Why I Am Sticking With Club Carlson

Over a year ago, I wrote about my experience Churning After Midnight. For some reason, I decided that applying for credit card drunk would be fun. Well, I don't recommend doing it.

At the time, I applied for and was approved for the Chase Southwest Business & Personal cards and the US Bank Club Carlson Visa.

One year later, its annual fee time. At the moment, I am unsure about keeping the Southwest Credit Cards. However, I have decided to pay the $75 annual fee for the Club Carlson card.

For $75, I get the following benefits:

•  40,000 Bonus Points

                 

            That's enough for two nights at a Category 4 hotel.

         

•   Buy 1, Get 1 Free Award Nights

           When you redeem Points for 2 or more consecutive Award Nights, your last night is free. 

           That is why your 40,000 bonus point is worth 2 free nights at Category 4 hotels.

•  Gold Status

          Having the credit card automatically upgrades your status with Club Carlson to Gold.

          Gold Status gives you a wide range of benefits; late check-out, room upgrades, free

          internet and many others. You can see the whole list of benefits, here.

The 40,000 bonus points, Buy 1, Get 1 award nights and Gold status are the main reasons for me to pay the annual fee for the credit card. I only used the award night benefit once in 2013, on a trip to Austin. My sister and I stayed at a Country Inn and Suites and saved over $200+ by using 28,000 points for 2 nights.  

This year, I hope to use the award night benefit more often. My travels will take me to places with more Club Carlson hotels.  Plus I am sitting on a nice stash of Gold Points. I plan on sticking with Club Carlson even with their most recent devaluation.

Earlier this month, Club Carlson announced the creation of a 7th redemption level. The 7th redemption level is only going to have a few properties in it (Most in Paris, London and New York City). At the moment, I have no desire to travel to any of those area, so it doesn't really effect me. If Paris builds the restaurants in the abandon metro stations; then I might change my mind.

One of the biggest decisions in this game is the annual fees. It isn't cheap to keep all of the credit cards with annual fees. However, you can't cancel every credit card either. You need a balance. Keep some and let some go is my strategy. 

Congratulations Club Carlson for making it to Year 2!
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                                                                  Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints!  

Bonus Miles from eMiles

Last week, I received an email from eMiles offering me bonus miles.

eMiles will give me 50 miles for completing 5 or more activities in the month of January. 

5 activities should take less than 5 minutes. Go check your eMiles profile today.

Don't know what eMiles is? Go here to learn more.

Check your email to see if you go this offer, now. Don't wait!

       ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints! Have a question for me? E-mail me at jdteitelman@gmail.com

What's In Cash Back Boy's Mailbox

Every day it seems that the mailman brings Cash Back Boy gets credit card offers. Some of these offers he gets make me jealous as they have big BIG sign-up bonuses. Typically, he just throws the offers in the trash can and I give him grief about not taking advantage of them.

On the same day last week, he received two offers and it gave me a little chuckle. The offers were for the same credit card, but with two different sign-up bonuses.

15,000 or 25,000 points offers arrive on the same day is weird. Someone in the promotions department messed up on this one. Typically, you get one or the other. It begs the question, what if you signed up for the 15,000 point offer and the next day get the 25,000 point offer. Some credit card companies will match the offer, but others say you get what you apply for.

The lesson here is to keep an eye out in the mail for credit card promotion. Much of the mail will be junk, but every once and a while a diamond can be found.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints! Have a question for me? E-mail me at jd@doitforthepoints.com

George Costanza was right: Double Dipping is OK!

Everything that happens in the world can always be brought back to Seinfeld somehow. In an 1993 episode, George accompanies his current girlfriend to her aunt's wake. It is at the wake that a young boy accuses George of double-dipping his chip...



George was correct "double-dipping" is perfectly ok, especially in the points world. In the points and miles world, the double-dipping doesn't involve chips, but rather earning extra points.

For instance, on our Memorial Day trip, we stayed at two Marriott to participate in Marriott's Unexpected Bonus. We earned Marriott Reward points for every dollar we spent on the hotel rooms. Most people would be happy with getting points for their stay. However, you shouldn't! I earned an additional 2 Ultimate Reward points per $1 spent by simply going to the Marriott website through the Ultimate Reward portal.

Purchase Date Rewards Merchant Rewards Earned

5-17-2013 Marriott 226 extra points 5-17-2013 Marriott 280 extra points

Marriott isn't the only hotel that one can double-dip. In the Ultimate Reward Portal, one can earn additional points with Best Western, Choice Hotels, Holiday Inn/Intercontinental Hotels. Also, the Ultimate Reward portal allows one to earn points on travel booking sites Hotwire, Hotel.com, Orbitz, and Travelocity. Almost every airline and hotel chain has an online points/miles earning portal. However, not all point earning portals allow points to be earned for booking hotels through them.

For many this is not earth shattering news. Double-dipping is common practice in the points community; actually Frequent Miler writes about it all the time. This is the cheapest way of earning points, because it doesn't cost you a thing except extra time. The hardest part of earning points this way is remembering to go though the portal first. I am guilty of leaving valuable points on the table by forgetting to go through the portal first. I always kick myself after I hit the submit button.

George was correct, Double-Dipping is perfectly acceptable.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints! Have a question for us? E-mail us at chris@doitforthepoints.com or jd@doitforthepoints.com