American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card

I recently applied for the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card as there was a rather hefty bonus of 50,000 Membership Reward points after spending just $1000 in the first 3 months. Unfortunately, the offer seems to have been pulled and currently only the 25,000 MR points offer is available. If you should see it return, at any point, I would advise getting in on the deal.

American Express Small Business Saturday Enrolment Open!

American Express Small Business Saturday is back!  Enrol your American Express credit card here and get $25 statement credit for an eligible purchase ($25 and up) made at a small business on November 24, 2012!  Enrolment is now open until Nov 24 or until supplies end so sign up quickly!

American Express Gold Delta Card

The American Express Gold Delta Card is another one of those cards that has been around for some time and while it used to regularly offer 25k Skymiles, the norm is now 30k with the occasional 40k popping up every so often. Interestingly, Delta gives different offers to different people and to get an idea of what you might get, go here and enter your Skymiles account number.

Delta is part of Skyteam, the second largest of the major airline alliances, and is partnered with the likes of KLM, Air France and Korean Airlines. This makes Delta points more valuable especially if you live near a Delta hub or make frequent trips on Delta and its partners.

American Express Hilton Surpass Card

*Updated May 7, 2013*

For those who already hold the American Express Hilton Card, there's another card that might be worth considering. The Amex Hilton Surpass Card offers an additional 50k bonus Hilton HHonors points to existing Hilton cardholders and offers complimentary Hilton Gold status for the first year of cardmembership. For new cardmembers, there is a 60k offer available here. It should be noted though that this card also has a $75 annual fee attached which makes this offer a bit less appealing.

The other key difference is the addition of the free priority pass membership which allows access to over 600 airport lounges (but keep in mind you still need to pay a $27 day fee for usage).

Virgin Atlantic American Express Card Review

While this public link has been out for a few days now, I figured I might as well also do a brief review of this credit card while I'm on the topic recently.  This Amex card is offered by Bank of America (that alone should be enough incentive for savvy card point collectors to perk up as most of the amazing deals are offered by American Express Bank, Chase and Citi to some extent).

While the card supposedly offers 65k miles, only 45k-50k are relatively easy to get. The first 20k can be had after your first purchase and a further 25k can be attained after $2500 spend in the first 90 days (3 months). Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles are mainly useful to fly to and from London, meaning that only if you are a frequent visitor to that city does it really make any sense to collect those miles.  Mileage point redemptions compared to other airlines for such transatlantic hops (from the US) or Asia-London hops are relatively low, however the taxes and fuel surcharges can be quite hefty.

American Express Hilton Card

*Updated May 7, 2013*

I had done a review of the American Express Starwood Card a little while back (as it is one of the most flexible travel credit cards out there) but I'd like to also point out that American Express also offers a competitive alternative in the Hilton HHonors card for those loyal to the Hilton brand and are looking for a no annual fee travel rewards card.

While the credit card bonus for the Hilton, at 40k points, seems larger than the Starwood bonus, it is also important to determine the value of the points and the earnings rate of the card as well as any annual fees you might get hit with. Again, before we go into the details, I'd like to just point you at an example of what 35k Hilton HHonors points can get you - this was my stay at the (then) Category 5 Embassy Suites Montreal.  This was an excellent hotel with a great downtown location and superb rooms. One night would have cost about $250 USD after taxes and fees.

American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Card

*Updated May 7, 2013*

Given that I do a little bit of travelling every now and then, I thought some readers here might be interested in the American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card.  There are a wide variety of credit cards out there (such as the Amex Hilton card) and picking and choosing between all those choices is sometimes a bit difficult.

Before I get into a huge analysis of points, fees, rewards and whatnot, I'd like to point at one of the stays I made recently with Starwood, at the Westin Chosun in Seoul as an example of the possibilities out there for redemption.  This was one of the top tier hotels in Seoul, very centrally located near Myeong Dong and definitely a superb place to stay when travelling..

At the time of my travels, one night would have cost almost $300 USD after taxes and fees.  At that rate, a 5 night stay would have cost a pretty penny (~$1500 USD)!  Using Starwood points however, this particular stay only cost me 40k SPG points (This category 4 hotel would have cost me 10k SPG points / night but by using the 'redeem 4 nights get the 5th free', only 40k points was required).  As to how I got those 40k points, I will detail that out below.