Originally Posted by magnicus

Thank you all for the replies and advice so far. I appreciate it! So far, it sounds like both of us taking advantage of the Accelerate offer is definitely the way to go, regardless of rather either of us push for a higher level or not.

As mentioned, yes just getting Gold level isn't worth any great effort or expense, but after 4 nights would be fairly easy to get with probably a single +5,000 stay/night. And yes, it does seem that that bonus is per stay. 90% of my business related stays are for one night. If they are longer I would be much less likely to pay the increased rate for multiple nights. Often I do not know my schedule enough in advance to take advantage of the advance rate, but when I do, obviously I have to account for that difference in the cost of the points, which may make them cost to much to make sense. One city I travel to has several places that are in the $10-15 range for the +5,000, which would seem to be a pretty good deal if I can't get the advance rate, around .0025/pt.

I did join the dining rewards program as suggested, and I should be able to get the 5,000 sign up bonuses. I'm confused about the " become platinum (1x Free Night + 1x 25% off BAR rate)" comment in relation to this, unless the 1xFree is referring to using the 5,000 for a points break?

The credit card is a great idea; however I probably can't take advantage of that right now, bunch of old stuff will fall off credit report next year though, so maybe then. I do have a Venture card I use though which I get essentially 2% back on , and push tons of business purchases plus my travel through it.

Took another look at the ambassador program, but since I'm not likely to be paying full rate at IC's even the BOGO is iffy, but I will keep it in mind.

I'll have to crunch some numbers on the +5,000 cost vs. benefit for platinum or Spire. Hard to guess at either's benefit value next year, though. I think the +$11.00 for +5,000 points I saw at a couple places are a no brainer though if I can't get the advance rate anyway.