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Chase Sapphire Preferred 80,000 points ($1,000 in travel rewards, or 80K miles of United, Southwest, JetBlue, Singapore, British, Hyatt, etc.)

9/14/2020

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Chase just brought us an improved signup bonus for Sapphire Preferred:

80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (=$1,000 travel rewards via Chase, or 80K miles/points of United, Singapore, British, Flying Blue, Southwest, JetBlue, Hyatt, etc.) after spending $4,000 within 3 months of new account opening. Note that there is no more first annual fee waiver as before.
This bonus is not available if you currently have a Sapphire card (Sapphire, Sapphire Preferred, or Sapphire Reserve) or have received signup bonus from any Sapphire card in the past 48 months.
Based on anecdotal reports, this card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (you won't be approved for this card if you have opened 5 or more new accounts within the past 24 months; any new account with any issuer will count, not just with Chase; new accounts include most credit cards and charge cards but exclude non-Chase business cards and store charge cards).
The historical high of the signup bonus for this card was 100,000 points, but it was many years ago in 2012. This 80K points offer is the best bonus we have seen since 2012.
Sapphire Preferred is a great card to pair with the newly enhanced Chase Freedom Unlimited which offers 5x points on travel through Chase, 3x on dining & drugstores, and 1.5x everywhere else, because you might move points earned from Freedom Unlimited (which is ineligible for miles/points transfer) to Sapphire Preferred's account so they become eligible for miles/points transfer as well as the 1.25 cents per point fixed-value travel redemptions, greatly improving Freedom Unlimited's value.

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Chase Southwest personal Visa 65,000 points each (Plus, Premier, Priority) & Southwest Premier Business 60,000 points & United Explorer 60,000 miles & United Business 60,000 miles & United Club 100,000 miles

8/5/2020

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Chase has just brought back some good signup offers for Southwest and United cobranded credit cards:

Chase Southwest RR Plus Visa (personal, annual fee $69): 65,000 points after $2,000 spent within 3 months of new account opening.
Chase Southwest RR Premier Visa (personal, annual fee $99): 65,000 points after $2,000 spent within 3 months of new account opening.
Chase Southwest RR Priority Visa (personal, annual fee $149): 65,000 points after $2,000 spent within 3 months of new account opening.
Chase Southwest RR Premier BUSINESS Visa (annual fee $99): 60,000 points after $3,000 spent within 3 months of new account opening.
Chase United Explorer Visa (personal, 1st year free, $99 thereafter): 60,000 miles after $3,000 spent within 3 months of new account opening.
Chase United Club Visa Infinite (personal, $525 annual fee): 100,00 miles after $5,000 spent within 3 months of new account opening.
Chase United BUSINESS Visa (1st year free, $99 thereafter): 60,000 miles after $3,000 spent within 3 months of new account opening.

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Chase United Club Visa no longer a Top 10 Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card with the recent devaluation of United miles

6/6/2020

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With the unfortunate recent devaluation of United miles, we have to adjust our ranking. Chase United Club Visa is now replaced with Amex Green Card as the #10 Best Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card. We don't want to cover the details of the devaluation - you might visit travel blogs such as onemileatatime for details. In a nutshell, United has decided to align its Star Alliance partner redemption rates with those of its own metals, and as a result, our valuation of United miles is adjusted from 1.4 cents per mile (cpm) to 1.3 cpm. Below is a comparison of our Top 10 list before and after this change.

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The ravamped Chase United Business Visa 100,000 miles offer

1/24/2020

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Chase has re-branded United Explorer Business Visa as United Business Visa, and introduced a few changes:

Annual fee is increased from $95 to $99, and not waived for the first year any more;
Annual 10,000 miles booster for $15K spending is removed;
Local transportation is now a 2x points category; NEW
Receive 5,000 miles upon each anniversary when you also have a personal United credit card; NEW
Receive $100 statement credit upon each anniversary when you buy at least 7 United tickets of $100 or more each. NEW

Also now the card offers 100,000 miles after you spend $10,000 within 3 months of new account opening, better than United Explorer Business Visa ever offered.

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A few updates on the website...

8/24/2019

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There are quite a few updates on the website in the recent weeks, and here is a quick roundup.

Chase Southwest Performance Business Visa write-up is up - please see the Chase Southwest Visa Cards review for details. The impressive 80K points signup will get you really close to the 110K-point qualifying threshold to achieve the potentially extremely lucrative Southwest Companion Pass which allows you take a companion for free for a year.
Amex Blue Business Cash review is up - this card is no the new benchmark for general business spending with a strait 2% cashback on everything up to $50K spent per year and no annual fees. If you can leverage Membership Rewards' miles transfer feature to achieve a points value higher than 1 cent a piece (1.5 cents in our book), you'd better off with the old "King of Business Cards" Amex Blue Business Plus; however, for most business owners, Blue Business Cash is a much easier option to get $1,000 in rewards per year.
U.S. Bank Business Cash WEMC review is up. Its 3.75% & 1.25% cash rewards structure is nothing to write about, but the $500 signup bonus is worth looking into.
Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold Visa review is up. If you can take advantage of the annual free night capped at 35K redemption level, the $95 Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa is actually a better card to apply and keep.
Chase United Explorer Business Visa is offering up to 100,000 miles at signup. Before get too excited, you have to know that this comes with a rather difficult spending requirement of $25K within 6 months of new account opening. Even with the devaluation of United miles in the coming November, due to the fact that partner redemption will be kept the same, this signup offer (worth $1,250 in our book) still tops our chart of best signup bonuses.
Chase IHG Premier MasterCard offers the historical high - 125K points & $50 statement credit & 15 extra points for IHG purchase for the first year & 2 extra points for other general spending for the first year. However, due to the relative low value of IHG points, this signup offer is worth about $460 in our book.
Amex Hilton Ascend has been rebranded back to Amex Hilton Surpass, and nothing else changed. It still comes with 130K Hilton points at signup (worth $425 in our book), complimentary Hilton Gold status, and an annual free weekend night after $15K spending.
Amex Platinum Card offers 75K Membership Rewards at signup now. It is very decent offer for those who are also interested in the iconic card's Fine Hotels & Resorts program, arguably the best airport lounge program offered by a credit card, Hilton Gold status, Uber & Saks credits, 5x points on airfare, etc.

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Chase United Explorer BUSINESS Visa Signature 75K miles (best in history)

1/16/2019

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Chase has just upped the signup bonus on the United Explorer Business Visa Signature, from 50K miles to 75K miles: you will receive 75,000 United miles after spending $5,000 within the first 3 months of account opening. The $95 annual fee is waived for the first year. Our current valuation for United miles is 1.5 cents a piece, so the signup bonus is worth $1,125 in our book. This is the best offer in history for this product!

With certain United perks such as free bag fees, 2x miles on United | dining | gas | office supplies, as well as the annual 10,000 miles booster when you spend at least $25K per year, this is a great card to keep after the first year for United flyers and/or if collecting United miles is of your interest.

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Increased signup bonuses: Capital One Spark Cash/Miles up to $2,000, Capital One Venture 75K miles, Chase United Explorer 65K miles, Chase Southwest Cards 60K points each (three cards), and Avianca LifeMiles Visa 60K miles

11/16/2018

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Several cards are offering increased signup bonuses - please always check out our Promotions page for the latest credit card signup offers, sorted by our valuation.

Capital One Spark Cash Business Card: up to $2,000: $500 after spending $5,000 within 3 months of new account opening and an additional $1,500 after spending $50,000 total within 6 months. Even though requirement of the additional $45K spending to get the full $2,000 is undoubtedly on the high side, the effective cashback of 5.3% (3.3% from bonus + 2% from regular cashback) is not bad at all. For comparison, the best business card for general spending is Amex Blue Business Plus which returns 2x Membership Rewards (MR) points on the first $50,000 each year and with our valuation of MR point at 1.5 cents per point represents equivalent cashback of 3%.
Capital One Spark Miles Business Card: up to 200,000 miles: 50,000 miles after spending $5,000 within 3 months of new account opening and an additional 150,000 miles after spending $50,000 total within 6 months. Capital One Miles can be redeemed for travel rewards at exactly one cent a piece, so this signup bonus is similar to Spark Cash's. However, one thing to know is in the coming December, Capital One will finally introduce the miles transfer feature that allows its Miles to be transferred to the following partners: Aeromexico, Air Canada (Aeroplan), Alitalia, Avianca, Cathay Pacific, Etihad Guest, EVA, Finnair, FlyingBlue (Air France & KLM), Hainan Airlines, Qantas, and Qatar. The transfer ratio will be 1 Capital One Miles = 0.75 frequent flyer miles (1,000:750). Based on these transfer partners, our valuation for Capital One Miles will be 1.1 cents a piece, and the 200K miles you obtain from this signup bonus will be worth $2,200, a little more than the fixed value travel redemption.
Capital One Venture Card: 75,000 miles after you spend $5,000 within 3 months of new account opening. Similar to Spark Miles, these miles are worth 1 cent a piece when redeemed for travel rewards, but can be transferred to frequent flyer miles after December.
Chase United Explorer Visa: up to 65,000 miles: 40,000 miles after spending $2,000 within 3 months of new account opening, and an additional 25,000 miles after spending $10,000 total within 6 months of new account opening. If you don't want to spend $10K to get the full 65K miles, you may consider another offer of 50,000 miles after spending $3,000 within 3 months of new account opening.
All three personal Chase Southwest RapidRewards Visa Credit Cards are offering 60,000 points: 40,000 points after spending $1,000 within 3 months of new account opening and an additional 20,000 points after spending $12,000 total within the first year of new account opening. All three personal Southwest Visas offer the same signup bonus: Southwest RR Plus Visa, Southwest RR Premier Visa, and Southwest RR Priority Visa. Note that the Southwest RR Premier Business Visa still has an easier offer of 60,000 points after spending $3,000 within 3 months of new account opening.
Banca Popular Avianca LifeMiles Vuela Visa: 60,000 miles after the first purchase - increased from the regular 40K offer. You need to enter the promotion code LM17WB to receive this offer.

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February 8, 2017 Update - Chase United MP Explorer 55,000 miles, Ritz-Carlton Visa three free nights ending soon, and details of Visa Infinite Hotels

2/8/2017

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There have been quite some updates throughout the site and these are the highlights for the past week.

Chase United MP Explorer is offering a public 55K miles bonus, without an annual fee waiver. For quite some time, the same offer is targeted to many United MP members, and of course the public offer is always better. Note that the business version still offers a 50K mile bonus with the first year annual fee waiver.
We noticed the landing page for JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa's three Tier 1-4 free night offer was dead and re-directed to the new (and reduced) offer of two free nights. The old application link was kept alive for a few days before pulled. However, there is a landing page for three free nights that indicates an expiration date of November 30, 2016. You may try it at your discretion, with the worst scenario being you just receive two free nights instead of three. Note that Ritz-Carlton Visa is currently exempt from the infamous Chase 5/24 rule which disqualifies you from getting a new Chase card if you have opened five or more credit card accounts in the previous 24 months. As long as you did not receive a signup bonus on the Ritz-Carlton Card within 24 months, you are eligible for the new signup bonus. Keep in mind that you can't redeem the free Tier 1-4 certificates at 13 top-tier (Tier 5) properties including The Ritz-Carlton in New York Central Park, Bachelor Gulch, Naples, Miami South Beach, Miami Bal Harbour, Miami Key Biscayne, Grand Cayman, St. Thomas, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hong Kong, Shanghai Pudong, and Dubai. However, there are still some amazing properties that are Tier 1-4, such as the ones in Half Moon Bay (rates from $599 per night), San Fransisco (from $399), Laguna Niguel (from $479), Los Angeles (from $409), Washington DC (from $329), Georgetown Washington DC (from $409), Boston (from $345), Dallas (from $399), Charlotte (from $399), Reynolds Lake Oconee (from $309), Maui Kapalua (from $399), Cancun (from $299), Aruba (from $299), Hotel de la Paix in Geneva (from $475), Vienna (from $360), Herzliya (from $395), and Macau (from $460)
We discovered the website for Visa Infinite Hotels that is available to any U.S. issued Visa Infinite card. Visit VisaInfiniteHotels.com to book a hotel - you have to type in your Visa Infinite card number before start searching for hotels. Visa Infinite Hotel Collection covers a subset (~200) of Visa Signature hotels (900+ luxury hotels and resorts worldwide) but offers an extra perk such as a $75 dining credit or $100 spa/hotel/rate credit per stay, in addition to Visa Signature Hotel Collection's 7 perks (guaranteed lowest rates, daily complimentary breakfasts for two, room upgrades upon availability, late checkout upon availability, $25 food and beverage credit per stay, free room wi-fi, and VIP amenities). Currently, the only three U.S. issued Visa Infinite cards - CNB Crystal, Chase Sapphire Reserve / JPM Reserve, and JPM Ritz-Carlton Card - participate in both programs.

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Chase Sapphire Reserve Visa Infinite is finally here with an incredible 100K points bonus and officially rated #1 Best Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card

8/23/2016

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The wait is totally worth it! It has been rumored for several months that Chase would introduce this high-end Sapphire in August with a 100K points signup bonus - and now everything has come true. Please see our review for the new Sapphire Reserve Visa Infinite for details of this new favorite. Here is the new card in a nutshell:

100,000 points after spending $4,000 within 3 months of new account opening.
The annual fee is $450, but with the annual $300 travel credit that covers all expense in travel category (the industry first), it effectively becomes $150, a merely $55 more than Sapphire Preferred.
3x points on travel and dining - if you spend more than $3,667 per year in the bonus categories, you will beat the $55 difference in annual fees, and choosing the Reserve over Preferred is a no-brainer.
Travel perks include Priority Pass Select for airport lounges, hotel privileges at Relais & Chateaux through Visa Infinite and at over 1,000 luxury hotels through Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection and Visa Signature Hotel Collection , Visa Infinite car rental privileges, Global Entry application credit, primary rental car collision coverage, and waived foreign transaction fees, etc.
It offers the highest level of consumer and travel protection among all Chase cards.

Sapphire Reserve is now ranked #1 in signup bonus, #3 in rewards, #9 in perks, and #3 in protection, among all credit cards. By a large margin, it beats Citi Prestige to become the new #1 Best Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card! Let's look at side-by-side comparison of the old (left) and new (right) lists of Top 10 Best Credit Cards by Dr. Credit Card:

There are several changes: (1) Chase Sapphire Preferred uncrowns Citi Prestige, while Barclays Arrival Plus WEMC falls off the Top 10 list; (2) Citi ThankYou Premier falls from #2 to #6 due to its disappearing signup bonus; (3) there are some minor adjustments due to some changes in signup bonus and perks.

The last thing to know before applying Sapphire Reserve is that the so-called Chase 5/24 rule seems to be strictly enforced for online applications: if you have 5 or more new accounts opened and shown on your credit report in the past 24 months, including credit cards from all banks, possibly mortgages, loans, lines of credit, and even accounts as authorized users, you will get denied automatically by Chase. There are reports which indicated (1) applying in Chase branch when you pre-qualifies for the card or (2) applying as a Chase Private Client may bypass the 5/24 rule.

© 2016 DrCreditCard.net All rights reserved.

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Five Years of Earning and Redeeming Miles/Points with Credit Cards - My Personal Story

3/10/2016

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Hello, this is Sean aka Dr. Credit Card. This is probably the most interesting post I have written since I started this website and blog in 2011. Most previous posts were about credit card offers, and a few were my analysis of value (and changes) of miles/points. I never really talked about how to use miles/points, since I figure that is really up to each individual to decide. What works for me might not work for you. However, I have been debating about that approach a lot. I was already touching on the value of miles/points quite a few times as it is inevitable, and each time I tried to make it clear that it was our valuation and “your mileage may vary”. Basically the value comes down to how much I would pay for an airline ticket or a hotel night if I don’t have miles/points, rather than how much the airline/hotel charges. For example, if a round trip long haul business class ticket retails at $6,000 but will cost 120,000 miles to redeem, my miles value is not 5 cents per mile ($6,000/120,000 miles), but rather 1.8 cents per miles since I am willing to pay ~$2,200 for that ticket. I have realized many of you got confused about that part, and I think sharing some personal experience may help you understand it better and also showcase how credit card offers could be extremely lucrative.

Note that many of the programs I used in the examples have devaluated or were even discontinued after our trips, but I think the moral of the story is how credit cards enabled me and my family to have some amazing experience that we wouldn’t have afforded otherwise.

Earning: 38 cards, 2.5M miles/points, and 12 free night certificates in five years

In the past five years, between my wife and I we opened 38 new credit card accounts, and earned about 2,500,000 miles/points in 18 different programs, plus 12 free night certificates. These miles/points were all from signup bonuses and did not include the miles/points we earned through spending or other program promotions. Since 4 of the cards offered free nights in lieu of miles/points as signup bonus, we earned an average of ~74K miles/points per card for the remaining 34 cards. All these may seem a lot, we are not considered aggressive at all - we each opened about 2 cards every 6 months to ensure our credit scores stayed excellent - in fact our credit scores gradually improved over these years. There are many people out there, including some of our readers, opened much more cards per year. If you visit our Deals page, you will see that all offers we recommended have at least 40K miles/points bonus, and over the years there have been quite a few offers in the 75K-100K range. What I am trying to say here is that if we could do it, you can do it.

Experience: long haul first class/business class flights, luxury hotel rooms/suites, and many amazing memories

I will use some of our most amazing miles/points redemptions as case studies. They are not in order of time/card/program, but rather random.

Cathay Pacific Business Class Los Angeles-Hong Kong-Denpasar (Bali) round trip - 100,000 British Airways (BA) miles + $450 in fuel surcharges and taxes per ticket. Retail value: $6,150 per ticket. Our value: $2,250 per ticket at 1.8 cents per mile. How did we get the miles? Chase BA Visa Signature always have had great signup offers and back then we each received 100K miles upon opening new accounts. BA is also a transfer partner of Amex Membership Rewards (MR), Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR), and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), we transferred about 100K MR points to BA miles to complete three bookings that required 300K BA miles. Needless to say, that was great value, but note that it was before the major devaluation of BA miles and now the same trip will cost much much more. The trip allowed my wife, me and our 2.5 years old to go back to China, to spend time with families and to visit the amazing tropical island Bali in Indonesia. The 15-hour transpacific flight is pretty tough in economy class - we have been there several times. In comparison, Cathay Pacific offers one of the best business class products out there, and its flatbed equipped mini-suite makes a complete different experience. We rested well and enjoyed decent food and champagne along the way. A BA award ticket allows two stopovers in a round trip, so we actually took the Hong Kong-Denpasar flight two weeks later, which lasted 4.5 hours and for the first time in my life I wished that I stayed on the plane longer. It was interesting that on this relatively short route Cathay actually operated a three-cabin Boeing 747, just as the one on a transpacific route. After we were seated in the business class cabin, the purser Eva came over to introduce herself and politely asked if we would like to be upgraded to first class for free since the cabin was quite empty. Of course we took her offer! Not only the first class suites were more spacious and better padded, the service we received from Eva and other flight attendants were so attentive that we were totally not used to it! I immediately understood why Cathay Pacific has constantly been rated as one of the world’s best airlines.

Welcome Drink "Cathay Delight" on Cathay Pacific Business Class

Shanghai-Los Angeles-Salt Lake City-Los Angeles on United Airlines Business Class + Los Angeles-Seoul-Shanghai on Asiana Business Class - 90,000 US Airways (US) miles + $100 in taxes and fees. Retail value: $6,400 per ticket. Our value: $1,900 per ticket at 2 cents per mile. It was for my inlaws - they came over to the U.S. to help with our kids several times and the 13-hour flights in economy class surely weren’t much fun and that is why I thought if I could find availability we should use our miles to put them in business class once in awhile. Obviously that was before the American-US merger and 90K in business class between continental U.S. and East Asia was a great bargain. How did we get the miles? Both my wife and I signed up Barclays US Airways MasterCard and each received 40,000 miles. That gave us a good head start, and we also earned tens of thousand of US miles through various promotions (through the program or credit card) including acquiring miles at 1.1 a piece through US Airways’ amazing transfer promotions. So it wasn’t hard to have a total of 180,000 miles to get two awards tickets booked. My inlaws were amazed by the flights, and even though both airlines have flatbeds in long haul business class, both my inlaws agreed that Asiana offered better seats and food than United did and it was totally worth an extra stop in Seoul. It isn’t surprising, since Asiana has constantly been rated as one of the best airlines when it comes to in-flight dining and its business products are highly regarded by travelers.
Xiamen-Hong Kong-Shanghai-Los Angeles-Hong Kong-Xiamen on American Airlines and Cathay Pacific First Class - 120,000 US Airways miles + $100 in taxes and fees. Retail value: $16,000 per ticket. Our value: $2,500 per ticket at 2 cents per mile. The only segment on American was from Shanghai to Los Angeles, and short haul segments were in business class since first class was not offered. For a short period time before US Airways frequent flyer program merged into American’s, US miles were particularly valuable since they could be used not only on Star Alliance partners (such as United and Asiana in the previous example) but also on oneworld partners (such as Cathay Pacific). The awards tickets were for my parents - it is the same thinking as in the previous example - we couldn’t be more thankful to them and always feel guilty that they need to travel this long distance at their ages. Since I couldn’t find availability in business class, I just went one step further to put them in first class. Only on the return leg I could find two first class seats on Cathay so I used American on the outbound leg, understanding that their first class products were pretty mediocre. How did we get the miles? We did it again with US miles - as explained previously we had a decent size balance of US miles even after burning 180K for my inlaws and at the time of booking, we were short of 70K miles. I thought it wasn’t a big deal since US Airways is a SPG partner and I could easily transfer some SPG points. However, I made a huge mistake that I transferred my SPG points to my wife’s US Airways account, which isn’t allowed. I almost kicked myself when I found out - even though I knew I would get those miles back I just didn’t have time to hold the awards which were hard to come by. Luckily there was a promotion going on allowing me to purchase US miles directly at 1.88 cents per mile and I immediately purchased 70K miles. Then I finally had the 240,000 US miles to complete the bookings. My parents were very excited to take the flights and agreed that Cathay Pacific’s first class products blew American’s out of the water. My mom also enjoyed the Krug champagne on Cathay Pacific so much that she drank a little too much. When asked how she liked her first experience of caviar, she thought it was salty and not very impressive. :)
Tokyo-Los Angeles one way on Singapore Airlines Suite Class - 74,000 Singapore Airlines (SQ) miles + $130 in taxes and fees. Retail value: not available since the revenue ticket is sold in round trip and it costs $14,000 per round trip. Our value: $1,300 per ticket at 1.6 cents per mile. This is actually a flight my wife and I will take in June, so I don’t have the first hand experience yet. However, these awards are highly sought after since this product is considered one of the best first class products in today’s sky. Suite class is nothing but a glorified first class product exclusively available on A380 and obviously much nicer than Singapore’s regular first class found on other aircrafts. Each suite has a sliding door, and the two middle seats can be transformed into a full size bed if the couple occupy them elect so. We reserve two middle seats and are very excited to see how it all turns out. Unlike its regular first class products, Singapore won’t release any suite class seats to its partners so you can’t book them using AA or BA miles, and that is why we booked using SQ miles. How did we get the miles? It is actually not hard at all to collect SQ miles, since SQ is a partner of four major programs that allow points-to-miles transfer: SPG, UR, MR, and Citi ThankYou (TY). I transferred 130K TY points, accumulated from signup and spending on my Citi Prestige, and 20K UR points to get enough SQ miles for our bookings.

Sunset over Pool at the Fairmont Kea Lani

Executive Suite at the Fairmont Orchid Hawaii

Maximizing Chase Fairmont Visa Signature - eight free nights in fabulous suites and more. We love this card! Upon opening a new card and meeting the spending requirement, you will receive two free night certificates and four $25 breakfast certificates; the Fairmont Premier status come with the card gives you five additional certificates: one suite upgrade, one room upgrade, one third night free, and two $25 dining/spa. Our first Fairmont experience was at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Maui. Both my wife and I signed up the Chase Visa, so that we enjoyed four nights in a 800 sq. ft Garden View Suite for free, which retailed over $550 per night, and we used the $150 certificates toward breakfasts. Since the basic room type at this resort is a suite, the suite upgrades only got us one category up, which was better than nothing. The resort has three beautiful pools, and the beach in front of the resort has some finest sands on the island. After about a year, I planned another Hawaiian vacation involving using the ongoing benefits of the card. My wife canceled her card but I renewed mine with a $95 annual fee. I also charged $12K on the card during my first year to receive another free night certificate. I booked two nights at $329 each in a basic room at the Fairmont Orchid in Big Island Hawaii through Amex FHR (which will be discussed in more details later) to receive complimentary breakfasts and a $100 spa credit, then applied the Third Night Free and the Visa Free Night certificates to get another two nights, and finally used the suite upgrade to get us in a 1,000 sq. ft Executive Suite which retailed at $799 per night. So our total cost for four nights in this suite, $80 breakfast credits, and a $150 spa credit all came down to a mere $660 plus taxes - amazing value. The resort is beautiful with newly renovated rooms and two pools which we never used, since we spent most time on the beach and in the shallow ocean water in the bay. We also celebrated our five years old’s birthday at Brown’s Beach House. After having great experience with the Chase Fairmont Visa, I had my wife apply for this card again late last year, as soon as I heard that the Grand Del Mar in San Diego, which has been constantly rated as one of best resorts in California and in the entire country, joined the Fairmont chain. Per Chase T&C, you will receive the signup bonus again if you are not a current cardholder and the last time you received the bonus was more than 2 years ago. Needless to say, when we visited the Fairmont Grand Del Mar earlier this year for our anniversary, we enjoyed two nights in a 1,000 sq. ft Prado Suite and $150 breakfast/dining certificates, all complimentary from Chase. The suite retails at $1,000 per night and is beautifully appointed in a classic Italian decor with two bathrooms. Our dining experience at Amaya, their main restaurant, was also amazing.

Prado Suite at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar

Park Hyatt Paris and Park Hyatt Tokyo - two free nights from Chase Hyatt Visa Signature. They are for our upcoming June trip. I wanted to used both free nights at Park Hyatt Paris but I couldn’t find any availability other than one night so I decided to use the other at Park Hyatt Tokyo. Paris hotels are notoriously expensive, let alone one of the most luxurious properties in the city. A basic room at Park Hyatt Paris retails at $1,150 per night at the time of our visit. Park Hyatt Tokyo is a property that defines a new era of luxury Tokyo hotels since 1990s, and a basic room retails at $575 per night at the time of our visit.
JW Marriott Shenzhen - 90,000 Marriott points for 7 nights. This five-star business oriented hotel in Shenzhen was a Category-3 hotel at the time of our visit back in 2012, and is now a Category-5. Retail value: $200 + taxes per night. Our value: $89 per night at 0.8 cent per point. How did we get the points? We signed up Chase Marriott Premier Visa Signature as well as JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa Signature, and it was not hard to pool a lot of Marriott points (Ritz-Carlton points are essentially Marriott points). The hotel totally lived up to the five-star rating in terms of rooms, service, and food & beverage. Thanks to the Marriott/Ritz-Carlton Gold status come with my JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa, we also got complimentary access to the Executive Lounge, which provided meals throughout the day and was much better than most hotel lounges in the U.S.

Executive Lounge at JW Marriott Shenzhen

Eight nights at four Radisson Blu hotels in France - 25,000 to 35,000 Club Carlson points per night. These are also for our upcoming trip in June, and I booked awards nights before the June 2015 devaluation from Club Carlson and the US Bank co-branded credit card. Now the same award night will require double or even triple points. Retail value per night: Radisson Blu Le Metropolitan in Paris $436, Radisson Blu Champs Elysees in Paris $523, Radisson Blu Nice $376, Radisson Blu 1835 Cannes $326. Our value per night: Radisson Blu Le Metropolitan $175, Radisson Blu Champs Elysees $175, Radisson Blu Nice $125, Radisson Blu 1835 Cannes $175, based on 0.5 cent per point value. How did we get the points? We both signed up US Bank Club Carlson Visa Signature, and each received 85,000 points at signup and an additional 40,000 points upon the first anniversary. In addition, we also had some left over points from previous Club Carlson promotions. It was not hard to pool 260,000 points for these bookings. These Radisson Blu are all five-star business oriented hotels, which while not the most luxurious in their cities should be pretty nice I will assume.

Panorama View Room at Park Hyatt Aviara Resort

View from Terrace Suite at the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, an Autograph Collection Hotel

Above are just some examples of how we used hotel points and credit card free nights for our hotel stays, and we have done much more during the past several years, from luxury to budget hotels. In addition to using points and free nights, we also leveraged Fine Hotels and Resorts (FHR) and other similar programs when paying “cash” for hotel stays. FHR is an Amex program dedicated for its Platinum Card and Centurion Card members. It covers more than 800 luxury hotels and resorts worldwide, including chains such as Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula, St. Regis, Park Hyatt, Waldorf Astoria, Rosewood, Fairmont, Aman Resorts, Six Senses, Banyan Tree, and many individually managed hotels. Through FHR, you pay the same Best Available Rate as you would when booking directly with the hotel or through a third-party agent, but you receive exclusive perks: daily complimentary breakfasts for two, room upgrades upon availability, guaranteed 4pm check-out, and a hotel specific amenity (usually once per stay) such as a $100 dining/spa/hotel credit, a complimentary lunch or dinner for two, or 50-minute massage treatments for two. In addition, many FHR hotels regularly participated in 3rd Night Free or 4th Night Free promotions. There are several similar programs, including Virtuoso (not tied to a bank/credit card, but you need to find a Virtuoso agent to work with you), Signature Travel Network (similar to Virtuoso), Ensemble Travel Group (similar to Virtuoso), Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection (for Visa Signature card members), World Elite Luxury Hotels and Resorts (for World Elite MasterCard members), etc. Now I will give a few examples how we leveraged these benefits for our stays. Park Hyatt Aviara Resort - Panorama View Room retail value $300 per night & our value $70 per night. I booked a basic room for three nights at $250 per night, and the benefits we received included a two-category room upgrade, the third night free, daily buffet breakfasts for two (retailed at $50, our value $30), waived resort fees ($25 per night), a $100 resort credit per stay, a $25 F&B credit per stay, and welcome amenity in the room. You do the math. Highlight of the hotel: friendly staff and impeccable service. The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, an Autograph Collection Hotel - Terrace Suite retail value $280 & our value $100. The view is the key - if you are in the right side of the hotel you will enjoy the best view of Vegas. I booked a $230 suite that doesn’t have the famous fountain view, but I knew the next category would guarantee a view. In fact, they upgraded us three categories to the Terrace Suite which not only has a gorgeous view but is a larger suite of over 900 sq. ft. We also enjoyed check-in at the VIP lounge (to bypass the long line), buffet breakfasts for two at the Wicked Spoon (retailed at $48, our value $30), a $100 spa credit which my wife used toward manicure and pedicure. Highlight of the hotel: gorgeous Bellagio Fountain and Strip view. Four Seasons Residence Club Aviara - 1BR Residence retail value $595 & our value $120. I booked a basic room at $260, and received a $75 breakfast credit (our value $40), a $100 F&B credit which we used toward dinner, and a one-category upgrade to the beautifully appointed residential suite of over 1,200 sq. ft. Highlight of the hotel: one of best hotel suites I have ever stayed in to date. Taj Campton Place, a member of The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) - Deluxe Room retail value $300 per night & our value $132 per night. I booked a basic room for four nights at $250 per night, and received the fourth night free, a one-category upgrade, daily $60 breakfast credits (our value $30), and a $100 F&B credit which we used toward lunch. While the hardware was probably not up to the five-star or LHW standards in my opinion, the service must have been among the best we have received in a U.S. hotel and could be on par with a good luxury hotel in Asia. If you wonder, yes, Asian hotels are mostly better in service than the U.S. hotels. Hotel Park City, a member of LHW at the time of our visit and now an Autograph Collection Hotel - Luxury Suite retail value $299 & our value $45. I booked a basic suite for $179 and received a three-category upgrade to a huge 1 BR suite of over 1,400 sq. ft, a $16 breakfast credit, and complimentary 50-minute massage treatments for two (retail value $200+, our value $120). Highlight of the hotel: rustic and understated luxury in a beautiful surrounding. Casa Marina Key West, a Waldorf Astoria Resort - Ocean View with Terrace retail value $449 & our value $140. I booked a basic room for $279 and received a three-category upgrade to a recently renovated room in the historical wing with a huge terrace overlooking the resort pools and ocean, a $100 breakfast credit (our value $40), and a $100 resort credit which we used toward dinner. Highlight of the hotel: the resort’s main restaurant Sun Sun, which offers great seasonal food in a open air ambience and an amazing sunset view.

Residence Suite at Four Seasons Residence Club Aviara

Lobby at Hotel Park City

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