Tag: las-vegas

Mexico City 3 day Trip with Points

We visited Mexico City for a quick 3 day trip to catch the Monarch Butterfly migration.

Parking at the Airport: We used cheapairportparking.com to book 4 days of parking at VPNE parking near LAX. It includes a shuttle and was only $27 for 4 days. A trick is to buy a cheap refundable parking reservation. When you cancel it they will offer you additional credit if you refund as an account credit versus to your credit card. Afterwards, you can use the credit for your booking. Make sure to add a coupon code for additional savings.

Flight to Mexico City: We only had 3 days in Mexico City so we wanted to catch the midnight flight out of LAX so we can arrive in the morning. The price of the flight was only listed as $88 but we added the carry-on package. They also charge a significant tax for non-residents of Mexico, bringing the total to almost double the listed price. Despite booking two people on the same PNR, they did not seat us together so we also paid extra for a seat assignment.

Hotel in Mexico City: Although the Andaz Mexico City was an option was 42k points, we opted for a cheaper option on Expedia. It was only $184 after a personal Capital One Shopping offer of 16% back. The Apartamento Suites Londres 212 was basically an AirBnB studio that was very centrally located. Two of our tours started within a 7 minute walk of the hotel. The lobby was staffed 24 hours but they only spoke Spanish and they had no AC in the room. At the end, we were happy with the choice because of the convenient location. We arrived at the hotel at 6AM the first day and just left our luggage with the staff at the lobby and proceeded to breakfast, followed by the first tour.

GetYourGuide Frida Kahlo Tour + Xochimilco + Coyoacan Tour: The tour was originally priced at $162 for two people but we had 40.5% cashback from the Capital One Shopping Portal. We gathered at the meeting spot and took our tour buses between locations. Fortunately, we were able to sleep on the bus between locations since we arrived that morning from LAX. This was a full day tour and lasted until around 7PM.

GetYourGuide Teotihuacan Balloon Tour: The tour was originally priced at $336 for two people but we again used the cashback from the portal. We were picked up at the hotel and drove about an hour to the meeting area. There were hundreds of balloons that go up each morning and we were in a basket with 8 total people. We flew for roughly an hour and a half and got really close to the pyramids. Definitely a great experience and worth the price. Afterwards, we had breakfast in a restaurant in a cave and then proceeded to spend an hour on foot at the pyramids. We could have used about an hour more but we had to get back to the van.

GetYourGuide Monarch Butterfly Tour: The tour was originally priced at $234 for two people but we had the 40.5% cashback offer. We walked to the pickup spot and the van took about 4 hours to get there, including one rest halfway. The van was incredibly bumpy (I logged 10k steps each way just from the bumpiness of the ride). The El Rosario sanctuary was the highlight of the trip and we came at a good time to watch millions of monarch butterflies in the sanctuary.

Food and miscellanous: We ended up withdrawing 3500 pesos (About $180) and used all of it for food and miscellanous expenses. We used the Charles Schwab debit card which reimbursed our fees at the end of the month (about $6 reimbursement). Some highlights:

La Casa De Tono: Breakfast place close to our hotel. Really hit the spot when we first arrived. Only about $10 for two people. 9/10
Taqueria Los Coyos: A Bib Gourmand taco place. Really good tacos. Was only about $8 per person. 9/10
Terraza Los Pérez Carbón y Comal: Rooftop Restaurant with views across from cathedral. About $20/pp. 8/10
Taquería El Califa de León: Michelin star taco place. They really need better signage for the pickup vs order line. Worth a shot if you’re visiting but took us about an hour to order and wasn’t as good as the other taco place. About $15/pp. 8/10
Centurion Lounge Mexico City (terminal 1): Food is free for platinum card holders, plus tip. Pizza and tacos were great. 9/10
Centurion Lounge Mexico City (terminal 2): Only had the pizza here, and it seemed like it was microwaved. The lounge seemed fine otherwise. 7/10

Flight back Aeromexico via AA: We originally booked a 6AM AA flight award from MEX-PHX-LAX for 12k points per person. However, a day before, availability opened on AA for a 3PM direct flight for the same cost so we just cancelled the first one and rebooked for the later flight. It allowed us to wake up at a reasonable time and also enjoy a couple hours more in Mexico City. When we arrived at the airport, we spent an hour or so at the Centurion Lounge which offered a la carte meals that were quite good. We walked to the gate and they needed about 20 volunteers to change flight due to weight limitations. They offered $800 credit per person and offered to rebook us to the Aeromexico flight that was leaving just 3 hours later so we jumped on it. It took us about an hour to switch to the other terminal and get our new tickets from the Aeromexico counter. We were able to save about 30 minutes by using the skyteam priority line because of the Bilt status match to Air France/KLM. After clearing security, we went to the other Centurion lounge for awhile and then boarded the flight.

Totals: Our total cost for the trip was about $1800 for two people. Broken down it was flights: $774, Hotel: $184, Activities: $477, Food/Misc/Ubers: $371. They flights were pretty expensive because we had date/time restrictions. We also received $800 of AA vouchers per person for changing a flight by 3 hours. However, they were archaic paper vouchers that had some booking limitations and expire within a year.

Effect of Points: The points/miles hobby saved a couple hundred dollars for this trip and gave us lounge access. It allowed us to book refundable award flights, and change our flight to a better one at the last minute. We also received $280 cashback from the capital one shopping portal. There were points options for the hotel and flights, but they just did not make sense given the lower cash prices for acceptable alternatives.

Planning a Trip to Madison, WI with Points

We were planning to visit Madison, WI for about a week in November. We had fairly strict boundary conditions: We had to arrive on Monday, November 4th and leave on Saturday or Sunday.

Flight to MSN: The lowest priced option was to Uber to Ontario airport (about $60) and take a cheap Frontier flight to MSN. We looked at a variety of permutations (from all the Socal airports to Madison, Chicago, or Milwaukee) but it’s hard to beat $46 per person. I had diamond status on Frontier, which includes a carry-on, seating, and priority boarding. If we had no points we probably would have booked the same flight, but added the carry-on bundle for about $60.

Hotel in MSN: Our best option turned out to be booking direct with Choice Hotels at a Mainstay Suites for $516.38. There was also 10.5% cashback through a shopping portal. The points alternatives were Fairfield Inn and Suites (126k Marriott points), Hyatt Place (72k points), or Hilton Home2 Suites (180k points), none of which seem to be a wise use of points. There was also an interesting option with Marriott using 2 Amex offers for $140 off $350. The lowest rate would have been $590 after Amex Offers, but would have been a nonrefundable. In this case, points weren’t very useful.

Car Rental in MSN: We booked a refundable $30/day weekly rate. Presidential Circle status from Amex Platinum or the Venture X card may allow us to pick a larger car from the lot. I had about 800 Hertz points expiring this year, so this rental would earn enough points to get another free rental day. Without points, I would have booked the same rental, but wouldn’t have gained the free rental day.

Flight from MSN: We booked a Frontier flight back that would stop overnight in Las Vegas. We had to book each leg separately because Frontier doesn’t allow long layovers. Any alternatives would have been about $250 per person or 18.5k AA points.

Overnight in Vegas: This would allow us to do a mattress run at the Rio and use some of the dining credits from various offers (e.g. Fointainebeau status match). We had waived resort fees at the Rio and used some expiring Hertz points for a 1-day rental. With cash, we would have booked $40 Budget rental through Autoslash and stayed at the Excalibur or Luxor for roughly $58/night with resort fees.

Additional Flights: We had 2 people coming from PHX and their flights would have been $307 pp on American Airlines basic economy. We used Alaska points to book the exact same flights for 15k points + $36.20 per person. The points flight would be mostly refundable (minus the $25 partner booking fee) and include seat selection.

Totals: Our total expected cost for the 6 day trip for 4 people is: $1238 and 30000 Alaska Airlines points. Without points, it would have cost roughly $2000 for the entire trip. Although we used points for only 2 flights, we were able to use some elite status perks. The savings for this trip is mostly from the Alaska points on American flights, extra perks from Frontier Diamond, and Hyatt Globalist.

MGM Pearl Status for life for watching a 30 minute video

One of the lesser known paths to MGM status is via status match with Celebrity Cruises. Classic members (2-149 Club Points) get matched to MGM Pearl. You get points by sailing with Celebrity Cruises, typically 1 Club Point per night sailed. And unlike most loyalty programs, cruise loyalty programs count the number of nights during your lifetime, which means your status is permanent.

In addition to getting Club Points for sailing, you can get Club Points outside of the cruise. By signing up for the the Captain’s Club (free to join), you get invited to surveys or webinars to earn Power Up Points. Each 10 Power Up Points convert to 1 Club Point. Since Classic status only requires 2 Club Points, just one activity is enough to get you Classic status for life. Unfortunately, they only send these offers out once or twice a year.

For example, on 9/18/24, a webinar link was sent out that is worth 30 Power Up Points = 3 Club Points, or enough for Classic status for life. The webinar link seemed to be unique but is good for up to 5 viewers.

So the play here is:

Sign up for Celebrity Cruises Captain’s Club.
Wait until they send out a survey or webinar OR ask someone who received a link to add you as a viewer. Each link seems to be valid for up to 5 people.
Get 30 Power Up Points, which are automatically converted to 3 Club Points, netting you Classic Status
Match Classic Status to MGM Pearl (should work for a lifetime, as long as the match stays in place)

Of course, you can also get Pearl status for signing up for the MGM Rewards Mastercard (no annual fee). The credit card also gives you priority line access, which Pearl status doesn’t on it’s own.

Future New York City Trip with Points

We were planning to visit NYC for about a week sometime later in the year. This is one of the instances where points didn’t really save much money, but did elevate the trip.

We wanted to leave at night from LAX and arrive in the morning in New York on specific days, which limited our flight and hotel options.

Flight to NYC: I had 4 Move to Mint certificates from the Jetblue/Delta Status match so Jetblue was really the only choice with points. There was also a 25% off promotion, which brought the flight down to $130.

If I didn’t have points, I would have booked Jetblue Basic, which would have cost $30 less per person.

Hotel in NYC: With points, the first option was the Hyatt Regency Jersey City, at 18000 points per night. I applied a suite upgrade to the Hudson River Suite. Another option was to get a suite at Hyatt House Jersey City for $131 + 6k points per night. There was also a double point promotion at Hyatt Houses at the time. Either choice would include breakfast and would have early check-in (if available) and late-checkout. The Regency room and breakfast should be nicer, so we opted for the HR option.

Without points, we would have booked the Doubletree at Fort Lee, which was $689 through id90travel. It wouldn’t have a view of NYC, wouldn’t have breakfast, would be a less nice room, and would be less convenient to public transportation.

GoCity Explorer Pass: The explorer pass includes touristy options like the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty. It’s available as a Hyatt Find Experience so we opted for the $150 and $300 find credit as a 50 and 70 night milestones on Hyatt. I would value them at roughly 50% of face value, so $350 find credit cost me roughly $175.

Without points, I would have purchased the passes from Groupon with a gift card and cashback portal for roughly $147 per person.

Flight from NYC: We booked a Jetblue Blue fare for $168 per person and used move to mint certificates. It was originally $204 but the price dropped.

Without points, we would have just booked the blue basic option for $153 per person.

Other expenses: We would have paid less for food since breakfast is provided at the Hyatt hotels. Other than that, the other expenses should be the same with or without points.

Totals: Our total expected cost for the trip for two people is: 90000 Hyatt Points, $1304, and 4x Move to Mint Certificates that was free from the Delta status match last year.

Without points, we would have paid about $2117. In this case, points didn’t really save us much money at all, but gave us a more luxurious experience. We would have lie-flat seats both ways and better accommodations that were closer to public transportation.

The sticker price for all the options would be some nonsensical number that has no bearing on reality since we would never pay that amount. The personal value of the trip (the amount I would have paid out of pocket) was around $2700. We would have paid $100 more for mint each way and about $300 more for the better hotel with breakfast. So we got a trip that we value at $2700 for $1304 and 90000 Hyatt Points.

Atlantic City Trip with Points

I wanted to head to Atlantic City and the surrounding areas to take advantage of a couple offers that I had available.

I had an offer for $125 freeplay and 12.5k rewards points from Caesar’s Atlantic City from the casino play that netted me Diamond Elite status.
I planned to status match to Ocean’s Prime for the free MSC cruise, and 2 nights at Resorts World with $100 dining and $100 freeplay credit
I was also looking for other offers at local casinos
I wanted to scout out the real money gambling sites that are only accessible from specific states.

The plan was to fly SNA-PHL, take a one-way rental to BWI, stay 2 nights in Maryland, and fly out of BWI.

	Price Paid	Realistic Replacement	Realistic Price
Flight: AA SNA-ACY	9k points + $5.60	AA: SNA-ACY	$188
Car Rental PHL-BWI: Hertz	~$93 after offers	Hertz	$133
Hotel: Caesar’s Palace AC	Comp + $7.5	Generic AC Hotel	$140
Car Rental BWI-BWI: Hertz	~$82 after offers	Hertz	$120
Hotel: Hyatt Place BWI	4.5k points	Generic Airport Hotel	$110
Hotel: Courtyard Marriott	35K FNA	Generic Airport Hotel	$110
Flight AA BWI-SNA	11.5k points + $5.60	Spirit BWI-SNA	$120

Flight to: I had Alaska 75k status from a status match and booked the American Airlines rewards flights with the AS number. I was able to select Main Cabin Extra at time of booking and was placed on the waitlist for business. I was the last person to be upgraded on the leg from SNA-CLT, and was upgraded at about 48 hours prior for the leg from CLT-PHL. I had actually booked a 16.5k business class saver reward for a separate itinerary months in advance but cancelled it once I saw that I was #1 on the waitlist (and also had the whole exit row to myself even if I didn’t get upgraded). Since no flights fly directly to ACY outside of Spirit, a realistic replacement for this flight would cost $188.

I was tracking the business class seats for the first leg from SNA-CLT. There were about 8 seats available until around 48 hours before the flight. At some point, all but 4 seats were assigned (presumably free upgrades). Seems like 2 more seats were taken at T-24 hours (possibly paid upgrades?). By the time the waitlist was visible (T-12 hours), only 1 slot was available.

Car Rental: I booked a 1-way rental from PHL to BWI and added Hertz Platepass for $25.99 since the tolls would be around $25 anyways. In addition, I booked with 15% back at Rakuten, had an Amex offer for $40 off $150, would get 3500 Hertz points after 3 rentals, and had Presidential Circle status from the Amex Platinum. On top of the 3500 Hertz points, I would get another 300 points after spending roughly $300, which would be enough for 4 free-ish rentals .

Hotel in Atlantic City: This was free with comps, with no resort fee from Diamond Status. An alternative hotel would be any of the nearly casino hotels for roughly $100 plus resort fees.

Car Rental BWI: I dropped off the one-way rental and picked up 2-day rental from Hertz with the same offers as above. It was $120 before offers and $82 out of pocket after offers.

Hotel #1 BWI: I used 6500 points for a peak night at Hyatt Place BWI. It’s one of the rare category 1s in North America and definitely shows it’s age. I would also receive 2000 points from Hyatt milestone rewards so the net would be 4.5k points. I checked in early at 11:30AM and checked out late at 4PM from globalist status. The cash price of this hotel (or an equivalent hotel nearby) would be roughly $110 after taxes/fees.

Hotel #2 BWI: I had an expiring Marriott 35k Free Night Award. It wasn’t a great redemption but I just wanted to burn the award. I had a 2PM check-out from Marriott Gold status from Amex Platinum.

Flight out: I originally booked a terrible itinerary but a bunch of award flights dropped in price about a week before the trip. The original options were on AA and left at 7AM or required 2 stops and an overnight at DFW or PHX. If I didn’t have points I would probably have booked a Spirit flight for around $110 and paid for an upgrade through seatbid.

Miscellaneous: I used the Centurion lounges in CTL and PHL, Minute Suites at CTL, Club Lounge in BWI, and ate a meal at Harbor Grille in BWI. The first 4 visits were courtesy of the Amex platinum while the Priority Pass restaurant visit came from the Altitude Reserve. Harbor Grille doesn’t allow take-out on Priority Pass but doesn’t charge taxes on Priority Pass so the only amount owed for me was the tip.

The total for the trip was 20.5k AA Points, 4.5k Hyatt Points, a Marriot 35k FNA, and $194 out of pocket, not including food/drinks/gas. I would also get enough points for 2 days of rentals. Without points, this trip would have cost around $921. I was also upgraded to business for 5 hours in the air, selected preferred seats for the other 5 hours, enjoyed early check-in/late checkout at the hotels, and was able to use some sort of lounge benefit 5 times. Everything was also completely refundable since they were booked with points. Even though the sticker price for these ancillary benefits may be high, I would personally only value them at ~$200, putting the total value of the trip at ~$1100.

On paper, many of these redemptions aren’t really spectacular. I would estimate the market value for the Hyatt and AA points to be around 1.6 cents per point, and the Marriot 35k FNA to be worth about $150. By that calculation, I spent about $744 worth of points instead of paying $1100 in cash. However, I can obtain these points at way less than market value and have plenty of points to burn.

Stacking Hertz Offers for Discount Car Rentals

Usually, car rentals are the hardest part of a trip to get outsized value with points. Right now, until June 30th 2024, there’s some interesting offers for Hertz rentals that can be stacked.

1) Sign up for Hertz Gold Rewards (free) and you get 3500 points after 3 rentals. A free rental day on a non-blackout date is 950 points, so this is worth 3 rental days. If you spend $300 you will get a 4th rental day. The free points expire at the end of 2024.

2) Amex Offers has $40 back after $150 for Amex Platinum members as part of their 40 year anniversary promotion.

3) Rakuten currently has 15% cashback for Hertz Rentals.

I do a lot of 1 day rentals, and each rental day costs $55. So, after 3 rentals for $125 out of pocket, I should get 3 free rental days and 2500 Amex Rewards Points through Rakuten. That’s about $100 for 6 Rental days, which is as good as it gets for rental car deals.

Easirent Rental Car Experience at LAS, part 2

My flight arrived at 4:43PM, scheduled for 4:40PM. They had people with connections to Boise and Indiana, which seemed to be half the plane, deplane first so it took longer than usual. I understand this if the flight was late, but the flight arrive on time, and the connecting flights were leaving in 50 minutes from the same terminal. The gates were literally 100 feet apart.

After I deplaned, I walked to the rental car area and both shuttles were essentially waiting there so I arrived at the desk at 5:30PM. I was 4th in line and it took 45 minutes since there was only 1 person at the counter. Each person took a little over 10 minutes, partially because of all the excess documentation required.

What was incredibly frustrating (and possibly illegal) was that they only took two cards for car rental CDW: the Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve. The Platinum card doesn’t even have primary CDW. I had booked the rental on Hopper an charged my Venture X Card, which has primary CDW.

They also seemed to have no idea how CDW works with credit cards. I presented the Platinum card as proof of insurance, but they would have allowed me to pay with my Venture X. The Platinum card requires the entire purchase to be made with the card to get CDW, so CDW would not have applied.

I have a feeling that this is a lawsuit waiting to happen. I had valid insurance through my credit card, but it was voided because some manager decided to only take 2 credit cards for CDW.

I called the customer service line to clarify and the agent, who seemed over it, very plainly said it was a money grab to get more people to purchase the insurance.

Easirent Rental Car experience at LAS

I rented a car from Easirent for $27 per day, which was reduced to $2 after using credits, through the Hopper app. The next lowest price was three times higher, so I figured why not.

It was early in the morning and I was first in line. It took about 10 minutes to pick up my car because they required an unusual amount of documentation. They required:

ID and credit card
Proof of insurance with declaration page
If you don’t have comprehensive insurance, you need to buy their insurance or
Show that you have primary Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) through your credit card, which requires showing that the credit card was used for the rental car purchase, and the benefits guide for the credit card
A confirmation of an outbound flight – if you don’t have one then you will considered a local rental

For some reason the CS person insisted that it must be primary CDW, even though secondary should work just as well. The local rental restrictions are severe: a cap of 150 miles/day, and you have to show documentation matching the driver license address. Of course, you can bypass this if you buy a refundable outbound ticket.

They gave me a relatively new Nissan sedan with 9000 miles, but with only 25% left in the tank (55 miles). It needed an oil change and wiper fluid replacement but otherwise ran fine. I would strongly recommend recording the car before and after pickup in case you’re charged for any damage.

The return was pretty smooth but there was an additional 15 minute wait for the shuttle. There was also a long line for pickups at 1PM (roughly 10 people), and 3 people working the counter, or roughly a 40 minute wait.

Trip Report: Vegas Trip

Flew out to Las Vegas with some expiring credits I had with Frontier. Not a full flight and we left and arrived on time. They closed the gate exactly at T-15 minutes because, supposedly we would have to wait an hour if we missed our landing slot at LAS.

Rented a car via Hertz – they had about 6 Mustangs and a Mini in the Presidential Circle Lot and a couple sedans in the gold lot. I chose the Camry with 5000 miles. Pro-tip: you can drive a Toyota for about 50 miles before the fuel gauge goes below full.

Stayed at the Four Queens hotel because I had a vegas.com $100 off code and they don’t charge resort fees. It’s a very basic hotel but has free parking for guests and is right in the middle of Downtown Las Vegas.

Walked around various Downtown LV hotels and used about $250 worth of freeplay/sign up offers/Las Vegas advisor offers but only returned about $190.

Ended up doing the status match at Fontainebleau to their gold status from Diamond Elite. There was a line of about 10 people and many seemed to be signing up or doing status matches.

I left Downtown LV at 11:08 for a flight that was scheduled at 12:43. Drove to the rental car center, hopped into the shuttle as it was about to leave, and arrived at the departure gate at 12:05, leaving about 15 minutes for the Priority Pass lounge in the E gates. They upped their food game a bit. They had rice, mashed potatoes, pulled pork sandwiches, shredded chicken, broccoli, and a salad bar. Previously they only had the sandwiches.

myVegas: Prizes and 1099-misc

Last year, I won a myVegas sweepstakes for a 2 nights stay at NYNY with $100 in freeplay and $200 in resort credit. I had to submit a W9 form with playstudios because the winnings are considered as income. I expected to be taxed but I was definitely surprised at how much they valued the prize.

I received my 1099-misc for the winnings and the prize was valued at $1000. They seemed to just pick a random number for the value of the prize, without considering the actual value. At a 30% state + federal tax rate, I would owe an addition $300. The actual value of the prize, based on publicly available rates on the same day, was:

2 weekday nights at NYNY: No resort fees. Had to go on weekdays due to schedule. Actual value: $220
$100 freeplay: Actual value: $100
$200 resort credit: Actual value: $120

The resort credit value is based on the premium they add for their room rates with a food and beverage credit. Typically, for $100 daily credit you only pay $50-$60 per night. So the actual value of the stay was only about $450, yet I had to pay $300 in taxes for it.

What’s even worse is that the REAL value for me is significantly lower. If I had to book this trip, I would have paid:

2 weekdays nights at NYNY: free through myVegas, no resort fee through MGM Gold. Price: $0
$100 freeplay: Price: $100
$200 resort credit Price: $120

If I booked the trip myself, I would have only spent $220! Yet by winning the prize I would pay $300 in taxes.

Conclusion

The lesson here is 1) if you win a prize, ask about taxes 2) book weekend rates to maximize value 3) consider decline the prize if the taxes is more than you would pay for the trip.

In the above picture, if someone won the NCL cruise, they would owe taxes on $1800, in addition to the gratuities and port fees. They could have gotten the cruise for free and saved $540 if they purchased the NCL reward directly loyalty