Lessons learned (or, Making plans for 2012)
Nov 18, 2011, 9:46 am
#76
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Finally back in Boston after escaping from New York
Posts: 13,644
Nov 19, 2011, 10:51 am
#78
Moderator: Chase Ultimate Rewards
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 2P, MR LT Plat, IHG Plat, BW Dia, HH Au, Avis PC
Posts: 5,445
How about for next year, the mods require everyone to register on GSScorecard.com and review the posting dates before any "where are my hitz?!" posts...?
Nov 19, 2011, 2:54 pm
#79
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: aa
Posts: 460
This is what I mentioned before. Put the data available there into a more usable form and keep it as the first post.
For example: E-miles will post with activity date as date of deposit request. They do a monthly sweep and miles will post sometime in the first week.
Supershuttle will post with activity date as date of travel. They do a weekly sweep and miles usually post around 4pm on Friday. Thursday rides will post on next Friday.
And so on.
If people don't bother to read the first post before asking, their post should just be removed.
For example: E-miles will post with activity date as date of deposit request. They do a monthly sweep and miles will post sometime in the first week.
Supershuttle will post with activity date as date of travel. They do a weekly sweep and miles usually post around 4pm on Friday. Thursday rides will post on next Friday.
And so on.
If people don't bother to read the first post before asking, their post should just be removed.
Nov 19, 2011, 4:26 pm
#80
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,135
This is what I mentioned before. Put the data available there into a more usable form and keep it as the first post.
[...]
Supershuttle will post with activity date as date of travel. They do a weekly sweep and miles usually post around 4pm on Friday. Thursday rides will post on next Friday.
And so on.
If people don't bother to read the first post before asking, their post should just be removed.
[...]
Supershuttle will post with activity date as date of travel. They do a weekly sweep and miles usually post around 4pm on Friday. Thursday rides will post on next Friday.
And so on.
If people don't bother to read the first post before asking, their post should just be removed.
Let's get the discussion back on topic: what should the average Slammer do next year, especially in advance, to exploit advantages/avoid pitfalls observed this year?
Nov 19, 2011, 8:25 pm
#81
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: STL
Programs: Back to lowly AA Gold (1.8 MM); Hilton Gold; Hyatt Plat
Posts: 334
One example - I made a point of registering for the recent Club Carlson promo for 50,000 points for a stay at a Radisson before the end of Dec. So that I will have points available to transfer during next year's GS. They were one partner where there was no option to purchase points and I missed an opportunity for a hit. i'm sure I'll be keeping similar opportunities in mind all through 2012.
Nov 20, 2011, 4:40 am
#82
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sydney
Programs: QFF, Krisflyer, US Air DM, VelocityRewards, Hertz Gold, Hilton Gold, Accor Plat
Posts: 446
Nov 20, 2011, 10:32 am
#83
Join Date: Dec 2006
Programs: United 1k aa exec plat
Posts: 1,839
I only spent maybe 3 incremental hours above and beyond what my normal activity.
- 1 hour devoted to eMiles.
- 1 hour devoted to extra clicking to buy 4 or 5 things I wouldn't have otherwise.
- 1 hour in the godforsaken Supershuttle From Hell from Newark to Manhattan. Yes, I'm convinced it was one full hour longer door-to-door than a taxi would have been. We didn't depart Newark until about 40 minutes later than I would have in a cab.
Lessons for next year:
- Just do the damn $10 Supershuttle no-show like every other Flyertalker here. @:-)
- Hit eMiles, one minute at a time, over the course of the next year. Have 500 miles primed at the GS '12 start.
- Forget about eRewards - just do a SPG trade like I did this year.
I was able to get a lot of hits through my normal car rentals and hotels. I didn't have to sink time into car swaps or extra hotel hops since I was going to max the hits anyway.
- 1 hour devoted to eMiles.
- 1 hour devoted to extra clicking to buy 4 or 5 things I wouldn't have otherwise.
- 1 hour in the godforsaken Supershuttle From Hell from Newark to Manhattan. Yes, I'm convinced it was one full hour longer door-to-door than a taxi would have been. We didn't depart Newark until about 40 minutes later than I would have in a cab.
Lessons for next year:
- Just do the damn $10 Supershuttle no-show like every other Flyertalker here. @:-)
- Hit eMiles, one minute at a time, over the course of the next year. Have 500 miles primed at the GS '12 start.
- Forget about eRewards - just do a SPG trade like I did this year.
I was able to get a lot of hits through my normal car rentals and hotels. I didn't have to sink time into car swaps or extra hotel hops since I was going to max the hits anyway.
emiles are pretty bad,but erewards are really a hell on earth
Nov 20, 2011, 2:10 pm
#84
Suspended
Join Date: Nov 1999
Posts: 24,153
well if done Correctly it can be worth Several hits = besides $25 to DM , there are several Hotel programs thats how I got my Choice transfer, the only problem is you need more then 1 transfer to get the 5k in CP pts so you need to make 2 transfers
Start now and a person may be able to save a number of hotel pts that they earned all yr or simply do as I did and transfer the erewards to Choice and LaQuinta where I dont stay at all thats 3 hits for $0, just dont transfer them till the T&Cs come out least that programm not end up participating next year or more pts will be needed or no GD '12
Key is to do 1 transfer before 9/30 from Erewards and then you can do another after 10/1 and then when they are in the Hotel acct do the transfer over to DM
Start now and a person may be able to save a number of hotel pts that they earned all yr or simply do as I did and transfer the erewards to Choice and LaQuinta where I dont stay at all thats 3 hits for $0, just dont transfer them till the T&Cs come out least that programm not end up participating next year or more pts will be needed or no GD '12
Key is to do 1 transfer before 9/30 from Erewards and then you can do another after 10/1 and then when they are in the Hotel acct do the transfer over to DM
Last edited by craz; Nov 21, 2011 at 7:37 am
Nov 21, 2011, 12:35 am
#86
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sydney
Programs: QFF, Krisflyer, US Air DM, VelocityRewards, Hertz Gold, Hilton Gold, Accor Plat
Posts: 446
All those before would be good advise but looking for ways to beef up hotels balance will the thing most on my mind next 10months.
Nov 22, 2011, 8:31 am
#87
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Finally back in Boston after escaping from New York
Posts: 13,644
well if done Correctly it can be worth Several hits = besides $25 to DM , there are several Hotel programs thats how I got my Choice transfer, the only problem is you need more then 1 transfer to get the 5k in CP pts so you need to make 2 transfers
Start now and a person may be able to save a number of hotel pts that they earned all yr or simply do as I did and transfer the erewards to Choice and LaQuinta where I dont stay at all thats 3 hits for $0, just dont transfer them till the T&Cs come out least that programm not end up participating next year or more pts will be needed or no GD '12
Key is to do 1 transfer before 9/30 from Erewards and then you can do another after 10/1 and then when they are in the Hotel acct do the transfer over to DM
Start now and a person may be able to save a number of hotel pts that they earned all yr or simply do as I did and transfer the erewards to Choice and LaQuinta where I dont stay at all thats 3 hits for $0, just dont transfer them till the T&Cs come out least that programm not end up participating next year or more pts will be needed or no GD '12
Key is to do 1 transfer before 9/30 from Erewards and then you can do another after 10/1 and then when they are in the Hotel acct do the transfer over to DM
because it's something that would be really easy to miss. It would suck to do e-rewards all year and realize too late that, for some programs, you are limited on redemptions to once per quarter.Note: the surveys are annoying, so do them while you are watching tv or something. Give accurate information, though, because if you miss a challenge question or give lots of inconsistent info, you may get booted.
My e-rewards offers five different hotel partners, so if I am going to max out on hotel transfers by using e-rewards as the source, I'll need over $500 in e-rewards. Obviously, that will take all year in preparation for GS12, since I'm only at $30 now. Still, at an average of $5 in e-rewards per survey, I'd only need to do about two per week. Since they come in clusters, it's important to do them ASAP.
Mike
Nov 22, 2011, 8:40 am
#88
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Here today, gone tomorrow
Programs: Nothing shiny :-(
Posts: 2,493
Be careful with the e-rewards expiry date - you'd be very unhappy if you stockpiled your e-rewards all year only for most of them to expire before you transferred them.....
Nov 22, 2011, 9:07 am
#89
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: ORF
Programs: Amex Plat, AA, BA Silver, Marriott Plat, Choice Gold, HHonors Gold, IHG Diamond
Posts: 3,749
The problem being that given the limited nature of the promo, widespread publicity will indeed be the killer of the golden goose, which I think is what I was trying to get across in the third paragraph of my post.
Nov 22, 2011, 9:16 am
#90
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: ORF
Programs: Amex Plat, AA, BA Silver, Marriott Plat, Choice Gold, HHonors Gold, IHG Diamond
Posts: 3,749
One example - I made a point of registering for the recent Club Carlson promo for 50,000 points for a stay at a Radisson before the end of Dec. So that I will have points available to transfer during next year's GS. They were one partner where there was no option to purchase points and I missed an opportunity for a hit. i'm sure I'll be keeping similar opportunities in mind all through 2012.
And that brings up another planning point: US may do some further tweaking for 2012 so don't assume transfer requirements (or even partners) will remain the same. I'll definitely be keeping an eye open for additions or subtractions to US's group of partners.