Why Wyndham Deserves A Look And Delta Makes Award Tickets Count

Speaker 1: How tired are you Mr. Kerr,

Speaker 2: On a scale of one to tired, I'm like exhausted. You devils an forage of 10 fingers and 10 toes.

Speaker 1: How do you know? I have 10 toes? You know, I mean, it was, it was a pretty rewarding stay. Um, and it makes me you, I said, it's why I scored Windom third in a couple of categories on my Freddy's ballot,

Speaker 3: Climb a board. This is the miles to go podcast your source for the latest in travel news, reviews and strategies you can afford to miss. And now here's your host travel expert and road warrior ed pizza.

Speaker 1: Hey guys, welcome back to the miles to go podcast, Mr. Ke and I are both, uh, exhausted. That's probably the best way to say it.

Speaker 2: Not, not functioning. So I'm gonna say a lot of funny stuff on this episode.

Speaker 1: Neither one of us gotten a whole lot of sleep, but Richard has her reminded me of a very special anniversary. Apparently one year ago today, he and I were camping in taper city, North Carolina at daddy Joe's camp. Jellystone in North Carolina,

Speaker 2: Come and do that from taper city. The yam capital of the world did the yam capital. Did we even go get any yams?

Speaker 1: We did not, but that's not. That's on brand for me. I'm a donut guy. My wife would've gotten yams if you'd asked

Speaker 2: Me, but what was the name of that donut place? Uh, something, yeah, it was something.

Speaker 1: Yeah. Um, yeah, and, and here we sit and I don't have, uh, I don't have a trailer anymore. And you do, which is very sad for, well, you, for me,

Speaker 2: Not for

Speaker 1: You, it's tough for you.

Speaker 2: Yeah, we're going, uh, actually in like six days, we're headed out to jelly stone again, and the kids have a weekend off soccer man. So I'm ready to get out there. Cause I've been working too much time to take a little break, get some fresh air, get, get away from the city.

Speaker 1: Yep. Uh, but I'm not doing that anytime soon. Uh, before we dig in the show guys quicker, my, you guys can shoot us questions and we got a few that we're gonna answer today on the show. Um, you can email us pizza in motion.com. You can text or leave us a voicemail at 5 7 1 2 9 3 6 6 5 9. And you can find us on social media, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. I am at pizza in motion. He is at points. Um, and there's a little link in the show notes too, if you like us. Um,

Speaker 2: Now I'm TikTok man. I'm, I'm a good TikTok follower. Having my first video hit a hundred thousand views.

Speaker 1: I gotta do that at some point, you

Speaker 2: Know, how much money without the show that that equates two in my pocket, Nothing. It's been a while though. I've the guys that built have been great for me. They've created all these clips that we did in studio and they literally make it turnkey where I just hit the download button and then post it. And, um, I learned a lot, man, like the same thing on TikTok. They literally get a hundred thousand views gets like 4,000 views on Instagram. Like everybody must be on TikTok or they're just hugely inflating their numbers. But I don't know. Seems like everybody's on the to

Speaker 1: Why can't it be both?

Speaker 2: It probably is. It probably is both

Speaker 1: A hundred thousand people looking at your ugly mug and smiling. Wow.

Speaker 2: Wow man. Can you imagine if I was bitter looking or had some hair I'm like, we'd bet

Speaker 1: Incredible. That would be pretty. So, um, so yeah, so I am in new Orleans right now, uh, for the final four, we are recording before the, uh, before the final four itself, a huge duke fan, hoping that by the time this comes out, I won't be disappointed. And that the, uh, miracle season will end with a, a fantasy ending. And me cheering inside the, uh, is super dome, which I could see up my window from higher Regency new Orleans. Uh,

Speaker 2: Finally something we agree on. We had a little bracket contest that built. I saw

Speaker 1: You picked my, I saw you picked my buds like that.

Speaker 2: I pick I'm in first place, man. I got a hundred point lead on second place. So we got, uh, 15,000 bill points on the line. So I need, oh,

Speaker 1: How many of those do I get at duke wins?

Speaker 2: None and not a one

Speaker 1: That's not fair.

Speaker 2: Yeah. So I got, I need duke to pull off to seal the deal and get 15,000 bill points.

Speaker 1: Ah, yeah. So, um, this is the first time I've ever been to a final four, which is cool, but, um, but you know, um, I was on the road working, um, early in the week doing stupid travel things too, to get to the final four. I mean, and you know, this is where I think the fact that there are no change fees anymore is incredible for folks who have mileage balances. Because at one point I had seven tickets booked, um, it related to this new Orleans trip on various airlines, uh, because I was trying to figure out a like when I could leave and then B like the prices were incredible, but they were changing every minute cuz everybody like huge demand for tickets. And so they, they would go up and down and at some point first class was cheaper than coach and, and all kinds of crazy stuff. So I just kept booking stuff and then just, you know, canceling as, as necessary, unfortunately ended up in like the ticket that I ended up taking from Las Vegas, uh, was like a 6:00 PM flight out last night, uh, landing in Houston at about midnight, got to my hotel room, stayed at the Houston airport. Marriot. Have you ever stayed there before?

Speaker 2: No, I have not. Cuz my sister's always nearby, so I never had to stay at the hotel on the Houston airport.

Speaker 1: You don't have any idea what you're missing, so we'll just leave it there. I did. I did go the old capital one venture X route and not, not collect Marriot points cuz I, since I was only gonna be in the room for three hours and 45 minutes, uh, that I would, uh, I would take the, uh, venture X points as opposed to any sort of like free wifi or free breakfast since I used none of that. I was back out on the, uh, on the underground walkway in the airport at like five 30 this morning. And um, yeah. And so here in new Orleans, uh, but again, hi for life as you like to say, uh, emailed my concierge yesterday and said, Hey, like I know it's a big event in new Orleans, you know, Hyat Regency right next to the, the convention center and the superD dome where the, uh, where the event is. And you know, like I know it's a long shot, but is there any way I can get an early check in? Cause I got a full day of meetings and stuff, took a shower, wake up, you know, all that sort of stuff. And uh, they said, you know, hotel's busy, but they'll do their best walked in the door at 9:13 AM. And they handed me my keys at nine 14,

Speaker 2: Dude. I cannot remember the last time I had made me wait to check in. Whereas the last time I've been to a Hilton or Marriot, they're like, it's not four o'clock yet. That was like, that's

Speaker 1: True. It was four o'clock somewhere.

Speaker 2: Yeah, that was great. I had another great experience. Um, we'll talk about a little bit about the week that I had up in New York, but uh, left my, I sat in my plane yesterday, flying home. I opened my AirPod case and the AirPod case is empty and I was like, great. I, this is just a matter of time. Um, cuz I even before leaving the hotel room yesterday, I've always been very conscious of the air pods, but the GM of 50 Bowery texted me last night after I dropped the, he said, Richard, we found your air pods. I'm gonna mail 'em to you the bit of your house on Monday. And I'm like hate for life, baby.

Speaker 1: I hate for that's awesome. Yeah. And there's so many stories like that, that, uh, that just keep bringing me back here and you know, we're gonna talk a little bit about Windo today. I'm based on a listener question and I wanna recap an experience I had, um, you know, but at the end of the day, I mean I finished my Freddy's ballot and you know, for, you know, call me a Homer, but there's just so many reasons why H continues to Excel. It's all these little things you with the AirPods meet with a 9:00 AM check in on way they busiest weekend of the year.

Speaker 2: Do they have, somebody's having a convention on final four weekend in new

Speaker 1: Orleans? Uh, no I'm saying the, the, no, the whole city's filled for new for the, for the final four. I'm saying the convention center hosts like the fan Fest capital one fan

Speaker 2: I'm like some other company willingly had a convention in new Orleans for week. I was like, wait a minute. That would be intense.

Speaker 1: And, and just, just before I forget too, just for folks that they are, are wondering, and I, I put together a blog post on this, but I was literally seeing coach prices over a hundred thousand miles one way in certain situations. Oh, I saw insane,

Speaker 2: Dude. I, um, um, we'll talk about, but I was with some folks at, uh, the elite eight last weekend, I went to the elite eight game, the, between St. Peters in North Carolina and Philly. Yeah. And there were a bunch of Villanova fans there and you know, that the group that I was with and they know I'm at points in miles. So, um, after Villanova had won, they were asking me Sunday like, Hey, how do I get to new Orleans? You know, can you help me out? And

Speaker 1: Drive

Speaker 2: Dude, I looked up ticket prices. And like, just to get from Philly where I, you know, Villanova fans are from Philly, new Orleans, there was no way, man. Like there were no nonstops left period. And then the one stops to like Chicago, Denver, San Francisco were like $1,400 for economy. And I was like, yeah, I don't think you should go to new Orleans.

Speaker 1: Like it was insane. And I, I, I started a jump and like, I I'm a bit superstitious. So duke is up by, you know, double digits in the second half. And I'm like, I don't wanna start pressing these buttons, but I know I need to start pressing these buttons. And I just started booking stuff across different airlines and trying to space 'em out enough. So the system wouldn't cancel if I had two tickets with the same airline and in close proximity to each other, I think the killer, I was shocked. Um, I got, and I don't need to look it up cause I don't actually remember how much it was, but my, my Hyat room, I think I texted you guys. I grabbed this room on points, um, on points. Uh, and I grabbed it the night of the elite eight. So that was Saturday. And, and I got it for what has to be the regular or the off peak rate, cuz it was like 8,000 points a night or something

Speaker 2: Would've had these days blacked out a year ago to redeem points. Yeah.

Speaker 1: The only thing I'll say is that they do say in their, um, they did say in the cancel in the, in the notice that they sent me, it was that I, a minimum for nights stay and it's a big property, I'm in a huge convention property. So minimum for nights stay, which I was fine with. Cause those are the dates I was coming down with, you know like, so you didn't have that, that, that was certainly a potential issue. And then interestingly enough, they, um, there's no, well the, the, the confirmation said no housekeeping, but, um, but they actually told me when I checked in that I just had to request it. Um, and the, the notice already also said that the Regency club was closed. But when I got here, you know, same thing, they just said, the Regency club is, is open. You have access. So it seems like things are pretty normal. Um, and when I was looking at cash rates for the property, they were just insane.

Speaker 2: The Regency club is open. It

Speaker 1: Is, yeah, I haven't been yet. Cuz I've been to the hotel only, just a couple hours as you and I, but the, but the Regency club is open.

Speaker 2: I haven't been to a Regency club in two years. Every single one that I lived in, the us has been closed. That's amazing. I

Speaker 1: Just, it is funny as you can imagine, you know, me, me being the old man that she was wearing a mask when I checked in and, and um, uh, of checking in and she's like, and, and she said something about the club and I said, okay, well where's the breakfast? And she says the club and, and of course like, like, huh, what, uh, I just, you know, I just assumed that she was telling me the club was closed. Um, and I didn't quite hear her correctly. And, and actually she was telling me the club's open and that's where breakfast will be. Um, and I've never stayed at this property. It's a pretty, um, it's pretty massive hotel. I usually stay at the lives of Jane, uh, down here, which I think is a lovely hotel, huge property. It seems really nice. Rooms are nice. Um, all that stuff. You, a big ATR style hotel clubs up on the 32nd floor. So I'll certainly find out more, but it appears that it's Open for business. Um, and yes, I paid 9,000 points a night. Wild. That is crazy. Um, when the rates were, um,

Speaker 1: I think it's like 7,000 bucks a night or something like that when I looked, I mean, just crazy. So probably the best dollar for dollar redemption though. I never would've paid that to come to the final four. So I mean, this trip was made possible by points of miles. That's, you know, lots of them, lots and lots of points of miles, but, and I can't even tell you how many, uh, because I still have tickets book for Sunday and Tuesday. Cuz if duke loses on Saturday, there's no way I'm staying around for the finals. I like, I don't need to see UNC again, that that will just make me puke. So I have tickets booked. I have a bunch of tickets booked for Sunday and I have a bunch of tickets book for Tuesday. So I can't tell you how many points it's gonna cost me yet, but it's gonna cost me a lot. But outta my pocket, I'm, you know, out of, other than just the ticket, I'm out almost nothing, which is great

Speaker 2: And right on cue, the neighbor starts cutting the grass. Sweet. It's amazing how you can go like 14 days of that recording in the one hour you're recording. They're like, this is the hour I'm gonna cut the grass. Like the odds of that are, this

Speaker 1: Is podcast. This is podcasting ATS. Beth podcasting is Beth. Well while, while they're cutting the grass, why don't you, uh, cut to the chase on why you were in New York,

Speaker 2: Uh, this week? Yeah, man, huge week. And that's why I'm so exhausted on Monday. Uh, we went public that Wells Fargo would now be issuing the build MasterCard, uh, third largest bank in the United States, tens of millions of customers. And we've known this for about nine months now and that's why there's been a wait list. Everybody's wanna get off the wait list. But we had, uh, very specific strategy of making sure that all of the tech technology work, that all the integrations with real estate partners, payment systems, MasterCard now Wells Fargo, which by the way, integrating with a legacy bank like Wells Fargo is incredibly challenging. That's the only thing I'll say about that. Um, and we decided that, Hey, keeping the wait list and, and keeping this gated so that when we finally did open to the public that everybody had the best experience possible was the way to go.

Speaker 2: And on one hand that was incredibly encouraging because so many people wanted it. And that's great when you're building a business and you basically haven't had to spend anything on marketing because our landlord partners and the, the buzz that we've gotten about it, um, have done all that for us. And then, uh, Monday it was, uh, it was lights out, man. Uh, 5:00 AM, uh, uh, Bloomberg broke a, uh, embargoed. Um, what do you call exclusive piece? And the nine o'clock points of miles world broke it out as well as, um, everybody else out in media world. And we had a huge, uh, event on Monday night at the summer to one Vanderbilt, which is an absolutely incredible space. If you're go to New York city, you can buy tickets and go up there and I highly recommend you do, but man, it, it just turned into, it was like, you know, Y cliff John and ASAP Rocky perform, we got celebrities and influencers there that, you know, like you and I have been to credit card events. Like these things don't happen. And then at, you know, nine 30 mayor of New York walks up on stage and starts talking about built rewards. We've got 40 Papa righty at the step and repeat, and then taking pictures of everybody. A couple of my favorite Peloton instructors showed up to the built rewards party. Oh, you know, it's just like, are you kidding me? Like

Speaker 1: What Floyd money Mayweather.

Speaker 2: He travels with an entourage of 15, uh, which somehow did not surprise me. So do I, no, you don't. He travels with an entre of 10 fingers and Tintos

Speaker 1: How do you know I have Tintos

Speaker 2: But, um, what that did, and it was, it was a very specific and strategic marketing play on our behalf was to pull out all of the relationships we have because we knew the press outside of traditional press that, you know, when a credit card law much is, it's typically on the news wire for a day and then it's on their website. Nobody sees it or pays attention. Whereas like we had, because of those people showing up, whether you and I agree with the way that they live their lives and you know what we think about them personally, it doesn't matter because it gets the word out and it got incredible press coverage that continues to this day. We got spots on CBS, all about a program that makes points for paying rent, man. Um, and it was a ton of work. The team had built has been carefully put together to make this happen.

Speaker 2: And then Wells Fargo picking us up. Now, if you go to Wells fargo.com where, um, I don't know what questions do you have, man, I've done the talking points thing, but you know, how does that strike you? We've had a lot of visceral reactions to Wells Fargo, which those of us in the credit card world understand as well as those, who've seen Wells Fargo and the news for all the right or wrong reasons over the last few years. Um, but at the end of the day, what it means is that the built card is gonna gonna go out to millions of Wells Fargo customers, um, and say, Hey, if you pay rent, this is really a no-brainer and it's still free, no annual fee, no feeds ever. So you might as well get something where you got nothing.

Speaker 1: Yeah. And I think, you know, I, I get, I get the, I get some of the blow back on Wells. They certainly have had a rough few years from a press standpoint. Um, you know, I mean, I don't know, maybe, maybe I'm being, and, uh, maybe made me too lighthearted when I say that that doesn't have a big impact on, on my decision. Um, I get that they created a bunch of accounts and all that stuff, but they didn't do that to me. And so I, I don't think it affects how I feel about them as a bank. I, you know, I mean, I think it's great for, uh, for bill, um, you know, as far as the whole wait list thing is, and, um, you know, this doesn't change, doesn't change the sign up bonus or anything like that. Um, which I know that there's some people that, that are critical of built for that.

Speaker 1: And, and I just don't, I just don't quite understand that. Um, I, I guess, and I don't know how much feedback you get versus what, what I've gotten online, but I guess when you, when you get out side of like the normal points of miles people, um, how is the card being received? Because I, for me, I think I just, I mean, I keep coming back to, and again, you're not paying me for this, you know, as you say, the card's wide open, why do some people just get this hangup on, on, on the value here? Like, it just seems like it's a natural card to slide and wallet. It's got no annual fee. I understand that maybe if you don't rent, you can't, you know, kill it on this card, but it's still got, you know, it's still a really solid value proposition for no annual fee.

Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, I've learned more in the last 10 months, what I knew before kind of once we started operating at the points sky and the scale there is that the points of miles world is very vocal in a very important world. And, um, but it has a very narrow view on the world of finances in America and the things that I've seen this week, people get hung up on and, and get quite, you know, there've been some, some visceral reactions to the built card out there in points of miles world. And it's just been like, wow, but outside of that, everybody's excited because millions of people pay rent. They want to get points of miles for it. And until now they've not been able to do it. So when we've talked to our real estate partners, when they tell us this week, people in their buildings are asking about it every day at the front desk. When we see the emails and the, um, stuff on social media, outside of points of miles, world, like everybody's excited for it. And, you know, that's, otherwise it wouldn't have been picked up as much as it was this week. I mean, when CBS morning news does a national spot on you that we didn't pay for or pitch to them, they just did it because they saw the buzz around it. Like that says something, validates the product that we built unintended,

Speaker 1: Uh, look at you tie that

Speaker 2: Together's funny, everybody does it in the office. We're like how we're trying to get this built for built. And everybody's like, ah, you did it again,

Speaker 1: By the way, I just, I just pulled up some numbers just for perspective for folks. Um, according to this report from, uh, looks like it looks like either published by or studied by in New York city, themselves 3 million, uh, rental units in New York city. Yeah. 3 million. So it's 3 million people that are paying some level. I mean, how many of them, you know, have credit card, credit scores and stuff that could qualify it? Not sure, but you know, clearly millions of people that could benefit from this. And, um, and I think that's, I think that's super awesome. And, you know, I mean, like I have a bunch of folks I know who have Wells cards in their wallets, not the ease, not, not a built card, just a regular Wells card. And I've like, I've had that conversation with, 'em like, look, look at the difference between what you're earning and what you could be earning and it's, it's not close.

Speaker 2: Yeah. And let's talk about the Wells thing for a while. So, um, I was actually at the elite eight, um, and the Wells Fargo center in Philly, in the Wells Fargo suite on Sunday, the day before we launched, cuz they invited me up and I've worked with a lot of those folks for many years now, four or five years, some of them. But the thing was, is when I worked with them for the last five years, none of 'em were at Wells Fargo. Um, right. And Wells Fargo's been very open and transparent that for the longest time they were the third biggest bank by assets. Number one by customers, number one, mortgage originator in the United States, they were number nine in credit cards and they couldn't get it. Right. And those of us listened to podcast. I've known that for a long time while I was always a huge fan of the Wells Fargo propel card, for some reason, a lot of people remember.

Speaker 2: Yeah. But I talked about that for a while, but everything else they did in credit card space was pretty weak and they've never been able to crack that nuts. So two years ago they recognized this and they basically brought in an entire new generation of executives to lead the, a credit card business over there at Wells Fargo. So now you have the godfather of chase. Ultimate rewards is the head of credit cards, Krista Phillips, who used to run city, thank you. Points runs the branded side and a gentleman named Dan Doty who used to run all of the co-branded business at Barclays. And before that chase, like he started the chase Southwest card. He started the jet blue card at Barclays. Like he knows what he's and he's good at it. And I've known him for years. He's now running the Cobra into business at Wells Fargo to now include the built card.

Speaker 2: And what Dan has done is gone and recruited the best of the best that he's worked with in his career at previous banks and those that he hasn't worked with, but he knows about, and right now they are all at Wells Fargo and they have been instrumental in making the built card launch a success and the success that I'm confident we're gonna have going forward. And it's just a new day at Wells Fargo, as far as the credit card business is concerned. So that as soon as you know, I've known that for eight or nine months now, if not, like I knew Dan left and went to Wells Fargo when I was still at the points guy and thought, Hmm, maybe Wells, Fargo's looking to do something here and not having any idea that the bill card would be a part of that.

Speaker 2: So, um, these are really great people and they're really good at what they do. And they have a proven track record of success at every other bank that they've been at. And now being all together at Wells Fargo is, is really exciting for us because they know the right people, they know what cut customers want, they know the right way to do business. Um, and I think it's just an awesome partnership going forward. So if you have reservation about Wells Fargo, I hear you. I like, I was one of 'em until I, I got to know these people that are running the credit card business, um, with us. And it's, it's gonna be really exciting to see, you know, even what the next six months holds for as come off that launch high again for like the third launch that we've done now and we try and get to sustainable growth and business. So it is cool stuff, man. And like having a front row seat to all this has been absolutely awesome.

Speaker 1: Yeah. And you mentioned, you know, Wells and you mentioned, you know, Dan and folks like that, Nicole, and, you know, folks that you and I have worked with over the years and, you know, they're, you know, they're, they are one of the, they're the primary sponsor of the Freddy awards this year and, you know, no vest interest for them other than wanting to, you know, promote the, you know, the, the, what I call the people's choice of loyalty awards, which I think, I think is great. You know, we don't, there's no profit from the Freddy awards. It's a passion project, the labor of love, but, uh, but it's, you know, made possible by the folks over at Wells, uh, this year, which I think is super awesome. Um, uh, and you know, just on a, on a slightly, uh, personal note, uh, of the folks that have decided to jump on me about, uh, the financial arrangement that I have, the massive, uh, backing I have from the bill rewards folks. Um, I'd like to point out that Richard was the one at the, uh, at the elite eight basketball game last week again, while I sat in my house and watched on television, I did not receive any sort of invitation from you or anybody at Wells Fargo whatsoever about coming to, uh, coming to a, a basketball game. So I appreciate that. And, uh, and please keep those rewards coming.

Speaker 2: Yeah, man, you know, it's been another, you know, I've been in the space for a long time now and we've seen everything. We see what people get upset about. They're were some people upset that, um, you know, a lot of amazing points of miles, people came to our event on Monday, sadly, ed was not one. He did the right thing and, you know, happy birthday to Michelle. So ed couldn't make the event,

Speaker 1: But we, you know, she's not listening. I

Speaker 2: Always make sure she's taking care of. Um, but people were upset that, uh, we had some points of miles people there, um, which, you know, that will never make sense to me. Like we have a great product. We have people that wanna support a great product. I didn't pay anybody anything to be there. Um, we invited them to the party, like, that's the way you get the word out. That's the way you market this stuff. Every single marketer business company in the world invites the, the top voices in whatever space they're I'm and give their opinion and cover it. And, um, people will just always be overly sensitive about that. Everybody that we're gonna do business with going forward, because we are gonna have to start doing business because we know in this space like, Hey, party invites are cool, but at the end of the day, all these creators need to make money.

Speaker 2: So we're gonna figure that out. Um, it will be disclosed. It'll a hundred percent be disclosed on my behalf. It'll be disclosed on builts side and we're making everybody disclose it on the other half. And if you think, because somebody discloses something that it means they do whatever I say, I'm here to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that's not the way it works. You ed pizzazz res the Gary lefts of the world say what they want to say anytime they want. Okay. So you can be skeptical all you want. You can always give me critical feedback about the product that we're building, what you thinks wrong with it, but just, just be aware of, you know, I don't even know how to explain it anymore, man, but people are always gonna get mad no matter what you want to do. So I'm sorry. But, uh, everybody, we're still,

Speaker 1: We're still, and we're still having this fight about, you know, about some folks who don't think it should be that built reward should be considered one of the most valuable currencies. And I, yeah, like there's just still this debate about whether they are and I, and I'm still not convinced that there's any one most valuable currency, in my opinion, that's think it just really depends a lot on how you earn and how you redeem. But I think it's just silly to sit here and say that it's not one of the most valuable currencies, because it has a nice basket of transfer partners. It has good bonus categories. Like, you know, just because it doesn't have a massive signup bonus. Well, so what I mean, again, most people don't sign up for five credit cards a year. Like, you know, when I tell people it's hilarious, we talk about Chase's 5 24 rule. And you know, I'll sometimes I'll, I'll mention 5 24 in a non points and miles nerd setting. And I get these blank looks, I'm like, well, what's 5 24. And I'll say, well, it's, if you sign up for five credit cards in 24 months, and they're like, I don't have five credit cards, not five and 24 months. I'm like, right, right, right. Like 90% of America doesn't have

Speaker 2: Feedback points of mile space recognize how narrow your view is compared to the vast majority of people that are out there. And I'm not gonna solve the problem for the points of mile space. I'm gonna do everything I can to ensure that people will think it's a good product. And I think it is. And that people give us critical feedback that besides offering a hundred thousand points, sign a bonus, which we're never gonna do on a no annual fee card. What else can we do to make this product better? Like these, the, the thought leaders in the space, the community's in the space. I need that feedback and I need them to know how valuable it is, but I'm also, again, not solving for the people that have eight credit cards in their wallet. So don't know, man, it's not those things always happen. Um, but look, my DMS are open to anybody. That's got feedback. If there's anything that upsets you, if there's anything that we could at, like I've told everybody the DMS and the emails are open, let me know anytime. And with that, I

Speaker 1: Have a list of stuff that

Speaker 2: Get off bill,

Speaker 1: But,

Speaker 2: But it was an awesome week.

Speaker 1: I list of stuff that sent me to be that day,

Speaker 2: An awesome week. Unbelievable. And really excited about what we're gonna do moving forward, but I am tired.

Speaker 1: Yeah. You look at, um, so let's, uh, let's see if we can squeeze in, uh, I wanna talk about Delta real quick. Uh, let's do a listener question real quick first. Um, so, uh, Krissa writes in about the Windham program. She asks if there's a way to use points to stay at the Windham bonnet Creek, which is, uh, an Orlando, it's a quasi Disney world property. It's technically on the grounds of Disney world. Um, but, but they're not all, all the Bonna Creek properties aren't necessarily all part of the same Disney perks. Um, and she clarified to say, you know, that she was, uh, looking at, uh, trying to find two bedroom units. And so, you know, first off, yes, you can use wind points to stay at the wind bonnet Creek. Uh, um, I have not stayed there personally, but the property looks great and all the bonnet Creek properties are fairly new. Um, but you know, as Richard and I were preparing, do the show, I did some searching. Um, and so, and, and neither one of us found any dates where any of the special room types were available on points. Um, I found a sprinkling of dates, um, that had 15,000 point avail and then everything else was 30,000 points. So, um, it doesn't look like they're available, um, on it doesn't look like the two bedroom units are available on points. Richard, you said you found three bedroom and four bedroom units there though. Yeah.

Speaker 2: For cash. It looks like they go all the it four bedroom. But yeah, my quick search is same as you just the bases bookable with points, which to me seems like a lost opportunity. Like you would wanna get a family there, um, for a lot more in Zu revenue on everything else you do. But, uh, I only see the base rooms right

Speaker 1: Now. Yeah. And, and there are, I will say there are some properties, um, that, that Windham has that, um, uh, that allow booking for multiple veteran units and in, uh, Orlando, there's actually one that I think is high on my list. That's called magic villages. It's a time share community that, um, actually has an entrance right outside of animal kingdom lodge. So there's a little like side road that takes you out of a Disney world. Um, and right past where animal kingdom and an animal kingdom lodge is. And they have two, three and four bedroom townhouses on golf course, you know, like massive kitchens, you know, thousand dollar grills outside the whole bit, um, like units look lovely, and those are typically available using Windham points. So that's where I would focus if you were looking, um, to do a stay that was off property Disney, but close by, not that the Bon Creek isn't great, but if you need multiple bedrooms, magic villages is where I target.

Speaker 1: Um, and I also wanted to segue that into just a quick, um, review of, uh, of a stay that I had recently. Um, so the Windham grand in Clearwater beach, um, you know, quick side note, the, the folks from Windham did help me with an upgrade at the property. It was a special, uh, event for my son, for folks who don't, who don't have kids, this movie called dolphin tail. Um, it's a real life story about a dolphin that lost its tail. Um, and it was in a Marine hospital down there. Um, and so our, our kids grew attached to that place and that was where he wanted to go for his birthday. And so I had some Windham points that I wanted to use and, um, and they were able to help me get a, a, a Clearwater beach themed suite. Um, though I did redeem points for a room and I gotta tell you, I was, um, I was one of the first points bookings I can remember doing with Windham.

Speaker 1: And, and I was actually pretty impressed. Um, I didn't know really what to expect. I mean, obviously you and I, a bunch about Marriot and, you know, the pluses and minuses there compared to Hilton and, you know, Windham had kind of, sort of been on my radar from when they, when they changed their credit cards out, um, back in late 2020, and, and really created some more value, um, off those Windham earner cards, especially the eight points per dollar on gas. And then they had five points per dollar on utilities. It's some interesting categories. Um, and so, you know, the things I, I found interesting, this was a property that's right on the water in Clearwater beach. It was the best location in cur water, like walking distance to everything. Um, the rooms were in really, really good condition. Um, surprisingly cause I stayed at and down there that was just beat all the hell a number of years ago, the property was in great shape.

Speaker 1: Um, I, you know, from what I read on the website, I was supposed to get charged for parking, but I didn't. So I don't have a great feel for whether that was based on, um, our room rate or not, um, or, you know, redeeming points, you know, but typically you're supposed to get charged for parking. Um, but I, what I, I thought was interesting was when I checked in, um, I had three rooms cuz we had some friends that came with us that we got free drink coupons for all three rooms and free breakfast vouchers for all three rooms on points. Um, and the breakfast vouchers were enough to cover, um, a breakfast from the breakfast bar in the lobby and the, the drink coupons were either good for drinks or you could use 'em for discounts for food in the bar. Um, so I was, you know, for a, for a first timer Windhams day, I was really impressed with the value that we got top-notch property in that area, right on the water.

Speaker 1: Um, service was great. Um, they accommodate all our special requests about the day with the kids and everything. And um, you know, when I think about what I get on some of my Marriot dayss nowadays, um, and then he'll with, you know, changing out to a dollar value for breakfast vouchers, you know, I mean, it was, it was a pretty rewarding stay. Um, and it makes me, you know, like I said, it's why I scored Windom third in a couple of categories on my Freddy's ballot behind H and Hilton, because I think there's some real value there that maybe some folks are looking past, especially with their flat award chart where you can find some great rooms for or 15,000 points a night.

Speaker 2: Yeah. Um, I've been, I think the space in general is paying, paying a lot more attention to Windham than in years past because of the way they redo the credit cards and you gotta way to earn significant points, the flat chart. And then, um, their, uh, Picasa partnership is what they have. So I would love to have some wind ports been a while since I've had Windham points. Um, the good news, I think one of the things that doesn't get sold enough on Windham is like, literally anywhere you go, there's a freaking place. You can get a free hotel room, like their properties. Yeah. Or everywhere. When I search a wind bonnet Creek, I just told you there's 137 Windham properties within, you know, when you search bonnet Creek or Orlando, think about all the brands that they have. I really need to get one of these cards.

Speaker 2: And I need to say up some points if I can't do Picasso, then I think some of these Windham grand things, even the Bonna Creek one itself, I stayed at Bon Creek, uh, at new year's and we drove by this property every day. It looks nice, looks like a nice place to stay. And anytime it's got multiple bedrooms for family, with kids and you get it for free some to look at now, we need to figure out if you can actually need points or not ask a question, we should go and ask our friends over there. If you can redeem points directly into a, a two bedroom or they even have rooms with bunk beds and then a king bed for kids. Right?

Speaker 1: Yeah. Bunk beds are key. Bunk beds are so key for families. Like we

Speaker 2: Need to go ask if we can redeem points for that.

Speaker 1: Yeah. And I think, you know, I mean, again, like no commissions for the Windham credit card, but you know, uh, our, a producer who does all our editing for the show, Jeremiah was actually telling me they, that his family took a vacation. He's like, Hey man, I redeemed my first night redeem points for my first free night ever at a hotel chain. Like really he's like, I like, what what'd you redeem? He's like, you know, I got the Windham rewards earn business card that you, that you talked to about on the show a bunch. And because he's like, I have a ton of gas purchases for driving around doing events and I've got utility purchases and all that. He's like I was able to pay for most of my family's vacation for spring break, from points that they earned off the card. So I think, look, I mean, I love Hyat, don't get me wrong. They are, to me, you know, they're the, they're the chain that fits us the most. But, um, but there are a lot of things about Windham that to be interested in. And I think most importantly, um, is that, you know, you and I both touched on it, but with the flat award chart, I mean,

Speaker 1: E easy example, I just looked it up just to make sure like the, if you got the earner plus or the earn business card, those are 45,000 point signup bonuses. So, um, that's, um, three nights at most Windham properties, there's, you know, the 15,000 points, the most popular category, there's, you know, a very flat chart and, you know, even at 30,000 points a night, you can really pick up some real gems to, to Richard's point, like, you know, over a hundred hotels near Orlando. And some of 'em, you know, not the ones that I wanna stay in. They're definitely budget properties, but, um, but there's some, you know, there's some really decent wind properties for not a lot of points. Um, I wish the Vacasa partnership were, were better integrated. Um, you know, like you've gotta email or call someone to get a VA Casa reservation. You gotta wait for them to confirm space and stuff like that. Um, so like, I think that would be a big plus if they could find some level of integration there, but otherwise, like if you're not looking at Windham, um, then you're probably missing a potential opportunity, especially if you're in family travel. Yeah. I

Speaker 2: Agree. When you go and look at the resorts, they're like everywhere, there's like really nice Windham places in Hawaii and there's, you know, some cool places that you can go and redeem for. So I it's something I need to just, I'll be honest with you, man. This is work leading up to this last week has been all encompassing for my brain since about December. Um, and I've speaking of being narrow focused, I've been so narrowly focused on making sure that this week was a success that I gotta go back and look at, you know, everything else I'll have going on in my own points of miles portfolio and branch out so that we can plan some cool trips and get back to travel, cuz goodness, we are way behind travel in this family. Um, and stay at some cool places.

Speaker 1: Yeah. And I think, um, you know, I think like one of the reasons why you'll find winds everywhere is because they have a huge timeshare network and a lot of those properties are, are in the, the pool to redeem on points. So some of 'em are, are good and some of 'em are probably bad. I stayed at a couple Winham timeshare properties on points that were, you know, they were okay. They were what they were. Um, but they were certainly as from a family standpoint, family travel, they were plenty serviceable, multiple bedrooms, multiple bathrooms, which are number one, number two, for me, for family travel, like, you know, being able to stay at the most expensive property in a, in a luxury area is not a, a high on my list when it comes to traveling with the kids. Um, we are running long and I know that you've gotta go take a nap cause you you're feeling as old as I am right now, but I wanna squeeze in just like real quick on the Delta card, you got a few minutes to talk about the, the Delta card, the Delta, the Delta changes on award tickets, Delta

Speaker 2: Changes. Yeah. Let's talk about it. And then I'll tell you, um, how tired I thought I was and then why it's actually awesome. I'll tell that story. Let's talk about Delta first.

Speaker 1: Okay. So, uh, so during the pandemic, Delta started counting award tickets towards elite status. They were trying to do everything they could to preserve their top elite members. Um, and by the way, as an aside, I was talking with somebody from Delta yesterday and I completely forgot to ask them our question about block seats. So now I gotta call 'em back. So Anthony, if you're listening, you should expect a phone call from me soon, cuz we gotta figure out what's going on with Lockte thing on, uh, on delta.com. But um, so during the pandemic in an effort to try and help keep elite members engaged, they, um, they started awarding elite status on award tickets. Um, and the other nice thing about it too, is that those, uh, the, because those tickets are earning MQMS are also earning lifetime elite status, which, um, as a self evolved lifetime status horror, I am, uh, yeah.

Speaker 1: Pursuing at the moment. Um, and so they, um, they made this change permanent now. And so award tickets will be, um, will now be, will now permanently qualify for status. Um, and then for a much smaller group of people, they also remove the mileage cap that you can earn on tickets. This doesn't come up for most people, if you fly paid business last Africa or Asia or something like that, this would come up. But, um, it used to be, you couldn't earn more than 75,000 sky miles on a single ticket, um, which is hard to do very, very hard to do. Um, and now you don't have to worry about that when you buy your next $15,000 airline ticket, Richard, you'll be able to get full value for all 15

Speaker 2: Gonna happen.

Speaker 1: So yeah, so that's, um, that's Delta changes and I'm curious, do you think that, uh, in the monkey see monkey do world of the big three airlines that American or, um, or United is gonna take a plunge on this? Because I mean, you know, Americans obviously taking their own path with loyalty points.

Speaker 2: I really don't. And this is probably one of the few cases where I don't think they will, especially American right now in their new, like they can't, I, I don't believe that they could introduce a new di dynamic like this into an already new system and, and have, and have good data coming out or what effect it would and wouldn't have. Yeah. Um, and I don't know how you would earn loyalty points on a free ticket. So like, um, I don't think so United may be the most likely to do it, but I still, you know, don't see them doing this. I see this as being a unique value offer that Delta can do you, and I think it's obviously really cool. And then, um, the latest news from TPG is that now even award tickets, council status match. Right. So yeah. Um, even if you wanna do one of the status challenges that Delta publicly has available, you can do it for free or for $5 and 60 cents a segment and fly war tickets to get, uh, Delta status. So I think it's really cool. I mean, I've certainly put it use for the times where American won't support my flight schedule when I need to go, I'm still flying Delta and when family trips, we're doing all mileage tickets and still earning MQMS on that is pretty sweet. Um, so it's really cool. And then the day I buy $15,000 plane tickets the day, then ed has a heart attack. If you bought

Speaker 1: That, you buy a $1,500 airline ticket, I'll have a heart attack.

Speaker 2: I know. I mean, I can't remember the last time I paid over a thousand bucks for a plane ticket. It's been never year. I don't know, at least a decade.

Speaker 1: Yeah. And I think you're probably right about American. I also think you're right about United. Um, although I, I guess it depends on one small piece of tech. I think if they don't have the rail set up, um, like a unit has, has really stuck with ever since the continental merger, when they inherited a bunch of folks who ended up with one case status based on previous activity with continental unite has kept it really tight to the vest on, on what counts for lifetime status. And so the, really the only thing that counts is, but in seat miles, um, not than any sort of multipliers for first class or business class tickets, so I could potentially see United doing something here. If they, if it was easy, like their technology stack is not great. If it was easy for them to give elite status credit for award tickets, but not have it count towards lifetime status. I think it's possible that they could look at something like, I'm just not sure if they have the tech in place for it. Um, so that's my 2 cents. Um, but, uh, but yeah, so now I need to, now I need to hear the story about, about you and not knowing where the hell you were when you were tired.

Speaker 2: Come on. Yeah, I was, no, it was this morning. I was so tired. I thought I was being delirious and there's no way I actually heard what I, what I heard my wife say to me. Oh no. So talking to about, no, it's a good story. We're talking about, you know, what's going on this weekend, we got soccer tomorrow. We got niece's birthday party. And like, I'm exhausted. I'm like, man, if I could have Saturday, really not with two soccer games and standing out in the fields for three hours and not driving down to a birthday party, that would be awesome, but that's not gonna happen. Like let's do something fun. And uh, Emily looks at me, she's like, oh, I, um, my friends and their families are going to the brewery this afternoon. So, um, you know, would it be okay if we go to a brewery and I'm like, you just gotta know Emily, like, first of all, like on a Friday, you're like, um, well you've never like, you actually wanna go to the bar.

Speaker 2: Like you want, like, you want us to take is the cool little brewery that we have here and set up to have like corn hole and games and ball and stuff for kids. And it's actually really good beer. Um, and it's looks like a lovely day outside, but Emily has never once approached me, you know, in 18 years and said, Hey, let's go to the bar. Like, let's take the, so I was like, um, I'm so tired. I, I feel like it's you just said, can we go take the kids to the bar to like meet friends at the pub? Um, and she was like, yeah. And I was like, like, okay, like I don't, I'm so scared. I'm gonna say something wrong here. I'm gonna scare this off. And like, like I'm gonna like, but I don't wanna say anything because it might be wrong. That's how tired it was this morning that, and it, and this is a real story. And so now, um, we're gonna finish up work much needed afternoon off after one more meeting. And then we're gonna take the, to the brewery and see some friends and drink cool beer and play ski ball, man. So, Ooh, it's much needed after a long

Speaker 1: Week. All right. So, so now that you're home, tell me you got any travel playing for next week

Speaker 2: Next week. No, man. Um, we've got some cool meetings next week, uh, in the Atlanta area, um, with some travel providers, cough, hint, wink. And, uh, after that I'll be taking some, uh, solo trips and some family trips. We've got the camping coming up. So I, I guess, well next, next Thursday will be camping. Yeah. So it's coming up quick.

Speaker 1: As I hear the, um, I hear the, the events happening outside my hotel room for the, uh, for the final four. I have obviously we'll be traveling back from new Orleans. I don't have anything on, on the radar next week. I think it's a week home, but it's a busy, uh, it's a busy bang bang, like next four or five weeks. I've got spring break. We've got the Freddy awards. Um, we've got, um, I'm gonna be out in, in Vegas, uh, around the time of the NFL draft, working on some stuff with the restaurants. Um, it's a pretty crazy month. I don't think I spend, I think when I looked at April, I spent something like, like, like nine or 10 nights at my house. So I have no idea how the heck I'm gonna hit my Peloton goal for the year. Uh, at the rate I'm going, uh, I'm going to be, uh, fat and ugly, uh, by the end of the year, the rate we're going

Speaker 2: Peon, don't help with the second half man. So

Speaker 1: No, not true

Speaker 2: Majors belt down there in the height. I bet that height reg sales, Peloton.

Speaker 1: Well, that's why I wanna stay Eliza Jane, cuz they have a Peloton. So I need to go up to the gym and see if they have one here. Cause I, or maybe I'll no, I Eliza Jane be like, look, I know you guys, like I know we can work something out.

Speaker 2: I'm excited about new Orleans man. We'll be there in a few weeks for the Freddy. So looking forward

Speaker 1: To that first ever Freddy, is you actually gonna make it this time?

Speaker 2: I knock on wood man. It's yeah. We've had a couple years off and I was supposed to be the two previous before that. I don't remember what happened. So yeah. It's like a knock in the belt finally. Finally get to get.

Speaker 1: Yeah. It's like my 15th wedding, so, and like my 10 organizing. So, so well, uh, safe travel, sir. We, uh, we Richard and I were texting in our group thread. We're like danger, sleep close to dragging summer Julian in for a podcasting session that might actually happen next week. So stay tuned for that. I would certainly love it if it happened. I still need to do a, a recap on what I've booked for summer travel, uh, which we keep saying. And we have just, haven't gotten to, uh, lots more stuff to come. Lots more stuff down the road. But until we upload again, we've got miles to go.