IHG Releases 5,000 Point Break Hotels

Each quarter, IHG releases a list of hotels that qualify for point break. Point break means they cost you just 5,000 points per night. Pretty great! Now I find that this list usually contains hotels in places you may never visit.
BUT sometimes you can find a few hidden gems.
This morning, IHG released a preview list for this quarter, check out the Candlewood Suites Anaheim and the Hotel Indigo Krakow plus there are few hotels that looked interesting in South and Central America.
And if you are spending some this spring, checking out colleges like we are, then there may be a hotel that works for you.
You can book these starting Monday Jan. 30 2017 and they go fast. So do your research and make plans over the weekend!

Ebates Launches 7% Back On Hotels

Ebates.com is one of my favorite cash back sites. The other one I like is through my shopping club where I get all my organic household items for 30-50% off regular prices. This morning, Ebates.com launched its own discount hotel booking site.
In the past, I have usually booked my hotels with points or through Booking.com with my Ebates.com account. This strategy usually netted me 6-10% back on hotels. Now Ebates.com is promising 7% back across the board.
A quick search showed that yes, the prices are discounted.

The price that Ebates.com shows you is the price minus the discount. The discount won't actually post until 45-60 days after your stay. I did a quick comparison with Booking.com which offered a 2% cash back if I went through my Ebates.com account and here's what I found.

The initial price for the hotel on both sites was the same so obviously 7% discount is more than 2%. So in this case you save more money if you use the new Ebates.com hotel discount for the Hilton Garden Inn in West Lafayette. Is that the same for every hotel? Who knows? You may have to play with both sites to see where you get the best deal.
But it's good to have options and as I tell everyone I meet "anytime you buy anything online, use a portal!"

*If you decide to sign up for an Ebates.com or Booking.com account, please use my link located to the right on my website almostfreefamilytravel.com. You will get a bonus and I will too. Thank you!

Priceline for last minute flights

Sometimes sad circumstances can lead us to great deals. A friend of mine needed to fly to the East Coast last minute due to the passing of her grandmother. She searched airline and travel sites and the best fare she could find from San Diego to Newark, NJ was about $1200. However, she remembered that Priceline.com offers last minute flight deals so she took a look.
You can only pick your day and daypart that you wish to fly then Priceline.com finds flights and deals. For my friend, it found a $400 round trip flight plus she went through her cash back portal for an additional 4% discount. Ebates.com offered 10% cash back. Wow!

Fly the kids for FREE on SAS

Want to take the kids to Scandanavia or Finland for Spring Break 2017? If so, hurry to get this deal. Scandanavian Airlines is offering fly the kids for free with a paid adult. You can buy one adult ticket and fly up to 8 kids up to age 11 years old with you for FREE. You just pay taxes and fees. But decide quickly, you must buy your ticket by January 23rd for travel between February 7th and April 9th 2017. Wow!

8 Hours In The Singapore Airport

My kids enjoying the free massage chairs

If you have a layover at the Singapore airport, relax and enjoy! This is one of the best airports I have ever visited. We spent 8 hours in the airport and enjoyed every minute. You can see a movie, eat in more than a 120 restaurants, check out the Koi pond, sit in a massage chair, run the kids around in the giant climbing maze, walk through the butterfly garden and sunflower garden, ride the giant slide, or check out the airport pool,

Butterfly in the butterfly garden in the airport

 If you get tired of all the things to do inside the airport, you can actually take a free tour of downtown Singapore. You can't reserve ahead, but when you arrive, go to the City Tour stand.

Or you can check out the Koi pond

And if you are feeling really adventurous, they offer fishicures at the airport as well. If you have never done this, I highly recommend it. It's a pedicure by fish. No joke.

Perk for families: Companion tickets

The most challenging part of traveling as a family is collecting enough points/miles to get the plane tickets. It's a lot of miles and points. To get my whole family to Peru last summer, we spent 225,000 American miles and then for domestic flights we spent 90,000 Avios.
That's a lot of work.
But there are a few credit cards that offer companion tickets which might help depending on where you are planning to travel.
I'll list them here in no particular order.

Delta Platinum American Express - in your renewal month, Delta will give you a certificate good for a domestic companion ticket within the 48 contiguous United States. The fine print says "Seats are only available in L,U,T,X,V classes of service and may not be available on all flights or markets. " The annual fee on this card is $195. But you also get a $100 statement credit for any Delta purchase. 

Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card - Won't give you a free companion pass, but it will give you a $99 companion flight ticket upon approval of the card and again every year on your anniversary. If you look at the fine print, the voucher is good for $99 fare plus $22 in taxes so you would actually pay $121. The annual fee is $95, but it could be worth it if you live in or near a hub. Or maybe you are planning to take the family to Hawaii. $99 flight to Hawaii isn't free, but it's almost free. 

Southwest Airlines Companion Pass - This is the best deal out there. For the first time, you can earn it easily by opening 2 Chase Southwest credit cards. You may have to google 50,000 offer to reach a live link. Each card comes with a bonus of 50,000 miles, add in the minimum spend of $3,000 and you have already collected 106,000 Southwest miles. Charge another $4,000 and you have earned the companion pass. Southwest awards anyone who earns 110,000 Southwest miles in a calendar year, the pass. This allows you to bring a companion along free on any flight for the rest of the calendar year and the next one too. So if you earn this pass in January, you will have it for the next 2 years.
If you already have the Chase Southwest Credit Cards or you are not eligible for them, it is harder. However, you can collect Marriott points and then cash in for a Marriott vacation package. This deals ends March 31st 2017.  See my previous blog post on how to do this. The Southwest credit cards have an annual fee of $69 or $99, but Southwest awards you with 3,000 or 6,000 bonus miles on your anniversary.

If you know of any other cards that offer companion tickets, let me know.

On the day, we celebrate the life and wisdom of Martin Luther King Jr., I remember this quote. "The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important."
So what is quality to you? For me, it is time with family, travel, new experiences and helping others.
Through my blog and other businesses, I strive to help people save and manage their money so they can afford to see the world with their family and experience different cultures. I believe that once we venture out of our own bubble, we learn that all people are the same. All people regardless of their race, nationality or religion are looking for love and acceptance.
Enjoy the holiday with your family and of course, thinking about where you will travel in 2017 and 2018 and how almostfreefamilytravel.com can help!