Last month, I flew Virgin America First Class between San Francisco to New York. I’ve flown Virgin America economy class (or main cabin) dozens of times before and it’s the best domestic economy class product, in my opinion. Virgin America has a fare-based award program, meaning the cost of the ticket determines how many Elevate … Read more
I have an undeserved reputation in some circles as someone who “kills deals“. To my knowledge, no travel or manufactured spending hack has ever been shut down because of the limited exposure on this blog. I’m aware of hacks that got shut down after mass media exposure or after prominent bloggers shared it. But not with anything … Read more
Not much gets blogged about IHG Rewards Club’s Hotels Anywhere, but like the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal it can be a great way to save points and cash on hotel stays/redeem points for discounted hotel stays. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Hotels Anywhere, it’s a travel portal where IHG members can redeem … Read more
The Pullman Zamzam Madina is probably the best value hotel in Medina. While other hotels were charging $400+ per night for standard rooms, the Pullman had rates of just $200 for standard rooms and $450 for a 914 sqft 2-Bedroom Executive Suite. Since I was an Accor Le Club Silver member at the time of … Read more
As most of you know, the publicly availably sign-up bonus for the Chase Sapphire Reserve card has dropped from 100,000 points to 50,000 points. The spending requirement is still $4,000 within 3 months. The downgrade happened sooner than most of us anticipated, but now the question remains: Which Sapphire card is best? Since the sign-up bonus … Read more
I’m a light packer. No matter how long the trip, I never take more than a carry-on bag with me. And I make it a point to return with less stuff than I departed with. This involves bringing worn t-shirts to sleep in or old sneakers that I can wear out and toss at the … Read more
On March 1, something unthinkable will happen: For the first time in four years, I won’t have top-tier Hyatt elite status….and I’m totally fine with it. If I’m being perfectly honest, being a Hyatt Diamond member isn’t all its cracked up to be. I almost never get upgraded (to a room with a decent view, … Read more
While researching my Umrah trip, I was told I didn’t need to book a long stay in Mecca because “Umrah can be performed in about 2 hours.” That’s a fairly accurate time estimate. But at the end of our 4-night stay, I did wish we could have stayed longer. The only thing I can equate this experience … Read more
I’ve written a few posts about the best credit cards to use for manufactured spending, but not everyone earns their points that way. What if you’re not involved in manufactured spending at all? Plenty of people steer clear of manufactured spending, either because they don’t need it or they lack the necessary resources to pull it … Read more
Reader Zak sent me a tweet recently that had me worried for a second. It was regarding a rumor on Reddit that Walmart was going to eliminate the ability to split payments on money order purchases starting February 15, which we all know would be very bad. Not the end of the world, but it … Read more