Tentmaking Tips

I’ve planned some pretty cool trips over the past 6 months & have earned just over 1.1 million new points & miles in the process.

I’m earning most of these points by completing a minimum spend for welcome bonuses on new cards. Instead of optimizing our usage of our cards for various categories like groceries, restaurants, travel, etc, we are typically trying to work on hitting the minimum spend for a new welcome bonus. This is by far the best way to earn the greatest number of points in the shortest amount of time.

Here are the bonuses we’ve worked on since the last update:

• American Express Business Gold - 200,000 points

• American Express Business Platinum - 250,000 points

• Capital One Business Spark (x2) - $4,000 or 400,000 points

• Citi AA Executive - 70,000 points

• IHG Business - 200,000 points

We planned the following trips (u

Honestly, both are fantastic!

I recommend people start with Chase cards first because of the 5/24 rule.

But once you’ve maxed out your Chase cards, AMEX is a great place to go next.

While Chase UR points are still the most flexible in my opinion, AMEX MR points are a close second.

Unlike Chase, AMEX has cards like the Blue Business Plus card that get 2x on everything (up to $50,000 in purchases).

But unlike AMEX, Chase allows you to transfer points back & forth from your spouse.

Instead of choosing between them, I get both, but I prioritize Chase if I’m under 5/24.

And once you get an AMEX card, they’ll start sending you additional offers in your account.

I recently got an offer for up to 99 employee cards where they’d give me 15,000 MR points for $4,000 in spend over 6 months. Wow!

I went ahead and got 5 employee cards (they can be in your name) and plan to get 75,000 MR points in the next few months.

Also, AMEX right now has the ability to tr

Chase was running an all-time high bonus on the Chase Ink Business Preferred card of 120,000 points & an all-time high referral bonus offer of 40,000 when you referred that card to a friend.

Our original plan was to get one card for me and one for my wife & then refer as many people as we could.

What we didn’t know at the time is that Chase would approve both me & my wife for TWO of the same card in a short period of time.

We just finished hitting the 4th welcome bonus, so here’s how all the points stacked up:

My wife referred me to the card = 40,000 points

We hit the welcome bonus on my 1st card = 120,000 points

I referred my wife to the card = 40,000 points

We hit the welcome bonus on her 1st card = 120,000 points

My wife referred me to my 2nd card = 40,000 points

We hit the welcome bonus on my 2nd card = 120,000 points

I referred my wife to her 2nd car

Everyone was unsure whether or not the merger would make it all the way through or if the Department of Transportation would object.

About a month ago, AMEX was offering a 20% transfer bonus on points transferred to Hawaiian Airlines, one of their travel partners.

Travel Hackers online were discussing whether or not Hawaiian Miles would transfer 1:1 to Alaskan Miles if the merger went through. Hawaiian Miles are not worth much and easy to earn, but Alaska Miles are very valuable and very hard to earn.

Alaska Airlines is part of the One World alliance, so you’re able to book American Airlines flights at great point redemption rates.

This potential merger provided an opportunity for Travel Hackers with many points to put some at risk by transferring to Hawaiian, hoping Alaskan would honor the points if the merger were to go through. But no one was sure, so it was definitely a risky play.

I

Well, we decided to try something that we haven’t done before & we weren’t sure if it would even work.

Here’s a little backstory:

• When the big Chase Ink welcome bonus first came out, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get it. Why, you might ask? Because I was already at 5/24. Technically, Chase shouldn’t approve me for any more of their cards until I drop back down under 5/24.

• I thought I would try anyway since the bonus was so great, and to my surprise, I was instantly approved! What?!? It’s not common that they’ll violate their 5/24 rule, but I’ve read online that sometimes they may still let you nab a business card. It’s rare, though.

• Once I hit the minimum spend, we immediately had my wife apply for the same card. We applied under the same exact business name, but she wa
...

One concern people often have with a card like this is, “How do I meet the high minimum spend?”

The minimum spend to earn the welcome bonus on this card is $8,000 in 3 months.

That’s a lot.

You may not be sure how you could spend enough to hit it.

Not to worry.

There are other ways to generate this spend.

I’ll share one of my favorites today.

Funding bank accounts.

Some banks allow you to fund accounts using a credit card.

That’s what I did this past week.

We needed some extra spend to hit the $8,000 for our 2nd Chase Ink Business Preferred card.

US Bank is known to allow credit card funding of new business accounts up to $3,000.

I opened up a new account for one of our businesses & used the credit card to fund $3,000 into the accoun

My wife chose the Cayman Islands where we went this summer & loved it.

My oldest daughter chose to go back to Beaver Creek to ski this Christmas & it’s already booked nearly free with points.

My youngest daughter wanted to go to Las Vegas over Spring Break to see some shows & visit a famous donut shop that she’s seen on YouTube.

We decided to try to book the Bellagio based on family recommendations from people who had been before.

Here’s how we booked 3 free nights with points:

I have the Capital One Venture X credit card which includes a $300 yearly travel credit when booking travel through their portal. I booked the first night using this travel credit combined with points I had in my Capital One account.

I booked the next two nights with Marriott points that we had earned in 2019 from a welcome bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card from Chase. We had earned 100

And the most sought after business class seat on Qatar is called the Qsuite.

It’s literally a small suite in the sky. Check out this video to see it.

Our family has been planning to go to Thailand next summer to see our extended family. We’ve hosted multiple exchange students from Thailand and they’ve become like family to us. We’ve been wanting to take a trip to see them before my oldest daughter graduates from high school.

I knew getting all 4 of us in Qsuites with points would be extremely difficult, but I was up for the challenge. The reason it’s so difficult is because they don’t release many award bookings for Qsuites per flight & they sell out quickly. Many travel enthusiasts are competing to book these seats right when they release them.

I needed to book each leg separately because if I waited for the round trip booking, the first leg would’ve already sold out.

I was told

Many of the travel hackers I follow are sending out red hot alerts about this new card bonus.

And they aren’t exaggerating.

It really is amazing!

It’s the highest welcome bonus ever for this card.

120,000 points for $8,000 in spend over 3 months with a $95 annual fee.

It’s the Chase Ink Business Preferred Card.

Now, don’t immediately write it off because it’s a business card.

Hang with me for a second.

You may be thinking, “But I don’t have a business, are you sure this applies to me?”

Are you sure you don't have a business?

Do you know how these card companies define a business?

Do you make any money on the side? If so, you have a business.

Do you plan to make money on the side & you’re just getting started? If so, you have a business.

The definition of “business” for these credit card companies is quite expansive.

You don’t have to have an LLC or be incorporated.

It can be a sole proprietorship using your social se

Well, if you’ve been watching the news, you’ve probably heard about Hurricane Beryl.

The hurricane developed in the eastern Caribbean a few days after we arrived in the Caymans.

As each day passed, the hurricane grew in strength and the locals expressed to us great concern that it could be like the devastating Hurricane Ivan that flattened the Caymans in 2004.

We knew we needed to make plans to leave early, especially before the last minute panic that would likely ensue if we waited until the hurricane got much closer.

I was so thankful for travel rewards!

Our plan was to book an additional flight the day before our scheduled departure flight. Then we would watch the weather and determine if we should leave a day early or keep our original flight.

I had originally booked with American (via British Airways) but I couldn’t book another flight the day before because it had pretty much booked up.