by PointsGuru | Aug 27, 2015 | Hotels
I have to admit I have not taken a long, hard look at the Choice hotel chain in awhile as they are normally not exactly where I want to be when I want to be there. You know because location to me is mostly everything besides, elite status benefits, points and miles of course. Choice Privileges recently sent me an email saying they were offering a FREE night just after Two stays so I looked over a few of their hotels and could not believe some of the incredible treasures.
Let’s start with this hotel featured in their Ascend Collection in New Jersey. It’s called the The Peacock Inn, an Ascend Collection Hotel in Princeton, NJ near Princeton University. You can see the photos below and its stunning inside the rooms. Not only that but a beautiful boutique hotel on the outside.
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by PointsGuru | Aug 27, 2015 | Taxi Rideshare & Rentals
UBER may have a serious competitor in the one of the hottest markets in the world for hailing taxi’s and they plan to expand slowly. While CMT and VeriFone have their own payment smartphone apps including RideLinQ and Way2Ride neither have came close to Uber’s popularity with riders. Other apps have tried—and failed—to compete with UBER.
Arro is the name of the app soon to be released that is partnering with Creative Mobile Technologies which control the payment systems and video screens in about half of the city’s 13,000-plus yellow taxis. This allows Arro users to hail cabs through messages sent directly to drivers through CMT’s data terminals in the front of cabs. Uber drivers, by comparison, accept e-hails through smartphones mounted on their dashboards.
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by PointsGuru | Aug 25, 2015 | Business
Uber launched Uber Business several months ago and we are just now getting to try it out now that they are offering a $50 rebate. Setup was somewhat simple and takes a few minutes to set up at least 2 other accounts and verify their email and uber accounts to add into the program.
Uber Business is designed so that account administrators can manage a central account for all employees, simplifying the ground transportation and accounting process. By linking your American Express OPEN Business Card to Uber for Business your employees can charge their trips to your account while traveling for business.
You can add or remove your employees from your Uber for Business account in one easy step. Managing employees and tracking your team’s travel expenses is simple to do online in the main account. This will give employees a way to take advantage of Uber in 300+ cities, 58 countries. Much more trackable than taxi’s that take cash only or whatever currency you will need to pay.
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by PointsGuru | Aug 24, 2015 | Restaurants, Tools & Gadgets
We discovered a new restaurant app we were trying out called Reserve. It takes one of our favorite features from Uber by making it possible to leave your house and dine out without a wallet. With this app you can reserve a table at a top rated restaurant and it takes care of all of the payment including tip making it possible to avoid having to chase down the waiter for a check. Anything we can do to make the long wait for a tab take less time.
Currently Reserve app only has partner restaurants in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and now Philadelphia. With the $20 referral promotion you can give it a try if you live in one of the launch cities. (more…)
by PointsGuru | Aug 20, 2015 | Hotels
Someone sent us a question on Twitter not long ago regarding AirBnb and we were not sure the response immediately so we did some research. Now we are more excited to use AirBnb knowing that we can use miles or points to book a stay for Free. The question was whether you “could redeem miles or points for Airbnb Stays?”
To use points for an Airbnb stay you first need a credit card that allows for statement credits on purchases or one specifically for travel purchases. The first one that comes to mind is the Citi Premier Card because it reimburses you for travel purchases on a 1:1 basis and gives you 3x earnings power on all travel.
There are also other cards such as the Barclaycard Arrival Plus. You could use Arrival miles to cover the entire AirBnB purchase, or just a portion if you did not have enough to cover the entire stay. With this Arrival card you get 10% back on all award redemptions so this makes it one of the best for this purpose.
Promo Offer: $25 in AirBnB Travel credits for your first stay. (more…)
by PointsGuru | Aug 20, 2015 | Retail
It seems that everyday there is a new rewards program but it never really gets our attention to write a post about it. A few rewards programs came out this year that caught our eye. One of those being Plenti from American Express but it failed to really feature many businesses we frequent. Microsoft has now rolled out a rewards program that does offer two places we shop all the time being Shell Gas and Whole Foods. You could even count 7-Eleven stores in for their gas mainly because they have some of the gas stations on top of Shell.
Earn by Microsoft is a program where you simply enroll your credit cards and you earn 5% to 10% in Earn Credits when you shop at participating national retailers and local restaurants that you can redeem toward product purchases made at the Microsoft Store. Yeah that’s the major catch is that you have to redeem at a Microsoft store. There are many things you can buy at a Microsoft store besides computers and software. Maybe a mouse? We will get to that part later. (more…)
by PointsGuru | Aug 20, 2015 | Delta Airlines
We all know that with airlines these days it all comes down to your prison cell in the sky. This is because you have purchased the cheapest ticket possible. Delta may somewhat be in right to feature a pop-up letting customers know how bad their experience will be and that they should expect it.
You are purchasing no frills, no fuss but then you find yourself shelling out more money than you’d planned after encountering some persuasive sales tactics from Delta. A passenger rights group says Delta Air Lines is employing “shame” as a method to get travelers to buy ticket upgrades they might not have wanted initially. You know a thing called an up sell. McDonald’s does it with your fries each time you go through the drive-thru. To make more money companies want you to buy perks or extras not included in a base price.
These add-ons can be anything from a wider seat or more leg room, WiFi, to priority boarding and free ticket changes. A nonprofit group called Flyers Rights that advocates for passengers is calling Delta out on its tactics where it uses “shaming” for the upgrades. (more…)
by PointsGuru | Aug 19, 2015 | Hilton HHonors
Hilton HHonors has an exciting new promotion out where you can add up points fast with the “Triple Your Trip” Promotion. You can earn double points for weekday nights including Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday and triple points for weekend nights including Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
This points multiplier has one advantage over other promotions this year. All of the Hilton affiliated hotels are participating in this promotion so unlike other promotions there are no excluded properties. You can register for this triple offer at HHonors.com/Triple. If you are new to Hilton HHonors or not a member yet you can sign up here. New members may be eligible for 2,000 bonus points for their first stay during the promo period after registering for this offer (not only new accounts). (more…)
by PointsGuru | Aug 19, 2015 | Taxi Rideshare & Rentals
Update: Changed the title to read 21.5% because you not only get a 20% back but you get 1.5% just by having a Quicksilver Card totaling 21.5% cash back. This is almost a fourth of your trip comped.
June 2016 Update: They actually just updated the Quicksilver promotion where you get the 10th ride free instead of the 20% back.
Get 20% back just by switching to pay with a Capital One Quicksilver card. Any Uber rider paying with a Quicksilver or QuicksilverOne card will receive a 20% credit on their card statement on all rides taken through April 30, 2016.
The credit will be valid on all Uber rides paid for in USD and will be applied to your card statement in 1-2 billing cycles. There’s no need to add a promo code for this credit; as long as you’re using your Quicksilver or QuicksilverOne card to pay for the ride, you’ll automatically receive the credit.
If you have not taken Uber before read about it here and get an additional $20 off.
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by PointsGuru | Aug 19, 2015 | 5% Cash Back
Save 69% on New Sam’s Plus Membership:
You can get a sizzling deal on a 1-year membership (with freebies) to Sam’s Club similar to the one that Groupon offered several months ago. The 1-year membership at Sam’s Club for NEW customers and previous members whose memberships have been expired for more than 6 months is available now for a limited time. LivingSocial is offering a Sam’s Club Plus 1-Year Membership for $45, and you get a ton of extra freebies thrown in.
- $20 Sam’s Club Gift Card
- Free 1.375 lb. package of sliced deli ham
- Free package of hoagies
- Free 25 oz. Sabra hummus
- $3 off organic petite carrots
The Plus membership normally goes for $100, so this is quite a savings of over 60%. But hurry on this one because it only lasts a few more days and you’ve got to activate your membership by November 30.
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