Points and Miles: Annual Update, Part 2

Last fall, in Points 4: Double-dipping, I described how you can often earn points in at least two different programs for any transaction (My personal record is a quintuple dip). The principles I outlined still apply, but as I mentioned in Part 1, the specific example I gave of converting points earned with the Club Sobeys MasterCard to Aeroplan miles is no longer valid.

The reasons for joining multiple airline and hotel rewards programs that I explained in Points 5: U.S. Airline Frequent Flier Programs still pertain. So does my opinion about the value of Points.com. Personally, I don't use Points.com to track the balances in my programs any more. I've found another free site, AwardWallet, which is easier to use, works faster, and is more accurate. It will even keep track of flight, hotel, and car rental reservations for me, which I've found very useful. It doesn't allow me to swap points the way Points.com does, so I still use the latter occasionally.

I don't have the Amex Starwood Preferred Guest card anymore, so I'm not earning SPG Starpoints the way I described in Points 6: Starwood Preferred Guest Program. But, if I want to, I can convert Amex Membership Rewards to Starpoints. All the virtues of the SPG program remain. Ben Schlappig, who writes the One Mile at a Time blog, recently explained the best ways to realize the value of Starpoints in this piece on travelsort.

Since the beginning of the year, I've also collected a fair number of Club Carlson (formerly goldpoints plus) points. You can read about that and my legendary quintuple dip in this post from back in May. I'm hoping to pull off something similar this fall. I'll let you know if it works out.

Marriott Rewards was a program I hadn't paid much attention to in the past. There hadn't been many Marriott properties in Canada, and I generally find Marriott's rates higher, both for paid stays and points redemptions. But recently a number of reasonably-priced Fairfield Inns have opened in Canada that compete with Hilton and Intercontinental in the Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn Express space. Currently, there's also a stay twice, earn a free night offer and a 15K sign-up bonus for a $75 annual fee Chase VISA card that have me planning some Marriott stays this fall. And speaking of Hilton, a double points offer this summer meant our week in D.C. earned a nice bunch of points in a program that also had not been a focus for me in the past.

As I described in Points 7: Priority Club, this is where my hobby/obsession began about seven years ago, and it remains a favourite program for its ease of earning points (lots of bonus opportunities) and plentiful locations. I mentioned that there wasn't a way Canadians could earn PCR points with a credit card, but that will change this November when Capital One will launch $120 annual fee and no-fee versions of a PCR MasterCard. You can be sure I'll be signing up and letting you know which is the better value, depending on your circumstances.

If you want to know more about points and miles collecting and how to get the most out of redemptions, check out the resources in Points 9: The End of the Trail.

And one final point: unless you're able to pay your credit card balances in full each month, the interest you pay will far exceed the value of any points or miles you earn.

You can now follow me on Twitter: @AeneasLane

Points and Miles: Annual Update, Part 1

As promised, here is the first part of an update to last fall's series on collecting travel reward points and miles. I've highlighted changes and provided links to the original posts.

In Points 1: Canada's Favourite Points Programs, I said that, unlike many points experts who advise you to focus on one program, I take the opposite view. All points and miles have potential value, so I believe in signing up for almost any program, focusing on several, and taking a patient, long-term approach. If like me, you want to collect with the goal of travel, you have to be prepared to play the long game.

Start with a credit card, preferably no-fee or that waives the fee for the first year, that gives you a nice sign-up bonus and 1-2 points per dollar of spending. Add additional cards as better opportunities present themselves and cancel cards you no longer need. Keep several different cards, though: that gives you flexibility. Within a year or two, you'll have enough points for a holiday. Within five years, you can build a large enough portfolio of points and miles to pick and choose your vacation opportunities.

The advice I gave in Points 2, about how to earn Aeroplan miles with a no-fee credit card, no longer applies. Shortly afterwards, Bank of Montreal suddenly changed the terms of its Club Sobeys MasterCard, so that Club Sobeys points earned by spending on the card were no longer eligible for conversion to Aeroplan miles. I described the whole sorry fiasco in Points 8: BMO Club Sobeys MasterCard Snafu. There is one revision to that post: I was allowed to autoconvert the enrolment bonus points. But as I said, this is no way to build loyalty: I cancelled the card. Club Sobeys points earned by shopping at Sobeys can still be converted to Aeroplan miles.

There have been some changes to what I wrote in Points 3: Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card. Sign-up bonuses have gotten bigger and smaller, and waiving of the annual fee for the first year has come and gone. All the other advantages of the Starwood program and the American Express card still pertain, but best check the details if you're thinking of applying.

I did cancel the SPG Amex after the first year, but did not go with the BMO Club Sobeys MasterCard as my main spending card (for the reason I described above). Instead, American Express offered me its new Gold Rewards card. This card has an annual fee of $150, waived for the first year. I received 15K Membership Reward points as an enrolment bonus and earn 2 points per dollar for spending on gas, groceries, drug store, and travel. All other purchases earn 1 point. This is a "hybrid" card: points can be used for travel booked through American Express; redeemed for merchandise; or converted to points with Air Canada, Delta, British Airways, Hilton Hotels, Starwood (Sheraton, Westin, etc.), Priority Club (Holiday Inn, etc.), and other travel partners, at various conversion rates. Since Aeroplan and British Airways have recently devalued their award charts, and Continental is leaving the program with its takeover by United Airlines, the value of Membership Rewards points is decreasing. Unless there are significant enhancements to the value of the card, I won't be paying $150 to renew it next year.

I'll conclude this update in Part 2, next Tuesday.

You can now follow me on Twitter: @AeneasLane

Points follow-up

Since the series of posts on points and miles wrapped up, a couple of items of interest have come my way.

A loyal blog follower informs me that there is an AirMiles app for your smart phone. Put in your location and it will show you the nearest AirMiles partners. Text "AirMiles App" to 26898 to go straight to the download page on your iPhone or BlackBerry.

Until November 4, CHOICEprivileges, the loyalty program of Choice Hotels (Comfort, Quality, Clarion, etc.), is offering a free night when you stay two nights. You can join the program here. Further down the page, you'll also see a link to apply for the affiliated MBNA MasterCard to earn points for all your credit card spending. If you do a lot of road trips and are looking to earn free nights at a budget hotel chain, this could be a good program for you.

Something I did not discuss in my series of posts about point programs, is that for the majority of airline and hotel programs, you may purchase points, either for yourself, or as a gift for others. The problem is that the cost is usually more that the points are worth (i.e.: you could book a flight or room directly for less money), but under certain conditions, buying points does make sense. And occasionally, points do go "on sale".

For example, until December 31, Starwood Preferred Guest is selling points for 20% less -- $14 for 500 instead of the usual $17.50. If you need only a few points to get to a reward level, or if you are close to the 20K threshold for earning the 5K bonus for converting to airline miles, this can make sense. SPG allows you to buy up to 20K points in a calendar year and the points appear in your account within 24 hours.

In some cases, you could even save money on a holiday. That's because when redeeming SPG points for a five-night stay, the fifth night is free, so five nights at a category 3 hotel requires 4x7K=28K points. If you purchase 20K points for $560 before December 31, and another 8K for $280 (at the regular rate of $17.50 per 500) in January, that works out to $168 per night for a five-night stay. For January 20-25, the Sheraton Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel is $190 per night. The Westin Fort Lauderdale is $229. I chose these hotels and dates at random. Depending on your choice of date and location, you, too, can find values like this. All you have to do is belong to the Starwood Preferred Guest program and buy points through this link. There's a fuller description of the program in the post dated October 4.

And finally, here's an update to the Aeroplan/BMO Club Sobeys MasterCard snafu (see post dated October 7). I received a letter on October 8, dated October 5, confirming what the Club Sobeys CSR had told me over the phone. But since the change did not take effect until October 15, the Club Sobeys points I received for keeping the credit card when Bank of Montreal took over from Citi were autoconverted. So, props to Sobeys, BMO, and Aeroplan for living up to their end of the (original) bargain. I still plan to cancel the card, since I don't have any need for another MasterCard if it doesn't earn me travel rewards.