00:00:00:01 - 00:00:05:20 Chris We just hit one year of the Upgraded Points podcast, and we wanted to celebrate and do something special for our listeners. 00:00:05:22 - 00:00:14:14 Katie So we're giving away over $1,700 in prizes, including free hotel nights and access to some of our favorite travel tools. More details on that later. 00:00:14:16 - 00:00:17:20 Chris Plus, we've got some important travel news that you shouldn't miss. 00:00:17:22 - 00:00:28:17 Katie If you want to travel better and win a prize while you're doing it, this is the episode to listen to. 00:00:28:19 - 00:00:31:13 Chris Hey, I'm Chris. Welcome to the Upgraded Points podcast. 00:00:31:18 - 00:00:55:16 Katie And I'm Katie and happy one year anniversary to the Upgraded Points podcast. We are so excited to be here with you today. We have some news to talk about. And then the really exciting stuff to celebrate our one year anniversary. We are giving away over $1,700 in prizes, including some free travel and access to our favorite travel tools. 00:00:55:18 - 00:01:10:23 Katie Before we get to all of that, of course, don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you're watching or listening. And be sure to share us with a travel loving friend. So, Chris, let's get the news out of the way. First, it's important, but it's not as exciting as what we're going to talk about later in the show. 00:01:11:00 - 00:01:14:16 Katie So let's get some news and then we will get to that giveaway information. 00:01:14:18 - 00:01:39:00 Chris It is true. Not as exciting. American Express Platinum Card is dropping its tax credit. And we heard a few months ago that Saks filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. And now Amex has announced that it is ending the popular credit, on July 1st. So if you haven't used it yet, you have $50 in credit on your Amex Platinum card to use by June 30th to use it or lose a credit. 00:01:39:00 - 00:02:00:17 Chris So go find something. Many locations are closing and inventory is low online, so the sooner the better. We don't know what yet will replace this credit. But American Express has said that, quote, several new and exclusive Amex offers for Platinum Card members at top retail retailers and brands. Our card members know and love, is coming. 00:02:00:17 - 00:02:02:18 Chris More details to come soon. 00:02:02:20 - 00:02:04:18 Katie So yeah, no surprise there. 00:02:04:20 - 00:02:35:09 Chris You know, unfortunately, continuing on with somewhat negative American Express news, Amex Membership rewards transfers to the Ed guests will end on June 30th. At the time of recording transfers, to at the ed from bilt capital one and Citi are still live at a 1 to 1 ratio. So if you plan on booking in some at the Ed flights and you don't have maybe American Airline miles or some other ways to book it, you have through June 30th to you to do that with your American Express points. 00:02:35:09 - 00:02:39:14 Chris So another negative. But in my mind it's not really the biggest loss. 00:02:39:16 - 00:03:00:03 Katie And at least they gave us a little bit of a heads up. That's always nice. Yeah. Okay moving on. We got some Chase news. This one was this one made me laugh. We knew something was coming from Chase and Hyatt. They announced that last year, and now we know a bit of that news. So Chase Sapphire Reserve and reserve for business. 00:03:00:05 - 00:03:09:12 Katie Cardholders can now access Hyatt Explorer status after spending $75,000 in a year. 00:03:09:14 - 00:03:12:13 Chris I know you're breaking up the time hands for that. 00:03:12:15 - 00:03:46:13 Katie That deserves the tiny. So after you spend 75,000 and a year, you'll get explorer status for that year, and then the following calendar year and if you're not familiar with explorer status, like get, don't get your hopes up because it's really not that exciting. I mean, it's better than nothing. You get some more bonus points over discover status, but really there's there's not much of a difference between Explorer and Discover which is their, their entry level, elite status level, which is really easy to get. 00:03:46:15 - 00:04:18:17 Katie So now it is an added perk at that $75,000 level right now, or prior to this announcement, once you spent that 75,000, you get IHG one rewards Diamond Elite status, Southwest Airlines A-list status, a $500 southwest credit for Chase travel bookings, and a $250 statement credit for the shops at Chase. So the good news is this makes that $75,000 spend level a little more interesting. 00:04:18:19 - 00:04:40:17 Katie I would not spend this just for explorer status, but, you know, it's not bad news. It's it's a little added benefit. Maybe there are some people out there who didn't have discoveries. And this actually does sweeten that pot a little bit. So if you're close to spending 75,000 keep that in mind. Yeah. But this isn't a reason to go out and put $75,000 on your kayak. 00:04:40:20 - 00:04:43:01 Katie Right? But you know what is global? 00:04:43:01 - 00:04:44:02 Chris Is there a different story? 00:04:44:04 - 00:04:46:22 Katie Oh, that that would be a whole episode. 00:04:47:00 - 00:04:48:11 Chris Yeah. 00:04:48:12 - 00:05:30:04 Katie So just keep that in mind. The other Chase news that we wanted to mention is there's been an ongoing, promotion for years and years. And it's at Chase Akamai bonus. And so every quarter when you go to this website, there are new targeted offers on your Chase co-branded cards. So the current offers are through June 30th, and we've seen some that are like 5 or 7 points per dollar on up to $1,000 of spend at grocery stores, restaurants and gas stations, which is fantastic if you are targeted and you'll find these on your cards like, Hyatt, IHG, southwest, all of those Chase co-branded cards. 00:05:30:06 - 00:05:49:04 Katie So just go to chase.com slash. My bonus you'll put in I think it's your last name, the last four digits of your card number and your zip code, and you'll see if you were targeted. I do believe some people get emails as well. I never have gotten one of these emails, even when I was targeted. And they they hate me. 00:05:49:05 - 00:06:01:09 Katie I haven't been targeted for like two and a half years. I used to get this offer all the time on the Hyatt card and it was awesome. I literally have not gotten a single offer in two and a half years, so I did something wrong. I don't know. 00:06:01:09 - 00:06:04:07 Chris But you know, you made somebody in the IT department upset. 00:06:04:09 - 00:06:26:13 Katie Apparently. Apparently. But, if you haven't checked that, definitely go check that. And it can be a really nice bonus on those cards. Okay, so the news is out of the way. Let's take a quick break. And then when we come back, we are going to tell you all about the awesome prizes that we are giving away to celebrate our one year anniversary. 00:06:26:15 - 00:06:36:19 Chris Year. Hey, real quick, before we jump back in, if you're listening to this podcast, you're exactly the kind of person we build our free newsletter for. 00:06:36:21 - 00:06:46:23 Katie We break down the best credit card offers, transfer bonuses, award alerts, and travel news that actually matters. No fluff, no spam. Just the stuff we'd text a friend if something big dropped. 00:06:47:01 - 00:06:51:22 Chris A lot of the deals we talk about on the show don't last long. The newsletter is where we fly those fast. 00:06:52:00 - 00:07:00:16 Katie It's totally free, and you can sign up at upgraded points.com/newsletter. 00:07:00:18 - 00:07:25:22 Chris You. Okay. Welcome back. Let's just get right to the good stuff. We are celebrating one year of the Upgraded Points podcast and to say thank you. We're doing a giveaway worth over $1,700 in travel and travel tools. And that includes free hotel nights and some of our favorite travel tools that we actually use to plan trips and maximize our points and miles. 00:07:26:00 - 00:07:39:23 Katie Yeah, these are not just random prizes. These are things that genuinely help you travel better and that we personally use and love. And they will save you money. They'll help you travel more comfortably, and they'll make your trips just a little bit easier. 00:07:40:01 - 00:08:03:10 Chris And the best part entering is really easy. No purchase necessary. The sweepstakes starts on April 13th, 2026 and ends on April 20th, 2026. You must be a US resident aged 18 years or older. The total RV of all prizes is $1,772. Odds of winning will depend on the number of eligible entries received. For official rules, go to the link in our show. 00:08:03:10 - 00:08:07:18 Chris Notes. Void where prohibited. Sponsored by Upgraded Points, LLC. 00:08:07:19 - 00:08:27:16 Katie Okay, so if you've been listening for a while, this is our way just to say thank you so much. We really, really appreciate that. And if you're new, this is a fantastic time to jump in and welcome. We are happy to have you. So for this giveaway, we are picking eight different winners who will each receive one prize. 00:08:27:21 - 00:08:33:06 Katie These will all be chosen randomly. So Chris, let's start off with the first prize. 00:08:33:07 - 00:08:54:23 Chris Okay. The first prize will be a one year subscription to Cod Pointers Plus. And this it will have one winner. And if you're not familiar, Cod Pointers is a tool that lets you add and track credit card offers. Benefits, annual fees this app will automatically add your Chase and your Amex offers, which is such a great tool, especially if you have a bunch of cards and you're just busy. 00:08:54:23 - 00:09:16:09 Chris Plus, it'll tell you what card to use at what store so you can maximize your points. Earn the most points, and has a really cool map of nearby businesses and which cards you can use at each business. And obviously, we want everyone to win, but if you're not one of the chosen winners, or the chosen winner, we do have a special link that will get you an automatic 30% discount. 00:09:16:09 - 00:09:21:02 Chris We'll drop that in the show notes so that you can grab this app, because it is one of the best. 00:09:21:04 - 00:09:49:03 Katie The next one is one of my personal favorites. One winner will receive a one year subscription to save wise Pro. And this website started out kind of. I originally described it as cash back monitor on steroids and cash back monitor. Is a really helpful website that's been around forever. That you could go and check, how, shopping portals, how many points shopping portals were offering and save wise. 00:09:49:03 - 00:10:10:20 Katie Just took that and made it a thousand times better. So at its core is you can go in and see what shopping portal is offering the best return that particular day for the highest cashback or most points. So I go to save wise before I do any online shopping, any day of the week. I use this all the time. 00:10:10:22 - 00:10:35:03 Katie It also shows stacking opportunities so you can see if there are Amex offers or Chase offers, which is so helpful it can automatically add those to your cards as well, which is so nice. The other thing I love about this tool is it shows you the history of the cashback. So like I use the American Airline shopping portal for a lot of my shopping. 00:10:35:08 - 00:10:53:19 Katie I like earning loyalty points, but this works with whatever shopping portal you love. So you could say I'm, you know, shopping wherever. And that day they're offering four points per dollar on my purchase, and maybe I don't need to make my purchase that day. I can look at the history and say like, oh, well, it's usually ten points per dollar. 00:10:53:21 - 00:11:13:17 Katie So then I can I can wait and make sure I maximize that purchase. Or maybe it's always one and that day it's four. That's the day I'm going to make that purchase. So seeing the history is really, really helpful. You can also set alerts or notified for your favorite stores when you hit a, you know, as a specific threshold that you, target ahead of time. 00:11:13:19 - 00:11:35:21 Katie Really helpful just to get those in your inbox so you don't have to go to the site every day and, like, search through all your favorite stores. We would love everyone to win this. We are going to choose one winner for this particular prize. But if you don't win and you do want to try save wise Pro, we have a coupon code up 20, it'll save you 20% off a, a year subscription. 00:11:35:23 - 00:11:58:09 Chris Yeah, that's a great tool. I will move on to our next prize. This is one that I pay for personally because I think it is so good. We're going to give one winner a one year subscription to Flighty Pro. And if you're not familiar, this is a, at its base basic function, a flight tracking app. But it does so much more. 00:11:58:11 - 00:12:28:15 Chris It will show you the real time flight progress. Keeps track of flight stats so you can look at your map of how far you traveled each year. It gets incredible information from the airlines and outside the airlines that will give you better information about your flight. Then often airline apps will. So many times I've received delayed notifications or flight cancellations before the airline told me, and those few extra minutes can actually really help you when you're in the middle of some crazy travel day and you need to rebook or whatever. 00:12:28:19 - 00:12:35:19 Chris So that's why I pay for it, and I'm happy to pay for it every year. But there will be one lucky winner. And, maybe it could be you. 00:12:35:21 - 00:13:05:06 Katie Yeah, that's the one I was flying home from. I think it was Bimini when I got, sidetracked into Indianapolis. I knew something was wrong before everyone else did because of the flight. Yep. So, yeah, that's that's a really handy one. Okay. Next one is, a really special one. We are going to choose five winners. Each of these five winners will get a one year Friends of Rome subscription and Rome is one of our favorite award search tools. 00:13:05:08 - 00:13:26:09 Katie If you you hear us talk about all of these awards we booked, it is really helpful to have a search tool. That's how we find all of these amazing awards. It is an easy to use tool. It has a live search function which is really helpful if you have very specific parameters, very specific days or specific destinations. 00:13:26:11 - 00:13:44:06 Katie But it also has this thing called Sky view, which shows your cached results, which is very helpful at the beginning of a search, especially when you have a lot of flexibility or you're chasing the deal and not necessarily the destination. And that's how I think a lot of us find a lot of these amazing award flights that we we end up booking. 00:13:44:11 - 00:14:07:19 Katie You can set alerts, which is fantastic. I have alerts set right now for trips in the future that I'm looking for. So then you're not again, you're not going to that app every single day or the website and searching. You go in, you search, you set your parameters, you set alerts, and then you'll get emails. When those flights are available, we will choose five different winners. 00:14:07:19 - 00:14:25:05 Katie Each winner will receive a one year Friends of Rome subscription. If you are not one of those five lucky people, we do have a 15% promo code. Just use the promo code, upgrade a points and we will drop that link in the show notes and you can save 15% off a Rome subscription. 00:14:25:06 - 00:14:40:16 Chris That is awesome! Okay, now I will get to the grand prize and good news. We will actually pick two grand prize winners who will each get one Hilton honors. Be my guest certificate. Now each of these certificates the epic that clap the. 00:14:40:18 - 00:14:41:06 Katie Tiny. 00:14:41:06 - 00:15:02:03 Chris Hands, I forgot to get them on my fingers. These can be used at any hotel, any brand in the Hilton portfolio except for slash and auto camp properties for one night. Standard room. Each certificate is good for one night, excluding December 31st. And I could use some of these. Be my guest if it gets at some of our favorite hotels. 00:15:02:03 - 00:15:21:23 Chris I mean, I've used my free nature certificates at the Conrad Evermore in Orlando, which we just talked about, the Waldorf Astoria and Osaka KD. These certificates can be so valuable, especially if you listen to the show and listen to some of our tips. Are there any properties that you were thinking? Where would you use these if you had them? 00:15:22:04 - 00:15:43:14 Katie Yeah, I've used a free night at the Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam last year, and that was a really nice, place. Great location. I really enjoyed it. I've had my eye on a couple of properties. The Waldorf Astoria Costa Rica looks spectacular. So that's one I would love to try. The Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos, which a lot of people talk about. 00:15:43:14 - 00:16:04:09 Katie It's a fantastic hotel. That would be a great one to I. And then the Conrad pointed. Damita is one that I really want to look at. I've stayed, in that pointed to media area, and I love the beaches there. There's something about that part of Mexico that is just really special, so I would love to stay at that. 00:16:04:09 - 00:16:30:11 Katie Conrad pointed to meet up. But the cool thing about these certificates, like Chris said, other than small luxury hotels of the world and Otto Camp, you can use these at any Hilton hotel. Even these high end amazing like Waldorf and Conrad's, as long as their standard room availability. And it's not New Year's Eve. So this is a really spectacular price that you can get some killer value out of. 00:16:30:13 - 00:16:49:04 Chris Yeah, I do, another one just popped into my mind and I can obviously understand why not. New year's Eve is not available. It's the new Waldorf story in New York City. And that one looks so nice and it is so expensive. So whoever's listening, add these hotels we just added to your list and hopefully you can make it work because that's how you can really stretch the value. 00:16:49:06 - 00:17:12:13 Katie Absolutely. I'm really excited about these prizes. So let's go over again. How to enter. Go to upgraded points that. Com you can search the Upgraded Points podcast giveaway. We'll also just include that link in the show notes wherever you are watching or listening. So you can just click on that. No purchase necessary. The sweepstakes starts today, April 13th, 2026 and ends on April 20th, 2026. 00:17:12:13 - 00:17:34:00 Katie You must be a US resident aged 18 or older. The average retail value of all the prizes is $1,772. Lots of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received. For official rules, go to that link in the show notes. Void where prohibited and sponsored by upgraded points. And we are so excited about these, so make sure you go enter. 00:17:34:01 - 00:17:45:03 Katie We are very excited to give these prizes away. And yeah, thank you so much for for listening this past year and we are excited to have another year, under our belt soon. 00:17:45:05 - 00:18:05:09 Chris It's true. Yes. Thank you to our listeners and especially, for those who leave us great reviews and send in questions. And so I will segue that into a nice question we received. And this says this is from Leah that we got on YouTube. It says, hi, Katie and Chris, I just listened to your episode about favorite hotels using points. 00:18:05:11 - 00:18:15:20 Chris Thank you for the inspiration, but I'm having a debate with my husband. Is it better to use points for luxury hotels or cheaper stays? Thanks, Leah. Katie I mean. 00:18:15:20 - 00:18:41:09 Katie That's that's a really great question. And it it is completely subjective. I think it goes back to thinking about why you're in this game in the first place, and there's no right or wrong answer. Some people are in points and miles to spend as little out of pocket as possible to take some trips, but to take as many trips as possible. 00:18:41:09 - 00:19:11:13 Katie And they tend to maybe want to look for those, budget hotels or, you know, cheap flights. And that's their goal to spend as little as possible. And that's great. Other people want to use points and miles to enjoy those luxury, insane, incredible experiences that we would not have otherwise paid for. That's the boat I fall into. I am not in this game to spend as little as possible. 00:19:11:15 - 00:19:31:23 Katie I am in this game to fly Q suites to the Maldives, because it's something I would never actually pay money for, but I've done it so there's no right or wrong. You just need to understand where you fall on that spectrum, and then you have your answer. What about you, Chris? Where are you? There. 00:19:32:01 - 00:19:46:18 Chris Yeah, I'm with you right now, and I think it also depends on where you are in life, because I was just thinking we have a lot of people in our Level Up Facebook group who are retired and they travel full time, and so they try to stretch their points as most as long as far as they can. 00:19:46:18 - 00:20:15:11 Chris And so it's really not feasible to stay at a Waldorf-Astoria every night if you're traveling nonstop. So they will stretch their points out and stay at a Hilton Garden Inn. And it comes to free breakfast. And that makes sense. But for you and for me, Katie, for you. For me? Yeah. I'm not Katie. I'm limited to essentially school vacation times now, so our travel window is much smaller than someone that could be retired or someone that maybe has a little bit more flexibility. 00:20:15:12 - 00:20:32:01 Chris So my points can only get used in big chunks and certain times of the year. So right now, yeah, I just went and spent them all in Japan. I spent the flu business class and stayed in luxury hotels, and that's how it made sense for me. But if my schedule changes like I know it will in the future, maybe my preference will change. 00:20:32:03 - 00:20:52:14 Chris But bottom line is that's what make these free night certificates so special and so valuable. Like someone like the ones we're giving away because you don't need to make that decision. You want to get the most out of that certificate, whether it's a 10,000 point hotel or a 100,000 point hotel, it's going to cost you the same. So trying to stay that expensive one if you win. 00:20:52:16 - 00:21:14:13 Katie Yeah, that's actually a great point about, people who are retired. And I think that's that's so important is is it your reason for being in the game can change and and it can be on that. You can be on that spectrum and maybe some trips like Chris and his Japan trip, he blew all of his points. But maybe there's another trip that pops up and it's like, well, we just want to go. 00:21:14:15 - 00:21:34:00 Katie And the budget hotel works for that trip. So yeah, there's no right or wrong answer. And I think that's a really important thing to remember in this game, because it's easy to get caught up in the the Instagram, bits of this game and see these incredible stays in hotels. You don't have to do that every time. You absolutely no. 00:21:34:00 - 00:21:57:20 Katie And you're still playing the game right. So okay. Well that does it for us on this, very short, podcast anniversary giveaway episode. We are so excited to share these prizes with you. So make sure you go to Upgraded points.com to enter. The link will be in the show notes. Share it with all of your travel and miles and points loving friends and we will see you next week.