Dear Annabelle,
So as part of our recent app-o-rama, which I will write more about later, we both applied for the Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature Card which currently has a 75K sign up bonus and no annual fees. Andrew has been approved and I will have some paperwork to do (coming in the mail) and then we will see.
The question I am pondering is whether it is worth taking advantage of the offer to "Fast track to Gold after four stays within your first 90 days of account opening." Normally we don't stay in hotels much so I am not sure Gold status really matters but I am wondering if we might more in the next year if we do go on a Europe trip or do more local travel. I am also really itching to do some shorter local trips this fall so the idea of making some one night stays in our general area of the country is actually kind of appealing. Travel is Free has made a great map of all the Hilton Properties by level. There are actually quite a few near us.
The thing is that both the Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve card ($95 annual fee; 2 free weekend nights) and the Hilton HHonors Surpass from AMEX ($75 annual fee; 60K bonus points) give you Gold Status for as long as you have the card. So that appears to be a much cheaper way to acquire Gold status if we want it, than 4 one-night stays. That said, if we want four stays in hotels anyways then two birds with one stone is OK. One Mile At A Time summarizes which credit cards give you elite status for all the different hotel programs here. Of note is that if you earn status in 2015, for example, you have it for the rest of 2015, all of 2016, and possibly into the beginning of 2017 (I am guessing this isn't the same for the card related status level).
Here is a review of what HHonors status is worth. Ironically a lot of the benefits of Gold status (free breakfast, wifi, etc.) only apply when you stay in the more upscale places since they are available to everyone in the lower level sites. How does that make any sense? That said a bunch of the places in Europe are the more upscale side of the brand so maybe Gold would make a difference there. Here is the Hilton summary of member benefits. It is interesting that late check-out (which we would definitely benefit from!) is actually a benefit of the free level, you just need to ask for it. Good thing to consider when staying at any brand of hotel. To sign up for their program and see what rewards are included.
The main benefit I see, which is part of both the silver and the gold, is that you get the 5th night free. Which is pretty sweet (although I think a benefit in other hotel chains as well). So yes, looking at the list I am not sure we need the Gold status.
The only part of the HHonors program I don't really understand at the moment is that it has base points and bonus points and it appears that the bonus points can be transferred to airlines. Or just that airline points can also be earned, in addition to hotel points. But I don't have my head around how you earn them and how many. The HHonors Ts&Cs are here and probably worth reading at some point.
I also realized that it is too bad that HHonors charges a fee for transferring points. This post summarizes transfers in the different hotel programs and says that for HHonors "Transfer to anyone. Must transfer in increments of 10,000 points. Cost of $25 per 10,000 points. You can transfer a maximum of 200,000 points per year." It is just that in order to qualify for the 5th free night you need to pay completely as an award and without our points being pooled we might not have enough to ever do that.
Hugs,
Jen
Friday 18 September 2015
Wednesday 9 September 2015
Chicken Tikka Masala
Hello Annabelle,
So I realized that can probably save myself some money if I learn how to make chicken tikka masala. I just have days where I really crave it now that we live so close to a super yummy Indian restaurant (especially after having take out not really be an option in Arnprior). I remember you asking at one point if Andrew and I were in to the having someone clean your house and going out for food. Not at all for the first but we love going out or getting take out!
So....here are some links to websites (here, here, and here) I have found with recipes. And some tips. I need to compare since they all look a bit different. I will let you know how it goes!
Hugs,
Jen
So I realized that can probably save myself some money if I learn how to make chicken tikka masala. I just have days where I really crave it now that we live so close to a super yummy Indian restaurant (especially after having take out not really be an option in Arnprior). I remember you asking at one point if Andrew and I were in to the having someone clean your house and going out for food. Not at all for the first but we love going out or getting take out!
So....here are some links to websites (here, here, and here) I have found with recipes. And some tips. I need to compare since they all look a bit different. I will let you know how it goes!
Hugs,
Jen
Baggage Fees
Hello Annabelle,
We recently booked our flights back to Denver from Ottawa after Christmas for the girls and I. I ended up getting 50K bonus points for Delta with the Gold Delta SkyMiles AMEX and I was able to find 12.5K flights for mid-January. Still need to book the flight to Ottawa.
In the flurry of wanting to just book the tickets before the award seats went away we were a bit confused about what credit card to use for the taxes and what that would mean for baggage fees. I have been really wanting to book flights on the Chase Sapphire Preferred (even though it only gives 2X rather than the 3X bonus of some cards) because it provides nice looking trip interruption and cancellation insurance as well as baggage delay and such. Basically it provides the kind of trip insurance that we used to buy for our trips. But the Delta AMEX gives first bag free for everyone on your reservation (up to 9 people). We ended up going with the CSP and tonight I finally looked into the details of baggage fees.
I knew I had some other options because the AMEX Gold cards we have got have a $100 airline credit that can go towards baggage and the Delta AMEX offer did say that you could get a $50 credit towards a Delta purchase and I had read about people just getting a $50 gift card (which I am assuming I could use towards baggage later).
But first I went looking at the details on the First Checked Bag Free of Delta. It wasn't clear that you needed to book with the card to have the benefit apply so I just had an online chat with an AMEX agent who assured me that you definitely need to purchase with the card, but couldn't direct me to the terms and conditions where that is specified. Million Mile Secrets is saying, in a recent post, that you definitely DO NOT need to purchase the flight with the card to have it apply.
So I think we will just hope the baggage fees get covered. The nice thing about the AMEX Gold one is that it gets assigned right away so I might be able to use that as a back-up. And I might as well try to get the $50 gift certificate if it is essentially going to be free.
People really complain about Delta availability but I think we might have some luck with them for YOW-DEN flights during off peak times.
Some other links on credit cards and waived bag fees by airline are here and here.
Hugs,
Jen
Update:
I got the Delta gift certificate. It turns out the fine print is "eGifts and Cards may only be used for the total purchase price of air transportation, including taxes, fees, and surcharges imposed on the air transportation. They may not be used for any additional fees (including baggage fees) or for any other products or services (including class upgrades, in-flight purchases, premium seating, mileage booster, SkyMiles Cruises, cargo, hotel stays, or car rentals)." But "eGifts and Cards are not reloadable and do not expire. No service or inactivity fees apply."
So that won't work for the baggage but I am sure we will book a ticket on Delta at some point. Hopefully the cost is covered by the credit card sign-up bonus credit!
We recently booked our flights back to Denver from Ottawa after Christmas for the girls and I. I ended up getting 50K bonus points for Delta with the Gold Delta SkyMiles AMEX and I was able to find 12.5K flights for mid-January. Still need to book the flight to Ottawa.
In the flurry of wanting to just book the tickets before the award seats went away we were a bit confused about what credit card to use for the taxes and what that would mean for baggage fees. I have been really wanting to book flights on the Chase Sapphire Preferred (even though it only gives 2X rather than the 3X bonus of some cards) because it provides nice looking trip interruption and cancellation insurance as well as baggage delay and such. Basically it provides the kind of trip insurance that we used to buy for our trips. But the Delta AMEX gives first bag free for everyone on your reservation (up to 9 people). We ended up going with the CSP and tonight I finally looked into the details of baggage fees.
I knew I had some other options because the AMEX Gold cards we have got have a $100 airline credit that can go towards baggage and the Delta AMEX offer did say that you could get a $50 credit towards a Delta purchase and I had read about people just getting a $50 gift card (which I am assuming I could use towards baggage later).
But first I went looking at the details on the First Checked Bag Free of Delta. It wasn't clear that you needed to book with the card to have the benefit apply so I just had an online chat with an AMEX agent who assured me that you definitely need to purchase with the card, but couldn't direct me to the terms and conditions where that is specified. Million Mile Secrets is saying, in a recent post, that you definitely DO NOT need to purchase the flight with the card to have it apply.
So I think we will just hope the baggage fees get covered. The nice thing about the AMEX Gold one is that it gets assigned right away so I might be able to use that as a back-up. And I might as well try to get the $50 gift certificate if it is essentially going to be free.
People really complain about Delta availability but I think we might have some luck with them for YOW-DEN flights during off peak times.
Some other links on credit cards and waived bag fees by airline are here and here.
Hugs,
Jen
Update:
I got the Delta gift certificate. It turns out the fine print is "eGifts and Cards may only be used for the total purchase price of air transportation, including taxes, fees, and surcharges imposed on the air transportation. They may not be used for any additional fees (including baggage fees) or for any other products or services (including class upgrades, in-flight purchases, premium seating, mileage booster, SkyMiles Cruises, cargo, hotel stays, or car rentals)." But "eGifts and Cards are not reloadable and do not expire. No service or inactivity fees apply."
So that won't work for the baggage but I am sure we will book a ticket on Delta at some point. Hopefully the cost is covered by the credit card sign-up bonus credit!
Wednesday 2 September 2015
Tracking expenses
Hi Jen,
I am using a new website to track my expenses and I really like it so far, and I thought you might be interested in it. It is super simple, but it is fine for my purposes. It is called The Birdy. It sends you an email every day, and you reply to the email with what you spent that day, with one line per expense, and using hashtags to categorize the expense. Then it adds it to your calendar/expense list. It is one of the easiest free ones I have found where you don't have to link accounts, as the techie husbands scared me sufficiently about that!
Hopefully it will help me keep our expenses on target. Our July expenses were a little high (like $2000 more than budgeted!), but they included our Maine rental car and a bunch of house maintenance supplies, so I think our expenses for the Fall months will be more on target.
Love,
Anne
I am using a new website to track my expenses and I really like it so far, and I thought you might be interested in it. It is super simple, but it is fine for my purposes. It is called The Birdy. It sends you an email every day, and you reply to the email with what you spent that day, with one line per expense, and using hashtags to categorize the expense. Then it adds it to your calendar/expense list. It is one of the easiest free ones I have found where you don't have to link accounts, as the techie husbands scared me sufficiently about that!
Hopefully it will help me keep our expenses on target. Our July expenses were a little high (like $2000 more than budgeted!), but they included our Maine rental car and a bunch of house maintenance supplies, so I think our expenses for the Fall months will be more on target.
Love,
Anne
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