Ending Soon! Best Ever Offers for Chase Ink Cards

Chase currently has two great welcome bonuses for Ink business credit cards. These are the best ever offers on both cards and if you plan to apply, you should do so by this weekend. These offers are going away soon.

Welcome Bonuses

Chase is offering a $900 cash back bonus when you spend $6,000 in the first three months after signing up for either the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card or the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card. Considering that the cashback can also be used in the form of Ultimate Rewards, these bonuses could be valued as high as $1,500.

Both offers also come with a 0% Intro APR on purchases for the first 12 months. That can be a small bonus on its own, considering the current interest rates.

These are not only the best ever welcome bonuses we’ve seen offered by these cards, but they’re also great welcome bonuses in general. And to make things better, both cards come with no annual fee.

To unlock more value from these bonuses, it’s bet to pair these cards with Ultimate Rewards earning card such as Chase Ink Business Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve or Chase Sapphire Preferred. That enables you to convert the cash-back rewards on your Ink Business Unlimited Card to Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Points can then be used for travel for a value of up to 1.5 cents each, or you can transfer to travel partners.

Chase has 14 partner airline and hotel programs and transferring to them can be the best option to maximize the value of your points.

Here are the 1:1 ratio travel partners:

1:1 Transfer Ratio

Aer Lingus
Air Canada Aeroplan
British Airways Executive Club
Emirates
Flying Blue (Air France / KLM)
JetBlue
Iberia Plus
IHG Rewards Club
Marriott Bonvoy
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
United Airlines MileagePlus
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
World of Hyatt

You should familiarize yourself with a specific loyalty program before transferring your miles. You will not be able to transfer back into your Capital One Miles account.

Bonus categories

These are two different cards, so make sure you apply for the one that best suits your needs.

The Ink Business Cash® Credit Card earns:

5X Ultimate Rewards points on office supply stores, internet services, cable, and phone services ($25k annual limit)
5X Ultimate Rewards points on Lyft rides
2X Ultimate Rewards points on gas and dining ($25k annual limit)
1X Ultimate Rewards on all other purchases

The Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card earns:

1.5% cash back on all your purchases with no annual limits.

So you can either go with the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card if you can maximize the spending in the 5% categories, or the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card if you just need a simple card that rewards you with 1.5 points for every dollar you spend.

(The description almost sounds like only certain categories related to business purchases will qualify but actually these cards with earn rewards on all purchases.)

Perks

The Ink Business Cash® Credit Card and Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card are no-annual-fee products, so they have modest perks.

Small-business owners can add employee cards at no additional cost. You earn the same rewards through employee cards as you do with the primary card, so that will help you rack up points quicker. Plus you can set spending limits and categorize purchases by card.

Both cards also offer purchase protection and extended warranty protection. You also get auto rental collision damage waiver when you decline the rental company’s collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card. Coverage is primary when renting for business purposes.

It’s worth noting that these cards are not your best option for international travel as you will be charged a 3% foreign transaction fee.

Note:

These should be your first applications if you are still under 5/24. And since these are business cards, they won’t count towards your 5/24 count.
It’s possible to have more than one Ink business credit card.

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Danny

Increased Offers for Airline and Hotel Programs

Disclosure: Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.

Hotels and airlines are starting the new year with increased welcome bonuses for their credit cards. Earlier in the year we saw IHG offer a 175,000 points bonus for the IHG Rewards Premier card. Now it’s Marriott, Hilton and Southwest offering new and improved welcome bonuses.

Earn Companion Pass with One Southwest Credit Card

Southwest Airlines and Chase have launched three identical offers on consumer credit cards. This offer gives you the option to easily earn the Southwest Companion Pass with just one credit card. Plus you also get a points bonus.

The Companion Pass remains one of the best deals in travel as you can bring along a companion for free and you just need to pay taxes and fees.

With the new offer you can earn the Companion Pass through 2/28/24 plus 30,000 points after you spend $4,000 or more on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. This is one of the best offers when it comes to earning the Companion Pass with minimal effort.

The offer is available on these three cards:

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card ($69 annual fee)
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card ($99 annual fee)
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card ($149 annual fee)

Al three offers are available through March 13, 2023.

You can choose just one of these three cards to earn the 30,000 point and the Companion Pass. If you fly Southwest often and you care about status and upgrades, then the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority card is your best option. If you just want the points and the Companion Pass, then you can go for the cheapest option: the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus card.

This is a great offer for people who regularly earn Southwest points or who have Chase Ultimate Rewards that they can transfer to Southwest.

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card

Marriott and Chase have launched a new offer for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card.

You can now earn a bonus of 100,000 Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases with your new card within the first 3 months from account opening. This is a limited time offer that will be available until April 6.

This bonus does not provide the best total value compared to previous offers, but it can be a nice boost to your Marriott Bonvoy account.

The card itself comes with some good perks for those that stay at Marriott properties often with the annual free night (valid for a redemption up to 35,000 points) being one of the main perks.

You can earn up to 17X total points at Marriott hotels, one Elite Night Credit toward Elite Status for every $5,000 spent, Silver Elite Status, 15 Elite Night Credits toward next level of Elite Status, and Gold Elite Status when you spend $35,000 per calendar year.

Tip: Get the business version of the Marriott card along with this version and start every year with 30 elite nights!

The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card

Hilton and American Express have launched one of the highest ever points offers for the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card.

If you apply and are approved for the card, you can now earn 165,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $5,000 or more in purchases within your first 3 months of account opening. This is a limited time offer that will be available through April 5.

American Express makes it easy to know if you are eligible for a welcome bonus. If you are not eligible, a pop-up will tell you so before you proceed with the application. So there’s no risk of an unnecessary hard pull on your credit report.

The card comes with some useful benefits such as 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points at hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio worldwide and 6X Hilton Honors Bonus Points on U.S. gas stations, wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service producers and U.S. purchases for shipping 6X Hilton Honors Bonus Points on U.S. restaurants, flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com, and car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies.

You get complimentary Hilton Honors Gold status with the option to earn Diamond status after spending $40,000 in a calendar year. You also get One Free Night Reward after spending $15,000 in purchases on the Card in a calendar year and second Free Night Reward after spending $60,000 in purchases. The second free night might not be worth it, but for the first free night you would have to spend just $10,000 more after completing the welcome bonus requirement.

For frequent fliers the card has 10 free Priority Pass Lounge passes to make the airport experience more enjoyable. Enrollment required. The annual fee is $95 (rates & fees).

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Amex Disclosure: Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.

Danny

Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business: 50K Offer

Welcome Bonus

The Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business Card is offering new applicants a bonus of 50,000 miles after spending $4,500 or more within 3 months from account opening. There’s also a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95 after.

This is one of the best (and stable) bonuses offered for the card and a great way to grab a lot of transferable points without paying a fee for the first year.

These are not the same type of miles that you would earn from an airline credit card. But they can be used for up to $500 in value when you book travel through Capital One, or against travel purchases made with your card.

Capital One also has 15 partner airline and hotel programs and transferring to them can be the best option to maximize the value of your points.

Here are the 1:1 ratio travel partners:

1:1 Transfer Ratio

Aeromexico Club Premier
Aeroplan®
Asia Miles
Avianca LifeMiles
British Airways Executive Club
Choice Privileges®
Emirates Skywards
Etihad Guest
Finnair Plus
Flying Blue
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
TAP Miles&Go
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
Virgin Red

The last option is to redeem miles for gift cards.

You should familiarize yourself with a specific loyalty program before transferring your miles. You will not be able to transfer back into your Capital One Miles account.

LEARN HOW TO APPLY

Bonus categories

You’ll earn the following rates:

Unlimited 2X miles on every purchase for your business.
Unlimited 5 miles per $1 spent on hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel.

Getting 5X on the travel portal is nice if you’re not paying more for your travel purchases compared to other sites, but keep in mind you can lose out on hotel benefits if you have elite status.

The 2X miles on all other purchases make this a good everyday card, especially with no limit on how much your card can earn. It could also be a great way to cover taxes.

(The description almost sounds like only certain categories related to business purchases will qualify but actually this will earn 2X on all purchases.)

LEARN HOW TO APPLY

Perks

The Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business Card has a $95 annual fee which is waived the first year. So you can get tons of value before you have to decide whether you want to pay the fee and keep it for one more year.

After completing the spending requirement for the bonus, you will have 59,000 miles, since the card earns 2x on all purchases. The ability to earn close to 60,000 transferable points without having to pay a single dollar on an annual fee is definitely an attractive feature of this offer.

You can get credit of $100 for the application fee for Global Entry or TSA Pre-check when you pay with the card. This is a nice perks for frequent travelers.

The card comes with two complimentary visits per year to Capital One Lounge locations or a partnering Plaza Premium Lounge. This can open up more lounge visit opportunities in case you encounter an overcrowded lounge which has unfortunately become a trend these days.

If you’re traveling abroad, you don’t have to worry about foreign transaction fees with the Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business Card.

As a business card, it provides free employee cards, that also earn unlimited 2X miles on all purchases. You can set customized spending limits for each employee cards. You also get free additional warranty and protection on purchases made with your card, and virtual card numbers that make online purchases safer.

Note:

This is one of the Capital One business cards that counts towards 5/24 so I’d recommend going for Chase cards first if you are still under 5/24.
Capital One pulls all three bureaus
It’s a good idea to wait six months between Capital One cards

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Danny

Chase IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card: 175K Offer

Welcome Bonus

The Chase IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card is offering 175,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on qualifying purchases in the first three months from account opening. This is the best points bonus ever offered for the card.

In addition to this exciting offer, Chase IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Cardmembers have even more opportunities to earn towards travel thanks to the enhanced card benefits that launched in 2022.

The card now features increased ways to earn points through purchases, a simplified way to reach the next IHG One Rewards Elite status level, added flexibility on Anniversary Free Night certificates, and more.

IHG One Rewards Program

This card earns IHG One Rewards points, which is the currency of the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) rewards program.

With a family of 16 brands, you can redeem points at luxurious hotels such as InterContinental London Park Lane or more affordable options like Holiday Inn Express and Staybridge Suites. IHG has about 6,000 open hotels in more than 100 countries.

The value of these points varies from one brand to the other, and also from one property to the next. But you can often get about half a cent for each points, and up to 0.7 cents. That would make this bonus worth $1,200.

LEARN HOW TO APPLY

Bonus categories

You’ll earn the following rates:

Up to 26X total points at IHG® Hotels & Resorts
5X points on travel, dining, and at gas stations
3X points per $1 spent on all other purchases

Earning at IHG hotels varies based on your status, but this card already gets you Platinum Elite status which is how you end up earning 26X. This is also a decent option for popular purchases such as other travel, dining and even gas purchases if you are trying to build up a big balance of IHG points.

LEARN HOW TO APPLY

Perks

The Chase IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card has a $99 annual fee, but also gets you some extra perk that could make it worth keeping it past the first year.

You get an Anniversary Free Night with a redemption cap of 40,000 points. But you can also use IHG One Rewards points get free nights at hotels above the 40,000 point level.

The card also gives you automatic IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite status. Cardmembers have the option to earn IHG One Rewards Diamond Elite status after spending $40,000 on purchases with their card each calendar year.

Another way to get free nights with this card is to book at least 4 nights. When cardmembers redeem points for a consecutive four-night IHG hotel stay, they can receive the fourth Reward Night free redeemable at that same hotel during that same stay.

Other travel benefits include Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® or NEXUS Statement Credit of up to $100 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card. You also get up to $50 United® TravelBank Cash each calendar year.

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Danny

Chase Sapphire Reserve® 80,000 Offer Available, Highest Since 2017!

Chase Sapphire Reserve® 80,000 point offer

Offer no longer available.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is allowing you to earn 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.

If you are new to credit card rewards chances are you should be well under 5/24 which means that you have not opened up five accounts in the past 24 months (that report to your personal credit report).

When you are under 5/24 (in the vast majority of cases) you should pursue Chase credit cards first to optimize your earnings with them.

Otherwise, you might end up ineligible for the best Chase cards (which also happen to be some of the best overall travel cards).

Also, to optimize your rewards you always want to time your applications so that you were jumping on some of the best available bonuses.

Because the Chase Sapphire Reserve® has an elevated bonus of 80,000 bonus points right now, which is the highest we have seen since its launch back in 2017, this would be a perfect time to jump on it.

The Sapphire Reserve® earns flexible Ultimate Rewards which can be transferred out to various travel partners at a 1:1 ratio.

These partners include the following.

Airlines:

Aer Lingus AerClub
Air Canada Aeroplan
Air France-KLM Flying Blue
British Airways Executive Club
Emirates Skywards
Iberia Plus
JetBlue TrueBlue
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
United MileagePlus
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotels:

IHG Rewards Club
Marriott Bonvoy
World of Hyatt

And when it comes to bonus points you can earn the following:

10X Chase Dining
10X on hotels booked through the Chase Travel Portal*
5X on airfare booked through the Chase Travel Portal*
3X on dining
3X on travel*
1X on all other purchases

*after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually.

Personally, I use the Reserve as my go to travel card because of the strong earning rate of 3X and the strong travel protections.

The annual fee is $550 but you can offset that with the $300 annual travel credit which can be used on a variety of purchases.

If you use Instacart, you can get a $15 per month credit all the way through July 31, 2024, after you activate which can further help offset the fee.

Additional perks like Lyft Pink and DashPass can also help provide even more value. And don’t forget about Instacart+!

Of course, you can always use the WalletFlo app to help you keep track of these perks and even to track the use and value you get out of them.

Be mindful of the Sapphire eligibility rules which could exclude you if you received a bonus in the last 48 months for a Sapphire card.

You can always use the eligibility checker in WalletFlo to verify your eligibility before applying. Learn how to apply!

Final word

It’s always great to jump on an offer that is one of the best and in this case we have not seen an offer break 80,000 points for this card since the launch back in 2017 when it had a 100,000 point bonus.

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Daniel Gillaspia

Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and creator of the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned full-time credit card rewards/travel expert and has earned and redeemed millions of miles to travel the globe. Since 2014, his content has been featured in major publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes, CNBC, US News, and Business Insider. Find his full bio here.

3 Easy Routes to Elite Status With Hotel Credit Cards

Advertiser Disclosure: UponArriving has partnered with affiliate partners and may receive a commission from card issuers. UponArriving does not display all credit card offers and affiliate relationships may impact how offers are presented. Amex Disclosure: Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.

You don’t have to spend a lot of nights in a hotel in order to earn meaningful hotel elite status.

In fact, sometimes you don’t have to spend any time.

Below, I’ll show you how to use some credit cards to fast track your way to meaningful elite levels.

These are levels that will provide you with real value like better upgrades, free breakfast, and even lounge access.

Strategy overview

For each of the three elite programs below the optimal strategy is to:

Take advantage of automatic elite night credits (Marriott, Hyatt)
Utilize spend bonuses for elite night credits/free night certificates (Hyatt, Marriott)
Use points and free night certificates to help cover qualifying nights (All)
Fall back on automatic elite status offered by the card (Hilton, Hyatt)

Generally, I don’t think that the huge spend bonuses to earn elite status are worth it for hotel cards.

For example, spending $35,000 for Marriott Gold is not something I’d recommend pursuing on its own.

Too much spend, too little benefits.

But the spend bonuses to earn elite night credits can often come in handy, especially if it means racking up an additional free night and milestone benefits. See Hyatt.

Hotel Paso Del Norte, Autograph Collection Review

Marriott

The Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card will hook you up with 15 elite night credits upon approval and 1 Elite night credit for each $5,000 you spend.

Those 15 elite night credits will stack with the 15 elite night credits offered by the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card.

This means that you could start off each year with 30 elite nights which puts you only 20 nights short of Marriott Platinum status.

(These 15 elite night credits post within 60 days of account opening.)

Platinum is the first Marriott elite status that actually has value to me because you can get free breakfast and lounge access.

These Marriott cards also offer you free nights (redemption level up to 35,000 points) after your account anniversary so you can always use them to help you get even closer to status levels in the future.

Once you get to 50 nights, you can select an annual choice benefit of 5 elite night credits which will put you only 20 nights away from Titanium status.

That’s the second highest elite level with Marriott.

I’m still debating whether or not I want to chase Titanium status again, since so far it has been a little bit of a let down.

But some people do find it worth it and enjoy the perks that come with it like 48-hour guarantee availability and United Silver status.

NEW REVIEW: The Laura Hotel Downtown Houston – Autograph Collection

Hilton

The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card comes with Hilton Gold status but you can also get Hilton Gold with the Platinum Card® from American Express (enrollment required).

Gold is good enough for free breakfast ($10 to $25 dining credit in the US) and the occasional lounge access (assuming you get upgraded to a room on an executive floor).

So you don’t have to actually stay at any Hilton property to get some solid elite benefits.

Of course, if you want to go straight to the top of the food chain you can always get the The Amex® Hilton Aspire Card which gives you automatic Diamond status.

Because it’s so easy to achieve Hilton status with credit cards it does feel watered down compared to others.

That can make things a little tough when trying to get upgrades or late check-out but it doesn’t have an effect on some of the benefits like getting your dining credits.

I mean, who cares if 99% of the other guests are also “elite” if it still means you’re getting a free breakfast?

All information about the The Amex® Hilton Aspire Card has been collected independently by UponArriving.

Arizona Biltmore Waldorf Astoria Resort Review

World of Hyatt

The World of Hyatt Credit Card will start you off with Hyatt Discoverist status.

Yes, it’s the bottom of the totem pole but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the status with an upgrade here and there and consistent late check out.

Here are the current elite requirements:

Status	Nights	Base Points
Discoverist	10	25,000
Explorist	30	50,000
Globalist	60	100,000

Where the World of Hyatt Credit Card will really help you with elite status is that it offers 5 qualifying night credits every year.

That puts you 25 nights away from Explorist.

Once you get to 30 nights needed for Explorist you could have 4 Club Lounge Access Awards stashed away via milestone awards.

You can also earn 2 additional qualifying night credits towards your next tier status every time you spend $5,000 on the World of Hyatt Credit Card.

So even with the modest annual spend of $15,000, you could be only 19 nights away from Explorist (plus you’d have an additional free night).

But right now, the real play with Hyatt it is to get the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card currently offering 60,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in your first 3 months.

The reason this offer is so special right now is that if you apply before October 6, 2022, you also get 2 Tier-Qualifying Night Credits for each night you stay from 8/23/22 through 12/31/22.

That means you could basically cut the elite requirements in half.

Final word

As you can see, you don’t have to spend months in a hotel to earn meaningful hotel elite status.

Even spending 20 to 25 nights in a hotel a year can qualify you for elite levels offering valuable perks.

With the help of free night certificates and earned welcome bonuses that often means that you only have to come out of pocket for about 15 to 20 nights per program.

And if you factor in points earned along the way, that’s probably shaving off a few more nights, depending on your spend and redemptions.

So it’s very feasible for some people to pursue middle and upper level elite statuses with multiple hotel programs by utilizing credit card benefits in a strategic way.

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Amex Disclosure: Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.

Daniel Gillaspia

World of Hyatt Business Credit Card: 60K + 2X Night Credits

The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card is out with a pretty hot offer that will provide steady value through the remainder of the year and even through next year, 2023.

This is especially true for those chasing elite status.

Let’s break down this card and see who it might be good for.

Welcome Bonus

The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card is currently offering 60,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in your first 3 months.

That’s a very solid bonus although the intro offer was at 75,000 (with a much higher spend requirement).

But the reason this offer is so special right now is that if you apply before October 6, 2022, you also get 2 Tier-Qualifying Night Credits for each night you stay from 8/23/22 through 12/31/22.

That’s a really valuable offer for people trying to move up in elite status with Hyatt.

Hyatt arguably has the best top levels of hotel elite status and so getting a shortcut for the remainder of the year is a pretty awesome benefit.

Here are the current elite requirements:

Status	Nights	Base Points
Discoverist	10	25,000
Explorist	30	50,000
Globalist	60	100,000

Tip: You need to be under 5/24 to get approved so be sure to use the WalletFlo eligibility checker to make sure you are eligible before you apply. Also, you can get both the personal and business version.

Bonus earning

The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card is also offering a special bonus earning deal for the remainder of the year and next year.

You can earn 2X per $1 spent in your top three spend categories each quarter through 12/31/23, (then your top two categories each quarter).

The categories include:

Dining
Shipping
Airline tickets when purchased directly with the airline
Local transit & commuting
Social media & search engine Advertising
Car rental agencies
Gas stations
Internet, cable & phone services

You also earn 2X on fitness memberships.

Hyatt points are some of the most valuable reward points so earning 2X Hyatt points is much more rewarding than something like 2X Hilton points.

So this is something you may actually want to pursue.

With that said, you could earn more points on some of these categories like dining, airline tickets, and transit using a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

And some of the Chase business cards can also boost your earnings even better.

For example, the Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card earns 3X on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on:

Travel
Shipping purchases
Internet, cable and phone services
Advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines

The Ink Business Cash® Credit Card will earn you 5% cash back or 5X on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases each account anniversary year at:

Internet, cable and phone services
Office supply stores

So if you are okay going the transferable points route, you could have much more lucrative earnings.

Perks

$50 statement credit

You can earn a $50 statement credit per qualifying Hyatt purchase with your World of Hyatt Business Credit Card up to 2 times each anniversary year (for a total of $100).

This is a pretty easy way to offset half of the $199 annual fee.

10% rebate

If during a calendar year you and any employee(s) collectively spend $50,000, you will receive 10% back on up to a total of 200,000 World of Hyatt points you redeem.

A 10% rebate on Hyatt points could be very valuable but it’s a pretty high spend requirement to trigger this benefit. The good news is that $50,000 worth of spend will trigger many qualifying night credits, as seen below.

Discoverist status

You will get Discoverist status and get 5 Discoverist Upgrade Awards to gift Discoverist to 5 employees.

While I would say you should be targeting higher levels of elite status if you get this card right now, don’t completely discount the value of Discoverist.

I’ve been able to receive some really late check-outs and gotten some nice little bumps in upgrades from Discoverist. It’s probably my favorite bottom of the totem pole elite level because I can actually notice its impact.

Elite credits

One of the strongest perks of the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card is that for every $10K you spend in a calendar year you’ll earn 5 tier qualifying night credits.

That is better than the personal card (which offers 2 qualifying night credits every $5,000) although the personal card does come with 5 tier qualifying night credits towards status every year.

Plus, you can get an extra free night at a category 1-4 Hyatt hotel if you spend $15,000 in a calendar year with the personal card (in addition to the annual free night).

Hyatt Leverage Membership

Get benefits like 15% off standard rates at participating hotels worldwide.

Final word

The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card is a solid hotel credit card.

If you’re trying to make a serious push to climb elite status with Hyatt, right now is a great time to apply while the limited time offer lasts.

And if you plan on putting a lot of spend on the card, you can benefit from the 5 tier qualifying night credits, making your progress even quicker.

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Daniel Gillaspia

Citi® Double Cash Card’s $200 Offer

The Citi® Double Cash Card is now offering $200 cash back after spending $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months.

Let’s take a quick look at this card and see how it might fit into your overall credit card strategy.

Offer no longer available

The welcome offer

The new welcome offer sticks out because for the longest time this card never offered a bonus and when it did, it was often around $150.

For that reason, a lot of people would get the Double Cash via a product change but now it could make sense to apply for this card directly.

$200 is a solid bonus for a no annual fee credit card but the bonus is even sweeter than $200 for some people which I will get into below.

Bonus earning

The Double Cash offers 2% cash back on all purchases with no limit although you have to pay off your credit card bill in order to receive the full 2% back (you only receive one percent back after the purchase).

One reason why I really like the Double Cash is because it pairs so nicely with the Citi Premier® Card.

That’s because if you have a card like the Premier, you can transfer the ThankYou points you earn from the Citi® Double Cash Card to travel partners just like you do with the Premier.

This opens up a lot of good possibilities.

First, you could combine this bonus with the current all-time high offer for the Citi Premier® Card, which is offering 80,000 points after you spend $4,000 in the first three months. (Remember, only apply for one Citi card every eight days.)

Getting both would set you up with 100,000 Citi ThankYou Points which you can then transfer to partners like:

Aeromexico Club Premier
Air France-KLM Flying Blue
Avianca LifeMiles
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
Emirates Skywards
Etihad Guest
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
JetBlue TrueBlue
Malaysia Airlines Enrich
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Find some redemption ideas here.

Because you have the ability to transfer your points to airline partners, that means that you can receive more value from your points than just a one cent per point cashback rate.

For example, you might be receiving 1.7 cents in value per point when redeeming your points with partner airlines. This means that the Citi® Double Cash Card could net you ~3.4% back on your non-bonused purchases.

That’s really solid.

If you’re able to pick up both the Premier and Double Cash Card, your earnings could look like this:

3x points at Restaurants
3x points at Supermarkets
3x points at Gas Stations
3x points at Air Travel and Hotels
2X on all other purchases

Since the Double Cash has no annual fee, you essentially create one “super card” with the above earning rates.

The only major drawback to the Double Cash is that it does have foreign transaction fees (3%).

The Double Cash also offers 0% intro for 18 months on Balance Transfers.

Final word

The Double Cash is a solid card to use on non-bonused spend and now it has a solid welcome bonus making it a great time to jump on this card. Consider pairing it with the Premier for optimal value.

Related offer Citi Premier® Card: Earn 80,000 bonus ThankYou Points after you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Daniel Gillaspia

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card 5 Free Nights Review

The amazing 5 Free Nights offer for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card is back but is this offer worth it and what should be on your radar when going for it? Let’s take a look!

Welcome Bonus

Offer no longer available.

Earn 5 Free Nights after you spend $5,000 on purchases in your first 3 months.

These free nights are worth up to 50,000 points each meaning that you have the potential to effectively utilize up to 250,000 points.

Now, Marriott allows you to top off free night certificate with points up to 15,000 points.

So if a property would cost 65,000 points you can use a free night certificate +15,000 points to stay there for free. That opens up a lot of opportunities for free hotel stays (at very nice properties).

Learn how to apply!

AC Hotel Washington DC Convention Center Review

There are a couple of challenges with the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card bonus.

The first challenge is that with free night certificates you want to optimize the value which means that ideally you would be only using these certificates at properties costing 50,000 points/night.

But that can sometimes be difficult to do and make your travel plans limited.

My advice would be to not feel the need to always fully optimize these free night certificates in terms of the points needed per night.

You can easily find great properties worth staying at for under 50,000 points per night and so if you find a hotel you like going for 40,000 points/night don’t be afraid to use a 50K free night certificate on it.

The other slight drawback is that these expire after 12 months. This means that you want to be diligent about your travel plans so that you don’t potentially waste these. At this stage of the pandemic, I think extensions are becoming less common.

Eligibility for the bonus is a little bit tricky. I would highly suggest to enter in all your credit card open dates into WalletFlo and let the app automate your eligibility calculations.

Bonus Spend

Up to 17X total points at Marriott

The card itself will earn you 6X points at Marriott hotels but you’ll also earn 10X points from Marriott for being a Marriott Bonvoy member and an extra 1X point from your Silver Elite Status.

Putting your spend at Marriott on the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card can be a good idea because other travel cards will code the purchase as travel and probably only offer you 2X to 3X (maybe 4X).

3X points

You can earn 3X points on the first $6,000 spent in combined purchases each calendar year on grocery stores, gas stations, and dining.

After $6,000 is spent, you go back to earning 2 points for each $1 spent.

This combined bonus earning category is decent although I would much rather put these type of purchases on other cards that earn flexible points.

2X points

Earn 2X points for every $1 you spend on all other purchases.

Perks

Free night award

You’ll get a Free Night Award every year after your account anniversary, which will be good for a one night hotel stay at a property with a redemption level up to 35,000 points. (Notice that this is a decrease from the welcome bonus free night certificate offer of 50,000 points.)

Every year, I justify my annual fee utilizing this free night certificate. I usually receive around $200 to $250 in value which makes holding onto this card a no-brainer.

Elite Status benefits

Silver Elite Status comes automatic with the card but it’s not that special.

You can upgrade to Gold by spending $35,000 on purchases each calendar but I’d rather just get a different credit card that comes with automatic Gold status.

The biggest elite benefit that I care about with this card is the 15 Elite Night Credits each calendar year.

I also have a business Marriott card so that offers an additional 15 Elite Night Credits each calendar year which means that every year I basically start off with 30 elite nights. That makes obtaining the higher levels of elite status like Platinum and Titanium much easier.

You can also earn 1 Elite Night Credit towards Elite Status for every $5,000 you spend. So once you hit the minimum spend you’ll have an additional elite night credit.

This card will also offer you some pretty decent protections like:

Baggage Delay Insurance
Lost Luggage Reimbursement
Trip Delay Reimbursement
Purchase Protection
Visa Concierge

Annual fee

As mentioned above, the annual fee is $95 but easily offset with the free night award.

Final word

Overall, this is a fantastic offer worth pursuing if you are interested in free hotel nights. The free night certificates are not as easy to use as a points bonus but with a little bit of patience and planning you can get a tremendous amount of value from it.

Also, the perks are good enough so that you’ll want to hold onto this card in the long run.

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Daniel Gillaspia

Great limited time offers (80K & 75K)

Right now, there are a few great offers you might be interested in entertaining. All of these are limited time offers with one expiring very soon on June 1.

Below, I’ll give you some insight into these offers and provide some tips for deciding on whether or not these cards are for you at the moment.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is allowing you to earn 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. This offer is set to expire on June 1 at the end of the day.

[Offer Expired]

When you are under 5/24 in the vast majority of cases you should pursue Chase credit cards first to optimize your earnings with them. Otherwise, you might end up ineligible for the best Chase cards (which also happen to be some of the best overall travel cards).

Because the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has an elevated bonus of 80,000 bonus points right now this would be a perfect time to jump on it.

The Sapphire Preferred earns flexible Ultimate Rewards which can be transferred out to various travel partners at a 1:1 ratio.

These partners include the following.

Airlines:

Aer Lingus AerClub
Air Canada Aeroplan
Air France-KLM Flying Blue
British Airways Executive Club
Emirates Skywards
Iberia Plus
JetBlue TrueBlue
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
United MileagePlus
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotels:

IHG Rewards Club
Marriott Bonvoy
World of Hyatt

And when it comes to bonus points you can earn the following:

5X on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal
3X on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
2X on all other travel purchases
1X on all other purchases

Be mindful of the Sapphire eligibility rules which could exclude you if you received a bonus in the last 48 months for a Sapphire card.

You can always use the eligibility checker in WalletFlo to verify your eligibility before applying.

Southwest credit cards Limited-time offers

The Southwest credit cards offered by Chase just got elevated bonuses. Here’s a look at the highlights of each card and their new bonuses.

Offers no longer available

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card

Earn 75,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months.

3,000 bonus points on each anniversary
2 EarlyBird Check-In each year.
$69 annual fee

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card

Earn 75,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months.

6,000 bonus points on each anniversary
2 EarlyBird Check-In each year.
$99 annual fee

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card

Earn 75,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months.

7,500 bonus points on each cardholder anniversary
4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available
$75 Southwest travel credit each year
$149 annual fee

These 75,000 point bonuses are some of the best offers you’ll see for these cards. Spending $5,000 in three months is a little bit high but still doable for a lot of people.

The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is my pick because we almost always upgrade our boarding passes to Business Select in order to take advantage of better seating. It’s also incredibly easy to justify the annual fee when you utilize the $75 credit and the 7,500 anniversary points.

You cannot get more than one personal Southwest card but if you picked up a personal card AND a business card, you could earn enough points (125,000) for the Southwest Companion Pass.

For example, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card is offering 60,000 points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.

Offers no longer available

Together with a personal card that would net you over 135,000 points when you meet the minimum spend.

The Southwest Companion Pass is a pass that allows a companion to fly for free with you on Southwest flights for up to two calendar years — it’s generally considered one of the most valuable travel perks available.

With one person flying free (only responsible for fees) those 135,000 points could take you really far.

Earning the pass now would allow you to take advantage of that pass for nearly one and a half years.

But if you wanted to try to optimize for the full two years you would be better off waiting until the end of the year to pursue the Companion Pass.

Remember, you can always use the eligibility checker in WalletFlo to verify your eligibility before applying.

Final word

These are some great offers and you’ll definitely want to think about applying for these if you fall into certain groups.

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Daniel Gillaspia

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