10% Cashback on Westin, Fairfield Inn, Renaissance Hotels and Lyft with Wells Fargo cards

 There are a variety of good offers for various Wells Fargo cards, both credit and debit.

Lyft gives 10% back, up to $4.00 until 11/21/24.

There are also a number of promotions for a range of Marriott properties.  For Renaissance Hotels, the offer is 10% back, up to $75 maximum.  It is good until 11/18/24.

There is also a 10% back on Fairfield Inns, maximum of $38, good until 12/1/31.

 And finally, there is an offer for Westin Hotels. It is for 10% back, $68 maximum,  good until 12/01/24.

All of these offers say that both credit and debit cards are eligible, so check your accounts.  The total value of all these offers are $185, which is definitely a respectable amount.  They are time limited so act promptly.

Happy Travels!

10% Cash Back at Aloft Hotels with Wells Fargo Credit Card-Expires 9/30

 You can get up to $57 back.  But hurry, the offer expires 9/30 so book and pay now.  So please check your accounts to see if you have this offer.

Happy Travel

Some Wells Fargo Travel Deals Expiring 9/30/24-Hilton Gardens, Six Flags and Renaissance Hotels

 If you have any Wells Fargo cards, check them for offers.  I see the following expiring 9/30/24.

Hilton Garden Inn, 10% cash back, up to $65.

Six Flags, 15% cash back, up to $30.

Renaissance Hotels,  10% cash back, up to $75.  

This is a great way to save on a season pass at Six Flags.  

You can also get 2% cash back at Mr. Rebates on Renaissance Hotels.   Please click on my referral link for Mr. Rebates.

Mr. Rebates

How we saved over $2500 on our New England 9 day road trip

 Next year we are having a dog sitter watch the house and the dog and we are taking off to New England for a road trip to celebrate our 20th anniversary.  There is some math here so be patient but this is how we saved money on the trip:

For car rental, we shopped around and the 2nd best rate was Costco Travel at $442.  Capital One Travel was $389, a savings of $53.

For our lodging,  our first night in Boston was $437.  But I got a Capital One Venture Card  (please consider clicking on my referral link) with the 75k Point and $250 travel credit sign-up bonus (SUB).  Plus the card gives us a $50 credit per stay.  Now we did pay an annual fee of $95 but that still gives us a savings of $250+$50-$95=$205. And we might be more likely to get an upgrade from using Capital One’s Lifestyle Hotel Collection.

Our second night in Boston was paid with our Delta card which has a $150 Delta Stays credit so that is more money in our pocket.

Our flight on Delta would have normally been $794 plus $140 for luggage=$934.  We paid $427 by using our annual free companion ticket. The annual fee on the Delta Card is $350 so our savings are $934-$427-$350=$157. Plus the card gives us Priority Boarding.

Next, we have five nights of stays at various IHG properties.  Paying cash would set us back $2694 but we used points we bought at half price and three credit card anniversary nights.  Figuring in the annual fees and the cost of the points, we are paying $1274, saving us a whopping $1420!

In addition to our IHG cards, we also have the Marriott Brilliant.  While that card has a $650 AF, you get $25/month dining credit, so the net costs is only $350. Plus you get Platinum status that gives you lounge access where available and free breakfast.  For the sake of simplicity, I will assume breakfast will cost us $30.  We are booking the Newport Marriott Resort and Spa.

The card gives us up to 85K for a room and we have well over 100K points in our account to top it off with so the savings are $839+$30-$350=$519!

The savings we get from the Marriott card are pretty substantial since we get free breakfast at a variety of Marriott properties every time we stay at one.  Plus having the IHG and Marriott cards give us extra points when we do pay cash.  Both these cards have various other perks that I will discuss in other postings.

I also plan on discussing the Capital One Venture Card in a future post.

Happy travels!

Welcome to Cheapskate Travel Tips

My lovely wife and I enjoy both travel and a comfortable middle class lifestyle.  But we have some ambitions for travel and to help reach those ambitions we have worked hard at maximizing our value.

This means buying points on sale to reduce our costs, being members of organizations that offer discounts for travel and taking advantage of promotions and sales.  Credit cards are also important. They give points/cashback, upgraded status with perks, free luggage on flights, free anniversary nights at hotels, sign up bonuses (SUBs) and more.

We also shop for the best value in luggage and accessories and we strive to learn how to pack better and make the most of our vacation time.

I plan on using real world examples of how we succeed and hopefully some of our readers will give us tips now and then.

We certainly don’t know everything but we always strive to learn and improve ourselves.