How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
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Is Elite Status Worth Chasing for Occasional Travelers?
Megan, I know you have a lot of weddings to travel to this year. My question for you is, will you have elite status in time?
Yes, I actually already earned my elite status for this year and I'm already using it for wedding travel. I just got back from the first bachelorette party over the weekend in Austin and I flew American Airlines on the way there, which is the one I have elite status in, but Southwest on the way back.
Southwest? I thought I was a Southwest stan here.
Well, you know, sometimes the flights are more convenient on Southwest and I could fly to a smaller airport and take the same flight and the same Uber home as my friends. So listeners, do as I do and build a healthy relationship with your elite status, not a toxic one.
And you know what I say, I have no problem cheating on an airline with Southwest.
Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Sally French. And I'm Megan Coyle. And we're the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip. Today, we're talking about whether elite status is actually worth it.
But first, let's take a look at some of the news in travel this week.
And just a heads up, in this episode, we'll talk about a few credit card companies that are nerd wallet partners, but that doesn't influence how we discuss them. All right, let's dive into the news.
How Does Southwest's Availability on Expedia Affect Travelers?
Well, speaking of Southwest, our first news item is that Southwest flights are now available to book on Expedia. That's as of last week. This is huge because it's the first time that Southwest flights are showing up in some search results in an online travel agency, which we call an OTA. It's also showing up in some Expedia-owned OTAs like Travelocity, Hotwire, Orbitz, and Cheap Tickets.
Yeah, remember when Southwest flights didn't even show up in Google flights? Oof, I know, dark times. That was tough. But that all changed in May of last year, and I'm so glad they got the technology working for that.
So glad. Anytime you can do more comparison shopping, that just means that travelers like us can make more informed decisions and, of course, book cheaper flights.
Just remember, booking with OTAs like Expedia does sometimes add some complexity to your travel. Like if you need to change or cancel your reservation, you'll have to deal with that middleman. At least on flights, though, you will still be able to earn Southwest points if you book a Southwest flight through an OTA. That's not the case for hotels, and it's usually better to just book directly for your hotel stays.
What Are the Implications of Hyatt's Award Category Changes?
In other hotel news, Hyatt just announced its annual award category changes. Around this time of year, Hyatt will typically adjust the award category that some of its properties fall into. So low award categories cost less points per night and high award categories cost more points per night.
Yeah, Hyatt has this great award chart that lays out the peak, off-peak, and standard points you'll need for each category. Most hotels have gotten rid of their award charts and they now use dynamic pricing. So it's really hard to estimate how many points you might need for a night. It depends on demand and all sorts of things. But Hyatt actually tells you how many points you're going to need.
This is really nice because it just makes it so much easier to plan in advance. You know how many points each hotel is going to cost. Another nice thing about Hyatt is that they actually do this courtesy of telling you when they are going to change the category of their properties. So we know which categories are changing now, but that won't kick in until later. Of course, the bad news is that although 33 properties are getting cheaper, 118 are actually going to get more expensive when you book on points.
Womp womp. Yeah, this happens every year. Usually most hotels are moving up a category. And especially this year, lots of Japan properties are moving up a category. They're getting more expensive to book on points, probably because the interest in Japan travel is still so high. I know. I feel like everyone I know is in Japan right now. Yeah, I'm glad I went way earlier. I went a few years ago.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
Is Elite Status Worth Chasing for Occasional Travelers?
0:00–1:17
2
How Does Southwest's Availability on Expedia Affect Travelers?
1:17–2:17
3
What Are the Implications of Hyatt's Award Category Changes?
2:17–7:10
4
How to Earn Airline Elite Status Without Frequent Flying?
7:10–10:44
5
What Are the Benefits and Trade-offs of Airline Loyalty Programs?
10:44–13:44
6
How Can Credit Card Spending Help Achieve Elite Status?
13:44–26:29
Speakers
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