The first time I’ve been wrong this month was picking MSU and Kentucky to be in the finals in Indianapolis. Now I have no choice but to root for Wisconsin as they take on the evil empire of Duke.
Looking for a quick buck, designers came up with many unique mock ups that would’ve capitalized on a Kentucky victory. They ranged in their cleverness but I am partial to the following:
You leave without a word, no message, no number And now my head is pounding like rolling thunder You left me with a heartache deep inside Girl you should see me cry all night, and I wonder Everybody says, what a shame, what is wrong They don’t like the game we play Heard you’re hanging round every night until dawn I’m waiting for you night and dayWhere do you go, my lovely Where do you go I wanna know, my lovely, I wanna know
Like a scene from Christmas Vacation where Sparky’s boss suspends Christmas bonuses (‘of all the cheap lousy ways to save a buck’), Club Carlson in one fell swoop has ruined its loyalty program for US Bank cardholders. Starting at the end of May, the free night when booking two nights with points is over. Now, it will cost 50k points per night to stay in the prison sized cells on the ‘business class’ floors at top Radisson Blu properties.
If you do want a free night at Radisson Blu then break out the RedBird because it is going to cost you 10k in MS per card for the annual bonus. Whether I keep or cancel these cards is still being debated by my accounting department, but I don’t think I’d waste 20k in MS (one for personal, one for business) and deal with the fraud department when I can be focusing on other programs.
I don’t get the logic behind this devaluation: There aren’t a lot of desirable Club Carlson hotels worth staying at throughout the world and there isn’t an overabundance of US Bank cardholders who enjoy this benefit. (US Bank frowns upon churning and is stingy with approvals.)
Rather than focus on the negative, I’ve put together a scrapbook of the good times shared with Club Carlson at some of their best properties worldwide. We had a good time while it lasted.
1. Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront, Cape Town (January 2014)
Cape Town
2. Radisson Blu Bosphorus Hotel Istanbul (March 2013)
Bosphorus
3. Radisson Blu Strand Hotel, Stockholm (July 2014)
Gustave H
4. Radisson Blu Elizabete Hotel, Riga (July 2014)
Riga!
5. Radisson on Flagstaff Gardens Melbourne (December 2013)
Rooftop hot tub
6. Radisson Martinique on Broadway (September 2013)
Martinique
What two other aspirational properties cities should I visit before the Club Carlson devaluation goes into effect?
You want to see the real world of male modeling? The one they don’t show you in magazines or the Travel Channel? Well, look no further than this post as I show you another points heist for pennies on the dollar. If you’re like I am and exhausted about posts of flying suite class on an A380 via Singapore Airlines then you will find this trip overview refreshing.
Weddings are a celebration, a festive time for all those invited to attend. That is true once you are at the wedding. But up to that point, going to a wedding is a drain on finances and vacation days that could otherwise be spent going somewhere you want to go. For example, there is no way that I’d use my points or cash to fly to Michigan to attend another boring Arabic wedding. Sorry mom, I don’t care who is getting married. They should pick a more deserving location to pledge their vows.
Lucky for the bride and groom of the wedding in April, I will be in attendance because they chose my old home, Scottsdale, Arizona as the site of their nuptials. Unlucky for me, flights out of witness protection to Arizona are $400+ per person and hotels are pretty high too as it is still peak season in AZ. Spending a small fortune to go back to a place I once lived for a few days is out of the question. My sincerest apologies to the happy couple for my crass statement.
So what’s a man to do?
If you guessed use points then you still would be wrong. Shut Up And Book! may be TPOL’s philosophy for not hoarding points but I wouldn’t go about indiscriminately wasting them either. (I’m on my way to being disinvited though I doubt they read my blog for if they did I would be involved in their honeymoon planning.) To get to Arizona, I dug deep like when I made a visa run from Mongolia and found an incomparable deal further cementing my legacy as the greatest points booker that ever did it.
Without further boast, I give you my pennies on the dollar points heist for a white wedding.
Spokane, Washington to Phoenix, AZ: 17k points $5.60 each way using SWA Companion Pass
2 nights Hyatt Old Town Scottsdale: $55 +4000 points/night. Rooms are $200+
1 night W Scottsdale: 12k points +Platinum Suite Upgrade. Standard room is $500+and that doesn’t factor in suite.
1 night Aloft Phoenix Airport: 4k points. Rooms are $120.
Out of pocket I pay $120.
The poor cubicle worker/points doubter pays $400 flight + $1000 hotels and is probably going stag.
Any questions?
It’s a nice day to churn again.
I learned a lesson earlier this year: blog readers take things too seriously. For all the nice comments I receive, I still remember the rude ones that may or may not be uncalled for.
Specifically, I’m talking about the United Airlines post and the overdone Denmark fare. I made a joke about United honoring the fare (from DTW to ORD mind you) and the reaction was far from pleasant. That is why this year I’m skipping an April Fool’s joke. The fact of the matter is some readers can’t discern when I’m being sarcastic and when I’m being real. I get that people read points blogs to find out where Lucky is hiding Cortez’s treasure trove of points gold and do not have time for antics but what’s wrong with a little comedy from time to time?
The content of blogs, especially points blogs needs to be put into perspective. Apart from affiliate links (which I’m not lucky enough to have), the information on a blog is completely free and the trips planned as a result of the content is, for the most part, free. So using ‘bait and switch’ and ‘unprofessional’ to characterize a post’s contents are off target because nothing was ever for sale.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
I call ’em April babies ’cause they fools. Everything that shine ain’t always gonna be gold. You’ll be fine when you get it.
This quick blog post is in response to a reader who asked me how I keep all my credit cards straight. Missing payments can ruin your credit and cause you worlds of pain, effectively taking you out of the credit card game.
These are two simple hints to ensure that you never miss a payment along with a backup safety measure in case you somehow overlook the first two:
Safeguard 1: The Bookmarks Bar
Right in the center of Google Chrome I have my bookmarks bar with the folder Points. The first sub folder is called Banks. Here is the list of banks I have cards with or have had cards with (just in case they try to say my account is open.) I go one by one and check each account as the due date draws near to make sure I’ve paid my balance in full.
Khan bank is probably bankrupt now.Safeguard 2: The Due Date
Some people like having multiple due dates so they get points bonuses a few times a month. That’s a surefire way to miss a payment. Whenever I get a new card, I do my disorganized self the favor of changing the due date to the 28th. Some banks like Bank of America refuse to give me the 28th, making me agree to the 2nd or 3rd. Though I agree to it, in my mind the due date is still the 28th. It hurts to pay late, not early.
Safeguard 3: The Excel Spreadsheet
What else do we have besides Excel to save us from ourselves? Even with the same due date and the OCD of going bank by bank, I still need another safeguard to make sure that I pay this month’s bill. This simplified spreadsheet where blue field indicate cards I use for daily and pink is for MS keeps me protected. I put an x when the bill has been paid and I’ve received email confirmation. I can’t tell you how many times I thought I paid the bill but for some reason it never went through. Don’t let that happen to you, check the box after the confirmation.
The Balance field is for making sure I don’t overdraft on my checking account and the Date is the due date in case I have a sneaky BOA date. January is the balance due for the next month.
Colors make finance fun.
That’s it, obvious yet integral.
For newbies, consult the Points 101 section. For more info, consult the Advanced Points 401 section.
March was the one year anniversary for ThePointsOfLife.
Here were the best posts for March 2015:
1. Guns & Butter: Bangkok, Thailand Travel Guide Now for what you should not do: First, the obvious that becomes blurred like a copyright infringing Thicke rendition of Marvin Gaye: don’t get arrested. Though I have no experience myself, Locked Up Abroad does not paint a pretty picture of Thai jails. Leave your drugs at home.2. The Idiot’s Guide to Getting a Myanmar VisaThe Golden Rule: Don’t rely on me for visa advice unless you are an idiot.3. Don’t Ask Me About DeltaBeing from Michigan, Northwest Airlines was my airline. Nothing was more exciting than taking that endless drive from Flint to DTW waiting to go on whatever magic surprise my father had planned. What made it all worthwhile was getting off the exit and seeing the Northwest 747 livery painted on a hangar.4. Alexander The Author Leaves ThePointsOfLifeSimply that ThePointsOfLife will stop pushing book sales (click here to buy my book) and focus on what the analytics have shown to be of interest to the readers: points and travel.5. The Burger Joint Le Parker Meridien Check-in to the Le Parker Meridien, use a platinum suite upgrade, and make a call down to The Burger Joint.6. Airline Names: What Does Etihad Mean?I’ve yet to fly on Etihad but when I do I’ll at least know what it means.7. Hitchcock’s The REDBirds I am writing this post to warn that open season on MS with the easy prey of redBIRD is no reason to be greedy.
A couple of years ago I was a professor of tax law and had to write a final exam on the subject. Since April 15th is right around the corner, I thought I’d share with you the question:
‘Unlucky’ is a small business owner and world traveler. He recently signed up for credit card offers that give him points that he can use to purchase airline tickets, hotels, or simply redeem for cash. Most recently he signed up for a U.S. Generic Bank personal card and U.S. Generic Bank business card. The business card has a spending requirement of $5000 within the first 3 months of opening and awards him with 50,000 points. The personal card has no spending requirement but charges an annual fee of $75 for first use. The reward is 30,000 points.The 50,000 points is redeemable for $500 cash or a round-trip flight overseas ranging in value from $5000-$10,000. The personal card’s 30,000 points is worth $300 in cash or five nights stay at a resort worth $500 a night.Explain Unlucky’s tax implications for the personal and business cards. Assume rewards cannot be combined. Please focus more on the policy implications for your answer.
Woke up this morning ready for the new American Airlines to take flight. Step 1 was to check my shiny, new AAdvantage balance to see the treasure trove of miles. AwardWallet showcased the demise of Dividend Miles. However when I went to American Airlines, the balance had yet to update. I’m slightly nervous as to how smoothly this transition will go especially since my British Avios have disappeared, hack or no hack.
I’m sure eventually the miles will show up making me feel good about having hundreds of thousands of miles that can take me anywhere around the world.
That feeling will quickly pass when the inevitable AA devaluation hits leaving us all scrambling for Etihad Apartments from JFK to AUH. The fact that I still had any US Airways miles in my account means I did a poor job of following my own advice: Shut Up And Book!
So before every blog goes crazy and condemns this for profit airline for making our miles worthless, ThePointsOfLife recommends spending a few minutes planning imaginary trips for when disaster strikes.
I’m ready to fill out my bracket now! A few years ago I was lucky enough to go to Atlanta to see Michigan beat Syracuse in the Final Four but come up short to Louisville. Today Syracuse is sanctioned and Michigan is still hobbled by injuries.
Overall my sports predictions aren’t worth reading as all of ThePointsOfLife picks have yet to come true. For example, Argentina didn’t win the World Cup and Blount wasn’t the MVP of the Super Bowl.
This brings us to the PTI Toss Up question: Kentucky or the field?
After that beat down of West Virginia, it’s basically impossible to bet against Kentucky. That is why I’m picking the Wildcats and the Wildcats to advance to the Final Four. My picks from the East and South are Michigan State and Duke.
From there let’s all agree that Duke should be hated as much as Ohio State. Accordingly, I’ll give the nod to MSU. This leads us to the battle of the 1997 championship between Arizona and Kentucky. In that classic, I pick Kentucky to win.
Enter the showdown: Wildcats vs. Sparty.
Even as a devout Wolverine, I still have a lot of respect and admiration for Tom Izzo who hasn’t won the tourney since the Flintstones in 2000.
Go Blue?
Not this year. So let’s all agree, Go Green!
Best of luck little brother.
Ahh! Damn birds are everywhere! Like watching Hitchcock’s classic, I am in a state of fright from having to manage all these accounts.
While I’ve developed an easy system for what cards to keep/cut, debunked myths about credit card churning, and developed a fool proof plan to get to the Maldives in 30 days or Costa Rica in 30 minutes, my full-time job as the CEO of MS has been turned upside down by The Birds!
Though life was vanilla with CVS and nothing short of a gift at Walmart, the shifting of the target to RedBird despite its overwhelming advantages has proven to be a bit overwhelming. Beyond the annoyances of the fraud department who still has me on hold and the wary looks of the customer service desk lies another problem: how to not overdo it.
I am writing this post to warn that open season on MS with the easy prey of redBIRD is no reason to be greedy. I’ve been so giddy with the combinations of what I can do with this new ammunition (push hard for Hilton Diamond, risk FR via SPG) that I’ve been a bit reckless. Not every transaction should be a perfect 1k and not every payment should come a day later. Ultimately this behavior may or may not matter but when I heard my friend file a complaint with a bank because he was sick of going through the fraud department every time he tried to MS, I knew I had to issue the following warning:
Only hunt what you will eat. Otherwise you may find that the prey has become the predator.
Good evening.
A couple of years ago I was a professor of tax law and had to write a final exam on the subject. Since April 15th is right around the corner, I thought I’d share with you the question:
‘Unlucky’ is a small business owner and world traveler. He recently signed up for credit card offers that give him points that he can use to purchase airline tickets, hotels, or simply redeem for cash. Most recently he signed up for a U.S. Generic Bank personal card and U.S. Generic Bank business card. The business card has a spending requirement of $5000 within the first 3 months of opening and awards him with 50,000 points. The personal card has no spending requirement but charges an annual fee of $75 for first use. The reward is 30,000 points.
The 50,000 points is redeemable for $500 cash or a round-trip flight overseas ranging in value from $5000-$10,000. The personal card’s 30,000 points is worth $300 in cash or five nights stay at a resort worth $500 a night.
Explain Unlucky’s tax implications for the personal and business cards. Assume rewards cannot be combined. Please focus more on the policy implications for your answer.
Woke up this morning ready for the new American Airlines to take flight. Step 1 was to check my shiny, new AAdvantage balance to see the treasure trove of miles. AwardWallet showcased the demise of Dividend Miles. However when I went to American Airlines, the balance had yet to update. I’m slightly nervous as to how smoothly this transition will go especially since my British Avios have disappeared, hack or no hack.
I’m sure eventually the miles will show up making me feel good about having hundreds of thousands of miles that can take me anywhere around the world.
That feeling will quickly pass when the inevitable AA devaluation hits leaving us all scrambling for Etihad Apartments from JFK to AUH. The fact that I still had any US Airways miles in my account means I did a poor job of following my own advice: Shut Up And Book!
So before every blog goes crazy and condemns this for profit airline for making our miles worthless, ThePointsOfLife recommends spending a few minutes planning imaginary trips for when disaster strikes.
I’m ready to fill out my bracket now! A few years ago I was lucky enough to go to Atlanta to see Michigan beat Syracuse in the Final Four but come up short to Louisville. Today Syracuse is sanctioned and Michigan is still hobbled by injuries.
Overall my sports predictions aren’t worth reading as all of ThePointsOfLife picks have yet to come true. For example, Argentina didn’t win the World Cup and Blount wasn’t the MVP of the Super Bowl.
This brings us to the PTI Toss Up question: Kentucky or the field?
After that beat down of West Virginia, it’s basically impossible to bet against Kentucky. That is why I’m picking the Wildcats and the Wildcats to advance to the Final Four. My picks from the East and South are Michigan State and Duke.
From there let’s all agree that Duke should be hated as much as Ohio State. Accordingly, I’ll give the nod to MSU. This leads us to the battle of the 1997 championship between Arizona and Kentucky. In that classic, I pick Kentucky to win.
Enter the showdown: Wildcats vs. Sparty.
Even as a devout Wolverine, I still have a lot of respect and admiration for Tom Izzo who hasn’t won the tourney since the Flintstones in 2000.
Go Blue?
Not this year. So let’s all agree, Go Green!
Best of luck little brother.
Ahh! Damn birds are everywhere! Like watching Hitchcock’s classic, I am in a state of fright from having to manage all these accounts.
While I’ve developed an easy system for what cards to keep/cut, debunked myths about credit card churning, and developed a fool proof plan to get to the Maldives in 30 days or Costa Rica in 30 minutes, my full-time job as the CEO of MS has been turned upside down by The Birds!
Though life was vanilla with CVS and nothing short of a gift at Walmart, the shifting of the target to RedBird despite its overwhelming advantages has proven to be a bit overwhelming. Beyond the annoyances of the fraud department who still has me on hold and the wary looks of the customer service desk lies another problem: how to not overdo it.
I am writing this post to warn that open season on MS with the easy prey of redBIRD is no reason to be greedy. I’ve been so giddy with the combinations of what I can do with this new ammunition (push hard for Hilton Diamond, risk FR via SPG) that I’ve been a bit reckless. Not every transaction should be a perfect 1k and not every payment should come a day later. Ultimately this behavior may or may not matter but when I heard my friend file a complaint with a bank because he was sick of going through the fraud department every time he tried to MS, I knew I had to issue the following warning:
Only hunt what you will eat. Otherwise you may find that the prey has become the predator.
Good evening.
