Dugette
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2009
Hi, all. I've been lurking on and off here and wanted to thank you for the great tips and motivation to make the most of CCs. 
And I also could use some advice on next moves and what to apply for, as I'm a bit overwhelmed by the options. Here's a run-down of our situation (trying to provide pertinent details, but sorry that this is so long):
*Trying to get as much of the airfare & hotels free as we can for vacation to France in (probably) May/June 2018 for hopefully 2 weeks. Also going to WDW in October 2017 and hoping to take a DCL Alaskan Cruise in Aug. 2018. We can only make all of these things happen in this time frame by getting significant chunks of travel costs free/cheap, especially focusing on France.
*DH and I both have 800+ credit scores. I read about the 5/24 rule for Chase and he is fine at 3/24, but I'm at 5/24 until Nov 2017 (assuming my Discount Tire card counts, which I think it does). We generally run about $2k/month through our cards between the two of us. We have one DD, who is currently 4 and will travel with us.
*We both got the Hilton Surpass (AmEx) with the 100k bonus and completed that spend recently. I expect, between the two of us, that we can get at least 4 nights in France at Hilton properties from that. We also will each get a free night on our anniversary date (March), which I am thinking to use for hotel on the night before and after our cruise in Vancouver.
*We both got the Flexperks AmEx cards when they had large sign-up bonuses. Between us, we currently have about 86k Flexperks. 30k points will get up to $600 flights and 40k will get up to $800 flights. Our original goal was to get that up to 90k and get all 3 flights free if we could snag them at a low point of under $600. However, I'm growing doubtful that will happen and want to get airfare booked soon. I am still seeing a lot of options just under $800, so I'm thinking we use Flexperks for 2 free tickets and pay for the third.
*Thinking we will offset most cost of that 3rd ticket with savings from the Barclaycard Arrival Plus that DH just got approved for (that's his 3/24, by the way). Once it arrives, we are wanting to purchase our WDW airfare, so will put it on that card, along with regular expenses, to hit the $3k spend, then use the travel credit against that airfare. Should be over $500 in credit. I'd like to get this card too, but thinking I should wait until after I get a Chase product, due to the 5/24? But that puts me into 2018, if I can't get Chase until Nov/Dec. I'm thinking that timing would probably still be okay to purchase Vancouver airfare for the Aug 2018 cruise and get credit, though, so still good.
*I keep seeing the CSR raved about, but I cannot figure out why I should get that vs. a Chase Marriott Rewards card for my purposes?
I don't intend to keep the card long term, unless someone convinces me to (our long-term keepers are the US Bank Flexperks Visa cards we've had forever and gotten loads of free flights out of - oh, and the Delta AmEx for the free bags mostly). If I'm understanding right, the CSR would net us $600/each ($750 booking through UR - $450 annual fee + $300 travel credit). That would probably get us somewhere between 4-5 hotel nights in France. I'm seeing that a lot of people say the reward is better if you transfer to a partner, but that would only give me 50k or so points (per card) to transfer to Marriott, right? But if I did the Marriott card directly, the bonus is 80k points. That for both of us would also get us probably 5 nights from what I can see. The only notable plus I'm seeing to CSR is the Global Entry credit. DH & I both got that with our FP AmEx cards, but DD needs it for France. So long as I could use it to get hers, that would be useful - so maybe just one of us gets CSR?
Sorry for the novel, but if anybody has any pointers on any parts of this, I'd appreciate it. Am I on the right track? Am I missing something? How would you make these trips all happen? What cards would you get for us and in what order? (And if it's relevant, we have a free 6 night WDW resort stay for October, thanks to Guest Relations, and we have Annual Passes, so airfare and food are the only expenses. The DCL Alaska is mostly going to be cruise cost that we'll use discounted Disney gift cards to pay. France is really the wild card where nothing is pre-paid and hotel rewards are useful.)
And I also could use some advice on next moves and what to apply for, as I'm a bit overwhelmed by the options. Here's a run-down of our situation (trying to provide pertinent details, but sorry that this is so long):*Trying to get as much of the airfare & hotels free as we can for vacation to France in (probably) May/June 2018 for hopefully 2 weeks. Also going to WDW in October 2017 and hoping to take a DCL Alaskan Cruise in Aug. 2018. We can only make all of these things happen in this time frame by getting significant chunks of travel costs free/cheap, especially focusing on France.
*DH and I both have 800+ credit scores. I read about the 5/24 rule for Chase and he is fine at 3/24, but I'm at 5/24 until Nov 2017 (assuming my Discount Tire card counts, which I think it does). We generally run about $2k/month through our cards between the two of us. We have one DD, who is currently 4 and will travel with us.
*We both got the Hilton Surpass (AmEx) with the 100k bonus and completed that spend recently. I expect, between the two of us, that we can get at least 4 nights in France at Hilton properties from that. We also will each get a free night on our anniversary date (March), which I am thinking to use for hotel on the night before and after our cruise in Vancouver.
*We both got the Flexperks AmEx cards when they had large sign-up bonuses. Between us, we currently have about 86k Flexperks. 30k points will get up to $600 flights and 40k will get up to $800 flights. Our original goal was to get that up to 90k and get all 3 flights free if we could snag them at a low point of under $600. However, I'm growing doubtful that will happen and want to get airfare booked soon. I am still seeing a lot of options just under $800, so I'm thinking we use Flexperks for 2 free tickets and pay for the third.
*Thinking we will offset most cost of that 3rd ticket with savings from the Barclaycard Arrival Plus that DH just got approved for (that's his 3/24, by the way). Once it arrives, we are wanting to purchase our WDW airfare, so will put it on that card, along with regular expenses, to hit the $3k spend, then use the travel credit against that airfare. Should be over $500 in credit. I'd like to get this card too, but thinking I should wait until after I get a Chase product, due to the 5/24? But that puts me into 2018, if I can't get Chase until Nov/Dec. I'm thinking that timing would probably still be okay to purchase Vancouver airfare for the Aug 2018 cruise and get credit, though, so still good.
*I keep seeing the CSR raved about, but I cannot figure out why I should get that vs. a Chase Marriott Rewards card for my purposes?
I don't intend to keep the card long term, unless someone convinces me to (our long-term keepers are the US Bank Flexperks Visa cards we've had forever and gotten loads of free flights out of - oh, and the Delta AmEx for the free bags mostly). If I'm understanding right, the CSR would net us $600/each ($750 booking through UR - $450 annual fee + $300 travel credit). That would probably get us somewhere between 4-5 hotel nights in France. I'm seeing that a lot of people say the reward is better if you transfer to a partner, but that would only give me 50k or so points (per card) to transfer to Marriott, right? But if I did the Marriott card directly, the bonus is 80k points. That for both of us would also get us probably 5 nights from what I can see. The only notable plus I'm seeing to CSR is the Global Entry credit. DH & I both got that with our FP AmEx cards, but DD needs it for France. So long as I could use it to get hers, that would be useful - so maybe just one of us gets CSR? Sorry for the novel, but if anybody has any pointers on any parts of this, I'd appreciate it. Am I on the right track? Am I missing something? How would you make these trips all happen? What cards would you get for us and in what order? (And if it's relevant, we have a free 6 night WDW resort stay for October, thanks to Guest Relations, and we have Annual Passes, so airfare and food are the only expenses. The DCL Alaska is mostly going to be cruise cost that we'll use discounted Disney gift cards to pay. France is really the wild card where nothing is pre-paid and hotel rewards are useful.)
