Author: michael

Driving on the wrong side of the road again – Japan edition!

May 2, 2016 / / 2 Comments

After my first driving adventure on the other side of the road, I went on another trip to a country where you drive on the left side of the road, the land of the rising sun, Japan. Now with some experience, would my next time driving on the left side be as easy?

Before all of that, you might be asking, “Why drive in Japan? Isn’t there a great public transportation system over there?” And the answer is, normally you wouldn’t. The train system in Japan is very extensive, and with options like the JR Pass for tourists, you should be able to get to the majority of tourist areas for free or just with a charge for the last local connection. Plus, driving in Japan is expensive, with pricey car rentals and highway tolls. Continue reading →

Trick to recover accidentally lost Amex offers

April 19, 2016 / / 0 Comments

There’s a new trick to recover lost Amex offers if you forgot to do the multi-tab / multi-browser method. I was adding the Staples $25 of $100 Amex Offer to one of my American Express cards, when I realized I forgot to open up new tabs for the rest of my cards.  I went to check the other cards, and indeed, the offer wasn’t there.

I was going to resign myself to missing out on the offer on my other cards, but then I noticed a comment from reader wwllmm on Doctor of Credit’s post, saying that you could get back offers you had lost with these steps: Continue reading →

New community tool for stats on credit card applications and retention offers

April 18, 2016 / / 0 Comments

I recently learned of a new tool by reddit user vcjohnson to view statistics on credit card application approvals, denials, and reconsideration attempts. Reddit has been keeping a spreadsheet of these statistics for a while, but this tool takes that spreadsheet and presents it in an easy to use, visually appealing way.

You select a specific bank and/or card, and you can view statistics for that specific bank or that specific card. Continue reading →

Citi improves travel and protection benefits in a big way

April 17, 2016 / / 1 Comment

H/T to our friend Tonei, but Citi has majorly improved its travel and protection benefits on pretty much all of its cards.

Beginning on Friday, I started getting emails from Citi titled Important information about your card’s protection benefits on pretty much all of my Citi cards, stating increased and more flexible coverage, starting May 15, 2016.

You can find a more extensive summary on Tonei’s blog, as I don’t want to steal his fire, but basically the changes are: Continue reading →

Conrad Tokyo – a review

April 10, 2016 / / 2 Comments

On my most recent trip to Japan, Esther, her husband, and I stayed at the Conrad Tokyo for 2 nights, which I booked using the 2 free weekend night certificates from the signup bonus of the Citi Hilton Reserve card. Given the points rate of 95,000 HHonors points per night or the cash rate of ~ÂĄ100,000 a night during cherry blossom season, this was a great deal!

The Conrad is right at the Shiodome Tokyo Metro stop. If you have a JR Pass and don’t want to pay extra to take the subway, you can go to the JR Shinbashi station and take a short 5-8 minute walk on either the overhead sky bridges, or through several underground plazas. I recommend the overhead sky bridges, which you can access from the Karasumori exit, as they are less complicated and faster due to less staircases and people. Continue reading →

Match to Hilton Diamond from Hyatt or IHG Platinum

April 8, 2016 / / 3 Comments

EDIT (4/20/2016): Hilton has updated the link to the status match page, the old one no longer works! You can access the new page here

EDIT: There seems to be more datapoints for successful matches from IHG Platinum vs. Hyatt Platinum. Please leave us your datapoints, either here or in the reddit thread!

Also, make sure you send in .JPG files for the match, otherwise Hilton will reject your request and you will have to followup to send it again, as the form won’t let you send another request. Continue reading →

How not to explain your mileage running to immigration

April 5, 2016 / / 4 Comments

I’m currently in the Admiral’s Club in JFK, finally going home after 10 days in Japan with Esther and her husband and a brief stop in Dublin.

Why Dublin? I jumped on a Dublin to US business class sale and bought a couple of round trips. I would have flown to Hawaii for extra miles but I value actual time spend in the office, so I’m just going back and forth between Dublin and San Francisco. Continue reading →

Couple of Hyatt tips and tricks

March 30, 2016 / / 4 Comments

I’ve collected a couple of Hyatt tips, tricks, and notes recently that I wanted to share.

Hyatt Points + Cash is a great way to get a better redemption value out of your Hyatt points, while earning elite stay credit and allowing DSUs. Obviously you can find cash rates and availability easily, and it’s pretty easy also to find points availability and rates when searching over all hotels in an area. However, if you’re looking for Points + Cash availability for multiple hotels, you normally need to click into a specific hotel to see whether Points + Cash is available. Continue reading →

The Hyatt BRG change is true – now requires an existing reservation

March 15, 2016 / / 1 Comment

I read a few days ago that the terms of Hyatt’s Best Rate Guarantee had changed for the worse to required a reservation before submitting a claim. This confused me, because the Best Rate Guarantee form on Hyatt’s page still asks you “Existing Reservation: Yes/No.” I also swear I had seen the terms to submit a claim form within 24 hours of your booking months ago, yet still had been able to make successful claims without first making a reservation. Continue reading →

I drove on the wrong side of the road – and I liked it!

March 12, 2016 / / 2 Comments

Hello! This is a belated post from the DEM Flyers crew from our recent trip to New Zealand (and Australia, Fiji, and Hawaii!)

We knew we wanted to visit some of the more scenic parts of New Zealand like Milford Sound as well as Hobbiton, and without an extensive public transit system, what else was there to do but to rent a car? As the most confident driver, I volunteered to do the rental and all the driving. But I had never driven on the left side of the road before, and was worried about how easy it would be to adjust. So how did it go? I’ll talk about what was easy to get used to and what wasn’t so easy. Continue reading →

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