Mini review: Párisi Udvar Hotel Budapest

1️⃣ Opportunity with freshly baked business cards

We really didn't expect this, 3 new mega offers have arrived! 🥳

And we must say that 2 of them are simply too good to pass up. 

We are talking about 3 business cards that have the highest bonuses they have offered in their history: 2 of them have no annual fee and the bonus is $1,000 in cashback (or 100,000 points). 

The eligibility rules for the welcome bonuses of these cards changed a few months ago, so we created a guide with all the details so you can define which of these three options suits you best and what the new criteria to consider are. You can access it here. 

💳 The point of this news: You don't need a structured business or an established company to qualify for a business card. Check the guide for more details and if you have any questions, reply to this email! 100,000 points with no annual fee is simply too good to pass up, take it from us since we have both. Link to the offers here.

2️⃣ Last chance for 150,000 points (seriously) 🚨

⚠️ This is your last chance: the elevated 150,000-point bonus on one of the best travel cards ends tomorrow, June 15 at 8:00 AM, EST. 

As a reminder, in addition to the 150,000-point bonus after spending $6,000 in 3 months, this card offers:

• Annual travel credit: $300 automatic without having to use the bank's portal. 

• Additional benefits: More than $1,500 in annual credits, including $500 for hotels through the bank's portal, $300 at select restaurants, $300 in entertainment through StubHub, $120 on Lyft, $120 on Peloton, and more. 

• Annual fee: $795

💡 The annual fee is high, but honestly it's easy to justify. We have the business one and we can say we like the personal one even more.

Either way, remember that if after 1-2 years it no longer suits you, you are under no obligation to keep the card. You can always downgrade or cancel (and it doesn't have to affect your credit). 

💳 The point of this news: 150,000 points are equivalent to at least $1,500 in cash, but as we usually say, it can be much more if used strategically for travel. Link to the offer here.

3️⃣ Chase Sapphire Preferred gets a refresh (important update)

Good and (potential) bad news for cardholders of the Sapphire Preferred: there are updates to the card's benefits that you should know. 

First and perhaps most importantly, there are no changes to the annual fee, it remains at $95. ✅

In itself, the vast majority of the updates are good. There is only one thing that carries a lot, lot of weight for us and takes away a bit of visibility from the positive changes. Starting tomorrow: 

✅ Earn 3x points per dollar at gas stations, EV charging stations, and vacation rentals like Airbnb, VRBO, etc. (The rest of the categories that already earned 3x remain the same, these are new additional categories).

✅ Hotel credit increases to $100 per year instead of $50.

✅ Complimentary subscription to Apple TV for one year.

✅ $120 credit every 4 years for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or Nexus. 

All this is excellent, so now let's move on to the not-so-good: 

❌ 10% annual bonus is eliminated. We already knew this because we mentioned it in a previous edition of the newsletter. It wasn't a huge benefit, so the impact is minimal.

❌ Transfers to Hyatt shift to a 4:3 rate (instead of 1:1). This means we are going to get 25% fewer Hyatt points when transferring them from this card. 

This last point is the one that, in our opinion, overshadows all the positives 🥺. If before you transferred 40,000 Chase points to Hyatt, you got 40,000 points. From now on, you would get 30,000!

But if in your case you don't use your points to transfer them to Hyatt, this has no negative impact and in fact, the changes are highly positive. 

Since this refresh officially starts tomorrow, we wonder if they are also going to launch an elevated welcome bonus 🤔. We hope that's the case, but if it isn't and these changes suit you, this is a super solid option to consider. 

💳 The point of this news: This is the first time we've seen an update to transfer rates based on cards with this bank. We hope this is only for this program and doesn't become the new normal, as it makes everything much more complex for users. Now, only the Sapphire Reserve (personal and business) and Bilt are the path to continue transferring to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio. 

4️⃣ Mini review: Párisi Udvar Hotel Budapest 

As we told you at the beginning, we are in Budapest (for the Metallica concert) and we are staying at the Párisi Udvar Hotel Budapest - Unbound Collection by Hyatt. 

The hotel is a hit, in our opinion. It has an unbeatable location, the atmosphere feels very upscale, the rooms are spacious, modern, and comfortable, the service is impeccable, and the breakfast is spectacular. 

A night here in high season (like now) can exceed $500 USD. Not good. 

We booked prior to the devaluation a couple of months ago and were able to lock in a price of 22,000 points a night, which we think is a steal. 

We stayed a total of 3 nights, and we believe it is enough time to enjoy both the hotel and the city.

Even now being more expensive, we would completely consider it when we return to Budapest. 

Excellent experience, highly recommended. 😌

The breakfast coffee is on another level. 

We don't understand how they make it so good. If you come, order a flat white!

5️⃣ We are pregnant!

Ok, this has nothing to do with credit cards or points and miles, buuuut we want to announce it here. 🤭

We have already shared the news both on Instagram, YouTube and in yesterday's newsletter, but if by any chance you haven't heard... we are going to be parents! 🫶🏼

We have been keeping the secret for several months but we were dying to share it. Honestly we felt like we were hiding something too important from you and that it was almost obvious by now. 😅

Yesterday we posted a video on YouTube telling the story of how we found out (it was a 100% surprise), and we share it here in case you want to get the scoop. 😜

Now there will be 3 of us traveling on points and miles, which is surely going to bring a lot of adjustments to our strategy. 

We can't wait to meet him/her and have them enjoy this hobby with us! 🤩