have something explained outright. We often refer to ‘dummy bookings’ in posts about shopping portals, credit card offers, hotel and airline bookings, etc., so if you’ve ever wondered to yourself “What is a dummy booking?”, here’s a quick explainer, along with some examples for how it can come in handy to save money and/or earn more rewards.

What is a dummy booking? How to get targeted offers using this trick

Sonesta is a hotel chain with more than 1100 properties that we haven’t paid much attention to until Tim wrote a recent post about the Sonesta Travel Pass, a program that sort of came out of nowhere. In this week’s Coffee Break episode, we’ll chat more about why you shouldn’t siesta on Sonesta!

Podcast: Don’t take a siesta on Sonesta | Coffee Break Ep17 | 7-2-24

Upgraded Points has discovered a ton of standard award availability at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui during the Summer/early-Fall of 2024. Rooms are available between June and October, including multiple 5-night blocks(meaning it will work for 5th-night free stays). When there was wide open standard award availability a few months...

Conrad Bora Bora: Great availability July-September 2024

A couple of weeks ago Hilton kicked off their integration of Small Luxury Hotels (SLH) properties with the addition of three properties – Teranka Formentera (one of the Balearic Islands), Nobu Hotel Marbella in Spain and Flemings Mayfair in London. That list has now been expanded to a total...

Hilton has added more than a dozen more SLH properties

Lancaster County, PA

NewsByJoshua

Fans of Frisco's Chicken were left reeling as the beloved Peruvian-style eatery announced the closure of all its locations in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The chain, known for its delicious food and strong community values, posted a heartfelt note on its doors, informing customers of the devastating news.

Favorite Chicken Chain Suddenly Closes All Stores, Heartfelt Message Found on Doors

Virginia State

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Cheryl E Preston

Virginia Wendy Williams fans, this is your July 2024 update on the former talk show host. Her best friend of 44 years, Regina Schell, has shared recent concerns with TV Show Aces and says she has not seen or talked to Wendy in more than a year.

Wendy Williams fans are worried after her best friend claims not to have heard from her in a year

A few days ago, a moment I’d long been waiting for finally arrived: I was finally offered the chance to product change an old card to the Capital One SavorOne card. I am thrilled to finally have that card in my household even if the physical replacement card isn’t yet off the presses, but the addition of the SavorOne to my wallet begs the question: will I finally dump the Amex Gold card?

Something to Savor: A reason to dump the Gold?

Denver, CO

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David Heitz

A dangerous drug that is being mixed into fentanyl is causing those who inject it to develop a rash of sores that resembles a case of flesh-eating bacteria. People experiencing homelessness around Denver can sometimes be seen with these bloody, weeping wounds. I recently mentioned this phenomenon to a fentanyl user who told me about the xylazine connection.

Denver homeless people suffer sores as xylazine enters fentanyl supply

Hertz has repeatedly earned itself negative publicity over the past couple of years. Unfortunately, they are at it again. After previously reducing the expiration timeline for points from needing activity once every 18 months to once every 12 months, Miles Talk reports on a new restriction that came from Hertz via email today: now points expire 5 years after they are earned, regardless of activity. That’s a huge bummer that is no doubt tough to track and designed to create even more breakage in a system that’s already of marginal value at best.

Hertz expiration policy now hurts even more

NewsBreak

Get bonus points offer on next Hilton stay when doing a dummy booking (Targeted)

We received an interesting tip from reader Lauren yesterday giving us a heads up about a targeted Hilton offer that gives you bonus points on your...

Get bonus points offer on next Hilton stay when doing a dummy booking (Targeted)

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