Points & Miles Basics + Advanced Tricks with Ben of Ben’s Big Deal | Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast
Justin Vacula of the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast shares a remastered, shorter conversation with Ben Komenkul of Ben’s Big Deal, a points-and-miles and credit card rewards expert who leads a travel rewards community, hosts monthly Zoom meetings, and redeems more than one million points each year for family travel.
Ben shares how he got started in points and miles after discovering airport lounge access and a 100,000-point credit card welcome offer. From there, the conversation covers both beginner strategies and more advanced techniques for earning, managing, and redeeming travel rewards. Ben recommends treating points and miles as a marathon rather than a sprint, avoiding analysis paralysis, and applying for credit cards strategically.
He explains why transferable currencies can be especially valuable and why simpler Chase cards can be a good starting point for beginners. Justin and Ben also explain how to meet credit card minimum spending requirements responsibly by shifting normal expenses and existing bills onto new cards instead of spending more money just to earn a bonus.
They discuss annual fees, why banks offer large welcome bonuses, and the difference between responsible credit card use and carrying high-interest debt. Whether you are just getting started with points and miles or already have multiple rewards cards, this episode covers practical ways to earn more points, avoid common mistakes, stay organized, and travel better for less.
Timestamps
00:00 Points And Miles Intro
00:32 Remastered Episode Setup
01:10 Meet Ben Of Ben’s Big Deal
02:02 ZorkFest And Travel Hacking
04:30 Ben’s Points And Miles Origin Story
07:32 Beginner Strategy Basics
09:06 Meeting Minimum Spend
11:23 Annual Fees And Big Bonuses
13:42 Responsible Credit Card Use
16:55 Trip Planning And Point Values
18:04 Family Player Two Strategies
19:59 Deal Stories And Manufactured Spending
23:44 Meetups And Hobby Challenges
29:12 Tools To Stay Organized
30:38 Credit Card And Hotel Masterclasses
34:30 Where To Find Ben
34:52 Podcast Outro And Credits
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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
Justin Vacula here, releasing another remastered episode I recorded about three years ago with Ben of Ben’s Big Deal. My voice is returning to normal, and I hope to record a new episode later this week. But for now, this remastered and edited episode, shorter than the original, as some of the information has changed.
But a lot of timeless advice and insights [00:01:00] from Ben. Thanks for joining me today, and stay tuned for new content coming soon
You’re listening to the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast. I’m your host, Justin Vacula, here to help you travel the world at next to no cost with credit card points, miles, benefits, and rewards. Make money, save money, and take advantage of great deals. Thanks for joining me for today’s episode with special guest Ben Komenkul of Ben’s Big Deal.
Ben discovered his love of travel in 1999 when he learned he could access an airline lounge with a simple credit card.
He was featured on Inside Edition, NerdWallet, and The Points Guy for his credit card and travel expertise. Ben has been a professional teacher for over 20 years and hosts monthly Zoom meetings featuring miles and points insiders. He is the founder of Ben’s Big Deal Facebook and Instagram community.
Ben regularly travels with his family of four, redeeming more than one million points and [00:02:00] miles every year. On with today’s episode. All right. Welcome to the show, Ben from Ben’s Big Deal. Thank you for having me, Justin. We met at Zorkfest 2023 in Lake Tahoe. We used celebration dinners. We had some Mexican food.
We chatted between sessions, and now we’re here to continue chatting. That’s awesome. Yeah, it was a great time at Zorkfest.
You realize how great it is to be able to meet people, not only in the casino loyalty part, but also that intersection between points and miles as well. Such a great situation where we could be able to have both communities there together.
And how did you get involved with Zorkfest?
I used to run a Facebook points and miles group for many years, and I met Michael through that fashion. I run also now a hotel master class, and I’ve invited Michael to come talk about luxury travel in one of my sessions. So we’ve worked together for a few times on that, and from that, he’s invited me several times.
I was [00:03:00] supposed to speak the year before during when 2021 came around when it was in Vegas, and actually was supposed to attend and actually be a speaker the last time, but I, unfortunately, was not able to because I was in Thailand at the time on vacation, and I was concerned about leaving the country and coming back.
I was afraid that if I left, I would not be able to get reunited with my family back in- Oh … Thailand at the time. It’s a bit of the travel hacker’s dilemma when you have another thing going on- Correct … at the same time as a deal or an event. But it’s wait, we do all this to travel, so we can’t just sit at home waiting for the next thing, right?
It’s been really life-changing for me as before I got into the hobby it was, “Oh, travel’s expensive. Oh, maybe this is a once in a lifetime thing.”
But for both of us we’ve seen that we can transcend time and have multiple lifetimes in one lifetime. Justin, I totally agree. Getting in the business class or doing a first class, like that was a once in a lifetime event that I didn’t think I would be able to [00:04:00] do more than once.
And I found out just because the way the structure, the system is, the the ability to earn points in the United States, there’s no such thing now as a once in a lifetime. It’s just a matter of how often do you wanna come back. That’s really changed the way I travel, whereas when I was younger before points and miles I would try to fly somewhere and try to do everything I possibly can, and then you needed a vacation from the vacation when you got back home because you’re so tired.
But now I just take it a little bit slower and I’m like, “You know what? We can go wherever we wanna go. We can take our time,” and just knowing that you can always come back. And how did you find out about the hobby, about miles and points, about all of these shenanigans?
I actually always wanted to be in travel.
Back when I was in college, I graduated, I’m like, “I’m gonna learn how to be a flight crew.” I even applied for a job with Northwest Airline, and then they went on strike after I did my very first interview.
I went into insurance, and I never was able to get back to the aviation side. But I decided I’m going to find a job where I can travel. So I started traveling back in [00:05:00] 2009, and I traveled for literally four or five years, earning only points from the airline that I was flying and the hotels I was staying in.
You’re looking for the least, expensive hotel, or you’re trying to meet the corporate budget. You end up spreading yourself thin. I was flying between Southwest and Alaska and American. I’m based in Los Angeles, and I never really earned any status with anybody.
I would walk on the plane, I’m going from Los Angeles to Phoenix. It’s an hour-long flight, maybe less than an hour, and I would go through first class and I’d look at all those people in first class and go, “These people are idiots.”
“Who’s paying for first class?” Who knew that these people got upgraded for free? I didn’t know anything about that. So when people think the people who earn, who fly the most should know the most, they really don’t. Unless you really understand status and points and I didn’t do any of that until finally here’s my life-changing moment, Justin.
I took my wife to a hotel. Our corporate policy at the time was you can stay at any hotel program you wanna stay at, as long as it has the word inn in the name. So it had to be like a [00:06:00] Residence Inn, Holiday Inn. It had to be an inn, and an inn only gives you a certain level of service. It’s always like service, like a two or three-star hotel.
But I was so excited that I had three nights, so I told my wife, “I’m gonna take you to San Diego.” And she thinking “Oh, we’re gonna take me to some nice hotel, like the Hotel Coronado, like in San Diego.” I didn’t tell her it was a, it was La Quinta Inn. So I take her to La Quinta Inn, and she was not impressed whatsoever.
I think after we had the roadside breakfast, the free breakfast I was trying to sell her on, she wasn’t really into it. That next day, she’s like, “Yeah, if this is your idea of vacation, I’d rather stay home.” Ah now we get to level up. You found out that the answer to everything- Yeah
was more credit cards and it’s full speed ahead years later, right? I changed jobs. I learned about points and miles. I remember my boss who I was working with, he told me, “You need to pick an airline, you need to pick a hotel.” So this is after five years, I realized I didn’t have status with anyone.
I spread out all my points, too many programs, and then he said, “Go get a lounge pass.” I didn’t even know a lounge existed. I walk into [00:07:00] American, ’cause I chose American as the airline. I walk into American Airlines and I told them, “I’m here to buy a lounge pass.”
I see this big sign next to her. It says 100,000 points if you get the Citi AA Executive Card. Ah. And then I looked at her I said, “Wait, so this credit card gets us into the lounge too, and it gives me 100,000 points?”
And she says, “Yes.” I said why doesn’t everyone get the credit card?” She says, “Actually, everyone that walks in here usually has a credit card.” I sign up that day for that card. I get the 100,000 points, and I need to now know what to do with those 100,000 points.
That’s what gets me into points and miles in 2014. What path would you suggest for people considering the hobby, just starting out, just getting their feet in the water? I think one of the first things that they need to understand early on is that it’s a marathon and not a sprint.
Can I ever stay this number of nights?
Can I actually get approved for these credit cards? Oh, is it gonna hurt my credit? And there’s so many things that go through your head that gives you what I call analysis paralysis. You think about it too much and you don’t do anything.
Or you go down a path where you’re just signing up for a [00:08:00] bunch of credit cards and with no strategy in mind. Those are the two biggest mistakes that people make early on is that they don’t do anything or they go down a path without any strategy. There’s a middle road behind that, and the first thing I think is really important is that they have to decide- How do they like to travel?
Just because somebody shows business class and first class all the time, you don’t need to do that every single flight, and there’s way that you can get there without having to pay a bunch of money to do it. The other part of it is understand that having transferable currencies is more important than having an airline program or a hotel-specific program.
And usually early on, I’m recommending Chase credit cards, some of the simpler cards that don’t have huge welcome bonus spend requirements, so maybe something like 4,000 or $5,000 spend in the first three months on the personal side usually.
The business side might be a bit more. It’s important to pick good cards, look for big overall value, and of course, make sure you’re getting the welcome bonus spend in. Yeah, absolutely. That totally makes sense. [00:09:00] Getting one of these hybrid flexible point programs, there’s many of them from different banks that you can be able to choose from now.
Some people are intimidated by the spend goals. Oh, how am I going to spend 4,000, $5,000 in three months? What do you have to say to them?
In November and in December, it’s one of the greatest time a lot of people involved in points and miles get a card right now.
For example, if you have property tax coming up, if you have to pay your annual insurance policies, whether it be your auto or your home or some of your health programs, paying for those things, maybe even sometimes in advance for the whole year, that could be able to meet your minimum spend that you’re gonna spend anyway, and then you’re gonna walk away with 60, 70, 100000 points that are worth anywhere between $750 to $1,500.
If you’re gonna spend anyway, why not earn enough points so that you can fund your next vacation? You’re getting a significant rebate and what I think is a low amount of time invested and a very high payoff. Some critics of the hobby say, “Oh, that sounds like too much effort.
Oh, I don’t know if [00:10:00] that’s worth the time.” What do you have to say to those?
Everyone needs to value their time differently. If you are making millions of dollars a year, then absolutely, but if you’re going, “You know what? I don’t know if I wanna buy a basic economy ticket or a regular economy ticket.”
If you’re actually asking yourself those kinda questions, I definitely think it’s worth your time, you could’ve been earning enough points to be able to buy a business class ticket using the points that you just earned from your credit card sign-up.
At a very basic level it’s shifting your spend to a new card rather than using the same old card and maybe getting 2% cashback, but you’re just shifting your spend, you’re anticipating future bills, you’re being strategic.
You’re not just signing up for random credit cards because you see offers at random stores. You’re getting cards that give you a big return.
One of the biggest things I’ll hear from new people who get started in points and miles is that, “Oh, I just signed up for Home Depot credit card,” or another type of store credit card.
The challenge with those cards is that, number one it’s kinda limited to that store. Number [00:11:00] two, you’re only getting a one-time bonus ever. It’s usually what 15% off or 20% off your first purchase. So many times if you’re spending two, $300, maybe you’re making back $45 on a spend on that new card.
Rather you could’ve spent on a new travel credit card and got back anywhere between, 600, 700 or $1,000. It’s a lot more lucrative even if it requires an annual fee. That’s the other thing. Sometimes people are concerned about annual fees up front, but the way I like to look at it is there’s year one and then there’s year two.
In the first year you get a welcome bonus a sign-up bonus. It’s if you get a new job- And they gave you a sign up a bonus for joining. They do the same thing with the credit cards, and so in the first year it’s a win-win no matter what the annual fee is because usually the welcome offer is a lot, it outweighs whatever the annual fee is.
And most of the annual fee cards will usually have some kinda credits that offset that annual fee. So if you can be able to use those benefits, expedite security or maybe a travel credit airline credit [00:12:00] or, and lounge access, that usually offsets it.
America loves math, you can just do the math on these benefits and see that it’s very much worth it.
In December especially, signing up for a card like the American Express Business Platinum card, even with the high annual fee you’re having the opportunity to triple-dip many of the credits.
American Express I remember when 50,000 was big . Yeah. I remember that, and then 60, then 70. Now you see 100 and 150 plus. It’s just crazy. That’s the other thing. Sometimes people say it costs more now to fly using more points.
But at the same time, I also wanna tell people, yeah, but the signup bonuses are also larger, too.
And we’re also seeing no lifetime language offers. You’re able to get multiple copies of the same card with American Express.
The wins continue, that’s for sure. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. And some skeptics, they think, “Oh, this seems too good to be true. Why are the banks giving out all these high offers?
I think the majority of people who get a card are not getting multiple cards. I think the majority of people out there who are getting a card are getting one card [00:13:00] or two cards, and then they’re making that their card in their wallet.
That’s what the banks would like you to do. They would like you to just have one card and never get a bonus from them again. If you want more bonuses, you absolutely can. One of the things that we’re doing is saying when I talk to the banks too, and they’ll ask me you already have four or five cards.”
If they were ever ask me why would I want another card- … it’s because I like the brand, I like their card. If I’m getting a co-branded card, I’m like, “I like the Hilton card. I’d like to get Diamond status. Isn’t that what you’re asking me to do?” As long as you are using the benefits and the perks that are offered each card, then it makes sense to get it.
If it doesn’t, then you can decide later on after you get the card and you tried it out for a year. I’m test driving the card. I wanna see if the card makes sense to stay in my wallet or not
I think one reason a lot of this exists is because there are those out there who aren’t careful with their spending. They’re paying interest, they’re going into debt, and making poor financial decisions, or maybe they’re ending up in a bad spot, losing employment, having health issues.
But most listeners, [00:14:00] hopefully all listeners, can be very deliberate about their spending, be responsible, pay their balances in full, use the benefits they’re paying for, and be on top of their financial life.
Yeah. I would definitely agree that If you’re carrying a balance, if you’re not organized yet you probably don’t wanna start, adding and putting a bunch of debt on new cards as well and overextend yourself.
Our friend Dave Ramsey, of course, he’s talking about all credit is bad, everyone’s overspending, nobody should have a credit card at all. And that would be like me going out there and saying, “Oh, just because some people abuse alcohol, that no one should ever drink,” and claiming that nobody has control, even if they think they have control.
There’ve been callers to his show that said, “Hey, Dave, I know you’re against credit cards, but I embrace the frugal life that you talk about. I followed your plans, and I pay all my balances in full. I don’t overspend.” And Dave Ramsey calls them deluded. He’s making fun of them.
In the US, I think it’s really important to have a very good credit score, ’cause that affects what kind of [00:15:00] car you’re gonna end up getting, what kind of house you’re gonna get approved for, how much you’re gonna pay for that.
Renting a car, all these things require having a good credit profile, and without developing that, you’re gonna lose out on a lot. Yeah, it’s something you can definitely leverage, use as a tool. Many people out there also think, “Oh I just want my perfect credit score, and I’m only going to have one credit card.
I’m going to pay everything off really quickly.” But I think there’s tremendous opportunity cost just using only one card, not signing up for these other programs. I’m still in the high 700s, and I don’t think there’s much practical benefit of an 800-plus score versus like 775, 780?
There really is not. I think as long as you’re in the high 700s, even, 720 or higher, you’re good enough that you could be able to get all the things that you need to have done.
There are a lot of fun financial things that you can do with credit that you’re not able to do with cash and debit, especially if you’re not someone like Dave Ramsey, who is likely a millionaire.
[00:16:00] That’s funny. Yeah of course. He was shouting about Inside Edition as they covered him, and they were being critical of his past, and he was saying like, “All right, I have this million dollar building,” and this and that, all right Dave, not everybody out there is a millionaire, and a lot of middle class people have tons to benefit from if they’re using credit well.
I think there’s great responsible uses of it. He’s talking to a very particular market, ’cause he just doesn’t want them to get started again, but I think it’s impractical for most people to not, to ignore their credit profile.
I understand that there are people who call in and they can’t handle credit, so I’ll be honest and say, “If you can’t handle credit, don’t play the game,” but he’s saying that nobody should have credit, and then he’s getting very basic things about credit wrong, saying that you need to go into debt to have a high FICO score, and you’re just making the banks rich.
A lot of misrepresentation, saying it’s almost impossible to use airline miles and that you can’t book the flights you wanna take.
What are some flights that you’ve taken, some trips that you probably wouldn’t have, or trips that [00:17:00] you have coming up?
When you are first starting off, your strategy should be think about the flight that you’re trying to take or the plan the trip you’re trying to take, and then go and get the points program that makes sense.
I had a gentleman who actually did not have a plan for the points that he needed. He wanted to plan a trip with his wife and his father and mother-in-law, and so he required two rooms everywhere he went.
They were gonna go to Italy, and one of the places he wanted to stay at was the Gritti Palace, and the Gritti Palace is a Marriott luxury collection. It’s a fantastic property. The room rates are, like, $1,400 a night, but the points rates in Marriott Bonvoy points is 100,000 points a night. He needed two rooms, so that’s 200,000, and he was going to need three nights, which is 600,000.
He did not know that particular part. What he did know was that American Express transfers to Marriott Bonvoy points and not realizing that it was gonna take that many points because not all points were created equal. A Marriott Bonvoy point is a lot less than [00:18:00] American Express Membership Rewards point.
He didn’t realize that, and what happened was he didn’t have any Marriott points.
A lot of people also have what are called player two situations, where they manage accounts for family members, significant others, friends, or they’ll heavily guide them along the path.
You can refer each other, you can duplicate some cards, combine rewards like free night certificates. You can swap free nights. There’s so much potential to make travel for others better, and not just yourself. Oh, yeah. I end up managing all our points for myself and my wife.
In fact, my older daughter, she’s over 18 now, I added her as a authorized user early on. By the time she turned 18, she already had somewhat of a credit history, and she had a pretty decent score, so she was able to get cards pretty well. Now, last year she was able to get the Venture X.
She’s 24 and she was able to get a Venture X, which is like a Capital One Visa Infinite card with no problem, with a pretty good spend limit and credit limit.
And another nice thing about family members who are younger is that they can also have relationships with banks [00:19:00] with checking accounts. So if they have a checking account relationship, maybe a student checking account or they’re maybe even added to your account, that they’re more likely to get credit cards in the future.
Maybe they won’t get approved for that Chase Sapphire Reserve at 18 years old, but maybe they can get something like a Chase Freedom Flex or a World of Hyatt card or something else that’s one of the more starter cards with Chase after they’ve been an authorized user, after they have the checking account.
Those banking relationships can really help.
I tried to apply for originally a Chase Sapphire Preferred for her and she didn’t get approved even though she had a 720 score. But then I applied for the Freedom, she couldn’t get that.
It’s funny, I ended up getting her a Southwest card. A Southwest, a co-branded card, get her in, but I got her in the ecosystem and then we were able to come back later on the Chase Sapphire Preferred, and eventually she was able to get other cards as well. But sometimes you just gotta get your foot in the door.
Now they have a card for college kids.
It’s nice to see that there’s a focus on trying to get them started early with the relationships. Great, and you [00:20:00] had some big trips or have some big trips coming?
What I try to do to give myself as many options as possible is to try to be flexible with the time or be flexible with the destination.
Sometimes I’m not able to be flexible with the time just because my daughter’s in school, so I try to be flexible with the destination. I may have 10 or 15 different places we could go. I’m okay with it. I just gotta look at the season, and if the deal’s there, then I’ll take on the deal.
And so one of the best deals I ever got was back on New Year’s Eve, December 31st, I believe of 2017 going into ’18. There was a glitch in the system And a business class flight on Cathay Pacific was $600 round trip, and a first class trip was like $1,000, and it was like from Canada to Vietnam or Vietnam to Canada and back, round trip in first class for $1,000.
Normally, that ticket is $13,000. The only mistake that I regret I had was I didn’t book more of those. Not only did I get a [00:21:00] first class experience on there, the champagne, the pajamas, everything, but we were able also to get access to the lounge in both places.
Also, they counted the number of miles as if it was normally $13,000 spent, not 1,000 spent. So I was able to earn 60,000 Alaska miles on the round trip
very nice. Have you gotten into any advanced methods to ramp up spend without going out and buying designer clothes or Gucci bags?
It went mainstream years ago before I got into the hobby that people were buying dollar coins with credit, and they were having the dollar coins shipped to them, and they would just go to the bank and deposit the coins.
I don’t do too much of that, as much as I maybe have done in the past, but there was a time where we used to buy electronics and be able to purchase it and then send it to certain retailers.
We’ve done that before. We’ve also resold some of our gift cards that we’ve done.
I just don’t do too much of that [00:22:00] nowadays but, you have to decide which ones you’re gonna do that you feel like is lucrative, that you can be able to do more of, scale that particular part.
Yes, I’m still very much a fan of gift card reselling, especially the online deals where I can just click some buttons online, see rates, see offers the buyers are putting out there, submitting the cards, getting paid, also getting some new checking account bonuses in the process. So it’s been really nice for me, and sometimes the in-store deals are really good.
One of the best deals I think that I ever saw was a grocery chain near me that was selling sports betting gift cards and giving 5% back in groceries. These sports betting gift cards can also be used in casino games, and this was one of my presentations at Zorkfest, using prepaid cards, debit cards, gaming cards, all these different tools to fund casino sites, play through the funds in blackjack, and only give up about a half percent, or in some cases with the sports betting, actually have an advantage with bonuses and promotions.
Trying to put credit together and mix it into other parts of your lifestyle or pick up some new skills or hobbies, [00:23:00] I think there’s so much potential for this.
I’ve also found a lot of fun through the hobby. I mentioned the grocery promotions. It’s been really cool to just have $2,000 in grocery rewards and just be able to get whatever I want and not worry about it. I had a first world problem of grocery rewards at one point where oh, all these points are going to be expiring.
I raided the pharmacy and bathroom section, went out with printer paper, office supplies. I still have a great amount of Q-tips in my bathroom area . It’s great. These things are gonna last for a while. It’s like the extreme couponers are like, “Oh look, I got this and that free.” We are often restricted, but with these grocery promotions, it’s hilarious to do a raid when they have a really big promotion and, take some people out and say, “Hey, let’s go for sushi at Giant.”
They have the chefs there in the afternoon
I’ve also started a community of my own, the Greater Philadelphia Travel Credit Miles and Points Group. We had about 15 people for the November meetup in Willow Grove, PA share data points with others, encourage others to succeed, learn from others, and that’s something that you’ve [00:24:00] done online and I think in person as well, as you’ve had some in person meetups too.
I used to teach insurance for 15 years, and when the pandemic hit, I decided to focus more on teaching more points and miles and so I’ve done that online on Zoom, but one of my dreams and my goals is to actually teach what I do in person. I get a chance to do some of that when I do these conferences like at ZorkFest and Travel More and when I was in every city now that I go speak at, I try to turn that into a meetup.
Such a big difference being able to see the people in real life. Yeah, and things don’t always go well in the hobby. When we went to Tahoe, we had a group of about 10 people and we wanted to split checks because we had different offers and comps or just make it easier rather than collecting cash, and the server was like, “Oh, I don’t think we can combine tables.
I don’t think we can do this.” Or sometimes with credit cards, your application might go to pending and you have to call in and say, ” I’m just looking at expanding my business. I’m looking at using this travel loyalty program.” I don’t look [00:25:00] forward to calling a bank and saying “Hey, I got put to pending on this card or declined, so can you reconsider?”
So there are a little bit of challenges along the way. I think at first maybe people will get insta-approved for a lot of cards, but over time that could get a little bit more difficult depending on the issuer. But I try to multitask. I’ll make some of these calls while driving, prepping lunch. There’s some effort, but I don’t think any big thing really comes free.
It’s not just like travel or money is gonna fall out of the sky. There’s gonna be a little bit of effort, a little bit of patience that we need. Past podcast guest Mandy really liked the acronym HUCA, hang up, call again. Sometimes you just get a representative who isn’t playing ball, and you just have to try again at another time.
Absolutely. When you said that it triggered me thinking about some of the best things I’ve done with hotel pieces, and one of the best hotel deals I ever got was when I was heading to Paris And I hadn’t been there, and there’s a Hyatt Regency Etoile. Normally, it’s an upgrade. If you book a room, a free [00:26:00] room or even any kinda base room, usually they offer you an upgrade into a club room or a suite.
You could pay extra 3,000 points and usually some taxes or something like that or some points and cash. There was a little glitch, and they didn’t add the room rate. It was just the upgrade was the actual room cost. So for 3,000 points and $6 I was able to get a club lounge room.
A regular member could have booked a room that got them club lounge access, which is breakfast and then dinner and be able to book a room for $6 and 3,000 points, which is unbelievable. That was one of the best. And I was able to book two of them, and I brought my in-laws with me, and we stayed there for three, four nights.
And one of the good things I love about Hyatt hotels is that they usually do honor their mistakes, and they could easily, like some of the other brand decided they were not gonna honor it, but they did honor it.
Very good. Sometimes some happy discoveries, happy accidents, or something might go a little bit wrong, [00:27:00] and they’ll give you more as a courtesy.
Speaking up, asking for more in some cases where it’s appropriate, not just yelling at people and demanding so much, right? I think there’s a lot of opportunity to get more through this that you’re certainly not going to get just using debit cards, cash, and using Expedia or some other online travel agencies or portals that typically aren’t going to get you these nice things.
Yeah, that… you bring up the whole idea of debit card. It made me think of a couple things. In 2007, 2006 And even before, I remember very well when we were transitioning from cash into a credit card society or debit card plastic society. At the time, there was a 35 cent fee to swipe a debit card, and we were fine with that because a lot of times we didn’t have cash with us.
Debit card made it a very nice convenience without having to carry cash. At the time, banks were actually giving us free checking accounts because those 35 cent swipe fees would pay for these free checking accounts, and so they offered us free checking. And so everybody around [00:28:00] 2005, ‘6, ‘7, we were all had free checking accounts.
Everywhere was offering like, like crazy. And then the number two was that we were actually earning points from debit card transactions.
I remember very well Citi ThankYou points when they got introduced right around that time. It was $2 spend, we get one point. Although not the highest earning, but keep in mind it was a debit card. It was fantastic. Then Senator Durbin brought into play this idea that we should get rid of 35 cents.
What happened after that, the banks decided it wasn’t profitable now to offer us free checking accounts. So those things all disappeared, and then fees came back. And then all the rewards that we were getting were no more.
They all moved to credit cards.
Any new credit cards coming for you in 2023 or some early in 2024? One that is of interest to me that I don’t have right now is Aeroplan.
Chase Aeroplan card is something of interest because Aeroplan is really run by people who love points and miles. You can use your Aeroplan miles to fly on Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, United, any of the Star [00:29:00] Alliance carriers.
They also have a lot of non-alliance partners which makes it one of the airlines that has the most number of partners than any other airline.
Why is that important? Is that you can use their points for a lot of different airlines, including Emirates, if you wanted to.
Some people might seem overwhelmed. Oh, how am I gonna stay organized with this? How am I gonna keep up? What do I do?
What do you do to stay organized?
I’m glad you asked. Now, there is a couple new apps in the market now. You’ll hear CardPointers they are very good user interface
one that I really like that’s been around for a long time, it’s like a goodie, a oldie but goodie, but they really focus on Great technology is a company called AwardWallet.
AwardWallet will allow you to enter in all your programs, and if you wanna keep it updated with all your balances, you can even store your logins and they will update all your account balances and things like that.
In addition, if you have points that are gonna expire they allow you not only to get notified for your own points, but you can also, if you’re managing your spouse, your children, your [00:30:00] in-laws their personal account goes all the way up to 99 accounts you can have in there.
So it’s a fantastic tool if you wanna, automate that piece of it, it can do that. But it also does other things which a lot of people don’t realize. I use TripIt Pro all the time to get notified where my gate is. If a flight gets delayed, they usually notify me. But it’s the same thing as AwardWallet.
AwardWallet has the same service, and it’s included for free.
I love what they do. That’s one of the ways I help to stay organized. All right. Very good, and you can learn more about AwardWallet on a previous episode I had with Joseph Petrovic. He’s with Award Travel 101, which is affiliated with AwardWallet, and AwardWallet is definitely something that I use, too.
All right, any closing thoughts?
Points and miles can be a puzzle for many people. And so one of the biggest challenges you have is that when you come in and you’re overwhelmed with, “Where do I start?”
There’s airlines. That’s another, that’s one in itself, just learning about airlines and hotels and credit cards. So I put together a masterclass, one specifically for credit card to airlines to get started so you understand what are alliances, [00:31:00] how they work how to earn elite status, is it worth it for you, what are the easiest ones to do without having to get on a plane.
And then at the same time, at the final day of my four-day class, we also cover points versus cash, and then how to determine when is it best to use which one, and then how to get VIP access so that you can be able to expedite to security, and then get into a lounge, because one of the most challenging parts of travel is delays.
One of the most challenging parts of travel is waiting in long lines all the time, multiple lines. Being able to alleviate some of that stress for yourself and for your family is, I think, vital to your sanity when you’re traveling, and you may actually enjoy it once you get some of these perks.
I cover that in my masterclass, and then we do that once a month. And I offset that with the other month, where I will do a hotel masterclass. I cover all the brands between Hyatt, Hilton, IHG, and Marriott. And then we also cover how to earn the right points for your type of stay, and then why four-star or five-stars are probably less expensive [00:32:00] than a three-star when you add it all up.
And then lastly, how to be able to get upgraded before you get there. And then what happens when things go wrong. I also have a monthly weekly mentorship where I bring in some of the top speakers giving some of their best tips on how to be able to travel better.
Thanks for having me as a top speaker. I was happy to chat with your group
you did a fantastic job of sharing some of the ways that you’re able to make the most out of that your experience, with points and miles and with casino gaming.
That’s fantastic. Unfortunately, the war on happiness deprives you in California, but for people in gambling-friendly or online gambling-friendly states, there’s a lot of opportunity. If you come and visit Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan, these other states that allow it, you can still take advantage, at least for a short amount of time.
And maybe one day you’ll have a phone army going and playing the MyVegas games as well, if you haven’t already started. Anyone can play the MyVegas games.
Absolutely. Everyone can find their niche. There’s a way to earn points. If you are organically spending as a business already, putting on [00:33:00] the right card, that makes a difference. Maybe switching out the card every three months or six months, that can maybe earn you a lot more.
But, there are all ways that you can do it. Some people resell things. Some people have a business.
A lot of people don’t realize how much spend they actually have, but once they put it on their cards they realize, “Wow, I can do it.”
Yeah, lots of different ways to win. I think I’m going to find myself on a world tour this coming Friday if things work out, going to different Dollar Generals, Giant grocery stores, as Dollar General’s looking at having a 15% off Lowe’s gift card deal, so that’s looking to be a huge winner. 15% off Lowe’s gift cards, reselling these around maybe 88% or better, getting in some credit card spend in the process.
There looks to be a lot of potential coming into the holiday season. More credit card spending, more credit cards, more deals. Always more deals. It’s a lively hobby. Absolutely. Are you flying to Texas for this?
No, I’m just gonna be driving in my local area. Even better, just taking my car. Not having to get a rental. I haven’t yet flown to [00:34:00] another state to do a deal. But maybe if the deal’s good enough, I can do that in the future. Who knows? Maybe bring a friend. I had a buddy of mine who literally flew down from Virginia to Texas to go to H-E-B and buy a bunch of gift cards and come back to resell.
It’s amazing. Oh, there was a Best Buy craze a few years ago where Best Buy gift cards were reselling at 99% face value, so it might have been around those Best Buy times.
Yes, for sure. All right, thanks for chatting today. Thank you. Appreciate it. If you could share your social media, your website, other information where people can find you.
Find me at my website, bensbigdeal.com, and you can also find me on all social platforms under Bens, B-E-N-S-B-I-G-D-E-A-L, BensBigDeal, Instagram, on Facebook, as well as on TikTok.
All right, have a good one.
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