Tag: Credit Cards

For Newbies: What Do Credit Cards Have To Do With Hotels Besides Paying For Them?

HELLO POINTS & MILES AND TRAVEL NEWBIES! First off and most important – I am one of you and you are my people! Joe is the guru about ALL THE THINGS POINTS AND MILES and I’m like, “Yeah, OK. Whatever.” Don’t get me wrong – I certainly LIKE getting the occasional free flights and plane/hotel upgrades because of his hobby but really, except for the little bit of info that’s gotten into my brain that gives me the ability to tell off people touting credit cards at airports, I really don’t have a clue.

So in order to have a better idea of what he’s talking about, I did a little studying. Not much, because I’m still like, “Whatever.” But just enough to have a clue. And now, because I’m a giver, I share this info with you.

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Are Merchants Allowed To Require ID On Credit Card Purchases?

When you use a credit card to pay for something, the cashier may sometimes ask you for ID to verify that you’re the cardholder. I’ve found this to be especially true in tourist-heavy places. Of course, the vendor does this to match the name on the credit card to the information on your ID, to prevent credit card fraud.

But are they allowed to do that? Well, it’s complicated…

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How To NOT Earn 30,000 Frequent Flyer Miles

Although Your Mileage May Vary initially started because of Joe’s talents with points and miles and other ways to save money while traveling, I’ll be the first to admit that I really don’t care a whole lot about the whole points and miles thing. Don’t get me wrong, I like the benefits of his hobby (after all, it gets us upgrades and free stuff!), but I’m very happy to stick to writing the “fun” articles about stuff like Disney parks and the weird toilets at Chicago-O’Hare Int’l airport (which apparently aren’t there anymore???). Which doesn’t mean I haven’t learned a thing or two about points and miles along the way. Hence this situation, which happened not all that long ago….

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Where Can You Stay At Walt Disney World With Marriott Free Nights?

Staying at Walt Disney World isn’t cheap and one way to lower your costs is to use the Marriott Free Nights Certificate that comes with the Marriott Bonvoy co-brand credit cards issued by Chase and American Express. The cool thing is this free night benefit is often is worth more than the cost of keeping the credit card, doesn’t require you to spend a certain amount of money on the card, and doesn’t require you to have any points in your account. It’s simply a totally free night, including tax.

It makes sense to try to get the most value out of the free night. If you can stretch your vacation one more day, that could be very valuable to you and your family.

Here are the Marriott hotels in the WDW area where you can use your free night:

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