Aussie Points Expert

Get 12,500 Velocity Bonus Points for a Referral!

2014-02-11T13:43:00.001+10:00

[We've been busy of late, so haven't had time to post. We appreciate it if you choose to use our links to sign up for new cards!]

I had to get off a short post about the Velocity co-branded American Express card. I covered the numerous benefits in a post not long ago. The card also has a top spot on the left banner of my blog, because I feel it ranks among THE best Aussie card on the market right now!

Two friends of ours used our links to get a card each, since they need to go to the same Melbourne convention we are all attending later this year. Their approvals gave them each 20,000 Velocity points, and also rewarded us with 12,500 for each approval, for a total of 25,000 points. Without a friend's referral, the regular offer is just 15,000 for a new card, and no one gets a referral bonus!

But you can get your own referral link so that anyone you refer who signs up, will net themselves a total of 20,000 points, and you'll get the 12,500 yourself!

If you don't already have a card, use my link to get one. Then once you've received it sign into your American Express online account to create a referral link for anyone you feel should get one also, as explained below.

Go to this web address. American Express expects you to refer your friends via Facebook, so if you don't have an account create a free one to be eligible for this promo. Facebook referrals are the ultimate free advertising for American Express and follows the growing trend toward social media advertising.

Scroll down the list until you find the card you have. In this case we'll assume you already signed up using my link and now want to create your own for your friends.

Next, you'll see this screen:

NOTE: The terms say that if your friend has had another AMEX product within the previous 12 months he will not receive his full 20,000 points. However, in practice, I found this isn't true. But, it is a chance you'll have to take.

Next, you'll have to enter details such as:

Your name
Current Gold credit card number
Email

After this step you'll be connected to your Facebook account to "share" the American Express marketing message with the promotional message with your friend.

Then, any person you refer who signs up, and is approved, automatically rewards you with 12,500 points, and they get the full 20,000 points, and not the regular 15,000!

CONCLUSION

Use my link to net an extra 5,000 points for a new card, and then create your own link to get even more. This is a great deal in my opinion, since even getting just 15,000 points for $99 is sweet. To net an extra 12,500, and an extra 5,000 for your friend, is just incredible!

Deals for This Weekend - January 10, 11

2014-01-09T05:00:00.000+10:00

If you're looking for a quick getaway this weekend, that doesn't break the budget, have a look at a few of these Secret Saver hotels.

If you have kids, these rates will work with 2 adults with 2 children.

I am highlighting 1 bargain rate hotel in each city.

These rates are booking through Expedia.com.au, for this Friday and Saturday nights, January 10-11, 2014.

Adelaide
4.5* $346 for this weekend

Auckland
4.5* $297 for this weekend

Brisbane
4.5* $368 for this weekend

Gold Coast
4* $412 for this weekend

Melbourne
4.5* $382 for this weekend

Perth
4.5* $307 this weekend

Sydney
3.5* $487 this weekend

Why Banks Spend Millions

2014-01-08T05:00:00.000+10:00

Today's post is short and sweet.

All of us have gotten value out of huge credit card signup bonuses. But how do the banks make money from giving away money or airline points?

Put simply, they earn money from your loyalty.

Studies show that the average cost for any business to 'obtain' a new client, is 7x what is it is retain a current client.

Every business would rather spend less to keep its clients, than spend lots more to get new ones. But in an effort to grow, they do spend money to land new clients.

With banks, they choose to give away money, points, and other card perks, to gain your business. They hope you will stick with them, not review your cards, not pay attention to annual fees, or just not bother checking what their competitors offer and switch cards.

Ah, but we must! Otherwise we could miss great deals which are worth hundreds of dollars in free giveaways for little effort. Our doing this also makes the banking system far more competitive here in Australia.

In the States it is not far-fetched to get more than $5,000 cash and points value from credit cards EVERY YEAR! Australia is not even close to that figure, but there are good offers out there, and if we pay attention and get them the market here will have to become ever more competitive.

Hat tip to Million Mile Secrets in this post explaining how banks and large businesses see the return on their huge advertising and new client expenditures.

The Definitive Guide to 10 Best Rate Hotel Guarantees Series: Part 4 - Marriott

2014-01-07T05:00:00.000+10:00

Hanging With the Locals in Shanghai

Sometimes we have to transit through a city or airport, and need just one night in a hotel. When that happens I like to start by looking for Best Rate Guarantees, and if you locate one you can stay for free. And there are some nice places we've stayed at, and others we have coming up. You can also use them to lower the overall cost of a longer stay, of more than just 1 night.

But how hard is it to find one? What are the rules? How can it be free?

Most of the major hotel chains, and online travel agencies, have Best Rate Guarantees (BRG's). Basically, they offer to match, beat, or even give you a free night if you happen to find a better rate with a competitor. Now admittedly, looking for another competing price takes more time and effort. However, the payback can be significant if you're prepared to do just a few minutes of work.

Other bloggers have posted some excellent write-ups on BRG's, some extremely thorough, but in this series we're going to explore some popular brands and their rules primarily for Australia, New Zealand, and Asia, since that is where most of us travel around here. There are many hotels with BRG's, but so as not to dilute, we'll only focus here on 10 Best Rate Guarantees, those which are best for our region.

A few large chains with thousands of locations, actually offer the 1st night of stay for free, if you find a competing and eligible rate which is lower. So if you are only staying 1 night, you get that night free. They can give away free nights because they'd rather give you 1 free night, for helping them locate where they need to adjust their prices to compete. Most consumers won't bother to claim for a free night, they'll just see the lowest rate and book whatever is cheapest.

In this series I'm also introducing a new feature, that I hope will be helpful for you. I'm including a short youtube video clip, where I quickly walk you through how to find, book, and submit a claim for a free or discounted BRG stay. This will show you just how easy it is.

You can go straight to the Hyatt (from Post 3 in the series) how-to video now, if you're like me and don't want to read the instructions! Or keep reading if you want written details.

Best Rate Guarantee Series

Part 1 - Choice (match, and 1st night free)
Part 2 - Intercontinental Hotels Group (match, and 1st night free)
Part 3 - Hyatt (match, and 20% off total stay)
Part 4 - Marriott (match, and 25% off total stay)
Part 5 - Starwood
Part 6 - Best Western
Part 7 - Club Carlson
Part 8 - Rydges
Part 9 - Mövenpick
Part 10 - Expedia

Marriott Hotels have some nice properties. The JW Marriott in Shanghai is amazing and can go for $300 a night! It is a beautiful hotel.

They also include the Ritz-Carlton ultra-luxury hotels, one of the many brands that fall within the Marriott umbrella. Ritz-Carlton hotels are found in many Asian countries, but not Australia.

JW Marriott Shanghai

Grand Staircase on the 38th Floor

GETTING DISCOUNTED NIGHTS

How hard is it to find a discounted night with the Marriott Hotels chain?

Marriott has over 3,800 properties, in 74 countries.

In Australia most of the major cities have at least 1 Marriott.

GENERAL RULES

Must book a reservation on Marriott website. (I book refundable so I can cancel if they deny my claim)
Must have found a lower rate on a competitor website.
Submit the claim within 24 hours of booking.
Amenities must generally match. (same room type, same description, or close)

Submit your BRG via their online form.

The Marriott rep will search the competitor site you've found, to verify your rate. If they find you've found a cheaper rate elsewhere they will apply a 25% discount to your entire stay. You should get a response the same day.

The search will come back with only hotels from the Marriott chain.

When clicking through to the actual websites prices dropped for both Marriott (USD $166) and Travelocity (USD $159).

Search for a price discrepancy. When you find one, you might have a winner! In this case I found Travelocity to be lower in price than the Shanghai Marriott City Centre hotel. Click on the link of the lower price competitor, and the Marriott hotel, to see if both pages load with valid prices. Occasionally prices are out-of-date, but by clicking through you'll quickly know if there are any updates or errors.

VERIFY THE PRICES AND AMENITIES

Take a good look at the prices. Are they more then a $1? 1%? Do the currencies match? Are the amenities the same? So quickly read through and ensure they look similar in description. Check to see if the pictures on both sites are the same, thus the same room type. This will be what the Marriott agent searches for when deciding to give you a free night. Is the price refundable, in case your claim is rejected, and you need to cancel and find another free night elsewhere?

If you are satisfied then make the reservation and immediately submit a claim for a BRG. I do it so that the agent at Marriott who handles your claim can get onto it as soon as possible to give me an answer.

If I'm rejected I cancel as soon as I find out. Then I may try again right away or soon after.

MULTIPLE NIGHTS

In this post, by looking and finding a cheaper rate you would have saved $42 ($6 per night x 7 nights) + $133 (25% off of $159 = $19 X 7 nights), saving a grand total of $175!

CONCLUSION

Take a few minutes next time you're traveling to save serious money on your trip, by learning how to use BRG's. You'll definitely Travel Better..and Travel for Less!

Buy Frontier Miles and See the US for Cheap(er)

2014-01-06T05:00:00.001+10:00

Frontier Airlines serves many major US cities in lots of states, though not all. But they do cover most of the ones you'd want to visit, such as New York, Texas, Florida, and many, many more.

Of note is that they fly to Mexico, Costa Rica, and Alaska, at far lower redemption prices than other major airlines. This is an award sweet spot for buying and redeeming miles, and especially when they are running discounted points sales, like now until 14 January, 2014.

Check out their route map if you want to see exactly where they fly.

Currently Points.com is running a promotion to sell Frontier miles for US$.0179 each. This means that you could fly from any one of their US locations, to any other, for US$181, and return for $362. Nice! Including Alaska!

A ticket to Alaska usually sets you back US$400 one-way from most cities in the US.

I did a cost analysis to buy points with the current promotion, on a trip from:
New York to Alaska, on to Florida, and back again to New York.

A trip to those 3 locations would cost you +US$1,000 cash or more.

But to buy 30,000 points right now, which would take you to those same 3 places, would cost you just US$591.

If you have any future trips coming up to the US, buy points now so you can save money later.

Hat Tip to MileValue.

Holiday Report US West Coast: Part 4 - Highway 1

2014-01-03T05:00:00.000+10:00

In September we converted Delta 35,000 points each, to travel up to visit my family in Ohio, and then from there to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary by driving and touring the US West Coast.

Delta allows you to have a stopover at 1 location, and then another flight to an entirely different destination, when redeeming award tickets. Effectively, you're getting 2 trips, for the price of 1 redemption.

So we flew from Panama to Ohio, then later to California, and finally back to Panama at the end. All for 35,000 points.

We had decided to visit Las Vegas, the Napa Valley, and drive south along Highway 1, since these are places we've always wanted to see.

Holiday Report US West Coast: Index

Part 1 - Los Angeles to Las Vegas
Part 2 - Las Vegas to San Francisco
Part 3 - Napa Valley
Part 4 - Highway 1

Driving Highway 1
Firstly, it's definitely not overrated. We started out early and ended Day 1 in San Luis Obispo. But along the way we could not stop taking photos. The beautiful vistas, sloping mountains, jagged cliffs, and lots of wildlife, were spectacular.

As usual, we find ourselves saying, "if there were only more time". But, we were just glad we did have time, and were here! Lots of folks never get to see these places, so we don't want to sound ungrateful. I wish lots more folks knew that when you redeem a US airline reward ticket, you can get 2 stops and not just 1. Then no doubt many more would tack on another destination like we did and see more places with their limited money and time.

There were too many places to see, we finally had to just keep moving, or else we would have to stay overnight on the road and never get to our hotel in San Luis Obispo.

The View from Cafe Kevah

Along the road you should stop at Cafe Kevah, for incredible views of Big Sur. Prices are reasonable for such a remote cafe, a coffee costs ~$5. There is also a much nicer full restaurant next door, but much pricier. We had brought along food to eat during the trip in the car, so didn't feel the need to splurge ~$30-$40 and wait in a long line! But if you want an incredible view and experience stop at the cafe or restaurant just upstairs.

We arrived late that night in the Los Angeles area. Again we stayed at another free night that we found with IHG, saving us ~$130.

The next morning we were off to the airport to catch our flight to Atlanta, connecting to Panama City.

As we traveled home we couldn't help but think of our incredible trip to the West Coast, and what better way to celebrate 15 years of marriage than to see a place we'd always dreamed of, thanks to points and ultra-cheap travel tricks!

Deals for This Weekend - January 3, 4

2014-01-02T05:00:00.000+10:00

If you're looking for a quick getaway this weekend, that doesn't break the budget, have a look at a few of these Secret Saver hotels.

If you have kids, these rates will work with 2 adults with 2 children.

I am highlighting 1 bargain rate hotel in each city.

These rates are booking through Expedia.com.au, for this Friday and Saturday nights, January 3-4, 2014.

Adelaide
4.5* $355 for this weekend

Auckland
4.5* $263 for this weekend

Brisbane
4* $253 for this weekend

Gold Coast
4* $336 for this weekend

Melbourne
4.5* $432 for this weekend

Perth
4.5* $346 this weekend

Sydney
3.5* $388 this weekend

Holiday Report US West Coast: Part 3 - Napa Valley

2014-01-01T05:00:00.000+10:00

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for last-minute deals!

Bindi and I have been able to see lots of places that we could never have afforded to, if it were not for using points, or at least defraying the cost by searching out bargain fares on flights or hotels.

We've been spending some time in Panama of late. So we started our trip from there.

In September we converted Delta 35,000 points each, to travel up to visit my family in Ohio, and then from there to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary by driving and touring the US West Coast.

Wine Tasting in the Napa Valley

Delta allows you to have a stopover at 1 location, and then another flight to an entirely different destination, when redeeming award tickets. Effectively, you're getting 2 trips, for the price of 1 redemption.

So we flew from Panama to Ohio, then later to California, and finally back to Panama at the end. All for 35,000 points.

We had decided to visit Las Vegas, the Napa Valley, and drive south along Highway 1, since these are places we've always wanted to see.

Holiday Report US West Coast: Index

Part 1 - Los Angeles to Las Vegas
Part 2 - Las Vegas to San Francisco

Part 3 - Napa Valley

Part 4 - Highway 1

San Francisco
Though we did stay in San Francisco, we really should have stayed somewhere closer to the Napa Valley. I didn't realize how far it was. At least an hour or actually closer to 2 hours in traffic. And we went there 2 days in a row, so that added travel time.

But I had found 2 BRG's at nice hotels in the San Francisco, and wanting to stay for free and not knowing how far it was to the Napa, we opted to take the free nights and stay in San Francisco.

I'm not posting about those free nights here, since this post is about Napa. But it's worth mentioning so you can see how we were able to do this trip and were able to affordably celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary without breaking the bank!

Napa Valley

We've been lots of places, but never to the Napa Valley. And we've heard from friends for years how 'you must see it'! So we finally began planning earlier in 2013 to make a trip for our 15th wedding anniversary. And it did not disappoint.


Tra Vigne - Wonderful Place & Food

We loved many of the small restaurants and cafes in Napa. We tried several. But we have to mention Tra Vigne, which is in St. Helena, a small town that is at the start of the Napa Valley. The waiter was professional and knowledgeable (wish we knew his name!), and the food and wine were superb. Prices for a meal are ~$20 and up, but for the atmosphere and locale, are worth every penny and more.

If you are passing through don't miss having a meal there!

If you ever have the time and you're in Northern California, you MUST see it. We've toured lots of wineries around Australia (our favourite is still the Yarra in Melbourne), and I'll admit, they are on equal par with Napa. (My wife and I always compare Oz/US!) Believe it or not, what we like better about the Aussie wineries is that they don't usually charge for tastings, and the wine itself is just as good as California. Whereas in Napa they usually did charge. However, prices were reasonable. Thumbs up for Australia in this case, since FREE wine, and of same quality, is a bargain we prefer!

However, if you're in California, you really need to spend a day (or 3) seeing this picturesque part of the US. The olive groves, surroundings, and mountains, make this a place you shouldn't miss if visiting the West Coast!

Holiday Report US West Coast: Part 2 - Las Vegas to San Francisco

2013-12-31T05:00:00.000+10:00

Bindi and I have been able to see lots of places that we could never have afforded to, if it were not for using points, or at least defraying the cost by searching for bargain fares on flights or hotels.

We've been spending some time in Panama of late. So we started our trip from there.

In September we converted Delta 35,000 points each, to travel up to visit my family in Ohio, and then from there to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary by driving and touring the US West Coast.

Our Upgraded Room

Part 1 - Los Angeles to Las Vegas
Part 2 - Las Vegas to San Francisco

Part 3 - Napa Valley
Part 4 - Highway 1

Las Vegas to San Francisco

We set off early from Vegas and drove along the inland highway, which was faster to get to Northern California. We planned to take our time as we drove South later along Highway 1. Since we'd never been through this part of the California, we loved getting to see all the produce and orchards in this part of the state. It was very sparsely populated, but beautiful.

While traveling, we decided to stay at some Holiday Inn hotels along the way, in small towns. Prices were reasonable, and it allowed me to qualify for my needed stays in order to get my Big Win promotion points. Since I have Platinum status with IHG, it meant better rooms and other perks as well.

I was targeted for 90,000 points if I completed all my stays. Spending the ~$400 or so I needed to to qualify for 90,000 points is well worth it since I try to redeem these for PointsBreak nights, which could cost ~$2,000 in cash, instead of using 90,000 points.

We've stayed in PointsBreak hotels a few times and plan to do it more. They are a great bargain for 5,000 points. Before I realised how valuable they were, and went I began learning about the value of points, I purchased points to make my stays more affordable. Since then I've built up points with credit cards and promotions like the Big Win.

Now we have +200,000 points so we'll be using those for some future trips we have coming up.

We took 2 days to drive from Las Vegas to San Francisco. But we enjoyed the slow place, and getting to actually drive, and see the countryside. Since we usually fly, when we have the chance to drive and see something, we like to if we have the time to spare.

Holiday Report US West Coast: Part 1 - Los Angeles to Las Vegas

2013-12-30T05:00:00.000+10:00

My Cousin Who Lives in Africa, Was Also Visiting Ohio

Part 1 - Los Angeles to Las Vegas

Part 2 - Las Vegas to San Francisco

Part 3 - Napa Valley

Part 4 - Highway 1

Los Angeles to Las Vegas

We searched for low cost car hires, and by waiting until the last few days before we traveled, we got a bargain via Hotwire. For US car hires, it is hard to beat their last-minute rates, since the car hire companies use sites like Hotwire to dump excess car stock. Sometimes they offer cars for as low as $5/day! I'll be posting about cheap car hires in future.

We arrived on a late flight, and then we drove to our hotel in Hermosa Beach, where we stayed for one night before driving to Las Vegas. We used a BRG for the one night there, so it was free! The hotel usually costs USD +$150/night.

Now admittedly, we've stayed in better hotels. But this one wasn't bad, and it was comfortable and quiet. In fact, it was more than adequate. And free, is FREE. And we only needed one night, so it was better to find a free night using a BRG.

Funnily enough, the girl at reception looked at our rate of $0, and said, "wow, I've never seen a rate that cheap!". I explained how we had found a competitor rate for lower than the Choice rate, and that Choice then awarded us a free stay. She said she didn't even know such a guarantee existed! Needless to say, it goes to show how even hotel employees might not even understand what their own corporate hotel policies are!

Our Free Night at Choice Hotels, Hermosa Beach, CA

The Room Even Included a Sofa!

Driving to Vegas

After getting up, we began our 4 1/2 hour drive to Vegas. It's been awhile since either of us have traveled through a desert, and we'd never been through this one. It was gorgeous, and we enjoyed the scenery.

We spent 3 days in Las Vegas, and got to see lots of famous places like the Bellagio, the Venetian, Caesar's Palace, and the Four Seasons.

Bellagio Fountain Show - Unmissable

Since we couldn't get a great deal at any of the expensive hotels, I redeemed some Expedia vouchers that were good for $50 credit per night, and we stayed for 3 nights at a smaller casino and hotel. With the credit, the total nightly stay came to $15/night.

We aren't gamblers, so after 3 nights we'd seen enough and headed off north to the Napa Valley. This was the highlight of the trip we'd really been looking forward to seeing, so we couldn't wait to go north!

The Definitive Guide to 10 Best Rate Hotel Guarantees Series: Part 3 - Hyatt [with Video]

2013-12-27T05:00:00.000+10:00

We try to get sales on hotels or airlines, since it saves us money. And we've often gotten some great prices, if we've been able to plan in advance. Other times, we've gotten some great last-minute prices by using a few tricks that I've posted about earlier.

Sometimes we have to transit through a city or airport, and need just one night in a hotel. When that happens I like to start by looking for Best Rate Guarantees, and if you locate one you can stay for free. And there are some nice places we've stayed at, and others we have coming up. You can also use them to lower the overall cost of a longer stay, of more than just 1 night.

Bindi and I in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh)

But how hard is it to find one? What are the rules? How can it be free?

Park Hyatt Saigon - Save $500, By Finding a BRG

Most of the major hotel chains, and online travel agencies, have Best Rate Guarantees (BRG's). Basically, they offer to match, beat, or even give you a free night if you happen to find a better rate with a competitor. Now admittedly, looking for another competing price takes more time and effort. However, the payback can be significant if you're prepared to do just a few minutes of work.

Other bloggers have posted some excellent write-ups on BRG's, some extremely thorough, but in this series we're going to explore some popular brands and their rules primarily for Australia, New Zealand, and Asia, since that is where most of us travel around here. There are many hotels with BRG's, but so as not to dilute, we'll only focus here on 10 Best Rate Guarantees, those which are best for our region.

A few large chains with thousands of locations, actually offer the 1st night of stay for free, if you find a competing and eligible rate which is lower. So if you are only staying 1 night, you get that night free. They can give away free nights because they'd rather give you 1 free night, for helping them locate where they need to adjust their prices to compete. Most consumers won't bother to claim for a free night, they'll just see the lowest rate and book whatever is cheapest.

In this series I'm also introducing a new feature, that I hope will be helpful for you. I'm including a short youtube video clip, where I quickly walk you through how to find, book, and submit a claim for a free or discounted BRG stay. This will show you just how easy it is.

You can go straight to the Hyatt how-to video now, if you're like me and don't want to read the instructions! Or keep reading if you want written details.

Best Rate Guarantee Series

Part 1 - Choice (match, and 1st night free)
Part 2 - Intercontinental Hotels Group (match, and 1st night free)

Part 3 - Hyatt (match, and 20% off total stay)
Part 4 - Marriott
Part 5 - Starwood
Part 6 - Best Western
Part 7 - Club Carlson
Part 8 - Rydges
Part 9 - Mövenpick
Part 10 - Expedia

Hyatt Hotels have some very high end properties, across the world. The Hyatt Vendome in Paris can cost as much as USD $1,000 a night! I would never pay that much for a room but it highlights the kind of luxury that these rooms offer and the prices they can command.

Park Hyatt Paris ~$1,000 a Night

GETTING DISCOUNTED NIGHTS

How hard is it to find a discounted night with the Hyatt Hotels chain?

Choice has over 490 properties, so only very large cities, outside the US, have Hyatt hotels.

In Australia there are just 4, in the following cities: Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. Quite a number of Southeast Asian cities have at least 1 Hyatt as well.

GENERAL RULES

Must book a reservation on Hyatt website. (I book refundable so I can cancel if they deny my claim)
Must have found a lower rate on a competitor website.
Submit the claim within 24 hours of booking.
Amenities must generally match. (same room type, same description, or close)
Call their US number 1-866-886-5054 (use skype so it's free) from 10pm - 5pm Brisbane time (which corresponds to their working hours in the US) to speak to a rep.
The Hyatt rep will search the competitor site you've found, to verify your rate. If they find you've found a cheaper rate elsewhere they will apply a 20% discount to your entire stay.

HOW TO DO IT

I prefer to use Kayak or HotelsCombined, each are similar with pros and cons, but work the same to search lots of sites for prices to compare and find a BRG.

At the Kayak homepage, enter your info such as: how many persons, date, city, etc. We will search for a hotel in Saigon a few weeks from now.

The results in our dummy booking will give you hundreds of hotels in Saigon to select from. Scroll down and at the lower left you will see the 'Hotel Name' search box. You can also select an entire hotel chain from this box, and in our search we enter 'Hyatt' to get only those hotels which we know offer a free nights for 20% off.

In the process of writing this post Hyatt's rate went blank! So follow the same instructions as some of the information below which I posted recently about for Choice hotels.

The video in this post however does show my results in finding a Hyatt cheaper rate, since the rate was available earlier today when I recorded it!

In This Example, We Input 'Choice' into the Hotel Name Box to Search the Chain

The search will come back with only hotels from the Choice chain.

Search for a price discrepancy. When you find one, you might have a winner! In this case I found Kayak to be lower in price than the Choice Clarion Suites Getaway hotel. Click on the link of the lower price competitor, and the Choice hotel, to see if both pages load with valid prices. Occasionally prices are out-of-date, but by clicking through you'll quickly know if there are any updates or errors.

VERIFY THE PRICES AND AMENITIES

Take a good look at the prices. Are they more then a $1? 1%? Do the currencies match? Are the amenities the same? Oftentimes the exact wording doesn't match on say, Kayak, and Choice. So quickly read through and ensure they look similar in description. Check to see if the pictures on both sites are the same, thus the same room type. This will be what the Choice agent searches for when deciding to give you a free night. Is the price refundable, in case your claim is rejected, and you need to cancel and find another free night elsewhere?

If you are satisfied then make the reservation and immediately submit a claim for a BRG. I do it so that the agent at Choice who handles your claim can get onto it as soon as possible to give me an answer.

If I'm rejected I cancel as soon as I find out. I've noted that I usually get a decision within 1 or 2 days, but I've also received them within an hour at times.

If you didn't click on the short video link above, here it is again, so you can quickly see how easy it is.

MULTIPLE NIGHTS

In this post, by looking and finding a cheaper rate you would have saved $500 on your total 7 night stay! By perhaps more than anything, it shows that you must book a rate quickly when you see it, and if you know you want to stay at a certain location, because they rate can be gone before you even grab it! Like me when writing this post.

CONCLUSION

Take a few minutes next time you're traveling to save serious money on your trip, by learning how to use BRG's. You'll definitely Travel Better..and Travel for Less!

Deals for This Weekend

2013-12-26T05:00:00.000+10:00

If you're looking for a quick getaway this weekend, that doesn't break the budget, have a look at a few of these Secret Saver hotels.

If you have kids, these rates will work with 2 adults with 2 children.

I am highlighting 1 bargain rate hotel in each city.

These rates are booking through Expedia.com.au, for this Friday and Saturday nights, December 27 - 28, 2013.

Adelaide
4.5* $385 for this weekend

Auckland
4.5* $263 for this weekend

Brisbane
4.5* $246 for this weekend

Gold Coast
Nothing available

Melbourne
Nothing available

Perth
4.5* $320 this weekend

Sydney
4.5* $337 this weekend

The Definitive Guide to 10 Best Rate Hotel Guarantees Series: Part 2 - IHG

2013-12-25T05:45:00.000+10:00

We try to get sales on hotels or airlines, since it saves us money. And we've often gotten some great prices, if we've been able to plan in advance. Other times, we've gotten some great last-minute prices by using a few tricks that I've posted about earlier.

Sometimes we have to transit through a city or airport, and need just one night in a hotel. When that happens I like to start by looking for Best Rate Guarantees, and if you locate one you can stay for free. Totally free. Hotels which could cost +$500/night, FREE. And there are some nice places we've stayed at, and others we have coming up. You can also use them to lower the overall cost of a longer stay, of more than just 1 night.

But how hard is it to find one? What are the rules? How can it be free?

A Hotel We Got for Free in Manhattan! Regularly $450/night

Most of the major hotel chains, and online travel agencies, have Best Rate Guarantees (BRG's). Basically, they offer to match, beat, or even give you a free night if you happen to find a better rate with a competitor. Now admittedly, looking for another competing price takes more time and effort. However, the payback can be significant if you're prepared to do just a few minutes of work.

Other bloggers have posted some excellent write-ups on BRG's, some extremely thorough, but in this series we're going to explore some popular brands and their rules primarily for Australia, New Zealand, and Asia, since that is where most of us travel around here. There are many hotels with BRG's, but so as not to dilute, we'll only focus here on 10 Best Rate Guarantees, those which are best for our region.

A few large chains with thousands of locations, actually offer the 1st night of stay for free, if you find a competing and eligible rate which is lower. So if you are only staying 1 night, you get that night free. They can give away free nights because they'd rather give you 1 free night, for helping them locate where they need to adjust their prices to compete. Most consumers won't bother to claim for a free night, they'll just see the lowest rate and book whatever is cheapest. Once you give them your lower rate, they give you your discount or free night, and then adjust their rates with the competition.

In this series I'm also introducing a new feature, that I hope will be helpful for you. I'm including a short youtube video clip, where I quickly walk you through how to find, book, and submit a claim for a free or discounted BRG stay. This will show you just how easy it is.

You can go straight to the video now, if you're like me and don't want to read the instructions! Or keep reading if you want written details.

Best Rate Guarantee Series

Part 1 - Choice (match, and 1st night free)

Part 2 - Intercontinental Hotels Group (match, and 1st night free)

Part 3 - Hyatt (match, and 20% off total stay)

Part 4 - Marriott
Part 5 - Starwood
Part 6 - Best Western
Part 7 - Club Carlson
Part 8 - Rydges
Part 9 - Mövenpick
Part 10 - Expedia

Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) include 12 hotel brands, ranging from the bottom, like Candlewood Suites, to some very top end hotels like Intercontinental.

Our Manhattan Ascend Collection Distrikt Hotel - Free!

GETTING FREE OR DISCOUNTED NIGHTS

IHG will match a better valid rate, and gives the 1st night free. On 1 night stays then, the night is free.

How hard is it to find a free night with the IHG chain?

IHG has over 4,600 properties, so it's pretty easy to find one in almost any size city. They are harder to find than Choice hotels price differences. They more closer monitor their competitors prices.

The quality of their 'low end' properties like Holiday Inn, I've found to be generally better than most of the Choice properties. I've found a few free nights at IHG hotels, but they much pickier, when it come to giving away free night, and honouring BRG's.

I've stayed at a number of IHG brands, and found them to be good value.

GENERAL RULES

Must book a reservation on IHG website. (I book refundable so I can cancel if they deny my claim)
Difference in price must be greater than $1 or 1%, whichever is higher. Also, currency must be able to be booked in local hotel currency.
Submit the claim within 24 hours of booking. (I claim immediately in case the rate might change)
Amenities must generally match. (same room type, same description, or close)
1 free night per person/household per 7 days. However, if booking at least 50 miles apart, multiple claims can be submitted. So if you are hopping across various locations 50 miles apart, and can find eligible BRG's, you could get lots of free stays.

*READER HINT - If you are traveling with others who do not live with you (separate name/credit card billing address) and all of you need a night somewhere, once you find a BRG, you could also help them to lodge a claim at the same time, submitting yours and theirs simultaneously. This way, all of you can get your free night, before rates get adjusted, and after they've honoured your free night claim(s). In the example of this post, my wife and I got a free night, which normally costs $450, and our friends did as well. Our total free night value was $900 for 2 couples for the 1 night we needed to be in Manhattan. At a 5* hotel in Times Square, you betcha!

HOW TO DO IT

I prefer to use Kayak or HotelsCombined, each are similar with pros and cons, but work the same to search lots of sites for prices to compare and find a BRG.

At the Kayak homepage, enter your info such as: how many persons, date, city, etc. We will search for a hotel in Los Angeles in a couple weeks.

The results in our dummy booking will give you hundreds of hotels in LA to select from. Scroll down and at the lower left you will see the 'Hotel Name' search box. You can also select hotel chains from this box, and in our search we enter 'Intercontinental' to get only those hotels which we know offer a free night.

After Filtering to IHG Hotels Only, Top of the List is the Crowne Plaza

The search will come back with only hotels from the IHG chain.

Search for a price discrepancy. When you find one, you might have a winner! In this case I found Kayak to be lower in price the IHG Crowne Plaza Los Angeles hotel. Click on the link of the lower price competitor, and the IHG hotel, to see if both pages load with valid prices. Occasionally prices are out-of-date, but by clicking through you'll quickly know if there are any updates or errors.

Kayak/Hotels.com is $2 Cheaper and a Valid Claim

IHG has a Higher Rate, You Can Get a Free Night

VERIFY THE PRICES AND AMENITIES

Take a good look at the prices. Are they more then a $1? 1%? Do the currencies match? Are the amenities the same? Oftentimes the exact wording doesn't match on say, Kayak, and IHG. So quickly read through and ensure they look similar in description. Check to see if the pictures on both sites are the same, thus the same room type. This will be what the IHG agent searches for when deciding to give you a free night. Is the price refundable, in case your claim is rejected? Sometimes you get rejected and you don't want to spend your money, you want a free night!

If you are satisfied then make the reservation and immediately submit a claim for a BRG. I do it so that the agent at IHG who handles your claim can get onto it as soon as possible to give me an answer.

If I'm rejected I cancel as soon as I find out. I've noted that I usually get a decision within 2 or even 3 days with IHG, but I've also received them within a few hours at times.

If you didn't click on the short video link above, here it is again, so you can quickly see how easy it is.

FREE NIGHTS ARE GREAT!

We've benefited greatly from IHG BRG's. They consistently honour valid lower competitor prices, and are very professional and quick to respond.

We LOVE using BRG's to stay for free, especially when we are only passing through, stopping over at an airport for a night, or just not really staying for long in one place. We'd rather save our money for longer stays, when we don't want to move around, and get free nights for those times we only need 1 night to crash.

MULTIPLE NIGHTS

Of course, in the above scenario, if you'd chosen to stay 3, 4, or even 5 nights or longer in the hotel, and you'd gotten the 1 free night, along with additional discounted nights you would saved significantly. So you could use BRG's to lower your cost for longer stays.

The sample I've highlighted above, was about $2 less per night via Kayak. So, for a 5 night stay you would save $101, since the 1st night is free. Then $2/night less for the other 4 nights. That is a total savings of $109 on a 5 night stay just for spending a few extra minutes comparing prices, and submitting a claim. Not bad.

CONCLUSION

Take a few minutes next time you're traveling to save serious money on your trip, by learning how to use BRG's. You'll definitely Travel Better..and Travel for Less!

35,000 Points - HSBC Platinum Qantas Credit Card ~ $400 Cash Value - Till 31 Dec 2013

2013-12-24T05:00:00.001+10:00

[Disclosure: I receive no commission from this card.]

The HSBC Platinum Qantas Credit Card may be the best Qantas card on the market right now. But it ends in 2 weeks, so now is the time to apply for it if it's of interest to you.

35,000 Points for the HSBC Platinum Qantas Card

I recently applied for the Velocity Escape and Gold cards, so I'll be passing on this deal. (Plus $60,000 may be a tad steep for some folks.) But the HSBC Qantas card has never had such a high signup bonus until this year, so you may want to think seriously about getting it, especially if you are loyal to Qantas or want to build up your points with them.

As with almost all Aussie cards, it has a fee, which is $199. But the perks and points that come with the card more than outweigh the fee.

If you don't already belong to the Qantas frequent flyer program, perhaps due to the $82.50 signup fee, you can always join by getting the free Woolworths Everyday Rewards card and then the $82.50 fee is waived if applying via your Everday Rewards account. That is what I did a few years ago since I would never pay $82.50 to join an airline program!

What are the card terms?

CONDITIONS

$199 signup fee, $199 fee after 1st year.
35,000 points for 1 eligible purchase within 90 days. (I have researched extensively what the 'eligible' purchase is and there is no further description on the HSBC website. Apart from cash advances and the like, which are never deemed eligible purchases, when you call in to activate your card you should ask the HSBC agent about 'what' is an eligible purchase.)
Also, when redeeming for a flight you get one free checked bag ($30 value).
Comes with 2 complimentary passes to the Qantas lounge. Depending on how valuable these are to you (normally $65/person) this card rises in value.
Earn up to 2 Qantas Points for every $1 spent on your card for Qantas purchases.
Earn up to 2 Qantas Points for every $1 spent on your card overseas. (You are also charged 3% for overseas purchases, which I feel negates any benefit you get from the double points you earn for these overseas purchases.)
Must have an income of $60,000.
Sample redemption 36,000 miles, on a return flight leaving in a fortnight:

Perth to Hobart (36,000 points + $81 fees) Paid ticket costs $743.
Cairns to Launceston (36,000 points + $78 fees) Paid ticket costs $627.
Adelaide to Townsville (36,000 points + $90) Paid ticket costs $631.

CONCLUSION

If you want to stock up on your Qantas points, get this card while the offer is on up to 31 December 2013.

Click to apply now

FULL TERMS

35,000 bonus Qantas Frequent Flyer points when you apply by 31 December 2013, are approved and make an eligible purchase within 3 months of applying¹
0% p.a. balance transfer for 6 months² from non-HSBC credit cards on application (reverting to the variable cash advance rate, currently 21.99% p.a.)
As a Qantas Frequent Flyer member you'll get:
- 2 Qantas Frequent Flyer points for every $1 spent on eligible purchases³ overseas
- 1 Qantas Frequent Flyer point for every $1 spent on eligible purchases³ in Australia
2 Qantas Club lounge passes every year at no extra cost⁴
Insurance package⁵ including Extended Warranty, Purchase Protection, Guaranteed Pricing, Transit Accident and International Travel Insurance
Eligibility criteria and conditions apply (read the PDS available at zurich.com.au or by calling 1800 648 093)
Annual fee $199
Additional cardholder fee $0
Available to new, approved customers who apply for the HSBC Platinum Qantas Credit Card by 31 December 2013. Other fees and charges apply.

Lots of Velocity Award Space in January 2014

2013-12-23T05:00:00.001+10:00

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for last-minute deals!

With points and cheap deals we've been able to see many more places than we could have otherwise afforded on our small budget. Recently, I've highlighted some perks of the Velocity Escape card, and Gold card, which if approved for both would give you enough points for a return ticket between heaps of cities, including Melbourne and the Gold Coast.

If you already have points with Velocity, you could cash in now for some getaways if you live in either of those cities, or others. Since lots of folks want to get away this time of the year, if you haven't already made plans, there is plenty of availability to cash in your points for flights if you still want to get out of town.

Just a Few of the More Than 9 Flights Using Points This Friday 27 December and Tuesday 7 January

There are no less than 9 low-level points flights available between Melbourne and the Gold Coast when I searched Friday 27 December and Tuesday 7 January. I noticed lots of other days and flights available, but this is to just a sampling of what is still left.

If you'd gotten the Escape with no fee, and the Gold card which costs $99, you'd have over 27,000 points.

The points and fees between Melbourne and the Gold Coast run around ~24,200 and $17. So for the $99 for the Gold card, plus the $17 to get to/from the Gold Coast and Melbourne, you'd be paying all up $116.

Paid flights for the exact same itinerary and days would run $518 right now, a difference of $402! With just a little planning, if you don't have the points now, sign up and get the Escape and Gold cards so you can save yourself $402 for the next time.

If you haven't already got points in stock, this highlights why it is good to begin planning now so in future you'd not left forking out lots of dough to plan a last-minute getaway!

I had a look through TripAdvisor and Expedia to see about available hotels and holiday rentals. There are no less than 71 holiday rentals still available in Melbourne, and 209 on the Gold Coast. So there is no shortage of private places to stay. And surprisingly even this late in the season there are still plenty of hotels with openings as well with good prices.

CONCLUSION

All in all this highlights why it is good to stock up, so that when you need a last-minute getaway you're not shelling out hundreds or thousands of dollars, but instead just cashing in some points and saving your money!

This shows why the motto here is Travel Better. Travel for (a lot) Less.

Apply Now

CONDITIONS & TERMS

$99 signup fee, $199 fee after 1st year.
~~15,000~~ 20,000! points for spending $500 within 90 days; for a total of 20,500 points.
Also, when redeeming for a flight you get one free checked bag ($30 value).
Must not have been a previous card holder of this product or any AMEX card in the past 12 months.
Comes with 2 complimentary passes to the Virgin lounge. Depending on how valuable these are to you (normally $65/person) this card rises in value.
Earn up to 2 Velocity Points for every $1 spent on your Card with Major supermarket and petrol stations in Australia
Earn up to 2 Velocity Points for every $1 spent on your Card with Virgin Australia and 1 Point for every $1 spent everywhere else.
Must have an income of $40,000.
Sample redemption 20,500 miles, on a return flight leaving in a fortnight:

Brisbane to Adelaide (18,400 points + $42 fees) Paid ticket costs $330.
Brisbane to Hobart (18,400 points + $29 fees) Paid ticket costs $399.
Sydney to Townsville (20,600 points + $17) Paid ticket costs $398.

The Definitive Guide to 10 Best Rate Hotel Guarantees Series: Part 1 - Choice [with Video]

2013-12-20T05:00:00.000+10:00

We try to get sales on hotels or airlines, since it saves us money. And we've often gotten some great prices, if we've been able to plan in advance. Other times, we've gotten some great last-minute prices by using a few tricks that I've posted about earlier.

Sometimes we have to transit through a city or airport, and need just one night in a hotel. When that happens I like to start by looking for Best Rate Guarantees, and if you locate one you can stay for free. Totally free. Hotels which could cost +$500/night, FREE. And there are some nice places we've stayed at, and others we have coming up. You can also use them to lower the overall cost of a longer stay, of more than just 1 night.

But how hard is it to find one? What are the rules? How can it be free?

A Hotel We Got for Free in Manhattan! Regularly $450/night

Most of the major hotel chains, and online travel agencies, have Best Rate Guarantees (BRG's). Basically, they offer to match, beat, or even give you a free night if you happen to find a better rate with a competitor. Now admittedly, looking for another competing price takes more time and effort. However, the payback can be significant if you're prepared to do just a few minutes of work.

Other bloggers have posted some excellent write-ups on BRG's, some extremely thorough, but in this series we're going to explore some popular brands and their rules primarily for Australia, New Zealand, and Asia, since that is where most of us travel around here. There are many hotels with BRG's, but so as not to dilute, we'll only focus here on 10 Best Rate Guarantees, those which are best for our region.

A few large chains with thousands of locations, actually offer the 1st night of stay for free, if you find a competing and eligible rate which is lower. So if you are only staying 1 night, you get that night free. They can give away free nights because they'd rather give you 1 free night, for helping them locate where they need to adjust their prices to compete. Most consumers won't bother to claim for a free night, they'll just see the lowest rate and book whatever is cheapest.

In this series I'm also introducing a new feature, that I hope will be helpful for you. I'm including a short youtube video clip, where I quickly walk you through how to find, book, and submit a claim for a free or discounted BRG stay. This will show you just how easy it is.

You can go straight to the video now, if you're like me and don't want to read the instructions! Or keep reading if you want written details.

Best Rate Guarantee Series

Part 1 - Choice (match, and 1st night free)

Part 2 - Intercontinental
Part 3 - Hyatt
Part 4 - Marriott
Part 5 - Starwood
Part 6 - Best Western
Part 7 - Club Carlson
Part 8 - Rydges
Part 9 - Mövenpick
Part 10 - Expedia

Choice Hotels include 11 hotel brands, ranging from the bottom, like EconoLodge, to some very top end hotels of the Ascend Collection.

Our Manhattan Ascend Collection Distrikt Hotel - Free!

GETTING FREE OR DISCOUNTED NIGHTS

How hard is it to find a free night with the Choice Hotels chain?

Choice has over 6,300 properties, so it's pretty easy to find one in almost any size city. I've found and gotten lots of free nights at Choice hotels, so they are reasonable when it comes to honouring better rates if you can find one. Some other chains are must more stringent in deciding to give away free or discounted nights.

I prefer the Ascend Collection of Choice hotels if I can find one, since they are top end hotels, and some in the US or Europe go for upwards of +$700/night.

When I've had problems with free nights, the BRG team at Choice has been helpful and prompt in responding to any questions or problems related to any free night stay I've earned.

GENERAL RULES

Must book a reservation on Choice website. (I book refundable so I can cancel if they deny my claim)
Difference in price must be greater than $1 or 1%.
Submit the claim within 24 hours of booking. (I claim immediately in case the rate might change)
Amenities must generally match. (same room type, same description, or close)
1 free night per person/household per 30 days. (I lost track once and requested a free night 29 days from another free night I already had; they would not honour the 2nd claim. So they do track your free nights.)

*READER HINT - If you are traveling with others who do not live with you (separate name/credit card billing address) and all of you need a night somewhere, once you find a BRG, you could also help them to lodge a claim at the same time, submitting yours and theirs simultaneously. This way, all of you can get your free night, before rates get adjusted, and after they've honoured your free night claim(s). In the example of this post, my wife and I got a free night, which normally costs $450, and our friends did as well. Our total free night value was $900 for 2 couples for the 1 night we needed to be in Manhattan. At a 5* hotel in Times Square, you betcha!

HOW TO DO IT

I prefer to use Kayak or HotelsCombined, each are similar with pros and cons, but work the same to search lots of sites for prices to compare and find a BRG.

At the Kayak homepage, enter your info such as: how many persons, date, city, etc. We will search for a hotel in Melbourne 1 week from now.

The results in our dummy booking will give you hundreds of hotels in Melbourne to select from. Scroll down and at the lower left you will see the 'Hotel Name' search box. You can also select an entire hotel chain from this box, and in our search we enter 'Choice' to get only those hotels which we know offer a free night.

In This Example, We Input 'Choice' into the Hotel Name Box to Search the Chain

The search will come back with only hotels from the Choice chain.

Search for a price discrepancy. When you find one, you might have a winner! In this case I found Kayak to be lower in price than the Choice Clarion Suites Getaway hotel. Click on the link of the lower price competitor, and the Choice hotel, to see if both pages load with valid prices. Occasionally prices are out-of-date, but by clicking through you'll quickly know if there are any updates or errors.

VERIFY THE PRICES AND AMENITIES

Take a good look at the prices. Are they more then a $1? 1%? Do the currencies match? Are the amenities the same? Oftentimes the exact wording doesn't match on say, Kayak, and Choice. So quickly read through and ensure they look similar in description. Check to see if the pictures on both sites are the same, thus the same room type. This will be what the Choice agent searches for when deciding to give you a free night. Is the price refundable, in case your claim is rejected, and you need to cancel and find another free night elsewhere?

If you are satisfied then make the reservation and immediately submit a claim for a BRG. I do it so that the agent at Choice who handles your claim can get onto it as soon as possible to give me an answer.

If I'm rejected I cancel as soon as I find out. I've noted that I usually get a decision within 1 or 2 days, but I've also received them within an hour at times.

If you didn't click on the short video link above, here it is again, so you can quickly see how easy it is.

FREE NIGHTS ARE GREAT!

We've benefited greatly from Choice BRG's. They consistently honour valid lower competitor prices, and are very professional and quick to respond.

We LOVE using BRG's to stay for free, especially when we are only passing through, stopping over at an airport for a night, or just not really staying for long in one place. We'd rather save our money for longer stays, when we don't want to move around, and get free nights for those times we only need 1 night to crash.

MULTIPLE NIGHTS

Of course, in the above scenario, if you'd chosen to stay 3, 4, or even 5 nights or longer in the hotel, and you'd gotten the 1 free night, along with additional discounted nights you would saved significantly. So you could use BRG's to lower your cost for longer stays.

The sample I've highlighted above, was about $13 less per night via Kayak. So Choice would have to honour a $13/night lower rate. So, for a 5 night stay you would save $74, since the 1st night is free. Then $13/night for the other 4 nights. That is a total savings of $126 on a 5 night stay just for spending a few extra minutes comparing prices, and submitting a claim for a valid price difference. Not bad. Super actually!

CONCLUSION

Take a few minutes next time you're traveling to save serious money on your trip, by learning how to use BRG's. You'll definitely Travel Better..and Travel for Less!

Deals for This Weekend

2013-12-19T05:00:00.000+10:00

If you're looking for a quick getaway this weekend, that doesn't break the budget, have a look at a few of these Secret Saver hotels. As always, there must be a few hotels hoping to fill up, since weekends are their lowest earning days. Save some money yourself while having a nice weekend away.

If you have kids, these rates will work with 2 adults with 2 kids.

I am highlighting 1 bargain rate hotel in each city.

I'll also include Auckland for the Kiwi readers.

These rates are booking through Expedia.com.au, for this Friday and Saturday nights, December 20-21, 2013.

If this is of help to you I might just make it regular thing, so please let me know what you think!

Adelaide
4 Hotels - Standout is a 4* - $309 Total

Auckland
8 Hotels - Standout is a 4* - $278 Total

Brisbane
6 Hotels - Standout is a 4* - $236 Total

Gold Coast
11 Hotels - Standout is a 4.5* - $389 Total

Melbourne
22 Hotels - Standout is a 5* - $367 Total

Perth
7 Hotels - Standout is a 4.5* - $277 Total

Sydney
20 Hotels - Standout is a 4* - $398 Total

Million Mile Secrets Interview

2013-12-18T04:24:00.003+10:00

Last week I was interviewed on Million Mile Secrets. I learned a lot of my miles and points tricks from that blog. Now, I'm tweaking those and adding lots more to help people Down Under to get the maximum value from our own points programs.

Thanks for visiting, to any new readers who've linked over to check out my blog!

I hope some of the information I'm sharing will not only help my Aussie friends, but maybe even some the US folks who have a look through my site.

And thanks to Daraius for the interview!

4 Must-Have Communication Tools When You're Overseas

2013-12-17T05:00:00.000+10:00

When we're overseas, there are a few communication tools that we always use to save money. We're frugal travelers, so if we save $5 here or there, it adds up. Plus, why would you want to throw money away when you don't have to? Enough said, I'm sure I don't need to convince you!

This post is not meant to cover every single app on the market. Why not? There are more coming to market every day! So, here I'm sharing just a few common tools I use to stay in touch while overseas.

These are established companies which offer a good product for a fair price, and if you're not using them you could be throwing your money out the door.

Sure, you could enable your Telstra or Vodafone phone to receive calls in Bali when you're there. But you could pay a fortune if you're not extremely careful.

Which of the 4 programs should you use, and when? I'll cover the pros and cons of each.

1. SKYPE

If you haven't heard of Skype, this post might not be for you! Just kidding. But seriously, it has to be THE best known VOIP (voice over internet protocol) service on the market. VOIP calls are calls that allow you to communicate using the data on a phone, or data on your laptop to make calls via the internet. It has about 1 billion users.

It offers free calls, free chat, and free video calls between users; these are the features that made skype famous. (along with great marketing)

Why do we use Skype?

It's very easy to use, even for folks without much computer skill. The brand is widely recognised. And it works with lots of different operating systems and computers. We set up my mother-in-law's laptop so that when we need to call her, she can skype us, and though she has only basic computer skills she can figure it out, and does well.

How does Skype make money?

Well, there is some debate of whether it is actually making money, but the way they make money from me is when I use the SkypeOut feature.

SkypeOut is where you purchase credit from Skype, and then use that credit while logged into Skype to call landlines, mobiles, or send texts, to folks who don't use Skype. Or perhaps they have Skype, but when you need to communicate to them they aren't online to communicate. Rates are fair, but since Skype is so well-known, and lots of folks couldn't be bothered using alternate methods, Skype tends to charge a bit more than they should. But then again the higher costs probably go toward development of the very easy to use interface, and advertising, and the brand marketing.

In recent years, with the increase of included data packages for mobiles, folks are using Skype even more since they do not have to log on to a computer, to either make or receive calls from other users. With mobiles having data enabled, any person who has their mobile switched on with Skype installed, is essentially online all the time.

2. REBTEL

Rebtel doesn't have the brand recognition of Skype, and it's missing some major features which Skype offers. But it does have 23 million users and I've had almost no problems using it for over 3 years.

It has an extremely basic but functional interface box. But perhaps more importantly, its rates and pricing structure are much more competitive. Far, far, more competitive. But it doesn't offer video calling. No biggie, I can use Skype for that.

There's even a feature which Skype doesn't have. When sending a text, the default option is to send a text to your recipient that includes a link, and if they have a smartphone with data, they can click the link and reply back to you for free, using your account balance.

When do I choose Rebtel over Skype?

A. Rebtel: when I need to make a call to a landline, mobile, or send a text, since the rates are so much better than Skype. Calls and texts can cost as little as 20% of the cost on SkypeOut.

B. Skype: when I need to make free video calls to another Skype user.

Examples:
Make a 1 minute call to a US phone using Skype - $0.078
Make a 1 minute call to a US phone using Rebtel - $0.015
10 minute call to US phone using Skype - $0.30
10 minute call to US phone using Rebtel - $0.15
60 minute call to US phone using Skype - $1.55
60 minute call to US phone using Skype - $0.90
1 SMS to US Skype - $.15
1 SMS to US Rebtel - $.01

Make a 1 minute call to a Ireland landline using Skype - $0.078
Make a 1 minute call to a Ireland landline using Rebtel - $0.019
10 minute call to Ireland phone using Skype - $0.30
10 minute call to Ireland phone using Rebtel - $0.19
60 minute call to Ireland phone using Skype - $1.55
60 minute call to Ireland phone using Skype - $1.14
1 SMS to Ireland Skype - $.15
1 SMS to Ireland Rebtel - $.02

3. Viber

About 200 million folks use Viber. It runs on the phone data. It's easy to use and install.

It works with the phone address book to locate and identity other Viber users, so that you can easily determine who you can call or chat to for free.

A recent feature added is ViberOut, similar to SkypeOut, where you buy credit and use to call folks who are not registered on Viber.

Another recent feature added is being able to install the program onto a computer, since it was limited only to phones in the past. However, you must synchronise your desktop Viber account with your phone contacts, which means that you must have it installed on your phone. A serious weakness in my opinion, compared to Skype or Rebtel, which do not have that requirement.

4. Go-Sim

Go-Sim is an international SIM card which generally comes with an Estonian based mobile number.

Why is it great? How does it work?

I spent considerable time researching the best way to save money when using my mobile, when I went to Asia, Europe, the US, and Central America on a trip in late 2011. I wanted to be able to make calls in any 1 of 10 countries I was visiting, without having to buy a local SIM card in each one. Plus, I wanted to be able to receive calls, and have a number wherever I went to give to friends, the hotel desk, airlines in case of delays, or whoever so I'd have a single contact number to give out as I traveled.

From all the time spent I came back with 1 choice over all other similar products on the market: GoSim. And no, they're not paying me a dime to say this!

How does it work?

You place a call to whatever number, the phone will quickly connect, hangup, and then immediately rings you back. You then answer. You'll then hear the phone ringing to the number you originally called. If the party answers, you and your caller are connected. Obviously it must be cheaper for them that way. The whole process probably adds 10 seconds to any call you make, but saves you a bundle. I ran the numbers and it can save as much as $.50 or even up $1 a minute, so it's worth buying a GoSim and having it ready before you leave for your next multi-country trip.

If I'm in a country long enough to warrant buying a local SIM, I do. But whenever I'm frequently hopping borders, I stick in the trusty GoSim since I know that rates are good for any important calls I have to make. You wouldn't want to be on the phone for long, since the rates will still chew up your credit. Oh, and credit never expires, so no need to worry about losing your credit if you don't use your Go-Sim for awhile.

One other thing, you can receive free text messages via a link on the Go-Sim website. You can provide this to friends, so that when you're traveling they can always get a hold of you easily and for free. I've found this useful when border hopping and folks need to find me.

Examples (no connection fees):
-Make a 1 minute call while in Indonesia, calling Indonesia - $.74,
To receive a call, $.10/minute
-1 minute call while in Italy, calling Italy - $.74, To receive a call, FREE

CONCLUSION

Do some homework before you go on your next trip overseas. You might find that by using the tools above you can come home with a few extra bucks in your pocket, which you'll need after your holiday!

Final Chance - Buy American Airlines Points for a Discount

2013-12-16T05:00:00.001+10:00

If you saw the earlier post about buying American Airlines points, and redeeming them on Qantas flights, then you'll know that today is the final day to signup for an American Airlines account, if you don't already have one, and then buy the points while still on sale before 31 December, 2013.

In that post we covered a number of scenarios as to how how you could redeem those points for great trips you'd otherwise pay much more for in cash.

You really need to start thinking out of the box to consider the multitude of ways you can make a trip with points and extracting value from this deal. Feel free to leave a comment or contact me if you have a question.

Today, I'll post once more about this, so you can see why you should consider buying points to use for a future trip. I'll be showing you how to make a trip from the Gold Coast to several destinations, but your starting point could just as easily be almost any city in Australia or New Zealand.

Queenstown - Jump-Off Point for a Ski Holiday

Suppose you want to make a dream trip in June 2014. You've always wanted to go skiing in New Zealand, or you want to go back again!

Plus, you'd like to see one of those places you'd always heard about, Broome.

But, you'd also like to stop by and see an old friend in Sydney

And, while you're en route, you might as well check out Perth.

You can do all that for about ~$1,100 on a trip using points. By paying cash you'd spend $1,530.

All This for ~$1,100 - Saving you $430

As you can see in the above dummy booking, you'd be able to get maximum value for your points redemption. You'd get to visit 2 destinations: Queenstown, New Zealand, and Broome, Western Australia.

But additionally you'd have 21 hours in Sydney, enough to pay a quick visit to a friend, or go into the city and catch dinner and show for the night.

You'd also have 22 hours in Perth, just enough time to see a few sights, or enjoy a nice walk on the river.

Perth - Time for a Short Visit

The point of this post if to show you all the ways to take advantage of points, and especially points sales.

While there would be extra planning involved, buying the points, locating award seats, this doesn't have to take long, to save you $430. Or you may have other destination ideas which might save you money by buying and redeeming points instead of paying cash for tickets.

There is the 'lost opportunity' cost to consider. You wouldn't be earning points on the free tickets, or status credits. But for some of us that doesn't matter. Or if you don't fly Qantas much anyway then you may not care if you're earning points with them or not, if you'd otherwise paid cash for these tickets and then earned points.

Even if you'd paid the flights and earned the points with Qantas, assuming you belong to their program (AUD$82.50 just to join), you need to earn A LOT of points with them to get a good return. Their program can pay off with free flights, but you have to work pretty darn hard to earn them, in my opinion. There are other frequent flier programs which are much more generous.

CONCLUSION

If you've done the math and determined that the American Airlines points sale is worth it for you, be sure to buy your points before 31 December. If you have a question be sure to comment and ask any questions before the time is up!

Top Reasons Why and When to Use Your Current Hotel Status to Get More

2013-12-13T05:00:00.000+10:00

Earlier, I posted about how to get Hilton Honours Gold status by fast tracking through special offers. This can save you thousands on your way to getting the perks of elite statuses.

However, what else besides gold status do you earn with this offer? You earn the potential to get status with lots of other hotel chains!

I've used statusmatcher.com to upgrade my status with other chains once I've achieved it with at least one chain. I started with Hilton Honours Gold and went from there.

Our Upgraded Room - Due to Status!

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Once you have status with 1 hotel chain, some other chains will allow you to status match. Now, this is usually a one-off offer, meaning once you use it you won't be able to do it again until you actually earn status, through many stays, like 20, 30, or 40 nights. So, it can be important depending on where you are planning to stay during the period that you have status.

That is why it can be important to time things well.

We'll assume you've already gotten Hilton Honours Gold status. If you'd gotten it this month, you'll have it until the end of 2015.

So besides the free breakfast, free internet, room upgrades, and other perks, can the Hilton Gold status get you?

You may decide that you may not want to status with another chain until you really need it. So, assume you are not planning to stay at a Hyatt hotel until 2016. You'd be best to wait until the end of 2015 to request a status match at Hyatt Diamond, to your Hilton Gold. Hyatt Diamond entitles you to free breakfast, lounge access, internet, and late check-out, among other things. Timing it well gives you Hyatt status for all of 2016.

Of course you could request a status match at any time, but this helps you to see that timing is important if you are planning a stay at a chain and want to leverage your current status with some other chain.

USING ONE STATUS TO GET ANOTHER

Once you have status with one chain you can leverage it to get it with selected other chains. How easy is it and how do you do it?

It is very easy!

The simplest way to do it is explore the statusmatcher.com website.

In the Hotels Tab, Search for Hilton

From the homepage, hover over the Hotels tab, until you see Hilton. This will take you to the Hilton program overview. You will see what your gold status already includes, like breakfast, internet, late check-out, etc.

Scroll down until you see the area which shows reports for leveraging Hilton status to gain status with other chains.

Peruse the Submitted Results from Other Users

From here you can determine which other chains you might want to get status with. Again, it depends on where you plan to stay in upcoming months/years, if you plan that far ahead.

In the above screen shot you can see easily that Hilton Gold has gotten other users in recent weeks, the following statuses: IHG Platinum, Best Western Diamond, Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond, and a Marriott challenge (where the Marriott chain offers you status for a lower threshold of stays then usual, since you hold current Hilton Gold status).

In the most recent report of December 7th, user Ben has gotten IHG Platinum status (for hotels like Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Intercontinental, and others) with his Hilton status. If you want further information click into his report, as shown below.

The User Reported He Only Had to Send a Screenshot With His Hilton Gold Status to IHG

What can IHG Platinum get you? Scroll down further and you'll see:

IHG Platinum Status - Internet, Late Check-Out, Upgrades, and More

So it's not too hard to gain status with other chains, as long as you know how and when it is best to do it. It can pay off well with lots of perks you'd otherwise miss out on!

CONCLUSION

If you'd like to leverage any existing status you have with a hotel chain, be sure to investigate what other users are reporting via statusmatcher.com. With just a few minutes of your time you'll be staying far more comfortably, and spending next to nothing to get it, and Traveling Better, Traveling for Less.

The Winner of the iPhone 5 Case or an iPad Mini Case!

2013-12-12T05:00:00.000+10:00

I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the blog giveaway to win an iPhone 5 case or iPad mini case, with a choice of styles and colours.

The winner was: Rebekah Gray

Congratulations! I will be in touch to find out which prize you choose and post it out to you!

To win future contests be sure to like my Facebook page, follow Aussie Points Expert on Twitter, or sign up for my once daily email blog post, or in a rss reader!

An Easier Way to Hotel Status Perks

2013-12-11T05:00:00.000+10:00

Earlier I posted about how to get Secret Saver hotels, saving a load of money over normal rates. If you have status with a hotel chain, I've always had it honoured when I checked in even though I had booked at a much cheaper rate than normal bookings.

But in that post I mentioned that I've gotten free status with a number of chains, which has provided all kinds of perks, which would normally cost you much more for the night. Perks like free buffet breakfast, free wifi, room upgrades, early check-in, late check-out, and extra points during the stay for the elite status. To me these extra perks can be worth $20, $30, or more, since you're getting free breakfast or other extras.

While in the US it's easy to attain status, with just getting 1 credit card, in Australia it's a bit more challenging. However, there are deals to be found.

Hilton HHonors offers a fast track offer for Gold status. You may or may not be able to register an existing account. If not, then just sign up for a new one.

The shortcut for the signup is here. Create a new account using the link or try using your existing account if you prefer.

Hilton HHonors Gold status is normally attained by 20 stays, 40 nights or 75,000 base points within a calendar year.

You only need four stays within 90 days after registering for this offer to have Gold status and it's good through 2015.

If you do earn lots of points with Hilton stays, one perk of Hilton is that after you've built up points and want to redeem them, you get the 5th night free on redemptions.

I'll post shortly on how to then leverage your new status to get even more benefits with other hotels.

CONCLUSION

If you want to enjoy the perks of status, which can be very nice, then go for this 4 night status challenge.

TripAdvisor - Great for Holiday Rentals As Well

2013-12-10T13:17:00.001+10:00

When love getting bargains, and even more when we stay for cheap or free in a hotel. But sometimes we just don't have the points, or can't find good prices in certain expensive cities or locations. In those cases we've often used private rentals, of houses or apartments. There are some incredible deals to be had when staying and the places we've used have been nice and even quite luxurious, and saved us hundreds of dollars or more!

There are lots of websites that offer private rentals, just search on google and you will find lots of competition. Some owners list on multiple websites to get wide advertising.

But did you know TripAdvisor offers private rentals? Maybe like me, you've always used the review section on TripAdvisor to get an idea of where to stay in hotels, but you should also know that you can use it for private rentals.

Our Private Rental Apartment in Mellieha, Malta $700/week!

We took a friend with us so we needed a place large enough for 3 of us. In Malta the lowest price we could find for a decent hotel, was at least ~$160/night. Since we were staying for 7 nights, we would have to pay well over $1,000/week and then we would have to pay more since we would have to eat out for most meals.

On the Ferry to Gozo Island

So we started looking for private apartments for the week. We settled on one which cost $700, far cheaper than what hotels were charging! It included 2 bedrooms, a huge living room, including a kitchen, a private balcony, and a pool right outside. To top it off we were right on the Mediterranean, with jaw-dropping views.

Camino Island, Malta

Our Apartment

Interestingly, once we arrived the British man who is the caretaker realized that we were there and didn't have a hire car. So, he looked us over, and I guess he liked and trusted us, and said that whenever apartment owners come into town they can rent a car from a local agency for AUD$14/day. They don't usually offer this to visitors like us, but in this case he did. So that gave us cheap transport for the week. That was better than the public transport options, and Malta is still big to get around though it's not a huge island.

The 'Hidden' Refrigerator Was a Nice Touch

1 of the 2 Bedrooms

The Living Room

The 2nd of the 2 Bedrooms

Private Patio

All in all, Malta was an unexpected surprise. We knew it would be good, but had no idea how nice the people would be, nor how scenic and rough the landscape would be. It was a stark contrast to the lush tourist areas we usually visit. Britain has long held influence with Malta, so a surprising number of people know English, which makes it easy to get around.

If you get the chance to go don't miss it. We were able to get reasonable flights from London for about $40 one-way, making our trip even more of an overall bargain.

Next time you're thinking of a holiday, and can't find reasonable accommodation prices, try using a private rental on TripAdvisor!

Blog Giveaway! iPhone 5 Case OR iPad Mini Case

2013-12-09T03:21:00.000+10:00

The blog has been up and running for a couple weeks and to thank all the readers I'm giving you the choice to get something free. Have you gotten in on any the recent deals posted, like last-minute hotels, flights, or the incredible Velocity 20,000 points offer?

Lots of folks have an iPhone 5 or iPad mini, and love them! So to thank you for reading the blog I'm giving to 1 winner their choice of either an iphone 5 Cygnett case or iPad mini in your choice of colours! I'll give the winner more specs on the products if they need them to choose their prize, and it will be shipped for free to you.

Cygnett Icon iPhone 5 Case

Cygnett Lavish iPad Mini Case - Purple

Cygnett Enigma iPad Mini Case - blue, black, pink

Cygnett Workmate iPad Mini Case - red or slate

How to Enter

1. Like my Facebook page, and leave a comment.

2. Follow Aussie Points Expert on Twitter. Include the hashtag "#iPhoneiPadGiveaway". Leave a tweet.

3. Sign up for my once daily email blog post, or in a rss reader.

4. Make a comment on this post.

If you enter in each of the 4 ways above you will receive 4 entries. If you've already liked or followed me, you're automatically entered for this 1st giveaway!

The contest will close this Wednesday, December 11th, at 9 p.m Queensland time. and I'll announce the winner Thursday.

I'll select the winner from the most original comment or post, as to why you want the iPhone or iPad case, or why you most like Aussie Points Expert. One of your entries via 1 of the 4 methods above, must include a comment.

Aussie Points Expert

Get 12,500 Velocity Bonus Points for a Referral!

Deals for This Weekend - January 10, 11

Why Banks Spend Millions

The Definitive Guide to 10 Best Rate Hotel Guarantees Series: Part 4 - Marriott

Buy Frontier Miles and See the US for Cheap(er)

Holiday Report US West Coast: Part 4 - Highway 1

Deals for This Weekend - January 3, 4

Holiday Report US West Coast: Part 3 - Napa Valley

Holiday Report US West Coast: Part 2 - Las Vegas to San Francisco

Holiday Report US West Coast: Part 1 - Los Angeles to Las Vegas

The Definitive Guide to 10 Best Rate Hotel Guarantees Series: Part 3 - Hyatt [with Video]

Deals for This Weekend

The Definitive Guide to 10 Best Rate Hotel Guarantees Series: Part 2 - IHG

35,000 Points - HSBC Platinum Qantas Credit Card ~ $400 Cash Value - Till 31 Dec 2013

Lots of Velocity Award Space in January 2014

The Definitive Guide to 10 Best Rate Hotel Guarantees Series: Part 1 - Choice [with Video]

Deals for This Weekend

Million Mile Secrets Interview

4 Must-Have Communication Tools When You're Overseas

Final Chance - Buy American Airlines Points for a Discount

Top Reasons Why and When to Use Your Current Hotel Status to Get More

The Winner of the iPhone 5 Case or an iPad Mini Case!

An Easier Way to Hotel Status Perks

TripAdvisor - Great for Holiday Rentals As Well

Blog Giveaway! iPhone 5 Case OR iPad Mini Case

Cygnett Icon iPhone 5 Case

Cygnett Lavish iPad Mini Case - Purple

Cygnett Enigma iPad Mini Case - blue, black, pink

Cygnett Workmate iPad Mini Case - red or slate

How to Enter

1. Like my Facebook page, and leave a comment.

2. Follow Aussie Points Expert on Twitter. Include the hashtag "#iPhoneiPadGiveaway". Leave a tweet.

3. Sign up for my once daily email blog post, or in a rss reader.

4. Make a comment on this post.

If you enter in each of the 4 ways above you will receive 4 entries. If you've already liked or followed me, you're automatically entered for this 1st giveaway!

The contest will close this Wednesday, December 11th, at 9 p.m Queensland time. and I'll announce the winner Thursday.

I'll select the winner from the most original comment or post, as to why you want the iPhone or iPad case, or why you most like Aussie Points Expert. One of your entries via 1 of the 4 methods above, must include a comment.

This contest for Australian residents only.