At the beginning of the movie Deadpool, the story stops suddenly and rewinds in time quite dramatically. That is what we kinda need to do now. At the end of the last post, I left you with a cliffhanger of sorts and lots of unanswered questions, such as where do these points come from and um, how do I get them?
First, when stay at a Hilton, you receive 10 points per dollar on room rate ($100 before taxes=1000 hhonors points. They have a lot of promos that 2x or 3x that amount per dollar. In addition, if you book through their app or have Elite status, extra points can also be added. Hilton is very generous with their points and seem to do all that they can (usually) to give them to you.
This Matters: Hotel points do not always have to come from hotel stays (as a percentage, about 25% of mine come from stays). They can come from obtaining the right Credit Card(s), signing up for Hilton’s many points promos, shopping at their (Hilton’s) on-line shopping portal, buying points on-line when the value is right and lastly, maximizing the points you receive when you do have to stay. In addition, you definitely want Hotel Elite Status. This, gloriously, does not require hotel stays either.
Having said that, its time to quit stalling and take a detailed look under the hood. Let’s stay with Hilton for now.
Scenario time: Jenny is 35 years of age, single and loves to travel. She makes $75,000 a year and works for a misogynistic micromanaging creep who pays her fellow male employees $80,000 a year….! Hmmm…I…um…yeah, well anyway, Jenny has excellent credit and is financially responsible.
The easiest way for Jenny to begin, is to look at the assortment of Credit Cards which are available in the market place. To simplify the process she could focus on Hilton credit cards of which there are basically two companies that fill the void (there may be more, probably is). American Express (www.americanexpress.com) and Citi (www.citi.com). Both companies offer sign up bonuses if you meet a minimum spend.
This Matters: A credit card can offer you a sum of points or miles if you agree to use the card and spend a certain amount of money on goods and services etc. over a certain amount of time. For example, spend $1000.00 on whatever within 90 days of the account opening and we will give you 50,000 points to be used at our Hotels/Airline. in addition, some cards will offer you Elite Hotel status for having and using their card. The best cards (subjective) usually come with some sort of yearly fee.
In the next post we’ll expand on the two card companies mentioned above and dig deeper into the myriad of benefits and perks offered by each as we get Jenny set up.
Travelinggump.Com 