Best Ever Hilton Offers, Up To 80K Points For Surpass Cardholders, Valuable Hyatt Promo, Chance To Win Up To 200,000 AA Miles, & More!

This last week was filled with some surprises and expensive purchases! This past weekend was quiet from here on the blog as I was away from my computer almost the entire time so I am still playing catch-up on some of the material.

Brief Travel News

By now, you have likely heard that Alaska Airlines has won the bidding for Virgin America at a cost of $2.5 billion! They must know something about the airline that no one else does? Or maybe Branson’s Virgin Galactic spaceship came with it? 🙂

On the hotel bidding front, the Chinese company walked away from the deal after having the superior offer. That means that the Marriott/Starwood deal is on – unfortunately for point fans. Also in the (disappointing) news was the fact that Alaska changed their premium redemption rates for Emirates overnight and without notice. Lot of people upset about that.

Great opportunity to give back and earn up to 200,000 American Airline miles (while gaining entry to the Chicago Marathon). Check out this post for all the details!

Miles, Points, and Deals

• 2 Important Things To Do Before You Plan Your Trip – Planning a trip can be a complicated experience if there is a lot going into it. Here are 2 important things you should do before you even plan it to make sure you gain the most from the trip!
• 2 Days Left To Enter Marine Corps Marathon Lottery + How To Guarantee Entry – [Expired] At least one reader signed up for the lottery after reading this and she got in to run this year! Hopefully other readers got in as well!
• New eBay Deal: $25 Off $125 For 5 Hours Only – [Expired] eBay has been running these flash sales quite often so hopefully we will see more! I have been able to get some great deals each time and hope you have as well!
• Another New Offer For Starwood, Visa Fee-Free Now For Argentina, New Hyatt, & More – Some news and updates from the middle of the week including that the visa reciprocity fee for Americans to Argentina has now disappeared!
• Great Deal: eBay Bucks At 10% Back, Portal Bonuses, & Gift Card Sales – [Expired] This is another thing that was running quite often – increased Bonus Bucks offers on eBay. Combined with portal payouts and purchases from PayPal Digital Gifts with your Chase Ink card, there were great ways to get a minimum of 16% back!
• A Disturbing Aspect Of Today’s Hijacking – It seems like this was already a long time ago (but I am sure it does not for those who were on the hijacked plane) but there was the hijacking of an EgyptAir flight earlier last week. Much was written about it but I did not see anything written about what I felt was a very disturbing aspect of the hijacking.
• SPG 35,000 Point Offers Ending – Help Fellow Readers! – [Expired] I am often helped by readers who applied through my SPG links to help me earn more points so this post was all about giving the links/e-mails left by readers to help them earn some points as well! Hopefully you were able to get the increased offer and help out a fellow reader at the same time!
• 5 Great Ways To Use The Biggest SPG Offers Ever – With the SPG cards at their biggest bonuses ever and many people jumping on them, here are 5 great ways to use these bonuses.
• Great Deal: 20% eBay Bucks On Garmin & Apple Watches – [Expired] This was an unprecedented eBay offer of getting 20% in eBay Bucks in the fashion category. That included many Garmin and Apple Watches to create a fantastic deal! Hopefully you got one!
• Best Offer Ever: 100K Hilton Points With Hilton Surpass! – This is the best offer ever on the Hilton Surpass card and it is ongoing! Check it out!
• The Worst Kind Of Devaluation As Alaska Guts Emirates Awards – Alaska changed their redemption chart for Emirates premium tickets overnight – and made a lot of people mad. The worst part about it was that it was a devastating change without notice and affected many people who were close to having the miles they needed.
• How To Get Up To 80K Hilton Points If You Have The Surpass Card – If you have the Hilton Surpass card, you can refer others and get up to 80,000 Hilton points! Find out how to get your referral links.
• Great Deal! $15 Off $75+ eBay Purchase Including Many Gift Cards – [Expired] Yet another great eBay deal! Now expired, I grabbed another gift card for a great savings during this promo.
• Another Hilton High – 75,000 Hilton Points On No-Fee Amex – Another Hilton card joined the best-ever fun – this one for the no-fee card and it is at 75,000 points!
• How You Can Get 250,000 Hilton Points With These 3 Cards – Here are 3 Hilton cards that can get you a staggering 250,000 Hilton points! These are the best offers ever on these cards so check them out!
• The New Hyatt Promotion Registration Is Live – Up To 75,000 Points! – The new Hyatt promotion is live and you can earn up to 75,000 Hyatt points! I have already gotten started with a couple of nights with several more on my calendar so I expect to earn some points (probably not the full 75,000).
• Following The Rules Is Travel Hacking, According To Alaska – After the devaluation the award tickets with Emirates, Alaska released a statement/Q&A that essentially blamed travel hackers – even though no rules/systems were “hacked.”
• Chase Freedom Unlimited Now Available Online – Perfect For Everyday Use! – The new Chase Freedom Unlimited card is now available online and can be the perfect card for your everyday use!
• The Scenic St. George Marathon Lottery Is Now Open! – This is one of the most beautiful marathons I have ever run and entrants are selected for it in a lottery. That lottery is now open and is definitely something you should consider entering!
• Announcing The Liver Life Challenge “Mileage Run” – Win Up to 200,000 American Airlines AAdvantage Miles! – This is one I am really excited about! I love the opportunity to help give back and this is one way you can do that and get rewarded yourself! Read about the details but signing up for this effort will get you a guaranteed entry into the Chicago Marathon and can open the door for you to potentially win up to 200,000 American Airline miles through your fundraising efforts!

That is it for this last week! Hopefully we get some better travel news this week to make up for some of the things last week!