Milenomics² Episode 187: A Day of Reckoning, Heightened Card Offers and Pre-Arrival Interaction

0:37 Fluz Time

• 1-Time Cards coming for more? For all?
• Day of Reckoning arrives for 1-Time Card users.
• Sidekicks, Protection team. Fluz is having growing pains.

07:05 Follow Up: Citi Shutdown Scenario

• I did end up calling their “special team” in response to their calls and letter
• Thought that maybe calling on a Saturday moments before the call center closed would get me someone who wanted to quickly get me off the phone, but no such luck
• Guy was as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as one could imagine. Friendly, but all business. Not necessarily inquisitive - more just filling in fields next to batches of transactions.
• Asked about purchases going as far back to 2021. What’s the nature/what’s the purpose sort of questions.
• Also asked why debit card payments? Took about 10-15 minutes.
• I asked “What’s next?” He said they’d contact me again if they needed any more info.
• Never mentioned that my accounts were already all closed.

10:19 US Bank Leverage

• Have we gone for it? Why/why not?
• Was Robert Approved for Leverage #2?

15:34 Bank of America $1,000 Business Unlimited MC (Slack discussion)

• Link has been flickering in and out
• Applications led only to a blank page, but evidently saving the application then restarting it can get an application to at least be considered?
• Still strange because it doesn’t ask anything about a business if you log in to an existing account anyway
• Strange, even for BofA
• $10,000 min spend in 90 days, 1.5% back everywhere card, $0 AF
• Applied, will update

17:20 Heightened Amex Hilton Offers

• Personal No AF 100,000 for $2,000 in 3 months
• Surpass 150,000 for $3,000 in 3 months
• Aspire remains at 150,000
• Business 165,000 for $5,000 in 3 months
• Available through referral
• Leaves Marriott Bonvoy as the only un-heightened Amex cards at the moment

24:12 Schwab Platinum Retention

• Chatted & called seeking retention a couple weeks ago on a Schwab card: Nothing offered
• Got my affairs in order: Redeemed incidentals, cashed out MRs, chatted again to close (for sure)
• This time offered 55,000 for $4,000 in 3 months. It’s like they know!
• I’ve had the card for a couple years. Last retention offer 13 months ago.

27:34 Amex Seems to be Targeting Everyone for Centurion Guesting Privileges

• Was supposed to go away
• But widespread reports of them sending emails saying “just for you - we’ll still allow you to bring guests” through
• Not me (Sam) 🙁

29:44 Amex Non-Clawbacks

• Closed Personal Platinum > 1 month ago. Brazenly refunded air incidental: No Clawback?
• Canceled $200 FHR booking on closed Personal Platinum. Will send check? Clawback?

31:20 Calling Japan Airlines to Enquire About Upgrades

• I’ve been looking for one more seat in Business Class on outbound BOS-Tokyo and it just has. Not. Opened. Up.
• Part of the problem, I think, is Saturday departure. For whatever reason JAL really doesn’t like to open up close-in availability on this route on Saturdays even close-in. Fridays and Sundays are tough as well.
• I ended up booking 1 Premium Economy seat with JAL miles which should be fine, but I’ve been unclear on whether this might be upgradable by calling JAL -or- at the airport on day of departure.
• Decided to call. JAL’s North America call center doesn’t open ‘til noon eastern.
• Called shortly after noon, long hold times. Finally spoke with someone who just couldn’t wait to get me off the phone.
• Said there’s no way to upgrade an award ticket, have to cancel/pay fee/book new Business Class award ticket. And there is no Business Class award space on that flight.
• I asked if same-day airport upgrades were a thing. Agent said I’d have to ask the airport that. Quite unhelpful.

36:20  Hyatt vs. Robert: The Battle of Tokyo

• Park Hyatt Tokyo
• Last time: Booked Park Twin Suite for 25,000 + Suite Upgrade Award. Great value!
• This time: Park Twin Suite doesn’t accommodate our kids ages so I instead booked a King Suite with 25,000 + a Suite Upgrade Award PLUS an additional Twin Room for 25,000.
• There are no Park King Suites that connect to Twin rooms so it would take some finessing, so I contacted “my” Hyatt Concierge and asked him to contact the hotel to see about connecting rooms.
• He looked into it a bit and said that would require an upgrade of the King Suite to a Premium Suite and that wasn’t possible with points. I asked him to contact the hotel to try and negotiate a solution. He didn’t want to do that. Said to wait and see on arrival.
• I didn’t like the sound of that so I contacted the hotel directly.
• I emailed describing what I’d booked and asked for interconnecting rooms.
• Hotel said that’s not possible and that I should instead take my Suite Upgrade Award and shove it, and they’d book me connecting standard rooms.
• I said I’d saved this one last Suite Upgrade Award for this stay, so I wanted to use it for one nice suite and was willing to pay points for an additional room. I asked if there was any way I could “pay up” for a Premium Suite that would interconnect. Hotel said they’d contact me closer to travel date once they saw what room inventory looked like.
• They did indeed contact me 2 weeks prior to arrival saying they could offer me the Tokyo Suite for an *additional* 590,000 JPY *per night* ($4,500/nt) on top of all the points and suite upgrade awards I’d be using for the Tokyo Suite that sells for $5,000/nt.
• I asked if I could book that with 2x the points as some hotels offer Premium Suites for double the cost of a Standard Room. They said “No.” Only the Governor Suite can be booked with points, and it’s not available, and it’s not interconnecting.
• At this point I felt I didn’t even want to stay there any more. Our prior stay was nice enough, but not so amazing that I felt like we needed to replicate it. So I canceled, saying I was disappointed in the Park Hyatt’s lack of interest in accommodating us.
• Hyatt Centric Ginza
• I like the location here so I booked a Standard King room with points and contacted my wife’s Hyatt Concierge (the same one I fired when she was my concierge) to ask if she could finagle an upgrade to a Premium Suite that showed available for my dates.
• She didn’t respond to my email for a couple days so I called her, and spoke with her for the first time.
• She didn’t seem to have a clue who I was, which is fine, but she also didn’t recall the email I sent that she hadn’t yet responded to.
• I asked if she could check with the hotel about upgrading the Standard King to the Premium Suite. She looked at it and said straight away that she couldn’t because it’s a Premium Suite.
• I then asked if she could check on interconnecting rooms - because none of the room availability appeared to be interconnecting.
• She showed such a lack of interest in helping in any way that I abandoned that idea and moved on.
• Discuss:
• Hyatt really seems intent on defending against outsized value in this market
• Occupancy limits, room configurations, and inflexible booking mechanisms

46:17 Four Seasons Tokyo at Marunouchi

• I really wanted to stay here all along because it’s a Four Seasons, train views, and location
• It’s gotten expensive though ($1,000/nt for the entry level room) and occupancy limits were once again challenging
• If booked directly on Four Seasons site, a slightly larger than entry level room can accommodate 3 adults + 1 child (19+ is considered an adult in Japan and my older son just turned 18)
• But if I book through 3rd party channels the max room occupancy is 3
• Further complicating things, all of the rooms on 3rd party sites are listed as SMOKING rooms
• The hotel’s site says it’s non-smoking so I was confused. Further, I was unclear on which rooms categories had train views.
• So I was left considering: Working with a Virtuoso travel agent to figure this out for me (in exchange for paying retail, but piling on breakfast and perks). Or booking through Amex FHR. Or Citi Prestige. Or any number of 3rd party channels.
• It’s a bit awkward to contact a hotel before booking through a 3rd party channel rather than direct but I felt like that was the best option here because I didn’t want to involve and annoy a Virtuoso rep, and I wanted to keep the price down.
• I called the hotel one evening (my time) on Google Voice and had a great call. The hotel is fully non-smoking since 2020 (outdated info on 3rd party sites). I mentioned that 3rd party sites only allowed me to book for 3 people. Would it be okay if booked for 3 and 4 actually stayed? Took a few iterations of conversation, but yes. I asked about train views and the agent, almost bizarrely, said “The Deluxe 2 Queen room can have a train view, unless you book a 4th night free rate.” I’m like, who said anything about 4th night free? How did you know?
• The call ultimately resulted in an email from the hotel acknowledging my requests. I then booked a Four Seasons 4th night free rate with my wife’s still-active Citi Prestige on a refundable prepaid rate that triggered Citi 4th night free.
• I then contacted the hotel back via email with my booking details and asked them to ensure a train view even though it’s not guaranteed with the room category I booked.
• Technique 1: Give a reason for the request
• My email:
• “Your assistance in assigning us the best room with a great train view is much appreciated.

You see - my son is a YouTuber who creates documentaries about trains around the world.

As such it's one of the primary reasons we're looking to stay at the hotel. In addition to it being a Four Seasons that looks beautiful with great service of course.

If it looks like a train view room cannot be accommodated would you let us know prior to the cancellation window so we can book elsewhere?”

• Response:
• “We are afraid we normally do not guarantee the train view unless you book the room with our special plan to guarantee the view; however, noting your reasons for stay, we are pleased to confirm train view for your reservation.”
• Finally! Some hospitality!

55:12 Hilton’s Infuriating Connecting Room Marketing Campaign

• In 2021 Hilton launched a campaign promoting guaranteed connecting rooms
• Just recently they went so far as a concert series somehow associated with the campaign
• Every time I see this commercial it makes makes my blood boil because of how hard it is to ensure a connecting room at hotels, and you know what? Hilton is no better than any other chain in my experience.
• Conrad Tokyo
• Recall I booked 2 rooms through separate Amex FHR reservations then contacted the hotel to ask if they could ensure they were connecting. Response:
• “In regards for your reservations, we have noted your request for interconnecting rooms, however, we afraid that these rooms are not guaranteed, we appreciate that you would check the rooms at your arrival.”
• I needed to change my Conrad reservation from 3 nights down to 2 because the Four Seasons stay was 4 nights. Booked the stay with 2 free night certs out of my account, 2 out of my wife’s. Hilton Diamond rep said he’d put in the request for connecting rooms but can’t guarantee them.
• Technique 2: Use open ended questions
• My email to hotel:
• “With these new reservations in mind, what would you recommend to ensure connecting rooms prior to arrival?
  That's very important to me as you know, because my wife likes to be close to our children when we're staying in hotels.”
• Response:
• “As we have understood your situation, therefore, we are pleased to arrange connecting room for you.”
• Could have been the fact that it was now a Hilton-direct booking, or maybe I wore them down.
• Tip: Canceled FHR inventory immediately freed up Standard Award space. Might not always be the case if they’re oversold but worked in this case.

58:55 Discuss: Pre-Arrival Interactions with a Hotel

• We sometimes joke that people write hotel reviews for places they never even stayed at
• But could there actually be a place for these kinds of reviews?
• For example, the Cordis I never stayed at in Hong Kong was a tremendous hotel!
• Or, the Park Hyatt example upstream. They were communicative but ultimately inflexible to the point of being inhospitable I felt. That’s a valid impression.
• Some hotels make it a lot easier to contact them prior to booking to discuss unique constraints.
• Some hotels don’t even want to talk to you until you have a reservation. And even then don’t want to talk to you far in advance of arrival.
• Then there’s the strong silent types that if they don’t see what they want at a hotel straight away they just choose to not look any further.
• Layer award stay complexities, loyalty perks, 3rd party booking channels and FHR/Virtuoso/Prive on top of this and it can become either a very fun puzzle -or- a major headache for points enthusiasts
• What do you think? Let’s discuss various personality types and how people navigate this.