Gunnar is back from Italy (and he’s completely insufferable about it …), so the guys break down his trip through Rome and beyond and how he booked some amazing stays - via Hilton. Plus, they recap some big news around Bilt 2.0, woes getting into Europe, a handy new tool for using your credit card perks, and the monumental news … about an airport Taco Bell.
Gunnar is back from Italy (and he’s completely insufferable about it …), so the guys break down his trip through Rome and beyond and how he booked some amazing stays - via Hilton.
Plus, they recap some big news around Bilt 2.0, woes getting into Europe, a handy new tool for using your credit card perks, and the monumental news … about an airport Taco Bell.
Thank you to our sponsor, Bilt Rewards! Earn points on rent and make your entire neighborhood more rewarding with Bilt. Sign up at joinbilt.com/thrifty.
Join the conversation! Sign up for the free Thrifty Traveler Podcast Slack community today.
00:00 - Kyle goes whale-watching (?) in Minnesota
02:25 - Jake welcomes us back from the Six Senses Kyoto
03:00 - Fun news: Join the Thrifty Traveler Podcast Slack Community!
04:10 - Bilt 2.0 gets grilled by a top Democratic lawmaker
08:02 - Europe’s Entry/Exit system issues
12:12 - Our all new credit card benefit tracker!
15:50 - RIP to the best Amex airline fee credit workaround
20:10 - Airlines are over-charging you for seat upgrades
24:55 - 1-month warning for the SkyMiles credit card snack benefit
26:50 - Live Más: Taco Bell Cantina opens at DEN
30:16 - Thanks to our sponsor, Bilt Rewards!
31:27 - Recapping Gunnar’s Hilton-and-SLH-fueled Italian vacay
51:00 - Revisiting our Hilton vs. Hyatt debate
57:40 - A listener asks: What’s it worth to fly Emirates First Class?
01:02:00 - On the Spot: Regional cuisine in airports
Produced and edited by Sylvia Thomas
Video editing by Kyle Thomas
Show music: “All That” by Benjamin Tissot
Yo, welcome to the show. I'm your host, Gunnar Olsen. With me, as always, was the most confused person at the brewery when an Emirates A380 flew over his head this weekend in Minneapolis. It's Kyle Potter. Kyle, what's up?
I thought that somebody drugged me- ... when I looked up and saw that behemoth coming in.
Yeah, an Emirates A380 diverted, uh, due to a medical emergency. It was on its way to LA and had to make a pit stop to get somebody off the plane. I hope that person is doing well. We don't see A380s here all that often. This was the only ti- this is the second time in a year and the second time in a decade that that has happened, so it was pretty cool.
Yeah, that's so wild. Kyle Thomas, our video editor, put that in our team Slack and alerted us all to it, but obviously you hadn't seen it and just got to see it firsthand right over your head.
It was, it was wild. Did not see that coming.
All right. Uh, today we are going through some quick hitter news stories.
We're chatting about my Hilton and SLH-fueled trip through Italy. That's right, Kyle, I'm back from Europe, and that's my personality now.
For how long? How long do we give you that leash?
A few weeks, through the live show at least. Uh, and we have some really exciting Thrifty Traveler announcements. But first, Kyle, um, I hate to admit that things went incredibly well while I was gone.
Uh, it kinda hurts, honestly. Uh, you published last week's breakdown of all the big, bad changes at Hyatt, and we also published the bonus episode chronicling our listeners' travel mistakes, which was maybe the most fun episode we've had to date. Uh, do I need to take more vacations so you guys can actually get some good work done around here?
Please don't. We need, we need you. It, it, if only for the culture.
That's
right. You know, this place runs on culture.
But, uh, those two episodes were so much fun. I hope everybody had a blast listening to them. Um, especially, uh, the your travel mistakes, I hope you all don't feel too roasted and maybe you feel a little more seen, too.
I, I, again, I just wanna stress how many emails we got. There were probably about double if not triple that we just, like, didn't have space for. So I think you raised the idea we should maybe just do this once a quarter or something. We might need to. We might need to do it more often.
Yeah, we had a, a new flood of mistakes, uh, come in, too, right after the episode, so I'm excited to get to all those.
And, and you all are making me feel... A Type B traveler like myself, making me feel really seen out there, so I appreciate you all. Okay. Today on the show we have several big news stories to talk about, and we're talking about my trip to Italy. All that and more.
Gunnar, hey, Kyle. I'm Jake. I'm here with my family in the Six Senses Kyoto, here in the courtyard.
We just completed a four-night stay using our IHG points and the fourth night free. It's the best hotel we've ever stayed at. Everyone, welcome to the Thrifty Traveler podcast
Okay, welcoming us back this week was Jake and his lovely family from the beautiful Six Senses Kyoto, which he said he booked with his IHG points. Uh, awesome booking, Jake. I hope that trip was a blast. Uh, before we jump into something hot and cold, we have a little announcement for our podcast listeners.
We are really excited to announce we're launching a brand-new Thrifty Traveler podcast Slack community. It's gonna be a place for our particular clan of sickos to come together and talk travel, react to the latest episodes, swap some secrets, and, uh, share their freshest and latest travel mistakes. So we have another place for you to put all your mistakes.
It doesn't have to just be our inbox every week. Are you excited about this?
I'm ready for the scathing criticism- ... that I know we're gonna get from people in this Slack community. No, this should be a lot of fun. It's gonna be fun to yuck it up with people and not just, uh, wait for those emails every, every couple of weeks.
Yeah, it'll be really cool. I can't wait to, uh, chop it up with you all and, and hear more of all of your unhinged travel stories, too. Um, you can find the invitation link to this free community in the show notes of this episode. So go ahead, get into the show notes. We'll put it in there, uh, so you can sign up for the Slack community, and we'll, uh, chat with you in there very, very soon.
You ready to get into something hot and cold?
Let's do it.
Okay. Um, we're gonna go through several news stories here, and I want you to determine if they're hot and cold. I'm, I haven't predetermined. We're giving you the rule here.
This is a lot of pressure.
It is. It is, but I, I think you're up for it. Okay, this first story, surprising one.
Bilt's transition to Bilt 2.0 is drawing fresh scrutiny from a top Democratic lawmaker. Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote a sharply worded letter to Bilt CEO Ankur Jain this week, demanding answers over an uptick in consumer complaints about Bilt. Um, according to Warren's letter, customers were accusing Bilt of missing rent and mortgage payments, some delayed transactions, poor customer service related to Bilt's AI chatbot, and most importantly, questioning whether the new rent and mortgage payment structure that we talked about, Nick talked about in the episode where he was wondering if Chase is still the top dog in travel rewards.
Nick was talking about the mechanism for which they're, you know, doing these rent and mortgage payments. They're wondering if it complies with federal law at all, which is a huge deal if it doesn't. In a response to Warren's letter, a Bilt spokesperson did not directly address any of the allegations and said instead that any issues with the move away from Wells Fargo were the result of, quote, "Unexpectedly high demand," later noting that, quote, "Some of our members experienced gaps in service that are simply unacceptable to us."
Uh, Kyle, what stood out to you about this surprising news?
Uh, if you're, if you're Bilt, and I would say even if you're a Bilt card holder and you love Bilt and you haven't dealt with any of the kind of issues that Senator Warren raised in this letter, this is not what you wanna see. Whether Bilt 2.0 and the structure of how y- bi- instead of charging your credit card, you're basically debiting your rent and mortgage payments now, whether that truly does violate federal law, we are nowhere near smart enough to answer that question.
Regardless, having, you know, a top US senator train their eye on you, um, after, you know, a pretty bungled rollout of this new system earlier this year, this is not what you want. Um, and, and it is... I think it should be at least something that, you know, even everyday Bilt card holders should keep an eye on in case this does escalate and get worse, because this kind of pressure from Congress, let alone, you know, a member of Congress who is known for galvanizing people to her causes, right or wrong, whether you agree with her or not, that's not a position that you wanna be in.
And this is not something where rewards programs get this kind of national attention often, if ever. So, you know, it's, I... We're gonna have to wait and see if this is the last that we hear of this or if this is gonna continue. I'm guessing it's gonna be the latter.
Yeah. Like you said, I'm not going to wade into federal law and whether or not I think that this, this new, uh, Bilt payment mechanism complies.
You weren't studying financial constitutional requirements over in Italy for the last week and a half?
No, I was not. Uh, I could barely read by the end of that trip, so we're starting from scratch here. Um, so yeah, we're, we're monitoring this very closely. I just, uh, you know, I, I don't have anything to say about whether or not this, uh, this new payment mechanism applies to the law.
Will be interested to see if Bilt makes some changes with their customer service just 'cause of all this kinda new scrutiny, and especially if, if this gets, you know, dragged out longer and longer. Um, they might have to, and they don't wanna get a reputation for a company that has bad customer service, I would suspect.
Yeah. Uh, Bilt has another couple of days to respond to Senator Warren's questions specifically about how they handled this and kind of the volume of complaints an, and adding more additional detail and insight. I think what they say in that letter, if we can get our hands on it, is gonna be super telling as to whether this is gonna go away or is gonna continue to be a problem.
Uh, keeping on theme, is this hot or cold? Col- cold Yeah.
Yeah. You don't, you don't know which way to go with this sometimes. I know. Is it good or bad? It's, it's cold. We'll go cold.
Yeah. Okay, let's move on to, uh, some EES issues. The European Union fully rolled out its new entry and exit system, which they're calling EES, last month.
Uh, it replaces the physical passport stamping system with a new digital automated system. Um, there have been some bumps in the road as this new system gets underway. It fully went into effect as of April 10th, with some customers reporting long immigration lines, some missed connections, and general confusion.
Uh, having just gone through this, um, I think it couldn't have been smoother, uh, on entry. I actually entered to Rome from Dublin. Dublin and Ireland are not participating in EES, so when I went from Dublin to Rome on my Aer Lingus flight, on my connection, I s- I had to go through EES in Rome. It was, you know, approximately two minutes.
Couldn't have been easier. Um, no line at all. We walked straight up to a kiosk. It, uh, it probably helped that there was some confusion because nobody knew, like, exactly what the kiosks were, but Megan and I just walked straight up to our kiosks. We got in and, and g- getting into Rome was extremely easy. Um, we also landed, like, in the early afternoon, not a typical time for landing in Europe, so that could have been why we had zero wait as well.
Flying out of Rome was a little trickier. The wait was a- the wait was about 20 minutes. Um, it would have been virtually zero except the passport scanners were having all sorts of trouble. So you scan a passport, and then you go into, like, a little holding area where they scan your biometrics, and you put your fingers on the scanner, and then they let you through.
Um, but the passport scanners were just not reading the passports very well. There were b- there were signs everywhere that said, "Push down really hard," and people were not ... It wasn't working. I, I tried, like, 20 times on mine, and it kept giving me errors and errors, and then finally there was an empty kiosk next to me.
I went to the next one and got right through. Um, but that was a little bit messier. People were a little confused. It's, it's clearly gonna have some growing pains. Um, I know- You know, people who, who were faced with long lines are probably, uh, really upset about this. I saw a lot of, uh, Europeans and internationals online talking about, uh, "This is what we have to deal with every time we come to the United States, so we're done hearing your cries."
But, uh, your thoughts on the new, uh, EES system.
I'm gonna go, like, room temp on this one. I think this is something that anybody heading to Europe needs to keep their eye on, but not necessarily, like, dread or be sure that you're gonna face an hours-plus long line in order to enter, you know, whichever country in Europe you're flying into.
It's hit or miss right now, and I'm glad you talked about, you know, you flew in during the afternoon. I think timing is the biggest thing here, timing and location. Timing because this tends to ha- It, it tends to create a huge bottleneck early in the morning and on arrival in Europe when all of these banks of flights from the United States are landing for people to get into, you know, Germany or Madrid or wherever across the continent, and then maybe even connect onward to their final destination.
So those really early morning, let's just call it, like, anywhere between, like, 6:00 and 8:00 AM, that's probably where we're gonna see the most issues. And then really importantly, not every airport, not every country is enforcing this just yet. As you mentioned, Ireland is not. Um, the UK as a whole is not either.
And then, uh, really importantly, Paris, one of the biggest airports i- on the continent, so far has not started using this system, I think seemingly in part because of some of the issues that we've started to see as this has rolled out across some other major airports across Europe. All of which is to say, keep an eye on it.
Be prepa- Be prepared for longer waits, but I don't think you need to go into your flight over to Europe fearing that you're gonna get stuck in line for hours on end.
Yeah. And also, what are you gonna do about it? Right. You know, this is, this is one of those issues where, uh, it is what it is, and you just have to pack your patience.
Um, another data point, our video editor, Kyle Thomas, went through Amsterdam over the weekend, said he was shuffled into the tight connection line and got through in about five minutes, but he said the regular line would've probably been closer to 20 or 30 minutes, having eyeballed it. So another data point there for people who are worried about EES heading over to Europe this summer.
Uh, another one, Kyle, and I suspect this is going to be something hot. Uh, we heard from a ton of users who loved our credit cards benefit tracker spreadsheets, which you, a certified freak in the sheets, labored over for a long, long time and created this lovely, lovely credit card benefits tracker. Um- We're not, we're not just breezing past freak in the sheets, are we?
Freak in the sheets is part of the podcast lexicon now. All right? People know. People know.
Should it be?
It should be, yeah.
Okay.
I like it. Um, we have a new benefits tracker, Kyle. We've replaced your sheets. Uh, the sheets are still available if you, if you prefer sheets. I don't know who you are that loves spreadsheets that much, but this new version is way, way better for someone like me, a certified not freak in the sheets.
Um- It is a, it's a new kinda more intuitive dashboard, an online dashboard. You can find it at cardtracker.thriftytraveler.com. It's free. It tracks more than 104 travel credit cards and 40 airline, hotel, and transferable points programs, so you can keep track of all those really annoying monthly, quarterly, annual credits, and you can keep track of what your balances are in all of your accounts.
It is truly a one-stop shop for all of my travel rewards tracking. I just migrated all my stuff over, uh, over the weekend, and it, it's so good, and I'm really, really appreciative that, uh, our team put the time to put this together and get it out into the hands of our, our listeners and users here.
Yeah.
You know, Nick on our team took the spreadsheets and turned it into a very functional online dashboard, and really importantly, it's doesn't require any personal information at all, just like the spreadsheet system. You just add what cards you have, enter the date that you opened them on, and then it starts to track things automatically, and you toggle things as you use those benefits.
It tallies up the total of what you've used and lets you know once you've recouped that annual fee, all of the same functionality but with more than double the cards. We're now at, like, 104 travel cards, including all of the popular ones and many of the not-so-popular ones, including some I had never heard of before.
Um, and you know, like you said, being able to just kind of enter your points balances, not just for you, but for a spouse and a couple other people, you can do up to four now, both in terms of cards as well as points balances. I have lost track of the number of times I have to turn to my wife and be like, "How many points do you have in your Amex account right now?"
And having this place where you can just update it as you go, and then you can reference it is so, so helpful. So the hope is that this kinda takes what people loved about the, the spreadsheet model and turns it up to 11 with something that's even easier and, you know- straightforward to use.
Yeah. I, I went all in with it this weekend.
I spent, like, 20 to 30 minutes and migrated just everything, and went, you know, logged into every account, mine and my wife's, and just put everything in there, and it's like, man, it's all in one place now. It's so nice. Also had a bit of a wake-up call looking at what I'm paying in annual fees every year.
You know, actually doing the math on it is something that maybe I didn't wanna see, so we've g- you know, there's some looking in the mirror that has to be had about- You
take the bad with the good.
Yeah. And I think I know which card is going first, uh, and we'll talk about that later in the section. Um, have you migrated all your info in yet?
I have. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it is really, really slick. It's nice that, um, you can actually take this, while it's not a smartphone app, you can save the page as, uh, something on your home screen so you can very easily just click it and reference it, um, which is much, much easier than spreadsheets which do not display well on mobile.
That's right. That is a big piece of the reason why we went this way.
Yeah. This is awesome. Okay. Uh, I assume that's something hot.
That is something hot. Okay. Yes, it is hot.
All right, Kyle, for this one we'll ask you if this is something hot or cold. Um, the $200 Amex Platinum airline fee credit workaround that many travelers have used to make their flights less expensive appears to be dead.
Um, first, can you explain how this credit is supposed to work, and then how we've been using it in our sicko way for a long time?
So by the written rules, it's just supposed to be for ancillary fees. So seat assignments, bags, that kind of thing. Change fees if you ever get charged for those, which, you know, most of them have disappeared by now.
But that kind of thing, for the additional fees, not just for airfare. But over the years, a handful of workarounds have emerged i- in order to use this $200 annual airline fee credit just towards airfare on particular airlines, and unfortunately, many of them have hit the chop- chopping block this year, apparently for good.
So earlier this year, one of the, one of the, I would say the two main workarounds to use this towards airfare is you could just purchase United travel bank cash. You could do it in, I think, $50 increments, and it would kick in up to $200 to erase that, so you just get $200 to spend towards United. Early this year, that stopped working, and it still has not come back, but the biggest, most painful one to me, the thing that I used every single year for six, seven years now, s- ever since I had the Platinum card, is there was a workaround, um, to use this towards Delta flights where if you either had an eCredit or used pay with miles through Delta or used a gift card and reduced the total that you were then charging to your Amex Platinum card to $250 or less, or I should say under $250, this $200 credit would kick in And that stopped working.
And that also stopped working, maybe more importantly, for award taxes and fees on Delta awards when you book with SkyMiles and then charge the, you know, $5.60 for a one-way, um, domestically on a Delta-operated flight booked with SkyMiles or, you know, a couple, $100 or even more if you're flying to Europe or Australia.
That stopped working, too This sucks.
Yeah, honestly, I always thought that this was for the taxes and fees on SkyMiles bookings, and that's kinda what I always, you know, used it for. Uh, just as much as possible I'd use it to cover taxes and fees, whether it's just $5.60 per way, uh, for a domestic flight or, you know, some of the international ones where it's a little bit more.
But, um, to find out that that no longer works for this, basically I'm just hoping to use them to get people into Sky Clubs at this point because I have the credit card that gets me a free bag, and I'm never gonna have three checked bags. So, uh, yeah, I just, I don't know, um, what to use this for anymore, and now, now I have to really seriously consider changing my airline, uh, for that, you know, airline fee credit away from Delta.
Yeah, I mean, importantly Amex makes you choose at the beginning of the year, and it typically locks in. So mine has been locked in, um, at Delta since, like, 2018. And I too have to think, "Okay, well, that's $200. That's certainly not nothing." I've already used up that $200 credit, 'cause I do this probably on January 2nd almost every year, book some flights with Delta using an e-credit that I have to kick in this $200.
And now it's like, okay, well, for 2027, does this change the math at all on that card? And I think everybody needs to catalog what they use on their Amex Platinum card if they've been using this, these particular workarounds in order to get this $200 and make sure they use it every year. I mean, like you, it's probably gonna wind up, I just need to make sure that I'm bringing four people into the Sky Club as a guest.
Um, or, you know, if I'm using Sky Clubs a lot, being able to pay for, you know, you're capped at 10 now, you could stretch this to 14. Those are probably the, the two most likely scenarios. Otherwise, you're just buying drinks on Delta flights back in economy and getting $11 at a time back. That's, I mean, that's maybe a little bit more fun.
Yeah. A
little bit more dangerous.
I guess so, yeah. That's probably the way. Um, all right, let's move on. Wait, hot or cold on that?
Ice cold.
Ice cold?
Yep.
Let's move on. Um, so you know those upgrade offers that you get in your airline app? Well, a recent analysis that we did showed that those offers are not necessarily on the up and up, Kyle.
Um, what did you do? What did you find with upgrade offers that you find in-app?
So w- we've talked about this before. We did a story last year, and it just hit me again because I saw this again myself, and then we ran the numbers again, and it is very clear that in many, many circumstances, these upgrade offers are not a good deal at all, that airlines are in fact intentionally ripping you off.
And this came to mind because I, uh, booked an American Airlines flight down to Dallas. I, as soon as I booked, you know, American was telling me, "Oh, you can upgrade to first class for $290," which is, I mean, that's not the deal of the century, but it's, you know, that's about the going rate for upgrades on routes like that these days And then I remembered that we had looked at this before and thought, "Okay, well, let me, instead of taking that upgrade offer, let me try to change my flight to first class and see what it costs."
And lo and behold, it was not $290 to change from economy to first class. It was $88. So American was charging an extra 200 plus in order to take that upgrade, and airlines know that people will do this. People are upgrading w- either with their miles or with their cash more than they ever have before.
It's the reason why up- complimentary upgrades from status are becoming fewer and further between, because so many people are either buying that first class ticket from the outset, or more importantly and increasingly, upgrading. So I just, I hate that airlines do this. Um, I hate that this isn't a bigger story I really think it should be that of the lengths that airlines go to to get more money out of you because they are betting that you are just never going to check because why would you?
It's an upgrade offer. The airline is doing you a favor by offering you this price. And in the vast majority of cases that we've looked at, in fact, of, like, 25 flights, all but one, the upgrade was, in fact, much more expensive. Airlines are actually charging much, much more.
Yeah. I- i- in one hand, this is definitely something cold because this practice is icky and annoying, and, uh, it's definitely gonna trap people into paying a lot more than they want to.
On the other hand, if you are in the know, if you're listening to this and you're one of the people who knows about this nasty trend, at least you have the tools now to say, "I'm gonna go, I'm gonna rebook it instead of taking the upgrade offer, and I'm gonna save a ton." So, um, you know, make sure that you're not just auto-clicking that upgrade offer.
Make sure you're doing your due diligence. I would say, um, cancel and rebook instead or, you know, do that change if, if the airline website allows you to do that, like, quick and easy change like Delta, American, United usually do. Um, and then another thing that, uh, people don't always see, the upgrade offers, if you look in the seat map instead of that upgrade offer right on the front page of your app there, if you go into the seat map and look at what it'd be to upgrade, sometimes that's different, too.
I've seen that several times where, uh, if you go into the seat map and look at that extra legroom seat, it's gonna be a lot lower than that kinda initial upgrade page. So just dig a little deeper, right?
Yeah. And unfortunately, this is the world we live in where you have to dig deeper in order to figure out whether you're getting a fair price or not.
I think really importantly, you're not always going to see cheaper, um, up- quote, unquote, "upgrades" to first just by changing. I, I think probably especially within the last, let's just call it 14 to 21-ish days, you're more likely to pay more by changing your flight instead of taking that upgrade offer once you get kinda into that la- last minute territory.
That's when airlines are much more likely to actually offer a good deal for an upgrade, and it's much more rare to see these better deals by changing your flight to, you know, extra legroom or business or first class on long-haul international, where the costs of those tickets are just so much higher.
You're much more likely to get a better deal by taking these upgrade offers. But I think still, if you are interested at all at bumping up, I think every single time, no matter the flight, no matter how far in advance you are out, you just gotta check to see, okay, well, they're charging me $300. What if I change the flight and bump up to first class instead?
How much more is it? You're just gonna have to do that going forward because the airlines know that they can get away with this.
Something cold then?
It might be the coldest news ever.
Okay. I have two more very quick stories to close out this section that you're gonna give me a hot or cold on. First, the free premium snack benefit for Delta SkyMiles credit card holders is set to expire at the end of June.
We're giving you a one-month warning on that one. Uh, this is one of the best credit card perks I can ever remember a SkyMiles card having. The, the gist is on shorter Delta flights that have full drink and snack service, you can redeem your coupon for a bag of DOTS pretzels, a can of Pringles, or a box of Nerds Gummy Clusters.
Uh, the flight has to be more than 900 miles long, but it doesn't, it can't cross an ocean, so it doesn't work for long-haul international flights. Uh, the coupon can be found on the Wi-Fi login page after you've logged in on your phone. It's not in the app, uh, which is sometimes confusing. It's usually the first block you see in the card member offerings section.
Uh, it is scheduled to go through June as of now. The initial promo, this started, it was supposed to end in January, but then they extended it in January. Are we due for another extension, Kyle? Give me some good news.
I, I hope so, but I th- part of me worries that if we were due for an extension, we would've seen it already.
And hey, you know, w- maybe by Thursday as people are listening to this, we'll have seen that. I don't know. This is a fun one. I don't wanna act like, oh, well, getting some snacks on a flight, on flights that, you know, you used to get full meal service or, you know, in any other region of the world you still get free meal service.
I don't wanna act like this is the best thing in the world, but, you know, these are things that cost $8 to $10 if you buy them in the airport. And, you know, Delta started offering this to cardholders without increasing annual fees. So I think you just gotta take a win where you can, and this is a pretty fun one, to be able to get a thing of DOTS pretzels or Nerds Gummy Clusters.
I, I love all those snacks.
Yeah, you just really reality checked me there on the Stockholm Syndrome I have with Delta and my credit card. I get my, my $10 bag of pretzels for my $150 credit card. Thanks, Daddy Delta. Appreciate you throwing me a bone there. All right, I assume that's something, something
hot?
Let's go lukewarm.
Something lukewarm. Yeah, lukewarm. All right. Last one, Kyle, um, and I'm gonna try not to get emotional about this. Um- Denver International Airport officially opened a Taco Bell Cantina, Kyle. Uh, it's near Gate A49. Okay,
Gunner.
Yeah.
We're gonna get through this.
Okay, man. Thanks.
Yeah.
I appreciate it.
It's near Gate A49. Uh, they opened it late last month. It's the first ever airport location for Taco Bell's boozy fast food concept. Uh, Taco Bell Cantinas, if you're not familiar, and who is, you know, uh, they differ from regular T Bells in that they also serve alcoholic beverages alongside the usual menu.
Alcohol sales have not yet begun at the Denver Cantina yet. The airport says they'll begin in the summer. When they do, the booze will flow from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM daily in that A concourse. That makes Denver the first place travelers can realistically pair a delayed boarding announcement with a tequila-spiked Baja Blast Twisted Freeze or wash down a pair of Doritos Locos Tacos before a cross-country flight.
Kyle, is this hot or cold?
It's Diablo. How's that? This is the funnest news in travel that we've seen in years maybe. Is this, is this the most fun story that you've written in your now five years here?
I jumped on this story with the journalistic vigor of I, I don't wanna relate it to world events. Uh, I jumped on this story so quickly, and you gave me the green light so fast to write this for our website and to put it all over everything.
This is, this is core to what we do here at Thrifty Traveler.
I believe the direct quote in our company Slack was, "Write this ASAP. I'm not joking."
That is exactly, exactly what you said. Kyle, I think, um, if, if a Taco Bell Cantina were to open at MSB, I think I would cancel all of my lounge access credit cards.
I'm that serious about this. This is, this is crucial. This is important stuff. Denver gets to be first here, but I hope that this spreads.
I do too.
Yeah.
L- I just wanna say, I wanna preface this with I think the whole, um, Taco Bell is gonna give you horrific diarrhea narrative nationally, worldwide even, is overblown.
I personally never gotten sick from eating Taco Bell, and I eat my fair share of Taco Bell. I will never say no to some fourth meal. Do I feel confident about getting a Crunchwrap Supreme before boarding a four-hour flight? I do not Um, so I'm gonna, i- if and when I get the chance to, to hit the Taco Bell Cantina, I'm gonna approach it cautiously.
I'll put it that way.
Yeah, go slow. If it's your f- if it's your first time, just go slow, you know? There's no need to set any records.
What's your Taco Bell order?
Um, I like a good Crunchwrap Supreme. I also, when the Locos, when the Doritos Locos came out, that was, um, that was essential. Uh, that became quickly a part of the order, too.
But, you know, sometimes I just like to take some chances, see what else is out there. I haven't been in a while, honestly, so... But this might be the thing that gets me back.
Please do not take chances before- ... a 6:00 PM flight with a Baja Blast with tequila in it. Um, play it, play it a little bit safe, at least to just get your body ready, you know?
Yeah. Don't, you don't need to live mas all the time. Just live medium that first time, and then live mas the second time, but... All right, um, that was really fun news. We need to talk about my Italy trip, but first we're gonna take a quick break.
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Okay, it's time for the Extra Mile, where we dig a little deeper on an important travel topic, and this week we're talking about my trip to Italy from last week that was fueled by Hilton points and Hilton's Small Luxury Hotels of the World, or colloquially known as SLH.
Um, I thought this was interesting not just because I had a really awesome experience at these four SLHs in Italy, uh, this last week, but in light of the Hyatt news, I was listening to your show on the way back from Italy, um, I think these redemptions look even better in light of the Hyatt news and kind of how much more they're charging for some of their top-tier properties and how top tier all of this in Italy felt for what are actually really, really competitive low rates.
So Cal, can you just remind me and the listeners what SLH is and why it is bookable with Hilton in the first place?
Yeah, I mean, it was, uh, the crux of the, a take that aged seemingly poorly and looks a little bit better now, um, early in the show last year that Hilton was, had dethroned Hyatt as the most valuable hotel program in the world.
I do still think that there's a case there, and that is largely because of SLH. Because prior to, uh, sometime in early 2024, SLH had been part of Hyatt, which meant that you could book these properties, 400 plus, typically like boutique, more of like the barefoot luxury, um, kinds of properties, uh, 400 plus around the world using Hyatt points.
And Hilton pulled off a major coup And they stole them away and have integrated more and more of these properties, far more than Hyatt ever had bookable at, when SLH participated with Hyatt. So it is, has been a big win, and if not the brightest spot, then the second brightest spot in Hilton's entire portfolio when it comes to both redeeming points and maybe more importantly, uh, redeeming Hilton free night certificates.
Because unlike Hyatt and every other hotel chain on the planet, Hilton free night certificates from cards like the, uh, Hilton Aspire card and others are uncapped. As long as there is standard a- w- award rates available, which can be as little as, like, 35,000 points a night or less, can be as much as 250,000 points a night.
As long as that is available, you can use a Hilton free night certificate to book it, which is incredible.
Yeah, and it makes it a really, really good deal. What are some of your kinda non-Italy favorite, uh, SLHs out there? Any that come to mind right away?
Well, I have not been to any SLH properties in Italy, so that's all of them.
Uh, Hermitage Bay in Antigua, my wife and I went a couple of falls ago. Uh, it's by far the single best resort, easily the best all-inclusive resort that we've ever stayed at, worth every single point and free night certificate we used to stay there. Um, the Isle of Erriska out in, um, Scotland, uh, was an amazing stay.
I wish we had a little bit more time there. We were only there for two nights and spent a lot of that time kinda driving around. But, um, I would love to go back there. And then finally in, um- In Istanbul, my favorite hotel in that city is Tom Tom Suites because it's in an amazing location. This is one that I actually, my wife and I when we stayed there, booked with Hyatt points at the time because it was back in 2022.
I would go back in a heartbeat there. That's, it's such a great property with amazing service, an amazing Michelin-rated restaurant on the rooftop with a great breakfast that's complimentary when you stay with your Hilton points as long as you have status. So yeah, there's a lot to love here.
The only other non-Italy SLH I ever stayed in was Hotel Ranga in Iceland.
It's the only, um, it was actually the only Hy- bookable with Hyatt at the time hotel in Iceland, and we, uh, we snagged it for one night. My sister and I stayed there. It's like a fully northern lights themed hotel where, you know, they'll wake you up in the middle of the night if the lights shine, and everyone gets like a, like a full onesie, like an outdoor onesie to go stand up on the roof, and they have telescopes and everything, and the whole hotel wakes up in the middle of the night.
It's really cool. Really awesome place, um, in southern Iceland there. Okay, so I wanna go through these, these four, uh, Italian SLHs, um, as a way a little bit to talk about my trip, but also to just kinda give people a sense of what some of these hotels are like, and I'll talk about how I booked them as well.
Um, and then at the end, I'm gonna ask you about your, your Hilton versus Hyatt take, and we're gonna kinda reassess where we are 'cause w- we first gave that opinion in episode four, and we've touched on it again several times, but now that we're in episode 65, uh, I think maybe we're due for a, uh, a reckoning on what we thought there.
So my first SLH that we stayed at the day we arrived in Rome was the Palazzo Manfredi Rome Um, we used a Hilton free night that I got with the Hilton Surpass card after hitting the signup bonus. Um, the rate was 150,000 Hilton points per night. Uh, this place was right next to the Coliseum. Uh, you could see the Coliseum from almost every room.
We got a room upgrade thanks to the Hilton Gold status I had from getting that card, uh, which was crazy to get upgraded in a hotel that fancy. It was like an apartment style room overlooking the Coliseum. I'll, I'll share some photos in the video. Uh, but our bed was directly facing the Coliseum lit up in the middle of the night, and we were so close to it, it was, it was shocking.
Um, an unbelievable free breakfast on the rooftop. All of these SLHs had really, really fancy free breakfasts that, uh, Megan and I took full advantage of. Uh, some of the di- the meals we had on this trip were a little pricey, so we went for the this is breakfast and lunch approach to breakfast every morning.
Yep. We've all been there.
Um, that rooftop restaurant is a Michelin star restaurant in the evenings. Uh, we did not do that. We couldn't... One, we couldn't get in, and two, I saw what the price was on the tasting menu and decided for the first night of the trip probably wasn't good to go half of our, uh, dining budget for the whole time.
Um, they did have an awesome cocktail bar at the restaurant. You also need reservations for that, but they were able to get us in. It had just stunning views of the Coliseum. We watched the, the sun set and watched the Coliseum lit up. Um, the whole experience, the whole hotel was, like, super five star. We never touched a bag.
Uh, they cleaned our room every time we left it. Uh, just awesome. Like, just one of those r- really special stays. They made my wife feel incredibly special. I put something in the description when we booked it that, uh, the trip was, like, a celebration of her, you know, being a mom for the first time, and they took that so seriously.
And they gave us, like, you know, every little acknowledgement. It was incredibly sweet. Uh, a good thrifty tip, always put something in the description. Always. Always. Yeah. It doesn't... I don't, I don't know how many... I can't tell you how many honeymoons I've been on, okay? Always put something in there. It could be a birthday.
It could be a honeymoon. Again, they don't care, and they won't check, but you might get something special out of it.
You're really unethical for doing that.
Well-
I don't, I don't care.
There's always something to celebrate, Kyle.
Okay. I'm, I'm really glad that you stressed just how much they paid attention to things like that, and I'm also really glad you stressed how amazing this location is because, like, to me, in my experience with the, you know, probably five or six SLH properties, this is what I love, those two things, is- You don't get this kind of thing even at a, the best Park Hyatt in the world in most cases because those hotels are just too big.
Many of these SLH hotels are truly boutique locations, which means that they might have like 12 or 15 rooms total, maybe 50 at the absolute most, which just allows them to give you a better, more dedicated service. But maybe more importantly is the location. So many big box chain hotels are in big box chain hotel areas, and the value of these smaller boutique properties that SLH has is that you can get into places that you just otherwise either, A, couldn't afford, or B, there's just not hotels around those areas because Hyatt isn't gonna build there because they can't build something that's big enough, and Hilton itself isn't going to either.
And the same is true for, you know, once you get off the beaten path and go into, you know, some areas where you're not gonna find A, a major Hilton or a Marriott or an IHG Hotel, but SLH has this amazing barefoot luxury resort that takes a little bit of extra effort to get to, but is somewhere that is just truly quite special, and you feel like you're, you're discovering something.
Yeah, a lot of these SLHs before, long before they were, you know, any part of a, an SLH kind of brand, they've been there for 100 years, and that's why they exist the way that they are. And that's, like, the really cool part about both of these. The second Rome hotel, uh, that we stayed in was the Hotel d'Inghilterra Rome.
Um, I- we also used a Hilton free night, uh, on this, this time on my wife's Hilton Surpass card that she signed up for long after we hit my spending bonus. Um, that was bookable for 140,000 per night. Uh, we stayed there for two reasons. Uh, one, we wanted to go to the Vatican, and the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps area, which is pretty far away from the Colosseum.
It's not un- it's not not doable, uh, from the Palazzo Manfredi, but we only could find one night at the Palazzo Manfredi, so we moved on to another SLH. And, uh, this place was also excellent. Um, it's very old, charming, uh, top-hatted doorman in, like, a 15-piece suit you know, one of those, like, uh, this guy has so many accessories on, I can't even count.
Um, extremely kinda old school fancy, nice and elegant, but everything was updated and, and, you know, the tech was good. Uh, you know, it's one of those it feels like you're going back in time, but then there's a USB-C port next to my bed, you know? So it's... And one of those where everything is nice and, and updated as well.
Uh, this hotel had an awesome concierge actually who helped us, um, you know, find our way around, helped us get to the Vatican quickly. She showed us, like, every step to take using, uh, the, the subway there, and, uh, she also booked us an awesome dinner that, um, she was, you know, very receptive to, uh, you know, sometimes you stay at these five-star hotels, and the concierge is just like, "Okay, so this person obviously has no budget."
This, this concierge was very receptive to our, uh, we need to, we need to take things down a notch. We already had a big dinner. Um, also a- another rooftop cocktail bar at this place, and a very cool speakeasy style bar on the inside that we loved as well, uh, and then another fantastic free breakfast, uh, both buffet and made to order included on the room.
Um, another fantastic stay. Uh, couldn't recommend it more, especially as like a, a home base to see a bunch of things in Rome. If you, if you're really dying to go to the Colosseum, and you can find a night at Manfredi, I'd say Manfredi was a little, little better, little cooler, a little more unique stay. But this Hotel d'Inghilterra in Rome was the perfect, uh, second night in Rome for us.
So if you, if you were telling somebody who ha- was trying for, like, let's say three or four nights in Rome, where would you steer them?
Man, I-
Between the two ...
between the two, um, the Inglaterra is gonna be a l- I mean, just barely cheaper, honestly. I would say the Manfredi was just so, was so special. They made us feel so incredibly unique, and maybe it's because we got the upgrade and, uh, things like that.
But I, I think that one was, uh, definitely a little bit more unique. If you could split your time between two, it gives you a good way to see both sides of the city as well. Um, I, I kinda love the way we did it even though it was only two nights. Uh, but I think the Manfredi was just a little bit more unique.
Uh, definitely more spendy though. Uh, the, that, that, uh, the minibar and the, the rooftop bar there were, are definitely, uh, gonna put a dent in your wallet if you're eating at the hotel a little bit. So we had to venture off property to get our meals when we stayed there, for sure. Um, Kyle, from there we, uh, started planes, trains-ing, and automobiling, um, o-
That's that phrase.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Nailed it. Professional podcasting. Uh, to the town of Matera. Um, and actually, this hotel, the Sant'Angelo Matera, was the centerpiece of our entire trip. Uh, after you convinced me in that episode four to get into Hilton, uh, I actually just started looking through Italy, 'cause I knew my wife wanted to go to Italy, on Hilton's website just to see what was out there.
Um, and this hotel just popped off... Like, the, the photos just popped off the screen so much that it just kinda stopped me in my tracks, and I, I showed... I made the mistake of showing my wife too early, and then she said, "Yes, that's the one." Well, I'll, I'll have that, please. And so then, uh, I booked the Sant'Angelo Matera for two nights, 85,000 Hilton points per night, a total of 170,000 Hilton points, uh, from my Hilton Surpass signup bonus, um, some additional spend, and I kicked over a couple AMEX points, too.
I don't remember exactly how much I did to get it all. But, uh, the town of Matera is a one-hour bus ride or a drive from Bari, which is where we flew to from Rome. Um, we took a- an ITA Airways flight over to Rome. Uh, our buses were about $10 per person each way. You can drive, but the parking in Matera, in the Sassi, as they call it, the, the kinda stone downtown, is a nightmare.
The train takes way longer 'cause you have to stop in Bari first. Um, but straight from the airport to Matera, very, very easy. Um, Matera is maybe the most unique place I've ever been in Europe. Extremely ancient city. Uh, there are 10,000-year-old caves, uh, that kinda dot the skyline of the city, and then there are 6 to 7,000-year-old caves that make up the Sassi itself.
And it's all completely made of stone. It has... I'll let listeners look it up. It has an extremely haunting past. Uh, it, the Sassi was one of the worst slums in the world for a long time. They cleared everybody out of there, and then in the '90s they decided to revitalize the city, and now it's like a, you know, a luxury travel destination.
Uh, but it's paid homage to that past in a very cool way. Anyway, this is, this is hundreds of hours of, of history you could listen to and, uh, read about on this place. But, um, now it's-
Especially from you.
Yeah, especially from me. It's where
people want that from.
Someone who's so unqualified to-
Who spent two nights there.
Yeah.
The, the Sant'Angelo Matera is, like, true five-star luxury hotel, but it's, all the rooms are 6,000-year-old caves. So we had a very, very fancy outfitted, uh, hotel room with, you know, every modern amenity you could want. There was no TV or anything. But, uh, it had, you know, a rain shower, a patio, a minibar, you know, all the fixings.
The comfiest bed I ever slept in. It's the best located hotel in the city. It's right kinda at the The bottom in the middle of the city so you can go up in any direction and see everything. Um, it's, uh... It was the perfect place to explore Matera from. Another lavish free breakfast. It had a restaurant kinda overlooking the, the Sassi.
We ate dinner there once, too. Um, it was a very expensive dinner. Uh, that's a kind of a running theme through all of these SLHs. So maybe eat off property or just save up for that one big splurge. We had, uh, we had at least three dinners on this trip where we said, "This is the one. This is the big one." So we did it three times.
Are you... It's starting to feel like you're angling for a raise on the podcast. Oh, all these dinners. My budget.
No, no, no, no, no. This is what... Megan and I don't, we don't go out to dinner here in Minneapolis. We don't eat out ever. We just save all of our bullets for when we travel. Um, yeah, but like I said, we planned the whole trip around this hotel, going in and out of Matera, and I thought it was totally worth it.
If you're looking for, like, a really unique stay in a, a city that you'd never maybe seen or heard before, Matera is very, very cool. Um, and then we went to Sicily. We flew... We bused back to Matera... Or, sorry, back to Bari, and we flew Ryanair, my first Ryanair flight, from Bari to, uh, Catania, and rented a car.
Verdict in one sentence, Ryanair.
In one sentence, Ryanair. Uh, exceptionally efficient. I really liked it.
Yeah.
Yeah. I don't know what kind of punctuation you need to make that one sentence, but, uh, you can figure that out, Kai. You're my editor. Uh, I, I enjoyed it so much, just how quickly they get everyone on board, board from both sides.
They, they shut the door. They're doing the safety announcement, and you're in the air in, like, like, five minutes. It was incredible. I, I quite liked it. Um- We got to Sicily. We rented a car from Hertz, which I was very nervous about, uh, uh, just renting a car in Italy because I've, you know, seen lots of memes and heard horror stories of how hard it is.
But we drove up to Donna Carmela Resort, which was 75,000 Hilton points per night. Uh, we booked two of those with points, so 150,000, and then we used another free night that I earned through, uh, spending my kinda first $15,000. After I s- got the spending bonus, I was at 6,000. I think that's what it is- Yeah
the spending bonus on the Surpass, and I just decided I get another free night at 15, so we put all the rest of our daycare spend for the year on that card, got to 15,000 and got another free night that I used to tack on one more night in Sicily. Um, this, uh, this hotel is, is kinda remote. It's on the Sicilian countryside about 10 minutes from the sea, about 20 minutes from the base of Mount Etna.
Um, very scenic. I wouldn't say it's the coolest part of Sicily, the hotel itself, but the resort was, was lovely. Uh, it's a beautiful property. It's got a big pool over a bunch of vineyards, uh, big lavish gardens everywhere. Um, it's a, a woman-owned property. Uh, the namesake, Donna Carmela, has her hands in everything.
Every detail is immaculate. Uh, it was just a, like an exceptionally beautiful, beautiful place. Uh, we drove to Taormina one day, uh, the site of the, uh, San Domenico, the, the Four Seasons Hotel from season two of The White Lotus. Uh, that town was really cool. It was a zoo- ... but it was very, very cool. Uh, w- we were not the only Americans in Taormina.
Really?
I can tell you that much. That shocks me. I heard, I heard some guy check... We were gonna go over to the White Lotus for a drink 'cause we did that in, in Maui, and we went over there and I heard some New Yorker arguing with the guy who drove him up about who was a better driver. He was like, "I live in New York.
I'm a good driver." All right, great. Thanks, buddy. You're- Really making Taormina special for me.
Your New York accent I, I s- New Yorkers need to write in. Horrible or pretty good? Yeah. Or excellent.
I bailed on it really quick.
You did.
But I got, I got the first couple of words right. Yeah. Um, but anyway, we also did a, a big rowdy hike up Mount Etna, uh, that was really fun.
Um, it was probably... We bit off a little more than we could chew, but it was a really, really beautiful hike. That's a, just a very, very cool... All the volcanic rock makes that, that region just so beautiful. It was a clear day, so we got to see the top and, um, we were very close to the top by the end of the hike.
Makes you a little nervous when you see that thing erupting and, uh, you're sitting right there at the top. But, um, and then we went down. The, the breakfast was, uh, the best yet there too, by the way, the Donna Carmela breakfast, which we had three times for three nights. Um, and then after our hike, uh, we got a couple of massages 'cause the rates were like...
We were shocked. We looked up what the rates would be for a massage. We were like, "Ah, let's just take a look and see what it is," and we were, we were stunned. So we put that on the books and treated ourselves on our last night, uh, without, uh, our little girl. So that was a very, very fun trip, all fueled by Hilton and SLH.
A total of 320,000 Hilton Honors points, or 160,000 Amex points if you wanna transfer that way, and three free night certificates, uh, that we earned using those Surpass cards. So, um, Kyle, I think you can probably sense in my voice that I'm changing my mind a little bit on the Hilton versus Hyatt
debate.
You've
cleaned,
you've cleaned the pool. You've gone in, you've gone in in your waders and you've cleaned the pool.
Uh, have you changed your mind?
Yes and no. Um, I think, I don't, I don't think it makes sense for really anybody to go all in and only in on one hotel chain now more than ever. I think if anything has changed within the last couple of weeks, it's that people who were completely all in on Hyatt would be wise to start thinking about how else they can augment their hotel strategy.
I think, and this is a question for you, how much of how, how much you l- loved Hilton and are reconsidering h- where they fit for you is shaped by your tendency to Amazing Race your trips. And, you know, you talk about y- spending one night in one hotel in Rome and then another at another property. To many people, that would be like, "That's insane.
I'm never gonna do that. I wanna stay in one place for four to five days, if not longer, and then maybe move on, or maybe I just go home after that." So that allows you to take advantage of that one free night certificate for one stay, where other people would say, "Okay, it's a free night certificate, but then what?
What do I do for the rest of my nights there?" You know what I mean?
Yeah. No, I think that's, that's a really good point. I mean, most, most people don't wanna do four hotels and seven nights like we did. Um, but I, I would say, you know, in, in the end, you're using all the points and the free nights. Uh, you're gonna have to find the availability to be able to string them together if you wanna do just a full seven-night stay in Rome or whatever.
Um, I don't know why you'd wanna do that. Uh, I, I like to Amazing Race it a little bit. But I think, um, you know, I, I think that's a good point. Like, because the numbers, because the totals are so high, you look at something and you say, "Okay, if I want 150,000 Hilton points per night to stay at the Palazzo Manfredi, and I wanna do it for five nights to fully explore Rome," you're looking at a number that is seemingly incalculable.
Nobody could do that math. What is 150,000 times five? I'm a journalist. It's impossible to know. I have
no idea. Yeah.
It's impossible to know. So I understand why people would say that. I think it, it's not that hard to, to piece something like this together with Hilton, especially if you're booking way out ahead of time and the availability is strong.
Um, but you know, I, I still think that just considering what the numbers ... Like, I was just thinking about the numbers and, and considering that the Hyatt prices now. The highest end Hyatts are gonna be in the 70,000s per night, and, you know, some of the other ones are in the 50s and 40s and things like that.
Considering that Amex to Hilton transfer ratio of one Amex point gets you two Hilton points, and considering how easy it is to earn Hilton points on your Hilton cards, and how e- and how, you know, you get those free nights with that spending, and you get a free night when you sign up for a card and hit the bonus right away too, um, I just think it makes it so valuable.
Um, and I was just, you know, thinking about it in my head, you know, a Hyatt stay would not have cost me very much less on this trip, and Hyatt didn't have a hotel in any of those cities except for Rome.
Yeah, I mean, you're, you're really hitting on a handful of the advantages, but let's just stress. So you say, well, Hyatt now tops out at 75,000 points per night for these kinds of top-tier properties, and yet here you are talking about staying for 150,000 points per night, double on paper.
In practice, Hilton points are just so much easier to earn that that is not an apples to apples comparison. It's like apples to a piece of paper. You can earn somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 points per dollar on a Hilton credit card if you stack different promos, and, you know, that really tops out at, like, eight at the absolute most for Hyatt.
Never mind the fact that you can top off your account with Amex points, and Amex typically, or at least a couple of times a year, offers a transfer bonus, so instead of just getting two points with Hilton for every Amex point you send over, might be two and a half, might be even closer to three in some cases.
So there are just a lot of, of things that, again, I will just come back to. I don't think it should just be Hilton versus Hyatt. I think it should be both, and to me, they are now clearly in the top tier of hotel programs with Hyatt coming down a lot from where they were before. Hilton certainly down from where they were when we talked about this a year ago.
But they're, if they're not neck and neck, they're close, and then I think there's the other things which you can just kind of piece in as you need them, as you see a good credit card offer, as you start planning that trip and you find out about this amazing property like you and Megan did, that became the impetus for you to really start to take Hilton seriously.
I think that is where these things start to fit in.
Yeah, the answer is definitely both for me. Um, I think I'm just considering how potent that free night certificate with Hilton is, considering, like, you can use a free night h- certificate at Hilton to book a hotel like the Palazzo Manfredi that's going for 1,600 euro a night
You know, that's, I mean, that's so powerful, and then c- considering the, the Hyatt free cert, I mean, there are so few good uses for that left that are, like, big aspirational things. Obviously you could... I mean, it's still valuable. You can use it to piece together something, um, you know, one quick night at a Hyatt Place or a Hyatt House or, or whatever.
It works for that. But, um, just considering the perks of both of those two cards, my, my Surpass card with Hilton and my Hyatt credit card, um, unless Hyatt comes out with a different kinda card that has a, a little bit more, um, oomph to it, I think I'm gonna have to consider maybe dumping the Hyatt part of that.
But I'll always have, you know, my built points and my Chase points that'll transfer to Hyatt, and that's always a good option for me. But, uh, man, Hilton really, really impressed me. All those, all four of those hotels made us feel incredibly special, and I couldn't believe the rates we got on them. So that's kinda where I landed on it.
Recency bias, of course, washing over me. I'm post-Europe right now is my full personality, and, uh, I'm gonna be insufferable about it until people stop listening.
Welcome to the team.
Okay, you wanna help a listener?
Let's do it.
Okay, first, um, a, a shout-out to... I was at my, a family friend's birthday party on Saturday, happy birthday to Colleen, and ran into podcast listener Maureen.
Maureen, uh, wanted to shout you out. You were super lovely. She said she's coming to the live show on June 12th. She was also pushing other people at the party to book tickets and come join her. Come join Maureen and the more than, uh, 200 now other people who have already bought tickets to the show at The Parkway on June 12th here in Minneapolis.
You can get tickets now at thriftytraveler.com/live. Uh, we have a listener question from Kyle D., no relation to you, Kyle
Those are different letters last I checked
Uh, in September of 2027, Kyle says, "I'll be attending the Italian Grand Prix. The closest major city to the track is Milan, and since I live in the Boston area, I'm planning on taking a positioning flight to JFK so I can try the Emirates Fifth Freedom Route to MXP.
I wanna use my points to fly in first class so I can finally take a shower on the plane. However, as we all know, you can no longer book Emirates first class with points unless you have status with them, which I do not have. Thus, I was thinking of signing up for the Emirates Skywards Rewards World Elite credit card in order to earn status just so I can book a first class ticket, assuming there is even award space on the date I would need.
Is it crazy to sign up for a card with a $99 annual fee that I will never use just so I can try this product? Should I book business class and then try to upgrade? Thanks, Kyle D." Uh, Kyle P, any advice?
Well, Kyle D, which is different than Kyle P, I think this is worth considering. Um, yeah, so as of, what, last year, Emerix- Emirates began restricting first class awards where you can only book them if you have either status with the airline or have one of their co-branded credit cards, which you can get here in the US even though they're a Dubai-based airline.
I, I don't wanna paint this like it's a s- gonna be a slam dunk. It's probably not going to be, even though this will allow you to, at least in theory, book these first class awards using your Emirates miles that you can transfer from a handful of different banks That doesn't mean the availability is going to be wide open.
I don't think we're there yet. I think you're going to have to be really selective and flexible with your travel dates, and when this is based around a Grand Prix, that might be pretty tough. So I think you should temper your expectations, but I think this is worth taking a flyer on. At the worst case, earn some bonus miles from this card, get that status, scope this out.
If it's clearly not moving the needle for you, you took a flyer on it for one year for one year's reasonable annual fee, and you try something else. The biggest thing I wanna stress is that I would personally, if you're trying to do this for the first and perhaps only time, I would not fly from JFK to Milan in first class.
I would fly from Milan back to JFK for two important reasons. One, that flight is slightly longer, like an hour longer, and when you're spending, you know, a hundred thousand plus points and probably $400, $500 in taxes and fees, if not more, you wanna enjoy that experience as much as humanly possible, so every minute counts.
And two, and maybe more importantly, that flight from Milan back to the States flies during the day, so you are not feeling the pressure or the need to just go to sleep as fast as you can and spend four-plus hours of this precious time sleeping. You get to stay up, you get to take a nap if you want to, but you have time to take a shower.
It's not as rushed. Again, it's a longer flight, so it's just a much more enjoyable experience if this is gonna be a one-and-done thing.
Yeah, that's really good advice. I, I think considering you're looking at September 2027 already, uh, I think this might be worth it. Like Kyle said, um, get, picking up a $99 credit card to make this kinda travel dream come true makes a ton of sense for me.
And like Kyle said, the, the availability is not gonna be a slam dunk. I would definitely look for maybe, like, a full week after the Italian Grand Prix to try and get that flight back. Um, you know, let all the, the bigwigs and head honchos fly out. Uh, the ones who, who couldn't afford their private jets are probably looking something like Emirates first class.
So give 'em a few days, let all those folks get outta town, and then book something later, and, uh, you know, the You're left, uh, sitting around in Italy for a week. Who could possibly find something to do in Italy for a week?
Not you, clearly. Not me. Uh, I- the one last thing is, so September 2027, Emirates booking calendar goes out somewhere in the neighborhood of, I think 340, 350 days, so not a full year.
I would get ready to have that credit card already if you're gonna try this by, uh, you know, really no later than September of this year. So get your plan together, be ready to do the research. Be fle- as flexible as you can on your travel dates so that that full 340 days out, if there's something there, you are ready to book.
Okay. I think that's good advice for Kyle. D, I have nothing left to add. If you want us to answer your questions on the podcast or if you have any feedback for us, hit us up at podcast@thriftytraveler.com. We might feature your question on next week's show. All right, it's time for On the Spot. I'm giving Kyle an On the Spot, and this one is strange.
All right? Are you ready?
I don't know if I am after that.
We spoke earlier in the show about the Taco Bell Cantina in Denver International Airport. Kyle, I don't know if you also saw this week, but Portillo's, the legendary Chicago dog brand, is opening its first, uh, airport location in Dallas. A very strange pair.
Um, my question to you is, what other hyper regional cuisine, MSP or otherwise, would you like to see in an airport? But it can't be our airport. It has to be one of these weird mismatches, like Portillo's in Dallas or T Bell in Denver. Which I guess isn't necessarily a mismatch. T Bell is, is for everybody.
Uh, the first thing that comes to mind is I would love to see New Yorkers' horror of the only pizza at JFK or LaGuardia being Chicago deep dish- ... would be amazing.
Yeah. Get a Giordano's or a Lou Malnati's in, in LaGuardia.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Just the horror of people.
That'd be a good one. That was a quick answer.
I thought you were gonna maybe struggle with that, but y- you hit it right off the head. What about an MSP dish?
The idea of eating tater tot hot dish in, like, Louisiana before a flight is pretty funny.
Yeah, that's good. I like that one. Yeah, like a, yeah, tater tot hot dish in, like, San Francisco or someplace.
Yes. That'd be good. Lot, lot of juice bars and salad bars there- Yeah ... and it's like, "No, this is just a hot dish place."
Tater tot hot dish Miami Airport. Book it.
That was perfect. Nothing left to add. Thank you so much for listening to the Thrifty Traveler podcast. Rate us five stars in your podcast platform of choice.
Like and subscribe to the show on YouTube. Send this episode to someone you know who needs an Italian vacation. If you have feedback for us, send me a note at podcast@thriftytraveler.com. We'd love to hear from you there. Kyle, tell us about the team.
This episode was produced by your favorite host, who officially has a two-week leash by which he needs to get rid of Italy.
I just went to Italy. Italy is my entire personality now. His name is Gunnar Olsen. This episode was produced and edited by Sylvia Thomas and edited by Kyle Thomas. Our theme music is by Benjamin Tissot. See you next week.
See ya.