CardPointers V8: Automatic Offer Activation, Siri, AI Updates & Amex Offers Changes with Brooke

Justin Vacula of the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast welcomes returning guest Brooke from CardPointers to discuss the launch of CardPointers V8 and the latest updates to the app for points, miles, cash back, credit card offers, and benefit tracking.

Recorded September 23, 2026, this episode explains how CardPointers helps users maximize credit card rewards by tracking bonus categories, statement credits, card-linked offers, and benefits across thousands of credit cards and banks.

Brooke highlights major CardPointers V8 features on Apple devices, including new on-device automation that can securely sync and activate eligible offers overnight, Siri integration, Ask AI inside the app, visual intelligence using the camera to recommend which card to use, updated widgets, shortcuts, and improved savings tracking.

Justin and Brooke also discuss how the new savings tools can help users evaluate whether annual fees are worth paying by showing the value generated from offers, credits, and card benefits.

The episode also addresses a major Amex Offers question: adding the same offer across multiple American Express cards. Brooke explains that this no longer works the way it once did and discusses the new Smart Add workaround for managing Amex Offers more effectively.

They also talk about CardPointers reaching one million users, how the app is expanding beyond hardcore points-and-miles enthusiasts into mainstream couponing and everyday savings, Hilton credit strategies, future product plans, lifetime deal options, and upcoming travel and conference appearances.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro Theme

00:32 Meet Brooke From CardPointers

01:45 What CardPointers Does

03:13 Offers, Reminders, And Nearby Deals

04:54 CardPointers V8 Overview

05:23 Automatic Offer Activation Overnight

06:57 Siri And Ask AI

09:45 Visual Intelligence Camera

11:04 Widgets, Shortcuts, And Credits

14:10 Savings Tracking And Annual Fees

16:20 Spotlight Search And Automation

17:51 One Million Users

19:15 Mainstream Users And Couponing

22:55 Future Plans And Lifetime Deal

23:50 Listener Question: Amex Multi-Card Offers

25:37 Listener Question: HotelSlash

26:51 Where To Find CardPointers

27:59 Upcoming Events And Travel Plans

32:20 Wrap Up And Links

32:45 Podcast Outro Theme

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Rough Transcript:

Travel at low cost with points and miles. Credit card rewards bring the smiles. Many adventures, tales to be told. Make and save money, the world will unfold

Fight the war on happiness, pick up the gold. Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast breaks the mold

You’re listening to the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast. I’m your host, Justin Vacula, here to help you make money, save money, and travel the world at low cost. Returning guest Brooke from CardPointers joins me for today’s episode, recorded September 23rd, 2026. We’ll talk about what’s new with CardPointers, including the launch of version eight on Apple devices, the current state of adding Amex offers with CardPointers, [00:01:00] and much more.

Welcome back to the show, Brooke. Hey, Justin. Thanks for having me. Great. Good to chat once again about CardPointers. I’ve been a CardPointers affiliate for some time now.

I appreciate you having me back on. It’s always a delight to chat with your listeners, and it’s nice to hang out with you again. I haven’t seen you in a little bit. Let’s see. You just had a birthday. How was your birthday? I got to see your post about all the birthday benefits.

I think you were in Vegas. Ah, very good. Yes, Vegas. Dispelling the myth of Vegas being expensive. It was a great time in Vegas, and CardPointers was also helpful, too, as I had various reminders throughout the visit of, “You have a local offer. This is available.” So can you talk about what CardPointers is for people who might be new to the product?

CardPointers is an app that makes sure that every dollar you spend earns the most points, miles, or cashback possible. We have a lot of cool new updates Justin referenced at the top of the show, the V8 update, which I am lovingly calling the [00:02:00] tomato juice update. This is hard to believe, but our eighth year here at CardPointers, so we just celebrated. Oh, wow.

Okay. I know, pretty remarkable. We have actually been nominated App of the Day several times. We’ve been around for a while. So V8 is not in reference to the juice, and if you love the juice, you just let us know in the comments anyway, back to the actual content. CardPointers is basically your credit card brain. You add the cards you have, and it tells you which one to use for every purchase.

It’s gonna keep track of your bonus categories and your credits, and help you to use all of those card-linked offers from your bank. So it covers more than 5,000 cards, 900 banks, it’s on iPhone, Android, Mac, Apple Watch, Chrome, and Safari. So for people like us with a wallet full of cards, it really takes the guesswork out.

Because we know, Justin, what is the answer to all of life’s problems? More credit cards. That’s right. That’s exactly right. When you’ve got a fistful or a wallet full of credit cards, keeping track of that, keeping track of all of [00:03:00] the benefits, of all of the offers, of all the earning multipliers, can be really challenging.

We see people do it with spreadsheets, and even that is so onerous because they change all the time. CardPointers is an app that’s going to handle all of that for you. I even get reminders and Amex offer notifications. I’ve seen save at Turkey Hill, save at CVS, and many other places I would happen to be.

Yeah, so exactly right. CardPointers is gonna remind you before your benefits expire, if you have a particularly, interesting offer that you have favorited. For me, it’s Lululemon. I favorite that offer in my CardPointers app, and every time it comes up it moves it right to the top of the list.

Whether you’re using the app for, your birthday amazingness in Las Vegas, or you’re just using it like Justin said at the grocery store, it’s gonna remind you of which card to use and which offer is the best and which offers are expiring. Even nearby pointers. I’m seeing in the app now it’s showing a nearby restaurant with an offer for 10% back on a single [00:04:00] purchase. that’s some of the magic of CardPointers when you get bonuses that you weren’t going out of your way to necessarily take advantage of an offer, but you were already going to make that purchase anyway. Exactly right. The average CardPointer user saves $750 a year by doing just exactly what Justin said, activating all of your offers.

And for those of you who are new or new to the show, an offer is something that your credit card is going to give you as an incentive to purchase or to make your purchase at a particular store. It might be extra points or it might be cash back.

Do you have the CSR right now? Yes, the Chase Sapphire Reserve, yes. I just recently got the CSR, or recently got it again, and I just, about six weeks ago, and I just logged in just out of curiosity before I was on this podcast, and it said so far this year just by using those offers, again, on things I was already going to buy anyway, I’ve saved $129.

So that’s just in the last six weeks. That doesn’t include, the hotel credit and the dining credit and all this, that.

What is new in version eight, an improvement over the previous seven? This is our biggest update we’ve ever [00:05:00] done. There are more than 100 new features, but the short version is CardPointers is now going to do all of the busy work for you.

If you’re already a CardPointers user because you’ve listened to Justin in the past you can actually go to the Apple Store and update it now, get the newest version. And if you’re not, at the end of this podcast and in the show notes, we’ll have a discount code if you’d like to purchase it. Happy to dive into any of those new 100 features.

Previously, the browser extension was the main thing you had to or should have used to activate the card offers, but now you’re moving toward a more automated process.

The app now adds your offers for you overnight while you sleep. So it works with Amex, Chase, Bank of America, Citi, Wells Fargo, US Bank, all of those, right? You save your bank login on your phone, CardPointer signs in securely right on your device, right?

And the offers just get added in the background. So you can even watch them roll in live on your lock screen. And your bank logins stay on your device. They’re never stored on our servers.

While you’re asleep or whatever time you set it, [00:06:00] basically it’s gonna auto-activate all of your offers, and then show you what it is that was activated overnight. So previously, you would have to go through the browser extension, but now we can do it right securely from your device, which is really exciting.

The more offers you add, the more you get, and I end up saving on stuff I was going to buy anyway, like we talked about. Really nice. So once you do the initial activation, then you’re set for some time. Perhaps forever. That’s exactly right. That’s a really nice thing, ’cause it would be unfortunate to have an offer on there, it’s not activated.

And you could verify to see if offers are added, especially with Amex. When I log into my Amex app, I see offers added to card because CardPointers already did the work. Exactly right. They sometimes will add new offers, so how often does this sync? Is this an every night thing? Yep, and you can set it to sync however often you want to.

I set mine every time I plug my phone in. Typically it’s set to sync every 24 hours. Oh, really nice.

And now there’s integration with Siri [00:07:00] for Apple. Yes. So if you are currently listening to us and your phone activates, I apologize, because I’m gonna talk about Siri- … and every time I do one of these my Siri in the background starts talking. So if your Siri, and if you’re listening to this on your, in your car and your Siri suddenly starts talking to you, just know that it’s because I have mentioned her name.

But- what was her name again? Siri. Hey, Siri. See, now it’s gonna beep. Now it’s gonna activate on my phone and your phone and everyone who’s listening to this in their car on the way to work, or when they’re working out, or however it is that you consume your podcast. You can now just talk directly to Siri.

So things like, “Find my dining offers,” or, “Mark this offer as redeemed,” or, “Remind me about this offer tomorrow,” or, “Which card should I use for my trip?” And Siri actually understands your cards and your offers now. So we’ve tried to make it as plain and simple of language as possible, but it’s integrated directly right into Siri, so it’s gonna pull that data from your CardPointers while allowing you to use that [00:08:00] same AI integration that, that Apple is so well known for.

And there’s also the Ask AI inside CardPointers, so you don’t have to go to something separate like ChatGPT. You can use the AI feature within the CardPointers app. You got it. Ask AI is like a little points nerd in your pocket. You just ask a question in plain language about your cards or your offers and get an answer.

And it uses Apple’s own on-device model and Apple’s private cloud compute so your data stays private. Obviously, we’re very privacy forward. What’s a small town in Pennsylvania? Give me an example.

Ooh, maybe you’re going to Willow Grove, Pennsylvania for the Greater Philadelphia Travel Credit Miles and Points meetup. There you go. You’re going to Willow Grove ’cause you wanna hang out with Justin, ’cause you don’t get enough on this podcast. You can just say to Siri, “Hey, Siri, what offers do I have here?”

Or, “What offer should I use at this gas station?” So that’s a cool, even if you’re in little Willow Bay, did you say? Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. That’s how small it is, yep. Cool. I didn’t say Allentown or Bethlehem, right? People know [00:09:00] those. Yes, I feel like I know both of those.

Philadelphia for sure. Yeah. That one, guaranteed that I know that one. Been there a few times. The CardPointers Ask AI surely better than the Dave Ramsey AI Every time I see one of your posts about Dave Ramsey it makes me laugh because it’s so thoughtful. Your posts are so- Okay … thoughtful and they’re so factual, and they really just dispel a lot of those myths.

They really do, of those Dave Ramsey myths. Because if you are a responsible credit card user like Justin, like myself, like the people that are listening to this podcast, you can really win this game, as far as, points and miles, cashback, benefits that Justin often talks about with gambling and things of that nature.

You just have to be responsible That’s right. And even with the new CardPointers app, you can point your camera and find out which card to use, find out some more information. Pretty cool technology there on Apple devices. Yeah. Yeah, so that’s visual intelligence. It is so fun, Justin. So you just point your camera at a storefront or a [00:10:00] product, and it’s gonna show you the best card to use and any offers you have for that store.

It works with screenshots and receipts too, so you can check a purchase before or even after. I’ll just hold it up at a gas station. It’ll show Chevron or whatever gas station you’re at, and it’ll tell me exactly which card to use. Let’s put Justin to the test, though.

Justin, which card are you… Let’s say you don’t have CardPointers, just as an example, and you’ve only got Justin in your pocket to talk to you. Justin, which card are you gonna use at the gas station? Ooh, it’s probably gonna be my Wyndham Business Earner credit card for 8X. That’s exactly right.

Wyndham at 8X. So you have won. Congratulations, sir. That is the right answer. I get a special song from CardPointers founder, Emmanuel.

Oh come, Emmanuel. I feel like we could make that happen. I feel like this is a song we could make happen, Justin. You can add some achievements, trophies or prizes within the CardPointers app, and that could be one. Ah, that’s actually a really good thought maybe we’ll look at adding that one in the future. [00:11:00] Version nine, trophies and achievements. Exactly. Exactly.

But before version nine, there are eight new widgets with CardPointers. What are these new widgets? Right there on your home screen, without even opening the app, that’s where those widgets live. For power users, there’s 36 new shortcut actions, so you can build little workflows or redeem or snooze offers, set reminders and that kind of thing.

Every time there’s an offer for Lululemon, I wanna use that right away.

Many listeners might have a new American Express Platinum card at the end of September, 2026, about a week and a half, a week or so, to use those Amex Platinum offers.

You have a hotel credit, right? You’ve got an airline credit, and a lot of those, change quarterly or they’ll sa- change twice a year they’re only available.

So CardPointers is gonna track those benefits, right? There’s th- those benefits that are gonna help you offset the cost of that annual fee, and they’re gonna remind you about them. So if you have benefits, for example, that are expiring in the end of September, whether that’s an Uber [00:12:00] credit or a Resy credit, whatever those are, CardPointers is gonna remind you to use them before they expire We have the digital entertainment credit.

I was previously paying for YouTube Premium through Verizon. I’ve canceled the YouTube Premium through Verizon, and it will go to the Amex Personal Platinum. I’ve heard some listeners say, “I listen to your show, and I watch through the ads if that helps you.” And I say, “No, please subscribe to YouTube Premium.

It’s okay.” Yeah. The Personal Platinum card will definitely allow you to do that, as that’s relatively new. I don’t think that was the case when I had one last. Yeah. And it’s hard to keep track, Justin, of all these different benefits and when they change. So that’s another- it really is. But- Audible’s out, YouTube Premium is in.

You got it. You got it, which is actually not so bad. And I actually learned from you the way that you used your ChatGPT credit to basically get ChatGPT for free, which was kinda cool. I actually learned that, that particular trick from you. But yes, those credits are changing all the time. Audible, gone.

YouTube, in.

That’s ChatGPT credits from the Business Platinum [00:13:00] and the Business Gold cards. Because we were both paying for the pro version on the personal side, but once they released this benefit on the Amex cards, that was great.

And now we’re basically paying nothing, as we could rotate the subscription between different cards, and CardPointers would surely let you know about that as well. Exactly right, yep.

Some might have seen the email from American Express, some not, the chatter in the blogs and websites. But you might see things that you didn’t realize you had on your cards with CardPointers.

Yeah, which is always kinda fun, right? It’s always kinda fun to realize, “Hey, I didn’t realize I had…” Have you heard anything about the show Widow’s Bay? If you’re listening to this and you love Widow’s Bay, let us know in the comments, or shoot me an email, or shoot Justin an email, come find us at a conference, but it’s an Apple TV product, and apparently it’s all the rage.

I don’t watch a whole lot of TV. I’m usually listening to podcasts or I’m watching YouTube. Guess what? I don’t have to pay for Apple TV. Why? Because one of my cards comes with that benefit. So now I get to watch this, viral, really exciting, that everyone’s buzzing about show for absolutely no [00:14:00] dollars.

Thanks to the Chase Sapphire Reserve. How did you know? How did you know which card has the Apple TV- … benefit on it? Well done. That’s the one, and that’s going to go into one of the newer updated features with CardPointers, Card Savings, that lets us in on an America loves math moment as it’s showing you how much you’ve saved compared to the annual fees.

Card Savings is gonna show you how much you’ve actually saved with each card. It’s right next to the annual fee, so you can finally answer the question, is this card worth it? For example, an Amex Plat can be around $700, $800 a year, so you want to know.

There’s also offer savings, which shows your savings adding up over time. So for example, if you have, how many Amex’s do you have right now, Justin in your current rotation?

I am now maxed. It’s 10 charge cards or pay over time cards, and five credit cards. I’ve heard of some people having more, maybe grandfathered in or some special situations, [00:15:00] but I’m currently at 15 total. That is amazing, because the answer is always what, Justin? More American Express. And more other cards.

The answer is always more credit cards. You’re going to have some annual fees, and you need to evaluate, hey, is this annual fee actually worth it for me, right? You might have a, an Amex Green, for example, that has a very low annual fee that you’re like, “Yeah, I see the benefit,” and now you can see it right directly in CardPointer.

So it’s going to track, did you use your FHR, right? Which is Fine Hotels and Resorts. Did you use your, I think you used yours for Fontainebleau, didn’t you? I did in 2025, and had a good stay there. In 2026, I used them in Savannah, Georgia. Had a different kind of trip. Oh, that’s right, I remember that. That trip actually looked really incredible.

You stayed at The Thompson there, right? Yes. The Thompson and the Andaz. Yes, that’s right. I remember that. So again, for Justin that has tremendous value. But if someone else is not using their FHR credit or not taking advantage of that, this is gonna help you to make the most [00:16:00] educated decision possible about whether or not that card is worth the annual fee.

And that could also help you with downgrade decisions too, as it’s not always a cancellation. Maybe if you were about even on the card, you would consider, “Oh, okay instead of having to go through all these benefits, then maybe I’ll just downgrade the card too.” So CardPointers can definitely help guide you there.

Exactly right. And some more features, there’s the spotlight search. What’s that all about?

In order for us to be able to track your cards, we need to know what kind of card you have. You can now add your cards to CardPointers just by taking a photo of it, which is really convenient, right?

We don’t keep any of that information. We don’t keep your credit card number. Like with American Express with most credit cards, your information is on the back anyway, so we just need to know what type of card it is. So spotlight search is this idea that if you’ve ever wanted to, find an offer but you can’t remember exactly what it is, if you’re like, “Hey, Siri,” and again, mine’s gonna turn on, “I- what was that one dining offer that I had that one time over…”

Then it’s going to use that sort of integrated language to… So [00:17:00] you don’t have to be super specific. You don’t have to say, “Which FHR credit do I have?” You can say, “Hey, which credit should I use for my hotel stay?” Or, “Remind me about that.”

Instead of, which card has that offer that one time, now I can just search it and there’s offer automation, so the app can favorite or hide or mark recurring offers as redeemed.

Very good. We’ll take a short break and come back.

If you like what you’ve been hearing in the show, please support me through links at HurdyGurdyTravel.com, and by becoming a Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast supporter on SubscribeStar.com or YouTube. Wanna reach out with questions, tips, show ideas, or support, email info@HurdyGurdyTravelPodcast.com. Now, back to the episode with Brooke talking about CardPointers.

Thanks again for coming on today. Yeah, thanks for having me, Justin. We have a lot of success with CardPointers. You’ve surpassed one million users, and we had quite the [00:18:00] first world problem. We were at the Frequent Traveler University event in Dallas. There was a raffle to give out a free CardPointers membership.

First person called, “I already have a membership.” Second person called, “I already have a membership.” And this went on for some time. It’s not a bad problem to have, Justin, that is the truth. So yes, we just passed a million users, so thank you to everyone who has supported the app. Thank you to all the YouTube creators like Justin who have continued to support the independent work that we do with this app.

We really are proud of it and a million users feels very exciting, right? Because we’re even more motivated to make the product better every single year, every single month, for all of the people that trust us with their credit cards, that trust us with their points and miles strategy.

So it’s just really a really incredible number that we’re really proud of. What was the outcome of that raffle anyway? It seemed like quite the meme moment as kept calling name, kept calling names, “Oh, I have it.” I think we eventually found someone that did not currently have CardPointers and we were-[00:19:00] 

we were finally able to give that away because when you’re in a room full of points and miles enthusiasts a lot of people already had it, but we did eventually find someone we could give it away to, Justin. So rest assured, might have taken us a few tries, but we did give it away.

Very good. And with those million users and the difficulty of getting new people in points and miles, have there been more mainstream users coming into CardPointers ? Maybe people who only have two or three credit cards, or maybe people not much in the space, maybe they’re just business travelers and, “Oh, I got this card because I stay at Hilton properties.

I got this card because I stay at Hyatt Hotels. I got this card because I fly Delta.” Are there users that aren’t hardcore into the points and miles space, but yet still finding use for CardPointers? There absolutely are. We like to think that we are not just for the points, miles, and travel community. We are also very popular with couponers,

so that becomes very appealing to people that are trying to save extra money. But whether you have one card, two card, three cards, [00:20:00] or you have 15 Amex cards like Justin, CardPointers is going to have a feature that’s going to help you. It’s going to help you save time, it’s going to help you save money, right?

It’s gonna show you those offers, it’s gonna activate those offers, and it’s just going to do all of that heavy lifting for you. So the answer to your question is absolutely, we are seeing a lot more mainstream use of this outside of our niche of points, miles, and travel. Very good if you could combine both of the interests, and I’ve heard several people in the miles and points space that found couponing first, and then they found points and miles, and they’re able to do both of those as CVS is a common destination.

I have the $10 a month credit at CVS, and I know people will try to stack coupons with that $10 a month benefit and other discounts at CVS. And a lot of cards are giving bonus points on drugstores, or we might get that Chase or Amex offer to give us additional money back at CVS and grocery stores. Surely a lot is happening there with a lot of offers to give cash [00:21:00] back, points back, statement credits, whatever the case might be.

Yeah. I’ve actually seen you pull some pretty incredible coupons out of your hat, Justin. I think it was it last Thanksgiving when you got an entire Thanksgiving meal for $1.50? Do you remember that? Oh, yes. Yes. That was probably the Weis Rewards and they’ve been really on it with their promotions.

I am continually impressed by the amount.

It was a perfect example of making sure to use all of those credits, of making sure to use all of those benefits, and of really saving quite a bit of money. So that was a rather impressive haul that you got, in addition, of course, to all the, the freebies you got for your birthday and all the things you get on the regular.

Before the show started, Justin and I were actually talking about how he had gone recently to use a $50 I think it was… Was it a Hilton credit? Yes, one of the Hilton quarterly credits from the Hilton Surpass and the American Express Business Platinum Justin had gone to do that, but he happened to stumble upon a happy hour where it was it buy one, get one or something like that?

Discounted appetizers, half price, yep So basically he was [00:22:00] able to get like a hundred dollars worth of food for $50, which is so amazing and so very Justin Vacula. But basically, and he was telling me the story and I was like, “I wanna go.” He’s like, “I favorited it for last, for next time.”

Those benefits that we’re talking about, like that $50 Hilton credit, right? CardPointers is just gonna make sure that you know what those offers are, when they’re expiring, and which card you would wanna go, ’cause it would be an awful shame to come to a Hilton and use the wrong card, not get the benefit, not get a hundred dollars worth of food for free.

What, did you eat all $100 worth of food there or did you take some to go? I took a lot to go that was for sure. It was a lot of food.

They need to listen to the podcast, Justin. Yeah, it’s a really good example though of how to use that Hilton. If your Hilton credit is expiring soon, I highly suggest happy hour like Justin did.

CardPointers, I believe, started as the which card should I use app or idea, and now it’s evolved into something much more.

Is there a plan for future features? There are. We are always adding new [00:23:00] features. V8 just came out, and that’s for the Apple products. But fear not if you’re an Android user, an Android lover. We’re actually a split household, so we have half of our family members using Apple and half of our family members using Android, which actually is fun ’cause I have one of each, so I can try out CardPointers.

But we’re really proud of that new automatic offer activation. It’s helping you to know which card to use without hardly any work on your part.

We are always working to improve. If you use Justin’s link, you actually have the opportunity to purchase a lifetime membership. Lifetime membership with CardPointers means that you will be able to get these updates as we improve every single year with no additional cost.

So imagine if you could just pay for Netflix once and never had to pay for it again. And the link for that discount is CardPointers.com/HurdyGurdyTravel, and that’ll be in the show notes as well.

We’ll move on to listener questions. The first listener question, and this has been a very popular question or concern from listener Michael [00:24:00] C.: What is the status of CardPointers in adding multiple Amex offers to multiple cards? It previously was the case that if you had, say, a $50 Lowe’s offer, it might appear on multiple American Express cards rather than just one.

Yeah, so that’s a really great question, and it’s one that I’ve been fielding a lot of, right? Because for a while we were able to have this workaround where if you got an Amex offer on one card, if you were to manually activate it, it would only go onto one card, but using CardPointers, if you got an Amex offer, it would activate across all of your cards.

Now, that feature has recently been updated with Amex, so that’s no longer available, but there’s a couple of things that have to do with that. So the answer to your question, Michael, is we’re working on it.

In the meantime, a smart add feature. What this is going to do is this is going to make sure that your Amex offer gets added to the card with the highest earning multiplier. If you have an Amex offer that’s available, CardPointers will help you to decide [00:25:00] which card it should go to. Now, if you’re working on a signup bonus, for example, you can set that as your default card until you meet the signup bonus so that it tells you to use that card or so that the offer goes on that card every single time.

But it’s a, a good, efficient, effective workaround. It does… still doesn’t activate it across all of the cards, right? Which, again, we’re working on, and I know is interesting to a lot of people. But it does make sure that it activates on the right card, which is still quite a benefit. War on happiness on behalf of American Express. We are continuing to work on that. But Michael, I hear you. In the meantime, Smart Ad is going to be your best bet

And the second question is from listener Mario.

Mario says, “I already have a lifetime membership with CardPointers and have enjoyed it. Is there any way or benefit to add Hotel Slash through CardPointers? Congratulations on the launch for such a massive update.” First of all, Mario, thank you for being a lifetime subscriber.

We really appreciate the [00:26:00] fact that you’re supporting the app. Thank you, Mario, for bringing that up. Let me dig into it. Let me take a look at it. Shoot me an email or shoot Justin an email or leave a comment about what specifically you’re looking to integrate there or what features would be the most interesting to you because I would love to make that part of our 2026/2027 launch plan.

And with that, it might suggest something like a Best Western, an IHG, and then perhaps CardPointers would say, “Hey, there’s a special offer on this card,” or, “This card has a multiplier.” Probably more straightforward with the branded hotels, as you would wanna use your Hilton Surpass or Hilton Aspire at a Hilton property, not some other card.

But maybe listeners don’t have multiple hotel cards. That could be something helpful. Yeah. Yep, I think that’s a great idea. So thanks for asking it, Mario, and Justin as well.

And we’ve talked a lot about CardPointers. Surely we can find CardPointers in different app stores. Where can listeners find CardPointers [00:27:00] online? We are @CardPointers . You can also find us at cardpointers.com/hurdygurdytravel, which currently has a 50% discount. The price is going up, so just be aware of that.

You can find me on LinkedIn or you can always email me, brooke@cardpointers.com.

I am Brooke Travels on Facebook and Brooketravels2 on Instagram. And I would love to hear from any of your listeners on what features they’d love to see. We have a very active subreddit, r/cardpointers, so if there is something you’d like to see added, email us, message us, let us know.

Come find us at a conference and we’d love to hear from you. There’s also a website, CardPointers.com/V8, that will give you a tour of the new features. But if you’re going to sign up, please use the affiliate link in the show notes.

Yeah, that affiliate link will get you a discount. So not only does it benefit Justin and help to keep this content free, but it benefits you guys who get a discount

And [00:28:00] more about the future, we’re recording at the end of September 2026. What are some upcoming events for CardPointers? I am going to be traveling around a lot. I feel like fall is just conference season, the kids are back in school, but it’s before Thanksgiving, and I feel like we’re just jamming it all in.

One time I was asking Justin, “How do I keep track of where you are?” And he actually created, is your URL still active of where will I be next? If you go to hurdygurdytravel.com , I have a page that says upcoming and past trips, so you can definitely see where I’m going.

Justin: Chicago Points Travel Festival, October 16th through the 18th. 

Chicago Seminars at Hyatt Regency, November 6th through the 8th. Going to Las Vegas December 6th through the 13th, and then I’m going on an Ovation of the Sea cruise after the Vegas trip. That’ll be December 14th through the 18th out of Los Angeles.

So have you counted how many days you’re gonna be home? ‘Cause I feel like in between now and then, that’s two [00:29:00] days total that you’re at home, Justin.

I will be at Miles to Memories in Detroit. I will be at the Points Travel Festival in Chicago. I will be attending the Chicago Seminars, and then hosting a smaller event in Los Angeles, more of a workshop-type event with more hands-on opportunity to interact with creators, with industry professionals, with people that are really at the top of their game and that’s coming up in December, and Justin will for sure bring some additional information to you guys about that.

Any other upcoming travels non-CardPointers related? Perhaps you’re using some Hilton free night certificates somewhere, other hotel credits? I was just getting into a debate with my friend the other day about whether or not Hilton is the best hotel credit card. What do you think, Justin, just out of curiosity, because those Hilton free nights really are valuable.

Thankfully, we don’t have to pick one. Because I’ve used those Hilton free night certificates in many places, and the Hyatt Globalist status has certainly given me lots of benefits, including the waived resort fees at so many properties, breakfast at so many [00:30:00] properties.

Those Hilton free night certificates are great. I went to Calala Island in Nicaragua earlier this year with the free night certificates, and I went to Hermitage Bay in Antigua, both properties all-inclusive. And Calala Island had a special promotion where they paid me $2,510 to stay with them- Unbelievable

which stacked with the free night certificates, so that was really special with Hilton. Podcast listener Gene recently went there with his wife, and his wife said the boat ride was far from luxurious as far as I remember. Yeah, it does, it takes some effort to get to Calala Island. It is always inspirational, Justin, to see where you have traveled and where you are traveling to in the future.

I find your, especially your hotel video walkthroughs to be really insightful, especially as I pick, based on if I’m a solo traveler, if I’m going with my husband, or if I’m taking my college age children. So yes, I have loads of travel coming up. I am almost always in my CardPointers purple.

So if you see me in a lounge, [00:31:00] if you see me in an airport and I am wearing purple, come and talk to me. I was actually at the Points Travel Festival last year, and I’m walking down the hall and Justin yells out, ” CardPointers purple .” I just laughed out loud because I thought, “You know what?

That’s exactly how I’m known.” So yes, loads of travel. If you ever see me, please come up and talk to me. If you see Justin, he’s incredibly approachable. If you haven’t met him in person, come and talk to him. Pick his brains. Find out where he’s speaking next. And, just come and hang out with us anytime. And thank you, Justin, for being a longtime CardPointers user. I know that, sometimes people come and they talk about products, but you’re somebody that actually uses it, and I just really appreciate that. I appreciate that you can speak to it so authentically, and that you were a longtime user even before you became an affiliate.

So thank you for your support. Absolutely. And you’ll be more than happy to chat with people at events as well, and be part of the festivities after, as we’ll have some Hilton credits to use. We can definitely use those after sessions, after conference time.

Absolutely. I’m [00:32:00] not saying that I can get $100 of free food for anyone, Justin, at Happy Hour. That’s kind of- They gotta bring their own credits. But yes, come and talk to either of us. I am so honored, so delighted, that Justin is not just someone that I work with, and someone whose work that I admire, but he is my friend too and I guarantee you spend more than five minutes with him and you’ll say the same thing.

Anything else you’d like to add at the end? No, just that, again, the price of CardPointers is going up as we add more features, as we continue to build it out.

Your best bet, of course, is to purchase a lifetime membership, but the average CardPointers user, meaning someone that just uses it for activating their offers and doing a few things here and there, is going to save $750 a year. Using Justin’s link you will get a discount that is not otherwise publicly available, so definitely go support this podcast.

Use that link. And thank you again for having me. I look forward to seeing you at the next event, and chatting the next time CardPointers gets updated again. And that’s CardPointers.com/HurdyGurdyTravel. Not to be confused with Cardi B or the St. Louis Cardinals that’s [00:33:00] popping up on my phone when I-

start to type that. Yeah, no. No Cardi B. No.

Thanks everyone for listening, and stay tuned for more episodes. For more content between shows, follow Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast on Facebook and X. Follow Justin Vacula on Instagram. Subscribe to Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast on YouTube for daily content, including travel videos, podcast clips, and posts.

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Join me for monthly Greater Philadelphia Travel Credit [00:34:00] Miles and Points meetups I host in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Join us for our next meetup October 25th, 2026. I’ll be speaking at Chicago Seminars Hyatt Regency O’Hare November 6th through the 8th. Use my promo code HURDYGURDY for $10 off your ticket.

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Simply cancel existing flights and rebook when AutoPilot emails you about lower fares. Visit HurdyGurdyTravel.com for affiliate links and much more. Thanks again for listening. Have a great [00:35:00] day 

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