Using Tim Ferriss' Past Year Review for Travel Rewards in 2024 & Current Offers
A step by step guide to audit your wallet and loyalty programs through reflection.
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Happy New Year!
An newer holiday tradition has been a week by week audit of my personal calendar to determine which people, places, events and actions have been the most beneficial or detrimental from a energy standpoint. This audit is directly inspired by Tim Ferriss’ Past Year Review and I would highly recommend reading his short write-up before proceeding.
Once you’re ready to begin, grab a sheet of paper and create two columns: POSITIVE & NEGATIVE. For some of us, it will be tempting to do this on a Google Sheet, add quantitative scoring and attempt to stack-rank each event, but please refrain in the interest of keeping this quick. Instead, simply review your calendar and write down the people, places, events, and actions that are in the top 20% of each column.
I’ve historically found that travel typically ranks high within my POSITIVE column and while some would suspect it’s simply due to being on vacation, there have been many instances where work travel was just as highly ranked as personal vacations. That led me to really dig into to what about the travel was enjoyable and how can I optimize my day to day to enable more similar experiences.
Connecting the Review to Travel Rewards
If your audit looks anything like mine, you likely have a full 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper with various scribbles on it as well as some clear takeaways and perhaps gratitude from reflecting on your prior year. Now, let’s isolate the travel-related activities that made it onto your sheet and ask ourselves a few specific questions:
Was the travel itself (flight, hotel, car rental) the reason why this experience was in the top 20% of my positive or negative experiences?
Would this experience have been greatly improved or degraded if it weren’t for the cost (cash or points) or loyalty status that I hold?
Lastly, what forcing functions pushed me towards this experience (specific flight time for a meeting, mandated hotel for a wedding, choosing an airline or hotel to reach status, etc)?
While it may not be easy at first, we’re trying to uncover hidden factors that went into both positive and negative experiences. Here’s a travel-focused example we uncovered that still resonates.
30 Hour Flight Delay to Spain
Historically, this would have been higher up in the negative column on my travel review, but it didn’t end up making the list. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t fun to miss out on a day of vacation, but credit cards turned this negative experience into a positive one.
Our Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card allowed us to enter the Virgin Clubhouse lounge in JFK. Ironically, we even arrived to the airport on the early since the lounge opened at 1pm and we wanted to make the most of it before our 6pm flight. We ended up enjoying two full meals with drinks and dessert on day one and sampling the remainder of the menu on day 2. This experience led us to declare that the Virgin Clubhouse as our favorite lounge in JFK.
We booked the travel directly with the airline, but paid for the tickets via The Platinum Card® from American Express so we knew that we were not only earning 5x Membership Rewards points on the cost of the airfare, but also covered by American Express Trip Delay Insurance since the delay was over 6 hours (terms apply).
Lastly, we quickly yet calmly started speaking with the airlines Customer Service team to assess our options. We were offered a night at a local hotel, but opted to take a cab home and have the airline reimburse us for the roundtrip of carfare.
Our seemingly negative experience gave us a new found appreciation of what our credit cards and other travel learnings have yielded plus a full refund on the non-refundable hotel night (personal check from the airline), a partial credit from the hotel for food & drink that we were able to use on our next 2 nights, reimbursed cab expenses, and additional airline vouchers for $175 each. The full cost of the flight was only $229 each, so this was all very welcomed and enabled free airfare for a wedding later that year.
Not all airline delays are net positive experiences, but in our next issue (in two weeks) we’ll share the cards and their respective benefits that can assist you in those situations.
Continue reading for a few current offers and transfer bonuses!
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Offers & Transfer Bonuses
Airlines
Cathay Pacific is offering a 10% transfer bonus when converting credit card points into Asia Miles, register here. Expires 3/31/2024
JetBlue is offering a 25% transfer bonus from various credit card portals, check your portals to see if the offer applies to you. Expires 1/10/2024.
Hotels
Hilton Honors is awarding 2000 bonus points on all stays that occur between 1/1/2024 and 5/1/2024. An additional 500 points will be awarded for each stay if you use opt for a digital key. Register here.
IHG is offering double bonus points for every stay in January and the opportunity to earn an extra 2,000 bonus points for staying at two brands or more. Valid for stays between 1/1/2024 and 1/31/2024
Marriott is offering the ability to earn 5,000 bonus points per stay when staying 2+ nights in an upgraded room or suite at participating Marriott properties & when using promotional code M41. Register here.
Wyndham is offering 3x points on stays of 2+ nights. You must register by 1/12/2024 and complete your stay by 1/15/2024.
Cheers to another year of travel and unforgettable experiences ahead!
❤️ Armand
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