Episode 31: The Hotel Status Loyalty Trap

0:42 Bank of America $300 Personal Checking Bonus (HT DoC)

• Requires $4,000 Direct Deposit in 3 months
• You need to have a checking account with BofA to quality for their Preferred Rewards program (which provides up to 75% uplift for spending on certain personal BofA credit cards)

1:30 Banco Popular Avianca Vuela Visa 60,000 Offer (HT US Credit Card Guide)

• $149 AF not waived the first year
• 40,000 first use
• +20,000 with $1,000 spend in first 3 months with code SB4060
• Deal or not a deal?

3:53 Cathay Pacific Asia Miles Credit Card 50,000 (HT DoC)

• 30,000 after $2,000 in spend first 90 days
• 20,000 after additional $6,000 spend in first 6 months
• $95 AF not waived first year
• Issued by Synchrony Bank
• Deal or not a deal?

7:10 Stop & Shop gas rewards for groceries?

• Trial for now
• Has anyone been targeted?
• 100 = $1 off groceries. 
• Not as good as gas rewards for all but the smallest tanks (10 gallons = this)
• If you find yourself with expiring rewards this is a way to 'cash out' at 10/(your fill up in gallons). 
• Very similar to the Safeway rewards we've discussed.

10:02 Airline Shopping Portal Bonuses (HT Frequent Miler)

• United 2,500 for $600 ends 8/18
• Alaska 1,500 for $600 ends 8/11
• Southwest 2,000 for $550 ends 8/18
• AA 2,000 for $500 ends 8/18
• Smaller bonuses for lesser amounts of spend as well

10:36 Amex Adds Weekend Night Certs to $95 AF Hilton Cards + 130,000 (HT DoC)

• Surpass/Business 130,000 + Free Weekend Night
• Both available for referral
• Free Weekend Night cert for every $15,000 spent per *calendar* year, post quickly after spend threshold met
• A whopper of a deal I say

13:12 BofA Amtrak 40,000 + $100 (HT DoC)

• Some serious value he re if you’re up for Amtrak travel
• Amtrak points are worth 2.9 cpp towards non-Acela
• 2.5 cpp towards Acela
• 10,000 Amtrak points gets you 4 one-way upgrade certs
• Semi-related: You can redeem bank points for Amtrak through a roundabout method with up to 1.64 cpp of value
• Deal or not a deal?

16:07 Free Topic: Is Hotel Status an even bigger trap than airline status?

Robert: Recent stay at Waldorf Astoria Chicago

• Near total bust from a status standpoint
• Concierge emailed ahead of time and said status entitles you to 1-level upgrade *if* space is available
• Concierge pi