Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
Anybody who knows me knows, the only thing I hate more than driving is renting cars. It combines all the worst features of the travel experience: you’re charged a constantly
Author: Saverocity
When did content creators get to be such big whiny babies?
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
I have a very boring origin story as a blogger: when I was in grad school, I got into travel hacking. After travel hacking for a few months, I realized
What you need to know about the Hilton Honors Gold and Diamond food and beverage credits
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
Back in December Hilton Honors announced an extension and increase of the daily food and beverage credit Gold and Diamond elites receive at their “full service” and “lifestyle” brands, e.g.,
How I think about hotel free night certificates
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
I gather from my RSS feed reader that American Express has launched an aggressive campaign to move more Hilton co-branded credit cards in the new year, with the highest bounties
Matching Hyatt Explorist or Globalist status to MLife Gold status in 9 words
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
Click hereLog inClick “OPT IN”Log inYour MLife status will be matched in 10-15 minutes, in my experience, although you do need to log out and log back into MLife to
Portland, ME Manifesto with Ted Fleischaker
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
Today’s special episode is hosted by Gideon the Free-quent Flyer. [Cold open] Harraseeket Inn holiday buffets: https://www.harraseeketinn.com/dine-1 Hello, and welcome to The Manifesto with…
How I would (and might) maximize the current Series I Savings Bond deal
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
There’s an interesting deal available right now for folks who have extra cash lying around they are sure they won’t need for a least one year, and ideally won’t need
Advantages to getting more involved in the travel hacking community
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
A few weeks back I wrote about some reasons why most people don’t have much interest in the travel hacking game, and why they’re mostly right: if you don’t have
The strangest thing about losing your appetite
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
As long-time fans of the Free-quent Flyer extended universe know, I got pretty sick last year and was diagnosed with “community-acquired pneumonia,” treated with some kind of breathing mask, and
American Express ‘4-for-us’: The Best Promotion You’ve Never Heard of
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
Last year here on the blog Robert broke the news about the 3-for-all promotion from American Express. This was a referral opportunity–The person doing…
The history and present of the au pair scam
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
On this week’s episode of The Manifesto I had a long conversation with a reader who has a decade or so of experience legally bringing in au pairs from abroad
Can you win playing by the rules?
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
Last month I spent a lovely Saturday afternoon in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport conference center for the long, long, long-delayed Milenomics Second Planned (MSP, get it?) Meetup. Sam and
Manifesto Episode 28: Bilt Rewards with Richard Kerr
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
Today’s Podcast comes to you from Gideon The Freequent Flyer who has a companion piece to this podcast on his site. Hello and welcome…
The real deal behind the Bilt Rewards reboot
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
[Update 9/21/2021: Listen to the free episode of the Manifesto here]Like most folks who take travel hacking seriously, I was a bit bemused by the wave of coverage Bilt Rewards
What travel partner should you credit car rentals to?
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
I detest driving, so we haven’t owned a car in years, and I try my best to design vacations that don’t require a private vehicle. In recent years, that started
Episode 57: Heightened Offers from Bank of America
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
Four great credit card welcome bonuses to consider from Bank of America. Let’s discuss them, how we’d prioritize them, and also navigating the complicated…
Data Point – more than 7 business days for Wyndham to Caesars Rewards status match
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
This is just a data point that it took at least 8 business days for my Caesars Diamond status to show up after doing the status match with my Wyndham Diamond. When you initiate the status match, it says it will be done within 7 business days. Nick at Frequent Miler noted it took less than that for his family: A few of us in the family have now done this match. While it did not take 7 business days, it took at least 4 or 5 for each of us. Obviously this is YMMV. In my case, it took longer than the advertized 7 biz days.I submitted the match 5 full business days before a stay at Harveys Lake Tahoe (part of Caesars). When my Caesars profile hadn’t been updated on the day of check-in, I tweeted @Caesars_Rewards to see if they can expedite the match. They forwarded the request to customer service, but on my day of check out 2 business days later, it still hadn’t been updated. We ended up paying the daily scam resort fee and parking..
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My experience using Fluz as intended
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
Gift card arbitrage occupies an odd position between “pure” travel hacking and extreme couponing: it’s lucrative enough that most travel hackers do it at least occasionally, but close enough to
Why I won’t go to Bora Bora or Maldives in rainy season
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
I woke up today to the news of wide open 2022 award inventory from Conrad Bora Bora. This is BIG news, like drop everything you’re doing and get on it big. I did my duty and am sitting on a stay for next summer. I hope some of y’all got in on it too. If not, there are still some dates available. Here’s March 2022: However, that’s still in the rainy season (Nov – Mar). As the title of this post suggests, I won’t consider it. Why? I’ll explain in a bit. But first, let me just acknowledge what a UNICORN this inventory dump was. I have been following its award trends recently, and it’s one of the toughest awards I’ve ever pursued. Here’s a recap of my experience over the years, including finer times early on: I first looked for availability in 2014. I got my Citi Hilton Reserve (RIP) free nights around March and had no problem piecing together a 4-night stay for July (high season). Availability was plenty. in 2018, I started planning for a stay a year out. ..
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Don’t sleep on the American Express Hilton Surpass $5,000 threshold bonuses through June 30, 2021
Written by Saverocity @ Saverocity
For obvious reasons since early last year I’ve been focusing my manufactured spend on cards earning cash back or rewards easily converted to cash or paid travel, and slacking off