This is a news recap from last week, tailored to regular families. For faster updates, follow Miles For Family on Twitter or check the feed on the right side of the blog.
1) Last reminder on IHG category changes that go into effect on January 15th! Make sure to book your desired property if it’s set to increase in price.
2) New Club Carlson promo, see details here To be honest, it’s kind of “weak sauce,” but could be of interest to some. Check out this page on Loyalty Lobby that compiles major hotel promos for the month of January all in one page.
3) You can now convert Virgin America Elevate points to Alaska miles and book Virgin America flights via alaskaair.com Details here Also, if you happen to have opened an account before December 5th 2016, you may find an extra 10,000 Alaska miles deposited as a gesture of goodwill. I got them!
4) Chase Southwest Business Premier card currently offers 60,000 points after spending $3,000 in 3 months. The annual fee of $99 is not waived. Apply via this direct link Read more details on this card here Excellent timing for those looking to get a Companion Pass.
5) I know that many of you are thinking about transferring SPG currency to Marriott in order to redeem points on 7-night Travel Package. Obviously, the biggest draw for most normal folks is Companion Pass on Southwest, which would be valid till the end of 2018. Frequent Miler has a good write-up on Marriott Travel Packages and things you need to be aware of
I plan to devote more posts to this topic before March 31st, the deadline for transferred hotel points to be eligible for Companion Pass qualification. It’s definitely NOT a no-brainer, so I recommend you think carefully about your upcoming travel plans before you choose to redeem your highly valuable SPG points in this manner.
6) Wells Fargo Propel World 40,000 points bonus is still available in branch by DoC blog.
8) 20 tips for visiting Disneyland with toddlers by Tripswithtykes.
9) Not sure if the links are still working for Fairmont card, so check my post.
10) Targeted link for 75,000 point bonus on American Express Business Platinum. For those who are not high spenders, this deal is better than my two-tier affiliate offer.
11) A promo from Plastiq (my referral link):
I’ve been very happy with this service so far and have no problem recommending it.
Mommy mini-rant
Totally unrelated to miles and points, but I just have to share! So, when my son was much younger, he used to be a biter. It was incredibly frustrating to get him to stop doing it, but he finally did (at 3 years of age). Well. The other day I went to pick him up from school and the principal walked him to the car. Apparently, he bit a boy on the shoulder and drew blood. Lovely.
What prompted this horrific behavior? Apparently, the boy told him he had a Sponge Bob toy in his backpack, but refused to show it to my son. So, my child thought that retaliating by biting him on the shoulder was the logical thing to do. I mean, it’s Sponge Bob, for goodness sake! We took away TV and iPad privileges for a week, so I’m losing my mind. To mommies out there, did this ever happen to your six-year old?
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Author: Leana
Leana is the founder of Miles For Family. She enjoys beach vacations and visiting her family in Europe. Originally from Belarus, Leana resides in central Florida with her husband and two children.
That makes sense Leana. We live near Phillly so D.C. Is a 2.5 hour drive so we can make use of the certs easily.
Got the fairmont too. 11/24. Denied csp on Wednesday. Will use at the fairmont D.C. Georgetown.
@Natasha Congratulations! I was actually looking at this property myself, believe it or not. Ultimately, I decided to pass on the card. We have too many plans as is. Fairmont doesn’t have any properties in Florida, so we would have to fly in order to use our “free” certs. I don’t want that kind of a pressure.
Leana, check this out: 2-bedroom beachfront category 8 Marriott resort for $98/night. I know it’s winter but still… If you’re the kind of family that needs more than one hotel room, that’s not a bad deal, and weather on the SC coast isn’t too harsh:
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-deals/hhhpt-marriotts-harbour-point-and-sunset-pointe-at-shelter-cove/
@Nick Wow, that is a good deal! I wish we didn’t have so many plans during upcoming year. I really need to be more spontaneous. That’s the thing, hotel points very often pale in comparison with what you can get with cash if you just watch for specials.
We just got the fairmont. Like you said l, the CSP Will be with us always.
@Cheapblackdad Congrats! Hope you can pull off your Maui trip, so keep me posted. CSP should be around for the foreseeable future as far as I know. I’m pretty sure Chase will want to keep a premium personal card without the monster annual fee. CSR, I’m looking at you!
I am so torn about the fairmont. It was a lynch pin in my Hawaii trip. I recently decided to hold off on applying until after we got below 5/24 in May and both got new CSPs. Now I may have to apply for this and hold off on hitting the bonus until the end of March.
I really wanted 2 CSPs and the fact that that would add 1500$ to our Hawaii trip stash since we’d use that bonus with he 1.5x UR redemptions through portal.
Sigh.
Cheapblackdad, I hear you! It can be really tough to decide sometimes. I can say with absolute certainty that Fairmont link is on its last legs. It may even die today. So, unfortunately, you don’t have a lot of time to decide. The property in Maui is supposed to be very nice, but it may not be available for your dates. So that’s something to consider. If you don’t have a lot of flexibility, it could present an issue. This could leave you scrambling to use up certs before they expire. I suggest you have a Plan B. And of course, there is an option of just getting a condo in Maui. On the other hand, CSP isn’t going anywhere, so you could always get it later on. Good luck with your decision!