Hotel Flexibility by Chris

As a result of getting both of the American Airlines credit cards using the well-publicized 2 browser trick, Kelsey and I have four companion certificates between the two of us.

While this is a great benefit, the bad thing is that the certificates expire on November 30th! But the good part is that it means we have lots of travel coming up. We are in the back-end of our first trip on a companion pass to visit my parents in Seattle. In four weeks we are headed to Chicago to visit a few of Kelsey's friends, and her parents and relatives are driving up to meet us as well.

Kelsey's parents used points to book a hotel at the Grand Hyatt Magnificent Mile and I figured that at 15,000 points for a reward night it would be a good value for us as well. So I went through and transferred the points from Chase via my Chase Sapphire Card. The points transferred instantly and so I went through the booking process only to find that the Hyatt was fully booked and no reward nights were available. The only rate available was $450 for one night!!! Wayyyyyy beyond our budget so we will end up bunking up with her parents for a night.

The real problem is....what to do with those 15,000 points I have sitting in my Hyatt account.

I brilliantly (it happens very rarely :p) remembered that we were paying $300 for two nights at a Double Tree in Denver and could cancel it without any penalty. So I called up Hyatt to check for availability in Denver and found that I could get a free night at the Grand Hyatt Denver and just pay $150 for the second night!

The lesson I learned from this story is to not panic if the plans don't go exactly as you want them to. One perfectly laid plan can adapt to help you in another trip.

Hope you are all having a wonderful Labor Day!

Marriott's "What's Your Travel Type" Contest Ends Tomorrow

The Marriott "What's Your Travel Type"contest has been written about extensively with lots of promos out there in blog land to win additional points. (Here...Here...Here...etc.) But it is worth noting that the contest ends tomorrow at 4:00 pm ET. But, you can enter once a day so if you hurry you can get two more entries in!

The prizes are everything from 6 nights/5 days at a JW Marriott anywhere in the world to a 7 day/ 6 night trip to Madrid, Spain.

We don't have any prizes to offer...but I am curious what your favorite prize was, and what Marriott properties you would use your prize on?

Hilton Great Getaway Sale + Q3 Bonus

I received an email last night reminding me that Hilton has extended their “Great Gateway Sale” and I thought I would pass it along to you as well. (Just in case you have any upcoming stays)

From the email:

"Great news, The Great Getaway has been extended and now you have more time to save up to 40% at any participating Hilton Hotels & Resorts when you book by September 10, 2012, and stay by December 30, 2012, at participating hotels and resorts in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio.

THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO SAVE UP TO 40%

BOOK YOUR GETAWAY NOW BEFORE THE GREAT GETAWAY GOES AWAY.

Whether your getaway is around the corner or around the world, enjoy savings of 15% to 40% off our Best Available Rate at nine distinct hotel brands within the Hilton Worldwide portfolio for a limited time. So, plan your getaway now - you've earned it.”


The great part about this promotion is that you can purchase this rate up to 7 days before your stay. As a reminder, this is a prepaid non-refundable rate, so be sure that you are actually going to stay at the property before purchasing it.

Earlier this month, I used this sale for two nights at the Downtown Hilton Atlanta. The normal room rate would have cost me $129, but I got the room for $89 per night, a 30% savings.

Not all Hilton properties are participating. I checked the Hilton hotels in San Diego, for an upcoming trip, and about half of the properties in the area were offering the “Great Gateway Sale” rate. At most hotels offering the rate, on the weekend I needed, the savings was about 15% off the normal rate.

It is always important to check the small print on deals. At the bottom of the email, the small print reads:

"Book between May 10 and September 10, 2012 (ends August 1, 2012 for Asia Pacific region properties) and stay at participating hotels within the Hilton Worldwide portfolio between May 17 and December 30, 2012 (ends September 30, 2012 for North and South America region properties). Some hotels may extend offer period. Subject to availability. Full non-refundable prepayment required at time of booking. Must book at least seven (7) days in advance of arrival, except where noted. Discounts vary and range from 15% - 40% off select rates. Blackout dates and length of stay restrictions may apply based upon which day of the week a stay is consumed, geographical location of hotel and/or by brand."

So for the majority of us, September 30, 2012 is really the last day we can use this rate on a stay instead of December 31st. However, if you are traveling to any other region of the world other than the Americas, you can use this rate through the rest of the year. Just remember to book by September 10th to grab this deal.

BONUS ALERT!!!!!!


If you are going to be staying in a Hilton brand hotel before September 31^st, you should register for their Quarter 3 promotion, Double or Triple Points! You must should register here!

For the Triple Your Trip promotion, the additional points you earn per night are calculated based on the average nightly folio (average of your base rates) of your total stay.  For example, if you have a two night stay, with one night costing $89 and another $109, you average nightly folio is $99 ($89 + $109 /2 nights = $99).

You earn the following:

Double Points for stays on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Triple Points for stays on Friday, Saturday, Sunda

For a recent trip to Atlanta, we stayed at the Downtown Hilton on Sunday and Monday. I earned triple points on my Sunday night stay and double Points on my Monday stay. The two night stay netted me a total of 5340 points. Not bad for taking less than 2 minutes to click a link and enter my Hilton Honors number.

A simple action can result in big rewards!

Welcome to Do It For The Points!

Hello everyone! 

Welcome to our new blog, "Do It For the Points!" This blog is a little brainchild that we have been kicking around for awhile as we deal with our addiction to points and miles. We know that there are tons of points and miles blogs out there who provide amazing advice and have pushed us to where we are with our points and trips, so you might be asking yourself...why another blog? 

Well the answer is....we wanted to share our awesome travels with people and start a discussion of points and miles from the newbie side of things. We (JD and Chris) are both newly into the points game, JD is more of a veteran than Chris, but we are both still feeling our way into the miles and points world.  Overall, we wanted to share our perspective, trips, and just general questions we may have about points and miles that you might have but were too shy to ask. Don't worry....we don't mind embarrassing ourselves for you.

Now for a little bit about ourselves. We are both residents of the Washington, D.C. area and have lived here for a combined 16 years! We met in college where our motto was, "Do It For the Story" (thus the name for our blog) and we are always trying to live by that motto.

Chris graduated in May with his MA in public communication and now works in media and public relations for a non-profit organization. His goal in the next 7 years (before he turns 30) is to hit all 7 continents. He has already has 3 (North America, Europe and Australia) under his belt but needs to get going on the next four. 

Chris will be traveling with his girlfriend (a newly made points addict) Kelsey to London and Amsterdam in October on their first ever fully funded points and miles trip. The trip features UA Business Class, an overnight ferry to Amsterdam and a Lufthansa Business Class trip back home.

JD came to DC in pursuit of a degree in his passion, politics. As time went on, his love of politics diminished and he went to work in the mortgage industry. In his spare time, his hobby is points; collecting, hoarding, and spending. Like Chris, his goal is to travel to all 7 continents before he is 30 (in less than 3 years - eck!)

The goal of our blog is to bring you the tips and tricks along the way as we find them, and to also share our trip reports so we can hear your experiences on similar trips and start planning the next one. We also want this to be a place where we can all ask the questions we have as newbies to try and understand the points and miles world. We will then ask them to the people who are much smarter and well-versed in the points and miles world.

We hope you will tune in and have a chat with us on a regular basis so we can help grow this blog and tell all about our favorite trips and dream places we want to go. As always....Do It For the Points!