Thursday, January 5, 2012
Preparing for GS12: Club Carlson now complete!
Every once in a while I get lucky. A few months ago, I caught a promo where Club Carlson offered 9,000 points for renting a car. They just showed up so, if CC is a partner for next year, I've got one more hit. Keep an eye out for those car rental promos, they tend to be good ones.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
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.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Merry New Year!
Some people call it the most wonderful time of the year. Screw that. I hate any time of the year when my elite balances are going to turn to zero.
Having said that, I have a lot to be thankful for. After a year of unemployment, I found a job. My wife recovered from a serious illness. And I have two wonderful kids who continue to thrive, even if dinner time is a struggle. 2010 was an F. 2011 was an A-.
As you know, I am not spending as much time on this blog, since there really isn't much going on for GS12. Most of my time is spent on two other blogs:
Mysuitepoints focuses solely on hotel deals. There were 10 or so hotel partners last year, and I look for deals that are either ridiculously cheap, or free. It's a site for "quick hits" rather than extensive analysis and I post as many deals as possible that won't be a waste of time.
Freepointsite is turning out to be a lot of fun. It focuses on non-travel loyalty programs, ranging from My Coke Rewards to Pampers Points. For the most part, it is a list of free codes to get points at any of those sites. I laughed at first until I realized A) how many free points these sites tend to give away and B) they have pretty good prizes (e.g., You can get movie tickets at Pampers Points.).
I update both of those sites daily and look forward to the day when I make my fortune from google adsense (Okay, that'll never happen.).
Points are good, but I hope that you have a safe, happy and healthy new year.
Having said that, I have a lot to be thankful for. After a year of unemployment, I found a job. My wife recovered from a serious illness. And I have two wonderful kids who continue to thrive, even if dinner time is a struggle. 2010 was an F. 2011 was an A-.
As you know, I am not spending as much time on this blog, since there really isn't much going on for GS12. Most of my time is spent on two other blogs:
Mysuitepoints focuses solely on hotel deals. There were 10 or so hotel partners last year, and I look for deals that are either ridiculously cheap, or free. It's a site for "quick hits" rather than extensive analysis and I post as many deals as possible that won't be a waste of time.
Freepointsite is turning out to be a lot of fun. It focuses on non-travel loyalty programs, ranging from My Coke Rewards to Pampers Points. For the most part, it is a list of free codes to get points at any of those sites. I laughed at first until I realized A) how many free points these sites tend to give away and B) they have pretty good prizes (e.g., You can get movie tickets at Pampers Points.).
I update both of those sites daily and look forward to the day when I make my fortune from google adsense (Okay, that'll never happen.).
Points are good, but I hope that you have a safe, happy and healthy new year.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
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.
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.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Don't let your emiles expire
I just got an email reminding me that I hadn't been to emiles in a while. Not a revelation, since I get this email about once per week.
What caught my eye, however, was that my account went inactive and my points were about to expire. Oops, can't have that. I logged back in and did one of the clicks.
Emiles is one of the easiest GS hits and, since you can get either Hilton points or US Airways points, it's actually worth two hits, although getting enough Hilton points to transfer to US Airways for a hit would involve a thousand clicks. You can speed it up by signing up for the 10-15 point offers, but be sure to use an email address that is not vital to avoid all the spam.
Bottom line: because it's so simple, it's easy to forget about it. Don't.
What caught my eye, however, was that my account went inactive and my points were about to expire. Oops, can't have that. I logged back in and did one of the clicks.
Emiles is one of the easiest GS hits and, since you can get either Hilton points or US Airways points, it's actually worth two hits, although getting enough Hilton points to transfer to US Airways for a hit would involve a thousand clicks. You can speed it up by signing up for the 10-15 point offers, but be sure to use an email address that is not vital to avoid all the spam.
Bottom line: because it's so simple, it's easy to forget about it. Don't.
Monday, November 21, 2011
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.
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.
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