2023 started with a work trip to Sacramento that got me some points for Marriott and Southwest. After that trip I went to Pasadena using credits from 2022 for Southwest and the American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts program. The FHR program for Platinum cardholders is pretty great. There’s an annual $200 credit and then each hotel has an “experience” credit of at least $100 which is usually for dining or spa services. While many of the hotels in the program are $500+ for a night, the hotel in Pasadena was under $200; I also found great deals in Las Vegas and Portland so I used FHR there as well. The Cosmopolitan and The Nines were real standouts because in addition to the FHR credit I got dining credits for having Marriott Gold status (which comes from the Platinum card) so I ended up paying very little for meals during those stays.
In all in 2023, I took 10 personal trips mostly on points/credit card reimbursements. I flew on Southwest using credits I had from two American Express Platinum (referral link) cards, Citi’s Expedia card (which I unfortunately won’t have this year Citi initially said they were converting the card to another one and I canceled only to later find out they decided against the conversion), and the Bank of America Premium Rewards card that I got at the end of December as well as on American because I signed up for the Barclays AAviator Red card that came with a bonus of 70,000 miles. I did pay cash for some of the hotels (like Best Western when I went to Disneyland), but that spend always went on a card I was working on a sign up bonus for.
I didn’t keep track on all the points I earned (I plan to for 2024), but I do know that I upgraded an American Express Gold card to Platinum (giving me two, so I might only keep one when the next annual fee hits) and signed up for five new cards. I’m still working on the bonuses for two of those cards. I paid just under $1900 in annual fees for the cards that I have, but used $1980 in credits from those cards; that doesn’t take into account the points earned from regular spend or any sign up bonuses.
