Do this now: Fall, 2016, registration roundup
/[Edit 9/16/16 9:50 pm: See Michael's comment for a datapoint of the 500-point Hyatt mobile booking bonus posting multiple times. As is usual for these promotions, the terms and conditions are vague enough that I either over- or under-interpreted them when I wrote this post Thursday night. In relevant part, they read:
"To earn 500 Hyatt Gold Passport® points under this offer, you must book a new stay on an Eligible Rate through the Hyatt App or the Hyatt Mobile Site. Both reservation and stay must be made and completed September 1, 2016 through November 30, 2016 at any Hyatt hotel, excluding M life resorts. Eligible Rate is defined in the Hyatt Gold Passport terms and conditions. All hotel reservations are subject to availability and must be made in advance.
Hyatt Gold Passport membership at time of stay is required and members must provide their membership number and be a registered guest of the room. Membership is free and enrollment is available at goldpassport.com or at a participating hotel. Only one 500 bonus point bonus may be earned per member, per stay, regardless of how many rooms are booked. This offer is subject to the complete terms and conditions of Hyatt Gold Passport. Please allow 2-3 weeks after stay is completed for points to be credited to account."
I apologize for the confusion.]
Registration is now open for a range of Fall, 2016, hotel promotions and 2016 fourth quarter credit card spending bonuses.
2016 fourth quarter credit card bonuses
If you have one or more Chase Freedom, Discover it, Citi Dividend, or US Bank Cash+ credit cards, it's time to register for their fourth quarter spending bonuses.
- Chase Freedom. Earn 5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar up to $1,500 spent at "Department Stores, Wholesale Clubs, and Drug Stores." For most people drug stores will be the easiest category to max out, although be aware that Vanilla brand prepaid debit cards cannot be easily liquidated at Walmart anymore.
- Discover it. Earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent at "Amazon.com, Department Stores and Sam's Club." Note that it's also possible to get more than 5% cash back if you redeem your cashback balance for discounted gift cards.
- Citi Dividend. Earn 5% cash back, up to $300 total cash back per calendar year total, on purchases at "Best Buy and Department Stores."
- US Bank Cash+. Select one of "gas stations," restaurants," or "grocery stores" to earn unlimited 2% cash back and two additional categories to earn 5% cash back on up to $2,000 in purchases. Here are the available 5% cash back categories for the fourth quarter of 2016:
As usual, your best bet is to select "Charity" and make $2,000 in Kiva loans, although the Cash+ is also one of the only cards to bonus spending at the Apple Store, so if you are planning electronics purchases over the holidays, that may be worthwhile as well.
Fall, 2016, hotel promotions
You can also find all the current hotel promotions I'm aware of on my Hotel Promotions page. I don't see any promotions that would affect my booking behavior, but since I'm currently on a Hyatt kick I do want to point out that all three of Hyatt's current promotions appear to be stackable for co-branded credit cardholders, since a Points + Cash night booked through Hyatt's mobile app for a stay before October 31, 2016, will:
- Earn a 10% rebate on the points redeemed;
- Earn a 500 point bonus for booking through the mobile app;
- and count as a qualifying night towards your running "More Points. More Play." Qualifying Night total.
Note that since the 500 point mobile booking bonus can only be earned once, you only need to rebook a September and October Points + Cash stay through the mobile app if you only have a single stay planned and you booked it before the promotion began. There's no reason to rebook all your stays through the mobile app since it won't trigger additional bonus points.
