Dream Vacation within reach: Maldives using Hilton points
Вставка
- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
- Amex Hilton Card
americanexpres...
Hilton Conrad Maldives
www.hilton.com...
#Hilton #Maldives #americanexpress #vacation #dreamvacation #hotel #firstclass #suite
Nothing I say is meant to be taken as legal, tax or investing advice, consult a professional at your discretion.
Thanks for the video!!! Help a lot!! Can’t wait for you to do more videos and get more information for traveling
Thank you for commenting and watching, I enjoy helping others with their travel. I will be doing a couple videos in the future about first class flights to Asia and Europe that I was able to book with points. Specifically, London and Tokyo.
@juliopalacios9192, I just uploaded another travel video about a First Class flight to Tokyo and how I booked it. ua-cam.com/video/n4Rl06nlTYY/v-deo.html
In March of 2025 I’m planning on taking my wife to the Maldives for a week to celebrate our 20th anniversary. I’ve been working Amex for the last two years already. I’ve got just under 700,000 MR points. I also have the Surpass card now with just over 300,000 honors points and plan on getting the Aspire next year. Great video! Thanks!
Hi Ritchie, that's awesome! I hope you make a video about it, what a wonderful experience that will be. Congratulations on earning so many points and then you very much for the compliment.
Man, those are a lot of points! Are you concerned that your points might be severely devalued in the next 3 years?
@@LK_EBM yup. Really keeping my fingers crossed about that, lol.
@@Ritchie_The_CEOwhy don’t u book end of 2023 or 2024, ur points might get devalued by 2025 march
Should mention that you also will get two free night certificates with this strategy (2x aspire cards). So you’d be able to book 7 nights (4 nights plus 1 night free on points the. The 2x free nights) for a total of only 480,000 points!
Thank you for pointing that out, it totally slipped my mind about the other benefits. You are 100% right, an even better deal!
Great info. Thank you
Thank you, and thank you for watching!
For the aspire You get a free night plus the fifth night free on booking a hotel, so in reality you only need to pay for 4 nights if both people are using their cards to pay for the example you gave. Which is just the points from 1 person (about 480k points). Great video though I didn’t know you could pool points with hilton
Thank you for watching and for the compliment. Yes, it totally slipped my mind about the free night as well as the fifth night free redemption. I appreciate you taking the time to inform others!
Wow. Awesome!!!
Thank you Craig, I appreciate the kind words.
Nice intro break-down but you're missing half the equation - the flights. Anywhere in the US -> Dubai -> Malé (plus the seaplane), and back, for 2 people, even in economy, is still a huge expense.
Hi Jay, I appreciate you watching!
You bring up a very valid point, no vacation is complete with only the hotel price accounted for. In order to keep my videos short, I decided to only focus on the hotel for this example. There are several fantastic ways to get to the Maldives using some of the same general steps that I have shared and I plan on making it. Shortly, I will be flying to Tokyo (First Class) for less than $100 and will be making that video as soon as the trip is complete.
Additionally, it is my experience that the hardest availability to find and secure tends to be a specific hotel. When I plan my travels, I book backwards... Restaurants, then hotel, then rental cars, then flights.
Again, I really appreciate you watching and thank you so much for the feedback. I am continually trying to improve how I communicate my ideas.
More often than not redeeming Hilton points for properties in the Maldives isn't such a good deal. When you factor in the cost of the meals, transfers and the value of the points that you spend (valuation of 0,5 cents per point) it's only marginally cheaper than booking the rates with cash outright. Both the Waldorf and Conrad Maldives offers very attractive Impressario Rates with the 4th night free, complimentary dinner and discounted or sometimes even free transfers.
Super helpful, thanks!
You're welcome!
That´s great, thanks for the video, trying to go for my honeymoon, do you know how long do I need to wait untill ask for the other one card? I spend a lot at the credit card, can reach the spend fast, But a little afraid of ask for too many cards too close! Helpppp kkkk
Thanks for watching @laertebsantos, I am glad you liked my video. Amex states that you need to wait 5-days between credit card applications or risk being rejected. In my opinion, apply for one at a time, satisfy the spend requirement, and move on.
Something else to keep in mind is that AMEX will only allow you to hold 5 credit cards in total at any given time. This does NOT apply to their charge cards (Platinum, Gold, Green) but it is good to keep in mind.
I currently have a Platinum, Gold, Green, Every Day, (2) Bonvoy and (2) Hilton cards. My credit is well above 800 and my relationship with AMEX is very strong. It is possible to have several cards at once, just make sure you are a good customer for them.
Hilton offers 5th night free! So it's even less 840k points.
You’re absolutely correct, I forgot to account for that in my video. Thank you for the comment!
Not really 90%. You spend a lot too for the welcome bonus. And also the travel costs like airline transfer and dining at night while at the conrad can be expensive too. Also that price tag is inflated excessively 😂
Thank you for watching and commenting @mintico, I value your feedback. I want to address all of your concerns above...
1. The 90% figure is based on the room rate for the trip, all of the other variables including transportation, entertainment, and food will vary too much from person to person so it is hard for me to calculate that cost. I tired my best to be accurate with the hotel room pricing and took my numbers directly from Hilton's website.
2. An absolutely critical point that everyone should keep in mind when signing up for ANY credit card... Do not change your spending habits. The only thing you want to do is change your method of payment for goods and services, DO NOT SPEND MORE MONEY than you currently do. If you usually spend $100 at the super market on your debit card, simply swap out your debit card for your new credit card and funnel all of your usual spending through the new card. This will let you achieve the welcome bonus without changing your spending habits. (ie. no additional cost aside from the annual fee)
BONUS. I forgot to mention that you also get a free night with the Aspire card as well as a 5th night free when redeeming points for 4 consecutive nights. Thank you to @mikell.6064 for reminding me of that below. This brings your points cost down even more.
You skipped the money required for each SUB. So yes the annual fees are $1090. Spend requirement for sign up bonuses are $1000, $2000, and $4000. That's $7000 of spend EACH. So for those points, $7000 + $7000 + $1090 = $15090.
I get the point is that player 1 and player 2 are supposed to spend the money for SUB on normal expenses but should at least factor that in to the video
Kane, thank you for your comment. I did not factor in the spend requirement for each card because this spend should be your normal day-to-day expenses. Ideally, you just replace your cash or debit card with the Amex card so that the out of pocket costs to you is limited to the annual fee for each card. I could have done a better job at making that more clear in the video. Thank you for your feedback, I will make sure to highlight the out-of-pocket cost better moving forward.
WTF!?! Minimum cost for each "Player" is $0 + $95 + $450 in annual fees for Honors, Surpass & Aspire cards respectively. Plus $7,000 minimum spend for EACH "Player" to actually acquire the bonos points.
Yes Alejandro, that is correct. However, to your point, the minimum spend is not over an above any money that is already being spent. The idea is simply to replace whatever you are currently using for your day-to-day expenses (cash, debit card, other credit card) with the Hilton card.
The goal is to maintain current spending habits, just switch out the method of payment. If I spend $1,500 a month on bills and food and transportation...I will just use the Hilton card for those expenses so that I can earn points back for money I already spend.
Thank you for watching and I very much appreciate the feedback. I will try my best to communicate my point more effectively in the future.
Yes but you’re getting over $10,000 worth!! And you can spend the $7,000 on bills or whatever you were going to spend money on anyway. I would take that any day to be honest!!
The Pooling Points tip is money - do other programs (Marriott Bonvoy or other airlines) do that as well that you know of?
Hey Robert, yes both Marriott Bonvoy and Hyatt do allow pooling on some level. I will make a follow-up video on both in the future. Thanks for watching!
I am already an Amex member so when I try to sign up for the Hilton honors, it doesn’t let me get the welcome bonus. Any suggestion?
That's strange @xhejmsstruga2312, did you speak with them over the phone? I have several AMEX cards and have still been able to get welcome bonuses for both the Hilton and Bonvoy cards. Did they give you a specific reason?
@@BrooksJones I did, they said that you may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have already received a previous welcome bonus which I did with my gold card
@@xhejmsstruga2312 Ohhh, okay. Yes, Amex will only give you (1) welcome bonus per card, per lifetime. If you have already received a welcome bonus for the GOLD card then you are not eligible for any future welcome bonuses for the GOLD card. That does not prevent you from getting welcome bonuses for other cards however. You should be able to receive (1) welcome bonus for each different AMEX card.
Check out this article from The Points Guy, they do a great job in explaining it... thepointsguy.com/credit-cards/american-express/american-express-bonus-lifetime-restrictions
Any suggestions?
Do you have to use your free night within a year? TIA
Thank you for watching and commenting @lenadao5148. Yes, you need to complete your stay by the expiration date that is listed on your award.
@@BrooksJones thank you 🙏🏻
Will Amex approve all 3 cards in the same year?
Amex has a 5 card rule. But there's nowhere that says you can't use 3 cards all on cobranded cards.
I can only speak to what they did for me. I applied for, and received, all three cards within the same year and executed this exact strategy. I didn't choose to visit the Maldives but I used my points for International stays at the Conrad.