You booked your Marriott Stay with points or free stay certificates and you will not able to show up for your stay (illness, flight cancellation, etc.). Also, the cancellation window, which varies by property, has expired. Since you didn't stay, the hotel is not paid and Marriott returns
This will be short. My Wyndham Earner Business came up for renewal. I called the Barclay's customer service number on the back (866-757-3648) and got to a representative. I then gave a brief whine about the point devaluations (loss of Vacasa bookings and the doubling of points needed
The Chase Marriott Boundless card has an offer that differs from the standard public offer of five 50k free night certificates. The issue with free night certificates is that they expire after one year and this can cause pressure to redeem for a less than ideal scenario. If you redeem
Wyndham points redemptions were at the top of my list for years. Vacasa, the troubled vacation rental company that was bought in 2025 by Casago, was my go to for Wyndham point stays as they had a large footprint of available vacation rentals plus they managed the rental of Wyndham
General
Road warriors who travel for business 200+ days per year will find getting value pretty easy. But, if you are like me and you have a regular job that allows you to travel just a few times per year, getting enough value out of a premium card to justify the
When using points, I use a criteria that if the flight is over three hours, I really don't want to be in economy. Booking Hawaii from my hometown on the West Coast means about six hours in the air so I truly, deeply do not want to be
General
If you are just getting into this hobby and you want fairly quick satisfaction, do this: 1. Get a Travel Freely account (no cost). This will organize you and possibly save your sanity. Add credit card information for any of your current credit cards (site does not collect credit card
Marriott
How to pay for your stay with points using the Marriott Bold card I recommend you familiarize yourself with the rather convoluted restrictions on getting Marriott cards if you are getting more than one card per user. Frequent Miler has an article on this that spells it out https://frequentmiler.
All of these tools are very functional, even if you don't get the paid versions. I personally subscribe to Seats.Aero and I may add TripIt if I book a complex international trip. 1. Travel Freely - Free. If you are going to pursue this hobby, you need
There are a few credit cards that have strong sign up bonuses and travel benefits that can be acquired without any cost. This is a list of the most attractive opportunities that are zero cost and yet provide substantial returns. The hotel and airline cards listed with the first year
So, you need to hit a spend on a credit card with a great sign up bonus, but you are straining to hit the spend requirements. You can, for a price, pay your federal taxes with a credit card. Here are the rules and caveats of using this technique: Paying
Not a regular Ritz Carlton guest? Neither am I, but for Marriott stays and premium card perks, the Chase Ritz Carlton card is on my radar. I look for the following from my credit cards: 1. Travel points 2. Rental car status 3. Hotel chain status 4. Airport lounge access