Harlan Vaughn's Blog, page 30

What’s the Break Even Point for Chase Sapphire Cards?

How much do you have to spend each year for a Chase Sapphire annual fee to be worth it? The answer depends on:

Whether you spend in the bonus categories often
How much you value Chase Ultimate Rewards points

It depends on your spending habits, but let’s take a looky-loo

I’ll break down spending in 3 scenarios:

Half bonus/half non-bonus spending with points worth their base rate for each card
Half bonus/half non-bonus spending with points worth 2 cents each
All bonus spending with points worth 2 cents each

Boom!

1. Chase Sapphire Preferred

Link: Chase Sapphire Preferred – Compare this card
Link: The Top Card for Beginners? Yeah, the Chase Sapphire Preferred

CSP, you’re up first.

If you’re new to collecting points & miles, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is hands down the best place to begin. It’s where I started. And when anyone asks me “What’s the BEST points card if you can only have one?” (I get this question a lot), this one is the answer.

I loved this card to start with and always think of it fondly

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you get:

2X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on travel and dining purchases
1X Chase Ultimate Rewards point on all other purchases

The card also has a sign-up bonus of 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. And the $95 annual fee is waived the 1st year – so you won’t have to worry about these calculations until the second year.

The points you earn are worth at least 1.25 cents each because that’s their base rate on travel booked through Chase. However, I like my points to be worth 2 cents apiece, so I save them for high-value travel awards to get the best bang for my buck. Okurr?

Half/half & 1.25 cents each

Let’s say you spend roughly half on travel or dining, and the other half on everyday spending. And you use the points to book travel through Chase, where they’re worth 1.25 cents each.

To recover the cost of the $95 annual fee the second year (because it’s waived the first year), you’d need to earn 7,600 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Of those, you’d need to spend:

$1,900 on travel and dining (to earn 3,800 points @ 2X)
$3,800 on other purchases (to earn 3,800 points @ 1X)

Per month, you’d need to spend:

~$158 on travel and dining
~$317 on other purchases

Which is totally doable if you keep this as your everyday card. Once you recover the cost of the annual fee, all the other points you earn are yours to spend however you want!

Half/half & 2 cents each

In this scenario, you’d only need to earn 4,750 Chase Ultimate Rewards points in a single year to make the card worth keeping. It breaks down to:

~$1,188 on travel and dining (to earn 2,375 points @ 2X) or ~$99 a month 
$2,375 on other purchases (to earn 2,375 points @ 1X) or ~$198 a month

That’s even easier. And attainable for even casual points earners.

Full 2X & 2 cents each – My personal valuation

I added this one because this is how I personally spend and view the points. With these values, the card is an exceptional no-brainer to have and keep long-term.

Again, you’d need to earn 4,750 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to make the card worth keeping.

If you eat out a lot, the CSP is easy to justify keeping

But if all your spending is for travel and dining, you’d only need to spend $2,375 a year to earn that. That’s only ~$198 a month in those categories.

I personally spend much more in those categories. Because “travel” includes things like:

Airbnb bookings
Toll tags
Parking garages
Award bookings (taxes and fees)
And of course air travel and hotels

Remember, travel and dining are both broadly defined

The “dining” category is broad, too – and includes:

Fine dining
Bars (yep!)
Fast food
Casual restaurants (like Panera, Start, and similar)
Coffee shops (Starbucks, Coffee Bean, and similar)

So really, the Sapphire Preferred is worth keeping for nearly anyone if you transfer your points to travel partners.

2. Chase Sapphire Reserve

Link: Chase Sapphire Reserve – Compare this card
Link: Why I Product Changed to the Chase Sapphire Reserve

Think of this card as the Sapphire Preferred’s older sibling. The one who grew up and got all fancy.

Targeted: Get a $50 Gift Card for Letting Someone Walk Your Dog

Saw this offer pop up today on my Drop app. You can get 50,000 Drop points for signing up for Wag and scheduling a free dog walk (20 or 30 minutes).

$50 for treating your dog to a free walk

You have to activate the offer. Then sign up for Wag through the Drop app. Once the walk is done, you’ll get 50,000 Drop points in your account, which is enough for $50 in gift cards to popular stores like Amazon, Starbucks, and Whole Foods. My dog’s walk is tomorrow!

Drop Wag promotion: 50,000 Drop points for a dog walk

Link: Sign up for Drop and get 1,000 Drop points (worth $1)
Link: Wag offer terms and conditions

This is a pretty sweet deal if you’re targeted for it. If so, you’ll see it when you open the app either as an alert, or scroll all the way down to the bottom to find it.

If you’re NOT targeted, peeps have had luck writing to customer support and asking them to manually add the offer to your account – although it can take a few days to hear back from them.

There is NOT an end date on this promotion. So my guess is will be around for a while, if you wanna give it a shot.

The deal

I redeemed my first walk after clicking the link in the Drop app. The walk is tomorrow morning. So hopefully I’ll get the 50,000 Drop points pretty soon – they said it can take a few days to confirm you scheduled the walk and deposit the points. But I don’t mind waiting if it’s free.

What’s Wag?

Wag’s an app that lets you arrange dog walks, daycare, or boarding. When you click the offer in the Drop app and sign up, you’ll see a button for a free 1st walk.

Might as well spring for the 30-minute walk

You can schedule it for the future, or click “ASAP” to see who’s already in the area.

All walks are private, so your dog won’t be in a huge pack. And you can monitor the walk with GPS.

Fenwick is pretty chill

PV PLZ: Eating at All the Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta Restaurants

Also see: 

PV PLZ: Review of My Free Stay at the Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta
Mexico and Bust: Eating at All the Hyatt Zilara Cancun Restaurants

The best part about staying at an all-inclusive is eating your face off. And I didn’t hold back during my 3-night free stay at the Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta last week. (I am currently doing a detox and running 4+ miles a day as penance.)

There are 5 restaurants here – and I ate at most of them twice!

The stunning view from Blaze (this is the only non-food pic in the post btw)

Here’s what you can expect from the food at Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta.

Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta restaurants

Link: Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta restaurants

You can choose from 5 restaurants:

Blaze – Focus on seafood and steak, Mexican options here and there
Case Grande – Authentic Mexican restaurant with a couple of steak choices
Melanzane/Trattoria – The inside is Melanzane – dinner only. The outside seating area is Trattoria – lunch only
Pureza – Asian options with Pad Thai, sushi, fried rice – the basics
Vivaz – Buffet option open for every meal

Your dining options

I won’t cover Deli as it’s really just a coffee shop with boxes of sliced fruit. I grabbed a couple of coffees here, but didn’t dine.

Restaurant locations with the resort

Note: The linked menus below aren’t up-to-date. But will give you an idea, mostly. I snapped a couple that are current and included the pics.

1. Blaze

Link: Blaze
Breakfast Menu
Lunch Menu
Dinner Menu

This place was presented to us as the “resort fave” so I had high expectations for their steak.

Blaze dinner menu (Click to enlarge)

Cont’d (Click to enlarge)

I got the grilled beef tenderloin with mushrooms, herbs, and potatoes (the first option in the pic above).

It was… OK. I asked for it medium and it came out… well-done. Dark all the way through. I was hoping it would be so tender and juicy I wouldn’t need a steak knife. That wasn’t the case. I had to manhandle it to cut through it. The potatoes that came with it were fine. Ya know, meat n’ potatoes.

I ate about half of it and went to fill up at the buffet. Very underwhelming.

Blaze breakfast menu (Click to enlarge)

Deux (Click to enlarge)

Breakfast, on the other hand, was amaaaazing. I got the corn fried tortilla based on the server’s recommendation.

Get in my belleh

The dish was simple, but a “greater than sum of its parts” situation. The sauce was fantastic, the chicken inside the tortilla was juicy and tender, and it all came together perfectly. Probably one of the best meals I had during my time at the resort.

I’d say definitely go here for at least one breakfast. And go for dinner to enjoy the view around sunset – but ask your server for something yummy. The beef dishes were lacking – the Mexican options might be the way to go here.

2. Case Grande

Link: Case Grande
Link: Dinner menu

This place is open for dinner, but wow. This was the standout for me.

We came here to grab the salsa and guac as a lil snackaroo a couple of times.

Casa Grande dinner menu (Click to enlarge)

Dos (Click to enlarge)

I ordered the rubbed chicken and ZOMG – must must try. Hands down the single best thing I tried. So juicy, tender, a bit spicy, grilled perfectly. *chef kiss*

Oops

Oops again (Kids, don’t try to take food pics when you’ve had 2+ margaritas!)

In the sauce quartet they bring out, you’ll get:

Traditional salsa
Tomatillo sauce (spicy as all hell)
Guac
Smoky salsa

Seriously, the tomatillo sauce made me cry. I’m so white. I couldn’t handle it. My friend LOVED it though and said it made her face feel like it was on fire.

In both pics above, that’s the rubbed chicken on 2 different occasions. I started in pretty hard both times before it occurred to me to snap a photo. My friend enjoyed all of her food here, too. So I would say to definitely target this place for a dinner or two.

A couple of recs

They have mezcal here! I’d never tried it so thought this would be the perfect opportunity. Holy crap! It’s tequila on steroids!

If you’re never had it, definitely try a little – a shot the size of the thimble is all you need.

OMG BYE

Alsoooo… we went right before closing one night and tried to drunkenly order a couple of things. I got a soup and a corn cob. The corn was dry as a biscuit. I took one bite and threw it down. My friend had a similar experience with her food.

It seems they prepare a lot of the food fresh when they open and let it sit under heat lamps until closing. So I’d say go as early as you can, as they do make things fresh in the restaurant (including the tortillas).

But yeah, def a highlight. The margaritas are stellar here, too.

3. Melanzane/Trattoria

Link: Melanzane
Melanzane Fine Dining Menu
Trattoria Menu

This is the upscale Italian option. I came here for lunch (which is the Trattoria menu) and got the creamy chicken Alfredo penne.

Alfredo pasta

It looks good in the pic, but in reality was bland. :/ I wanted to like it but it just wasn’t that great. I jumped ship and headed to the buffet instead.

They also have flatbreads for lunch. I wasn’t in the mood for a heavy pizza dish right before the beach. But that’s also an option.

Caprese starter

We also grabbed an appetizer here with the intention of getting a full dinner. But this place was the only service blip we experienced. The server seemed so rushed and overwhelmed that it was more trouble than it was worth. Of all the servers, this is the only time anyone was less than gracious. But hey, we all have our days.

The caprese I ordered was very good for what it was (it’s a pretty simple thing to make). And my friend enjoyed her salad. But out while we could. Casa Grande is better for dinner, anyway.

4. Pureza

Link: Pureza
Dinner menu

Only open for dinner.

This was a quick stop for us. I got the sushi, which was fine, not great. We intended to go back again the next evening, but it was closed for a private wedding (guess I coulda just crashed

PV PLZ: Review of My Free Stay at the Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta

Also see: 

PV PLZ: How I Booked a $2,000+ Mexican Vacation for $90 With Points
Review of My Free Stay at the Hyatt Zilara Cancun

Still reeling about the completely relaxing Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarata. Now that I’m back in Dallas, I can start to process it.

The 3 nights I spent here were completely free. I used 60,000 Hyatt points for a stay that retailed for $1,300+ for the dates I was there.

In fact, the whole trip only cost me $90 out-of-pocket. Here’s how I booked it.

View of the Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta from the beach

Back to the hotel!

Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta Review

Link: Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta

The flight from Dallas took longer than usual because of incredibly strong headwinds. That added a solid hour, but we still arrived in under 4 hours total. Fine by me, I watched “Groundhog Day” and holy crap I forgot how hilarious this movie is! I was totally that guy raffing to himself with headphones on.

PV PLZ: How I Booked a $2,000+ Mexican Vacation for $90 With Points

A couple of days ago, I returned from a MUCH needed break slash reset in sunny Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific Ocean side of Mexico. A friend and I stayed 3 nights Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta. She flew down from Chicago. And I flew from Dallas.

I only paid $90 to watch the sunset in Puerto Vallarta for 3 nights

Out-of-pocket, I paid $90 in addition to 75,000 Hyatt points for the room and 15,000 British Airways Avios points for award flights on American. Here’s how I did it!

Get me to Mexico!

Following a series of tumultuous events, I felt like I crossed the finish line and collapsed. I haven’t felt that tired, drained, and lifeless… maybe ever. Now, I truly understand what someone means when they say they’re “burned out.”

Before, I thought of it as an expression meaning “really tired.” So like, take a nap and it’s all better, right?

Yup, still here

True burnout is an exhaustion that reaches into the core of you. I was eating crap and drinking too much, to cope. And stopped going to the gym.

I woke up tired. Was tired all day. Went to bed exhausted. After months of this, I wanted to go somewhere quick and warm to get some life back into me.

Just looking at this list gave me energy

With that thought, I checked Hyatt all-inclusives to see what was open a couple of weeks out, because I had plenty of Hyatt and Chase points to make it happen. I booked in early February for a trip in late February. And god, it gave me something to look forward to during that home stretch.

Finding award flights on American

I started with flights to see what was open on American from Dallas to:

Cancun
Los Cabos
Puerto Vallarta

I was leaning toward PV or Cabo because I was in Cancun this time last year at the Hyatt Zilara Cancun. And wanted to try a new one.

I found a non-stop flight to Puerto Vallarta at the saver award level. Then found it on the British Airways website.

Why pay 15,000 miles booking through American when you cay pay half the price with British Airways?

That’s because American wanted 15,000 American miles. But I knew I could get it for 7,500 British Airways Avios points – half the price! I had plenty of them left over from the latest 100,000 point offer on the Chase British Airways card (you can still get 75,000 points with it! – see points cards here).

British Airways Avios points shine for short-distance coach flights because they have a distance-based award chart. The longer your flight, the more points you’ll pay.

These flights were only 2 and a half hours from Dallas, so it wasn’t worth it to splurge for First Class. And coach was perfectly comfortable for what amounted to a couple of hours in the air.

I headed to the British Airways website and found the same flights. The taxes to Mexico were ~$34.

Then, I found the flight back by repeating the same steps for 7,500 British Airways Avios points and ~$50.

Muuuch better 

I know I got a good deal because the round-trips flights to Mexico would’ve cost $730 ($347 there and $383 back)!

Hell to the N-O, I ain’t paying that

Instead, I paid 15,000 British Airways Avios points + $84 for taxes. That means my points were worth 4 cents each, which is a super decent rate ($730 – $84 / 15,000).

Free nights at the Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta

Link: Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta

If you want to stay here free, you’ll spend 25,000 Hyatt points per night.

The total room rate for my 3-night stay was ~$1,339.

Over $1,300 for the nights I wanted

I had some Hyatt points in my account. And topped off what I needed from Chase Ultimate Rewards, which appeared instantly. I’ve been racking up Chase Ultimate Rewards points with my Chase Sapphire Reserve card for a while. It was time to put them to use.

For this redemption, my points were worth 1.8 cents each. Is that stellar? It’s on the boundary of what I’d consider a good rate. Ideally, I’d get over 2 cents of value per point. But I needed this break so bad and didn’t want to spend the cash. So I went ahead and did it.

Room rates at this hotel are over the place. I found rooms for $241 a night, which I definitely would NOT use Hyatt points to cover. But when the price jumps to around $500 a night (like my stay), heck yeah, burn those points!

For this stay, I paid 75,000 Hyatt points and $0.

The value-add here is it’s an all-inclusive. So I knew all my meals and drinks would be covered, which is a huge savings (or it was for me anyway, I drank like a monster).

Putting it all together

All told, the flights would’ve cost $730 and the room went for $1,339 when we stayed, for a total of $2,069.

And I paid:

15,000 British Airways Avios points for the flights
75,000 Hyatt points for the hotel stay
$84 for the taxes on the flight

The only other costs were getting to and from the airport. In Mexico, an Uber to and from the resort was ~$6 each way for the 25-minute drive. Seriously.

122 pesos is ~$6, I couldn’t believe it

A friend dropped me at DFW, and I used Uber credits from my Amex Platinum Card to get home. I paid to get to the Hyatt Ziva, and my friend paid the way back.

With everything, literally everything, I paid $90 for this trip worth over $2,000.

It was a small price to pay for the amount of relaxation I got during those 3 days.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are golden

I could’ve booked this entire trip solely with Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Because they transfer to both British Airways and Hyatt instantly.

This exact trip would’ve meant using 90,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (15,000 to British Airways and 75,000 to Hyatt).

I banked up my points for probably a solid 6 months. But the reward of an expensive vacation to Mexico made it so completely worth it.

Thanks for the vaycay, Chase! 

Current sign-up bonuses for Chase cards with transferrable points are:

Chase Sapphire Reserve – Compare it here. 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from
account opening (My review.)
Chase Sapphire Preferred – Compare it here. 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from
account opening (My review.)
Chase Ink Business Preferred – Compare it here. 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from
account opening (My review.)

Pair Chase cards to earn even more points

When you have one of the cards listed above, you can combine your points with one of these to add to your overall points balance:

Chase Freedom – Compare it here. $150 (15,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points) after spending $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from
account opening (My review.)
Chase Freedom Unlimited – Compare it here. $150 (15,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points) after spending $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from
account opening
Chase Ink Business Cash – Compare it here. $300 (30,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points) after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from
account opening

You can only get these offers if you’ve opened less than 5 other cards in the past 2 years (with the exception of some small business cards).

I’m a big believer in transferable points. Because you can bank them until you’re ready to pull the trigger on a trip. And often, you get outsized value like I did with mine.

Bottom line

It was easy to put this trip together, especially at a time when I was running low on mental bandwidth. I found flights by searching on the American website. Then plugged them into the British Airways site and booked using 15,000 British Airways Avios points.

The award nights at the Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta were dead simple to book with 75,000 Hyatt points after I topped off my account with Chase Ultimate Rewards points. I had the trip booked within ~15 minutes.

I only paid $84 in taxes for the award flights and $6 for an Uber to the resort. That’s it – $90 out of pocket for a trip that retailed for $2,069. Amazing – that’s the magic of points & miles right there.

I’m feeling a lot better now. And my energy is slowly returning. I’m grateful I had the points to spend a few days in a gorgeous hotel in Puerto Vallarta and rest up. Even my meals and drinks were free.

Next up, I’ll have a review of the hotel and its restaurants. Cuz I ate them out of house and home. And am going to the gym… right now.

Confirmed: FoundersCard Members Can STILL Get 4 Nights in the Bahamas (I Just Booked It!)

Oof. It’s been a rough ride for Caesar’s Total Rewards fans this year. In particular, they slaughtered their Diamond elite tier – no more lounge access for starters, unless you have a certain number of tier credits.

I’m coming back for more, Atlantis

One of the best perks about Total Rewards Diamond elite status has been 4 free nights in the Bahamas each year (I took them up on it in December 2016). And that’s changed, too.

I’m Diamond with Total Rewards because of FoundersCard. That perk was renewed through the end of January 2019.

I’m NOT a high roller but still got 4 free nights in the Bahamas

And great news: you can still get 4 nights at the Atlantis Paradise Island (a Marriott Autograph property). I had no trouble booking it over the phone with next to 0 tier credits today.

But now, you have to pay resort fees for the stay, and they’re ~$54 per night. Which is still a great deal. Just not as good a deal as before.

Looks like I’ll be going back to Nassau in May! I’m thinking of staying only 3 nights and spending the last one at the new Grand Hyatt Baha Mar that isn’t even 1 year old yet!

Total Rewards Atlantis Information

Link: Total Rewards elite status benefits
Link: Total Rewards-Atlantis partnership information

About the Atlantis benefit. According to the official website, Diamond members with less than 15,000 tier credits can get:

Literally the same thing except for the Special Casino Rate but that’s moot

It looks to be the nearly the same as when I booked it before – here’s the complete breakdown of my previous stay.

The biggest difference is resort fees are NOT waived this time this time around. They say:

Guests of Atlantis, The Cove Atlantis and The Reef Atlantis (but not Harborside Resort) will be required to pay a resort fee of $49.95 plus a $3.75 VAT charge per room per night, totaling $53.70 per room per night. The resort fee will include the following services:

Wi-Fi in guest rooms and lobby areas for up four (4) devices
Access to Aquaventure, a one-of-a-kind 141 acre waterscape
Access to the Fitness Center: Up to 2 persons per day per room
Fitness center access entitles guests to complimentary use of the cardio studio, universal and free weights only. Tennis, fitness classes and personal training sessions are not included.
Two (2) 12 oz. bottles of water daily per room.
Unlimited local phone calls
Access to the Atlantis Movie Theater
Resort Shuttle Service
In-Room Coffee and Tea
Casino Lessons

By the numbers

~$216 in resort fees for a 4-night stay basically means you can stay in at the Atlantis for $54 per night.

Is that worth it? I still think it’s a great deal, especially considering the room rate is nearly $1,500 for the dates I selected.

The resort fees suck, but I’ll still save well over $1,000

If you split it with someone, it’s an even better deal at around $27 per night, per person (which is what I’m gonna do). Plus, I found award flights on American and the taxes to fly round-trip in coach are ~$116. These flights would be ~$524 if I paid cash!

25,000 American miles and ~$116 gets me a ticket to the Bahamas

So the price comes to:

$108 ($216 / 2 is my half of the resort fees) – regular cash price is $1,473
$116 for the flights – regular cash price is $524

In the end, I’ll pay $224 for a trip to the Bahamas worth $1,997. That’s a huge discount and still a great deal!

What else comes with it?

You also get:

$100 free slot play
Atlantis Casino Experience Pass
Access to Aquaventure , a one-of-a-kind 141-acre waterscape with 20 swimming areas and 11 pools

Atlantis Casino Experience Pass Inclusions: Shallow Water Dolphin Interaction for One, Round of Golf for One, Sushi and Sake Sampler Platter at Nobu, Two Cocktails at Olives, Two Cocktails at Seafire Steakhouse.

I loved the Casino Experience Pass!

The Casino Experience Pass was the exact same before.

The dolphin encounter is actually super cool

The dolphin interaction would’ve been over $100 (only good for 1 person). Same for the round of golf (we didn’t play though, it only includes 1 player).

The Nobu sampler was heavenly. The 2 cocktails are easily worth $30+. Here’s the menu:

I got the Sky Juice martini – highly recommend

Same for the other cocktails, although we ended up getting a nice red wine instead.

So it’s easily worth $300 if you use everything. And this time you get $100 to play at the slots too, which is fun. We didn’t choose that option before (you could choose to waive the resort fees instead).

The extras, in this case, actually add a lot of fun and value to the experience.

Other things to note

This time, you have to choose between peak and off-peak. Peak times, you’ll get the Beach Tower, which is where I stayed before. And off-peak, you get the Royal Tower, which is super nice.

Off-peak stays get the Royal Tower

Off-peak months are:

May
June
September
October
January

You CAN cancel the stay if you need to. The policy is:

Guests must cancel their room 7 days or more prior to their arrival date and receive a cancellation number in order to avoid a cancellation penalty. If guest cancels their room 6 days or less prior to their arrival date, guest is subject to a cancellation charge of the first night’s room rate.

That seems totally fair. I might switch my dates depending on flights. So that’s nice to know.

The hotel also puts a $250 security hold on your credit card when you check-in. You’ll get it back when you check-out (it’s never charged, just a hold). This is common at most hotels, just nice to know what the number is ahead of time.

Worth it to get FoundersCard?

Link: FoundersCard
Link: FoundersCard Membership: Is it worth it?
Link: Preview FoundersCard benefits

I’ve had my FoundersCard membership for 4 years and still love it! I’ll do a 2018 update shortly.

Love this little guy

If you want to join, you can use my promotion code “FCHARLAN818“ to lock-in the $395 a year price for life – that’s my referral code. You can preview the benefits here. I’ve also written about many of them.

You still get Diamond elite status at Total Rewards, which gets you waived resort fees, private lines, and a $100 yearly Celebration dinner (I had mine in New Orleans last year). That benefit alone can be worth the price of entry if you’ll use it a lot.

Bottom line

There was some question as to whether Diamond elites from FoundersCard could still book 4 nights at the Atlantis Paradise Island. The answer is yes! There are just a few tweaks to the deal this year.

There’s no doubt the Total Rewards-Atlantis partnership devalued for Diamond elite members with under 15,000 tier credits. Instead of having a free option, you’re now stuck paying ~$216 in resort fees for the 4-night stay.

It’s still a good deal for 4 nights in the Bahamas, especially if you can go off-peak and stay at the super nice Royal Tower, which wasn’t an option before.

It’s also worthwhile if you can score award flights. I’ll spend $224 for a trip worth nearly $2,000. It’s similar to what I paid in December 2016.

The $100 in slot plays, Casino Experience Pass (worth $300+ if you use it all), and access to Aquaventure add to the value.

I’ve done this booking twice now and stayed there about 15 months ago. Let me know if you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them!

OUT AND OUT - Investing. Positivity. Oh, and travel.

My $100 Haul of Free Mercedes-Benz Gear (The Card With This Perk Is Going Away!)

I’ve been meaning to write about this year’s edition of $100 in free Mercedes-Benz stuff (last year’s haul is here). I still have my glasses and water bottle, but lost the coffee cup to the TSA gods at LaGuardia. :/ (I now use a HydroFlask to transport coffee to the airport.)

I dusted off my certificate and headed to my local Mercedes-Benz dealership.

Thanks for the free jacket, water bottle, and keychain, Amex!

I ended up getting a nice fleece-lined windbreaker worth $89, a water bottle, and a keychain. Total cost: $0!

You get one of these $100 certificates every year with the Amex Platinum Mercedes-Benz card. But, as I just found out from Nick at Frequent Miler, it’s going away in January 2019. If you’ve never had it, get it while you can!

This year’s $100 Amex Mercedes Benz Certificate

Link: PSA: Use Your $100 Mercedes-Benz Certificate (and What I Got With Mine)
Link: Find a Mercedes-Benz Location

Right away, I noticed a few different items than last year. Here’s what they were packin’.

Water bottles, cups, and license plate holders

Caps, beanies, and key rings

Bags, model cards, and teddy bears

There wasn’t as large of a selection as last time. Still the same staples, just less of it. And different designs.

I thought of getting some umbrellas to place in my Airbnbs, a reusable bag to shop with, or maybe a few shirts to wear under button-ups. I already had plenty of that stuff, so it would’ve been purely to get more for free.

But, a windbreaker caught my eye. Not too thick, and seemed pretty waterproof and comfy. I didn’t have anything like it. So I tried it on and really liked it.

Me likey

I’d never pay $89 for something like this. But I was happy to take it off the hanger and get it for free.

Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort, New Mexico

New Mexico is pure magic. It’s one of my favorite places on earth.

Every time I’m there, I feel deep soul-healing. Those high desert landscapes are what my soul looks like, I think. I’m so completely at peace with the mountains and wind and all of it.

So I was definitely looking forward to staying at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya, nestled 25 minutes north of Albuquerque and 45 minutes south of Santa Fe in northern New Mexico.

This little sign is where the magic began

Two friends and I drove here non-stop from Dallas – a solid 10-hour drive. We left at 4am, stopping only in Amarillo for an early lunch. A few hours later, we drove through the cute town of Bernalillo and into the 550 acres of the resort, technically located in Santa Ana Pueblo.

This is a wonderful, special resort. I highly recommend staying here if you ever get the opportunity. Here’s my experience and how I stayed for completely free! 

Hyatt Regency Tamaya Review – Arrival and check-in

Link: Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa

The hotel was under renovation when I was there, to improve the lobby. But honestly, it was already so gorgeous I don’t know how they planned to make it better.

Signs directed us to the check-in desk. The desk agents were so welcoming and friendly. They offered us margaritas while they checked us in.

I booked 2 nights with 2 separate reservations: one with Hyatt points and another with my annual free night certificate, thanks to my Chase Hyatt card (I used my last one in Austin).

 

Hallways of the Hyatt Regency Tamaya

One of the nights was for an ADA room with wheelchair access and bars in the bathroom, which I didn’t mind. But I explained we’d be happy in that room, or another if they wanted to keep it open.

The desk agent happily moved us into a bigger room with a fantastic full view of the Sandia mountains! My heart fluttered as I thought about those graceful, somber mountains waiting right outside.

The room

We headed to room 2109.

View upon walking in

Not a huge room, but enough space for us. It was well-decorated and had lots of New Mexican touches, from the carpet to the wall art to the little abode divider in the bathroom. I loved the wood floors and earth tone colors.

The room and beds

Hallway closet, luggage rack, hangers, safe, ironing setup, extra bedding

Little fridge and Tazo tea/Starbucks coffee selections

TV and desk area

The beds were super comfy! Mine had a chair next to it, and was closest to the balcony. It did get chilly at night, but the heat in the room was plenty sufficient. And it got warm during the day, so we cracked the balcony door to let in some fresh desert air.

My bed

Chair and balcony

View from the balcony (!!!)

Check out that view! I spent several long moments taking in the sunshine.

Out and Out’s Travel Goals & Plans for 2018 ✈️

Getting ready to give new life to this here dear blog. 2017 was a doozy; the beginning of 2018 wiped out a lot of my energy. I’ve spent the past couple of weeks reading, relaxing, and healing.

It’s been a long ride but I’m finally feeling a bit more “with it” after getting back from Puerto Vallarta last night (!).

One magical trip already in the books – what’s next for Out and Out in 2018?

I also haven’t told you about my trip to Denver last month. In fact, the last trip I wrote about was New Orleans from November 2017, so I have some catching up to do!

When I’m not writing here, you can always follow me on Instagram for updates. I think of it as my auxiliary journal and always post pics from every new place I visit!

Travel plans 2018 – in the books

Here are the trips I’ve already taken and booked for 2018.

1. Denver – January 2018

I wrote about the rise of marijuana tourism. And Denver seems to be the epicenter, with its numerous dispensaries and super lax laws and regulations. I went to Denver in June 2017 and wanted to go back for a “pleasure” trip ever since. This was definitely it.

The stunning Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs

We drove from Dallas, with stops in Santa Fe and Colorado Springs. Two friends tagged along. We stayed in 2 Hyatt hotels and an MJ-friendly Airbnb right downtown.

Announcing: Dallas Points & Miles Meetup Group (Join Now and First Event Info!)

File under: things I’ve been wanting to do for a looong time – a proper points & miles meetup!

I was lucky enough to regularly attend meetups when I lived in New York a few years ago and always had a blast hanging out with the community. And looked for something similar in the Dallas area – I’ve missed the chance to geek out on points, miles, and travel. I got tired of waiting and made a group myself!

Now open for new members – Out for Miles!

Allow me to introduce Out for Miles – the first event will be March 15, 2018!

A new Dallas meetup is open

Link: Join Out for Miles

It’s finally here! I made a brand new Meetup group for anyone in Dallas who wants to connect with other points & miles collectors. In keeping with the blog theme, I called it “Out for Miles” – and anyone is welcome to join.

Dallas is ideal for this because American, Alaska, and Southwest all have hubs here. I know there must be road warriors, frequent flyers, and peeps into rewards programs around here. Hopefully this pulls them out of the woodwork.