Amex | Noob Traveler

Last day for Axon rewards at a cheaper rate

Posted by Noob Master on Jun 14, 2013 in Amex, Axon and Glon, Hilton Honors, Uncategorized | 0 comments

Today is the last day to redeem Axon awards before they increase in price tomorrow, June, 15, 2013.

There are now 10 Hilton categories instead of the 7 before the epic Hilton devaluation. Unfortunately, you aren’t able to book any Axon awards for aspirational properties in the 8, 9, or 10 categories before June 15th. However, you can still book Hilton hotels in categories 5, 6, and 7 at the current Axon level.

Axon awards are for Hilton members who carry an American Express branded Hilton rewards credit card. They are discounted hotel awards for stays of 4 nights.

The current Axon rates are:

Category 5 – 125,000
Category 6 – 125,000
Category 7 – 145,000

The new Axon rates starting June 15th, 2013 are:

Category 5 – 130,000
Category 6 – 160,000
Category 7 – 190,000
Category 8 – 220,000
Category 9 – 260,000
Category 10 – 300,00

That’s quite a hike in prices! You would save 45,000 Hilton HHonors points if you booked an Axon award for a category 7 hotel today. To see a hotels award pricing, check out Hilton’s new search tool. Nifty.

To make an Axon award booking you must call the Diamond line at 1-800-920-5649.

I’m thinking about booking the Conrad category 7 hotel in Bali today to burn some of my Hilton stash. Not the greatest beach, but I’ll make it. Don’t forget to compare the cost of booking the hotel per night since members with Silver, Gold or Diamond elite status will now get a free night when they book a Standard Room Reward stay of five or more consecutive nights. Do the math.

It’s a bummer, Axon awards were such a sweet spot for top tier Hilton hotels for such a long time. Now it’s more than double to book a top level Hilton hotel, but at least it’s still relatively easy to earn Hilton points; the two free weekend nights earned from the Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Reserve Card can still be used at new top tier hotels. A small win.

This is just another example of why you should always be earning and burning. Those miles in your accounts aren’t earning interest.

(I receive a referral credit for the Citi Hilton Reserve card. Thank you if you decide to apply through the blog!)

— Noob Master

American Express Business Gold Offer

Posted by Noob Master on May 8, 2013 in American Express, Amex, business credit cards, Uncategorized | 8 comments

Update Alert: the 75,000 offer is no longer available, so I’ve removed the links for the offer from my post. The current offer is below:

Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have had this product or any Business Gold, Green or Platinum Card account within the last 12 months.” So if it hasn’t been 12 months since you canceled your OPEN business card, you wouldn’t eligible for this one. Personal Amex cards don’t disqualify you, and it’s possible to get a personal Amex card and business card on the same day. Good personal American Express card offers are the:

Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express, Mercedes- Benz Platinum card, or you can see if you’re eligible for the 45,00o Delta offer through the CARDMATCH^TM tool, but ymmv.

Make sure you’re signed out of your American Express account before trying to click on the link. Also, if it doesn’t pull up the first time, try clearing cookies, cache, or opening a different browser. Safari seems to work great, and don’t forget to take a screen shot.

This is my affiliated link, but I didn’t receive any information about the offer changing. I’m not sure how long it will be around, but if you were thinking about pulling the trigger on the Business Gold card then today might be a great day.

I hope this helps if you’re planning an App Party!

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(HT: Mommy Points)

his content is not provided or commissioned by the company whose products are featured on this site. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or evaluations provided here are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the Advertiser. This site may be compensated through the Advertiser’s affiliate programs.

— Noob Master

Transferring American Express Membership Rewards Points to ANA

Posted by Noob Master on May 7, 2013 in American Express, Amex, ANA, Membership Rewards, Uncategorized | 0 comments

Membership Rewards points are best known for their transfer bonuses and wide range of transfer partners (see: 35% Transfer Bonus with British Airways, running through June 7th). Since many people have been accumulating Membership Rewards points through their random LTO offers (currently there’s a 50,000 offer after spending $5k in 3 months on The Business Gold Rewards Card® from American Express OPEN), we will continue our series on transfer options with Membership Rewards.

ANA (All Nippon Airways) is well known for their award search engine because you can search Star Alliance flights and you won’t see phantom First Class availability like United. It’s the search engine I use when I’m searching for Lufthansa First Class tickets. You do have to have some miles in your ANA account to search, though.

If you aren’t a member of ANA – you can join here.

I transferred over 1,000 Membership Rewards to ANA (lowest denomination possible) so I could search for Star Alliance flights on their site. This didn’t bother me because ANA has some good redemptions of their own, so I know I will eventually top off my ANA account for a booking. It does take up to 24 hours for Membership Rewards to be transferred.

Click the image below to transfer some Membership Rewards points over to ANA.

Transfer MR to ANA

You do have to have enough miles in your account to see the taxes and fees for a specific booking. This is definitely not ideal. The Points Guy has an extensive 3 part series with many flight examples priced out for your reference.

Here’s a peek at the ANA Award chart.

ANA Award Chart

ANA flights are distance based, so you can find some real value flying from the East Coast to Europe. I use gcmap to research the distance of my flights. But beware, there will definitely be some hefty fuel surcharges. However, Dans Deals reported in January that ANA has cut all fuel surcharges on United/US Airways flights. Balling. This means you can fly to Europe in business class for 63,000 or 68,000 miles *roundtrip* (depending on your destination) with little fees and taxes. Yeah, it’s United, but almost all of their transatlantic business class seats are lie-flat, and you can’t beat the no fuel surcharges.

A favorite of many people is to book Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic from New York to London for 63,000 miles + fuel surcharges. I’ve heard people rave about this product, but I’ve yet to fly it myself.

You can have up to 4 stopovers on an award ticket, but only two in Europe and none in the original country you’re traveling in. Open jaws are allowed but they will count as a stopover. Gotta love those options.

Recap

Membership Rewards points are definitely uber valuable and the more you learn how to use them, the more you will fall in love with them. You know I love my Ultimate Rewards points because of their transfer partners and how easy they are to use, but lately I’ve found myself lusting after American Express Membership Rewards points more and more. It’s all about diversity and options anyway when it comes to maximizing rewards miles for travel.

I hope this helps as you continue to accumulate Membership Rewards points and are looking for ways to use them. For now, I’m still hanging onto mine for another Singapore Suite class ticket, or to top off my Avios account, but ANA is definitely a great option and one that I would consider utilizing.

— Noob Master