Marriott – It’s Been a Helluva Day

By

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June 28, 2018

Here at PointsNerd, we pride ourselves on keeping abreast of the latest news, especially if it affects Canadians. Often times we get slow news days and you don’t see articles for days at a time and some days it feels like you can’t even take a breath because there is so much information.

Today is one of the days that feels like we’re drowning. But this is a good thing but please bear with us as we unpack the news of the day because there is a LOT to know. On top of the deluge of information from Marriott, we are sad to see Chao leave PointsNerd. I think we were all pleasantly surprised at how well he was able to engage with the readership and deliver information with a great sense of humour. He will be dearly missed.

What’s New With Marriott?

Well, there’s quite a bit. First off, Marriott has announced the pricing for all hotels effective as of August 1, 2018. What we need to keep in mind is that the period between August 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018, there are two things that will not take effect:

There will be no Category 8 hotels (Marriott’s new highest point category)
There will be no differentiation between Off-Peak, Standard, and Peak pricing

Once January 1st, 2019 rolls around, the above two points are null and void. This means that for this short period of time between August 1st and December 31st, we have a HUGE arbitrage opportunity.

I will be delving into what some of these opportunities are over the weekend but just know that there will be plenty of opportunities to take advantage of excellent deals.

While you could certainly use Marriott’s website to take a look at each hotel’s new pricing and hotel categories, one of the limitations is that the table cannot do a multi-sort, so if you wanted to know which JW Marriott in California has gone down in price, you would have to look through a long list. I got annoyed with that so I created the Marriott Master Spreadsheet.

You can access the Google Sheet at:

http://www.pointsnerd.ca/go/marriott-master-spreadsheet/

This sheet has everything I could cram into it, including previous categories (2017), the Award Chart (including cash + points), and the new Travel Package pricing.

Just a Taste

I realize that there’s not a lot of information in this post but that spreadsheet took some time to put together so I’ve run out of daylight today.

Here’s what I plan on unpacking in the coming days:

Best hotels to book during the August 1 – December 31 time period (and how to do it)
An analysis on whether or not you should purchase the Marriott Travel Package now or after August 1, 2018
The new SPG card news

Give me a bit of time and I’ll help guide you down the path for the best use of your SPG/Marriott points.

Conclusion

Marriott has given us a LOT of information to digest. We’ve only taken a nibble at the information but promise to have more for you in the coming days. Stay tuned and as always, thanks for your support.

Thank You

By

Chao

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June 27, 2018

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Dear PointsNerd readers,

Okay, I hope this doesn’t remind you of your awkward high school breakup. But yes, after three months of blogging, this will be my final post on PointsNerd.

I recently received an offer from Finnair, the national airline of Finland, and like Jayce, I was wedged in between a conflict of interests. And because I also have a family to feed, I chose to accept the offer. My role will be managing eCommerce for ancillary products like seat selection, checked baggage, wifi and lounge passes.

Thank you

Prior to PointsNerd, I had never blogged before. You were my guinea pigs and you’ve allowed me to challenge myself and become a more experienced writer.

So I thank you for reading my posts. Thank you for engaging in comments, emails, and private messages. Ever since my first post, the support and discussions from all of you have been phenomenal.

Even though my time at PointsNerd was short lived, I thoroughly enjoyed sharing my passion with you. I am grateful to Jayce for his mentorship and the opportunity to reach you all.

What’s Next

Please don’t stop reading and supporting PointsNerd! Jayce is still 100% committed to empowering a community of PointsNerds with this platform.

We have seen many guest articles from unique Trip Reports by John, the Credit Card Travel Insurance series by Aeroman, and a feature post from another blog by Matthew.

As for the main writing duties, the torch has been passed to Brian Ewanchuk. Brian also joined when Jayce stepped down and he has been a solid contributor to PointsNerd.

Where you will find me

Next month, I will be relocating to Helsinki working out of the Finnair headquarters. Six years ago, I studied in Finland and explored Europe during my spare time. This time around won’t be different. I’m excited to live and travel around the Nordics and hope to share my experiences someway somehow.

At the same time, I’m terribly sad to leave Vancouver, and trust me, having to ditch the points scene was a major deterrent to uprooting. Nevertheless, when you eat, sleep, and breathe points and aviation, you cannot pass up a great opportunity to enter the industry.

So now I will be out of the loop on points and I will be counting on you to share what’s good 🙂

I’m sure we will cross paths or itineraries one day. Shoot me an email at [email protected] if you are ever in Helsinki to grab a coffee/beer on a stay or long layover!

Safe travels and Chao for now

Unicorn Spotted! MBNA Alaska Card Offering 30K Bonus for $15!!!

By

Brian

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June 21, 2018

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If you were ever on the fence about the MBNA Alaska World Elite card, now is your chance to grab an amazing bonus. We have no idea how long this promo is going on for but if I were you, I would hurry.

The normal bonus (and it’s been this way for so many years I’ve lost count) is 25,000 Alaska Miles after meeting the $1,000 minimum spend. You also get the companion voucher on a paid flight.

Right now, the card is offering 30,000 Alaska Miles after $1,000 spend, a companion voucher AND free checked bag per passenger (up to 6 on the same reservation)!

The best part?

The annual fee is $75 but if you sign up through Great Canadian Rebates, you get $60 back so you are basically buying 30,000 Alaska Miles for $15!!!!

Jayce has detailed how Great Canadian Rebates works in the past but if you don’t know what a cashback site is, check out the post here.

If you don’t know what you can do with Alaska Miles, simply refer to this handy-dandy Booking Alaska Partner series.

If you have had this card in the past or currently have it, remember – this card is churable so cancel it and reapply.

This is an incredible deal.

Don’t walk. Run.

Want Sales and Promos? Opt-In

By

Brian

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June 21, 2018

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There are plenty of times when my friends and neighbours ask me how I can afford to travel all the time. My first answer always centres around the miles and points game that we all play but another almost equally important aspect is through the sales and promotions that my favourite travel providers have on an ongoing occasion.

More often than not, when I talk about the amazing sales and promotions that I receive, most of my friends inevitably say “I didn’t get that email” or “how come you always get those amazing offers?”. It’s not because I’m amazing but rather, it’s because I specifically ask to be targeted for these emails and offers.

Did You Know?

Canada has very strict rules about what companies can send you via email, text or any other electronic communications. If you are not in compliance with the law, as a business you could face a fine as large at $10MM.

Due to the severeness of the penalties, you may have noticed over the past few years, it has become much easier to unsubscribe and/or manage how frequently you receive communications from a company. Check the bottom of any commercial email you receive. There is almost a 100% chance you will find an unsubscribe option. Below is a recent email from TripAdvisor that was advertising hotels on sale.

All of the rules around how companies can communicate with you are governed under the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation or CASL for short.

CASL has put the fear of God into many retailers, which is why you may not be getting any of the seat sale or room sale notifications from your favourite travel providers.

Also of note – if you click UNSUBSCRIBE in any of the emails a retailer sends you, you will be completely taken off their distribution list. This means that if you got annoyed with Air Canada sending you an email and clicked unsubscribe, you will not receive any other emails of that type from Air Canada.

This is obviously a double-edged sword. On one hand, there are no more annoying emails. On the other, you may be blissfully unaware that there is a 75% off coupon or some other promo that might be hugely beneficial to you.

How to Check

Each company is slightly different in how they handle their compliance to CASL but here are some of the major ones you’ll want to opt-in for. I think it’s fairly obvious but I’ll state it in case it isn’t. For all the examples below, you will need to be a member of the program so if you aren’t, sign-up. It’s free.

WestJet and WestJet Rewards

Login –> View WestJet Rewards Account –> Account Information –> Communications

Aeroplan

Login –> Your Aeroplan –> Personal Information –> Contact Information

Air Canada

Login –> Menu under your First Name –> Email Subscriptions

Once you enter your email address, AC will send you an email with a link to update your email preferences.

Marriott

Login –> Profile –> Preferences –> Communication Preferences

I won’t go through all of the potential accounts you might have but you should be able to easily find where these preferences are set within your account fairly easily.

Why Would I Want All This Spam?

Well, first off, it’s not all spam. A lot of the emails that you might receive might greatly benefit you. As an example, WestJet seems to send out these emails randomly that give you 50 WestJet Dollars to use during a weekend with no restrictions. I have taken advantage of it quite a few times but most of the friends I talk to say they haven’t received the offer. I’m almost 100% certain it’s because they haven’t opted in.

Conclusion

If you feel like your favourite airline/hotel/car rental agency only sends great offers to your friends, I can almost 100% assure you, it’s because they have opted into email communications and you haven’t. Luckily, it’s an easy problem to fix. Simply log in to your account and update your preferences accordingly.