A few weeks ago, I lamented that Groupon was no longer listed as a participating merchant on Chase’s Ultimate Rewards portal.  Well, here’s good news —  today, I looked, and blinked, and looked again…. and, sure enough, Groupon is now listed as a participating merchant with a whopping 12 points per dollar!     happy friday!

The Hyatt hotel chain includes Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Hyatt Place, and Hyatt House. It is my favorite of the hotel chains – the rooms are well-appointed and the service impeccable.  (It’s also the only hotel chain where you don’t have to ask for toothpaste!) My only gripes are – first, that there are … Read More

My favorite credit card right now is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.  Besides being gorgeous (think: George Clooney movie, Up In the Air), and having a great sign up bonus (50,000 points – valued at approximately $625), as well as the first year fee ($95) waived… it also has an amazing shopping portal, known as … Read More

There is a new promotion by Hilton — by signing up for mobile texts, and entering your Visa card, you get 1,000 HHonors points.  If you spend $100 with the enrolled Visa card at a US Hilton by June 30th, 2012, you’ll get an additional 4,000 HHonors points.    Registration is simple.  Register HERE.   … Read More

Yesterday, I wrote about how helpful KAYAK is when planning a trip – or MANY trips – in order to take advantage of the ebb and flow of airfare prices.  Yesterday, I showed how, because of a daily “price alert” email from KAYAK I was able to take advantage of an unpublished sale on Continental/United from LGA to … Read More

“Mix-n-Match” promo by NYC & Co. and American Express –  here is the LINK: The rules are pretty simple: Spend a total of $200in 2 places. Get $50 back. Here’s how: Register any eligible American Express® Card. Use that registered Card to make purchases at twoor more participating merchants listed below fromFebruary 1–29, 2012. Combined purchases musttotal $200 or … Read More

OK, so you know I love to travel and that I run marathons all over the place.  I’m not an obsessive planner, but I do plan. Since I have already completed running a marathon in all 50 states, I do not plan my marathon schedule around “the states I need” but instead, I look at … Read More

You may have noticed that there are suddenly a lot of hotel promotional sales. If you subscribe to the various hotel loyalty programs, then your email box, like mine, is overflowing with these notifications and offers. A good summary of the current sales (though constantly changing) can be found on Loyalty Traveler on the Boarding … Read More

This is the best comprehensive travel advice article I’ve seen in a long time.  If you only have time to read one – read this article from the New York Times!

2011 Medals and Credit Cards I’m sure you’ve heard it said that, in addition to actually flying and staying at hotels, the best way to earn miles and points, is through credit card bonuses. In 2011, I earned  a whopping 410,000 points/miles, merely from credit card sign-up bonuses – not counting points or miles accrued … Read More