👋 Hi Reader,

Happy Saturday! Here's a quick sneak peek into today's newsletter:

• 💰 My approach to points, miles and travel
• 💳 Up to $1,050 in travel credit on a top travel card
• 💍 Earn up to 150K points for a Hyatt wedding
• 🛒 Two stackable deals for Costco + DoorDash
• 💎 Biz class awards to Italy, Morocco, Germany & more
• ✈️ Qatar undoes its worst Avios booking rule
• 🐜 Recommendation for getting rid of ants

If you enjoyed 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

💰 My Approach to Points, Miles and Travel

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Want to know how I actually earn, spend, and maximize millions of points and miles? This week, I share my approach to booking award travel for a family, how many credit cards most people really need, the rise of massive card-member flight discounts, when to pay cash vs. points, and some of my favorite (and most unusual) redemptions.

📋 My Past Week

• When my wife was visiting family she loved the Sealy Cool 12" Medium Memory Foam Mattress​ she slept on so much we ended up replacing 3 of the mattresses in our home with it. Buying them on Wayfair even included free haul-away service for the old mattresses. We didn't replace the mattress my wife and I sleep on, so I can't give you my thoughts, but our kids are loving them!
• I noticed a new feature on our Bambu 3D Printer called PrintU that allows you to upload a photo of someone and generate a 3D model of them. However, multi-color prints can be super wasteful and our printer can only do 4 colors at once, so I spent some time learning about optimizing printer waste. Then I ended up printing some cool models of each kid that they are having a ton of fun incorporating into their dollhouses. I think if I made them a bit bigger than 2" tall, they might look better.

• Just two weeks after our warranty expired on our Tesla Model X we noticed a creaking sound from the axle when driving at slow speeds. Given all our summer travel and that it wouldn't be covered, we waited ~6 weeks to get it checked out and mostly drove our other car. Then after having Claude analyze the estimate and service record, I learned that in California your warranty should be extended by the # of days your car was in for service under warranty. Had I known that (or had Telsa's warranty expiration notification known about our Telsa service center visits and given us the right dates), this $3k repair would have likely been covered. Hopefully my mistake can save someone some $$ in the future!
• While I haven't gotten rid of my sinus infection yet, I'm cautiously optimistic (after a 2nd CT scan and ENT visit) that I'm near the end of this and can finally get back to my normal exercise and sauna routines that have fallen off a cliff the last few weeks.

⭐ My Top Picks

🛒 Costco + DoorDash: Two Deals for 20% Off

​​Costco is now on DoorDash nationwide​, and code COSTCO20 gets you 20% off a $100+ order (up to $50 off) through 11/1. You'll need to link an active membership in the app, and if you've got DashPass, delivery is free on Costco orders over $60.

On top of that, Costco is also selling ​2x $50 DoorDash eGift cards for 20% off; you can buy up to $200 every 2 weeks. And you can use those DoorDash gift cards to pay for a Costco order and stack the 20% off savings twice.

💳 Popular Card Turns 10: Up to $1,050 in Credits

A popular premium travel card just turned 10 and there are ​five activation-required offers​ worth up to $1,050 combined for spending with IHG, JSX, Sixt, Miraval, Alila and Wander. Just activate each one and book directly with the brand (not the bank's travel portal), or you won't get the credit.

✈️ Qatar Avios Drops Booking Restrictions

Qatar recently started preventing members from using their program to book flights for others unless they held their credit card or had credited miles from paid flights to their loyalty program. You might not think this matters, but Qatar is part of the shared Avios loyalty program with 5 other airlines, you can transfer points from nearly every transferable point program to Avios, and Qatar has some good award redemptions.

This was a trend I didn't love, so I'm excited that they just dropped that requirement. The only rule left is that an account has to be 30 days old before you can add someone to your My List. If you don’t already have a Privilege Club account, it's free and you can start the timer now.

🔄 70% Bonus to Marriott (But Probably Not Worth It)

There's a 70% bonus on transfers from a popular bank’s flexible points into Marriott through 10/15, but it's not as good as it sounds. Marriott points are worth roughly 0.7¢, so even with the bonus, you’re only getting about 1.2¢ per point transferred, which is rarely going to be a good deal. That said, I've definitely had some opportunities to get >1¢ per Bonvoy point, and if you have one of those specific redemptions lined up, this could be a decent use of your points.

💍 Up to 150K Points for Hosting a Wedding at a Hyatt

If you're planning a wedding (or know someone who is) before 12/31/27, Hyatt's new ​Honeymoon Offer​ is worth a look. You could earn bonus World of Hyatt points on eligible catering and banquet spend, up to 150K points once you hit $40K spent (plus 2 elite night credits per $5K). All you need to do is use the promo code HMOON when booking your wedding at an eligible Hyatt property and get it added to your signed contract.

🐜 Recommendation: Advion Ant Gel

We've unfortunately had ant issues in our home a few times and a friend suggested we try Advion Ant Gel. I wish we had found it sooner because it works so well. It's designed to target the whole colony rather than just the ants you can see, and I've found it much more effective than other things I've tried. Just make sure to apply it where your kids and pets won't try to eat it.

📰 The Rest of the Week

💳 Credit cards & points

• Amex: ANA transfers stuck for weeks​
• Amex: Centurion Lounge opens in Amsterdam — Cool to see the first one in continental Europe.
• Amex: Resy credits now work at many Tock venues​
• Popular Bank: Business card hotel credit doubles — Goes to $1,000 on 1/1/27, paired with a new $1M cap on 3x ad spend.
• Popular Bank & Citi: Q4 5% is dining & grocery — Activation is required.

✈️ Airline news & promos

• Air France: 29K sq ft lounge at JFK in 2027​
• American: Interline deal with Condor — No miles or status perks yet, but could be a sign of something cool to come.
• Southwest: 2x Points on flights booked this weekend​

🏨 Hotel news & promos

• Hilton: Up to 3K bonus points per stay (from 10/15 to 12/31)
• IHG: 15% off award nights (ends 9/21​) — Cardholders and elites only, and valid only for stays before 11/2.
• IHG: Buy points with 100% bonus, 0.5¢ each​
• IHG: Up to 3x points on fall stays (from 10/1 to 12/31)
• Wyndham: Up to 90% bonus on points — It’s a mystery bonus, so log in to see the rate you actually get.

💎 Award deals

• 🇨🇷 Costa Rica: Andaz Papagayo from 35K points​
• 🇦🇪 Dubai: Emirates biz from 96K Skywards miles​
• 🇩🇪 Germany: Lufthansa biz from 60K Aeroplan points​
• 🇮🇹 Italy: Biz class from 55K Flying Blue points​
• 🇲🇦 Morocco: Lie-flat biz from 55K Atmos points​
• 🇺🇸 Oahu: New Hyatt hotels from 20K points​

🔗 Card-linked offers (expiration dates are in parentheses)

• Away: $50 off $295+ (11/5)
• DISH Network: $80 off $89.99 (12/11)
• Lowe’s: Up to $50 off $500 (9/30)
• National Car Rental: $50 off $250+ (12/31)
• Popular Bank's Travel Portal: $100 off $600 (12/14)
• YouTube TV: $20 off $49.99 (9/28)

💬 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!

One small favor: if you enjoyed reading, please forward this email to someone else who might too. 🙏

Chris