by The Frugal Tourist | Jan 26, 2023 | Hyatt, MGM
If you have World of Hyatt elite status, you may be wondering how to status match your Hyatt status to MGM Rewards and take advantage of lucrative MGM elite benefits before your next trip to Las Vegas. This guide will walk you through the steps necessary to match your World of Hyatt status to MGM Rewards. Once you have completed the process, you will enjoy various MGM status benefits, such as waived valet parking charges and waived resort fees!
by The Frugal Tourist | Jan 20, 2023 | MILES & POINTS, Redemptions, Singapore Airlines, Stopover
If you’re looking for a way to explore new destinations without spending a lot of extra miles, booking a stopover with Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles is the perfect option. Stopovers on award itineraries are simple and cost-effective with KrisFlyer. So be sure to take advantage of this feature the next time you are planning an award flight with Singapore Airlines. In this blog post, I will walk you through the steps on how to add stopovers to your redemptions so you can maximize the value of your Singapore KrisFlyer awards.
by The Frugal Tourist | Jan 15, 2023 | Hilton, Redemptions
Conrad Maldives is a top-tier Hilton property that requires 95,000 Hilton points per night on their standard rooms (as of April 2021). Nightly paid rates range from $600 to over $1,000 per night. Hence, it is not truly a financially-viable option if you are a frugal tourist like myself as I’d rather invest that cash for early retirement versus splurge on an experience that only provides a momentary high. In this blog post, I will go over the steps on how you can also book 5 nights at the Conrad Maldives – Rangali Island using Hilton points on your next vacation.
by The Frugal Tourist | Jan 1, 2023 | Hotels, Hyatt
The World of Hyatt hotels is, without a doubt, one of my favorite brands because of how inexpensive their award nights are when compared to other hotels. In this blog article, I’ll guide you through the World of Hyatt’s new off-peak and peak award chart so that you can plan your getaways around the time that rooms are inexpensive. That way, you can save those valuable World of Hyatt points for future redemptions.
by The Frugal Tourist | Nov 3, 2022 | Gift Cards, MILES & POINTS, Stacking
If you’re looking for a way to rack up travel rewards and cash back, you should consider stacking giftcards.com purchases. This approach can help you earn significant rewards while spending little effort. Keep reading to learn more about how to make the most of this strategy.
by The Frugal Tourist | Nov 2, 2022 | Mortgage, Plastiq
Did you know that you can use gift cards to pay your home mortgage? Yes, that is true and I will walk you through the steps on how you can do it too. Home mortgages are typically impossible to pay using credit cards or gift cards, but in this blog post, I will show you how you can use a service called Plastiq so you can liquidate your Mastercard gift cards to make mortgage payments.
by The Frugal Tourist | Oct 31, 2022 | American Express, Cashback, Charles Schwab
If you’re an American Express cardholder looking for a way to cash out your Membership Rewards points, the Charles Schwab Platinum card may be the right option. This card allows cardholders the ability to convert their points into cash, which can be a great way to get some extra spending money! n this blog post, we’ll discuss the details of the Charles Schwab Platinum® Card and the steps on how you can use it to cash out your points.
by The Frugal Tourist | Oct 30, 2022 | American Express, Rakuten
Rakuten is a shopping portal that allows consumers to earn extra cashback or travel points for every purchase. These rewards can add up quickly and help get us closer to our dream vacation on points or cash! Since most of us love to redeem our points for nearly free travel, I set up my Rakuten account to receive American Express Membership Rewards points that I can use for discounted flights. In this blog post, I will walk you through the steps on how to set up your Rakuten account to earn American Express Membership Rewards so you can be on your way to your next bucket-list destination.
by The Frugal Tourist | Oct 29, 2022 | American Airlines, Barclays, MILES & POINTS
Many individuals who recently applied for the AA Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard from Barclays are reporting that they are missing their $95 statement credit, which is earned after meeting the minimum spend requirement.
If it has been a few months since you met your spending requirement and you still don’t see a credit of $95, then there’s a good chance you are one of those affected. In this blog post, I will walk you through the steps on how to request for that credit via Secure Message or Twitter. Read along!
by The Frugal Tourist | Oct 16, 2022 | MILES & POINTS
One of the most lucrative frugal strategies I’ve been optimizing the past decade or so is leveraging points and miles earned from credit cards to pay for my airfare and hotel stays. These credit cards require for a certain amount of spending to occur before they give out bonuses. In this blog post, I will lay out some ways on how you can meet this requirement without breaking the bank.
by The Frugal Tourist | Sep 6, 2022 | North America, San Francisco, USA, Walking Tour
San Francisco’s stunning geography has certainly attracted an artistically-inclined populace. Aside from its majestic attractions, it is also speckled with incredible street art, particularly in its famous Mission District. There are hundreds of amazing murals scattered all over SF but the “Mission” is hands down the epicenter of this kaleidoscopic movement. This tour aims to connect some of the most sublime and well-known neighborhood masterpieces in the Mission. Let’s go!
by The Frugal Tourist | Aug 31, 2022 | Hotels, Hyatt, Italy
Venice can also be an extremely expensive destination. If you’re not mindful, you can easily spend a fortune on your lodging alone. For those seeking an inexpensive stay in this lovely city using points, I highly recommend the Hyatt Centric Murano Venice. In this blog post, we will discuss some of the reasons why we recommend this hotel, as well as how to book a stay at this property.
by The Frugal Tourist | Aug 20, 2022 | CHASE, MILES & POINTS, Singapore Airlines
Chase Ultimate Rewards Points is one of my favorite flexible travel rewards currencies. Since Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer is a transfer partner of Chase, you can essentially accumulate KrisFlyer miles as a result of earning Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points. In this blog post, I will walk you through the steps on how to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program so you can be on your way to your next vacation on points.
by The Frugal Tourist | Aug 1, 2022 | MILES & POINTS
One of the fastest ways to accumulate travel miles and points is to purchase gift cards (Visa Gift Cards or Mastercard Gift Cards) when they go on sale, either at office supply stores or grocery stores, by using travel credit cards. In this blog post, I will list out the various liquidation methods I’ve utilized through the years to convert these gift cards into cash, while simultaneously earning travel points for free flights and hotels.
