Where to start? Travel plans

[tommorgan754]

Good evening

I am new to this world of air miles, credit cards, Hotel programs, etc but I am absolutely obsessed by it and it’s a daily occurrence trawling through these sites. There is a lot to learn, but I’m slowly getting there. Never really travelled on anything premium but looking to branch into that world.

This week I received my AMEX platinum (60k bonus once 6k spent, should do that in no real time), I currently have the premium BA AMEX and have had that for about seven months, with my companion voucher, currently banked and circa 45K Avios with a few pending travels to add to this. I have the relevant platinum hotel benefits. I am almost Marriott Platinum due to work travel.

how best can I utilise these cards moving forward, should I cancel the BA card now that I have platinum and companion, voucher banked, or should I keep both cards side-by-side in the event that and I have the ability to get another companion voucher next year due to spend?

I am going on my honeymoon this year, BA flights to Cape Town from LHR, Emirates first class to Dubai and then back to LHR. I have a hotel booked already via booking.com, but should I look to use the Marriot or Hilton platinum benefits and rebook a different hotel?

I will obviously gain some points from the above honeymoon. I am then hoping to book another big trip in 2024 or 2025. At this point, I should have 70k Avios, 60k AMEX points at absolute minimum and not taking into account this year’s travel along with a companion voucher. Should I transfer the 60 to Avios considering I already have a fair bit and a companion voucher, or look to use elsewhere, don’t really read rave reviews about BA.. should I look to focus on one airline and hotel chain or spread across the field?

I understand that this is a complete brain dump, I am just very new to this. There are lots of different ways of booking travel and spending points on different cards. I am just trying to be as smart as I can. This made sense in my head when typing, but really appreciate any guidance or thoughts that people have if they were in my position. T

[aq.1988]

Just a quick point, don’t transfer the 60k points to BA unless you are about to book a redemption, as its irreversible. You may end up using them with BA, but you may not, so its better to keep them with Amex until you need them.

[tommorgan754]

aq.1988 wrote:

Just a quick point, don’t transfer the 60k points to BA unless you are about to book a redemption, as its irreversible. You may end up using them with BA, but you may not, so its better to keep them with Amex until you need them.

Great point! I’d have probably rushed in and transferred straight away so appreciate that.

[Reney]

There is so much here, I don’t even know how to start helping, one bit at a time. Most of the advice is – you need to decide what you like!

Hotels for your honeymoon – if you are already happy with your hotels. I would take a look to see if there are Hilton and Marriotts hotels in the area that looks better than what you have booked.
– If there is a better Mariott hotel, and you have the points to cover it AND if the point value is worth it you might switch to it. If you are paying cash for it, then worth considering if the guarantee status benefits are worth it before switching esp if the hotel is more expensive. You mentioned you are close to hitting platinum, will you get there before your honeymoon.
– I assume you don’t have enough Hilton points for a redemption, the Amex Plat gives you Gold status. If you are switching to a Hilton on cash, you need to figure out which of the Guarantee benefits are actually worth it to switch.

how best can I utilise these cards moving forward
– how long is a piece of string? It depends on your spend level per year, how willing you are to pay fees and you are getting married, will your partner becomes player 2
– I personally prefer to rotate through the sign up bonus so I close and move on. We only keep one platinum card in the family as we use the benefits, otherwise we earn and move on. It means we don’t earn a BAPP 241 every year. BUT with Barclays upgrade voucher there is usually a voucher around in the family for redemption.
– I would consider the Barclays sign up bonus, and think about whether you want to keep one card or rotate through them – I wrote out a rotation strategy on one of the threads last night – https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/should-i-let-my-companion-voucher-go-to-waste/

I am then hoping to book another big trip in 2024 or 2025 & what should you do with your Amex points
– if you want to close the Amex Plat you will have to move the points
– it would be helpful to decide where you actually want to go, or have a few location in mind, because you need to know which airline flies there. Say if Virgin flies there then you are better off earning towards that.
– if you don’t want to fly BA then there is no point in earning any vouchers (unless you want to fly the two smaller airline that you can use the vouchers on). You can use the avios on partner airlines, but do you want to fly with them/ go to those places?

should I look to focus on one airline and hotel chain or spread across the field?
– depends on how much you spend a year? And where do you want to go, what type of hotels do you want to stay at
– for example if you are looking at £15k spending a year, if you spread yourself around you are never going to earn enough to redeem anywhere.
– If you don’t do hotels much – some people prefer airbnb types – no point in earning in hotels
– I really like redeeming hotel points as there are a lot less issues with availabilities (generally speaking) BUT I find hotel points harder to earn there are no IHG or Hilton cards anymore, and the conversation rate is not always brilliant. Some Hiltons can take 80k points for one night, and if I want to stay several nights on a low annual spend I feel like it would take years to earn enough for a stay – my maths could be wrong! I focus on flying because my parents and elderly and it is more comfortable for them to lie flat which on a cash basis is out of my budget. But most places have hotels in my budget.

[The Savage Squirrel]

Reney has given a superb answer.

When new to points and very excited it’s easy to overfocus on getting maximum value for points. Thinking that redemption A is better than redemption B because they’re the same points cost but A was £800 more than B for cash fare.

Don’t get sucked too far down that rabbit hole. You’ll even see here occasionally people choosing or changing plans based ONLY on what cash equivalent their points redemption would have been. That’s madness. The starting point should always be where do I really want to go, annd then look at how points can help you get there. That’s purely a personal (or team – congratulations on your future wedding) decision of course. For example you’ll never find me in the Maldives no matter what £/point value a redemption there offers, yet it will be a brilliant redemption for someone else.

[tommorgan754]

Thanks all for your comments, some food for thought.

Really appreciate you not being too hard on me, have been shot down in other forums for posts like this! haha