🤑 My Top Finds, Latest Deals, and Best Recommendations (5/10/25)
This week, we'll cover up to 6,500 bonus miles from shopping portals, how to maximize your travel and rewards, my new favorite hotel from our spring break trip, the latest hotel promos (Marriott, Hyatt, IHG, and more), how to earn 15x cash back (or points back), a targeted offer for an easy 20,000 bonus points, Alaska Airlines's new partner, and more!
🤩 How to Maximize Your Travel & Rewards
I share recent tactics I used to optimize travel and rewards during our trip to Hawaii (which included our new favorite hotel). I also share new ways to earn points, some flight deals, recent airline changes and some Mother’s Day gift ideas.
🛫 Travel, Points & Miles
🛍 Up to 6,500 Bonus Miles from Shopping Portals
There are 4 great promotions for earning extra points through shopping portals right now. Since I don't have much I need to buy at the moment, I ended up buying some gift cards from Giftcards.com through each portal. Expiration dates are in parentheses.
- United Airlines: 2,500 miles after $400 spent (5/12)
- American Airlines: 2,000 miles after $800 spent (5/12)
- Alaska Airlines: 1,000 miles after $400 spent (5/12)
- Wyndham: 1,000 points after $100 spent (5/31)
🏨 Latest Hotel Promos (Marriott, Hyatt, IHG, and More)
A ton of hotel programs have launched promos for the summer (and beyond), so make sure to check these out if you have upcoming travel.
- Up to 30% on Hyatt stays: When you book stays in select countries: booking deadlines and eligible stay dates are listed here. Plus, earn 500 bonus points per night when you book new properties within the offer dates mentioned here.
- Up to 14k bonus points at IHG: Register here and pick your bonus (2k points every 2 nights or 8k points every 4 nights). Valid 5/20 to 8/31. Plus, co-branded cardholders can snag an extra 6k points when they spend $3k on stays from 5/1 to 7/31.
- Up to 20k bonus points at Best Western: Earn 1k points per night when you book before 5/11 for stays until 9/1 + earn up to 10k bonus points for every 3-night stay between 5/12 and 9/1 + earn a $50 gift card for some 2-night stays. Must register here.
- Double points at Preferred Hotels: Earn 20x points (usual rate is 10 points per $1 spent) for stays between 5/8 and 8/31. You must register here before booking.
- 1k bonus points per stay at Hilton: Register here and complete stays (paid or award) between 6/1 and 8/15.
🤑 Easy 20,000 Bonus Points
Amex is offering a targeted bonus of 20k points when you enroll in their “Pay Over Time” feature, which allows cardholders to pay eligible charges over an extended period with interest. The best part is, you don’t even need to use the feature to earn the bonus! Click the link above to see if you're targeted.
P.S. Once you earn the bonus, don’t forget to unenroll in a few months.
✈️ Alaska Adds Philippine Airlines as New Partner
Alaska Mileage Plan just added Philippine Airlines as an earn-and-redeem partner, offering new ways to fly nonstop to Manila from the U.S. and Canada. I find Alaska miles to be very valuable and seeing them add new partners continues to reinforce that.
💺 AA Flagship Suites Now Bookable with Miles
In other airline news, American Airlines' new Flagship Suites business class is launching on 6/5 and you can book with miles. However, the initial prices are exceptionally high (especially for domestic flights).
👑 The Ultimate Guide to Singapore KrisFlyer
Singapore Airlines is a transfer partner of just about every credit card program and if you want to learn to maximize their miles, this TPG guide does a good job covering earning, redeeming, elite status, and how to get the most value out of KrisFlyer.
🤑 Latest Deals
💰 Earn 15x Cash Back or 15x Membership Rewards
Rakuten is my default shopping portal because it lets you convert cash back to Amex points, and until 5/12, Rakuten is offering 15% cash back OR 15x Membership Rewards for many retailers, including, Nike, Macy's Lululemon, CVS and so many more! There are also other amazing deals like 100% back on NordVPN or $60 back on Blue Apron (also stackable with card-linked offers).
And if you're an Amex cardholder, there's currently an incredible promo for new Rakuten users to get 7,500 points after spending $25, so please use that instead of my referral link. That said, if you don't have an Amex, here's my link for a $40 bonus.
🎟️ Free Museum Admission via BoA
Did you know that Bank of America cardholders have free admission to 100’s of museums across the US, including some popular ones like the Met and the MoMa in NYC. Even a BoA debit card works!
🚗 Up to 20% Off National Car Rentals
National Car Rental is offering up to 20% off weekend rentals. This promo is available until 7/19, which is perfect for summer travel!
🍔 Grubhub+ Deals + $10 Off + $30 Membership
Grubhub+ members can enjoy four weeks of special deals starting 5/12 until 6/8. During this promo period, Amazon Prime members can use code GOLD10 to get $10 off $20, plus new Grubhub+ members can purchase an annual plan for $30 (regularly priced at $90).
🏰 Disney World 2026 Packages on Sale
If Disney is on your bucket list, 2026 vacation packages are now on sale (until 10/31/26). These packages include perks such as free dining for kids, free water park entry on arrival day for summer stays, and more! You can also listen to episode #149 with Disney expert Leslie Harvey for more strategies to save time and money at Disney.
🕵️ Great Finds
🎬 Show Recommendation: The Four Seasons
The Four Seasons on Netflix is about a group of longtime friends going through life's ups and downs over four seasonal vacations. Is it the best show I've seen? No. But was it entertaining and a funny break from a few of the more serious shows we're watching? Absolutely!
💳 The Accidental Birth of Credit Cards
Fun fact: The first ever credit card (Diners Club) was created after a businessman forgot his wallet at dinner in 1949. Determined to avoid future "embarrassment," he came up with a new way for people to pay without cash—an idea that changed payments forever. You can read the full story here.
Editor’s Note: The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of our partner offers may have expired. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
Hi, I'm Chris Hutchins 👋
Founder / Host
I love sharing my quest to optimize and upgrade my life. Previously I was Head of New Product Strategy at Wealthfront, co-founder and CEO of Grove (acquired by Wealthfront), co-founder of Milk (acquired by Google) and a Partner at GV, where I focused on seed and early stage investments.
🤑 My Top Finds, Latest Deals, and Best Recommendations (5/17/25)
