Down To One Last Hotel Program

Posted on December 29, 2015 by Tara

Although technically I have accounts with about 8 hotel chain programs, they have all fallen by the wayside as being not worth the effort. I really hate being limited to a chain hotel’s offering in any given location and prefer being able to choose from a wide variety of hotels. For this reason, I have been concentrating on programs like Rocketmiles & Pointshound which earn airline miles and jump on social media games that offer free points in programs such as Expedia & Orbitz. We each gained $100 vouchers in Expedia over a mistake they made with a promo back in March, then more recently we each gained $110 in Orbucks during the August-Sept photo competition in which Orbucks were given out for uploading summer themed photos (I wish they would do this every year)! I’ve put these to good use for next year’s trip to Ecuador, Colombia & the Caribbean.

Club Carlson ditched the bogo free award night so I ditched their program after using up all existing points for next year’s trip. So now it’s down to one program – IHG Rewards. The main attraction here is the benefits from the Chase IHG Rewards credit card. The $49 annual fee gets us a free night at any IHG hotel worldwide and I have gotten some amazing usage out of this at places like Intercontinental JNB Airport, Intercontinental Moorea, and have the Intercontinental San Juan booked for next year. There always seems to be at least one place where I can use the certificate, usually at an airport hotel so the card is excellent value! Knock wood, I hope this benefit never goes away!

Club Carlson – Good While It Lasted

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Tara

There are very few hotel programs useful to people who like to get off the beaten path and out into the bush where the birds are. After a major mass burning of points last year, I was down to 2 useful programs – Club Carlson and IHG. One day remains on the lucrative benefit of the Club Carlson Visa in which you could redeem one free night for one award night. Club Carlson did have a few properties that were well located for eco-tourists such as the Summit in Panama, the Radisson Blu Port Elizabeth and the now defunct Radisson in Tahiti. I also burned quite a few points to visit Tel Aviv and Nice using the free night benefit while we were in Europe attending the World Parrot Conference in Loro Parque.

I still had ample points for the radisson in San Juan where it would have made a nice base for visits to El Yunque Rainforest but that property has since left the Club Carlson chain. I managed to use the last few points I had for 2 free nights in Bogota where we can make a day trip to Chingaza NP and 2 free nights in Minneapolis to visit family next year. The last few points I have will probably get sent to an airline when I need to bump up the miles. I’ll be cancelling my Club Carlson Visa when it next comes due. If they had more properties in places where we will be traveling, I might have kept it but there are just too few Club Carlson hotels in exotic places!

So goodbye Club Carlson, it was nice knowing you for the last few years!

I still have the annual IHG free nights from the Chase card and enough points for some redemptions at airport hotels as required. IHG is larger and has hotels in more locations I can use. Otherwise, I will be booking independent hotels and earning airline miles using Pointshound and Rocketmiles from now on!

Pointshound Special – 1000 Bonus Airline Miles Any Booking In 2015

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Tara

I love when these specials come up! Pointshound is running a special in which existing members can refer new members and BOTH of us get 1000 bonus when you complete your first hotel stay anytime in 2015!

From 2015 onwards, I will be concentrating more on earning airline miles for hotel bookings. I am just finding hotel programs too limiting and most times they don’t even have properties where I want to stay. I have booked small eco-lodges on Pointshound before and I like being able to choose from a wide variety even in gateway cities rather than being stuck with 1 or 2 choices in a hotel program.

Choose from a wide variety of airline miles and other loyalty programs.

Choose your program!

Promotional offer cannot be combined with any other bonuses or offers. Bonus valid on a new user’s first booking only. New user must sign up using unique referral link by December 31, 2014 and first booking must be made by December 31, 2015.

Should You Use Pointshound Or Rocketmiles?

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Tara

One of the easiest ways to earn miles is to use certain hotel booking engines. There are currently 2 programs that give miles for your hotel bookings. Generally speaking, Pointshound has more options but gives fewer miles. Rocketmiles gives you at least 1000 miles per booking but they have a lot fewer options and don’t serve all the places Pointshound does. I’ve been able to book small eco-lodges on Pointshound but so far I can’t find any smaller places in Rocketmiles.

LINKS TO JOIN

If you are not a member of either program, using my links will give you a bonus of 250 miles in Pointshound or 1000 miles in Rocketmiles when you book your first hotel. I will also get the same amount as a bonus. You will get links of your own to share to whomever you wish so you keep collecting miles.

ROCKETMILES PARTNERS

POINTSHOUND PARTNERS

It’s a good idea to check both of them when you need a hotel, then choose the option that is most attractive for your booking. If you are collecting United miles, only Rocketmiles has them as a partner. Both programs have American and US Airways. Neither has Delta but if you want SkyTeam miles they both have Flying Blue.

Example: Belem, Brazil

Here we can see that Rocketmiles has only 2 options. Pointshound has the same 2 options at the same price but also has several other hotels which are cheaper than the Radisson and the Crowne Plaza. Choose what is important to you!

Earn 1,000s Of Extra Miles Before October 4th‏

Posted on September 29, 2013 by Tara

This deal was emailed to me a couple days ago and I forgot about it. I was reminded because the points I earned from our trip last month (bookings at eco-lodges) showed up in my United account.

The promo is pretty self explanatory, if you use my link we both get 1000 extra miles in our accounts. Pointshound no longer partners with United but they do have American Airlines which is also a great program and several others. Once you are a member, you also get your own referral link.

1,000 Miles For You + 1,000 Miles For Friends

Did you know you can earn points and miles on PointsHound just by inviting friends?

From now until October 4th, invite a friend, and you BOTH earn an ADDITIONAL 1,000 points or miles after your friend’s first hotel booking!

Inviting is easy. Email, text, facebook, or tweet your referral link to your friends. After your friend travels, you each get 1,000 miles or points from your favorite frequent flyer program!

Referral link: http://www.pointshound.com/pgrqmj

Top referrers have already earned over 100,000 bonus miles!

How To Get United Miles From Booking Some Eco-Lodges

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Tara

Since PointsHound has unfortunately discontinued their relationship with United Airlines you will need an alternate method if you really need United miles and aren’t happy with any of PointsHound’s other partners.

For people living in the USA, the best current option is Ultimate Rewards. Hotels.com offers a bonus 3 points per $ when you click through their link. Ultimate Rewards transfer to United and other partners at 1:1. For example if you book a lodge that costs $150 a night, you will get 450 bonus Ultimate Rewards points on top of whatever credit card multipliers such as 2x for the Chase Sapphire Preferred. (Sorry folks, don’t have an affiliate link).

United Airlines & PointsHound Discontinue Partnership

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Tara

Not exactly the news I wanted to hear as United is my priority program to collect miles in at the moment. If you haven’t already, please see my post on how to use Pointshound to get airline miles for booking eco-lodges.

Dear Tara,

You’re receiving this message because you signed up for PointsHound and added a United MileagePlus number to your account.

We wanted to make you aware that United and PointsHound have decided to discontinue our partnership at this time. As of July 24^th 2013, we’ll no longer be offering MileagePlus miles on new hotel reservations made through PointsHound.com.

For reservations made before July 24^th, there’s no need to worry. We will deposit miles according to our normal process and schedule.

PointsHound was created as a platform for earning any type of loyalty points and miles so we are committed to restoring our partnership with United. In the meantime, we work with nine other loyalty rewards currencies and are continuing to add new ones regularly.

That’s why we’re confident PointsHound can continue providing great benefits to you.

In appreciation of your early support of PointsHound, we’ve upgraded your account a level so you’ll earn more miles with every hotel booking you make with us. We’ve also added a 1,000 point bonus to your account which can be claimed in the program of your choice on your next booking. To redeem this booking bonus, please make sure to log in to your My Account page and update your earning preference and account numbers.

If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact either of us directly.

Thanks again for your support.

At least they are honoring the United miles on the 3 bookings I already have. For the time being, I have added American AAdvantage in my profile for future bookings. Hopefully they will restore United as a partner soon!

June Special – 500 Extra United MileagePlus Miles From PointsHound (Yes, Eco-Lodges Too)!

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Tara

I’ve blogged about Pointshound before as an excellent way to earn points for booking certain eco-lodges. This is also a great way to maximize your normal hotel bookings too if you aren’t loyal to any particular chain and don’t care about getting status. If you have any bookings coming up, now is a great time to book them as you will get a bonus of 500 United (or airline of your choice) miles! If you aren’t already a member, please use my referral link to join as you and I both get 250 bonus points. After that you will get your own referral link to pass on to your friends and family.

Pointshound partners

Here is a sample of a Costa Rican eco-lodge you can book with PointsHound.

And how about 2000 United miles for 2 nights at this wonderful eco-lodge in Daintree, Australia?

Or maybe a luxury safari camp in Kenya?

Earn Frequent Flyer Miles On Non-Chain Hotels Including Some Eco-Lodges

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Tara

Pointshound Partners

Pointshound is a fairly new hotel booking engine that gives you frequent flyer miles in your choice of several airline programs. This is a great option for people who don’t travel enough to get any benefits from joining hotel loyalty programs but still want to earn some miles and book using a secure credit card payment system. The one frustrating thing I have found is that many smaller hotels and lodges want you to email your credit card details which is very insecure as you don’t know who will have access to them. Even if the lodgekeepers are honest, it doesn’t mean someone passing by or cleaning the waste bins may not see it. I like being able to use either Paypal or

First you need to join Pointshound. It’s free and if you use my link, both you and I will get a bonus 250 points when you book your first room.

Here’s how to find eco-lodges to book on Pointshound. Let’s use the example of Montverde, Costa Rica which is famous for its cloud forest, Respendant Quetzals and great birding. I have chosen to earn United miles since that is the next goal I need to achieve for a future trip. (Not my real dates, just being used as an example). Pointshound supports 3 of the airlines (AA, UA, US) on my Top 8 Frequent Flyer Programs for Eco-tourists.

Booking Pointshound

Since I have been researching this town for my upcoming trip, I know that it’s easy and cheap to get a taxi for the short ride to the park entrance but if your lodge is too far out of town you will be limited on dining choices. The first screen you see will be sorted on popularity and show which airline program you chose and a list of how many miles you will earn.

Pointshound booking

It’s a good idea to check out the map view to see what location suits you. I also like to check the reviews on Trip Advisor to be sure the hotel is well located and there aren’t too many complaints, especially from people with at least 10 reviews overall.

Map View

As I scan the locations, prices and descriptions, Cala Lodge jumps out at me for being an attractive small lodge but close to town which is important since we aren’t renting a car but using public transport on this trip. The reviews on Trip Advisor are good and I am pleased to see that one of the owners is a knowledgeable birding guide.

Select the lodge you want and you will see this screen that tells you the price and how many miles you earn. Choose the room you want, in this case the standard room will do.

Pointhound booking

Lastly, fill out the screen and see the confirmation of the price and how many miles you will earn, also which account they will credit to (which I blacked out here). Be sure to check the cancellation policies and make sure you are comfortable with them. For more information about Pointshound, see their FAQ page.