Harlan Vaughn's Blog, page 47

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

Lots of folks got the 75,000 Amex Membership Rewards point offer on the Amex Mercedes-Benz card earlier this year (including me).

If that’s you, you should’ve received a certificate in the mail for $100 toward “genuine Mercedes-Benz parts and accessories.”

I frequently pass a M-B dealership in Dallas, and one weekend afternoon, I decided to pop in and see what I could get.

So here goes!

My experience redeeming the $100 certificate

I headed to the back counter and noticed all the merchandise displayed in the waiting area.

Lots of peeps were waiting to speak with a salesperson, or for a repair.

They had a nice spread of coffee, lemonade and other drinks, and a few containers of snack mix, which was nice. It was almost like a proper lounge area. But it’s M-B so they better do something nice, right?

The employee running the desk didn’t bat an eye when I showed him my certificate. In fact, he said something to the effect of, “Go shopping!”

So, armed with that blessing, I went to see what I could grab – for free.

What’s available

Link: Find a Mercedes-Benz Location

I went to Park Place on Lemmon Avenue in Dallas, about a 10-minute drive from my place.

My nearest Mercedes-Benz location

I snapped several pics of the various merchandise. This location had a lot of stuff.

I’ll let them speak for themselves, get ready to scroll!

Fancy pens, watches, USB drives, and keychains

Coffee mugs, shake cups, and water bottles

License plate frames and coffee mugs

Lunch bags, totes, stainless steel water bottles

Hats, visors, polos, workout shirts

Is somebody gonna get that teddy bear in the corner? :)

License plates, polish, hood ornaments

Sunglasses, ear buds, and bonnets? This is just too much

As you’ve gathered, there’s a huge variety of stuff to choose from.

Is any of it life-changing or super amazing? Not really. But it’s free and some of it has functional utility, so why not? Free is free, eh?

Plus, it’s kinda fun to browse the stuff and know you’re gonna walk out with it… for nothing lol.

My picks

Here’s what I got:

Thanks, Amex and Mercedes-Benz!

Two glasses
Two high balls
Shaker cup
Stainless steel water bottle
Portable coffee mug
Keychain

I added the keychain to put me over the $100 mark at the encouragement of the guy behind the desk. He was super helpful about pulling everything out and packaging it for transport (especially the glasses).

And it felt so awesome to walk out with a huge bag full of stuff for the low, low price of… $4.71.

My receipt from the Mercedes-Benz store.

I use the coffee mug a lot – it’s actually a great build and very leak-resistant.

The high balls are fun for a quick cocktail while recording my musings here at Out and Out. And I take the water bottle with me to the gym because it’s bigger than the one I had. #hydrationrocks

Like I said, I didn’t really need any of the stuff, but if it’s there for the taking, why the heck not?

Bottom line

I’ve asked many peeps who got the 75K Amex Mercedes-Benz offer what they did with their certs. Answer ranged from “threw it away” to “shoved it in a drawer somewhere.”

It expires a year from issuance, so I encourage you to find your nearest Mercedes-Benz Location and dust that baby off!

Some of it might have practical use and heck… you can always get some car polish and spiff up your own vehicle. Might as well get something out of it.

Did you know all of this was available? What’s on your Mercedes-Benz “shopping list?”

* If you liked this post, consider signing up to receive free blog posts via email (only 1 per day!) or in an RSS reader and you’ll never miss an update! And thanks for using my links to apply for new card offers!

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

Hilton Makes More Award Rooms Available for Diamond Elite Members

I made a glancing comment on my Booking Hawaii: Part 3 post:

There were technically no award nights available, but I love the soft perk of Hilton giving Diamond guests enhanced award availability.

(Yasss, quoted myself!)

Which prompted some discussion in the comments. Drew asked for more detail. And Brandon reported getting more award space at a lower rate.

Aye verily, I was able to book an award stay when no award rooms were “technically” available:

Boom

Hilton also has the room rate as “confidential.” Fancy!

This is, as far as I know, an unpublished benefit of the Hilton HHonors program.

They go on to say:

How Hilton describes this perk

If you’re Diamond with Hilton, this could come in handy more often than you think.

Is this actually useful?

It can be!

I’ve seen many “no rooms” messages for an award stay, only to have rooms miraculously appear after I log in.

Case in point, I searched for 4 nights at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Philadelphia Center City in late September – not logged in.

Nuh uhhh

All Hilton has to say about the matter is “sorry ’bout it.”

Unavailable

In fact, this whole period of a couple of weeks seems sold out.

So then I logged in.

Magically available

I could suddenly book a 4-night stay for 50,000 Hilton points per night. And Hilton even reminded me that rooms were “filling up quickly! Don’t wait!”

Rooms around this time cost roughly $330 per night after taxes, which makes each Hilton point worth over half a cent each (.066 cents each) – which is about what you can expect with Hilton points.

If you matched to Hilton Diamond

Lots of peeps, including yours truly, matched to Hilton Diamond elite status in late 2015.

Works in Philly, worked in Hawaii too

Since then, I’ve only redeemed my Hilton points once – and that was for the Hawaii trip. This exact Diamond award availability came into play for the dates I wanted.

Without status, Hilton wouldn’t have given me anything.

So in my case, this benefit was truly meaningful.

And, like in the example above, you never know when they’ll throw you a bone. I don’t know of any other hotel chains that make extra award nights available to their elite members – so this is another +1 for #TeamHilton.

It’s not worth switching to Hilton just to take advantage of this or anything.

But if you matched, be sure to log in when you’re searching around the site – you might get more award rooms and/or a better price on your award stay.

Bottom line

I don’t believe this is an anomaly. Based on searching around the Hilton site for the better part of a year, I’ve noticed the “DIA” (Diamond) award room rate available for many of them. So I can pretty confidently say this is an unpublished “soft perk” of Hilton Diamond elite status.

Remember, you also get the 5th night free on award stays if you have any type of status with Hilton. So if you’re able to combine expanded award availability with a 20% discount – hey, even better!

Again, it’s not worth switching to Hilton for this alone.

But, combined with some pretty nice upgrades, a crap ton of points for every stay, and free breakfast every day, not to mention they’re everywhere!, I’ve been satisfied with Hilton this year.

Us Hilton folks are few and far between, but I’m curious – has anyone else noticed more award nights if you have Diamond status? This is a pretty sweet bonus if your dates happen to line up with extra rooms and discount.

* If you liked this post, consider signing up to receive free blog posts via email (only 1 per day!) or in an RSS reader and you’ll never miss an update! And thanks for using my links to apply for new card offers!

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

Hotel Review: Homewood Suites Albuquerque Uptown

Also see: 

Just Booked a Trip for Next Weekend in 10 Minutes (Instant Transfers Save the Day!)

I was in ABQ this past weekend checking out some potential investment properties.

I’m not sure I found a good mix of price, appreciation, rental demand, and location – but maybe I’m being too picky. It’s a whole other thing I’m thinking through now.

To set the stage for this heady trip, I booked 2 nights at the Homewood Suites by Hilton Albuquerque Uptown (and booked the flights and car rental, all within 10 minutes).

Breakfast area at the Homewood Suites Albuquerque Uptown

It was so good to remember the serenity of the high desert. The days were gorgeous. And the skies there are incomparable. I love seeing mountains in the distance. I’ll take mountains over sea any day.

After landing, I immediately drove to the East Mountains to meet the real estate agent. And checked in to the hotel around 8pm that night.

Arrival and check-in

I was what the kids these days call exhausted.

The desk agent was very friendly, noted my Hilton Diamond elite status, and offered to load me up with bottled water. She put a bottle in each of my bags and in both hands. And gave me a package of Milano cookies.

She told me about the breakfast, how to connect to wifi, and asked if I needed an area map. The whole thing took only a few minutes – she was extremely thorough and made me feel welcomed.

Hallways of the Homewood Suites Albuquerque Uptown

I headed up to the 6th floor, and to my room, 613.

The room

Though it was a suite, the room was pretty basic (as was the entire hotel). Everything was nondescript but functional – that seemed to be what they were going for.

View upon walking in

Kitchen area

There was a table with a couple of chairs that I used as a desk. Kind of an awkward placement in the middle of both the kitchen and living area.

Water and cookies

Dishwasher, microwave, coffee area, fridge

Plenty of dishes

The kitchen was stocked with lots of cups, plates, bowls, and utensils, in case you want to cook or prepare meals en-suite.

Living room

Bed

Sink (and hello!)

Closet with rack, hangers, extra pillows & blankets

Neutrogena toiletries

I liked the Neutrogena “Clean” toiletries.

Bathroom

I love good bathroom lighting lol

And here are a couple of alternate views so you can see how it all comes together:

View from the window, in living room

View from the window, in bedroom

My view

Overall, it satisfied all my tenets of a good hotel room: clean, quiet, comfortable bed, and blazing-fast wifi.

The property

Sorely lacks personality, but it’s all about function, not form. As a business traveler, I give them points for a decent (free!) hot breakfast and having coffee available in the lobby 24/7. I definitely refilled my cup each time I walked by.

I didn’t snap breakfast pics because I was rushing like a maniac both days – and there was a greeter (?) standing in the breakfast area the entire time.

I’d never seen that before. A girl just monitoring everything constantly. Safe to say she was on top of everything.

The breakfast had biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon and sausage, yogurt, cereal, fruit, juices, and coffee – the basics. The hot items were pretty filling and the coffee was decent. They had a few different varieties, which I appreciated.

If you’re traveling with family (or even not), the free breakfast here is definitely a huge win – no elite status required.

Breakfast area

Coffee available always! (Entrance and check-in desk in the background.)

Computer station

There were also a couple of computers in the lobby in case you needed to print anything. There were people at them pretty much constantly.

A couple of gripes
Two elevators?

For a hotel with over a hundred rooms and 6 floors, their elevator situation wasn’t great. They only had two elevators to service the entire property – and they were slow as molasses.

One was on the right, the other was all the way on the other side. Why not have two elevators on each side, for a total of four?

It was particularly irksome during the day because the staff used it to move their carts around – and the elevators were also small. So you were really packed in there.

Getting in and out was kind of a pain in the ass. Wish I’d just stayed on the first or second floor.

Tip: Do just that if you stay here!

Seriously, leave me alone

Checkout at this hotel was 12pm and my flight home was at 6pm. So I knew that no matter what, I’d be sitting somewhere for a few hours.

I went down to the desk to ask about a late checkout. As a Diamond guest (god that sounds douche-y), I was hoping for a 2pm checkout (or later if they could swing it).

They offered me a… 1pm checkout. Gee, a whole other hour.

So I went back up and tried to get some work done.

Around 11:30am, the cleaning staff knocked on the door. I explained I had a 1pm checkout and that I’d be out shortly before then. I put up the DND sign.

They TOOK my “Do Not Disturb” sign

Whatever, back to work. Around 12:15pm, they knocked again. I was irritated, because I was actually trying to work. Also like, what if I was trying to sleep before a long flight? Seriously, do not disturb means just that.

I yelled through the door that I was fine, thanks. Then I packed up to leave.

On the way out, I saw they’d removed the sign. And at the end of the hallway (to go to one of the 2 elevators), a couple of maids were leaned against the wall, arms crossed, scowling because I’d stayed a whole extra hour. Wow. Talk about an awkward moment as I had to pass them.

Also, geez. I really only an extra 30 minutes because what can you do in an hour?

Anyway, after that I turned in the keys and drove to the airport to settle in for a few hours.

Bottom line

This hotel is across from ABQ Uptown, a huge (Simon) mall with a few restaurants and lots of shops. So it was nice to grab dinner in the evenings within easy walking distance.

After driving around Albuquerque, I wished I’d stayed closer to University/Nob Hill instead. There was more fun/artsy/quirky stuff and more going on in general there.

I loved the fun and funky Nob Hill bars (and the microbrew scene is incredible!)

If/when I get back to ABQ, I’ll stay in this area instead. And for someone doing general visit, it’s actually more accessible to the main interstates, too. So overall, I wouldn’t recommend Uptown ABQ unless you have business in the area.

And overall, I wouldn’t stay at the Homewood Suites Albuquerque Uptown again.

I can usually find good things about most hotels. The rooms check off all the right boxes, but the elevator and rush to checkout don’t make me want to return any time soon.

And, even for a chain hotel, this particular location mostly stands out for being forgettable.

Have you stayed here or at another hotel in Albuquerque? Any recommendations on a good place or neighborhood to stay? 

* If you liked this post, consider signing up to receive free blog posts via email (only 1 per day!) or in an RSS reader and you’ll never miss an update! And thanks for using my links to apply for new card offers!

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

Booking Hawaii: Part 3 – Hilton Hawaiian Village and Tending Reservations

Also see: 

Booking Hawaii: Part 1 – Flights for 4 to Honolulu
Booking Hawaii: Part 2 – Using Citi ThankYou Points for Award Flights on Delta and United
TripBAM Monitors Your Paid Hotel Rates & Alerts You If the Price Drops

I’ll go ahead and tell you the moral of this story: tend to your reservations.

After booking 4 flights to Honolulu, then adding my little brother into the mix, the final piece of the puzzle was to book the hotel rooms.

Step 1: The paid stay

Link: Hilton Hawaiian Village

When I visited Hawaii in 2013, my main takeaway was how much I’d like to go back to the Hilton Hawaiian Village and sit on my butt for a solid week. Poetic, right?

Yes, Maui was fun, and I loved the topography of the volcanic Big Island, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t love being in that resort. As schmaltzy, white-bread, and basic as it sounds.

Just, yeah, gimme that!

My mom hasn’t traveled much. She’s barely flown. I asked if she wanted to island hop a bit, but she said she’d rather get to one spot in Hawaii and take it all in. Of course I knew just the spot…

Her husband (my stepdad) has limited vacation days, so she said they could stay 4 nights.

4 nights? Ding ding ding – Citi Prestige.

I decided to put my name on the room, add my Mom as a guest, and book it with Citi Concierge.

~$910 for 4 nights in Hawaii

That’s about ~$228 per night. Not bad, considering I’ll also earn a boatload of Hilton points, hopefully score an upgrade for them, and get a $20 dining credit each day I’m there (for being Diamond).

I immediately plugged the confirmation number into TripBam and settled into the knowledge that Hilton would probably have a sale at some point between booking and arrival.

(Here’s my write-up on TripBam.)

Sure enough, the rack rate fell to ~$200 per night.

Love it when rates fall

So I called Hilton and had them apply my new room rate to the same confirmation number. This is key.

Because all Citi sees is the confirmation number. And they have no idea what portion of the final charge is for the room and what’s for food and drinks. And I’m sure I’ll be adding plenty of Mai Thais to the rooms.

Promos Gone Wild: Earning Miles & Points For Rent (Guest Post)

Hey all! Meet Spencer!

He loves the Plastiq and Citi AT&T Access More combo as much as I do. I thought it would be fun to add his ideas about the recent RadPad promotion debacle that lead to the new Plastiq offer – to shake it up a little here at ol’ Out and Out.

Get an Extra 3X on Gift Cards at Staples (So 8X If You Have a 5X Office Supply Card)

Update: Wow, instant response! Chuck from Doctor of Credit let me know this may or may not work. So for now, I think the best thing to do is start slow at your local Staples (like try $5 and see if it works) and go from there, should you decide to try this. Thanks all for any info you want to add!

I was poking around as I am wont to do and assembled an 8X combination that I think will work.

Now, I haven’t done this myself, but it seems totally do-able.

What you’ll need to get started is:

The MileagePlus X app (which I’ve written about) AND
If you want 8X points, a Visa or MasterCard that earns 5X at office supply stores

Such as:

Chase Ink Plus
Chase Ink Cash

You can also get 5X on top of what you’ll earn from any other card with the exception of a couple of Amex cards.

Or, if you’re trying to meet a minimum spending requirement and want to get an extra 3X at office supply stores, this should work nicely.

Stack 3X through MileagePlus X with 5X on another card

Link: MileagePlus X App: Earn Bonus United Miles at Amazon, eBay, & More

Check this out. (Oh, before I start MileagePlus X is an app. You’ll need to install it on your phone.)

Get 3X at Staples via MileagePlus X

When you buy a Staples gift card through Mileage Plus X, you’ll earn 3X United miles.

But the cool thing is when you pay with a Visa OR MasterCard, the category bonus codes appropriately. In this case, office supply stores.

So if you have a Visa or MasterCard that earns 5X at office supply stores, you can get 8X – 5X of your normal points + 3X United miles.

This is based of a data point I found on this FatWallet thread.

Pretty much any gift card (Click to enlarge.)

According to this, as recently as July 2016, you could use Staples gift cards to purchase other third-party gift cards, including Visa/MasterCard and, it seems, pretty much any other gift card they sell (shoutout to eBay and Southwest – I know a lot of you guys like those categories).

Again, I have not tried this myself. But I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.

Why is this useful?

Purchases made on MileagePlus X code as a purchase. And if you’re buying other gift cards at office supply stores anyway, this is an easy way to stack 3X United miles on top of whatever your’d normally earn.

Depending on how much you spend, it could add up quickly.

My best is advice is to go slow should you try to make the most of this.

Be wary of Amex cards (or not!)

There’s an Amex card that earns 5% cashback at office supply stores. But, when you purchase a gift card through MileagePlus X, it codes as a travel purchase from United (which is handy for getting $200 “on United” if you have the Amex Platinum Card).

But it won’t help you in this case. Just wanted to put that out there.

However, if you have an Amex that earns bonus points on travel, you could stack that nicely!

Bottom line

So who wants to be the guinea pig? :p

I don’t purchase Visa or MasterCard gift cards often as I use my Airbnb business for the bulk of my monthly points-earning. But I know a lot of you do.

This looks like an easy way to rack up 8X at Staples, even if you use a Staples gift card as your payment method for another third-party gift card. Of course, you could also buy actual office supplies too.

I also noticed eBay disappeared from the MileagePlus X app. But this method could be another way to earn more on eBay purchases (and Southwest flights, too!).

Of course, there’s potential for further maximizing – just take it slow, yo.

Has anyone tried this yet? Does it work? Please share your experience.

* If you liked this post, consider signing up to receive free blog posts via email (only 1 per day!) or in an RSS reader and you’ll never miss an update! And thanks for using my links to apply for new card offers!

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

Airbnb by the Numbers: An Update for 2016

Also see: 

I rented an Apartment to Airbnb in NYC
Airbnb First Month By the Numbers
How I Made an Extra $60K from Airbnb in 2015

Back in 2014, when I rented my first Airbnb apartment, I felt like I was doing something crazy. Then, in 2015, I made an extra $60,000 from Airbnb rentals – after taxes and expenses.

I love my new Dallas Airbnbs!

Mike from Upgrd playfully calls me a slumlord. My Airbnb posts tend to get a LOT of polarity in the comments; I’ve addressed my moral and ethical position in this post.

I get a lot of questions about why I do it and how it’s going. So here goes.

Why I still love Airbnb

THE PERNTS! DUH!

I dutifully pay my rents each month via Plastiq with my Citi AT&T Access More card (no longer available AFAIK).

I also pay my mortgage, my student loans, and any other bill that pops up.

Pernts, pernts, pernts!

Quite simply, I run ~$10,000 per month through Plastiq – and get to write off both the rents and the fees – thanks to my side hustle.

In fact, I think opening a small business or side hustle is one of the best ways to accrue extra points & miles.

As it stand, that $10K earns me an extra 30,000 Citi ThankYou points per month AKA 360,000 points per year. That’s how I’m able to fly my family to Hawaii for a vacation next month. And book cool trips to Europe.

Is my motivation purely the points? Well, no. The money is nice, too. Let’s get to that.

The situation

I must admit, things have slowed down a lot for me and Airbnb in 2016. Why? 

I axed one apartment, and have another on the chopping block next month. Both of those were/are in New York.

I will keep one apartment in New York until early 2017. And now I have 2 (soon to be 3) in Dallas. So, a lot of juggling.

This is a 5-block stretch in Manhattan. Oversaturation has driven down margins big time

In New York, the margins shrank. Rents were raised and competition increased, though occupancy stayed the same.

In Dallas, the numbers are smaller, but I have good margins: the rents are cheap, and I can charge enough to more than cover the cost. So the issue then becomes scalability – which I’m still exploring.

So far in 2016, I’ve only made a little over $11,000 up to this point in August.

This time last year, I was well over $30,000. Just to show you how much it’s slowed down.

And yes, that’s after taxes – I put 20% aside for quarterly tax payments.

Why the slowdown?

My rent in New York on my main unit increased from $2,300 per month to $2,875 a month. That’s almost an extra $7,000 a year!

On another unit (a 2BR), it went from $3,200 to $3,500. I split that one with a business partner, so my share went up $1,800 a year.

Yup, these numbers are low

Also, the 2 Dallas locations are brand new, so they’re still in a growth phase where I’m building up reviews.

The rent increases along bring my $60,000 down to $50,00 right off the bat.

Also, I’ll miss some of Q3 and all of Q4 at the one I’m losing next month – that was an extremely lucrative time last year.

Finally, the year isn’t over. I still have 4 months coming up in Dallas – which is the high season here. So I am hoping for a big finish.

I think I can get to $25,000 this year. And maybe even $30,000.

But it’s no 2015. The margins have, it seems, halved.

Is it worth it?

Absolutely. I am mostly hands-off at this point.

I have a crew in New York looking after the places. And now I have a service here in Dallas set up. Plus, I’m around if anything happens.

I’m sunsetting my NYC locations by early 2017

All I do is accept the requests, send check-in info, and arrange the cleanings once per month. It is extremely low-pressure.

Say I get to that $30,000 mark. That’s $30,000 of low-stress side money after taxes in exchange for doing not that much work.

Plus, as mentioned, I get to sit back and collect 360,000 Citi ThankYou points a year for my efforts. That’s worth $5,760 in American Airlines flights (through July 23, 2017, with my Citi Prestige card).

I’m conservative

Just want to quickly note that in my 2015 post, I was extremely conservative in my projections. I estimated ~$31K but netted $60K.

And, I noted at the end I did not expect that level to continue.

So I guess we still have a few more months to see what shakes out. (OMG, I said I’d quickly note something and actually noted it quickly!)

Bottom line

I’m not optimistic about the future of Airbnb in New York – financially or otherwise. So much so that I am pulling out completely by early 2017.

I am optimistic for them in Dallas, though. I’m going to try to open one more and see how it goes with my new hands-off stance.

I’ve only been in the market here for 2 months, and I started in the heat of the summer (the slow season), so I don’t have a basis for future numbers at this point.

As it stands, my pure profit from Airbnb seems to’ve decreased this year. But there’s so much skewing the numbers right now I can’t say for sure how 2015 stacks up to 2016.

(But, this is the bottom line, right, so I should bottom line it.)

I’m much, much more hands-off this year than I was in 2015. And I had more units in 2015. But, an extra $30,000 for 2016 is nothing to sniff at. For the amount of work I do, which is little, I’ll take it.

Plus, I have hope for a big upswing in Dallas the next few months. There seems to be interest, so I’ll be sure to post a full 2016 update with more in-depth numbers once the dust settles.

AwardAce: An Awesome Companion for Your Miles & Points Programs

Whoa! I just discovered an incredible resource that will appeal to beginners of our little hobby, and to full-on points & miles addicts.  It’s super cool and geeky, so of course I had to share it with you guys.

AwardAce is packed with great features

Meet AwardAce. You can use the site for:

Booking guides to 22 frequent flyer programs
Program guides that give you pertinent info about each program
A Discover function where you plug-in your details to see where you can go
An award pricing calculator that’ll tell you the award price for several programs

Now that I’ve found it, I’ll be playing around with it on the regs!

About AwardAce

Link: AwardAce

Here’s what you can find on this well-organized and feature-rich site.

Booking guides

Step-by-step details with lots of pics on how to book award flights.

Many of the most popular mileage programs have a booking guide

They also have the reservations phone number for each program as well as the exact prompts to enter to get to a booking agent.

So it’s a handy resource that’ll save you from hunting around on the various airline websites (although I like do to that anyway… but I’m a weirdo lol).

Program guides

Different from booking guides, this section includes:

Each airline and its partners
How to book partner award flights
Which alliance each airline is in
Transfer partners
Program type ( if they’re mileage- or distance-based)
Elite status info
Fee schedule
Mileage expiration
Tons of other useful information

Again, everything is very well-organized.

I’m impressed with the amount of useful information in the program guides

Discover destinations

This is a cool feature. You enter:

Your starting point
How many miles you have
In your preferred program
And what class of service you want to fly

And it spits out of the possible destinations within reach.

Cool! Here’s where I can go round-trip from Dallas in Business Class with 110K ANA miles

I personally love this geeky type of stuff because it gets you thinking about all the possibilities. And having the information in such an easy visual format – a map – is so easy to put to actionable use.

If you have transferable points, you could enter all their airline transfer partners to see how far you can go with each one – and then choose where you want to go.

Or if you have a set amount of miles in a certain program, you can play around and see how you can burn ’em.

Or set a goal and then earn and burn.

4 Useful Chrome Extensions for Travel & Shopping

Also see: 

Clear the Clutter: 5 Apps to Organize Your Digital Life to Create Clarity

I love using Google Chrome as a browser. It’s light, powerful, and has lots of good plug-ins… er, extensions.

Some of them have elevated to near-constant use territory.

I’ve written about useful apps because I love time-saving productivity stuff like a good millennial lol.

These 4 Chrome extensions come with my highest recommendation. They’ve helped me save a lot of time, money, and clicking around.

1. Hyatt – Show Me the Points

Link: Show Me the Points

You know how you’re sitting around searching Hyatt award availability just to pass the time? Oh, that’s just me? Awkwardddd…

Anyway, this extension shows you how much Hyatt award nights cost right in the search results. It saves you from having to click each individual property in a city to see how many points you’ll need.

This is super handy for when you want to save points – or for when you’re ready to splurge and want a sneak peek at the damage.

Nope, nope, yes

For example, Dallas is spoiled for Hyatt choices. Based on this quick search, the only worthy redemption here is the last one – that clocks in at my minimum of 2 cents per point. The others, I’d rather pay for, unless you have a ton of Hyatt points to burn off. It’s good to see this upfront.

Easily see if using points if worth their salt

The only winner I found in Dallas is the Hyatt House Dallas/Uptown, which I’ve stayed at and reviewed.

Quick division tells me I’ll get nearly 3 cents per point, which is a winner. Keep in mind this doesn’t include taxes – so your points value could go up if taxes are high where you want to stay.

Love this extension. Takes 2 seconds to add and saves a lot of clicking around on the Hyatt site.

2. LastPass

Link: LastPass

Jesus Murphy, I cannot overstate how much mental clutter this extension has saved me.

I won’t lie, it’s a pain in the damn ass to set up because it asks if you want to save every password every time.

But natural use of your computer and accounts should get most of them in the first week or so.

And after that, ahhh…

Save any password, and organize the sites however you wish

It saves you from remembering the uppercase, lowercase, numbers, characters, length requirements, etc. And, it can generate a safe password for you.

This is great if a certain site forces you to make a new password and you can’t use a previously used password (that drives me CRAZY).

It’s a simple extension. All you have to do is click the little dots to auto-fill your password. It has saved me so much time.

Save every website

You can also share your password with others without them seeing it. Perfect for delegating a sensitive task to a helper or virtual assistant – they can’t change your password or use it to log into your other sites.

Of course, you can change your password as often as you wish. And there’s a master password that you’ll want to keep ultra secret. Other than that, wow. Wish I’d hopped on this train years ago!

3. Honey

Link: Honey
Link: Get Honey, Save Money! (Browser Extension for Chrome)

I’ve written about Honey before. But I’m adding it again because they’ve recently added new support for Amazon purchases.

Now, they’ll alert you if you can get a better deal from another seller.

Honey recently added enhanced support for Amazon shopping

They also tell you next to each product if you’re getting the best deal.

The extension basically pokes around the site as you’re shopping and checks to see if any promotion codes or lower prices are available. If there are, you’ll get an alert.

Honey supports hundreds of stores

Take a look around the site to see all the supported stores. It’s especially great for department stores like Kohl’s and Sears, or any other site that tends to be heavy on promo codes.

4. Evernote

Link: Evernote
Link: 7 Awesome Uses of Evernote for Travelers
Link: 26 More Awesome and Creative Uses for Evernote

Had to include this one. I love love love this app/site/extension/service. This is my digital brain. My MVP.

This is where I store my travel plans, documents, photos, things to look up, blog post ideas, cool articles, funny pictures, car service records… you name it, it’s in my Evernote.

I am constantly scanning, clipping, and adding to it.

The great thing about the Chrome extension is that you can set a keyboard shortcut to open it. Mine is “sd” because if you think about it, the letters are next to each other and that sequence of letters hardly ever appears in the wild (except for diSDain or similar lol).

Always adding new things to Evernote

I also use it in conjunction with IFTTT to backup my phone photos. And I love how everything is geo-tagged. There are multiple levels of organization available – so you can customize your own system in a way that makes sense to you.

Everything important is backed up in my Evernote. Basically, if I lost my computer, I’d still have access to most things. I am no longer dependent on a device, and I love that feeling.

I pay for the Premium version, but you can do well with the regular version. If you sign up with my link, you’ll get a free month of Premium.

I also tap in quick notes, snap pics, and scan all my receipts into there – all tagged, of course. #Virgo

How Out and Out Makes Money

There’s been a lot of talk in the blog space this week about monetization, affiliate links, and the lengths bloggers will go to make revenue, including from Doctor of Credit and Rapid Travel Chai – people I hugely admire and respect. It all got me thinking.

Now feels like the right time to talk about this. Not because anyone’s ever asked. But because I want to finally put it out there so peeps can make their own informed decisions.

Huge piles of fake cartoon money

Out and Out makes money in 3 ways:

Credit card affiliate links through CreditCards.com
Ad revenue and clicks from Amazon
Advertising from BoardingArea

I’ll go into detail about each one.

1. Credit card affiliate links

Link: Apply for Card Offers

First of all, I am grateful to anyone who’s ever signed up for a new card via my links. Those hits here and there boost my self-confidence so much. In my writing. And it makes me feel that on some level, it’s worth it to put more information into an already saturated space.

I’ve always hope the “brand” I offer has some appeal. Whether that’s the voice and tone, the tips here and there, or because it’s occasionally entertaining, thought-provoking, or informative.

Producing new content has always come easy for me. And I’ve definitely refined my technique in these past 3 years of blogging.

Truth be told, I rarely get hits on my credit card affiliate links. In fact, I was almost shut down earlier this month because I didn’t produce a sale for over 60 days.

I asked for a second chance and rallied my friends to see if one of them wouldn’t mind opening a new card. A few days later, a sale was recorded and my 60-day clock reset.

So I need ONE sale every 60 days to stay in the program. Compare that to the revenue some of these big bloggers are bringing in.

When I say I’m a small fry, I really mean it. In fact, I’m an infinitesimal, non-existent fry.

I keep the links because on some level, they compel me to keep going.

And every once in a while, other people click the links too. I keep them because I figure it doesn’t cost anything extra to click a link – but it does mean a great deal to me. The meaning is more psychological than financial, obviously. But it does help. Everything does.

2. Revenue from Amazon

Link: Amazon

You’ll start to sense a theme here.

Amazon ads and links probably send me an extra $10 to $20 per month. Again, not a whole lot.

There is one Amazon ad in the sidebar. It’s based on “impressions” so the more I write, the more page views I get, and the more I make, theoretically.

I occasionally write about cool products to try. Not because I’m trying to earn extra money. But because I genuinely like the products – and write about them with my highest recommendation. So I hope that translates.

The ad revenue here is nothing life-changing, but it gets me an extra beer or two each month. I’ll take it – cheers!

3. BoardingArea advertising

This by far earns me the most. I probably can’t quantify it publicly. But just know I’m honored to be on BoardingArea and to have that extra source.

BoardingArea has given me a platform to write from – a place to make content – and for that, I am extremely grateful. The crew has been nothing but kind and supportive.

And the move to BoardingArea brought me more readers, some of whom have turned into friends, than I could have ever gotten on my own.

The future

I think I’ll start a new series called “Honest Reviews” to review card offers as they roll in. I’ll make a rating guideline and have some fun with it.

But I also want a strict code of ethics called the Karma Rule. That will mean I will always tell you where to find the best offers. It’s not like I have much to lose as it currently stands. And doing the right thing will, in the end, be more beneficial for everyone involved anyway.

So look for that series to be launched soon. In advance of that, I wanted to add this complete disclosure. I’m going to pin this page to the top menu under “About” so it will always be easy for peeps to find. And for complete transparency.

Bottom line

So that’s it. That wasn’t so hard. I needed to get that off my chest, and feel so much better.

I am here because I’m hugely passionate about points & miles. I’ve gotten so many trips out of redeeming them. And I honestly still think the best way to scoop up a lot of points or miles all at once is through credit card bonuses.

It’s a fact, and it’s become its own thing. But I know way deep down I have to do what’s right when I talk about them.

The overall space is getting more hostile toward “our kind” and the links are getting more scarce by the day. But I want to end on a brighter note.

Any and all support is always very appreciated and welcome. If you want, here are my links for new card offers.

I recommend choosing a little guy or gal, a blogger you like – and use their links when you open new cards. It’s a nice boost for them and a nice way to say, “hey, thanks for the info,” or simply, “good work.” It really does mean the world. And it costs you nothing, so why not?

A huge thanks to everyone who’s interacted, emailed, and said hello over the years. Feel free to ask any questions – I will do my best to answer as thoroughly as I’m able to.

Or add your thoughts on the topic. What’s your stance on monetization within the points and miles space? Should blogs try to monetize? Is there a “right” way to go about it? 

* If you liked this post, consider signing up to receive free blog posts via email (only 1 per day!) or in an RSS reader and you’ll never miss an update! And thanks for using my links to apply for new card offers!

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