Wife's referral miles showed up instantly on the referral to my Plat card. I emailed and was told Yes I am owed the miles and the request was sent to the relevant department. And I have to wait 5-7days for the miles to show.

There's a new batch of PointBreak hotel room specials from IHG / Holiday Inns.

PointBreaks are reward stays available for only 5,000 points. You can purchase 5,000 points for US $67.50 from the IHG website. (Higher quantities get slightly cheaper.)

Better yet, there is a way that IHG members who already have at least 5,000 points can buy 5,000 points for US $40, or buy 10,000 points (2 nights' worth) for US $70. This workaround is discussed in other threads.


Hotels in Canada:

Canada

ALBERTA
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS GRANDE PRAIRIE

NEW BRUNSWICK
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS AND SUITES MONCTON

ONTARIO
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS AND SUITES BRAMPTON
CROWNE PLAZA HAMILTON HOTEL & CONF CENTER
STAYBRIDGE SUITES OAKVILLE-BURLINGTON

QUEBEC
No longer on the list: HOLIDAY INN LAVAL - MONTREAL
No longer on the list: HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS AND SUITES CENTRE-VILLE DOWNTOWN

US & OVERSEAS:
See their website


Blog with a world map of Pointbreak hotels:
http://weekendblitz.com/blitz-deal-i...-july-31-2014/

More discussion at:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/inter...ussion-27.html

the pointsbreaks list really sucks this time.

Keeping in mind that the IHG PointsBreak list is not as stellar as it was in the past, I'm considering the IHG Rewards Club World MasterCard as my next card. It has 60,000 IHG points with first purchase. This will be (if I get it) my first fee card. I'm considering it because the $120 annual fee gets me the 60,000 points. I have reasonable flexibility and am hoping that with PointsBreak in a great location that will be good for 12 nights. That ends up being $20/night. Between now and vacation, I can add on extra nights for $35 if I do the cash and points cancellation trick.

I'm looking for your thoughts. I haven't found this as a no fee card or for higher points in the past. Either way, it seems like a more than decent deal to me. Maybe I should hold out though. Better to earn for cash stays? I've got two winter trips planned to warmer destinations and 100,000 Marriott points. 45K Best Western points left. About 600K airline points.

I've only just started looking into the benefits of hotel points (thanks JJJonah!) and was thinking I'd do a Marriott Platinum challenge just before vacation in December/January as a possibility in lieu of the IHG card sign up bonus. Combine that with hopefully a Marriott 'stay two get one free' promo and stagger check in check out with my husband. But overall, IHG seems to be better than Marriott Rewards. Stacking bonuses and all.

It's just a world of opportunity and I'm not exactly 'suffering' from TMI, but am looking for opinions nonetheless. I've messed up and missed a few opportunities over the last few months because I didn't do things right (not using a referral for Marriott Rewards for instance) so does anyone shake their heads sadly at me?

Two Marriott Rewards members. I haven't thought much about the cons/benefits of two IHG fee cards.

Oh, I've also got three kids. So my ideal plan is for two rooms. You know how it is...

Thanks much, NJD

If this is completely the wrong place for this, please feel free to move it. I'm looking for some Canadian Milesbuzz opportunities to maximize my options.

Marriott isn't likely to give a Platinum challenge (gold maybe), the stay 2 get 1 cat 5 night is dead for now - the summer promo is get double points after your second stay.

With luck it'll return in the fall, but no guarantee

To be honest, I've been considering this card as well, even though it has an annual fee. Partially because I've pretty much run through most of the other cards worth churning in Canada, but also because I have a planned vacation in Australia/NZ and IHG is pretty much the only major chain present in NZ (except for Accor, but don't get me started on that program!). 60,000 points would be enough for two nights at the Intercontinental which would save me ~$400, so even considering the $120 its not a horrible deal.

Not sure if anyone has experienced this since I've never applied for a Capital One card but under "This card is right for you if you have Excellent Credit", if you click Excellent Credit, one of the conditions is that "�In the last three months, you haven't opened or requested any new credit". So if you are going to do a batch of applications, maybe do this one first?

Yes. you can, and should, do that.

i just did a batch where i applied for 3 cards within a couple weeks. i hadnt applied for anything in 3 months, so i did Capital One IHG first, then i did the RBC competitor VISA Infinite match, then finally the AMEX Plat Air Miles. i think all 3 got approved immediately.

theres an Capital One RFD thread where a bunch of people mentioned that to avoid rejection, you need to make sure
1. 45 days since a C1 product
2. 91 days since ANY credit inquiry

personally i got this card because its a decent bonus , even factoring in the $120 fee. the earn rate is pretty shoddy (2 IHG pts per $ puts it around 1.5 cents per $) so i wouldnt use it regularly. the Plat Elite perk is a nice thing to have but not really a game changer. i most likely wont keep the card after 1st year.

Hmm, I've read that there's a good chance if you call and ask for Platinum instead of Gold that you'd probably get it. I was kind of counting on that. Is this from experience?

And yes, I was 'hoping' the stay 2 get 1 will be back again. A lot of 'ifs' and looking at historical offers. And even then, I think it was max two free stays per offer.

I read that as well. I decided to put off my application for another month because of it.

PM me if you don't know about how to buy IHG points at a discount.

Cerenity C, good to know. I'll check out the thread.

can you tell me about this rbc visa infinite competitor challenge? I have their avion but they made me open a VIP banking to avoid fee (already a customer so they said they cant give me FYF unlike TD). I assume they give you a equivalent of visa infinite cc when you show them your cibc/td visa infinite, but do they give you the bonus points, and most important part FYF if youre an existing client (cant close my rbc cc acc since its my oldest)

second i got denied first time ever for a cc, and it was marriotts, essentially i had done like 2-3 inquiries in past 1-3 weeks, so my question is chase harder to get cc from than cap1, if not, then do i need to wait 91 (business?) days with no inquiries on my equifax to get approved?

p.s. im the biggest idiot for forgetting to do chase marrriot first as i would of probably gotten approved for it before i did my other batch 2-3 inquiries in 1-2 weeks.

Anybody able to churn the Marriott Visa card and get it a second time or more?

Just got rejected for second application according to phone rep because I had too much credit open......
My Equifax credit score last month was 763, I make 100k+ and only have an AMEX Gold and a CIBC Visa that are both paid off each month so was surprised.

I was able to get the Marriott Visa a second time. Cancelled the first one in Sept (30k offer) and received a second in Dec (50k offer). I didn't get another free night certificate in December, but was given a second one by accident in September, so didn't wanna push my luck

I am hoping for another United hotel points 25% transfer bonus before cancelling (there was one last October), and to respect the 6-month Chase rule on account closing to maintain the points.

yes it is precisely as you assumed. i showed them my CIBC Aerogold VISA Infinite and their offer was FYF + 15k Avion points. i'm not an existing RBC customer though, so i'm not sure how that affects things...

just to clarify, the 91 days for C1 is not business days, just days. ie: i had a credit inquiry on Feb 10, 2014, and i waited until May 12, 2014 to apply for C1 IHG card

i personally dont churn the Chase Marriott card at this time, so i dont have much experience in terms of how strict they are. both times i applied with them (1 for amazon.ca card, and 1 for marriott card) went without any issues. i didnt even know you could churn the Chase Marriott in canada.

Good to know thanks.
I did not get the offer directly but applied through the link up top in the wiki- maybe that has something to do with it....

In my case, within a couple months after cancelling the card, I received a 50k offer to my email address from Marriott. It was addressed to me as a Silver elite member, as the Silver status obtained from the Visa didn't expire till February. I was planning on trying a churn six months after cancellation, but the time-limited offer for 50k pushed me to go ahead then on my next app-o-rama.