Welcome Back!

Hope everyone is thriving 😊 

Summer is just around the corner, which is peak travel season for most of us! That can mean higher fares on one had, but on the other, it can mean new airline routes, or even new policies at airlines to draw in customers (like Spirit and Frontier eliminating change and cancellation fees)!

Happy travels if you have summer travel plans 🛫 

In today’s edition:

• 🏨 Hilton is on the Move 🏨 

• 🏦 Transfer Bonuses ✈️

• 💳️ The Cardless Releases: Mixed Results 😕 

• 📰 Other Stories and Deals 💰️

🏨 Hilton is on the Move 🏨

I don’t feel that I’ve given enough attention to redeeming points for hotels yet in this newsletter. To be fair, some of the hotel transfer partners don’t really represent a ton of value. There are still, however, some hotel loyalty programs that are worth looking at, and given its steady rise, I’ll be focusing on Hilton in particular today!

Hilton is one of the largest hotel companies in the world, operating brands such as Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, and more. I’m writing on them specifically, not only because I think they have the best hotel credit card (Hilton Aspire), but also because they’ve been working on some new product offerings, in the form of SLH Hotels and AutoCamp! ⛺️ 

SLH Hotels are a group of independent hotels that Hilton has partnered with, replacing a former partnership with Hyatt. Even though SLH properties are not officially Hilton properties, members can earn and redeem points at SLH properties, and even use free night certificates and have their status benefits honored (free breakfast, suite upgrade, etc.) This should be an interesting use of Hilton points going forward, once this partnership is live!

AutoCamp, meanwhile, offers Airstreams, cabins and other glamping options in natural settings that includes national parks and more. Hilton launched a partnership with Autocamp, where members can now redeem points! The first location for this partnership, Cape Cod, has already started showing award availability!

What’s great about the AutoCamp partnership is that status benefits are offered here as well, with Hilton Diamond members receiving s’mores kits upon check in, among other things 🍫 

So if camping is your thing, Hilton points or a Hilton free night certificate can go towards that now with AutoCamp. Otherwise, SLH hotels or Hilton’s existing portfolio may be up your alley 🏕️ 🏨 

Things are looking up for Hilton Honors members!

🏦➡️✈️ Transfer Bonuses

¹ This bonus is targeted, so not all users may see this bonus.
² New transfer bonuses that were not present the week before are in bold.

💳️ The Cardless Releases: Mixed Results 😕 

I’ve been writing sparingly about Cardless launching new cards with Qatar Airways and Avianca Airlines. Cardless offers a neat value proposition to these airlines that want to have a credit card in the US market, as Cardless can do that faster and cheaper than larger banks can.

So what value proposition do they offer to us consumers?

Well, for one, the Qatar Airways cards were not entirely exciting when they released - while the signup bonuses seemed easy to hit, the benefits don’t really have much appeal, other than having Oneworld Sapphire status and lounge access for a year with the Visa Infinite version of the Qatar Airways card ($499 annual fee).

Then Cardless announced that they were working on the Avianca cards too - would Star Alliance Gold be a benefit of the cards? Would these cards look better than the Qatar Airways cards?

Well, two Avianca cards were released, similar to the Qatar cards, but they both offer only Star Alliance Silver, not Gold… While the lower tier Avianca card does offer Silver status for $99 a year, which could be valuable, the premium card of the two, the Avianca Elite Card ($249 annual fee), offers an interesting benefit: a lifemiles+ lite subscription. This cost $20 a month ($240 a year), but offers benefits such as:

• 🪙 500 lifemiles per month

• ‼️ 10% miles back on star alliance redemptions

• 🤑 Up to 25% miles back on Avianca redemptions

• 💳️ Double miles on Avianca credit card purchases

Getting 10% back on star alliance redemptions can be huge! For example, Lufthansa First Class can normally be booked through Lifemiles for 87k miles one way, but with 10% back, you’ll be using 78.3k miles, and you can credit the 8.7k miles you saved to something else in the future. Given the value of lifemiles, some would definitely value 8.7k lifemiles at over $20, potentially coming out ahead on one month’s $20 fee for this subscription. Being that the subscription costs $240 a year, while the card covers it and costs only $9 more, this could potentially be valuable to some. Definitely a bright spot of the card releases ☀️ 

With that in mind, I’d consider the Avianca Elite card if the lifemiles+ subscription is worth it to you, and any of the other Cardless cards if 1) you are incredibly loyal to one of these airlines, or 2) if you will churn these cards (get the bonus and cancel after a year). Also, Cardless limits cardholders to only one of its credit cards, so do approach carefully if you do consider these.

💰️ Tips & Deals 💰️

• 🧜 🦁 Singapore Spontaneous Escapes came back on the 15th of the month, as they always do! 30% off select routes, including Frankfurt to New York this month 🇩🇪 

📤️ Spread the Word! 📤️

Thank you so much for subscribing! This newsletter is committed to providing you all with helpful info and tips to maximize your points and rewards, at no direct cost to you! (appreciate you using any of my referral links, though!)

Being that I don’t use social media, it’s been a bit harder to gain subscribers, but I can do it with your help - if you do find this newsletter informative, helpful, or entertaining, I’d greatly appreciate you spreading the word about it! If not, please do give me feedback on how I can improve your Sense per Point experience.

Also, if my newsletter helps you to book travel using points, let me know! It’ll make me so happy 😄 

Hope that all makes sense! That’s all for this week’s edition of Sense per Point.

Wishing everyone a wonderful day and week ❤️ 

- Sean Kim

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