We bring you the latest Marriott Bonvoy developments, check out a great Argentina Guide, a World of Hyatt Guide, visit Harbin Ice Festival, more IHG hotels, the first Element in Michigan opened in Detroit, remember some airlines that went away, check out some London hotel reviews, travel on some day trips from Bergen, check out an awesome map about each country’s foreign direct investment, more amazing photography, more amazing Marriott redemptions that will not last and more for you always freeeeee!
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These credit card offers are ending at some point: The Amex SPG cards are going away, there is a Chase United Business card offer for 75k and the Capital One Spark Visa for 200k with a ridiculous high spend and the ridiculous CO restrictions…but, you know, you likely know what you are doing and they could be for you. I am going to shut up now and I am not going to post the link to my links because it feels…dirty 🙂 Have a great weekend, see you Sunday!
We have lots of news coming from Marriott and its rollout of the new loyalty program that will forever kill the beloved SPG brand and the standard Marriott Rewards and Ritz Carlton Rewards brands. I still can not believe they picked the name “Bonvoy” for it! When I hear Bonvoy I instantly think Bon Voyage. As in, see ya later! Okay, lets come down. Frequent Miler has promised to keep a Marriott Bonvoy Complete Guide updated. I think it is excellent and perhaps you should bookmark it. If you are into Marriott…What stands out to me is all the different award levels when you have to bother with peak, off peak and standard rates, wtf!
Well, it appears that the duo over at Frequent Miler have been at it with all things Marriott. Makes sense, you just can not avoid them, they are yuge! Here are 10 shortcuts to Marriott Platinum Elite Status. I can see it now, someone checking in asking “Do you know who I am? I am Joe Blow and I am a Titanium Elite”, lol.
And then bang, it hit! Roundup Of Benefits And Upcoming Changes For 7 AMEX And Chase Marriott And Starwood Cards. The SPG branded cards are going away, so sad! They will be rebranded as Marriott Bonvoy American Express cards. Last day to apply for the SPG branded cards is February 12, 2019. Thank you if your cousins finally decide to go for the cards using my links 😉 Can someone tell me why Amex decided to raise that annual fee of the Business SPG card to be rebranded as Bonvoy Business Amex to $125 from $95, smh. The SPG Luxury card will be renamed Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express. How brilliant is that hey? We have more! The Chase Marriott Rewards Plus card will be renamed Chase Bonvoy Boundless. When I hear Boundless…I think, cough, bondage lol.
And the ridiculousness is not over yet. The Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Business Plus will be renamed, please sit down, Marriott Bonvoy Premier Plus Business. Wait, still not done yet! The Chase Ritz Carlton Visa Infinite card will be renamed The Ritz Carlton card. What, that’s it? I guess the consultants ran out of names on this one lol. Ok, read the post, enough of my funny commentary. Just a few more things:
1) All these rebranded cards above will NOT be considered new products, which is super sad for us!
2) There will be a new no annual fee card soon.
3) If you kept your SPG cards and you can put spend on them at $25k clips you can earn the same old rate at 3 points per dollar through the end of 2019—->Hey Amex, did the spend on these cards go down…a little you morons?
4) You can get the cards if you had them before. The once in a lifetime restriction with the Amex cards only apply to the signing bonus. Maybe you find good value in one of them in combination with a free night.
And here is another post titled Bonvoy Opportunities with pretty good credit card advice too!
Another nice comprehensive guide from Travel Codex which I guess I will keep in the Blogs I Like list 🙂 The Complete Guide to World of Hyatt. Hyatt must have hired the same consultants as Marriott…who in their right mind think that “Globalist” Elite is a fine name huh? But lets move on now, shall we?
For other hotel “big” news: Regent Hotels Join IHG Rewards Club on February 1, 2019. Don’t get too excited, there are just six properties. Yeah, just six smh.
You know, when a headline has my favorite expression, it belongs here hehe: What the F*&@ Happened to All These Airlines? I liked this post, with gems like this one:
Viza Air – Jul 20, 2009
I’m not even sure why I wrote about this one. Viza wanted to start flights from Gary, just like SkyValue. The thing is, it was just an idea and it never went anywhere. It was so insignificant, I didn’t even have an image for it.
Many of us go to London. And in this post you can get a review of these hotels: Hotel Reviews: Intercontinental London Park Lane, Conrad London St. James, and Hotel Indigo-London Paddington.
Detroit continues its comeback. It never happens with the Detroit Lions but that’s another story, lets not talk about it okay? Long-vacant building reopens in downtown Detroit as Element hotel. It is the first Element in Michigan. I have never stayed in this brand yet.
Well, this is just cool when you put it on a map! Is This The World’s Longest Continuous Walk? Cape Town To Magadan.
Good two week Argentina Itinerary and Guide.
Norway is incredibly beautiful. In case you go to Bergen and want to get out: 22 Incredibly Beautiful Day Trips From Bergen, Norway.
This is the speed of light in real time #mindblown.
All right, enough miles and points and travel stuff. How about a finance related link? I don’t do technical analysis, you know, look at charts and identify “patterns” or whatever. This is a hilarious depiction of the Basics of Technical Analysis. Bwahahahaha.
The Instagram page of Frans Lanting, a photographer at National Geographic. Amazing!
We have all seen pics over the years of amazing ice sculptures in some Chinese city. Well, here we go: Comprehensive Harbin Ice Festival Guide & Winter Harbin Itinerary.
Did I tell you that Visual Capitalist rocks? I am sure I did! Mapped: Foreign Direct Investment by Country.
Stunning is a huge understatement: Beautiful Sweden From Above: Stunning Drone Photography By Viggo Lundberg.
We are now entering the BLOG BUZZ section for advanced hobbyist and veteran blog readers.
Going to keep it short, I am exhausted. I was going to make shorter blog posts but look at all the stuff blogged here again, wtf!
Andy at The Lazy Traveler does his final post in this series: Aspirational Marriott Properties, Category 8: My Curated List of the Best Redemptions — Part 11. I predict the new Category 8 award prices will start at 100k points per night. Off peak 🙂
A sharp blog reader noticed that we have not seen much of Emily posing while flashing cash and credit cards lately. So I went to the MMS site and in the “About” section…Emily is gone! Whatever is going on, I wish her well. I must admit I will NOT miss her pics flashing cash and credit cards. At all! Why do they bother with that site anyway, it has gone full FTG mode now, sad!
American Airlines keeps tinkering with its awards. Premium economy. Web specials. Nothing to point yet as they are all affected by tech glitches, give it some time.
I am now Wyndham Diamond and Caesars Total Rewards Diamond——->until 1/31/2020! Now what? 🙂
As this was going to press, Lufthansa devalued its Miles&More program. To be renamed Miles&Less lol.
And I leave you with this…I love it when you use my Amazon link to buy the item on the left 🙂
TBB
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Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
My own data point, fyi on Amex Platinum annual airline credit using Amex Gift cards:
No $50 credit for me, did the AmexRewardsAbuse team just plugged this hole?
Jan 13 Credit Amex Airline Fee Reimbursement -$100.00
Jan 12 American Airlines xxxxxxxxxxxxx $50.00
Jan 11 American Airlines xxxxxxxxxxxxxx $100.00
Jan 10 Credit Amex Airline Fee Reimbursement -$100.00
Jan 7 American Airlines xxxxxxxxxxxxxx $100.00
Amex only offers $200/year, and it looks like you already got it.
I personally hit a triple dip after opening my second platinum with a 60k bonus in December of 2017. $600 in southwest gc’s, $100 worth of Saks clothes I haven’t worn, and ~$200 of uber.
And after getting turned away at the Dallas centurion lounge on arrival last night, I really don’t feel bad about any of it…
You are right…I screwed up! It is $200, not $250!
So, they are strictly enforcing the Centurion Arrival thingie…I thought maybe they let go if they had room…to blow all this money on the annual fee and told to take a hike…unbelievable.
Can’t wait to cancel it.
Good job on the triple dip. I have done doubles 🙂
I still can’t believe I did that!
If this is not a sign telling me I have way too many cards open…I don’t know what is!
“Miles and Less”. Well said, sir. And don’t forget that letter of credit to cover the YQ fees.
I pretty much gave up following hotel programs a year or so ago, Now I feel like it’s football season and I don’t know any of the players’ names.
As for Emily, she will be missed. Not by me-I haven’t been over there since around 2015. But someone will miss her, maybe many.
I saw a post in which someone asked if Flyer Talk University was going to lower its fees since the banks are wising up to the game. Some people really don’t get it, do they?
Paying over $200 plus travel/lodging/meals/etc to learn how to fly for free from businessmen pumping their “expertise” is a little much these days…
I think they cleaned out all her articles too now…WOW!
Can you imagine if her and D get back together and start a new blog “Billion Mile Secrets”? Lol
Who is gonna be with someone like that? Not many chicks are gonna put up with a controlling twit in a bowtie
Bowtie Mile Secrets – someone should start this, just for the inside jokes.
The Seattle FTU is being held at a Hilton. Marriott is one of the sponsors – what’s up with that?
What is all this talk about EMILY? EVOLUTION OF EMILY? Are you referring to her picture above in your post, the after and the before photos (one shot with Dariaus Mother In Law) sporting the Yvse St Laurant/ Grandma Dress price over it ?
George for those new kids around here, maybe you could repost that Hitler video you made with the dubbed in subtitles. I think it was one of your funniest works and it did have a tribute to Emily in it.
@Bluecat …did you mean PHO VI VAN on Evergreen Highway? That’s my favorite Vietnamese Rest. in the area, along with the I AM THAI Restaurant, in my neck of the woods,which BTW is my go to Best Asian Restaurant in all of Vantucky.
my data point for Aspire airline credit 10 for 10 Delta $50 egift cards, selling or sold for $41 each with GC reseller.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHqXQ3GbFRg
Hitler finds out Vanilla Reload cards will be Cash only at CVS
I forgot about that video! The good old Vanilla Reload days you guys!
I saw that about Marriott being a sponsor at an event held at a Hilton, WTF!
That is a great data point on the Aspire, well done, don’t be like me 🙂
@Ramsey, I AM Thai gets the coveted BlueCat silver medal for Asian, (and gold for stupidest name).
BlueCat Gold for best Asian goes to Pho House. Green Papaya and Pho Oregon are also in perennial medal contention.
I tried Pho Vi Van once—too many Yelp hipsters drove up the ranking so by the time I checked it out, it couldn’t help but be disappointing.
Pro tip: Amex Uber credits can be used at 8 Noodles, which is in some way owned by the IAmThai people, (Maybe they can be called “IAmAlsoThai”)
In Ann Arbor we have a thai food chain ‘No Thai!’. Talk about a stupid name!
who can ever forget
PHO KING GOOD
Just saw the FTU Seattle line-up. Apart from Matthew I’ve not actually heard of anyone speaking.
Hope that does not mean more bloggers blogging about how to travel for free to friends and family 😉
Good morning!
Thanks for the notice of Emily’s evolution.
See above on comment to Sam.
I wonder what happened…If anyone knows, please tell me 🙂
She sold out too early and will be joining INGY in a new project. Frugal Travel Secrets.
You heard it here first…
All three have been way too silent.
My gut feeling is that they will be back…selling something else!
If you search MMS for Emily you get hundreds of hit. The most recent post was July (I think).
FYI-Instead of linking to Ben Carlson’s tweet, you (and Ben) should have used proper attribution and hotlinked to this licensed comic at https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/technical_analysis.png
Fixed now, thank you.
The intern responsible for this fell asleep, time to do a TBB Intern Shutdown 🙂
Hey Buzz, where’s your 5k word “review” of Juicy Miles “tool” (rhymes with “fool”)? Complete with half a dozen links conveniently disguised to hide the affiliate relationship?
It’s ALL about the Benjamins!
As usual here on the trailing edge of miles/points, I have 28 paid nights at Hyatts in 1Q. And NO 1Q promo.
Happy weekend and #TBBON
It’s all about the Benjamins, I mean, conversions! One day I will get that message here 🙂
Still no Hyatt 1Q promo…really?
Never forget which blog links to this shit:
Family Kicked Off American Flight: Body Odor Or Discrimination? – OMMAT
The Best Credit Cards for Music Festival-Goers – TPG
Lawsuit: Man Hurt His Back During United Airlines Flight, Now Has Plane Crash Nightmares – VFTW
Blog reader question via email:
What is the best way to achieve Titanium or Ambassador status via spend in your opinion?
I noticed on MMS in the About text, they still reference Emily for being based in Austin, so they’ve overlooked cleaning her out entirely. There’s also a picture she’s in still up on the front page with her baby. Did they really clean out all her articles? I wonder if that was something they did to her (i.e., removing all her content) or something she did to them (i.e., claiming all her content). If there’s no “Goodbye” article for the remaining founder, that sounds like a pretty hostile break.
Definitely looks like a hostile break. Opens up Gary to become a Dad/Family travel expert blogger. Lol!
She’s not even mentioned in that section anymore, unless I missed it?
Oh wow. They must have *just* edited out the last reference to her in the last 24 hours. Friday it mentioned something like “while Emily is based in Austin, the rest of the team is spread all over the US.” Now it’s Saturday, and it just reads “Our team is spread out all over the US.”
You know, it’s kind of sad what has happened to MMS. I mean, I laughed at the Bowtie and his !!!! after every sentence, his circles and arrows, Emily’s hundreds of dead-stare photos holding cards, etc., and I had become jaded at the business they built. But at the same time, MMS was one of the first blogs I read back ~6 years ago, and I learned a lot of early stuff from his !!!! posts. If I was cynical about them later on, it was at least in part because I initially really bought into them and their folksy personable posts at the outset and felt burned. But still, they were kind a mainstay of the hobby. As the game has changed over the years, it feels like you can point at MMS as one illustration of the devolution. The rise, the selling out, the divorce, the meltdown and the beard, the disappearance, the baby, and… now… the team. That’s all MMS is now: a team of people you’ve never heard of, interchangeable and replaceable, writing articles in paint-by-numbers format, all to sell plastic. It’s the same story as Frugal Travel Guy, I guess, and others, but it actually touches me a little more. Like the passing of the Nerd, it’s another sign of the times in this hobby.
I’m reminded of the end of the movie “Casino” when DeNiro laments the passing of the mobster era and the rise of the corporations in Vegas. Sure, the mobsters were terrible and they destroyed themselves, but the new faceless overlords lack even the hint of humanity of those who paved the way.
Perfect comment, I think I am going to link to it on Monday!
And perfect analogy with “the passing of the mobster era and the rise of the corporations in Vegas”
Dont like that Argentina link. I could have written that myself, copying Frommers’s “2 weeks in…”
And I would have been sure to mention Patagonia, especially if I included a photo of a glacier in Patagonia as part of my picture set!
‘(Just a little sloppy on their part)
But if Patagonia was added…it would be 3 weeks 🙂
Ok, I need to be more eclectic…Posts were going to be shorter, WTF!
In the meantime, my cc links have been forgotten….All of you are waiting for February 1st, right?
Last post I see from Emily was December 31 of last year. Wonder if that was her official final one?
https://millionmilesecrets.com/inspiration/cheap-travel-using-credit-card-points/
Yes.
Stay tuned…
You know who I wish would go away is Happy.
She sits in her Florida condo and blurts condescending crap all day on FT in broken english.
Die Happy!
Lol.
When FT folds one day…Happy will be the last one to turn out the lights over there 🙂
I enjoy reading your blog TBB… Just did my duty by using your amazon link 🙂
Thank you!