carsonheim

In some places, as long as one of the folks being recorded is aware, then it is perfectly legal. So since the person DOING the recording knew it was recording, no problems. YMMV

alanh

No, Staples has their own rewards card that earns rebates (ie, $2 for each recycled ink cartridge) that you can use to offset your bill. So if you spend $20, but use $5 of Staples Rewards to pay for it, you only get miles/hotel points for the $15 you paid.

jmk2135

Kicking around this idea (and didn't notice it in the thread) - please let me know if there's any problems with the logic.

Sign up for the Hyatt fall promo (i.e., 3 stays --> 5000 bonus points). Each stay earns 500 Dividend miles and the 3 should earn 5000 points which is enough for a transfer. Supposedly, the bonus points accrue even if the Hyatt member's earning preference is set to miles. So 3 stays -> 3 hits and the transfer -> 1 hit.

Hyatt stays may be a little more expensive (I found local for about 58$), but seems like it may be worth it to get more base miles and the transfer.

Any problems with this? Is it likely that the bonus points won't post until after GS is over?

Mehdron

9000 Carlson points from Avis for 3 day rental, valid at locations worldwide. Details, coupon code, and booking form at Avis website:
Carlson Avis promotion

Zurich Flyer

Yes, 9000 points but if you chose points you won't get a rental hit because no US miles @:-)

slocouple

IME, when Hyatt has a promo like this, the bonus points post shortly after, or with, the final qualifying stay: You will see stay 1 post, then stay 2, then stay 3 and the 5,000. So, depending upon your stay pattern, it might be a great strategy. And, yes, one of the beauties of Hyatt's GP program (unlike some others) is that choosing miles over points does not negate stay credits, progress towards status or bonus points offers.
Of course, it goes without saying that YMMV.

pinniped

Am I the only one struggling with the idea of doing hotel transfers to generate hits? These can be expensive hits.

Using the rates from the OP. My value are 1.75 cpm for US Airways, based on my usual use for them to redeem R/T's to Canada on routes that would be expensive from my origin. My values for each hotel currency are based upon my normal use for each - either a recent redemption or a reservation I'm currently holding, always benchmarked against what I'd realistically spend for a hotel in that situation if I didn't have hotel points. In general, I'm conservative on these...erring downward slightly to account for the time-value of money.

HH. My value: 1 cpp. 10,000 HH for 850 US -> My cost for the hit: $85.
Hyatt: My value: 2 cpp. 5,000 HY for 2,000 US -> My cost for the hit: $65
Marriott: My value: 1.6 cpp. 10,000 MR for 2,000 US -> My cost for the hit: $125(!)
SPG: My value: 4 cpp. 850 SPG for 850 US -> My cost for the hit: $19
Priority Club: My value: 0.75 cpp. 10,000 PC for 2,000 US -> My cost for the hit: $37

I'll probably pull the trigger on SPG and Priority Club immediately. Beyond that, I'm going to wait and see a bit. I always knew that burning hotel points for air miles was a bad proposition (until you hit Marriott Travel Package levels) but I don't think I was aware of quite how bad it really was.

My valuations are independent of *how* I get the points: they're based on how I use them. (Yes, I realize that the hotel chains will all sell me a small amount of points for less than I can actually redeem them for. Smart business on their part from a cashflow perspective, but it doesn't really change my math.)

lkar

Nope -- see post 19, where I sort of said the same thing, although I think you do a good job of quantifying it.

I view hotel some of the hotel transfers as my last choice hits. There are different ways to value each "hit." I start to look at hotel transfers at the very end. If you're stuck on 31 hits, and you need one more hit to get to the next 20k mile tier, you sort of need to do what you need to do to get there. If I'm in that position and a hotel transfer that I value at $80 is the cheapest one left on the board, I guess I'll go ahead and do it. But I pick all the low hanging and medium hanging fruit before I consider hotel transfers.

I kind of agree with your way of looking at it. Some people will say, "hey, Avis is having a promo where you get 9,000 club carlson easily, so that's an easy hit." To me, that's the wrong way to look at it. Once you get the 9k carlson, however you got them, you still have to ask whether they are worth transferring for a USAirways hit. Their value doesn't change just because you get them pursuant to a really cool promo. If you value club carlson at 1 cpp, it's an $80 hit to transfer 8,000.

NewArrival

Please stop making so much sense and particularly stop making it persuasively, pinniped and lkar. Now I have to reexamine my approach. I was planning on hotel transfers right away because they don't require cash outlay, but you're right, they require considerable value outlay. Lasik, you are missed.

Mehdron

Indeed, but potentially useful if you've already got your six rental hits, or could use a spare 1000 Carlson points.
I agree that hotel point transfers are very expensive. I try to focus my business on Hilton and will not transfer those points to USAir. However, I've got just a bit over 10,000 PC points which I have accumulated without any hotel stays (contests and E-Rewards and so forth). The balance is good for one night in a Holiday Inn Express but it would be a while before I got enough points for a higher end hotel. So that's an easier point balance for me to part with.

pinniped

Cool. Glad I'm not going insane. I'm fairly certain that I'll reach at least the middle tiers where a $19 and a $37 hit are worth it, so I'll initiate those next week.

I'm guessing those will be my only two transfers unless I get all the way to the top end and have milked all of the 1-point partners pretty dry. If a $65 hit has to be, say, my 32nd hit...so be it...

Zurich Flyer

La Quinta

Is a partner for hotel stay hits
but
is NOT a partner for hotel point transfer hits

Source

kvs25

You can buy 1K choice preferred miles for $11. It takes 5K to transfer, so that hit would be $55; cheapest one after SPG and PC =/

http://www.choicehotels.com/ires/en-...i.KXwyOgVKri.1

rob_flies_ua

La Quinta is a partner for both hotel stay hits and hotel point transfer hits. Source

pinniped

OK, this is good to keep in mind - it looks like La Quinta and Choice can both be had in the $55-60 range or, allowing value to the miles generated from the transfer itself, $40-45. I'm willing to accept the cost-of-acquisition as the value since I don't generally have a need for these motels to begin with. (When we go rural, we go all the way rural and tent camp. )