In full disclosure, I am NOT compensated by AwardWallet. Isn’t that refreshing to hear?
It truly doesn’t get any better than AwardWallet Plus. Everyone in the points game uses AwardWallet to track his points but the new version can do so much more. I believe in this app so much that I am going to spend a few moments highlighting a couple of changes that I find especially useful.
1. Actual Account History
Have you been in the situation where you swore that you had more points and then your balance unexpectedly went down? The History tab in AwardWallet shows you where the points went without having to login to an external account.
There’s that overrated PH NYC stay2. Only Update Relevant Accounts
When you have too many accounts, it is pointless to update all accounts. AwardWallet now lets you select the accounts you would like updated in bulk.
Select the accounts then hit the refresh button3. Travel Plans
This is the biggest enhancement for AwardWallet Plus. I didn’t pay attention to it before because I used TripIt. The problem with TripIt is that it added every reservation that I made but did not remove those speculative bookings after I cancelled them. I would receive alerts saying my flight to Phoenix is departing in an hour and wonder why I wasn’t at the airport.
In the Trips section of AwardWallet, all of my future (and past) trips are organized chronologically and without duplicates. It even shows me changes that were made to my flights, a valuable tool for cancelling or modifying a booking for free.
Show off to your friends your past flights on SQ
It also has a nice Great Circle Mapper graphic and the ability to see more information for each reservation. I find the contact information very handy as well. If I do want to make an edit or delete something, it is very easy to do.
LOL @frontier
I’ve only been using the new version for a day so I’m sure there are other tips and tricks that I have yet to discover.
Here are other updates provided by AwardWallet’s website.
How did it go with Hyatt? I had many funny comments about the misery of confirming DSUs. As recourse for your troubles and to celebrate the enhancements of my favorite app, AwardWallet, I am providing free coupon codes.
1) ThePointsOfLife – this coupon code will only work for new AwardWallet users who NEVER had AwardWallet Plus before.
2. These coupons are for users who have already registered with AwardWallet and want to extend their AwardWallet Plus membership by another 6 months:
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Did you book all your suite upgrades? Some people apparently got extras. Some people were able to book past February 28, 2017. I have no idea what I ended up with because some stays didn’t include confirmation emails. Checking Hyatt’s site doesn’t help because the reservation details give no indication of what kind of reservation it is, even though I tried to book cash n points.
In the end, this whole exercise may prove to be a waste of time as I don’t foresee myself going to Trinidad or Tobago, a suite upgrade reservation that I apparently booked. In the end, greed and my imagination got the best of me.
The real winner is Hyatt who stands to make money off of trips we did not plan to take and cash that we do not want to spend. Keep in mind that DSU require a cash or cash n points booking. I’ve found it more effective to show up at the hotel on a points booking and talk my way into an upgrade. That is free and does not require the time and stress that this artificial deadline created.
Who’s with me?
My ‘basic’ room at the PH Sydney
TPOL burned the rest of his DSUs today or so I thought. Hours after I made my March bookings, I hadn’t received confirmation for the suites. I called Hyatt Gold Passport and was given two critical pieces of information:
2015 upgrades can’t be booked for stays past February 2017. Even though you can book for stays in March, suite upgrades will not be issued for those dates.
2015 upgrades booked by tomorrow can be changed after tomorrow.
Number two is huge. Although I changed all my bookings from March to February 2017, I no longer have to be worried that I picked the perfect dates for what will be an epic trip to Nepal, Tanzania, Zanzibar, and the Netherlands.
With the new coding in the computer, I no longer think that it will be possible to use 2015 upgrades for stays past February 28, 2017 as I originally speculated. Still, for those of us who just received Diamond status in 2015 and in lieu of the new DSU policy for 2016, this should be welcomed news.
Unfortunately DSUs are not available for Park Hyatt Sydney but the standard room was still great
Since Hyatt is changing its DSU program for 2017, I thought I would take a look at what I could do with the suite upgrades for 2015. My plan was to make imaginary bookings then plead with Hyatt to let me change the dates. After staring at the screen for a few hours, I did something better; I turned an imaginary trip into something real. Of course, the airline routing still has to be worked out but here is what I have planned. Nothing like expiring Diamond Suite Upgrades to bring out the adventure in TPOL.
Andaz Amsterdam Hyatt Kathmandu
I’ve never been to Nepal and have always wanted to go.
Photo courtesy of HyattHyatt Regency Dar Es Salaam, The Kilimanjaro
Annoyed at my Athens Marathon, I thought another endurance adventure was in order. It will be 5 nights up the mountain and then two nights in the suite.
Get ready to climbPark Hyatt Zanzibar
In terms of real relaxation, I am going to attempt to make up for the disaster of Sharm el-Sheikh with a stay at this Park Hyatt.
No food poisoning this time
Looking for some sustenance post a night out on the town? The natural reaction for pho lovers is to stumble to the nearest pho shop that is open late night. If you’re in Koreatown, TPOL recommends Pho 32. If you’re in Chinatown the obvious choice may be Pho Pasteur because of its central location on Baxster Street, recognizable name (see Pho Boston), and inviting interior.
Alas, Pho Pasteur Chinatown is all show and no pho. The broth is bland, the meat is sparse, and the spring rolls are average. Pho for two along with a beer came out to $30 and I didn’t even order the customary extra big bowl. For that same price, I could’ve feasted at a Halal Truck. Following the disappointment of Hoboken’s pho and now this one in Chinatown, I’m beginning to believe the search for a great, consistent, affordable bowl of pho in this city is a pointless expedition.
Pho PasteurNot the worst prices but not the best qualityGenerous with the peanut sauce but not the spring rollsLooks freshReady to goNot bad but not great
TPOL saw some remarkable numbers this month despite limiting his posts to once a day. That will change in March as I have more to say than ever before. Here are the top posts for the month of February:
1. End of MS Means Get Your Life TogetherHere are the reasons why you should also start your own business in the context of points.
2. Chase Kills Churning: Will TPOL Survive?Chase gutted the UR churning program by restricting clients from applying for UR earning cards if they have had more than 5 new accounts in 24 months. Most of us have 5 new accounts before we wake up for breakfast. Now it is being reported on Al Jazeera that they are going to enforce this rule on all applications.
3. One Month Till AA Deval: Don’t Burn ALL the MilesHoly bleep! It’s one month till the anti-churn establishment guts another awards program leaving points players with even fewer options to preserve this here lifestyle.
4. Chase Sapphire: Great Downgrade to PlasticGone is the impressive titanium. Now it’s just another piece of plastic. Or is it?
5. Amex Business Cards: No More Bonus for EntrepreneursAs a serial entrepreneur and compulsive organizer, I need to segregate my spending for each business for both tax and tracking purposes. With the new change from Amex, the only choice I have is to apply for a new account, deal with the approval process, and pay the annual fee just for this convenience. Why would anyone do that?
6. Keep Vs. Cancel: Citi PrestigeThe time has unexpectedly come to decide whether I should keep or cancel my Citi Prestige. As I had written, the annual fee for my card prematurely came this month because I opened the Citi Gold Checking account. A perk of the checking account is a reduction of the Prestige annual fee from $450 to $350. Unfortunately, it also means that they reset the clock as to when the annual fee is assessed. It was supposed to be in May and now it is due the end of February.
7. Desperate Times: Chase Marriott Opened, Hyatt ClosedI was supposed to go from a points millionaire to a real millionaire. The idea was that the points hustle would provide for an opulent lifestyle while I sorted out my own entrepreneurial aspirations.
If BOA wants to restrict the number of Alaska cards yearly from 50 to 5 that’s fair. If Citi wants to ask a second question before approving another card during the recon call that’s okay with me. What doesn’t make sense is Chase’s 5/24 rule for small businesses and now Amex’s lifetime ban on bonuses for those that receive a business card more than once.
In the post, End of MS Means Get Your Life Together from 2/23/2016, I wrote that there is hope in the points game if you made 2016 the year of leaving the cubicle and starting your own business. One of the reasons I said to do so was that Amex did not restrict bonuses for small business cards. As we now know, Amex has changed its policy to a once in a lifetime sign up bonus per customer leaving churners and bona fide businessmen with no choice but to look elsewhere for small business credit cards.
Tragically, there is no other place to turn for cards that offer great bonus categories for small businesses. As a serial entrepreneur and compulsive organizer, I need to segregate my spending for each business for both tax and tracking purposes. With the new change from Amex, the only choice I have is to apply for a new account, deal with the approval process, and pay the annual fee just for this convenience. Why would anyone do that?
The nerds in Amex’s analyst departments may believe that they have done away with churners by implementing this policy but they did not foresee the lost business opportunities that TPOL is predicting. One does not have to be clairvoyant to see how this course of action will negatively impact Amex’s bottom line.
While on the subject of psychic abilities, I would like to point out that TPOL, the Oracle of Outer Borough (Hoboken), also wrote the following in his piece on AA Devaluation: While devaluations are terrible, what keeps TPOL up at night is the harsh reality that banks are beginning to follow Chase and Amex’s stricter churning policies. These changes, if lasting, will make the severity of future devaluations a non-issue.
What bad news is next for churners, a devolution into a cash only economy? Only TPOL knows.
Hang on to your Amex points
Here’s an interesting predicament that many of us are facing: the 29th of February is the last day to book Diamond Suite Upgrades before they expire. The current rules allow for reservations to be made after the expiration date. On March 1st, the new suite upgrades will be credited to Diamond accounts but the new ones arrive with a key restriction, the reservations must have a check in date before February 28, 2017. As a result of this inconvenient change, I am implementing an interesting strategy. I am going to use my expiring DSUs to speculatively book rooms in Hyatts around the globe in 2017 and use my 2016 upgrades for stays that I have confirmed for this year. In the past, I have been able to change the dates for suite upgrade awards well after I lost my Diamond status. I am hoping that I will be able to do the same thing with these expiring upgrades.
I lose nothing by trying this strategy because the current upgrades were going to expire anyway and the new ones have a one year shelf life. Since I will not requalify for Diamond for 2017 because I am focused on requalifying for SPG Platinum, I am hoping to enjoy the perks of Diamond in 2017 by implementing this method. Next year, I may become a Hyatt loyalist should Marriott ruin my SPG relationship.
This brings me to one of my favorite parts of being a points man, imaginary trip planning. Where should I go in 2017 and what hotel in the Hyatt portfolio should I stay at?
Here is what I am considering:
Park Hyatt
Find the nerdy planning here. Find the picture preview here.
A crafty man, TPOL, needed to get from the Western Cape to Mauritius in business. At the same time, he wanted to visit Durban. The problem is that he only had one day to visit and couldn’t justify paying or using points for a flight there when he ultimately had to fly out of Joburg.
What’s a points traveler to do? Simple. I called United and fed them the following route:
PLZ-JNB
JNB-DUR
DUR-JNB
JNB-MRU
For the visual learners, let’s consult my favorite tool, the Great Circle Mapper:
The agent had no clue about the geography of South Africa and didn’t find a violation with the routing. As a result, I was able to enjoy business class from Port Elizabeth to Joburg on South African Airways, spend a night in Durban, connect back in Joburg, and then make my way to Mauritius in comfort.
What may seem like a hassle for some was a fun experience for me, especially because of the food in Durban.
South African Airways businessAn article about moving to Mauritius for work
Hyatt Kathmandu
I’ve never been to Nepal and have always wanted to go.
The agent had no clue about the geography of South Africa and didn’t find a violation with the routing. As a result, I was able to enjoy business class from Port Elizabeth to Joburg on South African Airways, spend a night in Durban, connect back in Joburg, and then make my way to Mauritius in comfort.
What may seem like a hassle for some was a fun experience for me, especially because of the food in Durban.
