Award Travel 101

Latest Episodes:

Eye Opening Travel Jun 21, 2024

Show notes

Mike and Joe discuss new airport lounges, Hilton and Hyatt independent hotel affiliations, tipping culture and the broader featured topic of how travel teaches us new things about every place we visit.
The Award Travel 101 Podcast is brought to you in part by Thrifty Traveler Premium. Get Thrifty Traveler Premium deal/award alerts sent straight to your inbox. Use promo code “AT10” for $10 off your first year. Recent finds include:

Business Class to Stockholm for 54,000 points
Round-trip to Rome for $586
First Class Suites to Hawaii for 31,000 points

You can find these at ThriftyTraveler.com/Premium

For a full details, check out the blogpost on AwardWallet.

Where to Find Us

The Award Travel 101 Facebook Community.
To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.
You can also email us at 101@award.travel
Buy your Award Travel 101 Merch here
Reserve tickets to our April 2027 Meetup in Nashville now. award.travel/bna2027

Our partner CardPointers helps us get the most from our cards. Signup today at https://cardpointers.com/at101 for a 30% discount on annual and lifetime subscriptions!
Lastly, we appreciate your support of the AT101 Podcast/Community when you signup for your next card!

Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.

Meet The Mods - Randy Clinton Jun 14, 2024

Show notes

This week Angie talks with newest Award Travel 101 moderator Randy Clinton. Randy talks about his background, what got him started in travel rewards and loyalty programs. Randy talks about some of the aspirational products he has flown and how he booked them. He also shares some of his tips for one of his favorite ways to travel, cruises and how to status match for the most benefits.
Links to topics discussed:

Emirates slashed economy partner award pricing by up to 20%
Hilton Surpass 130K + Free Night Award
Cruise Status Matches

Where to Find Us

The Award Travel 101 Facebook Community.
To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.
You can also email us at 101@award.travel
Buy your Award Travel 101 Merch here
Reserve tickets to our April 2027 Meetup in Nashville now. award.travel/bna2027

Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.

These Are a Few of Our Favorite Grumps Jun 07, 2024

Show notes

Joe is off cruising the Mediterranean so Mike and Angie are on this week. We talk about some news such as AA rolling back their unpopular changes to how loyalty points would be earned. Finally we ponder quirks in the award travel world that makes us grumpy from restrictive bank rules to the CPP Police.
Links to topics discussed:

Targeted World of Hyatt Promos
The return of a popular welcome offer on the Bonvoy Business Card
Hilton cards are back with elevated bonuses
Cents Per Point (CPP) calculations
Obsession over Chase 5/24
Citi Strata Premier

Where to Find Us

The Award Travel 101 Facebook Community.
To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.
You can also email us at 101@award.travel
Buy your Award Travel 101 Merch here
Reserve tickets to our April 2027 Meetup in Nashville now. award.travel/bna2027

Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.

Thrifty Travel with Gunnar Olson May 31, 2024

Show notes

Joe talks with Gunnar Olson of Thrifty Traveler on how award travel has helped enrich his travels with his Player 2), and they've created fond memories flying some incredible products, by way of his work at Thrifty Traveler.

Joe and Gunnar also discuss how the past 6 months have probably been more brutal than what we’ve seen in any other past period with award price hikes and no-notice changes from many of our favorite programs such as United, Turkish, Virgin Atlantic and World of Hyatt.

Also listen in for Gunnar's tip of the week; the old adage, "Book early, book often!"

Where to Find Us

The Award Travel 101 Facebook Community.
To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.
You can also email us at 101@award.travel
Buy your Award Travel 101 Merch here
Reserve tickets to our April 2027 Meetup in Nashville now. award.travel/bna2027

Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.

The Summer of Travel (Pt. 1 - Preparing for Travel) May 24, 2024

Show notes

This week Joe and Angie discuss lots of news such as the rebranded Citi Strata Premier, Virgin Red Cruise deal, some SLH properties rejoining World of Hyatt via Mr & Mrs Smith and more.
Then then as the summer of travel heats up they discuss the their tips for getting ready for a trip. Something hopefully everyone we be doing soon and often this summer.

Where to Find Us

The Award Travel 101 Facebook Community.
To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.
You can also email us at 101@award.travel
Buy your Award Travel 101 Merch here
Reserve tickets to our April 2027 Meetup in Nashville now. award.travel/bna2027

Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.

Chicago is a Points/Miles Kind of Town May 17, 2024

Show notes

The 14th annual Chicago Seminars has a long and storied history. In Episode 64: The Most Powerful Tool in Award Travel, we had two of the event's organizers sharing the announcement of this year's event changes.
In this episode, Angie is joined by two more of this year's organizers, Chris Moss and Marty Paz who share more details on the variety of speakers for each level and what attendees can expect.
Links to topics Discussed

New Qatar Privileges Credit card
Bilt Changes
- Pay Condo Fees
- New Hotel Transfer Partner - but don't do it!
New Amex Transfer Bonus
Capital One Removes Restaurant Benefit
Enhanced Sapphire Card offer - will she get approved?
Business Platinum application - can she get another?
Alaska Airlines
- Companion Certificate to the rescue
- Gold Guest Upgrades

Where to Find Us

The Award Travel 101 Facebook Community.
To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.
You can also email us at 101@award.travel
Buy your Award Travel 101 Merch here
Reserve tickets to our April 2027 Meetup in Nashville now. award.travel/bna2027

Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.

Workhorse Cards (In Our Wallet Right Now) May 10, 2024

Show notes

Award Travel 101 Community members probably know which cards to start with - Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve, Ultimate Rewards' earning Ink (Preferred, Unlimited, Cash) cards, Amex Gold and Platinum (consumer and business) cards. But what happens when you can't get new cards? Many of us have been in that boat where we can’t open new cards for a while. What's next?

Links to Topics Discussed

Where to Find Us

The Award Travel 101 Facebook Community.
To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.
You can also email us at 101@award.travel
Buy your Award Travel 101 Merch here
Reserve tickets to our April 2027 Meetup in Nashville now. award.travel/bna2027

Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.

Nice to Meetcha May 03, 2024

Show notes

We just returned from our meetup in San Antonio for Fiesta. There were over 150 Award Travel 101 and members from the Award Travel 201 communities in attendance. We had a great group of speakers who shared their stories and tips:

Justin Vacula (Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast) blew everybody’s minds with creative ways to hit minimum spend and earn status (Podcast Episode 43)
Toni Perkins-Southam (Forbes Advisor) shared deals over the years as well as the one most important aspects of the Award Travel (Podcast Episode 51)
Logan Robinson (Aligned Incentives) discussed how to simplify meeting minimum spends
Ryan Smith (AwardWallet) shared some under-the-radar card perks and benefits (Podcast Episode 48)

Links to Other Topics Discussed

Where to Find Us

The Award Travel 101 Facebook Community.
To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.
You can also email us at 101@award.travel
Buy your Award Travel 101 Merch here
Reserve tickets to our April 2027 Meetup in Nashville now. award.travel/bna2027

Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.

Largest Hotel Chains - Which One's Right for You? Apr 26, 2024

Show notes

We came across an interesting diagram ranking the top 20 hotel programs throughout the world. Do you know which is largest? (Hint: it's not US-based)

Some are less familiar, so we ranked the six we most frequently discuss in the Award Travel 101 Facebook community:

#2 Wyndham - 9,280 properties
#3 Marriott- 8,484 properties
#6 Choice - 7,500 properties
#7 Hilton - 7,165 properties
#8 IHG - 6,164 properties
#16 Hyatt - 1,200 properties

Link to Topics Discussed

Where to Find Us

The Award Travel 101 Facebook Community.
To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.
You can also email us at 101@award.travel
Buy your Award Travel 101 Merch here
Reserve tickets to our April 2027 Meetup in Nashville now. award.travel/bna2027

Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.

The Most Powerful Tool in Award Travel Apr 19, 2024

Show notes

How does one weed out the noise to find what's most useful for your Award Travel strategies? In-person events will provide opportunities for attendees to speak with and listen to experts in the field which help fine-tune their strategies. We encourage you to attend, engage, explore, learn, and ask questions.
Chicago Seminars organizers Jackie and JT join Joe to discuss the next event in September.
Links to Topics Discussed

Where to Find Us

The Award Travel 101 Facebook Community.
To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.
You can also email us at 101@award.travel
Buy your Award Travel 101 Merch here
Reserve tickets to our April 2027 Meetup in Nashville now. award.travel/bna2027

Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.

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