Brugge

Absolutely call. And note the name of the CSR who answers. Because you want to call at least 3 times, and if you get the same CSR again, you just say "oh, Fed Ex is at the door wanting a signature, I'll have to call you back". The wait a minute or two for that CSR to go on to another caller, then call back and talk to someone else.

MarkMColo

When doing an AoR, I also take into consideration which card(s) I want most.

Brugge

Ok, but IME: Apply for 4 ccs in one day, and after that do apps to US and Barclays, and you have just wasted 2 HPs. Besides which the cards I want most of all are all the ones I'm applying for. The ones I don't want most of all get put off till next time.

sdsearch

I applied for another 50k card (using the first link with no landing page and no known restrictions) on Monday morning. When I hadn't heard anything yet this morning (Friday), I called up Citi, and they said it was still pending. One person looked at it for several minutes, figured out that I was an existing Citi customer only then, and at that point handed me off to someone else, who started from scratch, looked at it for a few minutes, then said I'm approved ^ for $10.3k CL ^, but that he can pull $100 from another of my cards if I want to make that $10.4k CL. Huh??? Why in the world would I care whether it's $10.3k or $10.4k CL??? (In case you can't guess, I declined.) But, happily, that was the only question he asked (besides whether I want to provide my cell number, plus how I was doing), and then I was told I should receive my new card in about a week.

Anyway, this was after reducing CL on three still-open Citi cards (to between $1.5 to $2k), and it's first time I've gotten $10k CL "automatically" on a new Citi card in a while, so it seems like the CL reducing on open cards worked well.

flyer4512

How long before you applied did you reduce your CL and how much was it reduced by ?

I reduced mine by $9k about 2 weeks ago and was wondering how long it takes for the credit to be freed up.

Good to see the churn is still going weeks after the new language came out.

Thanks

sdsearch

I don't remember the pre-lowering amounts exactly, but I reduced each of 2 HH cards to either $2k or $1.5k from perhaps $5k or $7k or so, and also an AA business card roughly about the same.

The when I know more exactly, because of emails I kept from Citi (telling me there's a secured message waiting for me). I reduced the first HH in late Sep. I reduced the AA business card in late Nov. And I reduced the second HH card at the very of Jan (since it wasn't until mid Jan that I had paid off the last statement with a balance) and thus just days before applying for this new HH card. (I'm sure the months since the first two lowerings were good enough. I have no idea if the second HH card lowering had taken effect yet or not.)

flyer4512

Another 50K posted today so the churn goes on.

I just got an IHG and Cap One Venture in my dads name ( but spend an points/$ are for Me) so I have $4k to spend so I MAY hold off on applying for any more cards of any type for me until late April

Superorb

I posted this in the HHonors newbie thread but never got a reply. If my wife has Gold status from the Reserve card, can I use my points form my account to make the booking in her name to get Gold benefits on that stay? Or do the Gold benefits only work when booked form the Gold account?

Happy

Superorb

I was afraid of that. I have 350k points in my account but less than 100k on my wife's account, and I'm not up for more cards for a bit. Thanks for the heads up.

Brugge

I'd never want to second guess Happy, but I'm not sure that's exactly true.

At the very least, when you make an award booking, add yourself as an additional guest on the reservation form, and when checking in make sure to let them know you are a Gold member guest in that room. It certainly can't hurt, and may well work regardless of the written rules.

geclub1

Most places I have stayed are good at recognizing the status of the person staying.

The only one bad apple was Hilton NY midtown, which refused recognizing my Diamond status at all when on a points booking. Their lie was that points booking is treated as third party prepaid booking and they have no way to input my elite status. So no lounge access.

Happy

The policy is NO. The status of the account is what it counts.

It depends on the hotel's own handling. The hotel can only see the reservation account's status. However some hotels would be nice enough to take into consideration of the other guest's status when you inform them and ask for it - but it is up to the hotel and NEVER is a given.

Does not hurt to try just dont count on it. It would involve some "begging" at the front desk though. Hotel can flatly turn you down or can be accommodating, depends on hotel policy and the attitude of the person who check you in. That is the only way to negotiate the benefit that the booking account is not entitled to but the staying guest is. Usually it is the other way round - the staying guest does not need to have status to enjoy the benefit if the booking is from an elite account, especially the account owner notifies the hotel of the guest (spouse / parents / children ) would be coming.

I would say big city Hilton properties are sticklers to the rule. And they are getting worse and worse even for the regular Gold benefits. Go to HHonors forum to read various threads and you will see - this largely because there are just too many Golds thanks to the CC and the bulk of these Golds probably do not pay to stay at all, and concentrate in US properties.

International properties especially not in the most popular locations, are much more accommodating.

Note that you also need to opt for brekkie in your My Way because the policy since 2014 is, you cannot have both brekkie and bonus pts. Though some Asian properties would still give you brekkie even though you check bonus pts in your profile.

My suggestion is to sign up either a card or the Fast Track 4 stays to reach Gold status when you have some natural stays. Use P+C would work.

OP is asking about Gold which does not have lounge access benefit unless staying at Exec floor. Gold only has continental brekkie and in some US properties that means a voucher to the Starbuck next door for a coffee and a donut...

flyer4512

Get yourself a Surpass, I believe it's still 80K HH points for spending $3k......$75 AF gets you gold

Where I stay Gold gets us cooked to order plus hot breakfast buffet and a room upgrade to gulf front which is worth $55 a day. Breakfast and the upgrade are about $95/day.

Add to that this is the only beach hotel with a bar on the beach that I have ever stayed at that lets people bring their own beer/soda,etc ( in coolers) to the pool.

There is a reason why I have had 18 of these cards. One 190K Axon 7 is worth about $2600 in March/early April and the 160K 5th nigh free we use the week after Thanksgiving is worth ~ $1500.

Last year 11 Hilton Cards netted me ~$6500 in free nights/breakfast/upgrades

Happy

I agree on all you said. While some poohed poohed the HHonors pts or obsessed in assigning a "standardized" value per pt / mile to the various "currencies", I maintain that HOW you use your points determines the value you get, NOT some arbitrary X cent per point that some folks insist to use.

For your preferred usage and the sole reason you keep getting the card, you are getting a very good value at 0.009, almost twice the "assigned value" of 0.005 or lower after the gigantic devaluation in 2013 for the HHonors pts that so many look down upon. Good job.

For our usage that normally is 1 to 5 days stays in Asia and Europe, we are getting about 0.008 per pt value routinely. Certainly beats the 2% cash rebate cards at grocery stores because one earns 5x or 6x with the AMEX Hilton card. Yet some would think I am nuts to still accumulate HHonors pts without realizing they "made" only 1/2 of what I "made". Based on some hard calculations I have done, it is a breakeven with the 5x cash rebate earning card at grocery stores, but those cards carry a big risk if you try to scale it up. Yet AMEX does not seem to care at all on how much grocery purchases its HHonors cards have done even though it cares a lot on the OBC - because very few people collect HHonors pts.