Milenomics² Podcast Episode 255: Exciting Developments...

0:20 [Targeted] Heightened Chase Ultimate Reward Point Value for Sapphire Cardholders Booking through Portal

• Higher than usual point value on Sapphire cards. Incredible uplift!

• How to see whether you’re targeted: Do a search in the Chase portal for United/Delta/Qatar premium cabins -or- “nicer” hotels to see if any “Points offer” appears

• Regular uplift on Preferred is 1.25, Reserve is 1.5

• With this we’re seeing 1.5-1.75 for Preferred, 1.75-2.25 for Reserve

• Not just flights, hotels as well are seeing increased value.

• The Summer of Ultimate Rewards!

• Great time to mention the current Sign up Bonus on the CSP is up to 100,000 UR. 

14:25 Q2 5x Categories

• Chase Freedom: Amazon + Select Streaming Services

• Discover: Grocery + Wholesale Clubs

15:30 Pepper 

• Sign up, $20 back on $200

• Offers started low, 3x-5x points

• After about a week 10x offers started showing

• Could be going out of business, or not? Amex CC issues last week seem to be fixed.

• Rates were MUCH better recently, unsure those will come back.

• Easy to ‘accidentally’ buy a card. 

• Might be able to resell, but stacked with Capital One shopping this is a nice discount

• The points are calculated in a really tough to understand way. More digging needed. 

23:23 United One-Stop to Bangkok

• Said to be due partially to the success of White Lotus

• SFO and LAX, stops in HKG and then onward to BKK

• 5th freedom? 

25:07 Chase Ink Unlimited -> Ink Cash Product Change

• Tried product changing a couple months after getting the card/meeting min spend, for more 5x capacity: Denied

• Called 5 months in: Approved!

26:29 Amex Churning A/B/C Tests

• Theory: Head-on applications (no referral, no affiliate, no routing from the airline/hotel’s site) for co-branded business cards skirt lifetime restrictions

• Theory: A back-button/new-tab trick on co-branded credit cards results in approval without calling

• Sometimes you just don’t get the lifetime pop-up for cards you’re certain you’ve had before and it’s unclear why this “selective forgetfulness” (on Amex’s part) occurs

• Results: These denials seem to be ‘duplicate’ application denials, likely due to the initial head on popups we both backed out of and then reapplying in a different channel. 

• Slack discussion link

31:43 Hilton A/B Trip Results

32:21 Hilton Garden Inn Stony Brook

• Booked expensive cash rate through CapOne Shopping portal hoping for 33.5% back

• On arrival, presented one of my Business Platinums to secure the stay

• Asked if I could swipe to reduce the balance? No! Not until tomorrow.

• Next morning I go down early and was able to successfully (though clumsily) make 5 x $50 payments on Business Platinums

• It seemed like $50 of the room rate was reduced from the amount I could pay from the card they authorized the night before, because when I went to check-out, the amount due increased and I ultimately landed like $120 on one last Business Platinum (including an $18 pp lousy breakfast)

• CapOne Shopping marked the stay Ineligible straight away. Emailed them and they got right back to me with a curt response that I must have done something wrong -or- it will become eligible later. Will keep an eye on it.

38:04 Palm Springs Trip: “I don’t want to talk to a single person at all”

• It just worked!

• Hampton Inn, apparently. 

• Entered the hotel through the side door (with my digital key)

• Opened the room with same key

• Went down to their unmanned breakfast (self serve)

• Coffee in the lobby was dangerously close to the front desk, but I stayed on the far end so I didn’t have to see any human employee

• Left by checking out in the app. 

• Insane to say but this stay exceeded my expectations. Humans would have only ruined things. 

40:36 Palm Springs: I don’t get it

• I just don’t get it. I’m clearly not in the target market for PS. 

• Two main groups: Retired people and LGBTQ. The mashup of those two is great to see, but I’m on the sidelines for each. 

• Weather was hot but dusty/windy

• Place was packed.  I like the area when it is empty but I guess this is good for business

• 111 is booming. They’ve got all kinds of new construction on it. 

• Lots of fast EV chargers with open stalls. 

• Food is meh.

• This was a multi-generational visit to an older family member who winters out there. It was successful in that regard. 

42:55 Hilton Garden Inn Melville

• Also booked through CapOne Shopping. This one didn’t track at all.

• At check-in, I presented one of my wife’s Business Platinums. Eagle-eyed desk agent asked right away if she was present (she was perusing the pantry selections nearby), asked for her ID, and added her to the reservation.

• I asked again whether I could pay down the balance? Agent asked, “What, do you have gift cards or something?” I’m like, “Well yeah I have gift cards but I’ve got these credit cards that have this goofy $50 benefit on them I’d like to use.”

• Rep says, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll be here in the morning. While you’re having breakfast you can leave the gift cards with me and I’ll process them. Because it’s a little clunky and I have to enter them manually.”

• Sure enough, next morning the same rep is there (she had a late shift followed by an early shift). I didn’t want to endure another lousy breakfast so I just asked to do some $50 Business Platinum swipes.

• All is going well (she’s adept at working the register) - I was even able to use a $50 Hilton GC. Then she gets to a Business Platinum with my wife’s name on it. She won’t process it without my wife there. As luck would have it, she comes around the corner just in time and all is saved. A perfect complete depletion of the $50 Hilton credits across 10+ Business Platinums!

• Got emails about the credits triggering a couple days later.

• Will follow-up separately with CapOne Shopping about the non-tracking stay.

• Bottom Line: It wasn’t that bad (it wasn’t particularly good either) but the big point of malfunction was the shopping portal. Strangely, the Hotels.com stay I booked with a GC last week tracked fine.

51:23 Tip of the Week: Warranty Replacement

• Night and day: Le Creuset vs. Stearns & Foster

• Discuss: Whether warranties are worth pursuing. Is it worth paying more for a company with a better warranty? Luggage for example.