e-rewards: Going to Hilton

After an internal battle trying to figure out what to do with my $100 in e-rewards and they are going to Hilton.  I get a pretty good bang for the buck in a program that I use, which helps even if there is no GS12.  I thought about Choice, but they can take a while and I didn't want to miss the end of the quarter.  Priority Club only gets me 4,000 points and I need 10,000 to convert, so that may go next, assuming 2Q12 is good for me.

Broke $100 on e-Rewards

I finally broke $100 on e-Rewards.  Now comes the hard part: where to transfer it.

I already have a ton of Hilton points, so that's an easy, if expensive hit, if I need it. 

I have no Choice points, but they're easy enough to acquire.

I have plenty of Club Carlson points.

I don't trust that La Quinta will still be a partner next year.

I also have plenty of Priority Club points.

I'm leaning toward transferring them to Choice right now, but there's plenty of time, since we're not even in the second calendar quarter.

E-miles and E-Rewards

Don't forget to check those E-miles accounts!  I'm now up to 195 points.  Not much, but I only need 500 to get a hit next year.

I did read a report on FT of someone getting booted for having multiple accounts.  No idea what caused E-Rewards to catch on, though.  I'm up to about $86 in my account, so I'm closing in on points for another hit.

e-rewards pays: Received my $25 gift card

For a lucky few, e-Rewards offers a $25 Target gift card as one of the prizes.  Just got mine yesterday!  Hey, it's better than the equivalent hotel points.

Update: e-rewards, e-Miles, Wyndham

I'm currently at $58.21 on e-rewards, so I'm a little over halfway to getting enough points for one of the GS12 hits.  Hey, it's a start, and we're not even in 2012.  The e-rewards surveys have been coming a little more frequently, although they do come in waves.  Hopefully, I'm not at the end of the wave.

e-Miles is so easy that I tend to forget about it.  I had 70 points waiting for me and am now up to 165.  I'll have no problem hitting the 500 mark.  Note: When you sign up for a newsletter or free offer, it says to use the same email address that you use for your e-Miles account.  That tends to lead to a lot of spam and I've never had a problem using an alternate address.

My easy Wyndham hit is now gone.  There was a mistake fare for a Ramada in Mexico which allowed me to book two rooms for under $10 and qualify for the 6,500 bonus points for two stays.  A number of people, however, have been having trouble with the hotel, and I don't feel like fighting with a hotel in Mexico.  I cancelled the reservations.

Updates

It's been a busy few weeks preparing for GS12, a promotion that may not even exist next year.  Having said that:

I rented a car this week using a Radisson promotion that would give me 9,000 points.  We'll see if the points actually hit or if I need to fight with them.

FT pointed out a mistake fare for a Wyndham in Mexico city.  Assuming that all goes to plan, which rarely happens, that'll be 6,500 of the 7,000 I need.

I'm up to $42 in e-Rewards and have just gotten a few new surveys.  It's a long way to what I need, but with Club Carlson and Wyndham potentially done for next year, it will help.

More eRewards!

Okay, you're gonna get sick of hearing about eRewards, but I've been getting a bunch of them over the past week, so keep at it in preparation for GS12.  I'm up to $28, which is about 5-10% of what I believe I will ultimately need, but a good start.

Note: DO NOT just click random answers.  They have filters to grab people who are doing surveys faster than humanly possible and/or giving highly inconsistent answers.  Get caught enough times and they'll shut you off.

e-rewards surveys coming in, so start now!

e-rewards tends to go in fits and starts.  Over the past several days, I have gotten lucky and qualified for one or two, along with a few that booted me.  Take advantage of the surveys while you can, since you may not see another one for a while.

Why start now?  $7,500 gets you 4,500 Club Carlson points.  $100 in e-rewards currency can get you any of the following: 4,000 Choice points, 4,000 La Quinta points, 4,000 Priority Club points or 7,000 Hilton points.  What do those all have in common?  Not a single one will get you enough points for a hit.  Furthermore, there may be limitations on the number of transfers to a particular partner in a quarter, which means you need to get these transferred by the end of September to be able to get a second transfer in during the third quarter to top off your balances.  And let's not forget the 500 emiles you can get for $25 e-dollars or the actual US Airways hit you can get for transferring 25 e-dollars.

The bottom line is this: You are going to need several hundred e-dollars to convert to hotel points to max out on these hits.  True, there are easier ways to get those hotel points, but e-rewards is consistent.  The good news is that there is a lot of time between now and next September, so get crackin!

What's next? Preparing for GS12

So now that I'm essentially done with GS11, I've decided to keep this blog open and start preparing for GS12.  Granted, it could all be for naught, since they may not run the promo next year, or it may be so different that nothing from this year applies.  My suspicion is that we will see the promo again, but with more restrictions added regarding minimum purchases and what counts/doesn't count.  That means you, Audience Rewards.

Now is the time to start preparing.  Yes, now.  eRewards is your friend.  You're going to need several hundred eRewards dollars if you want to convert them into hotel points for later transfer, so get started.  It seems intimidating at first, since you start at zero (if you can even get an invite) and don't often qualify for surveys, but you'll thank yourself later.  And yes, I'll put it out there one more time: the new blog focuses solely on hotel points.  By the time GS12 rolls around, you'll easily have enough for several transfers.  I put up one opportunity today that may get you almost halfway to the Radisson hit, no money required.  I promise, that's the last of the self-promotion for today.

Emiles is an easy hit.  Start it today. 

I'll be posting my progress as I go along.  Obviously, the postings won't be as frequent, but I will show up.  Stay with me in the journey to next year. 

Choice Hotels for the pinch-hit

Let's face it: Something isn't going to post.  I know it, you know it and US knows it.  So it is critical to do hit #37 and maybe even #38.

To that end, I transferred some e-Rewards points to Choice and kicked in $44 to buy another 4,000.  I don't like paying that much, but it's worth it as an insurance policy.  My new e-Rewards account offers a number of hotel partners, so I'm just saving up for next year.  GS 2012 will be made on the back of hotel transfers.

Note: for Choice, the purchase was almost instantaneous, but you actually have to log out and then back in to see the points.