Buy 2 Days, Get 1 FREE At Best Western Hotels

Best Western Arroyo Roble Hotel And Creekside Villas

Here's a promotion you may want to jump on. Best Western just launched the "Stay 2 Nights and Get a FREE Night for Your Next Stay" promotion. Now I have to be honest Best Western is not my favorite brand or loyalty program, in fact, I have 0 points there. 

But I like FREE hotel nights. And this Best Western in Sedona looks pretty nice and includes breakfast. 

This promotion is very straight forward:

1. Book 2 nights at any Best Western branded hotel (you must book directly with the hotel not through a third party) in the US, Canada or the Caribbean. 

2. The nights can be consecutive and at the same hotel or not

3. Nights must occur between Feb. 17th and April 20th

4. You must register prior to the completion of your first eligible night. When you register, you will be prompted to join the rewards program. 

The fine print says you can only earn 1 FREE night voucher during the promotion. The voucher will be sent to the email address in your rewards account 2-3 weeks after you complete your eligible nights. The voucher will expire 70 days from fulfillment and the date will be stated on the voucher. You must have a valid email address listed in your rewards account. 

In the facts for the promotion, it states 

"Please contact our reservation team at 1(800) 567-4009 to make your reservation and clearly state that you are using a free night voucher as payment."

I value this promotion at approximately $150-$200 depending on where you use the voucher. 

New 100,000 Southwest bonus offer, but is right for you?

The 75,000 Southwest bonus offer is over and if you took advantage then good for you. And if you are trying to earn the Southwest companion pass, then this next offer may be one you want to jump on. The companion pass is a buy one, get one FREE on any Southwest flight for up to two years. It is hands down one of the best perks around. If you are not trying to earn the pass, this may be a good offer OR maybe not. 

New 100,000 Southwest bonus offer

This week, Southwest launched a new 100,000 bonus offer on its Performance Business credit card. BUT here's the deal. You get 70,000 points if you spend $5,000 in the first three months of having the card. Not too bad. Of course, the annual fee is $199 and it is not waived the first year. You get 9,000 points on your anniversary, but no Southwest airline credit like the Priority card. You do get 4 upgraded boarding passes. 

To earn the additional 30,000 bonus points, you must spend another $20,000 in the first six months. Ouch. When all is said and done, you will have a total of at least 125,000 Southwest points which will qualify you for the companion pass. But you will have to spend $25,000 on the card in six months. 

Now for some businesses, and yes, this is a business card, that's small potatoes, but for others, it may be a stretch. 

If you have a big expense coming up and you already have a Southwest personal card (you can only hold one personal card at a time) or you are over Chase 5/24 rule, the Performance business card might be a good option. 

The other possibility is that if you already have a personal card or if you apply for this card and a personal card to earn the companion pass, then paying the annual fee for the bonus points may be worth it. Even if you don't spend enough to get the 30,000 bonus, a 70,000 bonus is nothing to sneeze at. 

If you don't have a personal Southwest card yet, we review the offers here so you can decide which one is best for you. The current offer is 40,000 Southwest points for a $1,000 minimum spend. And if you decide to apply for any of the cards, please use our referral link and support this blog. 

That's how we do it at almost FREE family travel. 

Get Bonus Points When You Send Valentine's Day Flowers

If you have followed my blog for at least a few weeks, you know how much I LOVE shopping portals! Shopping portals are like icing on a cake. It's really FREE money. 

Whenever you shop online, you get bonus points/cashback or loyalty shopping dollars if you click through a portal to get to the retailer website. Make sense?

It's one extra click for you and could mean thousands of bonus miles/points or cashback. 

For Valentine's Day, the shopping portals are sweetening the deal. 

Here are the current deals:

• Southwest Airlines is offering a bonus of 1,750 points if you use their portal to access 1-800-Flowers. 
• United Airlines is offering 400 bonus points when you spend $200 total at any retailers by February 16th. 
• American Airlines is offering 400 bonus points when you spend $200 total at any retailers by February 17th

So if you have any online shopping to do this week, look at the portals before you hit place order and you will be one step closer to your next FREE trip. 

Thinking about cutting the cord? Sling $5 promotion starts today

We cut the cord in December and it's been awesome. We used to pay over $200 a month for cable, crazy, right? Now we pay $100 a month for internet and tv.

Today is National Cut The Cord Day! In honor of the day, Sling TV is offering a $5 per month promotion if you want to try it.

The promotion runs until Sunday. The $5 rate is only for the first month.

Use my link and you may get a discount on the following months too.

Sling TV offers two different packages, blue and orange. You choose depending which channels you want to watch. There is DVR too for an extra fee.

Check it out and if you have been thinking about cutting the cord, now may be the time. Then put that extra money away for your next trip! That's how we do it at almostFREEfamilytravel.com

How To Sign Up For Lyft Pink With Your Chase Sapphire Reserve

One of the new perks of the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card is a Lyft Pink membership. Why am I excited about Lyft Pink, I'll tell you. But first, let me show you why the Sapphire Reserve is my new favorite travel card. Even though the annual fee just increased from $450 to $550, I'm probably going to hang on to this one. Here's why. 

The Sapphire Reserve comes with the following benefits:

• Flexibility with Ultimate Reward Points 
• 1.5 value in the travel portal 
• $300 travel credit 
• $100 global entry credit 
• Priority Pass Lounge membership 
• FREE Lyft Pink membership
• FREE Doordash Pass 

I value Lyft Pink membership at $199.  You already get 10x points through March 2022 when you use your Chase Sapphire Reserve to pay when you ride Lyft. You get 5x points if you pay with your Chase Sapphire Preferred and 5% cashback if you pay with your Chase Freedom or Freedom Unlimited. With Lyft Pink you get: 

I don't know about you, but the 3 FREE bikes and scooter rides per month is pretty fun! If you ride with Lyft often or travel often, 15% off every ride will add to big savings. 

To activate your Lyft Pink membership:

• Open the payment tab in the Lyft app
• Tap add card 
• Enter your Chase Sapphire Reserve or Preferred credit card information 
• You will be prompted to start your one-year membership in Lyft Pink 

If you don't have a Sapphire Reserve or Preferred credit card yet, this is my favorite card. Please use my referral link if you decide to go for it. You will get 60,000 Ultimate Reward Points and I will get 10,000 points for referring you. Thank you and keep traveling! 

Hurry, Southwest 75,000 point bonus offer ends Feb. 10th

Southwest 75,000 point bonus offer is ending on February 10th so if you have been thinking about this one, you better jump on it now. 

Why would you want to jump on this offer?

Southwest Airlines is one of the best airlines out there with an easy cancellation and change policy, relatively inexpensive flights, two FREE checked bags and more. It's one of my favorite airlines. 

And Southwest offers one of the best perks in the business, the companion pass. The pass is good for FREE travel for your companion for two years. You can read more about the companion pass here. The 75,000 point bonus offer puts you very close to the 125,000 points needed to earn the companion pass.

There are three credit cards that currently offer the 75,000 bonus offer. Which one is right for you?

You have three choices on personal cards. The differences between the Plus, Premier and Priority are: 

Plus

• $69 annual fee
• 3,000 anniversary bonus 

Premier

• $99 annual fee
• 6,000 anniversary bonus

Priority

• $149 annual fee
• $75 Southwest credit 
• 4 upgraded boardings 
• 7,500 anniversary bonus

I believe the Priority card is the best value because though the annual fee is higher, you also get a credit on Southwest. If you apply for one of these personal cards, you will earn 75,000 bonus points plus 5,000 points for your purchases. So you are looking at 80,000 points with one card. 

You need 125,000 points to earn the companion pass. You are only allowed to hold one personal card at a time. But you can hold a personal card and a business card at the same time. 

Why You Can't Earn American Miles With Hotel Stays Anymore

It's getting harder and harder to earn award miles and convert points without flying. The latest announcement comes from American Airlines. The company is breaking off its partnerships with Hilton, Best Western, and Choice Hotels. The change goes into effect March 31, 2020. 

According to the email from the airline: 

Thank you for being a member of the AAdvantage® program. We know you value the ability to earn AAdvantage miles through many of our partnerships, and we want to let you know about changes with some partners. Effective April 1st, AAdvantage members will no longer be able to earn miles or convert points to miles with Best Western® Hotels and Resorts, Choice Hotels® or Hilton. Members can still earn miles or convert points to miles through March 31, 2020.

But never fear, there are workarounds. Here are a couple of ideas:

1. Use a credit card with lots of transfer partners like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve. Then you can collect points and transfer them to dozens of airlines and hotels OR use the travel portal. 

2. Use Rocketmiles when you book a hotel and get miles on whichever airline you select.

Even though this partnership is ending, there are still ways to earn and convert points so we can enjoy almost FREE family travel.