Milenomics ² Podcast - No Annual Fee Edition – Details, episodes & analysis

I've long been intrigued by the luxury hotel timeshare market, where you get the quality and amenities of a five star hotel combined with the square footage of a residential vacation home.

A prime example of this type of property is Four Seasons Aviara in Carlsbad, CA. Back in the day, Four Seasons managed both a hotel here along with a collection of 1 and 2 bedroom vacation homes. The hotel is now managed by Hyatt (as a Park Hyatt) but Four Seasons still maintains the Residence Club. The golf, tennis, pools, and restaurants make for a fabulous "no compromises" vacation in my book. The only problem I've had is finding another Aviara.

Turns out there's a level of quality above luxury hotel timeshares, called Luxury Fractionals or Private Residence Clubs. With these you get somewhere around a 1/10th ownership of a fully managed vacation home, usually in a resort setting with access to amenities like a golf course, beach, or skiing. The problem here is cost and commitment as these fractionals typically sell for around $200,000 down and $25,000 per year in maintenance fees.

But there are levels to these things. Properties at the top of the Luxury Hotel Timeshare market can get so nice that they're on par with Luxury Fractionals, so much so that owners are willing to trade time between them. The trick is finding owners at "different but like-quality" properties, across brands we may or may not be familiar with, interested in swapping time.

Enter Elite Alliance.

In Ep 236 of our podcast (subscription required) I detailed how we stayed at the Harbor Court Residence Club at the Rosewood Bermuda, booked through Elite Alliance. The stay was fantastic from beginning to end but I was just as intrigued by Elite Alliance's part in this because if I understand how they operate it has the potential to unlock this type of vacation experience at locations all over the world.

This episode is a discussion with Elite Alliance President and Partner Rob Goodyear. We discuss what Elite Alliance is and how they got started, how they vette properties in their portfolio to ensure a consistent quality of experience, what it takes to participate in Elite Exchange, and more.

I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

Thanks to Rob for coming on the show!

Episode 41: Show Notes.

Note: The video of this podcast can be viewed on Youtube, find it here.

Family travel can be just as affordable and rewarding as a solo one. To help us gain a better perspective of traveling the world with kids in tow, we are joined today by the renowned travel expert, author, and Senior Editor at Fortune Recommends, Dia Adams, who begins our conversation by highlighting the importance of travel conferences in building community. We discuss Dia’s hit column, What’s in Dia’s Wallet, and what her role at Fortune entails before learning about her affinity for less-lavish hotels, how vendoming has evolved since she first coined the term, how she developed Camp Mom as the perfect family travel hack, and how she’s cultivated travel hacking in her kids. We also unpack the power of perspective, how to have a Disney experience without going to Disney World; what Dia thinks about miles and points devaluations, and how to connect with today’s remarkable guest!

Key Points From This Episode:

• [00:49] Welcoming Dia Adams as she highlights the importance of travel conferences.
• [05:51] What’s in Dia’s Wallet: Exploring her role at Fortune Recommends.
• [11:30] Why she loves Choice Hotels but tries to steer clear from Hyatt.
• [14:40] How she coined ‘vendoming’ and how the term has evolved.
• [17:57] The ins and outs of Dia’s family travel hack, Camp Mom.
• [27:36] Why it’s important to immerse yourself in the experience of each destination.
• [32:40] How Dia has cultivated travel hacking in her kids, and the pros and cons thereof.
• [38:30] The undeniable power of perspective! 
• [44:28] How to make the most of Disney as seen in Dia’s book, Disney World Hacks. 
• [49:01] What our guest thinks about the latest wave of miles and points devaluations. 
• [56:01] How to connect with Dia and her work.

Quotes:

“I just want people to be a little bit more – I don’t know if you’re following this TikTok trend – a little more mindful, a little more demure about their miles choices.” — @TheDiaAdams [09:24]

“Almost every success I’ve ever had in my career has been due to a rant.” — @TheDiaAdams [14:59]

“I tend to base trips on a vibe these days. Like, how do I want to feel during this trip? Everything else kind of goes from that.” — @TheDiaAdams [32:30]

“One time, there was a last-minute ferry sale to Hawaii, and I asked the kids if they wanted to go to Hawaii, and they’re like, ‘Nah, we’re good. We went last year, we’re good.’ One of the kids actually said to me once, ‘One private island a year is enough for me.’” — @TheDiaAdams [36:57]

“A family of four — for a Spring Break-type vacation — from New York, could fly to Paris and spend a week in Paris and three days at Paris Disneyland for the same price as a week in Orlando at Disney.” — @TheDiaAdams [45:58]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Dia Adams

Dia Adams on LinkedIn

Dia Adams on X

Dia Adams on Instagram 

Fortune 

‘What’s in Dia’s Wallet: The art of destination dupes’ 

Disney World Hacks

Choice Hotels 

Hyatt 

IHG Hotels and Resorts 

Sky 

Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts 

Delta 

Disney Experiences

Universal Studio Theme Parks 

Dutch Wonderland

Hershey’s Chocolate World 

Lifemiles

Thomas Kim on X

Trevor Mountcastle on X 

The Milenomics Podcast Network

0:55 Ranking Bank Points for Domestic Airfare

• We’re talking about deeply discounted airfare, not FREE airfare. 
• Every one of these programs has a cash out path–that’s great

1:45 Overview: Highs and Lows of each Program

1:59 Chase UR

• Talked about the most online, but not as valuable as Amex to us
• Much more straightforward than Amex
• 1 Cent per Ultimate Reward point earned (easy cash out on all card)
• 5x earning on Office Supply has been around for a long time. 
• Earning at high rates, transferring to a CSR/CSP 

3:00 Earning Chase UR 

• Easy to use Domestic Partners in United and Southwest
• Travel Portal booking is not ideal but does have uplift
• Earning with high multipliers and sign up bonuses works well
• 5/24 limits the number of cards you can get
• Can co-mingle points

6:30 Southwest (W/ Chase UR)

• Points have become less useful as Ticketless Travel Funds (TTF) have become permanent
• Less transfers from UR->Southwest because TTF are so plentiful
• If transferring , the best way to earn is still NOT on the Southwest credit cards. 

7:43 Booking with the Chase Travel Portal: 

• Price inflation is real (American, others) Be sure to check google flights
• Can see inflated prices on flights, issues when canceling
• 1.25 cents per point / 1.5 cents per point (20% - 33% discount on travel)
• Sometimes just taking cash back at 1 cent per point is the way to pay for travel
• These points are not ‘free’

10:53 Amex MR Overview

• Amex is so generous that they have changed subscribers’ lives
• THE most generous bank with respect to SUB, earning bonuses and referrals
• The default cash back amount for a MR is 0.6 Cents ($.006) per MR with a few exceptions
• Difficult to get rid of these points. 

12:41 Booking Travel with Amex MR

• With such easy earning there isn’t a fast enough release valve sometimes
• Their travel portal is horrible, but is mandatory for the 35% rebate
• Insider fares are lower fares than anywhere else. 
• Extremely high annual fee cards needed to release points at high value
• To get good redemption rates with points you have to graduate to high annual fee cards
• Either churn the card or pay the high annual fee (carrying costs) to get good value
• Delta transfers are a great option – 1.1 cents in value per point, transfer 1:1
• Holding a Delta card gives a 15% discount as well, works out to around 1.25 cents per point. 

16:26 Earning Membership Rewards

• “They’ve gone crazy with the Sign up Bonuses” 
• Easier to earn at a moderate level than Chase (or any other bank) 
• Many high annual Fee cards, which come with many coupons/credits
• Nonstarter for someone just starting out. 

18:55 Difficulties transacting with AMEX

• Need High annual Fee Business Platinum for 35% rebate (approx 1.5 cents per point) 
• Need High Annaul Fee Morgan stanley (1cpp) or Schwab (1.1 cpp) to cash out MR. 
• Cannot co-mingle points across spouses, which means you need 2 of each of these cards!
• 35% rebate only on airline of choice or business/fir

We’re back with news, and a discussion around credit cards you should never close.  Share your ‘must keep’ cards in the comments below, and enjoy!

0:33 25% Transfer Bonus from Citi (others, but not Amex) (link MilesTalk)

• One of those wonky ones where they bump the points on the receiving end
• Strange, and a bit of a bummer, that Amex wasn’t included

2:12  Qantas 20% Transfer Bonus from Amex (link DansDeals)

• Great way to get to Tel Aviv on El Al

3:19 Heightened Amex Incognito Referral Offers Found Working on Business Cards

• Previously this only worked when referring from *personal* cards
• This is good news because Business Gold earns a hefty 20,000 point referral bonus and the Business Platinum earns a 15,000 point referral bonus
• HT r/cowsareeverywhere on reddit
• Generating And Using An Amex Referral

4:35 Free Topic: 6 Credit Cards you should NEVER cancel

• [Robert] Old Blue Cash 5% Gas/Grocery/Drug Store
• [Sam] Ink 5x Cards (Especially Ink Plus) 5x Office Supply/Telecom
• [Robert] AT&T Access More 3x Online Retail, crazy good retention bonuses
• [Sam] CNB Crystal
• [Robert] Chase Ritz-Carlton Visa Infinite ($395-$450 annual fee but you get a $300 air incidental each year, Ritz Club Lounge access on paid stays, 50,000 night certificate each year
• [Sam] Hilton Aspire

Like what you heard in the No Annual Fee version?

Subscribe to the paid version of the podcast here:

https://www.patreon.com/milenomics

On this week’s subscriber podcast:

Premium Cabin Award Travel to Europe Tips & Trends

Subscribe below to the Free, No Annual Fee Milenomics² podcast on Apple Podcasts:

Or on Google Play Music:

News

0:35 [Sam] AA Showing More Award Space on Mobile? (link)

• Seems to be that there’s a new search interface and a legacy one
• They sometimes show different results
• TPG post

2:33 [Robert] Speedway: $15 voucher for Speedway gas GC when purchasing $100 3rd party GC

• Slickdeals
• DoC
• Lowe’s, Home Depot and others (Texas Roadhouse, Netflix, Cabellas, Dominos, Bass Pro Shops and Google Play)
• Through 6/30

4:43 [Sam] Rakuten closing accounts buying GC in-store(link)

• Bed Bath Beyond likely the issue now
• Was also a problem with office Max for some commenters
• Better play? 3pgc online?

6:30 [Robert] Amex Membership Rewards now transfer to Qantas (link)

• Citi also a transfer partner
• Good for El Al, potentially Aer Lingus (depending on distance) and…China Eastern First (strange I know)

8:29 [Sam] Amex Priority Pass No Longer Work at Airport Restaurants (link)

• Effective August 1, 2019
• Doesn’t affect Chase Sapphire Reserve, Citi Prestige, CNB Crystal [yet]

10:17 [Robert] Amex Delta Sign Up Bonuses at All-Time Highs

• Referral links not yet updated, but will likely follow
• Guidance here is to wait and position for spousal referral
• Breaking: I got a targeted offer in the mail for the Delta Reserve card with no lifetime language across all Amex Delta cards
• Check: http://delta.com/75reserve to see if you’re targeted (if it malfunctions out after entering your Delta account number, you’re not targeted)
• Affiliate (DansDeals), public, referral, targeted w/no lifetime…inflationary trend?

14:19 [Sam] Barclays Asking for Proof of Business After Credit Card Approval (link)

• Unheard of.
• Has Anyone been affected?

15:53 [Robert] Hertz Devalues Award Chart (

A fun week here on the No Annual Fee Podcast, where we’re discussing the following:

News

0:32 Italian-issued Tickets for Fun and Profit (link)

• Probably best to keep this as an academic idea, but a fun read by God Save the Points.

1:46 Citi ThankYou Points 30% Bonus to Virgin Atlantic (link)

• Matches the Membership Rewards promo from a few weeks ago.
• The Program is either outstanding or completely terrible depending on the use of the miles.
• Do not transfer if you don’t know what to do with the miles.

Main Topic

2:26 5 Best: Credit cards to put in your spouse’s wallet

• Amex Personal Gold 4x MRs grocery and dining
• CNB Crystal Infinite 3x on groceries, dining, travel, gas
• Amex Blue Business Plus 2x everywhere
• Bank of America Premium Rewards with Platinum Honors ($100k) for 2.625% everywhere
• No Fee Chase Freedom Unlimited 1.5x URs everywhere
• Honorable mention (not available any more): Citi AT&T Access More 3x for online retail (leave it near your home computer)

Counterpoint:

• Citi double cash 2% everywhere with Price Protection
• CNB Crystal infinite 3x Just about anywhere
• Blue Business Plus 2MR everywhere (2.5% CB, 3% towards flights)
• BofA Premium Rewards 2.625 – Tough to beat
• DO NOT Put a card you’re working the minimum spend on:
  • Enticing to overspend
  • Hard to tell if the MSR has been met

Like what you heard in the No Annual Fee version? This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Subscribe to the paid version of the podcast here:

https://www.patreon.com/milenomics

On this week’s subscriber podcast:

• Long Haul Business Class to Europe (with Miles)
• Demand Schedule Troubles

Subscribe below to the Free, No Annual Fee Milenomics² podcast on Apple Podcasts:

Or on Google Play Music:

Some lucrative promos and heightened offers this week…

0:33 [Widely Targeted, check email associated with existing account] Plastiq 1% Mastercard CC Payments on Plastiq

• Schedule up to 3 x $2,000 payments
• By May 31, 2019
• 1% fee (rather than 2.5%)

1:52 BofA Alaska Personal 40,000 + $100 Statement Credit

• Direct link
• Source
• $75 annual fee (not waived the first year)
• $2,000 min spend
• “This card will not be available to you if you currently have or have had the card in the preceding 24 month period. This does not apply to the business credit card product.”

2:53 Hilton/Lyft Partnership

• Earn 3x Hilton for Lyft rides after linking accounts
• Direct Link to register
• Stack with Delta/Lyft: https://www.deltalyft.com
• And JetBlue/Lyft: https://www.lyft.com/jetblue/first
• Mastercard World Elite: https://www.lyft.com/world-elite-mastercard
• Plus Pei and Freebird

4:02 AA/Hyatt Reciprocal Earning/Status Fast Track now ready for linking (source)

• Reciprocal point earning
• AA Concierge Key gets Hyatt Globalist
• Hyatt elites get AA fast track status challenges
• As a Hyatt Globalist [with no AA status] I got “free” Platinum for 3 months + status challenge
• Direct link to link
• After linking go here in your AA account to see what you got

5:56 New Discover 5% Categories Added

• Q3 PayPal Added (in addition to Restaurants)
• Q4 Target & WalMart.com added (in additional to Amazon)

6:57 3x Fuel Rewards on Visa Gift Cards at Stop & Shop

• 5/17-5/23/2019

7:30 Movie Puzzler

Like what you heard in the No Annual Fee version? This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Subscribe to the paid version of the podcast here:

https://www.patreon.com/milenomics

On this week’s subscriber podcast:

• A streetwear reselling experiment
• Rehabbing a bad Citicard portfolio
• A crash course in gift card reselling

Subscribe below to the Free, No Annual Fee Milenomics² podcast on Apple Podcasts:

Or on Google Play Music:

Today we do a quick rundown of the news. Including the following:

0:33 Simon Mall Purchases No Longer Earning Rewards on Amex Cards? (link)

• Stopped earning for Sign up Bonus sometime last year. 
• Not completely unexpected, but hopefully this does not spread
• Could be in reaction to the bump up to $25,000 in daily purchase limits

1:29 United Shopping Portal Promo

• Spend $300 online earn 1,000
• Spend $150 in-store earn 500
• Through 5/19

2:05 [Targeted] Chase Sapphire Preferred 5x Bill Pay

• 5x on Utilities, Insurance, Phone Service, Cable
• Up to $2,000 in payments
• 5/13-7/31/2019
• Check email for “<first_name>, don’t miss out on 5X bonus points”

3:40 Amex Hilton Offers w/o Lifetime Language

• 75,000 No Annual Fee card link Direct Link source
• 125,000 Ascend link Direct Link source
• Great deals if you’ve had these cards before
• Also probably possible to get the card through referral for 100,000/150,000 and then get it again shortly thereafter through this offer
• Though it’s possible Amex might claw these back as they’re likely targeted and leaked into the wild
• Keep in mind that Amex generally limits to 5 active credit cards per person which includes personal and business, but not charge cards and not cards you’re an authorized user on

Like what you heard in the No Annual Fee version?

Subscribe to the paid version of the podcast here:

https://www.patreon.com/milenomics

On this week’s subscriber podcast:

We talk about 3x UR from home, Apply for new credit cards live on the show and dig deep into Demand Schedules.

Subscribe below to the Free, No Annual Fee Milenomics² podcast on Apple Podcasts:

Or on Google Play Music:

Last week we had our first ever cliffhanger episode–this week we’re back to finish the story of Robert’s European Vacation.  We also cover some great news on the redemption side, as well as options to earn miles without flying on Today’s No Annual Fee Edition of the podcast.

News

0:32 Etihad Awards Booking on AA.com (link)

• Still not seeing JFK-AUH Apartment show up even though there is space
• Have to call New Zealand for that one still (link)

3:24 British Airways Avios Partner Award Devaluation Coming (link)

• 0-650 miles: 6,000 Avios (was 4,500, unclear whether this range will become bookable on North America routes)
• 651-1,150 miles: 9,000 Avios (was 7,500)
• 1,151 miles-2,000 miles: 11,000 Avios (was 10,000)
• 2,001 miles-3,000 miles: 13,000 Avios (was 12,500)
• Goes into effect May 30th, 2019

4:06 [Targeted] Amex Membership Rewards to Virgin Atlantic 30% Transfer Bonus (link)

• Good for awards on Delta metal, ANA roundtrip…
• …and Necker Island

4:46 Fee-Free Visa GCs at Staples (link)

• 5/5/19-5/11/19
• Said to be limit one $200 VGC pp

5:11 Stop & Shop $15 Off Groceries with $100 GC Purchase (link)

• Purchase $100 3rd party GC, get $15 voucher towards future grocery purchase
• 5/3/19 to 5/23/19

7:14 $15 off two $100 MCGC & 8X Happy cards at Safeway Branded stores

• Need to add to J4U app

7:30 [Targeted] 5,000 MRs for Adding Authorized User to Amex Personal Gold

• Add up to 4 users, 5,000 MRs each
• Each AU must spend $500 to receive the bonus
• AUs are free on Personal Gold
• Received via email, subject “Earn 5,000 Membership Rewards® points by adding an Additional Card Member”
  • Amex clearly listens to the show
• Link to check whether you’re eligible
• (will say “We are sorry, you are not able to apply for an Additional Card online.” if ineligible)

8:59 Part II–Family Travel to Venice and Rome. 

Be sure to listen to Episode 21 if you haven’t already. 

9:05 Rome

• Hotel dei Mellini
  • Boutique hotel just west of the Tiber
  • 10-20 minute walk from most major sites
  • Booked family room
  • Upgraded to 2 BR/2BA Suite
  • Co

And….We’re Back! Spring break is over and we’re here with a jam packed episode. Today we cover: 

News:

0:30 Chase 30% Transfer Bonus to British Airways (link)

• Through June 16, 2019
• You don’t see the 30% bonus on the UR portal, BA processes the bonus on its end
• Deal or not a deal? Enough to encourage speculative transfer?

4:45 Zero fee MCGC at Staples 4/21-4/27 (link)

• Stack with Dosh 3% capped at $5 per day (link)
• Payce too?
• Am I banned by Dosh? 
• Chase Offers
• Amex Staples 10% back Offer

7:50 11-Day Stop & Shop Strike Over (link)

• Had effects on sales of prepaid cards

10:25 Parameters

• Family of 4 out of Boston (boys 14 and 11)
• Saturday to Saturday during April school vacation
• London, Venice, and Rome

11:20 Flights

• Blog post on this
• BOS-LHR//FCO-LHR-BOS
• Virgin Atlantic Upper Class both ways + Alitalia Economy
• Paid 150,000 Delta SkyMiles pp + $100 taxes + fees roundtrip
• Added LHR-Venice (cheap, paid with Wells Fargo GoFar Rewards)
• Day-time flight on the way there, which is rare

All lodging and tours booked through Chase Expedia portal with 1.5 cpp uplift

23:10 London

• Hotel: Rosewood London
  • Hotel is fantastic. Absolutely gorgeous with great service.
  • Family Room (2 double beds)
  • Public spaces, restaurants, and bars are so well done.
• Tour: Photography Tour

29:20 Venice

• London City Airport-Venice flight on BA was a fine 2 hour flight in Economy
• But getting through Passport Control in Venice took 1.5 hours
• Really makes me want to avoid short hop intra-Europe flights because they’re such momentum killers
• Took a Alilaguna shared water taxi from airport to central Venice 15 euro pp
• There were transport options in Chase UR portal but the options were confusing to me/poorly reviewed so I made a game out of finding our way there
• The water taxi stopped at a bunch of places on the Grand Canal before reaching out hotel but it was a fun experience
• Hotel: Hotel Flora
  • Highly recommend staying right in central Venice overnight (crowds are low in morning/late at night)
  • Felt like a very Rick Steves kind of plac