👋 Hi Reader,

Hope your weekend is off to a great start! Here are some highlights from today's newsletter:

• 🏨 Hilton Honors deep dive: points, cards, status & more
• 🦃 Free turkey from Instacart this Thanksgiving
• 🤩 Multiple credit card welcome offers of up to 150K points
• 💳 Up to 10x on grocery, gas & dining
• 🏦 $5,700+ in bank bonuses
• 🤖 Banks and United cracking down on AI agents
• 🏢 The business behind hotel brands

If you enjoy reading, please forward this email to a friend who might too! And if that's you, make sure to subscribe here. Thank you so much!

Chris

🏨 Hilton Deep Dive: Points, Cards, Status & More

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Hilton can be one of the most rewarding programs around, but do you know how to get the most out of it? This week, I break down what Hilton points are really worth after years of devaluations, how the Amex Hilton cards stack up, and why uncapped free night rewards are my favorite perk. Plus, the sweet spots for redeeming points, family-friendly perks and points pooling, and how buying points on sale can work for you.

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📋 My Past Week

Here's a quick recap of what I was up to last week.

• Last weekend, I had the chance to take the girls to their first NBA game. It just happened to be a game where Steph Curry put up 41 points, the game went into overtime, and the Warriors ended up winning. Live sports are definitely a different experience with two young kids, but it was still so much fun and I'm so grateful for the family friend who invited us to join.
• We're already gearing up for the holidays in our home and I just picked up this 100-ft set of LED house lights from Costco and will be putting them up around the house as soon as it stops raining. We'd previously ordered a much cheaper set from Amazon, but the lights were spaced 33" apart, which looked way too far apart. Costco has a few other great options if you're looking for more permanent outdoor house lights that can adjust to tons of different colors/patterns/etc.
• Since we're not the only ones getting their Christmas lights and decorations up, it's been fun to cruise around the neighborhood on our e-bikes at night and check out everyone else's decorations. Our neighborhood is nothing like Christmas Tree Lane in San Carlos, but it's still fun to see everyone's houses.
• Our dog seemed to want to keep his left eye closed the past few days, so we took him to the vet to get checked out. Fortunately, they couldn't identify anything major wrong with him, but they also didn't have a clear idea of what might be causing it. We left with some medicine and are hoping it clears up quickly. He's turning 12 in a few months, so we're prepared for the possibility of some more health issues coming up as he gets older.
• Last night, one of my best friends from high school was driving to the airport from a golf trip to Pebble Beach and managed to coordinate with my wife and stop by for a surprise visit. It's always hard to stay in touch with friends who live farther away, so it was such a welcome surprise!

⭐ My Top Picks

🦃 Free Turkey via Instacart (11/18-11/22)

With Thanksgiving coming up, this offer might be worth setting a reminder for. Instacart is giving away 10,000 free turkeys (up to $40) each day from 11/18 to 11/22, starting at noon ET. You'll need a cart of at least $50 before the discount. I assume this will stack with the many credit cards that offer a free Instacart+ membership and $10+ monthly credits.

💸 Reminder to Activate Q4 Rotating Bonus Categories

There are a few cards that offer 5% cash back/5x points on eligible combined spending in rotating bonus categories every quarter. Here are the categories for Q4.

• Citi Dividend: Citi Travel® Site (including hotels, car rentals, and attractions) and restaurants (activate here).
• Discover It: Restaurants, entertainment and utilities (activate here).
• Popular Bank: Dining, grocery stores, and donations to the American Red Cross (activate here).
• U.S. Bank Cash+: 2 categories of your choice, including cell phones, internet, utilities, electronics stores, sporting goods stores, gyms/fitness centers, movie theaters, etc. (activate here).

🤖 Banks and United Crack Down on AI Agents

If you've been experimenting with AI agents to manage money or travel, it's a bit disappointing to see that Amex, Bank of America, Citi and a popular bank have updated their terms to prohibit giving AI agents access to your accounts. United also changed its contract of carriage to ban AI agents from booking or changing tickets, though they can still search fares. I'm hoping that as these tools get more capable, banks and airlines will start to set up consumer-facing ways (e.g. MCP) for us to interface and transact with them.

✈️ Flying This Weekend? Ground Stop Fallout

If you're flying this weekend, expect a mess. Yesterday's nationwide FAA ground stop halted U.S. departures for over four hours, and thousands of flights were canceled with disruptions expected through the weekend. The full details on why it happened haven't come out, but major airlines have issued waivers allowing free changes through 11/16. Here's a good post on what to do next.

💳 Up to 10x on Grocery, Gas and Dining (Targeted)

If you hold a co-branded hotel or airline card from a popular bank, it might be worth checking for a targeted Q4 spend offer of up to 10x on grocery, gas and dining. Plus, some cards are offering bonus points for hitting $1,000 to $9,000 of spend. Full details are here and you can check each card to see if you're eligible here.

📺 The Business Behind Hotel Brands

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Ever wondered why Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt have so many different hotel brands? This video breaks down the business strategy behind the endless hotel portfolios and explains why hotel chains are focused on attracting property owners rather than just guests. It’s an interesting look at how hotel companies expand reach and grow their businesses.

📰 The Rest of the Week

💳 Credit cards & points

• Apple Card: Double cash for 1 year, up to $1K (Targeted)
• Graphite™ Business Card: Up to $2K after $50K spend​
• Marriott Bonvoy Bevy®: 150K + $250 credit after $5K spend​
• Popular Bank's Travel Portal: Adds 10K+ vacation homes — Nice addition if you like vacation homes. Also good that hotel credits work on 4+ night home stays.

✈️ Airline news & promos

• Flighty: New 'When to Leave' airport alerts — You can customize buffers for parking, security and the lounge.
• Frontier: First class on sale for flights starting 3/5​
• JetBlue: Checked bags up to $70 — Add bags more than 24 hours out to save, or get a JetBlue card or status for free bags.
• JSX: Boston to NYC from $199, Miami from $599 — Flights start in Feb and reminder that many United cards have JSX credits.
• United: Huge new club opens at IAD Concourse E​

🏨 Hotel news & promos

• Accor: Mexico 2-for-1 Nights, Book by Tue 11/17​
• Bank of America: Free GHA Titanium status at $100K+ — Not sure if I'll be staying at a GHA hotel, but might as well sign up.
• Hilton: 5K bonus points on a paid stay with co-branded Amex​
• Hilton: Up to 30% off stays in 6 regional sales​
• IHG: 5K bonus points on every 2 nights at US/UK brands​
• IHG: Buy points at 0.5¢ with a 100% bonus (ends 1/15​)
• Wyndham: Buy points at ​0.65¢ ​with a 100% bonus (ends 12/31​)

💎 Award deals

• 🇬🇷 Athens: Biz class from 59K Skywards — Up to 6 seats on some dates.
• 🇬🇧 London: Biz class on AA from 45K Atmos​
• 🇿🇦 South Africa: Park Hyatt Johannesburg from 25K Hyatt points
• 🇹🇼 Taipei: Biz class from 75K EVA Air miles — Wide-open 2027 space, can transfer from Citi and Capital One.
• 🇯🇵 Tokyo: Biz class from 70K JAL miles​

🔗 Card-linked offers

• Caesars: $40 off $200​
• Emirates: 5% back, up to $100​
• Great Wolf Lodge: 15% back, up to $50​
• Hyatt: 10% back, up to $50​
• IHG: $50 off $250​
• Lowe's: 10% back, up to $50​
• Marriott: 10% back, up to $85​

🏦 Bank bonuses

• Silo: Blue plan now free, earn transferable points — Check the points caps before paying for a higher tier.
• U.S. Bank: $450 checking + targeted $500 savings
• Wells Fargo: $500 checking, $825 business, $3,500 premier​

🛍️ Other deals

• Southwest: $500 gift card for $460 at Newegg​
• Seats.aero: 20% off a Pro membership​
• Uber: Parking reservations open in 15 cities​
• Uber: Member Day deals, including 15% off Uber gift cards​

💬 Parting Thoughts

As always, thanks so much for reading. I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s newsletter, and if you enjoyed it, please let me know why!

Chris