1. Fly New York to Barbados for ~$295 Round-Trip
Via The Flight Deal, you can fly Delta round-trip, non-stop in coach from New York to Barbados for only ~$295. But you must purchase your ticket today, September 29, 2015!
Travel through January 2016, with blackout dates around the holidays. There’s a 14-day advance booking requirement.
I found flights by searching on Google Flights.
You can get to New York by using your points! British Airways Avios points are great for short-haul flights. Because it only costs 4,500 British Airways Avios points 1-way in coach for flights less than 650 miles, and 7,500 British Airways Avios points for flights under 1,150 miles.
Or if you have the Southwest Companion Pass, you could fly to New York, and bring a companion with you for almost free on both paid and award tickets.
Be sure to pay with the right card to earn bonus points! The Chase Sapphire Preferred card earns 2X Chase Ultimate Rewards points per $1 spent on travel. And the Citi Prestige and the Citi ThankYou Premier cards both earn 3X Citi ThankYou points on travel.
And if you pay with the Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express, you’ll earn 2X Delta miles per $1 spent on Delta flights!
2. US Bank Offering Free Nights at Club Carlson Hotels to Cardholders
Link: US Bank Club Carlson Premier Rewards Card
Via Fishing 4 Deals, US Bank is emailing free night e-certificates to folks who have the US Bank Club Carlson Premier Rewards Card.
US Bank recently downgraded the perks on the US Bank Club Carlson Premier Rewards Card, so this is an excellent deal for customers who still have the card because you can use the certificate at any Club Carlson hotel, like the Radisson Blu Es. Hotel in Rome.
Remember you also get 40,000 Club Carlson points each year when you renew your card, which is enough points for 1 free night at a category 4 Club Carlson hotel!
3. Earn an Easy 200 Starwood Points
Link: Starwood Promotions Dashboard
Earn 200 Starwood points when you opt-in to receive emails from Starwood.
This is a simple way to prevent your Starwood points from expiring if you don’t have any Starwood stays coming up. Starwood points expire after 1 year if there’s no activity in your account.
If you’ve already registered to receive emails from Starwood, there’s a trick to still earn the bonus points. Simply sign-in to your account with this link. Then, unsubscribe from emails and log-out.
Log-in again with this link and you’ll have the option to sign-up for emails again and receive the bonus points.
The points will hit your account within 2 to 4 weeks, and you must sign-up before November 30, 2015.
Here are some other ways to earn Starwood points. Don’t forget you can also earn Starwood points when you ride with Uber!
And if you have a Starwood stay coming up, there’s a “Pay Your Birth Year” promotion going on right now, too.
4. Get 500 IHG Points for Adding a Card to Your Account
Link: Sign-Up for IHG Rewards Club
Link: Chase IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card
Via One Mile at a Time, some IHG members received an email to earn 500 bonus IHG points for adding their Chase IHG credit card to their accounts.
IHG points expire after 1 year with no activity in your account, unless you have IHG elite status. So this is an easy way to reset your account activity or pick up some extra points!
The Chase IHG Rewards Club Select Card comes with automatic IHG Platinum elite status, and you get a free night at ANY IHG hotel each year when you renew your card, like the InterContinental Thalasso Bora Bora. That more than makes up for the $49 annual fee, which is waived the first year.
Let me know which of these deals today is your favorite, and if you booked a trip to Barbados!
Strange–I used exactly the same procedure with my wife’s SPG account and it worked. Go figure.
Yeah, I unsubscribed from emails, then logged out, then logged back in at the indicated link and did not see the reward offer on the dashboard. I re-signed up for emails manually but didn’t see any indication that this would earn me any Starpoints. I suspect they’ve changed this one.
@Tomt @Glenn – Be sure to log-out, and then log-in again. That should work.
@Tracy Ho – You’re welcome! Enjoy!
@Dan and Susan – I couldn’t agree more. I hope they rethink the high taxes! Thank you for sharing your travel tip!
Is there a rhyme or reason for the Club Carlson free night? I have not gotten an email recently offering a free night.
Reference flying on British Airways flights to and from the UK:
The taxes imposed by the UK on ALL flights landing and taking off from the UK are unbelievably high. These taxes are added onto ALL flights, even ones purchased with frequent flyer miles. This makes using frequent flyer miles very, very expensive if you go to, or connect through, the UK.
We stopped flying to the UK, and stopped doing connections via the UK, because of the high taxes.
We now route ourselves through Finland, Iceland, France, Germany, Italy or Spain to travel to Europe or to points going east or south.
We quit going to the UK because of the higher taxes. We now spend those “UK Tax Dollars” on hotels, food, tours in other countries.
The UK is taxing out some of their tourist dollars and loosing connections as a result.