One single credit card that will make your travel extra rewarding

One single credit card that will make your travel extra rewarding

Traveling without a credit card is almost unimaginable these days. Find out about THE one single credit card that will make your travel more rewarding!

 

DISCLAIMER: This page contains affiliate links, which means I will get a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through it. If you decide to use my links, I would like to sincerely thank you for your support for my blog! 

Every savvy traveler should have at least one credit card in his pocket.

Let’s face it, juggling with different currencies and having to calculate exchange rate conversions whenever you arrive at a new country is far from practical. Considering also the safety aspect, it is much safer to wander around without having to hoard a pile of cash in your pocket.

In this post, I would like to talk about American Express card, THE one single credit card that I use everywhere while I am traveling.

I will also explain why it is my favorite credit card to travel around and what kind of perks and benefits it provides, especially for frequent travelers.

 

One single credit card that makes your travel more rewarding

 

First, let me start with a little introduction about American Express.

Similar to its competitors MasterCard and Visa, American Express (Amex) is a US-based global financial services company. It is known worldwide for its credit cards issued for individuals, small businesses, and corporate consumers around the world.

Amex card is widely accepted by major hotels, restaurants, and shops around every major city in the world.

Even in Europe, you can use it to buy train tickets, pay for the highway tolls in Italy, pay at the gas stations, and increasingly also at local supermarkets, for example at Jumbo supermarket in the Netherlands.

At this point, you may say: but my current credit card already has all those features. Why should I have an Amex card?

Let me outline here below the competitive advantages and benefits that the Amex card offers, which other credit cards do not.

A little side note, as I currently hold an Amex card issued in the Netherlands, the benefits outlined below are those pertaining for Dutch cardholders. In the future, I attempt to update this post with the benefits of Amex cards in some other countries as well.

 

Amex Rewards Points

This is by far THE best advantage of owning an Amex card. Due to this advantage, I have been able to drastically changed the way I travel.

If you have an Amex card, you are automatically eligible to accumulate Amex Reward Points. In the case of the Dutch Amex card, you will get 1 Amex Rewards point (or 1.5 points for the Platinum card) for each Euro you spend.

So, what can you use these points for? In my opinion, the best use for Amex Rewards Points is to convert them to Frequent Flyer miles and use the miles to redeem a free flight in Business or First class.

Amex cardholder in the Netherlands can convert Amex Rewards Points to Frequent Flyer miles of the following programs/airlines:

  • Alitalia MilleMiglia;
  • British Airways Executive Club;
  • Cathay Pacific Asia Miles;
  • Delta Skymiles;
  • Finnair Plus;
  • Iberia Plus;
  • KLM Flying Blue;
  • SAS Eurobonus;
  • Singapore Airlines Krisflyer.

The conversion ratio is 4:5 (i.e. 4 Frequent Flyer miles per 5 Amex Rewards Points), except for Delta Skymiles and SAS Eurobonus. Please note that Amex cardholders in other countries such as in the US and the UK have a more favorable conversion ratio (usually 1:1) and can convert to more Frequent Flyer programs.

Using Amex Rewards Points, I have been able to experience the good life of traveling in premium classes. Here are a few examples of excellent redemptions I have done using Amex Rewards Points:

  • Fly Business Class from Madrid to New York with Iberia for just 34,000 Iberia Plus Avios, converted from 42,500 Amex Rewards Points
  • Fly Business Class from Taipei to Jakarta with China Airlines for as little as 25,000 KLM Flying Blue, converted from 31,250 Amex Rewards Points
  • Fly First Class from Shanghai to Singapore with Singapore Airlines for 53,000 Singapore Airlines Krisflyer, converted from 66,250 Amex Rewards Points

 

Other perks and benefits

In addition to Amex Rewards Points, owning an Amex credit card also offers a variety of benefits, including cashback and travel perks.

For example, if you sign up now for an Amex Platinum card, you can enjoy the following benefits:

  • 20,000 Amex Rewards Points
  • Unlimited access to 1,200 lounges worldwide for 2 persons
  • Free Privium Plus membership (similar to TSA PreCheck) at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
  • Instant Elite status at major luxury hotels, such as Hilton, Marriott, and Shangri-La
  • $100 voucher for dinners or spa facilities at the “Hotel Collection” Group (Hyatt, Hilton, and Kimpton)
  • 50% discount on membership fee for the first year

Next to that, at the moment Amex also offers €200 cashback to its Platinum cardholders for purchase at certain vendors. Note that these benefits may vary depending on the country where the Amex card is issued.

 

Types of Amex credit cards available

Globally there are 2 types of Amex credit cards available for individuals: Amex Classic card (choices ranging from Green, Gold, and Platinum cards) and co-branded Amex card (such as Hilton Honors Amex and KLM Flying Blue Amex).

Which one would I recommend? Get the Amex Classic card, especially the Platinum card. For a frequent traveler, the benefits that you will get (ranging from express security check, worldwide lounge access, and hotel room upgrades) far exceed its cost. Next to that, you will accumulate more Amex Rewards Points and quicker. Accumulating Amex Rewards Points also gives you more flexibility because you can convert them to a wide selection of Frequent Flyer programs.

Having said that, I would only recommend getting a co-branded Amex card, only if you have a fixed preference to fly with a certain airline or stay at a specific hotel.

If you choose to fly only with KLM or Delta Airlines, I would recommend getting a KLM Flying Blue Amex or Delta Skymiles Amex. Please note that with these co-branded Amex cards, you will NOT accumulate Amex Rewards Points. Instead, you will only be able to accumulate KLM Flying Blue miles or Delta Skymiles.

 

So don’t wait any further. Get your Amex Classic card now!

 

There you go! I hope that this post will make it clear for you about the benefits of owning an Amex credit card and help you to make your travel experience more rewarding!

Please let me know if this post is helpful for you, and do not hesitate to share your comments. Also, if you feel that there is something unclear from this guide, please let me know through the comment section below.

Do you like this post and want to receive some more travel tips regularly? Please make sure that you subscribe to my email updates. In addition, check out my other blog posts for many more helpful tips for traveling, including how to earn cashback from your travel bookings. See you in the next blog post and until we Greet again!

Top 5 Cashback Websites for Earning Money on Your Travel

Top 5 Cashback Websites for Earning Money on Your Travel

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Want to earn money back while booking for your travel? Learn here the 5 best cashback websites that will help you spend less on your travel.

 

When it comes to topics of travel hacking and frugal travel, there is one important instrument that I think everyone should be familiar with. And that is the cashback websites.

Unfortunately, not many travelers know about it, and little has been known and written about how to use a cashback website to spend less on your travel.

In this post, I will share with you the 5 best cashback websites for earning cash on your travel. I am also going to explain how it works, and why you must use them from now on.

So without further ado, here is the 5 best cashback for earning money on your travel!

 

 

Top 5 Cashback Websites for Earning Money on Your Travel

 

What is a cashback website?

Before we go further, let me step back for a while and explain to you what a cashback website is.

A cashback website allows you to earn a fraction back of the amount you pay when you purchase goods or services through its affiliate links. The percentage that you can earn varies from one merchant to another, but typically ranging from 2 – 15%.

As an example, suppose you are about to book a hotel room for $100 a night at Expedia and a cashback website offers a 5% cash back when you use their Expedia affiliate link. If you decide to use their Expedia affiliate link to purchase that $100 a night room, you will get $5 back from that cashback website.

But, you may ask the obvious question: why can the cashback website do that?

It is simply because they also earn a commission from that transaction. When you book that $100 a night room at Expedia using the affiliate link, the cashback website will earn a commission from Expedia because they have “referred” you as a customer to Expedia. But instead of keeping the commission all by themselves, they share a fraction of it with you through that 5% cash back.

Sounds like a win-win deal, doesn’t it?

Top 5 Cashback Wesbites for Earning Money on Your Travel

 

Why must you use a cashback website?

Well, because you should stop leaving money on the table any longer.

Traveling is already expensive enough and it is too often that as a customer, we become a victim of sudden price increases or hidden surcharges from airlines, hotels or car rentals. So instead of getting money out of our pocket, why not put a fraction back into it?

Besides, a cashback website is very easy to use. You just need to sign up, and every time you use their affiliate links, the transaction will be automatically tracked and the amount earned will be credited to your account at no cost. The amount will then be paid out based on your preferred method (usually by Paypal, gift card, or check).

Like I mentioned, the cashback practice is a win-win situation for everyone. It’s completely legal, there is no catch whatsoever and you have absolutely nothing to lose, only to gain.

And the best thing with cashback website is that you can still earn your airline miles and hotel points. Once you click on the affiliate link and redirected to an airline or hotel website for booking, you will still be able to log into and insert your loyalty program membership.

Top 5 Cashback Wesbites for Earning Money on Your Travel

 

What are the best cashback websites?

Although nowadays there are many cashback websites out there, they are of course not created equal. To make it easy for you, I have selected 5 of the absolute best cashback websites for earning cash for your travel.

 

#1 – Mr. Rebates

Mr. Rebates is probably one of the most well-known and the best cashback websites out there. It has a broad selection of merchants and offers a very attractive cashback percentage for travel-related vendors, especially for hotel bookings.

Mr. Rebates works globally, so everyone in the world can sign up for it without any geographical restriction. You can sign up for Mr. Rebates here.

Here are currently some selections of the travel merchants with the best cashback offers in Mr. Rebates:

HOTELS OTAs/FLIGHTS CAR RENTALS
Accor Hotels (8%) Cheapair.com (3%) Dollar (6%)
IHG (6%) Expedia (3%) Thrifty (6%)
Marriott (4%) Booking.com (3%) Hertz (5%)

 

#2 – Top Cashback

Top Cashback is also the other renowned cashback website out there.

Top Cashback has separate cashback websites for the US and the UK, and each website has a slightly different set of merchants. But fear not, you can sign up for both websites.

You can sign up for the US website here, and for the UK website here.

Here are currently some selections of the travel merchants with the best cashback offers in Top Cashback UK:

HOTELS OTAs/FLIGHTS CAR RENTALS
Accor Hotels (up to 15%) eBookers.com (up to 12%) Avis (up to 12%)
IHG (up to 10%) Hotels.com (up to 10%) Thrifty (9%)
Marriott (up to 7%) Booking.com (up to 4%) Budget (8%)

 

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#3 – Quidco

Quidco is a UK-based cashback website, but in spite of that, everyone in the world can sign up for it. Quidco prides itself as the UK’s number 1 cashback website.

You can sign up for Quidco here.

Here are currently some selections of the travel merchants with the best cashback offers in Quidco:

HOTELS OTAs/FLIGHTS CAR RENTALS
Accor Hotels (up to 15%) eBookers.com (up to 12%) Avis (up to 12%)
IHG (up to 10%) Hotels.com (up to 10%) Thrifty (9%)
Marriott (up to 7%) Booking.com (up to 4%) Budget (8%)

 

#4 – BeFrugal

BeFrugal is a popular US-based cashback website with over 5,000 merchants offering cash-back. You can sign up for BeFrugal here.

Here are currently some selections of the travel merchants with the best cashback offers in BeFrugal:

HOTELS OTAs/FLIGHTS CAR RENTALS
Hilton (up to 13%) Expedia (up to 15%) Sixt (10%)
IHG (9%) Priceline (up to 13%) National (7%)
Marriott (up to 7%) Hotels.com (up to 11%) Avis (6%)

 

#5 – Ebates

Ebates is a popular US-based cashback website. But due to recent regulation change, Ebates is now unfortunately not available for EU residents.

Unless you live in the EU, you can sign up for Ebates here.

Here are currently some selections of the travel merchants with the best cashback offers in Ebates:

HOTELS OTAs/FLIGHTS CAR RENTALS
Hilton (up to 5%) Expedia (up to 7%) Dollar (up to 15%)

 

What are the best practices in using cashback websites?

 

Best practice #1: Set up a Paypal account for payout

Cashback websites usually have 3 methods to pay you out: Paypal, gift card or checks. My preferred method is Paypal because it is super easy and convenient (besides, who use checks in 2018 anyway?).

So if you are like me, you may want to set up your Paypal account in advance. And don’t forget to link your Paypal to your bank account. If you don’t have a Paypal account, you can sign up here for free.

 

Best practice #2: Always compare and shop around

Cashback websites often have a lot of seasonal offers in order to encourage you to purchase even more. That is why I always recommend you to shop around and keep an eye on these offers.

But just a word of reminder: the offers can be tempting. I would only recommend using cashback websites when you have a plan to purchase anyway. Do not purchase something just because of the lucrative cashback offer.

 

Best practice #3: Read carefully the terms and conditions

Pay attention to what each cashback website specifies as a purchase that qualifies for a cashback offer. For example, a hotel room booked under a corporate rate often does not qualify for cashback.

These terms and conditions are obviously set differently by each website, and reading them carefully will prevent you from disappointment and misunderstanding.

 

—–

 

Will you use these cashback websites anytime soon?

I hope that this post helps you to understand about the cashback website and spend less on your travel.

Please let me know if this post is helpful for you, and do not hesitate to share your experience.

Do you like this post and want to receive some more awesome travel hacks regularly? Please make sure that you subscribe to my email updates. And also check out my other blog posts for many more helpful tips for traveling. See you in the next blog post and until we Greet again!

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How To Get Airline Frequent Flyer Status Fast

How To Get Airline Frequent Flyer Status Fast

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Learn the best strategies to get airline frequent flyer status easily and fast to enjoy tons of benefits you don’t want to miss!

 

After my earlier post about getting elite status fast at luxurious hotels, I feel compelled to also share with you about attaining airline frequent flyer status fast.

I’m sure you all have watched the movie, Up In The Air, with the famous George Clooney. You know the secret why he’s always able to travel in style? Yep, frequent flyer status!

Having frequent flyer status at airlines can be extremely advantageous. On top of exclusive benefits that go along with it, the status can be very useful as a strategy to fly cheaply through redeeming airline miles.

In this post, I would like to reveal to you the best strategies to get frequent flyer status FAST.

Compared to the hotel’s loyalty program, the landscape for airline’s loyalty program is a bit more complicated. However, as always, I will try to break down the strategies as SIMPLE as possible for you. So without further ado, here is how you can get airline frequent flyer status FAST.

 

How to get airline frequent flyer status fast

 

What is a frequent flyer status?

How To Get Airline Frequent Flyer Status Fast

For those of you unfamiliar with frequent flyer status or elite status, let me take a step back a little bit to explain to you what it is all about, and why you would want one.

Every major airline carriers such as United, Delta, or American Airlines have a loyalty program in place that is designed to encourage you as a customer to frequently fly with them. As a reward for your loyalty, these airlines will give you frequent flyer status, and offer you tons of benefits according to your attained status.

There are different tiers of frequent flyer status within a loyalty program, and each airline obviously has its own tier system and naming – as an example, both United and Lufthansa choose to have a 4-tier system for their respective loyalty programs (United’s loyalty program is called MileagePlus, and Lufthansa’s is called Miles & More). However, United calls their highest status as Premier 1K, while Lufthansa calls it HON Circle.

Different tier status comes obviously with different benefits. The higher frequent flyer status you have, the more benefits you will get. And the more frequent you fly, the higher your frequent flyer status will be.

 

So, why would you want a frequent flyer status?

How To Get Airline Frequent Flyer Status Fast

As I touched upon briefly, in addition to nice benefits like lounge access, priority boarding, and extra baggage allowance, having a frequent flyer status can be a very useful strategy to help you fly cheaply by racking up miles quickly and cheaply.

By attaining a higher frequent flyer status at an airline loyalty program, you become eligible to earn more miles than what you would normally get from flying. How? This is through a mechanism, which I call the “multiplier effect”.

For example, if you fly one way between New York JFK and Paris CDG and you book a normal economy class ticket that earns you 100% of the flown miles, you will rack up a mere 3,600 miles (which is basically the distance flown between New York and Paris).

But because you have a frequent flyer status, you will receive bonus miles ON TOP of the flown miles. So, instead of only earning 100% of the flown miles, you will be eligible to earn 125% to 150% of the flown miles depending on your frequent flyer status tier.

This “multiplier effect” will get even larger if you travel in business- or first class, through which you can even earn up to 300% of the flown miles depending on your frequent flyer status tier.

This is for sure an amazing way to quickly rack up tons of miles, which you can redeem later on for free tickets to destinations of your choice.

As you will learn later, obtaining a frequent flyer status is not that hard if you follow those strategies. Furthermore, signing up for airline loyalty program would cost you NOTHING, and you obviously don’t want to miss those precious miles that you can collect anyway every time you fly.

 

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How to get the highest frequent flyer status quickly?

So, now it’s time to dig into the strategies that you can use to get the highest frequent flyer status quickly.

There are 3 strategies that I will outline further here: (1) Choosing the right airline loyalty program; (2) Status challenge/mileage runs; and (3) Status match.

#1 – Choosing the right airline loyalty program

 

When it comes to getting frequent flyer status easily, not all airline loyalty programs are created equal. Therefore, it is very important to first choose wisely the airline loyalty program that is right for you.

There are 3 criteria that you must consider to choose the right airline loyalty program for you:

  1. Airline loyalty program with the lowest requirement needed to achieve the highest frequent flyer status
  2. Airline loyalty program that offers possibilities to do status challenge/mileage run
  3. Airlines with operations in the region where you are based

In addition to that, it is also useful for you to start getting familiar with airline alliances. When you achieve a frequent flyer status at one airline that is a member of a certain alliance, it means that you can enjoy your frequent flyer status at all other airline members in that alliance.

Having said all of that, here is a list of airline loyalty programs that I’d recommend for you to choose and sign up:

STAR ALLIANCE

SKYTEAM

ONEWORLD

 

#2 – Status challenge/mileage runs

 

Similar to attaining hotel status, you can also attain frequent flyer status quickly and easily through a status challenge.

The status challenge allows you to get an instant frequent flyer status through completing a number of flights within a certain period of time.

This is a great way to obtain a frequent flyer status quickly, as the number of miles/flights required to complete the challenge is always lower than the normally required amount of miles/flights to achieve higher tier.

As an example, instead of requiring you to fly 75,000 miles in a year to get a Platinum status, with the challenge an airline may require you only to fly 25,000 miles within 3 months.

At the moment, unfortunately, only a few airlines are offering a status challenge to fast-track you to the highest frequent flyer status. One of them is American Airlines.

 

AMERICAN AIRLINES AADVANTAGE STATUS CHALLENGE

How To Get Airline Frequent Flyer Status Fast

American Airlines is currently offering a status challenge through their loyalty program, AAdvantage.

To earn AAdvantage frequent flyer status, you need to hit the requirements for either Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM) or Segments (EQS) and Elite Qualifying Dollar (EQD). With this challenge, you need to hit 7,000 EQM and $1,000 EQD within 3 months in order to get a Gold status. For Platinum status, you need to hit 12,500 EQM and $2,000 EQD within 3 months.

Unfortunately, you will need to pay $200 to participate in the challenge. And if you want your Gold status immediately, you can pay an additional $200 for a total of $400. If you want Platinum status immediately, it will cost an extra $300 for a total of $500.

To register for the challenge, you have to make a call to American Airlines Customer Service on +1-888-697-5636 (Skype also works).

Prior to registering for the challenge, make sure you already have an AAdvantage account. If you haven’t, you can sign up for free here.

 

If the hurdle of a status challenge sounds too steep for you, you can also do a personal mileage run. A mileage run is simply flying as a passenger on flights, only with a specific purpose of racking up enough miles to earn frequent flyer status.

I will try to cover more about mileage run in a future post, but the key to a mileage run is to find the cheapest ticket possible to earn the maximum amount of miles possible.

 

#3 – Status match

 

Another strategy to get an airline frequent flyer status fast is through a status match.

The concept of a status match is pretty straightforward. If you hold a frequent flyer status at one airline loyalty program, you can match it to get an equivalent (or maybe lower) frequent flyer status at other airlines as well.

A status match is awesome because it provides an opportunity for you to “arbitrage” between different airlines and/or airline alliances. This will also ensure that you will continually have a frequent flyer status at any airline/alliance without expiration.

Suppose you obtain a Gold status at airline A. But this status almost expires, and you will rarely fly with airline A in the near future. You can simply try to match your Gold status from airline A to airline B, and your frequent flyer status at airline B will commence when the status match is approved.

To check which airlines offer a status match, you can check it here. Here below are few opportunities of status match that are currently available.

 

TURKISH AIRLINES MILES & SMILES STATUS MATCH

How To Get Airline Frequent Flyer Status Fast

Turkish Airlines offers instant status match very frequently from other airline loyalty programs.  However, it is not always clear for which loyalty programs they will offer an instant status match, and for which ones they will offer a status challenge.

The best way is to check it here. Please note that Turkish will likely not offer a status match for frequent flyer status attained from other Star Alliance airlines.

You can try to submit your request via this contact form. You have to provide proof of your competing frequent flyer status, passport and proof of activities within the past 12 months.

Once the match is approved, you can enjoy the status for 4 months, during which one international segment flown on Turkish Airlines is required to extend the match to a period of 1 year.

 

DELTA SKYMILES MEDALLION STATUS MATCH

How To Get Airline Frequent Flyer Status Fast

Delta is currently offering a status match through their loyalty program, SkyMiles.

If your status match is approved, you can enjoy the complimentary matched status for 3 months. However, this period can be extended, if you are able to complete a small “challenge”.

To extend your matched status, you need to hit 18,750 Qualification Miles or 25 Segments during the 3-month complimentary period in order to keep your Platinum status longer. If you enroll in the challenge on or after July 1, 2018, and you complete this challenge, your status will be extended through January 2020!

You can submit your request and read more about this status match here. As always, make sure you already have a Delta SkyMiles account prior to registering for the status match. If you haven’t, you can sign up for free here.

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So, will you get your frequent flyer status any time soon?

Please let me know if this post is helpful for you, and do not hesitate to share your experience.

Do you like this post and want to receive some more awesome travel hacks regularly? Please make sure that you subscribe to my email updates. And also check out my other blog posts for many more helpful tips for traveling. See you in the next blog post and until we Greet again!

 

Image Courtesy: Cathay Pacific and thegate.boardingarea.com

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How to Get an Elite Status Fast at Luxurious Hotels

How to Get an Elite Status Fast at Luxurious Hotels

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Find out how you can get an elite status fast at luxurious hotels to enjoy tons of lavish perks and benefits. Guaranteed your stay at a hotel will never be the same!

 

Imagine that you are always warmly welcomed and treated as a VIP every time you come to a luxurious hotel.

Imagine that you always get to enjoy an upgrade to a big-ass suite room, with all the lavish perks and exclusivity that go along with it, without even paying a single extra penny for it.

Sounds really amazing, doesn’t it?

The good thing is that it does not have to stay in your imagination. It can quickly become your reality. The key to that is these two words: ELITE STATUS.

In this post, I would like to reveal to you the best strategies to get an elite status FAST, so that you can get so much more out of your travel.

And guaranteed you will be marveled of how EASY it is to implement these strategies. So without further ado, let’s find out how you can get an elite status FAST at luxurious hotels.

 

How to get an elite status fast at luxurious hotels

 

What is an elite status?

Before digging into the strategies, let me take a step back a little bit to explain to you what an elite status is, and why you would want one.

Every luxurious hotel chains such as Marriott, Starwood, Hilton, and Hyatt, have a loyalty program in place that is designed to encourage you as a customer to frequently stay at their hotels. As a reward for their loyalty, these hotels will give you an elite status, and offer you tons of benefits and perks according to their status.

There are different tiers of an elite status within a loyalty program, and each hotel chain obviously has its own tier system and naming – as an example, both Hilton and Marriott choose to have 3-tier system. But Hilton calls their highest elite status as Diamond, while Marriott calls it as Platinum.

Different tier status comes obviously with different benefits. The higher your elite status, the more benefits you will get. And the more frequent you stay, the higher your elite status will be.

St Regis How to get elite status fast at luxurious hotels

Private Water Villa at St. Regis Vommuli Resort, The Maldives. Image courtesy of SPG

 

So, why would you want an elite status?

Well, simply because it’s totally worth it! In my experience, the benefits and perks that you get from having an elite status will far outweigh the cost to obtain one. A free night at a beach resort in the Maldives, or an upgrade to $5,000-a-night suite room in New York – you can get all of this just by having an elite status.

As you will learn this later on, obtaining an elite status is actually very easy and cheap too. Signing up for a loyalty program would cost you NOTHING, and you obviously don’t want to miss those precious elite points that you can collect anyway every time you stay at a hotel.

Also, you will be surprised about how frequently these hotels launch promotional offers targeting their loyal customers. These offers make it even easier and quicker (thus cheaper) for you to achieve higher elite status.

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How to get the highest elite status quickly?

So, now it’s time to dig into the strategies that you can use to get the highest elite status quickly. The 2 strategies that I will outline further here are (1) Status Challenge; and (2) Status Match.

#1 – Status challenge

The first strategy to get an elite status quickly and easily is through a status challenge.

The status challenge allows you to get an instant elite status through completing a number of stays within a certain period of time.

This is a great way to obtain an elite status, as the number of nights/stays required to complete the challenge are always lower than the normally required amount of night/stays to achieve higher tier.

So, as an example, instead of requiring you to stay 25 nights a year to get a Gold status, with the challenge you only need to complete 5 nights within 3 months.

At the moment, Starwood is offering a fantastic status challenge to fast-track you to the highest elite status.

 

SPG GOLD OR PLATINUM STATUS CHALLENGE 2018

Starwood is currently offering a status challenge through their loyalty program, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG). Starwood is a collection of luxury hotel brands such as W Hotel, Sheraton, and Westin.

With this challenge, you only need to stay for 9 nights within 3 months at any Starwood properties, in order to get a Gold status. For the Platinum status challenge, you only need to stay 18 nights within 3 months. Upon completion of the challenge, you can even retain the status until 2020!

As a Platinum member at SPG, you will be eligible for a complimentary room upgrade upon availability at all Starwood properties.

You can learn more about the status challenge here. To register for the challenge, you have to make a call to SPG Customer Service. The registration will close very soon on June 30, 2018. So, you better hurry up!

Prior to registering for the challenge, make sure you already have an SPG account. If you haven’t, you can sign up for FREE here.

Hilton How to get elite status fast at luxurious hotels

Suite Room at Hilton Fiji Beach Resort & Spa, Fiji. Image courtesy of Hilton

 

#2 – Status match

The second strategy to get an elite status fast is through a status match.

The concept of a status match is pretty straightforward. If you hold an elite status at one hotel chain, you can match it to get an elite status at other hotel chains as well.

A status match is super awesome because it provides an opportunity for you to “arbitrage” between different hotels.

Suppose you obtain a Gold status at hotel A. But with this status, you don’t get a room upgrade, while at hotel B you do. You can simply try to match your Gold status from hotel A to hotel B, and stay faithful to hotel B from then on instead.

Here below are some great opportunities for a status match that is currently offered by some hotel chains.

 

MARRIOTT REWARDS – SPG INSTANT STATUS MATCH

Due to the recent merger between Marriott and Starwood, both hotel chains are offering an instant reciprocal status match.

All you need to do is to link your Marriott Rewards account with your Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) account. By linking both accounts, your elite status will be automatically matched from one to another.

To do that, simply log into either your Marriott Rewards or SPG account, and follow the instruction to link both accounts.

This status match will, however, stop in August 2018, when both programs will be integrated into one loyalty program. So, if you want to make use of this status match, there is unfortunately just a few months left to do that.

 

HILTON HONORS STATUS MATCH 2018

Hilton is currently offering a status match through their loyalty program, Hilton Honors.

If your status match is approved, you can enjoy the matched status for 90 days. However, this period can be extended, if you are able to complete a small “challenge”.

To extend your matched status until 2020, you need to complete 4 eligible stays for Gold and 8 stays for Diamond status respectively, within 90 days.

Hilton is regarded as one of the hotel chains that offer generous perks, even for their mid-tier elite status holder. Even as a Gold member, you are already eligible for a complimentary room upgrade, free breakfast, and late checkout benefits.

You can register for the status match by filling in this online form. Simply provide your personal details and the status you’re hoping to match. Obviously, you also have to provide proof of your competing elite status, as well as proof of stay within the past 12 months with that hotel chain.

Similar to SPG, make sure you already have a Hilton Honors account prior to registering for the status match. If you haven’t, you can sign up for FREE here.

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So, will you get your elite status any time soon?

Please let me know if this post is helpful for you, and do not hesitate to share your experience.

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5 Secret Websites You Should Use to Book the Cheapest Flights

5 Secret Websites You Should Use to Book the Cheapest Flights

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Make sure your toolkit for scoring cheap deals is complete with these 5 top-secret websites to book the cheapest flights (psst…and it is not Skyscanner!)

 

DISCLAIMER: This page contains affiliate links, which means I will get a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through it. If you decide to use my links, I would like to sincerely thank you for your support to my blog! 

 

In my earlier post, I’ve shown you that searching a ridiculously cheap business class flight deals (or any other cheap flight deals, for that matter) is not that hard, especially using the step-by-step guide that I have devised.

However, it does not stop there. After finding a great deal, it is important to be able to book it immediately.

Therefore, it all comes down to find a website or Online Travel Agency (OTA) that can book and issue the ticket for the price that you find (or perhaps with even lower price).

That is why in this post I would like to reveal another powerful toolkit for scoring cheap deals with these 5 secret websites (or OTAs) to book your cheapest flights.

And I can assure you that these are not websites that are typically recommended in many travel blogs such as Skyscanner. Some of them are even only known by frequent fliers.

In addition, these websites can be used not only limited to book cheap flights originating in Europe, but also for flights from North America and other locations worldwide.

Just a little note though: although these websites will often get you a cheaper price, sometimes it still makes more sense to book directly through the airline’s website. Especially in case of rebooking or cancellation, it is much easier to deal with the airlines directly, instead of with a third party.

So without further ado, here are the 5 top-secret websites to book the cheapest flights!

 

5 Secret Websites You Should Use to Book the Cheapest Flights

 

#1 – Momondo

 

Momondo 5 Secret Website You Should Use to Book the Cheapest Flights

One of the best-kept secret OTAs and my personal favorite is Momondo. Originated from Denmark, Momondo may be relatively unknown, but it actually has been around since 2006.

Momondo is particularly powerful to book the cheapest flights with the major airlines originating from Europe. The website is currently available in 18 local European markets, such as Germany (momondo.de), France (momondo.fr), the Netherlands (momondo.nl), and even China.

Momondo has been praised by the New York Times for its intuitiveness and the ability to find flights fare you won’t find elsewhere.

Proof of the pudding:

Recently I needed to book a flight from Amsterdam (AMS) to Munich (MUC) for my positioning flight, and I was specifically looking to fly with KLM.

First, I used Google Flights to search a flight with KLM that I want, which I eventually found for the price of €109 (see image below).

 

Google Flights Example 5 Secret Websites You Should Use to Book the Cheapest Flights

 

After that, I went over to Momondo’s German website (momondo.de) to see if I can get a cheaper price for the same flight. In Momondo, it shows that I can book the same flight for €95 (see image below). Bammm, that’s an instant €14 saving into the pocket, right there!

 

Momondo Example 5 Secret Websites You Should Use to Book the Cheapest Flights

Momondo’s Best Practices:
  • Rather than only using Momondo.com, try to play around with local Momondo websites, e.g. if you would like to book a flight, say, from the Netherlands to Germany, at least you should check the price at Momondo’s Dutch and German websites
  • For any flights originating from Europe, the lowest price is usually seen in Momondo’s German website, so make sure to always check it there first

 

#2 – Kayak

 

Kayak 5 Secret Website You Should Use to Book the Cheapest Flights

Kayak is another favorite of mine. Kayak has been around since 2004 and has recently become the owner of Momondo.

One of the strengths of Kayak is its tool called Kayak Explore. Kayak Explore is a Google Flights-like interface, which allows a cool visualization to explore deals to random interesting destinations.

In addition to that, Kayak is extremely user-friendly and has the flexibility like to easily check the flight fares up to 3 days before your planned departure date and 3 days after planned arrival date.

Kayak’s Best Practices:
    • Use Kayak Explore to explore interesting destinations and great deals
    • Similar to Momondo, rather than only using kayak.com, try to play around with local Kayak websites
    • Similar to Momondo, the lowest price is usually seen in Kayak’s German website, so make sure to always check it there first
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      #3 – Jetcost

       

      Jetcost 5 Secret Website You Should Use to Book the Cheapest Flights

      Jetcost may also be a little unknown, but it is actually one of the best European-focused OTA out there. Originally focused on the French market, Jetcost has now been present locally in more than 30 countries, with a strong position in Europe, South America, and Asia.

      Similar to Momondo, Jetcost is particularly great to book for flights originating from Europe. But it is also increasingly helpful to book great deals for flights originating from South America.

      Jetcost’s Best Practices:
          • For flights originating from Europe, the lowest price is usually seen in Jetcost’s German website, so make sure to always check it there first

       

      #4 – Expedia

       

      Expedia 5 Secret Website You Should Use to Book the Cheapest Flights

      Expedia is the most well-known and possibly also the biggest OTA out there. No wonder that Expedia is such a powerful booking site since it has most probably the biggest inventories of flight fares in the entire web.

      The best thing about Expedia is that it is closely linked with Google Flights search results. So when you find a deal on Google Flights, most of the time you can book it in Expedia and Google Flights will automatically provide you the link to redirect you there.

      Expedia’s Best Practices:
          • Like other OTAs, Expedia also has local websites. Rather than only using Expedia.com, try to play around with local Expedia websites

       

      #5 – Priceline

       

      Priceline 5 Secret Website You Should Use to Book the Cheapest Flights

      Priceline is an established American-based OTA, which is well-known for its unique “Name Your Own Price” system, where customers would quote their desired price for airline tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals and vacation packages.

      Priceline is particularly great for booking domestic US flights and flights originating from North America. With the “Name Your Own Price” system, you only pay for the price that you want to pay, so there’s very little risk of overpayment here!

      Priceline’s Best Practices:
          • The “Name Your Own Price” system allows you to get the best deals with the price that you want to pay, but the exact itinerary is disclosed only after the booking has been done, and no cancellation is permitted. Make sure that you only use this system if you are flexible with your departure and arrival time
          • In addition to the “Name Your Own Price” system, Priceline also allows more conventional booking. So make sure you also check what the price would be, if you book your flight conventionally, rather than using “Name Your Own Price” system.

      —–

      So there you go! I hope that these 5 websites will help you to book those incredible deals you have found yourself right now.

      Please let me know if this post is helpful for you, and do not hesitate to share your experience. Also, if you feel that there are some other websites missing on the list, just let me know.

      Do you like this post and want to receive some more awesome flight hacks regularly? Please make sure that you subscribe to my email updates. And also check out my other blog posts for many more helpful tips for traveling. See you in the next blog post and until we Greet again!

      Get My Quick FREE Travel Checklist!

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      I will also send you latest updates on travel tips, food and other travel stories from around the world!

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Top 10 Cities with Consistently Cheap Business Class Deal

Top 10 Cities with Consistently Cheap Business Class Deal

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Score easily a cheap business class deal by flying from these 10 cities!

 

You may have often heard this old saying: “it’s not about the destination, but about the journey.” While this may be true for many things in life, when it comes to scoring a cheap business class ticket, it’s more about where you’re flying from laughing

Joking aside, as I have written in my earlier post, one of the best tricks to score a cheap business class ticket is to consider flying from other cities than your hometown. In this post, I am going to tell you more specifically which cities those are.

These cities are spread out in Europe, North America, and Asia. So no matter where you are based at, there is always a chance for you to grab a great business class deal.

So without further a due, here are the 10 cities that you should fly from!

 

Top 10 Cities with Consistently Cheap Business Class Deals

Europe

#1 – Oslo, Norway (OSL)

Oslo Best Cities with Consistent Business Class Deal

Oslo has probably the most amounts of business class deals I have ever seen in the past years. Whether you want to fly eastbound to Asia or westbound to North America, flying from Oslo is your best bet to score a cheap business class deal.

With the ambition to capture the Scandinavian market, Qatar Airways has been consistently and aggressively offering cheap business class deals to Asia or Australia from Oslo. As an example, I was able to fly to Singapore on Qatar Airways’ terrific business class for only €800 (~$825).

Other major airlines, like Lufthansa, also often offer deals to fly to North America.

And the best thing is that it is quite cheap to “position” yourself in Oslo, as it is also the hub of Norwegian, a major European low-cost carrier.

 

#2 – Stockholm, Sweden (ARN)

Stockholm Best Cities with Consistent Business Class Deal

Similar to Oslo, Stockholm has often great business class deals, because of the ambitions of carriers like Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines to win some market share in Scandinavia.

These airlines often offer insane deals, such as €1,500 to Canberra, Australia (with Qatar Airways) or €1,200 to Singapore (with Singapore Airlines). That is certainly a good value for a 12+ hour pampering in the sky with the best airlines in the world!

Stockholm is also very easy to access. You can fly with SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Sweden’s flag carrier, for a reasonable price from all major airports in Europe.

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#3 – Dublin, Ireland (DUB)

Dublin Best Cities with Consistent Business Class Deal

As the hub of British Airways’ partner, Aer Lingus, Dublin consistently has great business class deals, especially for trans-Atlantic flights to North America.

And if you fly to the US, flying from Dublin has definitely one major advantage. Dublin Airport is one of only a handful of airports outside North America that offers a US Pre-Clearance facility. That means you don’t need to clear immigration again once you arrive in the US.

Positioning yourself in Dublin is also easy and can be extremely cheap, as it is also the hub of Ryanair, the biggest low-cost carrier in Europe.

 

#4 – Helsinki, Finland (HEL)

Helsinki Best Cities with Consistent Business Class Deal

Helsinki is the hub of Finnair, one of the members of Oneworld alliance, with an excellent route network to mainland China, Hong Kong and (South) East Asia.

Finnair and its Oneworld partners, such as Royal Jordanian, often offer great business class deals to these destinations. As an example, they recurrently offer a competitive business class deal to Bangkok for around $1,000.

And as with other Scandinavian cities, Helsinki is also easily accessible from all major airports in Europe.

 

#5 – Frankfurt, Germany (FRA)

Frankfurt Best Cities with Consistent Cheap Business Class Deal

As one of the busiest airports in Europe, and the hub of the biggest carrier in Europe, Lufthansa, you can imagine that there are tons of airlines flying to Frankfurt.

And on the way back, all of these airlines want of course to fill their aircraft as much as possible. What does that mean? Some fantastic deals of course!

For example, Air China, Lufthansa’s Star Alliance partners, has a recurring excellent promotion to various destinations in China and East Asia from Frankfurt. This year I was able myself to score a €1,200 business class deal to Taipei, Taiwan.

 

Middle-East and Africa

#6 – Cairo, Egypt (CAI)

Cairo Best Cities with Consistent Cheap Business Class Deal

Due to political unrest arising from the Arab Springs, Egypt’s currency, the pound, has suffered and lost much of its value compared to other currencies. And because of this devaluation, flight tickets from Cairo have become very cheap lately.

The best business class deals from Cairo are often for destinations in Asia, Australia and even North America. For example, you can fly to New York JFK for around €1,000 (~$1,200) with Turkish Airlines. Or for few hundred dollars extras, you can now fly to Sydney with Oman Air and Malaysia Airlines.

The only downside is that positioning yourself in Cairo may not be that practical and can cost some sizeable damage in your pocket, especially if you are based in Europe or Asia. Always take this into account before you decide to snatch a deal!

 

Asia

#7 – Colombo, Sri Lanka (CMB)

Colombo Best Cities with Consistent Cheap Business Class Deal

Colombo is a hub of SriLankan Airlines, one of the members of Oneworld alliance.

For some unknown reason, there are just many incredibly cheap business class deals from Colombo, especially for flights to South East Asia, Australia, and even the US. For example, recently Qatar Airways (yeah, again) had a crazy deal to Philadelphia for just €1,000 (~$1,200). That is an insanely good deal for an 18-hour flight!

Similar to Cairo, positioning yourself in Colombo can be a bit challenging. Nonetheless, you should for sure consider it as your starting point. And to maximize the value of your money, it is perhaps best to combine it with a visit to the country itself.

 

#8 – Guangzhou, China (CAN)

Guangzhou Best Cities with Consistent Cheap Business Class Deal

As one of the hubs of China Southern Airlines, one of China’s biggest airlines, Guangzhou is your best bet for terrific deals when you’re based in Asia. Guangzhou has often great business class deals, particularly to destinations such as Asian and Australian cities.

Primarily driven by the heightened competition between the Chinese airlines and other major Asian carriers, there are tons of great deals offered through the city. As an example, you can fly now to Sydney for around €1,300 (~$1,500) with Vietnam Airlines.

 

North America

#9 – Toronto, Canada (YYZ)

Toronto Best Cities with Consistent Cheap Business Class Deal

If you are based in North America, Toronto is perhaps your best bet for a source of great business class deals.

Toronto is one of the biggest airports in North America, and also the primary hub of Canada’s flag carrier, Air Canada. There are consistently many great business class deals out of Toronto, especially to Hawaii and South America.

 

#10 – Vancouver, Canada (YVR)

Vancouver Best Cities with Consistent Cheap Business Class Deal

Similar to Toronto, flying from Vancouver, the secondary hub of Air Canada, is often cheaper than flying from US cities.

Located on the west coast of America and with its proximity to the Pacific, Vancouver often has great deals for a business class ticket to Japan, South Korea, and other East Asian cities.

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So there you go! I hope that this list will help you to find some incredible deals yourself right now.

Please let me know if this post is indeed helpful for you, and do not hesitate to share your experience. Also, if you feel that there are some cities missing on the list, just let me know.

Do you like this post and want to receive some more awesome travel hacks regularly? Please make sure that you subscribe to my email newsletter. And also check out my other blog posts for many more helpful tips for traveling. See you in the next blog post and until we Greet again!

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