✈️ New lounge alert! Air France opened its first 11,840-square-foot lounge at LAX, its sixth in the U.S., on the sixth floor of the new Tom Bradley International Terminal West Concourse. Read more at this link.
Good morning and happy Monday from Surakarta, where I’ve spent more days this year than in my “home” of Toronto — there are just too many good points and miles deals here!
Speaking of good points and miles deals…
💳 Top Cards Update: July 2024
I don’t know if you are aware of this, but it’s July. Which is crazy. It means we’re already HALF way through the year.
It also means it’s time for another update on the latest and greatest credit card offers. Wooh!
On the surface, this month looks a little underwhelming compared to the last two months…
Since our previous number one card lowered its epic welcome offer, its rank has suffered a little bit since last month.
Still, there are some pretty sweet cards with elevated offers right now.
For example, some of the Hilton cards are still offering free night awards as part of their welcome offers.
A few weeks ago, I used one of those Free Night Awards to book a night at a $2,000 villa in Doha, Qatar.
Just a free night in a villa with a private pool, no big deal…
The fact that you could book the same hotel just by signing up for a no-annual-fee card is bonkers.
But today, I want to mix things up just a bit.
That’s because there’s a card out there that consistently offers a high welcome bonus, has great transfer partners, a low annual fee, and solid earning rates.
And to be honest, I don’t think it has gotten a fair shake since it’s always been overshadowed by its slightly more exciting competitors.
I’m talking about the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.
As you can see, this card’s annual fee is under $100, yet it still offers a TON of Capital One miles for signing up.
Those 75,000 miles can be used with some unique transfer partners, too.
For example, you can transfer your miles to Cathay Pacific, which uses a very generous award chart.
The welcome offer alone would give you enough points to book round-trip flights in Japan Airlines business-class from Tokyo to Hong Kong for just 74,000 miles.
But the best part about Capital One miles is that you can use them to offset ANY travel purchase at a rate of one cent each.
And while that’s not the best value in the world, the flexibility FAR outweighs that fact.
For example, you could use your Capital One card to book this flight from New York to London for $115.
You could then use 11,500 miles to effectively “pay” for this purchase.
We always talk about how Virgin Atlantic and KLM/Air France have such good deals to Europe for 10,000 miles or 15,000 miles one way.
With those programs, you’re still on the hook for hundreds of dollars in taxes and fees.
With Capital One, it’s just those 11,500 miles. No extra charges.
That’s hard to beat, folks…
And if you’re worried about racking up more miles after the welcome offer, don’t be.
Because this is one of the only cards in the world that earns a minimum of 2x transferrable points… on EVERYTHING.
So here’s the bottom line:
You don’t need an amazing once-in-a-lifetime elevated card offer to get insane value. Sometimes, the most valuable offers are the ones that slide under the radar.
So, hopefully, anyone who missed out on the last round of great offers (or who already has those cards) can consider the Capital One Venture card for the next addition to their wallets. 😊
🏨 IHG is sending out more promos
Okay… wtf is going on with IHG lately…? I feel bad that 50% of newsletters in the past two weeks have included an IHG section.
But it’s not my fault - because they just keep relentlessly offering excellent opportunities, and all during the busiest travel season of the year.
The latest development includes targeted emails for co-branded cardholders offering SEVEN points per dollar on everyday spending.
I received the above email a few days ago and obviously registered immediately.
Here are the details of the offer:
7x (total) points on restaurants, gas stations, and groceries
Valid from July 1st through September 30th
Requires registration
Earning IHG points is obviously less valuable than earning transferrable points…
But 7x is also a lot, so I’m happy to rack up some extra IHG points toward my next hotel stay.
For example, spending $1,000 on restaurants, travel, and groceries would earn a total of 7,000 IHG points.
For me, I see that as a free night at a hotel like this one in Shenzhen, China.
Since there is a $1,000 cap on the total allowed spend for the promotion, this deal has no major opportunity cost.
Oh, speaking of opportunity cost, I have a question for you…
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Anyway…
In addition to this offer for IHG cards, the bank in question has also been sending out similar targeted offers for other co-branded credit cards.
So far, we’ve also seen offers like this pop up for a certain airline’s co-branded cards. 👇
So here’s the bottom line:
If you have a co-branded credit card with this bank, check your email and accounts to see if you have a similar offer.
If you do, make sure you run the numbers to see if the extra points are meaningful to you.
🍪 Tasty Travel Tidbits
💰 American Airlines is currently selling miles with up to a 50% bonus! These miles aren’t quite as cheap as when IHG or Hilton has points sales, but they’re MUCH more valuable. If you’re a frequent user of AA miles, this could be a great way to pad your balance or save money on a premium redemption.
🇫🇯 Speaking of American Airlines… in a strange and potentially exciting development, Fiji Airways has announced that they will adopt American Airlines Advantage as their official points currency. This could mean some generous earning and redeeming opportunities in the South Pacific!
🏨 Hotel Award Drop: One of the hardest Hyatt hotels to book, the Alila Ventana Big Sur, has wide-open award availability between January and June 2025! Since rooms here regularly cost around $2,000 per night, this is a great chance to experience a bucket-list hotel with points (especially if you recently got this card’s elevated welcome offer and transfer those points to Hyatt).
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…or you can just buy these prizes from our website if you want to keep us all to yourself. 😉
That’s all for today, folks!
Sometimes, it’s tough to fit all of these opportunities into one five-minute email… So, I hope you don’t mind that last section where I just listed out some quick deals.
Actually, how about you just tell me what you think now:
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See you tomorrow ❤️
