I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[Kaufeegurl]

can anyone confirm that the charges to your magic band will code as travel on your CC as they will basically be incidentals on your resort bill? Thanks so much! (I did search and couldn't find the answer).

 

[elgerber]

@trstno1 -

The gift card loophole for Delta is closed, please don't do it.
It was news in July when this stopped working. There are some other loopholes but I'd direct anyone to our dischurners on reddit to try to keep the RAT from eliminating, those too.

https://milestomemories.boardingarea.com/amex-incidental-gc-credits/
https://onemileatatime.com/gift-cards-amex-airline-fee-credits/

I don't think this is talking about the same thing I am asking about. This is for the annual airline credit on the premium Amex cards. I was asking specifically about the one time sign up offer, not an annual thing, on the Delta Amex for a $100 credit after your first Delta purchase.

 

[AmyAnne]

I don't think this is talking about the same thing I am asking about. This is for the annual airline credit on the premium Amex cards. I was asking specifically about the one time sign up offer, not an annual thing, on the Delta Amex for a $100 credit after your first Delta purchase.

In my experience the flyertalk thread for this is the very best place to get up-to-date info; they talk about both kinds of credits and people are usually posting more or less real-time results.

 

[kmc8826]

Let's break it down-

Questions for Kim to consider:

What is worth more to you right now and say in the next 12-18 months?

MRs or URs?

Will the MSR be easily met with all-Plat/Gold/CIP (I'm guessing yes since they're all 5K)?

Is the AF palatable/do-able?

I love my plat but the AF is tough to swallow, it's definitely a keeper for now but I'll re-assess in May when the AF renews and we're in a different (lower) tax bracket.

The (rose) gold is 1 of 2 in my wallet at all times, because I gotta eat. Also, say you eat and eat out a lot and are able to make the SUB from just organic grocery/restaurant spend-that's not 50K, it's 70K and a keeper, not a card you just get to get.

So...basically if neither of you have the Plat I'd think long and hard about what it could do for you and your family. If you sleep on it and you don't need MRs that much (blasphemy!) then CIP is the obvious choice.

It's a fun conundrum to have, for sure

Look at you being all logical! I know for others my lack of a spreadsheet and game plan is no doubt disturbing.

Since we don’t fly Southwest or United and both have Hyatt cards with Hyatt points honestly all I am doing with the UR’s right now is cashing them out. Without Disney being offered I have a hard time breaking down and booking a room through the UR site...usually I can find a cheaper rate outside of it. MR’s I gained all last year are just in my account right now (as is DH’s paltry 18,000). But knowing that they can become SkyMiles is HUGE to me especially since I just used so many with the Vacations deal.

We could make a 5k spend and we could pay the AF but do we want too? We have been trying to be good and not spend as much since he wants to retire early next year (making sure can get by just fine with a reduced income). So maybe given that a keeper card like the personal Gold makes sense. DH is the one that grocery shops and unlike me right now with him working still he eats out every single day.

I have wanted a Plat for the 5 times direct with airlines. BUT given the fact just booked 10 tickets with the vacations deal I don’t see buying tickets anytime soon.

So thank you. I will go for the Amex Gold. If I/he gets the pop up then CIP #3 here we come (in a couple weeks).

I feel like I am in the same predicament as your DH! I want more points and figure MRs are best, BUT IDK if the biz gold is "worth" the fee/spend compared to other options

I have the Biz Gold. I actually like it. I got it last year on a call in offer. I have to fill up every week so it gets regular spend. 4 times on gas is great. Right now I have the Exxon deal and it is 10% off up to $100 so I feel like I am getting money back on it.

 

[PolyRob]

can anyone confirm that the charges to your magic band will code as travel on your CC as they will basically be incidentals on your resort bill? Thanks so much! (I did search and couldn't find the answer).

Yes, MagicBand charges come through as "Disney Resorts" and codes as travel.

 

[PolyRob]

I have the Biz Gold. I actually like it. I got it last year on a call in offer. I have to fill up every week so it gets regular spend. 4 times on gas is great. Right now I have the Exxon deal and it is 10% off up to $100 so I feel like I am getting money back on it.

Hmm I guess the 50,000 MRs are also worth at least $500. It is probably my best Amex biz option right now.

 

[kmc8826]

And P2 (DH) approved for Amex Gold! I tried to get it for him last January right before the sign up bonus decreased and he had the pop up so I was a bit worried but no problem.

He is underwhelmed. I just told him that unless I can find a work around he will have to plan to eat and drink a lot to use up the $100 flight credit on our upcoming flights. He was mostly confused.

Pulled the 50k offer in incognito window. With my 20k referral from the Biz Plat I think that is a decent choice.

 

[tink1970]

And P2 (DH) approved for Amex Gold! I tried to get it for him last January right before the sign up bonus decreased and he had the pop up so I was a bit worried but no problem.

He is underwhelmed. I just told him that unless I can find a work around he will have to plan and eat and drink a lot to use up the flight credit on our upcoming flights. He was mostly confused.

Pulled the 50k offer in incognito window. With my 20k referral from the Biz Plat I think that is a decent choice.

Congrats!
It's really my favorite card but I didn't want to influence you

 

[tink1970]

I don't think this is talking about the same thing I am asking about. This is for the annual airline credit on the premium Amex cards. I was asking specifically about the one time sign up offer, not an annual thing, on the Delta Amex for a $100 credit after your first Delta purchase.

Gotcha...just didn't want anyone who was new skimming and confusing the DL Amex credits with the Amex Plat/gold/green credit, basically. I can't tell you how many people tell me they have the Plat/Gold when they have the DL Plat/gold.

 

[Theta]

im continuing my other side hustle today and bought a four set of season sports tickets. Im hoping to double my money by selling them individually and free spend. This worked out well for me last year when I bought a set of 2 tickets. I'm ramping up and getting 4 this year lol. Im also considering gambling with some other teams. This sports team allows me to spilt the payment into 10 payments for no additional charge and they take credit cards for no fee.

Sounds like you are doing well with this. Did you purchase college season tickets or professional? Do you feel comfortable telling what sport?

 

[KPK02090]

I have been getting VGCs to liquidate at DG with Serve.
Is the consensus that MCGCs don’t work at DG? I need to put grocery spend on a Citi card and they currently have the MCGC, not Visa.

I’ve loaded MCGCs to serve at dollar general - no issues.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

As a WVU fan I share your hatred for RichRod. And as a Mississippi State fan I can now laugh that Ole Mess has him. And as a demoted offensive coordinator at that. And as a Notre Dame fan, I believe I am supposed to hate Harbaugh also. I am still learning on that one though, only a one year fan so far. lol

I thought y'all love DRod there in WV? I hadn't heard he fell that far down. His game plan of score one more point then our opponent didn't work in the Big 10. As for hating JImbo, maybe you won't have to learn and he'll be gone.....

 

[speedyfishy]

Sounds like you are doing well with this. Did you purchase college season tickets or professional? Do you feel comfortable telling what sport?

College basketball. I have done research on professional teams and it seems like you can make money, but it’s harder than college sports imo.

 

[amalone1013]

I'm impatient. I kind of want to try and refer myself to a Plat from DH, so then I can refer him to a Gold card. Gold seems like a keeper. Now I just want ALLL THE MRS lol

Also DH is not sharing my excitement that my shampoo/conditioner bar sampler pack came today. If my hair likes them, how great for travel! Though I'm starting to feel like I should have grabbed two small toiletry packing cubes, one for me and one for DH/shared items ie toothpaste.

 

[ten6mom]

Will you come make powerpoints at my company! I despise anytime they put them up in a meeting/training because they are always paragraphs that they read word for word, it drives me INSANE

Death by Powerpoint!

Final grade for my final class is in so I will request my tuition reimbursement when I go into work tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow is Payroll Sunday so I might even get the reimbursement on Friday's check!

I met the MSR on CIP#1 so fast, I'm stressing myself out thinking I might not make it on CIP#2 but honestly I have until Halloween to meet it and I'm already $3600 in... and now my husband is replacing the clutch on my motorcycle so there's another little bit. I will be fine but I am taking no chances! Perhaps some GCs are in my future... after all, Christmas is coming!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I don't think this is talking about the same thing I am asking about. This is for the annual airline credit on the premium Amex cards. I was asking specifically about the one time sign up offer, not an annual thing, on the Delta Amex for a $100 credit after your first Delta purchase.

I'm sorry I haven't been around much the past couple of days.

Purchase a Delta Gift Card on your desktop computer and you will get your credit. The credit on the American Express Delta Cards is for ANY Delta purchase and a gift card purchased from the desktop site will count.

Official Wording: Additionally, earn a $XX statement credit after you make a Delta purchase with your new Card within your first 3 months. ​

Lots of DPs and information here if you want to see it:

https://redditsearch.io/?term=delta...true&start=1565237538&end=1567915938&size=100
Sorry there was a lot of confusion here - it seems people were missing that this was the Delta credit card from American Express and not a Gold or Plat credit. I feel very confident in this answer for you!

 

[afan]

Nothing like over an hour of thunderstorms to liven up a Saturday night. So unusual for here too especially with the southern rolling thunder instead of just a clap bang. And it's got the UW vs Cal game delayed since just before 8 and still waiting for the storm to pass. Had been looking forward to the game, but not sure I'll even make it to the restart

 

[kmc8826]

Anyone else sad to see Club Cool, Innoventions, and the Nations Fountains close tonight? I really wish I could have schemed my way to a trip last month so I could have seen them all one last time.

Of course it does not help that I just finished tonight the scrapbook of our April trip where DH and I did the Undiscovered Epcot Tour. Seriously sometimes I just do not get Disney management these days...

 

[PolyRob]

Anyone else sad to see Club Cool, Innoventions, and the Tapestry of Nations Fountains close tonight? I really wish I could have schemed my way to a trip last month so I could have seen them all one last time.

Of course it does not help that I just finished tonight the scrapbook of our April trip where DH and I did the Undiscovered Epcot Tour. Seriously sometimes I just do not get Disney management these days...

YES! It looks so sad! I saw the updated map where they just made it all green and it made me feel bad

https://blogmickey.com/2019/09/new-...nations-club-cool-innoventions-west-and-more/

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Next question is for @SouthFayetteFan although I know he's probably still snoozing. Did you stay at the Marriott Suites in Bethany this year? If so any chance of a review? I just went to the hotel reviews thread and didn't find it.
Also, did you stay Marriott in Philly?

Reason for asking is I'm doing nights at the shore in late September, and so far have 4 nights at reasonable cash rates all with Amex offers to offset. I may just do another night and was wondering if this hotel lives up to the hype?

Hey there - I did not do a review of that hotel...until you reminded me I enjoyed writing up this review for some reason, lol - put a lot more effort into it than I expected to. I liked the hotel!

In Philly, I stayed with my sister. I could see if she'd host you, but it might be awkward

Here's the review (which is in this thread).

BETHANY BEACH OCEAN SUITES RESIDENCE INN
http://doubletree3.hilton.com/en/ho...rance-to-universal-orlando-MCOUNDT/index.html
View attachment 433804

Travel Dates: August 7-10, 2019

We stayed at this Oceanside Residence Inn using Marriott Bonvoy points for a short beach trip.

• The cash rate each night was $855+ (per night - so $2,566.54 for the stay)
• We redeemed 150,000 Hilton Points (50k per night) to stay for free. For those into unattainable cpp goals - that's 1.71 cpp - wow am I a baller! (haha!) I would imagine that this property will NEVER feature a good cash rate but it is a great value with Marriott Bonvoy points (assuming that it doesn't change categories or get hit with never-ending "peak status).
• I should preface this whole review with saying that I am not a fan of a traditional hotel for a beach trip. I'd prefer a condo, a house, or a multi-bedroom suite - so keep that in mind when you see how positive I am about this hotel.
• Summary comment: This was a well kept hotel, a great location, and VERY fun.

General Comments on Layout and Location:
The hotel consists of 2 buildings. If possible, you definitely want to be in the main building (we were). This makes going to breakfast and hitting the pool much easier. Requesting a high floor room in the main building might result in you being on the same floor as the rooftop pool (again we were) and that was awesome! Taking a "night swim" and being 100 steps from our room was great. I would not have wanted to take an elevator down and then walked outside across the parking lot to the other building after our swim.

Location is great here - you are right on the beach. You walk across a 10 foot boardwalk to the beach access. We kept our beach stuff in the back of our van which was conveniently parked under the hotel in their garage. That made getting to and from the beach easy (and was nice to not carry chairs and such back up to the room). Just a short walk down the boardwalk is what seems like a "town center". There are lots of shops and restaurants - it was a very pleasant area in the evening.

A note on the beach itself: The waves crash very close to shore and on both of our beach days, when high tide hit, it crested the front wall of the beach and trickled into (and then later washed away) people's stuff. Know the tides and when the water starts coming in, be sure to move to the far back against the fence (or just setup there for the whole day). Many people got an unpleasant surprise with coolers, chairs, blankets, towels, etc. washing away and getting soaked. I'm not sure if that occurs all the time but it happened both days we were there. Also, the water is VERY cold for somebody who is used to Gulf of Mexico water and the occasional Myrtle Beach trip. It took a lot of convincing to get in!

Amenities and Activities
They did some activities while we were there. Crafts in the morning, a carnival on Wednesday afternoon, Mermaid pictures poolside in the afternoon, A movie at the pool in the evening etc. These were enjoyable for the kids!

Breakfast was your typical free breakfast. They did a nice job - they also seated you (to make sure no random people off the street were wandering in). You could even request a table outside with a view of the boardwalk and ocean - a nice touch for sure!

View attachment 433803

There is a spa, bar, and fitness center. We didn't use these. There is also an expensive on-site restaurant that seems upscale - we didn't eat there.

The pool is a rooftop pool that is outdoor doing the day and enclosed at night (or when it rains). Reminder - this is in the main building. In the pictures below, you can see the roof/wall that can slide closed. It was pretty neat! The pool is fairly large and luckily was not busy when we were there.

View attachment 433807

View attachment 433808

Room Comments:
We stayed in a 2 queen bed room with a sofa bed. It worked well for our travel party of 5 (including my sister). It would've worked even better with just 4 as we could've pulled the table out and left the couch as a couch. The room was VERY clean and nice. We had a "partial ocean-view" room which meant you could see the ocean from your balcony. I assume they don't give ocean-view rooms out on points but it was nice to sit on the balcony and see the waves crash. This is their web photo which is basically what our room looked like (beds/seating area and kitchen):

View attachment 433802 View attachment 433805

Other Comments:
Consider driving one evening over to Rehoboth to go to Funland. http://www.funlandrehoboth.com/
100 tickets for $30 will give you a couple of hours of fun! Many of the little kid rides are 1-3 tickets. Even the top tier rides are only 4-6 tickets. It was busy but well-run and we had a great time there!