Give a warm welcome to Mike Hammari, who is writing a series of guest posts about a trip across the US on foot that he is currently in the middle of...very much in the middle of. He just wrote me today thanking me for finishing up a detail for this post that he couldn't because he was caught in a storm and had to store his computer. That's life literally on the road!

Mike is covering some of his hotel stays on this journey with points and wants to share his strategy with you guys.

In the spring of 2017 I opened a Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express. At the beginning of this year, that card was product changed to the Marriott Bonvoy Amex Card.

The Mariott Bonvoy Amex Card is not open for applications. Those that have one were all product changed from a Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card.

The bonuses on all of the personal Southwest cards are generally the same:

So if you spent $12,000 within the first year on your new personal Southwest credit card, you'd end up with at least 72,000 Rapid Rewards.

May 30 (tomorrow), the price of British Airways Avios awards flying all of the following partner airlines will increase in price:

Alaska AirlinesAir ItalyAmerican AirlinesCathay PacificFinnairJapan AirlinesLATAMMalaysia AirlinesQantasQatar AirwaysS7Sri LankanRoyal Jordanian Airlines

Award prices flying British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Vueling will not change price as of now.

Through Tuesday, May 28, 2019 (tomorrow), you can buy Hilton Honors points and get a 100% bonus on the points purchased. You will need to log in to your Hilton account on that page before the sale details are displayed.

Hilton points normally cost 1 cent each. With the 100% bonus, the price drops to 0.5 cents per point.

The maximum amount of Hilton points you can purchase in a year is 80,000*. If you buy 80,000 by May 28, you’ll receive 160,000 points for $800.

A note from Sarah Page: Scott originally wrote this post years ago, but it is still very much valid and important today. 

Once a month we update a list of what, are in our opinion, the best travel credit cards on the market. We also update a similar list, but for small business credit cards, monthly. How I rank them is largely defined by their sign up bonuses. So the next logical question would be, how do I value those sign up bonuses?

There are two equally valid ways to value a credit card sign up bonus.

A couple weeks ago, I booked a one-way Delta One flight between Atlanta and Buenos Aires for 45,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles (and just $5.60 in taxes). I was pretty dang excited about the ability to do this, as it was my previous assumption that Flying Club awards flying partner airlines--at least Delta specifically--needed to be booked roundtrip. That is not the case.

Through May 28, 2019, you can buy Hilton Honors points and get a 100% bonus on the points purchased. You will need to log in to your Hilton account on that page before the sale details are displayed.

Hilton points normally cost 1 cent each. With the 100% bonus, the price drops to 0.5 cents per point.

The maximum amount of Hilton points you can purchase in a year is 80,000*. If you buy 80,000 by May 28, you’ll receive 160,000 points for $800.

For the first time ever, Ultimate Rewards is offering a transfer bonus to one of their loyalty program partners: British Airways Avios. Through June 16, 2019 at 11:59 pm ET, you will earn 30% more points for Ultimate Rewards to British Airways transfers. That means 10,000 Ultimate Rewards translates to 13,000 Avios, and 20,000 Ultimate Rewards is 26,000 Avios.

The fact that there is an Ultimate Rewards transfer bonus is exciting news in itself.

A note from Sarah Page: Scott originally wrote this post about the Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking Account debit card in March of 2014. I am re-posting it now as a reminder to all of you who haven't jumped on this train yet. Summer travel season is coming up... if you don't have this debit card, get one now! I have saved hundred in fees over the years. Notes added on the original post by me are scattered throughout in bold.