Making "Cents" Out of Points for Budget Travelers

Posts tagged Rapid Rewards

Southwest Rapid Rewards Double Points Promotion

Feb11th
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Ken

Between February 4, 2013 and May 15, 2013 you can earn double Southwest Rapid Rewards points on nationwide flights, and double tier qualifying points on flights in and out of Milwaukee.

For you fellow budget travelers who primarily purchase Wanna Get Away (WGA) Fares, this means you’ll earn six RR points instead of the normal three points per dollar. You’ll earn 12 points per dollar on Business Select Fares and 10 points per dollar on Anytime Fares. Bonus points will NOT count toward A-List, A-List Preferred or Companion Pass qualification.

The details of the Milwaukee promotion are slightly different. On your flights in and out of Milwaukee, you’ll earn the same amount of points on the different types of fares, but the double points will only count towards A-List or A-List Preferred. The bonus points will NOT count towards the Companion Pass.

For both offers, you’ll need to register and fly by May 15. The promotion is valid on new reservations only. Happy travels!

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Earn 3x Southwest Rapid Rewards Points With Marriott Rewards MegaMiles

Jun29th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Ken

From July 1, 2012 through October 31, 2012 you can earn bonus points/miles with Marriott Rewards’ MegaMiles promotion. Simply complete a stay at any Marriott hotel and let the front desk know that you’d like to earn airline miles instead of points.

With Southwest Airlines, you can earn triple Rapid Rewards points after your first stay. Normally you’d earn 600 Rapid Rewards points so after you complete your first stay, each additional stay will earn 1,800 Rapid Rewards points. In order to get the triple points, registration is required.

The MegaMiles promotion isn’t limited to Southwest Airlines. A number of other airlines are also participating. With Marriott Rewards, you can 3 miles per dollar spent (normally 1 mile per dollar) at their lower end properties, i.e. Courtyard by Marriott, Towneplace Suites by Marriott, Residence Inn by Marriott, etc.  You can earn 6 miles per dollar spent (normally 2 miles per dollar) at the higher end properties, i.e. JW Marriott, Renaissance hotels, Ritz-Carlton, etc.

Credit to Deals We Like for providing a complete breakdown of Marriott hotels and their respective earnings for airline miles.

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Hyatt and Southwest Airlines Promotion – Earn 4x or 5x Rapid Rewards Points

Apr28th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Ken

Hyatt and Southwest Airlines are offering bonus Rapid Rewards points when you stay at Hyatt hotels. Choosing Rapid Rewards points normally gets you 600 points per stay. This time you can earn quadruple (4x) points after your second and third stays, or quintuple (5x) points after your fourth through eleventh stays. You must complete one stay where you earn the base miles option in order to begin receiving the 4x and 5x points.

This promotion runs from May 1, 2012 through August 31, 2012. Registration is required. The earnings for this promotion are capped at 11 stays, which will be equal to 29,400 Rapid Rewards points. While you’ll forfeit your base hotel points when choosing miles, you’ll still receive stay credit and points for room charges. Diamond members will still earn their 500 or 1,000 points amenity.

When to take the Rapid Rewards points and when to take the Gold Passport points

Rapid Rewards points on Wanna Get Away fares have a fixed cost of 1.67 cents per point.  A safe valuation for Hyatt Gold Passport points is 1.5 cents per point. Using those valuations, here are some comparison charts for Gold, Platinum and Diamond members. Calculations are based on 1-night stays.

*Note: In the charts below, the Rapid Rewards Points Earned are a fixed amount and NOT associated with the Hyatt Rate. Use Hyatt Rate and GP Dollar Value to compare against RR Dollar Value.

Gold members vs. Rapid Rewards


Analysis: Whether you’re at a full service Hyatt or a Hyatt Place or Hyatt House, Gold members come out way ahead selecting Rapid Rewards points over Gold Passport points. Once the 4x and 5x bonus multipliers kick in, you really will be receiving four or five times the value.
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Earn Double Southwest Rapid Rewards Points At Wyndham Hotels

Apr21st
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Ken

From now through July 8, 2012, you can earn double Southwest Rapid Rewards points on up to four stays at Wyndham Hotels. This means you’ll earn 1,200 Rapid Rewards points. In addition to the points, you’ll receive two free movie tickets on your second and fourth stays.

You must be a member of the Wyndham Rewards program in order to receive the points and the tickets. Registration is required to participate and the URL can be found at: http://www.wyndhamrewards.com/southwest


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Transferring Ultimate Rewards Points to Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards

Feb28th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Ken

I don’t fly that often but when I do, it’s either with Southwest Airlines or Alaska Airlines. I received my normal Tuesday email from Southwest announcing their weekly deals and decided to poke around for some prices for my vacation later this year. Plugging in my destination I found Southwest offering $100 tickets for a one way fare. If I were to use Rapid Rewards points, the cost was 5,340 points.

Since I spend most of my time wondering what to do with my Ultimate Rewards points, I looked at the point cost for the flight and thought to myself, “That’s $53 worth of Ultimate Rewards points, and that’s practically a 50% discount off the out of pocket cost.” That just seemed to good to be true. You know what they say…when something seems too good to be true, it usually is.

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