Here’s your miles, points, travel, and deals news for August 4, 2023:
New Marriott Business American Express Offer
The Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card has a new higher welcome bonus offer of:
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The previous offer was 75,000 Bonus Marriott Bonvoy Points after you use your new Card to make $3,000, so this offer is double the spend for double the points if you maximize the free night awards.
Last Call on the Elevated Marriott Bonvoy Bonuses
The welcome bonuses on the four Marriott co-branded cards will be coming to an end soon, so now is the time to grab them if you are thinking about these cards.
The current elevated bonuses are:
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card: bonus_miles_full
Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card: bonus_miles_full
Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card: Earn Up To 100,000 Bonus Points: 50,000 Bonus Points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in your first 6 months from your account opening. Plus 50,000 Bonus Points after you stay 6 eligible paid nights at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy® through 1/31/24.
Hyatt Improves Pay My Way
Hyatt added the ability to choose the specific free night certificates you want to use for Hyatt’s “Pay My Way” booking feature that allows you to book a combination of cash, points, points + cash, and free night awards.
This is great when you have Category 1-4 and 1-7 certificates and want to avoid using the Category 1-7 certificate a lower tier hotel.
[HT: Frequent Miler]
Travel News
Marriott Add Mexico’s City Express Hotels: These hotels are now live in Marriott Bonvoy as “City Express by Marriott” and cover 152 hotels primarily in Mexico, with other properties in Chile, Colombia, and Costa Rica.
Wyndham Adds 16 Hotels: Wyndham is adding 16 hotels in a deal with LuxUrban Hotels to add to their Trademark Collection by Wyndham. The hotels are primarily located in Located across New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, and New Orleans.
Southwest Adds 3 Routes, Cuts 1: Southwest added routes from Austin (AUS) to San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU), St. Louis (STL) to Los Cabos, Mexico (SJD), and Baltimore (BWI) to Belize (BZE). These routes begin March 1, 2024, and are only seasonal Saturday service. Southwest also cut Washington D.C. (IAD) to Chicago (MDW).
Virgin Red Changes: Virgin Red members now earn points at Virgin Hotels based on the spent on the room rate of 5 points per dollar for stays in the U.S. and 7 points per GBP for stays in the United Kingdom. Previously, members earn a flat rate of 2,000 points. (HT: Loyalty Lobby).
Lufthansa Delays New Business Class: Lufthansa announced another delay until 2024 (and potentially later) for their new business class for their Boeing 787s and A350 that was originally announced in 2017.
JetBlue and Air Serbia Announce Codeshare Agreement: The new codeshare will allow JetBlue travelers to book connecting flights to destinations in Europe and Air Serbia travelers to book connecting destinations in the U.S.
Deals
- 10% Back at Office Depot/Max via Chase and Bank of America Offers for up to $11 back through 8/31/2023.
- 100% Bonus on Wyndham to United Transfers through August 31, 2023. With the bonus, 6,000 Wyndham points convert to 2,400 United MileagePlus miles. Given United’s recent devaluation, this is not a great deal.
For the rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card, please click here.
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card, please click here.
For the rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card, please click here.
