We bring you the Sapphire Reserve Card Changes, new offers for 75k Southwest Cards, visit Soviet Bishkek, skip the Malta Mafia, Bonvoyed again, go deep into the American contest with China, some amazing movies that were almost not made, new Hilton and Hyatt promos, visit Morocco and Antarctica, amazing graph on occupational growth, advances in tech and humanity, world population growth, some positive earnings changes in the Hilton Honors program, some interesting commentary as always in the BLOG BUZZ section and more!
TBB Blog Mission: To Educate. Entertain. Inspire. In That Order!
Support TBB by applying for CREDIT CARDS and visiting our LINKS!
You like my blog? Send a link to someone please!
Buckle up, we have a lot to cover!
MILES & POINTS
The big news in this space was Chase increasing the annual fee $100 on the Sapphire Reserve card to $550 to match the Amex Platinum card. The Chase Sapphire Reserve Annual Fee Going Up and More Changes. The additional benefits are marginal at best and only apply if you use DoorDash and Lyft regularly. And these two benefits are not even locked up for the long term.
Story time: I remember me and my wife getting the CSR when it first came out offering 100,000 signup bonus. I remember very vividly we applied at the branch for her at the very last day…and in the middle of the application we received a call from our daughter that the house is on fire and we stormed out leaving a stunned banker and raced back home to find the kitchen full of smoke (in the meantime, our daughter had managed to extinguish the fire in the kitchen…my wife had left something burning on the stove after being distraught by my insisting we had to go apply that very day lol). Anyway, we then raced to another branch that was still open and did the application with a minute or two left before closing. Oh, the memories LOL. We both canceled the card in a year. Only our son is having the CSR now after recently product changing it from the Sapphire Preferred and he does use Door Dash and Lyft regularly. And he intends to travel a lot and spends on dining a lot too, both earn 3 points per dollar. So he is keeping it, even with the annual fee increase. I think. Why You Shouldn’t Rush to Apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve. I do think that having premium cards now with a $550 annual fee is ridiculous!
Some World of Hyatt members are getting targeted to earn 3X American Airlines AAdvantage miles for every dollar spent with Hyatt. See if you were targeted HERE.
Register for the Hilton Honors Points Unlimited promotion HERE.
TRAVEL
Another great trip report at DansDeals: A Summer Trip to Morocco: Marrakech, Casablanca, Fes.
Soviet architecture is so spectacularly bad is…good! So, lets visit Bishkek Kyrgyzstan is packed with odd, angular, and stunning Soviet architecture.
Since we are on the subject of architecture, the coolest architecture on Earth is in Antarctica.
Well, this is just very cool to watch: Mapped: The World’s Most Populous Countries, in Ascending Order.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Love the two graphs in this article: Gradual Improvement Redux. Best thing to do is…nothing but doing nothing is so hard! 🙂
Another gem: Occupation Growth and Decline. Must click!
ODDZ & ENDZ
Stop bitching, we have never had it better, really! 2020: What a Time To Be Alive.
Fascinating investigative work! I never had a desire to travel there, for the record. The prime minister and the murdered journalist: inside Malta, a nation on the brink.
This is long. And so good. The Future of America’s Contest With China.
I was not aware of many of these, wow! 15 Incredible Films That Almost Never Got Made.
We are staying positive in this post lol. The 20 Biggest Advances in Tech Over the Last 20 Years.
BLOG BUZZ
We are now entering BLOG BUZZ, a section for advanced hobbyists and veterans of this fast imploding hobby and also a section where I go on and on about some stuff that happens in my life because it helps me feel better about myself.
If January does not get this site ten card conversions…it will be three months in a row. And the Wednesday post will be retired. For certain this time. The biggest deflater, after more than seven years plugging/blogging away here, is checking to see what this site brought in and seeing absolutely nothing. Not that it makes any material difference in the grand scheme of things…but it is nice to be able to dream about making close to minimum wage. All together now…SAD! Ok, I feel better now…Lets move on!
This is great, a history of deals in this hobby, been a nice ride you guys: What Were Your Favorite DansDeals of the Decade?
When programs truly enhance their programs, be very afraid they are ready to announce another big devaluation? Three New Earnings Improvement for Hilton Honors Members. I never really understood the limits on earning by capping the rooms in same reservation…but what do I know? I am no self pronounced travel thought leader. Or travel guru.
Exhibit 67,589 why Marriott sucks: Like a thief in the night: watch out for Marriott’s latest naughtiness.
The Points Guy himself Brian Kelly did a podcast at Masters in Business interviewed by Barry Ritholtz. If Barry only knew…so many clueless people out there about this space. Anyway, I am not going to link it here. A few things I learned was Brian sold his site back in 2012 and has been an employee ever since. I am assuming well compensated but no longer an entrepreneur. Probably one of the few founders who stuck around getting a paycheck. I learned more but I lost my notes.
Is it just me or is One Mile at a Time (which sadly still pops up in one of my Twitter lists) is selling plastic in a scale approaching TPG or what, wow! And to see how convoluted this whole space is, here is an example: God Save The Points, another Boarding Area blog, last week I reported how he boasted to “never sell to the scum that is TPG…” And then wrote “18 Luxury Travel Reasons To Get the Amex Platinum Card” with links leading to, please sit down, affiliate links belonging to One Mile at a Time! It’s a plastic free for all I guess…because, folks, that is where the dinero is!
Oh, speaking of bloggers. Bloggers who blog regularly and consistently are not doing this for free or to help friends and family, they do it because it is their livelihood. Except me lol. If it is not their livelihood yet, many of these bloggers work their ass off to make it their livelihood. Their motives are completely OPPOSITE what this travel hacking is all about! This hobby thrives on staying under the radar, come on! So, bloggers’ goal is to be written up by some media and drive clicks to their site where then they will be dazzled with all the free travel and converted into $$ while deals get killed (hello Safeway lol). And the hunt is for the next media exposure, the next pic and arrow post, the next fake bitching post how a bank/airline/hotel reacted to protect their business and shareholders and I could go on. Here is that link: Travel expert increases his airline and hotel reward points tally by over 400% using a clever GIFT CARD hack. Shit, I was doing Hawaii and Tahiti for free twenty freaking years ago while TPG’s nanny was changing his diapers. Oh man…I better stop.
I hear of some real hardships of some hobbyists being nailed for one too many AA mailers. Maybe they should all send a note to Ingy for killing that deal for the love of the hobby conversions. I have not seen a post of his at Pointchaser. Probably got fired. Or gave up making pennies from Dosh referral links, sad!
Both wife and son were targeted by American Airlines to receive free Platinum Pro elite status. But not me, so unfair! Actually, it is a challenge and son may hit those numbers to extend it until 2021!
Another song recommendation. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Been following this guy ever since he was a teenager in Australia fronting a band named “Birthday Party” (please do not google them, you have been warned!). Still at it over all these years. He recently lost his teenage son and his last album is so dark and…then turns so uplifting about life. And humanity. Let Ben link to Justin Bieber type crap 🙂
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Jubilee Street (Live in Copenhagen)
And I leave you with this…
TBB
travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
Follow TBB on Twitter @FlyerTalkerinA2.
You can subscribe to TBB below, winners only!
Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
Good morning!
I just stayed at a Homewood Suites on the west coast so I don’t see any cause for concern for the change in point earnings. It really didn’t have anything to sell. Yes, there was a few shelves of snacks and a fridge with drinks but that’s it. There wasn’t a restaurant and no charge for parking.
I bet this simplifies their sales pitch about points earning. That’s probably worth something.
Last Silver from Florence! One the road again and with some darned good reading from your links, as per usual, George!
After 12 weeks of AirBnB and just a few days of assorted hotel stays, I find that status doesn’t mean anything to me, just having the points and free night certs is all I want any more!
Love those graphs, too! Just keep putting money IN and eventually one will get a lot more money OUT!
The mailer deal was just plane outright stealing. This hobby is about finding loopholes that are honest. Some millenial sitting in a cubicle writes these deals, pats self on the back, only for us to find the loophole the millenial missed.
I see ever change in these cards being millenial driven. Only a millenial uses doordash and Lyft pink. The mom and dad with 2 kids is not using those services in my opinion.
Look at the features Amex and Chase are putting in place to justify their increase in fees. Which person’s lifestyle are those added features most beneficial? Answer that, and you know who recommended and pushed the changes at those companies.
Alaska airlines and Soutwest are run by smart business people.
Byron, I disagree about the mailers. Apparently there was NO language as to who could use them or anything else restrictive.
Not to mention that Citi was the one checking and issuing the cards and if they should not have been approved, that is on Citi. Plus there are people being blocked on their AA accounts that did NOT do anything against the rules and did not use the mailers, etc. People are stranded in travel, etc. AA has really done people dirty and communicated very poorly.
I partially agree with Byron. 3 cards a year using mailers is one thing, but there were people out there in 2 player mode doing 20+ a year, for millions of miles. There was no lifetime language, the mailers were transferable, but there were absolutely individuals acting in bad faith.
One did 42
Probably sone did more AND sold codes.
Hogs
Any different than applying for 10+ AA Exec Cards in ‘14-15, every 32 days? Just curious. Those links were not really public, just needed to generate them, Flyertalk had all of them out there for people to use. I don’t remember anyone saying that was ‘stealing’.
Cheers,
PedroNY
I agree, this was just Citi being Citi. Same bank that was bailed out by the government. I am surprised that AA is cracking down on this and not Citi. Is Citi aware of the problem?
Wasn’t it basically only Amex personal cards at the time that had lifetime language or rules to restrict multiple bonuses? That’s the biggest difference I see now.
At the time I probably would have done a few if I’d bean more comfortable with MS, especially when they were doing $200 statement credits.
The Exec links were public as far as I remember – was a standard ongoing offer. After the first few applications, I never got automatic approval and always needed a “supervisor” to review and approve. So it wasn’t under the radar or in any way hidden from view – there must have been some sort of internal incentive to approve AA Exec cards by the boatload. 3 player mode and we ended up with over 2.5M AA miles plus a few thousand in net cash thanks to the $200/$100 credits. Citi eventually stopped approving any new cards for us for a few years, but they kept all our existing cards open.
Hogs you say? Be aware the pigs are also slaughtered for bacon and meat as well. How much is too much? Who and how are you to say?
When hogs go so wild and gets really spread out in the blogs, businesses take action. And sadly some pigs get caught in the fix.
Where do you draw the line? This comes down to personal choices. Responsibility as Ingy will say. How come no one is bitching at him for blowing the whistle? Yeah, I miss Ingy and commenting “Yawn” in his posts at Pointchaser he no longer posts as he was probably fired. Goes to show you not to sell your blog so early 🙂
My point was this: Some went batshit hog crazy about this. And it got out. And AA responded. They have the upper hand and they can do this. Sadly. No idea why Citi did not get involved. Or maybe perhaps they forced AA to act? Nobody knows.
For the innocent (there are not that many I think) who were caught in this, maybe Dan at DansDeals is doing something. He has a knack for leading campaigns to fight back. And lawyers in his forums. Maybe go that route? Or try filing case with CFPB? As long as that agency is standing after Trump’s minions continue the culling of anything pro consumer, etc.
For the record one more time and then I go silent: You won’t believe the abuse I have heard with these AA mailers. Will make your skin…however that expression goes, I forgot. What happened to msmcmotown is NOT what I am referring to!
Just be careful out there!
Maybe Richard Kerr will do a post about it, cough.
I curious about the level of abuse? Someone had 50 cats registered? Or was is worse?
@ DML: When I get the multimillion dollar to sell out, I will have an appreciation party and honor you for being first the most 🙂 Hyatt still does not award points on charges that are not for the room only. I am just afraid something will drop again in the Hilton Honors program to…compensate for this.
@ Carl: Nice to be traveling for so long!
@ Byron: >>>>The mailer deal was just plane outright stealing.
I agree!
And you make a perfect point about so many decisions lately being millennial driven.
No doubt Southwest is run by smart business people, they ‘ve being doing it for…ever. Alaska Airlines is holding on much better than I thought they could and I am a little surprised by it. Nice to see it, we can use all the competition we can have. I still say one of these will not last by 2025 (JetBlue, Alaska, Hawaiian). We shall see, time always tells.
@ Carl: Regarding the mailers. You won’t believe what some did. Like opening new accounts in the name of their dogs to get them mailer codes generated. LOTS of dogs lol. Buying/selling codes. And more. AA has every right to shut them down and they have ALWAYS been very ruthless about it. But in the VAST majority of cases you can rest assured…what they got they deserved. I always say…you can boast short term but the real winner is the one who stays…alive (not shut down). For the VERY few cases caught up in this…yeah, it is awful but I think, after lots of time and heart ache, they can eventually find justice. Maybe they go cfpb or small claims court…
My two cents.
Thanks to the reader who used my Amazon link yesterday. 22 cents…TPG is very worried now LOL.
Its very odd to see you take the side of the oligarchs that run the banks and airlines, particularly when they screw over many people so badly. Perhaps you don’t know the facts behind the AA shutdowns? Until June of this year, the mailers did not have “non-transferable” language. Starting sometime in June or July, Citi switched to sending the offers electronically and those did clearly state that the offer was non-transferable. And just as importantly, the T&Cs of the credit card applications did not contain Citi’s 24 month language! So why would it be “stealing” to open up an account when nothing in the T&Cs state that one is ineligible for the account?
As @Carl says, Citi has been approving applications from people who bought or were given the mailers for several years now. As you well know, George, Citi has looked the other way for years as people took advantage of multiple CC signup loopholes in their system. I’m sure that you remember the 100k Executive card sign up bonuses that many of us got multiple times? So for Citi and AA to now team up–the teaming up is another unprecedented behavior we should all be concerned with–shut people down without warning, and even leave people stranded who are traveling on award tickets already issued, is very nasty behavior.
And be clear, AA has arbitrarily, with no warning, shut down AA accounts, and canceled flights already booked for people who opened as few as 3 new accounts in the last 2 years. I know of 2 people who had their flights canceled, one AFTER she had received her boarding passes the day before. She showed up at BKK to board a Cathay flight back home and was denied boarding. She only found out that AA had cancelled her flight after calling AA from the airport. She had opened up 3 AA accounts in just over 2 years, 2 of them using mailers I had given her! Citi has continued to send mailers to us every quarter, even though everyone in the household has several Citi AA cards already. There was no “stealing” by her or I, just an effort to take advantage of another in a long list of loopholes that Citi provides.
One can clearly draw a line somewhere between those that used the mailers every couple of months to open new cards and those, like my friend, who used mailers given to them by trusted sources to open a few accounts. (There are several reports of people in the same household being shutdown because they used mailer codes sent to other household members). There is plenty of room for discussion as to where that line should be drawn. As there is plenty of room for discussion as to what the remedies should be.
But nobody in this game should take the side of Citi and AA when they team up and without warning screw people like my friend, leaving them stranded half way around the globe.
I am not taking their side! I am just stating the obvious facts. Sorry abt your friend.
I am eating lunch now, will respond later in more detail.
They are on to us, it is a different era, we are not good customers for them……
Blog Reviews Update:
Taking down the following blogs from the Blogs I Like list:
Milenomics
Travel Summary
Free-quent Flyer
for lack of posts.
Convince me otherwise over this weekend.
I have a question for Ramsey.
Ramsey, I followed the advice that you gave here last January and did what you said you were going to do in buying 1000 shares of APPL stock. My purchase price was $154.06 per share. Thank you for that advice, the stock is now hovering at $310 per share. It seems like almost everyday good news comes out about APPL corp. The super cycle for the 5g phone is still a year away. I had hoped to buy more on a pullback but this stock just keeps going up!
What are you doing with your APPL stock? Should I take some profits off the table and let it ride with house money or buy some more? Thanks, I owe you a steak dinner. Bob
Ramsey:
Never confuse a bull market with intelligence. Or, heaven forbid, with stockpicking!
TBB Management
@Bob….I am so glad you took my advice!!! We are both up about 150K+ on this trade. I am not selling and I am always looking at Geo Political instances and concerns to nibble on a little more on stock price pullbacks. I would say you can hold your position for the next 5 years and you will look like a genius. No doubt in my mind your investment will be worth more than 500k than when you started.
As far as the steak dinner goes, thanks…..but make that Steak and the biggest friggin Lobster swimming the tank dinner!
Also join our Facebook investing group, we went big on AMD last year and up over 100%, it is another keeper.
Or follow my VLOG on Youtube or listen to my podcast every Friday night. Good luck Bob!
PS Bob, ignore Buzz….He is pissed of that he has to spend his day(s) at the Money Order counter at Walmart in line with all the losers buying cheap no name booze.
i do not miss those days at all.
@Bob, you forgot to thank Donald for excellent leadership. NEVER would have happened without him. Tim Apple is a loser. imagine where the stock market will be in 5 years and execute accordingly. You don’t want to miss out.
@ABC please translate into English, are you saying without Trump in 5 years, the market will be in trouble? Very astute point you make, I’ll sell in 4.5 years.
BTW, Did you see the Golden Globes when R. Gervais slammed Apple for it’s sweat shops while Timmy was in the audience?
It is well established that the market can only go up with Trump. If Pocahontas wins….. not gonna happen. Maybe Bloomberg can buy the election. One thing’s for sure Trump will win the Facebook vote. Best marketing effort in 2016. Hopefully Buzz’s son will help make the platform even more efficient. Every Facebook vote counts. Maybe time to invest in FB. Underrated.
Apple and FB stocks.
Yes I own them all. In my index funds 🙂
Raining like crazy here!
Healthcare is the largest job creator in US history. Adding 500k jobs/year. Sick! What are all of these folks doing? Can healthcare be 1/4 or 1/3 or the economy?
https://twitter.com/erictopol/status/1216029422614040576?s=21
Per year compared to other sectors of the economy
https://twitter.com/erictopol/status/1216030857745403904?s=21
Trade war can’t stop the growth.