👋 Hi Reader,

I hope you're having an amazing start to your weekend!

Last week I started sending this email from chris@chrishutchins.com and noticed that many of you didn't get (and missed out on some good deals). So just for today, I'm reverting back to my allthehacks.com email to ensure you see this message. However, if you didn't get last week's email, please search for chrishutchins.com (or on gmail click here) and make sure my email isn't in spam and that you add me to your contacts. Starting next week, I'll restart sending from my new email address.

Here’s a quick preview of what’s included in today’s newsletter:

• 💼 42 travel planning tips
• 💳 Big hotel welcome offers
• 💰 Points and miles on sale
• 🏫 Earn points on tuition
• 🎤 Join me at FinCon24 (50% off) and more!

If you enjoyed reading, please feel free to forward this to anyone who might too (and if that's you, you can subscribe here).

Thanks in advance!

-Chris

🛫 Travel, Points & Miles

💼 42 Travel Planning Tips & Tricks

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Want to learn how to plan incredible vacations? Travel pro Leigh Rowan and I share 40+ practical tips to create the perfect itinerary, save on flights and hotels, find travel inspiration, experience destinations like a local, and much more!

💳 Increased Welcome Offers on Marriott Amex Cards

The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card has massively increased its welcome bonus to 185k Marriott Bonvoy bonus points after a $6k spend in the first 6 months While it does come with a high annual fee (rates & fees here), it also includes Marriott Platinum Elite status (which often gets you free breakfast, upgrades and more). The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card has also increased its welcome offer to 155k Marriott points after spending $5k within 6 months.

In the past I've been able to get >2¢/pt on Marriott, which would imply these two bonuses could be worth over $3k each. However, with this current 70% transfer bonus to Marriott (through 8/14), if you had earned the best ever 120k point bonus this card (which is still happening), you could have turned the 120k points in 204k Marriott points. Just another reason I love flexible points :)

🤝🏻 Instant Status Match: American AAdvantage & Hyatt

American Airlines AAdvantage and World of Hyatt have launched a reciprocal status match and fast-track challenge which means AAdvantage members can try Hyatt Explorist status for 90 days, with the option to upgrade to Globalist. Meanwhile, Hyatt elite members can receive complimentary AAdvantage status, extendable through February 2026 by earning Loyalty Points. As expected, there are a few caveats, which are detailed in this Frequent Miler article.

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🤑 Latest Deals

🛒 50% off Amazon (up to $60) with 1 Amex Point

Many Amazon customers can get 50% off (up to $60 off $120) their purchase when redeeming at least 1 American Express Membership Rewards point. Note that there might be other versions of the offer, so it’s worth checking this link to see if you’ve been targeted.

💰 Points & Miles on Sale

If you have a redemption in mind, these deals for buying points and miles might come in handy! Expiration dates are in parentheses:

• Avianca Lifemiles: 1.27¢ each with a 160% bonus (8/15/24)
• Alaska Mileage Plan: 1.85¢ each with a 60% bonus (8/15/24)
• United MileagePlus: 1.88¢ each with a 100% bonus (8/25/24)
• Hilton Honors: 0.50¢ each with a 100% bonus (9/24/24)
• World Of Hyatt: 1.92¢ each with a 20% bonus (10/8/24)

😴 $200 Off Eight Sleep’s New Pod 4 Ultra

Amy and I are huge fans of our Eight Sleep pod cover! Their Summer sale is $150 off the Pod 4 Ultra, but we got a better discount of $200 for all of you​ here​. They also have a generous return policy and even cover return shipping in case you don’t like it.

🕵️ Great Finds

🎤 FinCon24: Speaker Alert + 50% Off Passes!

FinCon is a great conference for personal finance nerds and I’ve been going since 2017. This year the focus is on becoming a professional finance content creator and scaling your business and I’ll be speaking on 10/25. If you’re interested in joining in Atlanta, you can use the code HACKS to get 50% off any FC24 pass!

💳 A New Card to Earn Points On Tuition

I recently came across the Rise Tuition Card, which aims to be the first credit card to let you earn points on tuition payments (up to $100k annually). Points are effectively cash back, so it's basically going to be a 1% back on tuition card. It hasn’t launched yet, but if you’re paying for college or private school you might want to join the waitlist here.

📱 US Mobile Launches Dark Star Network

​US Mobile just launched their Dark Star network​, which now gives you access to all 3 major US carriers (AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile) from a single plan. While you can’t access all three networks simultaneously, they have a TelePortal feature that lets you switch between networks whenever you want (which only takes a few minutes, but does cost $2).

If you want to go deeper on cell phone plans, check out episode #138 or head on over to bestphoneplans.net, which is a great resource.

🚪Morty App For Escape Rooms

If you’re a longtime subscriber, you know how much I love escape rooms and have really been enjoying the ​Morty app​. It’s a directory of escape rooms around the world that makes it easy to find the best ones using their community ratings.

🌱 Actionable Advice To Change Your Life

I really loved ​this thread from Sahil Bloom with some relatable and actionable advice on how to change your life. We discussed it on an episode that’ll be coming out in a few weeks, so stay tuned. My favorite tip is to “stop complaining about things you can’t control”.

💬 Parting Thoughts

As always, thanks so much for reading - I hope you enjoyed it!

Please feel free to reply to this email with any thoughts, feedback or even if you just want to say hi! :)

Chris