by PointsGuru | Mar 3, 2015 | AAdvantage American
When you convert your Hotel Points into the American Airlines AAdvantage miles program with participating partners, you’ll receive a 25% bonus on the number of miles that you earn. You have this short opportunity to convert your hotel points into say 20,000 AAdvantage miles earning you 5,000 bonus miles from American which is enough for a domestic round-trip MileSAAver award.
One of the hotels I would like to transfer is 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points to 2,000 AAdvantage miles + 500 bonus. I do not stay at a Hyatt chain as much as a Hilton or Marriott although their points are redeemable for M life resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. You can see more on this offer here on the AA website.
Participating 25% Bonus Hotel Programs Include:
Best Western Rewards
Choice Privileges
Hilton HHonors
Hyatt Gold Passport
IHG Rewards Club
Marriott Rewards
Club Carlson Gold Points
Wyndham Rewards
Point conversions from Starwood Preferred Guest, Melia Hotels International & Resorts, La Quinta Inns & Suites, and the Langham Hospitality Group OUIDA program are not eligible for the 25% bonus offer. I would imagine with Starwood because they already give you a bonus to transfer and that would be stacking mega miles. You should expect these miles to be posted by American Airlines to your AAdvantage account within 7 business days after the initial conversion activity has been posted by the hotel program. The offer ends March 15, 2015 so act fast.
by PointsGuru | Mar 3, 2015 | International Travel
BedandBreakfast.com offers a more personal experience when you travel with a wide selection of B&B’s across the world. They are now offering a few free gift card promotions and discount B&B reservation offers for savings when you travel and stay at Bed and Breakfast Inns.
Get a free $20 gift card with every $100 in gift cards purchased using promo code GOGREEN. This expires March 17, 2015. You can also save $50 with promo code SPRING by clicking here. Expires March 17, 2015.
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by PointsGuru | Feb 26, 2015 | American Express
American Express is said to be raising interest rates to make its stockholders happy and raise revenues. This will also put it in line with other banks high interest cards. If you have a low interest rate now you may soon receive a letter telling you of your higher rate. This increase could effect more than 1 million customers with the average interest rate increase of 2.5%, and the minimum interest rate charged of 12.99%.
How long you have been with AMEX nor your credit responsibility will not help determine the increase. With the average American household having $10,000 of debt the 2.5% could cost more than $2,000 of additional interest annually. American Express is doing this to increase its earnings when it has recently lost huge partnerships with Costco and JetBlue. They currently charge merchants a higher interchange fee than Visa or MasterCard and justify this because their customers are supposedly more affluent and spend more in the stores. This may attribute to higher rewards through the Membership Rewards program, OPEN, and high grocery store cash back with the Blue Cards.
If you currently have credit card debt with low interest on AMEX cards and a good credit scores (above 700), you can consider a balance transfer. You can move the debt from a high rate credit card company to a lower promotional rate. Some of the best offers are from credit unions, that are offering promotional rates as low as 0% for 12 months or 2.99% for 24 months. Once you do a balance transfer remember not to do any spending on the new credit card and to pay your bill on time and in full every month.
If your credit score is below 700, you may want to consider a personal loan. Have the Personal Loan bank do a soft pull where it does not hurt your credit score and then compare the APR to that on your American Express. Don’t close your credit card with AMEX because you want to keep that open line of credit which helps your score down the road.
by PointsGuru | Feb 25, 2015 | Starwood Preferred Guest
Starwood Preferred Guest aka the SPG rewards program and Uber today started a partnership where SPG members can earn one Starpoint per dollar spent on Uber services. After completing a qualifying stay at a Starwood hotel, SPG members can start earning one Starpoint for every $1 spent on Uber, and additional bonus Starpoints can be accumulated during hotel stays. This is a way to get 2% off your Uber rides in the form of 1 Starpoint per dollar charged on rides.
If you use Uber services during your hotel stay, you can earn 1 additional points as a non-elite member making it a total of 2 per $1, 2 additional Starpoints for Gold and Platinum members making it a total of 3, and 3 additional Starpoints for Platinum members for a total of 4 per USD spent.
You can sign up for this offer but you have to have a hotel stay at a Starwood hotel to start earning these points. You do not have to be staying at a hotel to get the 1 point per dollar spent just have one stay on record. If you’re a big baller the maximum number of Starpoints that you can earn from your Uber rides yearly is capped at $10,000 spend.
How To Get this Offer and Link Accounts:
1. Make sure 
you are signed up with the same email for both Uber and SPG. Sign up at spg.com for the Starwood Preferred Guest Program and go here to sign up for Uber.
2. Visit spg.com/uber to link your accounts.
3. Log-in to your existing SPG account, or create a new SPG account here.
4. Log-in to your Uber account.
5. Complete a qualifying stay this calendar year at any Starwood hotel.
6. Begin taking rides and start earning Starpoints!
Make sure that you use the same email account when you sign up for this promotion and that it matches the Uber and SPG accounts. If you are like me and sign up for lots of promotions and freebies then you might have to go into the profiles and match emails first.
Up to $15 Uber First Ride Discount
SPG Gold, Platinum, and non-elite members are eligible for $30 first ride discount by applying promotional code UBERVIP4ME at the time of signing up for the service.
Promotion For 15,000 Bonus Starpoints and Free Ride
To kick things off they are giving Uber and SPG members in Dubai, London, Mexico City, New York, and San Francisco the chance to ride free and you will also receive 15,000 bonus Starpoints if you get the specially marked SPG car. Just sign up for the offer and then choose the “SPG” vehicle option for the chance to catch a free “SPG #SuiteRide” between 2 pm and 7 pm local time.
Lucky riders will receive 15,000 Starpoints – good for a free night* at a qualifying Starwood hotel and a door-to-door branded hotel experience on wheels featuring one of Starwood’s nine distinct brands—Aloft, Element, Four Points, Le Meridien, Sheraton, St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W Hotels and Westin. Another cool bonus is that each SPG #SuiteRide highlights unique brand features and offers all-time favorite amenities including the Westin Heavenly Robe or W Hotels Bliss Spa Travel Pack. Around 460 passengers will be eligible to receive this onetime bonus.
