It’s Christmas Holiday shopping season so everyone is trying to get you to shop on their cash back portal. Hilton HHonors is giving out an extra incentive just to sign into their online shopping mall by giving away 500 free points for the first 10,000.
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I have been embarrassed yet again by Discover Card holding up a checkout line at Whole Foods Market because they cannot seem to get Discover Card to work with their Apple Pay. This has happened twice now. The first time I got it to blink but it would not show up on the register as paid. It accepted my payment on my phone but not at the register and blinked. So odd. I then had the cashier transfer my transaction over to the customer service at the front of the store. It still would not work. I then called Discover Card to see if my card had a fraud alert on it. They acted like it should have worked and I had no fraud on my card so it was not on hold.
I used to be a big fan of Whole Foods and still love them more than Sprouts that sells food under the disguise that it’s natural. Sprouts takes the Apple Pay just fine though but I could do without the chemicals they put in their turkey. I really wish I could get this to work at Whole Foods and it’s frustrating. Especially since I drive 10 miles or so to get to Whole Foods. Target, Kroger and Walmart are closer and sell a lot of the same things now so I do not go there as often unless there’s a promotion like this one and that is why it’s such a big fail.
After the first embarrassment I thought I would try again a few weeks later thinking they had finally cleared up the problem. I went in my local Whole Foods tonight and it did not work again. Trying to get rewards or use coupons should not be this complicated especially at a high priced place such as Whole Foods. I have two Discover It cards and neither would work with the Apple Pay. (more…)
The success of ride-sharing startups is increasing along with on-call food-delivery services for restaurants that don’t have their own drivers. Some of these services offer not only food delivery but also favors such as bringing you a battery or picking up your suit from the cleaners.
Favor has announced it has reached one million deliveries nationwide. The delivery service no longer just delivers food. It connects people with personal assistants, called runners, who will fetch anything from batteries to burritos. Customers place their requests through Favor’s mobile phone apps, available for both iOS and Android platforms. It reports an average delivery time of 35 minutes. Favor currently makes deliveries in 15 markets in the U.S. and Canada. Go here for $5 off your first Favor Order.
Groupon-owned OrderUp launched recently in Orlando with around 60 drivers bringing food from restaurants to homes and businesses competing with local companies. Doorstep Delivery and Munchem are the local delivery services who are facing a growing threat from app-based services in the central Florida city which lacks Postmates for now. (more…)
American Express is has released new Twitter sync promotions to save money at participating merchants. Make sure that you sync these offers with your AMEX Card immediately as the number of available uses is limited. It’s kind of like any other freebie you find online you have to act fast. Just click the links below to allow you to Tweet directly from this page to sync these offers with your American Express card. My favorites now are Whole Foods especially because of Holiday gift cards and Christmas themed food products and desserts at the natural grocer.
Whole Foods Market –
Click Here to Tweet #AmexWFM to get $10 back 1x on single qual purch $60+ at Whole Foods w/cnctd Amex Card through 1/31/16 or while supplies last.
You may want to check your American Express card account to see if you received an offer from AirBnb this week. If not, you are still in luck because it’s one of the great Twitter promotions as well. You can save at least 50% off your first $100 spent on an AirBnB rental using this offer.
You get a $50 statement when you spend $100 or more on a synched American Express credit card through December 31, 2015. You can register as many American Express credit cards to use this offer more than once if you have more than one AMEX branded card. If you are not able to stay by the end of the year just make sure it charges your card to take advantage of the offer.
To get the offer from AirBnb and American Express:
Repeat at Step 2 to sync every American Express credit card you have with Twitter using the hashtag.
AirBnB is allowing gift cards for this offer so you may be able to use multiple AMEX cards to purchase a gift card then use that towards one stay. $50 off every $100 to rent a house could save you up to $250 if you have 5 American Express branded cards including Bluebird and Serve cards. Update to the gift card purchase is that they do not allow you to buy yourself a gift card and will not let you redeem it in the same account of purchase.
I plan to stay in an AirBnb in California this December and will use 4 separate AMEX cards for the stay with this offer by buying a gift card first. I will also get a $20 credit. The total savings should be $220 off my stay of 4 days.
See more hotel related promotions here.
You can get a $15 Credit With $15 Purchase from Chase Freedom using Visa Checkout. This is a different promotion offered earlier this year that featured Sapphire and Ink cards with Visa Checkout. This promo is just for the Chase Freedom and great way to buy a gift card and make some money from it.
Just find an online store that accepts Visa Checkout. Then pay with your Chase Freedom card through Visa Checkout to get a $15 statement credit.
This offer is valid from 11/2/2015 through 12/31/2015.
Update: Marriott has agreed to buy Starwood. Hyatt Hotels deal did not go through as previously reported on CNBC. We will see if the FTC actually lets this merger go through as it would make the largest hotel chain.
Previously Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels was in talks to acquire Connecticut-based Starwood could come as soon as next. Hyatt is preparing a cash-and-stock bid driven partially by the hoteliers’ growth struggles according to CNBC. Both Hyatt and Starwood have been hampered by several consecutive quarters of declining sales due to slowing global business travel and swings in the currency markets.
Some are saying that a combination of Hyatt and Starwood could help the two chains better compete with their larger peers Marriott International and Hilton Worldwide. One benefit to a takeover by Hyatt could be the lowered costs of the combined platforms bringing two companies to have over 500,000 rooms to considerably close the gap between them and Hilton and Marriott who each have more than 700,000 rooms.
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UBER and Lyft have both struggled to pick people up when they arrive from a flight into most of the airports around the world. Two of these are now crossed off the list for these popular alternatives to taxis now that O’Hare and Midway Airport are finally cleared for picking travelers up. While the pickup has been prohibited many of us were dropped off at the airport terminals when leaving Chicago for a flight but now we can get the ride service both ways.
According to the Chicago Sun TImes the decision that took place in Chicago this week. Saying that “A ride-hailing giant whose investors include Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s brother came out a big winner Monday after Emanuel salvaged his plan to give Uber, Lyft and Sidecar the lucrative right to make airport pickups without requiring their drivers to get chauffeur licenses.”
“Ald. John Arena (45th) said mayor Emanuel is counting on generating $30 million in fees by giving ride-hailing companies the keys to the airport kingdom. The mayor was not about to jeopardize that windfall by requiring ride-hailing drivers serving O’Hare and Midway airports to get chauffeur licenses.”
Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans would be empowered to issue rules “governing the display, design and contents of additional distinctive signs or emblems that may be required to be displayed” on ride-hailing vehicles used to make pickups at O’Hare, Midway, McCormick Place and Navy Pier. Additional “distinctive signs or emblems” must also be provided to their drivers, the compromise states.
Read up more on how to get discounts using UBER in Chicago and other cities across the world.
A boutique hotel network is now offering more ways to earn more points for some of their highly desired stays which are normally either historic or in a great location. The Stash Hotel Rewards Visa Card is a great option for this one-of-a-kind hotels network. They designed this card with unique benefits focused on traveler satisfaction being the only hotel loyalty credit card where you can earn double points on stays at any hotel including major chains.
You’ll earn 10,000 bonus points towards free stays at one-of-a-kind hotels when you make $1,500 in purchases on your Stash Visa Card within 90 days of opening your account. Here are some added benefits after the bonus: (more…)
It was not long ago that Paris, France was saying no to everything AirBnb but it seems they have finally settled their differences. They are getting along so well they have decided to run a promotion for Halloween night in the city’s catacombs. Sounds like a luxurious adventure right? Forget the Haunted Houses this Halloween this will haunt you for the rest of your lives if you can survive this night in terror. The final resting place of 6 million souls has got to be one of the most desired places to be for a truly haunted evening.
You get to sleep inside a 200-mile underground labyrinth lined with 6 million skulls if you win this contest. One night only in a “bedroom” within the terrifying tunnels for the night of Halloween or October 31. (more…)