It came up a bit in the thread about spare change, but it seems like there are af few of us at least enjoy playing "the game." So here's a place to talk about earning strategies, brag about your favorite redemptions, get advice, etc. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rain Man:
I've pretty much always gone with travel cards. There's something exciting about getting free travel, and it's easy to maintain. I may get more aggressive about maximizing the benefits as I retire and have more time to study things.
My wife maximized our income this week by signing us up for a time share presentation while we were out on a short vacation. They offered to pay $175 for a 90-minute presentation. I didn't realize that I had to go too, but such is life. It was a Marriott time share, so I figured I could tolerate it and it would be professional.
Wow. I was really wrong. But it was fascinating to observe. It was like time-traveling back to the 1950s or something. They had a predictable script that had every element that you hear from bad salespeople: terrible attempts to create urgency, verbal promises that were clearly not true, and so on.
Then right on script they brought in a "closer". His job was to get us to sign a purchase contract for a five or six-digit purchase on the spot with no information. He actually pushed a contract and pen across the table at us. It was so bad that it was fascinating, and it was hard to imagine these guys doing this multiple times a day. Then at the end they brought in a woman to give us our gift card and she tried to sell us other stuff. I really hope those gift cards work.
I was really surprised that a big company like Marriott would use such amateurish and unethical sales practices.
Rain, I know several people that fall for their "sales pitch"
You'd be amazed at how many people crumble under pressure. [Reply]
Just the Bank of America Travel Rewards card for us. Everything we buy is through it and we save a lot of money on big expenses related to travel. We don’t go out to eat a ton but restaurants count as well. You can choose the cash back option but they don’t give you as much if you do that instead using the points for travel expenses. [Reply]
Originally Posted by notorious:
Rain, I know several people that fall for their "sales pitch"
You'd be amazed at how many people crumble under pressure.
It must work well enough to justify doing it. But I can't imagine that it's a good long-term strategy. I walked out of there with a much lower opinion of Marriott.
My wife and I chatted about it later. We got invited to this because we own a time share, but we didn't buy it. It was given to us, and we kept it because we like it. We figure that people who buy time shares are probably more vulnerable to high-pressure pitches like this. [Reply]
I have a Signature FCU card. 2% cash back on everything, no fees, low interest rate. I use it instead of debit and just pay it off when I get paid. Free money. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rain Man:
I've pretty much always gone with travel cards. There's something exciting about getting free travel, and it's easy to maintain. I may get more aggressive about maximizing the benefits as I retire and have more time to study things.
My wife maximized our income this week by signing us up for a time share presentation while we were out on a short vacation. They offered to pay $175 for a 90-minute presentation. I didn't realize that I had to go too, but such is life. It was a Marriott time share, so I figured I could tolerate it and it would be professional.
Wow. I was really wrong. But it was fascinating to observe. It was like time-traveling back to the 1950s or something. They had a predictable script that had every element that you hear from bad salespeople: terrible attempts to create urgency, verbal promises that were clearly not true, and so on.
Then right on script they brought in a "closer". His job was to get us to sign a purchase contract for a five or six-digit purchase on the spot with no information. He actually pushed a contract and pen across the table at us. It was so bad that it was fascinating, and it was hard to imagine these guys doing this multiple times a day. Then at the end they brought in a woman to give us our gift card and she tried to sell us other stuff. I really hope those gift cards work.
I was really surprised that a big company like Marriott would use such amateurish and unethical sales practices.
Hold on, you have a choice... you can have the $175 or the mystery box...
Originally Posted by DaFace:
I've mentioned it in other threads, but I think of myself as being "advanced" but not an "expert." My current setup includes:
Chase Trifecta
Chase Sapphire Reserve (3x travel, lounge access, rental car insurance)
Capital One Venture X (mostly for lounge access and the fact that it pays for itself)
United Explorer (mostly because I wanted the sign-up bonus)
Amazon Prime Visa (5x amazon)
And a handful of others that I rotate through slowly. I'm not a "churner" per se, but I do sign up for a few cards a year for the bonuses.
This has been a good thread I am trying to get some perks built up after years of having a pretty simple no frills Quick Silver card that just gave me a little cashback.
I recently got the Capital Venture One and Chase Sapphire Preferred. These seem to match pretty well because I don't do an insane amount of travel but I get out and about when I can.
Venture One gave me a pretty easy to get 20k intro. I am starting in on the Sapphire Preferred which is 60k points after you spend 4k in 3 months which is not too bad.
The Chase Rewards Portal has a lot happening. Right now there is a 50% bonus for transferring Chase points into Marriott points which seems pretty big.
I need to work myself in the Chase trifecta but I started in the middle :-) Just thinking about all of it and thinking about things I want do that it makes sense. It will be a while before I am comfortable diving in on something like Sapphire Reserve but who knows. [Reply]
It feels like there are a lot of points based travel deals to be had from understanding the different alliances and working your transfer into them the right way. [Reply]
I have Bank of America card in conjuction with my financial advisor which supposedly gives me 3.5% but its hard to keep track of. Not sure if legit but they did give me $750 free after 3 months of use. Just have to charge at least 10k in first 3 months. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BWillie:
I have Bank of America card in conjuction with my financial advisor which supposedly gives me 3.5% but its hard to keep track of. Not sure if legit but they did give me $750 free after 3 months of use. Just have to charge at least 10k in first 3 months.
The 750 is just cash on your statement not points? What BOA card is that. 10k might be steep in 3 months for me while doing the same on another card but I do my normal banking with BOA. [Reply]
Originally Posted by |Zach|:
This has been a good thread I am trying to get some perks built up after years of having a pretty simple no frills Quick Silver card that just gave me a little cashback.
I recently got the Capital Venture One and Chase Sapphire Preferred. These seem to match pretty well because I don't do an insane amount of travel but I get out and about when I can.
Venture One gave me a pretty easy to get 20k intro. I am starting in on the Sapphire Preferred which is 60k points after you spend 4k in 3 months which is not too bad.
The Chase Rewards Portal has a lot happening. Right now there is a 50% bonus for transferring Chase points into Marriott points which seems pretty big.
I need to work myself in the Chase trifecta but I started in the middle :-) Just thinking about all of it and thinking about things I want do that it makes sense. It will be a while before I am comfortable diving in on something like Sapphire Reserve but who knows.
Regarding the transfer to Marriott points - leave everything in Chase currency until you are ready to use it. Hotel points are the least flexible and generally have the worst value. [Reply]
I’m getting ready to start traveling alot more so i need to start playing that airline/hotel points game harder.
I’m putting a semester of college tuition on a card this week that I can turn into several hundred in gift cards to a sporting goods store. So I’m trying harder to make my spending work harder for me too. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi:
Regarding the transfer to Marriott points - leave everything in Chase currency until you are ready to use it. Hotel points are the least flexible and generally have the worst value.
Yea that makes sense it would feel risky to dump them without any plan to use them. [Reply]
