Travel News Recap: Hotel Changes, Ebates Changes, New Theme Park Attractions and More!

There’s always a lot happening in the miles, points and travel world. Here are some of the highlights:

Hotel Category Changes: In case you missed it, there have been a lot of hotel category changes in the past few weeks. See the summary of changes here. Also, check out Ian’s opinion of IHG’s fall in his post on Points With a Crew.

AA Gift Cards No Longer Reimbursed on Amex: If you have an Amex card that gives an airline credit every year, data points show that AA gift cards are no longer being reimbursed. See this post from Million Mile Secrets.

New IHG PointBreaks List Comes Out on Monday: The new IHG PointBreaks list will be available online this Monday, 2-25-19. Awards will cost 5000, 10000 or 15000 points. A preview of the hotels is not available so far. The list will be posted here (note that the list currently contains PointBreaks that expire this week). H/T Doctor of Credit. Speaking of IHG, the brand is also testing variable redemption pricing.

Now Earn Amex MR from Ebates: If you own an Amex credit card that earns Membership Rewards, you can now earn Membership Rewards (instead of cash back) by using Ebates. See this post from Frequent Miler. For me, cash is still king, but this may be an attractive option for some people.

Epcot and Universal Getting New Attractions: Just this week, Disney announced some exciting changes coming to Epcot ahead of its 50^th anniversary in 2021. See this recap for a list of the changes.

Universal Florida also announced that a new ride, Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, will open this June in Islands of Adventure. This ride takes the place of the Dragon Challenge coasters (aka Dueling Dragons coasters). I’m planning to make a trip to the parks next year to see the new Star Wars land and the Harry Potter attractions for the first time. Are you excited about these additions and changes?

Enjoy your weekend!