How I Scored 75K Airline Miles For An Airport Hotel Stay

Hi Lucky - when booking through lifemiles, did the nights count towards status?

@Lucky,

Can I just pay and don't go, and get the miles?

@ Brian Radigan -- They don't, unfortunately. In my case I could only book three rooms, and not four rooms, though the promotion, so it worked out, because I'll still get elite nights for one of my rooms.

@ leo -- I don't have any firsthand experience with that with Rocketmiles. Does anyone know for sure?

Ben, I’d be curious to know, what strategy you’d ideally use (or did use) for the actual payment of the $1027. For example the Citi Double Cash MC gives out roughly 2% back, so on a purchase like this thats about $20.54 back on top of the points earned.

Is this considered non-bonus spend or is there a category to maximize beyond cash back? Would you opt for MR points, Thank You points, or another points currency in cases like this?

@paul , it's travel so the CSR is a no brainer

Just saying that the post doesn't come across as bragging at all, and even if it were, what's wrong with that? We all "brag" to friends about deals we catch, it's half part of the fun 🙂 More important, sharing this is a good example of how to execute on a deal and how to "rewire" our brains to think about cost/reward analysis. Great job executing!

What you are doing is rationalizing.

It was a slippery slope when the bloggers started promoting travel that was not completely free but with miles bought at cheap rates.

Same as when you rationalize gettingdrinking water at cheap rates. It should be free. Only Republicans pollute everything and then give you a sale on something that should be free

Agree. For this kind of things don't overanalyze or you miss it. Just do it.
Same for airline tickets - if you see a good BC or FC deal just buy the bloody thing, usually it does not last long.
Right now I'm still sitting on a few Turkish and Qatar BC return tickets for Asia-Europe that I got for about half the regular price. Do it when you see it.

“Nowadays my approach is the opposite for limited time things like this. Rather than finding what’s “best” I find something that works and that I’m happy with, and I pull the trigger right away, realizing it may not stick around.”

So true. I probably wouldn’t have pulled the trigger on the Emirates First deal earlier this year without this mentality. I’m sure I could have played around with different destinations and calling different friend to take advantage of it with me, but I would have missed the window to book a flight.

The title should read "How I Scored 75K Airline Miles For _Three_ Airport Hotel Stays"

Did you actually receive the lifemiles yet? Or do they only post after the stay?
That's what tends to give me pause before pulling the trigger on a non-refundable deal: if it's really too-good-to-be-true, and isn't honored, you are stuck. And if there is a long delay before finding out if it will be honored, you lose flexibility.

To add to not over rationalizing:
Most of the hotels (if not all) booked using Iberia are fully refundable, so there are literally no downsides to booking first and thinking later.

@leo & lucky: Miles are posted 2-3 days after the check out. One must complete the stay to be eligible for the miles.

Hey Ben- any chance you’re going to be in YYZ over the Sept 29th weekend? If so, come stop by PointsU and hang out with a few hundred Canadian points and miles enthusiasts. 🙂

I really have to learn that "strike while the iron is hot" lesson. Whenever I see deals like this, or that Freedom 3X for everything card, I spend time pondering, not executing! On the other hand, this would not be such a great deal if you didn't need hotel nights.

Debit@
Everything you write is hateful. You are not the center of the universe. Grow up!