5-Free-Night Offer from AMEX Marriott Business

📣 WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

• IYCMI - The strategy of paying “annual fees” in return for having “zero” spend requirements on your new credit card signups.

• Capital One will acquire Discover for $35.3 billion in an all-stock deal. The deal is expected to close late 2024 to early 2025 and is pending regulatory approval.

• Hyatt’s Bonus Journeys promo gives 3k points per 3 nights with select countries getting an additional 1k per 3 nights. Valid on stays between 03/01 and 04/30. Register here on 02/22.

• MGM Rewards’ status match to Marriott is live, only one-way, and not that great. MGM Gold, which most of us have from Hyatt, only gets you Marriott Silver elite.

• Delta’s employees receive $1.4 billion in profit share, amounting to over 1 month of pay for most. Amazing way to invest in your people.

🧠 CREDIT CARD STRATS/HACKS/TRICKS
Rakuten - The ONLY Shopping Portal That Gives AMEX Points

Rakuten is the only cash-back portal with an American Express partnership.

Rather than receive your cash-back as, well, cash, you can choose to receive it as AMEX Membership Rewards points at a 1-cent per point value ($100 or 10k AMEX points).

Those of you adept at redeeming your points recognize the outsized opportunity this presents.

With hotel or flight redemptions, you can easily redeem 1 AMEX MR point at 3-10+ cents of value per point.

In a worst-case scenario, you can always cash out your AMEX points via Charles Schwab at 1.1 cents per point. This is still 10% higher than if you took your cash-back as cash from Rakuten.

There’s literally no reason not to take your cash-back as AMEX points.

If you sign up today, you’ll a $30 bonus after spending $30 (referral). The simplest way is to buy a $30 gift card, giving you that gift card for free.

Rakuten’s platform includes thousands of brands. If you’re going to buy something online, chances are that brand/platform is covered by Rakuten. Rakuten’s browser extension automatically pops up on sites with offers, allowing you to activate and track your purchase with a single click.

As an example, a few days ago for President’s Day, Rakuten was offering:

• 15x (aka 15%) back on Dell

• 9x back on IHG hotels

• 100% back on NordVPN (I purchased through this offer, literally free)

Currently, there’s an elevated offer for Sam’s Club which, coincidentally, frequently tracks gift card purchases 👀.

Getting 1-2% back on a few thousand dollars in gift cards adds up over time.

Today, Rakuten has a sign-up offer of $30 back on $30 spend. Make sure to work this into your online shopping process!

⏳️ FINAL BOARDING CALL - TIME-SENSITIVE
AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Business Has 5 Free-Night Certificate Offer

Offer details:

• Spend $8k in first 6 months

• Receive 5 free night awards (each award capped at 50k points) for a total of 250k Marriott point value

• Offer ends 03/20/24

We’ve seen an identical 5-night cert offer on the Chase Marriott Boundless many times before, but this is the first time it’s come to AMEX. This is an all-time best offer for this specific card.

Remember that you can top off these certificates with up to 15k extra points, meaning each certificate can cover up to 65k/night.

This business card also comes with 15 annual elite night credits which can be helpful if you’re going for status.

Learn more about the offer here (direct).

Here are some ideas on achievable redemptions:

The Ritz-Carlton, Bali

Le Meridien Maldives

The St. Regis Langkawi

Domes Miramare, Corfu (Greece)

☁️ ON POINTS
New York to Frankfurt - 56.7k in Biz Class & More 30% Discounted Saver Award Tickets

Spontaneous Escapes are usually only for the following calendar month, but this time KrisFlyer has some routes through April.

Most notably, you can redeem JFK <> Frankfurt business class for 56.7k Singapore miles.

For US-based readers, there are some additional routes, including:

• Manchester <> Houston

• LAX → Narita

• SFO → Singapore

Some caveats/warnings:

• These awards cannot be changed or canceled

• Some routes can be found on Aeroplan for cheaper with a more flexible cancellation policy

• Opinions are split on the quality of business class. It’s not 100% lie-flat but it gets close to it and some say is still very, very comfortable.

🛍️ CREDIT CARD MERCHANT OFFERS

Automatically add, favorite, and search all merchant offers on every credit card with a single click via CardPointers (Fly EnPoints readers get 30% off).

AMEX (login at americanexpress.com to check)

• TaxAct: 30% off up to $60 | Expires 04/15
• Hilton Select Resorts & Destinations: $200 back after $1,000+ in purchases | US, Mexico, Canada, Caribbean, Belize, Peru, Honduras, & French Polynesia from 02/16 to 05/15 | Expires 05/15
• Tommy Hilfiger: $15 back on $75+ spend | Expires 05/31
• Mandarin Oriental: $100 back on $500+ spend | Select locations (US, Europe, & Asia) | Expires 05/31
• Equinox Hotel at Hudson Yards: $200 back on $1,000+ spend | Expires 08/16
• Upwork: $125 back on $400+ spend | Expires 08/18
• Italic: $30 back after $150+ in purchases | Expires 08/20

Chase (login at chase.com to check)

• Starbucks: 10% off up to $4.5 | Expires 03/05
• SeatGeek: 5% off up to $31 back on $50+ spend | Expires 03/31
• Office Depot: 10% off up to $11 | Expires 03/31
• Kindle Unlimited: 20% off up to $6 | Expires 03/31
• Disney Plus: 15% off up to $21 | Expires 04/01
• ESPN+: 15% off up to $16.5 | Expires 04/01
• Subway: 10% off up to $3 | Expires 04/01
• McDonald's: 10% off up to $2 | Expires 04/01
• Shake Shack: 10% off up to $3 | Expires 04/01
• Chevron Pay-at-Pump: 2% off up to $1.4 | Expires 04/01

Other

• Office Depot/Max: Get $15 discount on $300+ Visa gift cards | Limit 10 in-store | Between 02/18 to 02/24

🤡 MEME

ann_budgettraveltribe

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I am absolutely guilty of this 😂🤣😂

Some travel experiences are so profound we can’t help but want to share them with those closest to us. Traveling on points enabled me to create these lifelong memories with loved ones, and it can do the same for you.

Share Fly EnPoints with friends and family so they can join your next life-changing adventure. It may be the experience you all reminisce on together for years to come!