Hilton Gold and Diamond status has always been relatively easy to achieve, thanks to the Hilton credit cards. It’s why I recently picked up a Hilton Aspire Card from American Express. I wanted Diamond status without having to divert $40,000 worth of spending towards the Aspire Card. When I shared […]
This is going to be boring and predictable. I’ve taken a break from manufactured spending (and blogging) the last couple of weeks. I got back into it last week with a single trip to Simon Mall. That’s mainly because I’m going to Turkey today and generally, I try not to […]
Well, that came out of left field. Chase just announced an annual fee increase for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, to the tune of $100. Starting January 12, the annual fee on the card will be a whopping $550. To soften the blow, Chase is also introducing a $120 DoorDash credit. […]
I love these weekly posts because they really keep me accountable. I sat down to write it on Sunday night and realized I had only managed $1,500 in manufactured spending. I’m trying to do better than I did last year, when I earned just 247,631 points and $1,994.14 cash back via […]
I’ve been rolling out my Maldives trip report series and thought I’d share how I actually paid for it using points and miles. As you can tell from the title of this post, it wasn’t all “free.” Even with the hotel and airfare booked using points and miles, there were […]
I’ve been getting requests from people asking me to do a year-end tally of my manufactured spending activity. I’ve been sharing weekly manufactured spending reports for a few years now, though I haven’t been super consistent in 2019. In fact, I counted just 14 reports this year. I haven’t been […]
While I stayed in a beach villa during my stay at the Waldorf Astoria Maldives, I did get a chance to tour an overwater villa. These are located at opposite ends of the island and are pretty much identical to the beach villas in terms of layout. The difference is […]
NYC rideshare apps are a dime a dozen. If you’re visiting New York City and are depending on Uber and Lyft to get around, you may as well throw money out the window. Near the end of my trip last week, I met up with fellow points and miles enthusiast […]
The Waldorf Astoria Maldives beach villa is considered a standard room. It’s anything but “standard”: This beach-front room has 2,518 sqft of space, a private pool, two cabanas and tons of outdoor seating. You can book it for 120,000 points per night or use a Hilton free night certificate. The villa features […]
Have you ever fantasized about owning a vacation home in Italy that you can escape to when life gets too stressful in the U.S.? Imagine how much more appealing this scenario is when the home costs just $1. No, this isn’t some internet scam concocted by a fake prince. You […]