To mark the 10-year anniversary of Detroit’s historic July 18, 2013, municipal bankruptcy filing, the Free Press is examining what has changed, what hasn’t, and why. Find more coverage atfreep.com.
Alease “Cookie” Moore loves her Cornerstone Village neighborhood.
It’s the simple things. Walking the streets, saying hi to neighbors sitting on their porches, planting crops at the community garden — beets, corn, sweet potatoes, herbs. She loves supporting the East Warren Farmers Market and local businesses like the Detroit Pepper Company, a Warren Avenue carryout spot that opened in 2019. She attends neighborhood meetings and advocates for her community as secretary of the Cornerstone Village Community Organization.
the city promised to crack down on blight by suing landlords.
10-year, $1.7 billion reinvestment plan.
Did it work? Are we better off?
retirees. Under state law, the city’s budget reserve is required to hold at least 5% of its projected recurring expenditures each fiscal year to cover a potential financial disaster or reduction in revenues. Detroit’s reserve was 11% of its expenditures in its latest adopted budget.
“Right after the bankruptcy, revenues certainly stabilized, and we’re starting to show some modest growth,” said Detroit Budget Director Steve Watson. “It was in the years just prior to the pandemic, income taxes really started to take off and show much more robust growth … where the bankruptcy assumed somewhere around a 2% growth rate per year in revenues, we’ve instead vastly exceeded that.”
At the end of the 2022 fiscal year, city income tax revenue was about $400 million — up from less than $250 million in 2014. The bankruptcy plan of adjustment — the court-approved document that charted a path forward as the city exited bankruptcy in 2014 — assumed that income tax revenue would be about $300 million in 10 years, Watson said. Increased revenues generated a surplus, which is now funding various initiatives, while allowing money to be set aside for rainy day and retiree protection funds. Watson said the developments have put the city in a stronger financial position in the long term.
Citizens Research Council. At the end of the 2022 fiscal year, Detroit reported more than $544 million in cash on hand, or more than 200 days’ worth of expenditures.
criminal record expungement that could boost employment opportunity in the city.
“Programs that are expunging (criminal) records on job applications, combined with skills training and increased apprenticeships, will go a long way to reduce crime by giving men in their late teens and early 20s hope and meaning,” Metzger said.
Home values
It wasn’t exaggeration or urban myth.
Buyers were picking up houses for the price of a cheap couch in areas of Detroit following the Great Recession.
Those bargain basement prices helped deflate the median owner-occupied home value to just under $43,000 in 2013. That’s according to U.S. census estimates in 2021 dollars from the annual American Community Survey.
But the rebound has been considerable, experts say, with help from an overall real estate market recovery paired with Detroit’s post-bankruptcy reinvestment in basic city services stirring more demand.
The most recent estimate shows that median owner-occupied home values rose to $69,300 in 2021, a nearly 62% increase since 2013. (The data is based on survey respondents’ estimates of how much the home is worth.)
according to the mayor’s office.
New mortgage loans in Detroit still remain low compared with other cities, according to research by Detroit Future City, with only 3,211 home purchase loans made in 2022. And Black applicants were denied home loans in the city at twice the rate as white applicants, the group found in 2020.
Williams Clark said it’s important to make sure the city continues to have a “diversity of price points,” where a wide range of people can buy into the American Dream of homeownership.
“So that people who are existing residents and other residents can benefit from that wealth creation, but there is also still opportunity for people to have access to those homeownership dreams and goals,” she said.
Poverty
Detroit has seen major gains in its households moving out of poverty.
So much that it has surpassed the improvement in most large industrial cities in the Midwest and Northeast since 2012, researchers say. One expert went as far as to call the progress “remarkable.”
“This is real success,” said Luke Shaefer, director of Poverty Solutions, an initiative at the University of Michigan that partners researchers, policymakers and community members toward alleviating poverty. “That’s transformational.”
In 2013, 40.7% of Detroiters were considered living below the poverty line, according to the U.S. Census estimates from the annual American Community Survey. But that number dropped to 30% as of 2021.
announced the city’s unemployment rate had dropped to its lowest level since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking monthly jobless levels in the city in 1990.
Detroit’s unemployment rate in April was 4.2%, according to BLS figures. That rate has risen slightly since then, to 6.4% in May, but is still much lower compared with an average rate of 18.8% in 2013.
Study finds Detroit’s unemployment rate was 16% in March when including a group called “labor force rebounders:” residents who are retired, disabled, students, have family or personal obligations or otherwise choose not to work, but report actively searching for a job in the past month. This group of residents in other surveys may not be considered unemployed because they chose not to work and weren’t laid off recently.
DMACS’ surveys show that the jobless rate has improved from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic — when unemployment spiked to 43% — and from September 2021, when DMACS said the jobless rate in the city was 25%. The jobless rate is still higher, though, than its estimated pre-pandemic unemployment rate of 8%.
Lydia Wileden, author of the University of Michigan DMACS report, said the differences between BLS and DMACS data “suggests something about the employment situation is potentially being missed.”
High school graduation rates
While Michigan’s four-year graduation rate has hovered around 80%, Detroit’s has continually lagged behind.
Just before Detroit filed for bankruptcy in 2013, 64.6% of Detroit Public Schools seniors graduated, according to state data, compared with 77% of Michigan seniors. The school district’s four-year graduation rates for students has since ticked up to a high of 78.3% in the 2015-16 school year, and dropped again to 64.5% in 2020-21, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, as students struggled to show up to school in-person.
signed a $617 million state bailout of the district. The deal restructured the district into two entities: One retired district to exist for debt retirement, and a new community school district with a locally elected board and revenue to operate.
District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, who took the helm in 2017, has touted academic progress since then, including improved attendance. However, the pandemic set students back considerably, and Detroit continues to rank last among major city school districts in reading and math scores.
‘What about the neighborhoods?’
It’s difficult for many Detroiters to rejoice in the progress that has been made, with much left to be desired.
Karen Knox, an east-sider and executive director of the Eden Gardens Community Association, has noticed that police have been quicker to respond in emergencies, and there are far more working streetlights since the bankruptcy.
But she said she isn’t seeing enough businesses opening, or houses being built in lots where blighted properties were demolished. Illegal dumping, flooding and blight persist. She has seen long wait times for buses, and crime remains a top concern.
“Where did the money go?” asked Knox, 62. “Downtown is booming, but what about the neighborhoods? … No one is talking to neighborhoods and asking them what they want — look how we’re living.”
It’s a familiar sentiment. Detroiters were making the same complaints 10 years ago. But the tone is different. There doesn’t appear to be the same level of anger and desperation. And with poverty and unemployment way down, home values up and a city budget with some breathing room, the outlook appears far less bleak.
Gia Gray seems like a dream client for any bank: a well-off family doctor living in an exclusive Bay Area town, in a 5,000-square-foot mansion with a master bath bigger than my office.
With a credit score topping 800, she expected little drama when she and her husband decided to refinance their Danville home and two other investment properties in 2020 to capture some of the lowest interest rates in recent history — remember when 3% loans were a thing?
But after endless excuses and delays in her applications, “I started feeling Black,” Gray told me. Her bank, Wells Fargo, flat out turned her down on the investment properties, she said, and slow-rolled the application on her residence, coming up with new requirements as the process dragged on.
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“At the visceral level, I felt that something was not right,” she said.
Across the country, other borrowers have had similar experiences. Earlier this year, a federal court in Northern California, where Wells Fargo is headquartered, consolidated the claims of Gray and seven other Black plaintiffs into one case that may be certified as a class-action suit in coming months.
The lead attorney in the case, Los Angeles-based Dennis S. Ellis, says up to 750,000 minority customers nationwide — Black, Asian and Latino — could have been affected by what he sees as a pattern of discriminatory lending that left qualified borrowers denied or pushed into higher interest rates and more expensive loans.
It’s a form of modern-day economic redlining, he told me, that if proven true inflicted pain that resonated beyond the borrowers, many of whom lost out on a chance to save hundreds or thousands off their loans each month. It also hurt Black and minority communities as a whole, because it took away an exceptional chance to build generational wealth through affordable homeownership.
“Realizing the American dream of owning your own home is not just about having a safe place to live,” Ellis pointed out. “It’s about securing the future of generations that follow because of the incredible financial stability that homeownership provides.”
Ellis contends that the problem developed in part because Wells Fargo was short-staffed during the pandemic and relied on flawed algorithms and an automated system that may have had discrimination baked into it.
But it wouldn’t be the first time Wells Fargo was found to have discriminated. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice won a $175-million settlement against the bank, the second-largest fair-lending settlement in the department’s history, over allegations that Wells Fargo engaged in a pattern or practice of “discrimination against qualified African-American and Hispanic borrowers in its mortgage lending from 2004 through 2009.”
The cities of Oakland and Philadelphia have also sued Wells Fargo for discriminatory lending practices; Philly settled its case for $10 million in 2019.
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Wells Fargo has been accused of holding fake job interviews with minority candidates for posts that had already been promised to other applicants, low-balling home appraisals and ignoring issues of discrimination that, as they come to light, may be harming the bank’s bottom line.
Wells Fargo has denied all of the allegations, including those made in this lawsuit. In a statement, the company said it was confident it was following all required guidelines and that its underwriting practices are consistently applied regardless of a customer’s race or ethnicity.
“These allegations against Wells Fargo stand in stark contrast to the company’s significant and long-term commitment to closing the minority home ownership gap,” the statement read.
It’s not just owning a home, though. It’s owning it on good terms.
Google tells me that a $500,000 30-year loan at 3% interest costs about $900 less a month than a loan at 6% interest — about $324,000 over its lifetime. For the folks who weren’t able to refinance, that’s money lining corporate pockets instead of paying for college or retirement or funding other investments.
The lawsuit alleges that in 2020, “at a time when millions of white Americans were able to take advantage of historically low-interest rates for home loans,” Wells Fargo approved 47% of refinancing applications from Black homeowners, 53% from Hispanic and/or Latino homeowners, and 67% from Asian American applicants. That compares with 71%, 79% and 85%, respectively, for these same groups across all other lenders, according to the lawsuit.
That same year, Wells Fargo approved 71% of residential refinancing applications from white borrowers.
Ouch, Wells Fargo. Those are some dismal numbers.
The lawsuit also alleges that federal data show Wells Fargo was more likely to approve refinancing applications from low-earning white borrowers than high-earning Black borrowers. Analyzing data from 8 million refinancing applications filed in 2020, Ellis and his team found white applicants earning less than $63,000 a year were “more likely to have their refinancing application approved by Wells Fargo than Black refinancing applicants earning between $120,000 and $168,000 a year,” according to the lawsuit.
The insidiousness of financial discrimination lies in how hard it is to prove on an individual basis — and in how hard it is to even believe it’s happening. The loan process can be so remote and impersonal — even more so during the isolation of the pandemic — that Gray and her co-plaintiffs were at first unsure if what they felt was really taking place.
Last week, Gray met two of those other borrowers in person at a news conference in San Francisco. I spoke with the three of them in a coffee shop afterward, but mostly I just listened, because there was a tremendous sense of relief and camaraderie as they shared how similar their experiences had been.
Until the lawsuit, Aaron Braxton, a Los Angeles homeowner, had been left wondering, “Are they doing this to everybody, or are they only doing this to Black folks?” he said.
Braxton was one of the first to file a complaint in 2020. A noted screenwriter, playwright and teacher, Braxton had owned his home in a historically Black neighborhood near USC for about 18 years and owed a fraction of what it was worth when he went to refinance his Wells Fargo mortgage. Like Gray, it was one thing after another, despite never missing a payment and having good credit. By the time Wells Fargo approved his loan, the interest rate had climbed and so had his frustration.
“I told them, ‘I am going to sue you. I don’t know how I’m going to sue you, but I am going to sue you, because I know I am not the only one,’” he said.
Gray was scrolling through her phone during the pandemic lockdown and came across a story about Braxton. “It was like a bright bulb,” she recalled, “and I said, ‘Oh, my God, this happened to someone else.’”
Christopher Williams flew in from Georgia, where he owns a home and rental properties. He worked in the financial industry for decades, so when Wells Fargo offered him a loan at 3 points higher than he expected, he asked why. Williams said the bank couldn’t give him clear answers, and he too began to suspect it was about the color of his skin.
Now, Williams said he wonders how many people there are who accepted loans at higher rates or with higher costs without knowing it. “How many of those loans and lines of credit are on the books of Wells Fargo right now?” he asked.
Ellis will be in federal court in San Francisco for the lawsuit on Thursday, the anniversary of the death of George Floyd. He says like the movement Floyd’s death set off to address issues of social justice, he hopes this case can raise awareness of financial injustice and its toll — which he considers the “21st century battleground of civil rights.”
“Just as we’ve cried out against policing practices that kill Black lives, so we denounce Wells Fargo’s racially motivated banking practices that kill Black opportunity,” said civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is also involved in the case.
Interest rates are not as compelling as the tragedy we witnessed with Floyd, but Crump and Ellis make an important point.
This is a capitalist joint.
Until we all have the same opportunities to create wealth, we’re left with the oppressed and the oppressors, who too often get away with strangling equity under the cover of paperwork and algorithms.
Chase is offering to give customers 1% of their scheduled monthly principal and interest mortgage payments back if they meet certain requirements via its new “1% Mortgage Cash Back” program.
How to Qualify for 1% Cash Back
Your home loan must be from Chase
It can be a home purchase loan or a refinance
And you must have your mortgage payment automatically deducted
From an eligible Chase checking account
The bank will pay customers 1% of their total annual mortgage payments on each anniversary of the loan’s origination date so long as payments are made automatically and in full from a qualifying Chase checking account.
The annual reward payment can be applied to your home loan to pay down mortgage principal or customers may elect to receive a simple cash payment deposited into their checking account instead.
“We talked to many customers and prospects, and they really liked the idea of having their bank help them pay down their mortgage,” said David Lowman, Chief Executive Officer of Chase Home Lending, in a press release.
“They also liked the option of getting the reward in cash.”
The Savings Can Be Substantial Over the Long Term
If you get the annual reward and apply it to your home loan each year
You could save thousands of dollars over the full loan term
And pay off your mortgage slightly ahead of schedule
But be sure to consider other lenders that may offer lower mortgage rates and save you even more!
On a 30-year fixed mortgage with a $210,000 loan amount and a 6% interest rate, a homeowner would save nearly $12,000 (in cash back and interest payment reduction) and pay their mortgage off nine months early.
While that sounds like a pretty good deal, other banks typically offer customers an interest rate discount upon loan origination if the borrower is an existing customer using automatic billpay.
For instance, another leading bank may reduce the actual mortgage rate you receive by a full .25%, so the actual savings would likely be much greater than the 1% cash back offered by Chase. Not to mention the lower monthly payment.
It’s unclear if existing Chase mortgage holders and checking account customers can take advantage of this offer, but it never hurts to ask.
Update: This program launched back in summer 2009 and is no longer being offered as far as I know. Instead, Chase is now offering Ultimate Rewards points if you’re a credit card customer who takes out a mortgage with them.
Open a BMO Harris Premier™ Account online and get a $500 cash bonus when you have a total of at least $7,500 in qualifying direct deposits within the first 90 days of account opening. Expires 9/15. Conditions Apply.
The information related to the Chase World of Hyatt Business Credit Card has been collected by Money Crashers and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card.
The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card offers hotel rewards and benefits to small-business owners who prefer to stay at Hyatt hotels and resorts. You can earn bonus rewards on many common business purchases, and receive benefits when staying at the growing list of properties that participate in the World of Hyatt program.
However, this card has a larger than average annual fee, so it’s ideally suited for those who frequently stay at Hyatt properties, rather than those who are just willing to collect rewards for occasional stays.
What Is the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card?
The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card is a solid credit card for small-business owners who book Hyatt stays frequently and want to capitalize on that spend.
New applicants can take advantage of an attractive sign-up bonus offer: Earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Note that this offer is only available if you have not received a new cardmember bonus for this card within the last 24 months.
This card earns 9 points per $1 spent for Hyatt stays and experiences, including restaurants and spas. That’s the headline.
It also earns:
2 bonus points per $1 spent on fitness club and gym memberships
2 bonus points per $1 spent in your top three eligible spend categories each quarter through December 31, 2023, then 2 bonus points per $1 spent in your top two eligible spend categories each quarter
1 bonus point per $1 spent on all other purchases
Eligible bonus spending categories include:
Dining
Airline tickets purchased directly with the airline
Car rental agencies
Local transit and commuting
Gas stations
Internet, cable, and phone services
Social media and search engine advertising
Shipping
The World of Hyatt Business Card can be extremely helpful if you’re looking to earn elite status within the Hyatt ecosystem. You get automatic World of Hyatt Discoverist status for you and up to five employees just for owning the card. Plus, you earn five annual Qualifying Night credits for every $10,000 spent in a calendar year to use toward reaching top-tier elite status and Milestone Rewards faster.
This card is also especially beneficial to businesses with large spending requirements. When you spend $50,000 in a calendar year on your card, you get 10% of your redeemed points back for the rest of the year on up to 200,000 points redeemed.
This card also features an annual Hyatt statement credit worth up to $100. After spending $50 or more at any Hyatt property, you can get a $50 statement credit, up to two times each anniversary year (for a total of $100).
Other benefits include an auto rental collision damage waiver policy and trip cancellation and interruption coverage. Your business purchases are also covered by a purchase protection policy of up to $10,000 per claim and extended warranty coverage that adds a year to your manufacturer’s warranty.
There’s a $199 annual fee for this card but no foreign transaction fees.
What Sets the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card Apart?
This card has several features that distinguish it from other hotel credit cards for small businesses.
Up to $100 in Hyatt statement credits each year. After you spend $50 or more at any eligible Hyatt property, you can get a $50 statement credit. You can get this benefit up to two times each anniversary year, for a total of $100.
10% points back. If you spend $50,000 in a calendar year on your card, you get 10% of your redeemed points back for the rest of the year on up to 200,000 points redeemed. This is a good perk — potentially worth thousands in free travel — for high-spending business owners.
Earn up to 9x points on eligible purchases. This card earns 9 points per dollar spent for Hyatt stays and experiences, including restaurants and spas. Not many other cards earn at this rate. The card also earns 2 bonus points per $1 spent on fitness club and gym memberships, a category not typically covered by business travel cards.
Receive Discoverist status. You get automatic World of Hyatt Discoverist status for you and up to five employees just for owning the card. Plus, you earn five annual Qualifying Night credits for every $10,000 spent in a calendar year to use toward reaching top-tier elite status and Milestone Rewards faster. Discoverist status can get you benefits like preferred room upgrades and late checkouts.
Key Features of the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card
The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card has a strong sign-up bonus, a generous rewards program, and additional benefits for Hyatt loyalists.
Sign-Up Bonus
Earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Earning Rewards
This card earns 9x points on Hyatt stays and experiences, including restaurants and spas. This is broken down into 4 bonus points per dollar spent on the card plus 5 base points per dollar you can earn as a World of Hyatt member (points you’d earn with or without the card).
This card also earns 2x points on fitness club and gym memberships, 2x points in your top three eligible quarterly spending categories (top two from January 1, 2024), and 1x point on all other eligible purchases. Eligible bonus categories include:
Dining
Airline tickets purchased directly with the airline
Car rental agencies
Local transit and commuting
Gas stations
Internet, cable, and phone services
Social media and search engine advertising
Shipping
Redeeming Rewards
You can redeem World of Hyatt Points at eligible World of Hyatt hotels. Hyatt points are generally worth more than points from other hotel programs because you can redeem them for free nights starting at 5,000 points per night. Realistically, expect to pay 8,000 to 15,000 points per night for a mid-range property in a mid-sized city, which is an excellent return on spending.
Important Fees
This card charges a balance transfer fee of $5 or 5% of the amount of each transaction and a cash advance fee of $15 or 5% of the amount of each transaction. There is a $40 late payment fee and a $40 returned payment fee.
This card has an annual fee of $199 that’s not waived for the first year. There is no foreign transaction fee.
Credit Required
This card requires good or better credit to qualify. If your FICO score is much below 700, or your personal credit history is limited, then you’ll likely have trouble being approved. However, this is pretty standard for a premium business travel credit card.
Pros & Cons
The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card from Chase is a very rewarding card for small business owners, but it does have a few drawbacks.
Generous sign-up bonus
Accelerates progress toward elite status
Up to $100 in annual on-property credits
Discoverist status for up to five employees
High annual fee
No annual free night certificates
Pros
The strengths of this card are its rewards program and potentially valuable benefits.
Generous new account bonus. This card has an excellent sign-up bonus. Though the total point value isn’t as high as some competing cards, Hyatt points are worth much more, so this bonus could be worth five or more free nights.
Great way to earn elite status. This card offers five night-stay credits towards elite status for every $10,000 spent. This contrasts positively with the World of Hyatt consumer card, which offers two night-stay credits for every $5,000 spent (or four per $10,000 spent). In theory, you could earn Hyatt’s extremely valuable top-tier Globalist status from spending alone, but in practice this card offers an easy way to top off your night-stay credits if you won’t earn the status you want solely through actual hotel stays.
On-property credits. You can receive a $50 credit for spending on properties twice each cardmember year, effectively cutting the net cost of the card ($199) in half.
Discoverist status for you five employees. You’ll always have a better stay at a hotel when you have elite status, even if it’s the basic tier. This is the only hotel card that offers elite status not only to the cardholder, but also to authorized users. That means a better experience for your employees on the road.
Cons
The weaknesses of this card are its high annual fee, as well as the lack of some key features offered by the consumer card.
$199 annual fee. This is more than most cards in its class, but it’s potentially more than 50% offset by the two $50 hotel fee credits.
No annual free night certificates. The World of Hyatt consumer card offers a free Category 1-4 certificate each year, and another when you use your card to spend $15,000. Strangely, the business version doesn’t offer any free night stay certificates.
How the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card Stacks Up
This card’s closest competitor is probably the Marriott Bonvoy Business Credit Card from American Express. Here’s how the two cards compare.
World of Hyatt Business Credit Card
Marriott Bonvoy Business Credit Card
Annual Fee
$199
$125
Sign-Up Bonus
Very good
Good
Rewards Rate
Up to 9x points
Up to 6x
Foreign Transaction Fee
None
None
Credit Needed
Good or better
Good or better
The World of Hyatt Business card has a better return on spending than the Marriott Bonvoy Business Credit Card, and its sign-up bonus is more generous because Hyatt points are worth more than Marriott points (usually). However, it has a higher annual fee, so the Marriott card could be a better fit for users who can’t reliably offset that expense.
Final Word
Fans of the World of Hyatt program are always looking for ways to earn more points and reach the highest levels of elite status. If this sounds like you, and you’re a small business owner, then the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card needs a spot in your business spending arsenal. With lots of opportunities to earn bonus points plus valuable on-property benefits, it could be your key to great hotel stays and lots of free nights.
The Verdict
Our rating
Chase World of Hyatt Business Credit Card
The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card is a very strong card for small business owners who want to earn Hyatt points and receive valuable benefits at Hyatt. Its strengths are the 60,000 point new account bonus, bonus points for common business purchases, and the ability to earn night-stay credits towards elite status. If you are a small-business owner who frequently stays at Hyatt properties, you should definitely consider this card.
Editorial Note:
The editorial content on this page is not provided by any bank, credit card issuer, airline, or hotel chain, and has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the bank, credit card issuer, airline, or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
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Jason Steele is one of the nation’s leading experts in credit cards and travel rewards since 2008. Jason is also the founder and producer of CardCon, which is The Conference for Credit Card Media. Jason lives in Denver, Colorado where he enjoys bicycling, snowboarding and piloting small airplanes.
You’re about to buy a flight and you have a credit card with that airline’s name stamped on the front. That’s the best card to use for this purchase, right? Or would you be better served if you used some other credit card?
You have options for earning extra points and miles when you pay. Conversely, there are options for enjoying additional perks during your flight. And some credit cards can give a mix of both.
Let’s take a look at the best credit card to use for United flights so you can see your options.
Comparing credit cards for United Airlines flights
Aside from using a United Airlines credit card, you could also pay using an all-around travel rewards card that earns transferable points on travel purchases, including your next flight reservation with United Airlines. Here are some cards you might pay with and what you could get when using these cards:
Card name
Earning rate on United flights
Value of the rewards earned*
United-related benefits from the card
Annual fee
United Club Infinite Card
4 miles per dollar
4.4 cents
Visit lounges regardless of what cabin you’re flying in (but you must be on a same-day flight with United or a partner)
Premier Access with check-in, security, boarding and checked baggage delivery wherever these services are available
First and second checked bags free for you and a traveling companion (but you must pay for the flights with this card to receive the benefit)
25% back on inflight purchases and premium drink purchases in the United Club
10% discount on saver award redemptions for economy seats on United and United Express flights in the continental U.S. or between the continental U.S. and Canada
500 Premier qualifying points (PQPs) for each $12,000 spent on the card (up to 8,000 PQPs in total; only valid up to Premier 1K)
$525
United Quest Card
3 miles per dollar
3.3 cents
Up to $125 in statement credits to reimburse United purchases each cardmember year
5,000 miles back in your United MileagePlus account (starting after the first cardmember anniversary) if you make an award reservation with United or United Express — available up to two times each account anniversary year
First and second checked bags free for you and a traveling companion (but you must pay for the flights with this card to receive the benefit)
25% back on inflight purchases and premium drink purchases in the United Club
500 PQPs for each $12,000 spent on the card (up to 6,000 PQPs in total; only valid up to Premier 1K)
$250
United Explorer Card
2 miles per dollar
2.2 cents
Two one-time passes to the United Club each cardmember year
First checked bag free for you and a traveling companion (but you must pay for the flights with this card to receive the benefit)
25% back on inflight purchases and premium drink purchases in the United Club
500 PQPs for each $12,000 spent on the card (up to 1,000 PQPs in total; only valid up to Premier 1K)
$0 introductory annual fee, then $95
United Gateway Card
2 miles per dollar
2.2 cents
25% back on inflight purchases and premium drink purchases in the United Club
$0
The Platinum Card® from American Express
5 points per dollar (on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year)
10 cents
None, but you can choose United as your preferred airline to cover up to $200 per year in airline incidental credits for things like checked baggage or preferred seat fees (enrollment is required)
$695 (see rates and fees)
Chase Sapphire Reserve
3 points per dollar (or 5 points per dollar if booked via the Chase travel portal)
6 cents (or 10 cents)
None
$550
American Express® Green Card
3 points per dollar
6 cents
None
$150 (see rates and fees)
Citi Premier® Card
3 points per dollar
5.4 cents
None
$95 (see rates and fees)
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
2 miles per dollar (or 5 miles per dollar if booked in the Capital One Travel portal)
3.7 cents (or 9.25 cents)
None
$395 (see rates and fees)
* Bonus value is an estimated value calculated by TPG and not the card issuer.
Which card should you use for United Airlines flights?
Typically, earning transferable points (which you can use in many ways, not just with United) is probably your best approach. And if you use a card that earns Ultimate Rewards points — such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card — you would be able to transfer these points to United Airlines later on if you want to make a redemption through the MileagePlus program.
But what if you need to check a bag? Do you get free checked luggage in some other way, due to flying in a premium cabin or having status with United? If not, paying with a United card might make sense.
Unlike holding a Delta Air Lines credit card — where the checked baggage benefit is attached to your loyalty program number — you must pay for your United flight with your United credit card to use the free checked baggage benefit. Simply having the United Club Infinite card or United Explorer card in your wallet doesn’t confer this benefit.
There are other benefits that require paying with your United credit card. These include earning bonus PQPs through credit card spending, receiving 25% back (as a statement credit) for inflight purchases with United Airlines and getting up to $125 in statement credits each year for United purchases made with the Quest card.
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Related: United Airlines baggage fees and how to avoid paying them
A credit card that has annual travel credits can also help to offset your checked bag fees. If you don’t need to check a suitcase, consider whether you’re losing out on other benefits. Have you used your Quest card’s $125 in United credits so far this year, for example? If you aren’t losing out on benefits like this, aim for the card that will give you the best return on your spending through miles and points.
If you choose to pay with your Amex Platinum Card to earn 5 Membership Rewards points for each dollar, you’ll earn more value (in terms of rewards) on the money you spend but won’t get free checked bags — even if you have a United credit card in your wallet.
Related: The ultimate guide to earning elite status with United cards
Some benefits exist regardless of which credit card you actually use to pay for your flights. These include eligible visits to the United Club lounges, priority boarding and priority check-in benefits, getting 5,000 miles back in your account if you make an eligible mileage award redemption while holding the Quest card, and gaining access to saver award bookings with a 10% discount thanks to the Club Infinite card.
Related: United changes how it shows saver awards online — how to tell if flights are bookable with a partner
Another benefit available to all cardholders — and also available to those with United Airlines elite status — is access to additional award space when redeeming miles for United flights. Plus, those who both have elite status with United and have a United credit card can receive complimentary upgrades to first class when using miles for award flights. That can make holding a United credit card worthwhile even if you also receive numerous benefits as an elite member.
Related: The single reason I’d open a MileagePlus credit card as a United elite
Bottom line
TPG values United miles at 1.1 cents apiece. Even the best-earning option for United credit cards yields just 4.4 cents in value for each dollar spent on United purchases, yet more general travel rewards credit cards can earn at a higher rate. But, you need to pay with your United credit card to take advantage of certain benefits, such as free checked bags and statement credits toward eligible purchases.
Related: The best credit cards for paying taxes and fees on award tickets
Evaluate whether you would be sacrificing benefits to earn more valuable rewards and how important this is to you. Earning fewer points but keeping more cash in your pocket will make sense for most people. For those who don’t need to check a bag, you’re probably free to use whichever credit card has the best earnings on your next United purchase.
And whenever the planned Star Alliance credit card is released, we’ll see if that changes any of these considerations.
Editor’s note: “Points of View” is a series evaluating decisions on which credit card to use. If you’re facing a dilemma about which card is best for an upcoming payment, email us at [email protected].
Also in this series:
For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum card, click here. For rates and fees of the Amex Green card, click here.
If Aqua’s 1997 hit song, Barbie Girl has been replaying endlessly in your head since promotional efforts for Greta Gerwig’s new BARBIE movie have begun, you’re not alone.
It seems like everywhere we turn these days, Barbie’s all-pink world spills into our reality (which sounds weirdly in tune with the movie’s storyline), conjuring Aqua’s lyrics that once had us all singing “I’m a Barbie Girl, in my Barbie world…”
But two lucky people will actually get to step foot in Barbie’s world.
In celebration of the highly anticipated July release of Gerwig’s BARBIE movie, Airbnb is offering two overnight stays at Barbie’s Malibu DreamHouse — though Ken is hosting this time around, so the guests will have to settle on booking Ken’s bedroom instead of Barbie’s.
In fact, the whole house has been taken over by Ken, with every space — from his cowboy-themed bedroom to the outdoor disco roller rink — oozing ‘Kenergy’.
Guests will also get the chance to raid Ken’s closet and take home their own yellow-and-pink Impala skates and surfboards.
“We all have dreams, and Barbie is lucky enough to have a house full of them,” said ‘Ken’ in an official Airbnb announcement. “But now, it’s my turn, and I can’t wait to host guests inside these one-of-a-kind – dare I say, one-of-a-Ken? – digs.”
Barbie was the first to welcome guests into the Dreamhouse a few years back.
In 2019, in a similar promotional stunt that celebrated the iconic doll’s 60th anniversary, Mattel put the Malibu Dreamhouse up on Airbnb for a limited-time stay that offered four guests a chance to spend the night in the same toy-inspired house. Though it’s worth noting that the property became considerably more pink since its last stint on Airbnb, likely contributing to the recent pink color shortage brought about by the movie’s upcoming release.
Located in sunny Malibu, the two-bedroom, two-bathroom Dreamhouse with pink walls and furniture features panoramic views and serves as the perfect backdrop for Barbie’s picture-plastic paradise.
Fans can request to book Ken’s bedroom in the Malibu Barbie DreamHouse for two individual one-night stays (for up to two guests each) on July 21 and July 22, 2023.
All stays will be free of charge – because Ken couldn’t figure out how to put a price on Barbie’s Malibu DreamHouse – after all, Ken’s thing is the beach, not math.
If you want to take your chances at landing one of the coveted spots, booking starts July 17 at 10:00 AM PT at airbnb.com/kendreamhouse.
This is just the latest in a long string of promotional efforts that used Barbie’s iconic home to create hype around the toy brand. At one point, the doll’s fictional home was even listed for sale — with Million Dollar Listing LA star Josh Altman in charge of the listing. But the $25 million asking price was prohibitive, to say the least. A free stay is definitely more appealing.
More stories you might like
How Barbie’s Dream House would look like in other countries, according to AI
The Simpsons House Gets a Modern-Day Makeover
17 Biggest celebrities that live in Malibu & their million-dollar homes
Open a BMO Harris Premier™ Account online and get a $500 cash bonus when you have a total of at least $7,500 in qualifying direct deposits within the first 90 days of account opening. Expires 9/15. Conditions Apply.
The content related to the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card has been collected by Money Crashers and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card.
If your business activities regularly take you on the road, it makes sense to use a credit card that offers the most possible rewards towards a free night’s stay.
The IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card does just that — earning as much as 26 points per $1 spent at IHG hotels across 18 brands, including Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, and Holiday Inn. It also packs valuable non-rewards benefits that help you make the most of your hotel stays.
Intrigued? See what you can expect from the IHG One Rewards Premier Business card, and where it falls short.
What Is the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card?
Chase’s IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card from Chase is a hotel credit card for small-business owners who frequently stay at IHG hotels and resorts.
The fun begins with an excellent sign-up bonus: Earn 140,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening.
Moving forward, the IHG One Rewards Premier Business card earns a whopping 26 points per $1 spent on IHG hotels and resorts. This is broken down as follows:
10x points on eligible card spending
10x points for being an IHG One Rewards Member
6x points from your status as a Platinum Elite member — a key benefit of this card
The card also offers 5x points on eligible spending in several broad spending categories:
Travel
Dining, including eligible takeout and delivery
Gas stations
Social media advertising
Search engine advertising
Office supply stores
On all other purchases, you earn 3 points per $1 spent. You can redeem your points at eligible IHG hotels and resorts.
This card is quite helpful if you value elite status and free night stays. The card comes with automatic Platinum Elite status as long as you remain an IHG One Rewards Premier Business Cardmember. Platinum Elite benefits include promotional discounts on reward nights, guaranteed room availability with adequate advance booking, complimentary room upgrades where available, and early check-in where available.
There’s a $99 annual fee for this card but no foreign transaction fees.
What Sets the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card Apart?
This card has several features that set it apart from other hotel business credit cards.
Up to 26x points on eligible purchases. The IHG One Rewards Premier Business card earns a whopping 26 points per $1 spent on eligible purchases at IHG hotels and resorts. This is one of the highest rewards rates of any hotel credit card.
Excellent sign-up bonus. This card has one of the best sign-up bonuses in its category, even accounting for IHG One points’ lower redemption values.
Fourth night free on award redemptions. When you redeem your IHG One points for three consecutive award nights and book an extra night, you get that fourth night free. This can be used an unlimited number of times, which makes this benefit very valuable if you frequently stay four nights or longer at IHG properties.
IHG One Rewards Platinum Status. The card comes with complimentary Platinum Elite status in the IHG One Rewards program. Notable benefits include priority check-in, complimentary room upgrades (subject to availability), late check-out (also subject to availability), and 60% bonus points on eligible hotel and resort bookings.
Key Features of the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
The IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card has a high sign-up bonus, a very generous rewards program, and some clutch additional benefits for frequent business travelers.
Sign-Up Bonus
Earn 140,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening.
Earning Rewards
This card earns a whopping 26x points on eligible spending at IHG hotels and resorts. That’s 10x points earned from the card itself, 10x earned as an IHG One Rewards member, and 6x points earned as a Platinum Elite statusholder.
The card also earns 5x points on travel, gas stations, social media and search engine advertising, office supply stores, and dining (including takeout and eligible delivery). On all other eligible purchases, it earns 3x points.
Redeeming Rewards
You can redeem your points at eligible IHG hotels and resorts, including Regent, Intercontinental, Kimpton, Even, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Six Senses, Vignette, Hotel Indigo, Voco, Hualuxe, Crowne Plaza, Iberostar, Avid, Atwell Suites, Staybridge Suites, Holiday Inn Club Vacations and Candlewood Suites.
Anniversary Free Night & Fourth Night Free
Each account anniversary year, you earn one anniversary free night, with a current point redemption cap of 40,000 points. You can also use existing points from your IHG One Rewards account to redeem your anniversary night at hotels above the 40,000 point redemption level.
Separately but relatedly, you get the fourth night free when you redeem your points for three consecutive award nights and stay an additional night at the same property.
Spending Benefits
The IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card is quite beneficial for businesses with higher spending requirements. There are three spending thresholds worth noting:
If you spend $20,000 in a calendar year, you earn a $100 statement credit and 10,000 bonus points.
If you spend $40,000 in a calendar year, you qualify for Diamond Elite Status, which includes free breakfast, through December 31st of the following year.
If you spend $60,000 in a calendar year, you earn an additional free night with a current point redemption cap of 40,000 points.
Important Fees
This card charges a balance transfer fee of $5 or 5% of the amount of each transaction, a cash advance fee of $15 or 5% of the amount of each transaction. There is a $40 late payment fee and a $40 return payment fee.
This $99 annual fee is not waived for the first year. There is no foreign transaction fee.
Additional Benefits
This card’s additional benefits include:
20% off when you purchase IHG One points with your card
Purchase protection on eligible items up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account
Up to $50 in United TravelBank Cash each calendar year
Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS statement credit up to $100 every four years
Trip cancellation and interruption insurance, with reimbursement up to $1,500 per person and $6,000 per trip for prepaid, nonrefundable passenger fares on trips canceled or cut short due to sickness, severe weather, and other covered situations
Credit Required
This card requires good or better credit to qualify. If your FICO score is much below 700, or your personal credit history is limited, then you’ll likely have trouble being approved. However, this is pretty standard for a premium business travel credit card.
Pros & Cons
As with any rewards card, the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card has plenty of advantages and a few drawbacks.
Pros
This card is the complete package. It has a generous rewards program and plenty of benefits for stays at IHG hotels and resorts.
Earn 26x points on IHG hotel stays. Because this card comes with complimentary Platinum Elite status, it really pays to use it at IHG properties. It offers an extremely high rate of return that’s not matched by other hotel credit cards.
Receive a free night stay certificate each year. This card offers you a free night stay certificate each year on stays up to 40,000 points. In almost all instances, this certificate is worth much more than the card’s annual fee of $99.
Get instant Platinum Elite Status. Many hotel credit cards offer basic loyalty status with only a chance to earn higher levels after reaching a certain spending threshold. In contrast, the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card comes with Platinum Elite status as long as your account remains open and in good standing. That’s just below IHG’s top-tier Diamond Elite status.
Cons
The drawbacks of this card are really just things that you might find in other cards that this one lacks. It’s up to you to decide whether they’re deal-breakers.
No promotional financing offer. Some travel cards have 0% APR financing on new purchases, balance transfers, or both. This one doesn’t. This won’t be an issue for everyone, but it’s worth noting if you have high-interest business credit card debt already.
Cap on the value of the anniversary free night award. This card offers you a free night certificate each year, but caps its value at 40,000 points. That’s about enough for a mid-tier hotel in a mid-sized city, but excludes their most expensive properties. Thankfully, you can still apply this certificate to properties that require more points, and just redeem additional points to pay the difference.
IHG points aren’t worth as much as some other points. Just like visiting a country with a less valuable currency, it’s easy to misjudge the value of IHG points. These points are worth about a half a cent each, which is far below the value of World of Hyatt points or most airline miles. It’s not a big problem, but you shouldn’t get too excited to earn a lot of these points.
How the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card Stacks Up
This card’s closest competitor is probably the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card from American Express. Here’s how the two cards compare.
IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
Amex Marriott Bonvoy Business Card
Annual Fee
$99
$125
Sign-Up Bonus
Excellent
Very good
Rewards Rate
Up to 26x points
Up to 6x points
Foreign Transaction Fee
None
None
Credit Needed
Good or better
Good or better
Final Word
As with many hotel rewards cards, the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card is a great choice for small business owners who plan to stay at IHG properties. More so than most cards, this card treats you to a barrage of bonus points and plenty of nonrewards perks when you stay at IHG properties. And when you consider the free night certificate that you receive each year on your account anniversary, it’s clear this card’s benefits easily exceed its nominal cost.
The Verdict
Our rating
IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
The IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card has a generous rewards program and boasts complimentary Platinum Elite status, which includes room upgrades, award night discounts and early check-ins. It’s a must for business travelers who regularly stay at IHG properties, and the $99 annual fee is more than fair in light of what you get.
Editorial Note:
The editorial content on this page is not provided by any bank, credit card issuer, airline, or hotel chain, and has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the bank, credit card issuer, airline, or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
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Jason Steele is one of the nation’s leading experts in credit cards and travel rewards since 2008. Jason is also the founder and producer of CardCon, which is The Conference for Credit Card Media. Jason lives in Denver, Colorado where he enjoys bicycling, snowboarding and piloting small airplanes.
Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers.
One of the best perks of the Marriott Bonvoy family of credit cards is the complimentary elite night credits you receive each year — ranging from 15 to 25 nights, depending on which card you have. For many years, this perk was limited to one set of credits per Bonvoy account, no matter how many credit cards you had. That changed in 2020, with Marriott enabling its members to earn up to 30 nights with both a small-business and a personal card.
In September 2022, this perk gained even more value, as cardholders can now earn up to 40 elite night credits annually through credit cards. That’s quite the head start for elite status each year.
If you’re still trying to figure out how best to take advantage of this policy, you’re not alone. Today we’ll review all the reasons why you can get more value out of having both a personal and small-business Marriott card.
Get 80% of the way to Platinum status and choice benefits
Since you can stack elite night credits, it’s definitely worthwhile to hold both a personal and business Marriott card if you’re eligible. Most Marriott credit card comes with 15 elite nights annually – including the no-annual-fee Marriott Bonvoy Bold Credit Card. However, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card offers 25 elite night credits per year.
You may be wondering why this is relevant when several of the Marriott cards, along with The Platinum Card® from American Express, also offer Gold Elite status or the ability to earn higher status based on spending (enrollment is required). The big difference is that this automatic status doesn’t grant you the corresponding number of elite nights — so you still need to reach the normal qualification thresholds if you want to enjoy the program’s Choice Benefits or hit even higher tiers of status.
Related: The complete guide to earning Marriott elite status with credit cards
If you frequently stay at Marriott properties, you can stack these 15-25 elite night credits on top of your own travel to upgrade to the next elite tier faster.
When you stack credits between a personal and business card — like the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card and the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card — you’ll have 30 elite night credits at the beginning of each year. Reaching Platinum Elite status requires 50 nights per year, meaning you’re 60% of the way there already. You would need to stay just 20 additional nights (or earn the nights through credit card spending on the Boundless card) to reach the next tier.
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And once you’ve reached Platinum Elite status, the benefits can be incredibly valuable — including things like free breakfast and suite upgrades.
Related: Why I prefer Marriott Bonvoy premium cards
For those with the Amex Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card, you now receive complimentary Platinum Elite status each year as a perk of the card. This will entitle you to benefits like room upgrades and free breakfast. However, you will not have the necessary credits (50 nights) to earn the annual choice benefit associated with Platinum status. This benefit allows you to choose from one of the following:
That said, the 25 elite night credits you earn on the Bonvoy Brilliant can be stacked with the 15 elite nights offered by the Bonvoy Business card, allowing cardholders to start each year with 40 elite night credits — like TPG director of content Nick Ewen, who hadn’t set foot in a Marriott property in 2023 when this screen shot was taken.
That’s 80% of what you need to earn your first Choice Benefit selection (at 50 nights). It’s also more than halfway to the 75 nights required for Titanium Elite status. Reaching Titanium unlocks another Choice Benefit along with added perks like the ability to be upgraded to standard suites at Ritz-Carlton properties.
Annual award nights
But why stop at two Marriott cards?
There are many reasons to have as many Marriott credit cards as you can get your hands on. This is because of the incredible value you can get out of the anniversary award night certificates. Both the Bonvoy Boundless and Bonvoy Business cards offer an anniversary reward night worth up to 35,000 points. However, the premium Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card — with its $650 annual fee (see rates and fees) — now offers an annual award night worth up to 85,000 points per night.
TPG values Marriott points at 0.84 cents each, meaning 35,000 points are worth $294 — nearly triple the annual fee on those cards.
Still, depending on how you travel, you might be able to get an even higher return on these award nights. I’ve used mine at the Sheraton Grand Hyde Park in Sydney, where we were upgraded to a massive terrace suite during peak travel season, and at The St. Regis Beijing for a room that would have cost well over $300 per night.
With Marriott’s move to dynamic pricing, the ability to use these awards is less predictable than in the past. However, it’s still possible to redeem these awards for more than the cost of your credit card’s annual fee, meaning this one benefit alone can justify keeping your Marriott credit cards year after year.
Related: Ouch: It’s not just you, Marriott stays now cost more points
There are two exceptions here. The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card and Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful Card from Chase do not offer free night awards automatically each year. On both cards, you need to make $15,000 in purchases each year, then you will receive a free night award worth up to 50,000 points.
The information for the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Category bonuses
Aside from annual award nights and elite night credits, having a personal and business Marriott card can help you earn more points across several spending categories. All four Marriott cards earn 2 points per dollar on everyday spending and 6 points per dollar at hotels participating in the Marriott Bonvoy program (with the exception of the no-annual-fee Bonvoy Bold; see details below).
Related: Which Marriott Bonvoy credit card is right for you?
But it’s the extra bonus categories, most of which do not overlap, that can help you maximize your earnings:
So, if you’re a big Marriott fan and want to focus your earning strategy solely on Bonvoy points, you can have multiple cards and enjoy earning rates across several categories.
Related: Are you eligible for a new Marriott Bonvoy card? This chart tells you yes or no
Bottom line
Marriott has made it much easier to qualify for elite status by allowing customers who hold both a personal and business credit card to earn two sets of elite night credits each year. In fact, many TPG staffers kicked off 2023 with 40 elite night credits. When you add this to the annual award night certificates on these credit cards, it’s practically a no-brainer to hold both a personal and business card in your wallet.
Related: Who qualifies for a business credit card?
Despite some ups and downs over the years, I’m still convinced that there’s plenty of value to be had in the Marriott Bonvoy program if you know where to look. For me, a big part of that value comes from the multiple Marriott credit cards I keep in my wallet.
Apply here: Marriott Bonvoy Bevy American Express Card Apply here: Marriott Bonvoy Bold Credit Card Apply here: Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card Apply here: Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card Apply here: Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Amex, please click here.
Additional reporting by Ryan Wilcox, Chris Dong, Christina Ly and Ryan Smith.
Broker and LO Scorecards, Escrow Mgt., Homebuyer Products; How Many Borrowers are at Less Than 4 Percent?
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Broker and LO Scorecards, Escrow Mgt., Homebuyer Products; How Many Borrowers are at Less Than 4 Percent?
By: Rob Chrisman
Mon, Jul 10 2023, 10:05 AM
“The world is going to come to an end tonight at midnight. Tune in tomorrow to see if it did!” Sensationalist headlines or bad predictions are tiresome at best, misinformation at worst. There is actual news, however. For example, thank you to the Knowledge Coop’s Ken Perry who sent along the latest in the Matter of ICE and Black Knight. LOs and underwriters know that the Supreme Court overturned the Biden administration’s student-debt forgiveness plan which would have wiped off $430B in loans from the government’s books, and people who worked hard to pay off their debt cheered. Although there are already some alternatives that are in the making, this carries huge implications for inflation, consumer discretionary spending, and the distribution of wealth in the U.S. In other news, the latest update on inflation in the U.S. is this week with June’s Consumer Price Index report. Economists forecast headline inflation to fall to 3.0 percent from 4.0 percent in May and core inflation to be reported at 5.0 percent from 5.3 percent in May. A CPI surprise could reset expectations on the direction of the Federal Reserve. The market is pricing in a 90 percent probability that the Federal Reserve will raise rates by 25 basis points at the July 25-26 meeting. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by SimpleNexus, the homeownership platform that unites the people, systems, and stages of the mortgage process into one seamless, end-to-end solution that spans engagement, origination, closing, incentive compensation, and business intelligence. Hear an interview with Stavvy’s Kosta Ligris on the benefits of Remote Online Authorization (RON) and advances from Ginnie Mae’s recently published All Participants Memorandum.)
Lender and Broker Software, Services, and Products
On Nov. 15, millions of fans endured what felt like “several bear attacks to purchase Taylor Swift Eras Tour tickets on Ticketmaster’s flailing website. Don’t let your customers suffer the same fate as Swifties as they try to purchase their ticket to homeownership. SimpleNexus, an nCino company, enables you to extend a modern mortgage experience with the convenience of a single-sign-on portal where homebuyers can manage their search listings, complete their mortgage application, and sign closing documents from anywhere. See how SimpleNexus can give your business a leg up with modern mortgage technology that elevates the borrower experience and enhances efficiency by scheduling a demo.
“At NexBank, we are committed to our clients’ success by offering highly competitive products and services in Wholesale and Correspondent Lending, Warehouse Lending, and Treasury Management including Escrow Deposit Management. NexBank’s business is focused on residential housing and driving growth through our TPO channels. Our teams have been built to serve the TPO market. We do not compete with our clients for retail originations or refinancing business and are dedicated to their growth and invested in their success. NexBank offers unique products and competitive rates, and exceptional client service is our mission. To ensure our clients’ experience is simple, fast, and efficient, we are excited to announce that we have hired two new account executives to our strong and experienced sales team: welcome Adelfo Emanuele and Wendy Papaj! To learn more, visit us at the NAMB National Annual Conference this September or contact us today. Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender, NMLS 672886.”
Mortgage professionals in the market for new technology know that buying new solutions is only the start; it’s getting them implemented without missing a beat that’s critical. That’s why Black Knight held discovery sessions with dozens of lenders to see how they implement new solutions while keeping business disruptions to a minimum. Read Black Knight’s new blog ‘You’ve Selected the Tech – Here’s How You Avoid a Failure to Launch’ to see how 32 decision-makers at lending organizations of all sizes handle their deployments. You’ll learn the ways you can build your own strong rollout plan before implementation starts, and how your own employees can actually make deployment go smoother. Read the blog today, then talk to Black Knight when you’re ready for proven mortgage solutions with white-glove implementation.
Grow that Pipeline with LoanStream’s Summer Specials on Non-QM and Government. Includes Price Improvements on FHA, VA, Select Government loans. Plus, Specials for Non-QM includes Full Doc, Alt Doc and DSCR. Here for a limited time so don’t wait, contact your Account Executive for full details as restrictions apply, or visit here. Plus, MaxONE DPA programs are now available in Massachusetts! Finance up to 100 percent CLTV with 600 Min FICO. Contact your AE to learn more.
Roller coasters are usually a thrill, but the people stuck upside down for nearly 3 hours last week on a Wisconsin ride might disagree. Similarly, mortgage production volumes have had lenders on a roller coaster lately and it’s one we never wanted to be on in the first place. As production levels out, do you know how your recent performance compares to that of your peers? Find out right now with MMI’s monthly Mortgage Industry Benchmarks newsletter, which lets lenders and LOs compare their recent performance to their peers via production-based tiers. Are you on the same track as your competition or are you on a completely different ride? Sign up for MMI’s monthly newsletter to find out!
Is your focus to do more with less? A business intelligence solution should highlight where there are opportunities to incorporate efficiencies and reduce costs. The most forward-thinking industry leaders are turning to Richey May’s RM Analyze to learn what they need to know now more than ever: how to operate even leaner. It’s half the cost of a full-time employee, and you gain access to a strong bench of talent with a rich background in the mortgage industry and access to hundreds of reports, including real-time peer benchmarking data, in no time. With these insights you can make meaningful decisions for your business and do more than just survive. Learn how to operate leaner.
Learn the process that enables lenders to more than double their average AE monthly loan volume. Wholesale lenders need efficient broker account policies to ensure the success of their Account Executives. Managing a sales force responsible for engaging with tens of thousands of mortgage brokers while competing with larger and more technologically advanced competitors requires a sound and scalable process. OptifiNow’s Mortgage Broker Scorecard shows wholesale lenders how to build a highly efficient sales process that guides the right AE to call the right broker at the right time. Download the Mortgage Broker Scorecard for free today!
Current Temperature of Housing Prices and Residential Lending
Black Knight’s monthly Mortgage Monitor is out this morning. “The housing market showed clear signs of reheating in May, with the seasonally adjusted Black Knight Home Price Index hitting an all-time high. The fifth consecutive month of growth, May’s 0.7 percent M/M gain is equivalent to an annualized rate of 8.9 percent, despite the backward-looking year-over-year growth rate currently hovering at 0.1 percent. If the rate of growth we’ve seen over the past few months continues, annual growth would remain at or near 0 percent for just a short time before inflecting and trending sharply higher. Home price gains over the past five months have now completely reversed the declines the market experienced last fall. In fact, 27 of the 50 largest markets and the US have returned to their prior home price peaks or set new highs this spring. It all comes down to inventory, and for-sale listings have deteriorated in 95 percent of major U.S. markets this year, leading to some dramatic swings in home price trends.
“Meanwhile, more than 60 percent of existing mortgage holders (thus potential sellers) are sitting on first lien rates below 4 percent, with significant disincentive to list in this high priced, low inventory, high-rate environment. High rates and their impact on affordability are simultaneously doing a number on demand: the monthly P&I payment on the average home purchase hit an all-time high in May. And just this week, rising rates made this the least affordable housing market in 37 years. Here is the full report.”
Capital Markets
Friday, we digested the latest nonfarm payrolls report following hotter than expected private hiring data the previous day. The U.S. government report showed the economy created 209,000 jobs in June, well below expectations and the smallest increase since the end of 2020. The data was taken by some as a sign that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes were finally starting to cool the labor market, but other details of the report such as stronger than forecast wage gains suggested the Fed may have reason to resume raising rates later this month.
Yes, the main headline to close last week was that U.S. job growth (+209k for June) was solid but came up short of expectations and well short of the estimate of 500k of new payrolls seen in Thursday’s ADP Employment Change report. While the pace of hiring has slowed, 2023’s average monthly job gains are currently at 287,167, which still outpaces all pre-pandemic years going back to 1997. The June employment report was the first employment report to come in below forecast over the last 15 months but stronger-than-expected wage growth for June is likely to keep the Fed on track to raise interest rates July 26.
Wage inflation is the Fed’s biggest concern, staying at a plateau for the past several months after declining in the second half of 2022, meaning there’s still some ways to go to get back to a level the Fed is comfortable with. June average hourly earnings were up 0.4 percent, meaning that over the last 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen 4.4 percent, versus 4.4 percent for the 12 months ending in May. Jobs growth may have slowed but remains too strong and wage pressures are still too strong to justify an extended Fed pause. Pre-pandemic, average hourly earnings were increasing at around 3.5 percent.
This week’s calendar contains plenty of market moving potential including the $90 billion mini-Refunding over Tuesday to Thursday, with updates on consumer prices for June (expected to rise 3.1 percent year over year), producer prices, and many Fed speakers scattered throughout the week. In addition, earnings get under way with JP Morgan, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and State Street reporting on Friday.
Today’s calendar gets under way mid-day today with the non-market moving May Employment Trends Index and wholesale inventories and sales for May. The afternoon brings May consumer credit and remarks from San Francisco Fed President Daly, Cleveland Fed President Mester, and Atlanta Fed President Bostic. We begin the week with Agency MBS prices roughly unchanged from Friday night, the 10-year yielding 4.07 after closing last week at 4.05 percent, and the 2-year at 4.91.
Employment
“Equity Resources is an independent/ privately-owned mortgage banker that is proudly celebrating our 30th anniversary! Our longevity and continued success are quite simple; we listen to, invest in, and develop our team members! In a slower market, we cross-train our team, we do not lay them off. “Improving the lives of families” is our core purpose and this begins with all our team. While uncertainty and concern are running rampant in the mortgage markets, we are creating opportunities for our award-winning loan officer team! Equity Resources is actively seeking focused loan officers throughout our 19 footprint states. In addition, we are also seeking an account executive for our B2B division with a history of working with credit unions and community banks. If you are frustrated with the direction of your mortgage career and would like to have a conversation about “Why Equity”, please contact Tom Piecenski, EVP of Sales and Development, at 614.327.5353.”
“Calling all LOs looking to dominate in their local market? Look no further than PrimeLending! We believe that you, as a loan originator, know exactly what it takes to succeed in your community. That’s why we empower you to build your business your way. With over 400 loan programs, including 23 renovation loan products, we offer all the flexibility you need to impress your clients and business partners. And when it comes to our production leaders, they believe in giving you the space you need to excel. In fact, in our latest Great Place to Work employee survey, 97 percent of our team said that management trusts them to do an amazing job without looking over their shoulders. So, if you’re ready to take the reins and steer your own professional journey, get in touch with Nic Hartke to talk about joining the PrimeLending family. Get ready to soar towards a bright future!”
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“Where are you from?” It’s a common question when you meet someone new while traveling. And it’s an easy question for most people. But for me, it’s complicated if I want to give more details than “the United States.”
After all, my husband and I gave up our Austin, Texas, apartment in June 2017, sold or donated most of our belongings and then set out as digital nomads on July 2, 2017. So, excluding some extended time living with family early in the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve traveled full time while working remotely for the last six years.
In 2020, I wrote about my first three years as a digital nomad. But in this story, I’ll look back at the past six years. In doing so, I’ll discuss how I became a digital nomad, some of my travel statistics and how travel has changed for me during the past six years.
How I became a digital nomad
On a bus from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu in Peru in 2013, I first heard of a gap year or sabbatical year. I hadn’t gotten into points and miles yet, but my husband and I loved the idea of taking a year off to travel after I finished graduate school. Well, fast forward four years to 2017, when it was time to leave on our “gap year.” By this time, we were already working as writers in the award travel space.
So, we hit the road as digital nomads instead of taking a gap year. And we quickly fell in love with the freedom and flexibility of the lifestyle. I appreciate experiencing different cultures, landscapes, experiences and cuisines daily. And I’ve found that frequently visiting new destinations inspires me.
I also enjoy using the topics I write about — points, miles, credit cards and elite status — on a daily basis. We make award redemptions most weeks (and often multiple times a week), and we’re constantly traveling. So, I know many of the airline, hotel and credit card programs I write about from personal experience. And I’m personally invested when these programs change or devalue their rewards.
Points and miles certainly fuel some of our travel. But we also book paid flights and nights when it makes sense. After all, we only have a finite amount of points and miles, and we’ve found that paid partner-operated premium-cabin flights are often the best way to earn airline elite status.
Related: 6 ways award travel and elite status pair well with my digital nomad life
1,121,959 miles on 575 flights
Over the last six years, I’ve taken 575 flights on 62 airlines to 180 airports in 58 countries. I’ve taken so many flights in the last six years that my flight map is difficult to read.
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I flew 1,121,959 direct flight miles in the last six years, with an average flight distance of 1,951 miles (about the distance from Atlanta to Los Angeles). My longest flight was 9,532 miles, from New York to Singapore. And my shortest flight was just 11 miles from Tahiti to Moorea in French Polynesia.
But my most memorable flight was on Sri Lanka’s Cinnamon Air from Polgolla Reservoir Aerodrome (KDZ) to Koggala Airport (KCT) on a Cessna 208 amphibious caravan.
I frequently fly American Airlines and often use Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) when visiting family. So, it’s not surprising that my three most frequent routes by flight segments are between American Airlines’ hubs and Atlanta. Here’s a look at my top 10 most frequent flight segments over the last six years:
New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA) to/from ATL: 15 flights
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to/from ATL: 11 flights
Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) to/from ATL: 10 flights
Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) to/from Kualanamu International Airport (KNO): 10 flights while I earned Malaysia Airlines Enrich Gold status in 2019
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to/from ATL: Nine flights
Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) to/from LAX: Eight flights
DFW to/from LGA: Six flights
London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) to/from LAX: Six flights
Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) to/from Da Nang International Airport (DAD): Six flights booked during Cathay Pacific’s New Year’s deal in 2019
DFW to/from LAS: Five flights
And my loyalty to American Airlines AAdvantage and its Oneworld partners shows when you look at the airlines I flew most by flight segments:
American Airlines: 224 flights, including reviews of American’s A321T business class, 787-9 business class, 777-200 business class with B/E Aerospace Super Diamond seats, 787-8 Main Cabin Extra, 757-200 Main Cabin Extra and 757-200 business class
United Airlines: 31 flights, including reviews of United’s 787-8 economy class and 757-200 economy class
Southwest Airlines: 29 flights, including a review of Southwest’s 737-800 from Oakland, California, to Newark
Malaysia Airlines: 26 flights
Qatar Airways: 23 flights, including reviews of Qatar Qsuite on a 777-300ER and Qatar Qsuite on an A350-1000
Delta Air Lines: 22 flights, including when I was one of the first American tourists to fly to Italy on a COVID-19-tested flight
British Airways: 20 flights, including a review of British Airways’ A380 economy class
Cathay Pacific: 17 flights
Japan Airlines: 14 flights, including a review of Japan Airlines’ 777-300ER premium economy
Qantas: 12 flights
However, if you look at the airlines on which I flew the most mileage, the ranking is a bit different due to some mileage runs:
American Airlines: 404,296 miles
Cathay Pacific: 104,481 miles
Qatar Airways: 89,630 miles
British Airways: 53,357 miles
Delta Air Lines: 49,603 miles
United Airlines: 42,237 miles
Singapore Airlines: 36,176 miles, including a review of Singapore Airlines’ A350-900ULR premium economy
Japan Airlines: 33,756 miles
Air Canada: 30,792 miles
All Nippon Airways: 28,938 miles
I track all my flights in OpenFlights. So, although it’s relatively easy for me to gather statistics on my flights, I don’t have a simple way to determine the amount I paid in points and cash for my 575 flights during the last six years.
Related: The best credit cards for booking flights
1,103 nights in hotels
I’ve spent over half of the last six years living out of hotel rooms. In particular, I’ve spent 894 nights at 75 major hotel brands within the last six years. And I’ve spent 209 nights at other brands and independent hotels.
Here’s the breakdown of my stays by loyalty program and brand over the last six years, including notes about my favorite programs.
390 nights at 15 IHG brands
Holiday Inn Express: 120 nights
Holiday Inn: 66 nights
InterContinental Hotels & Resorts: 51 nights, including five nights at the InterContinental Hayman Island Resort in Australia, four nights at the InterContinental Phuket Resort in Thailand, four nights at the InterContinental Phu Quoc Long Beach Resort in Vietnam, three nights at the InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort in Vietnam, three nights at the InterContinental New York Times Square in New York and two nights at the InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa in Fiji
Candlewood Suites: 28 nights
Hotel Indigo: 26 nights, including five nights at the Hotel Indigo Austin Downtown-University in Texas and four nights at the Hotel Indigo Birmingham Five Points South – UAB in Alabama
Staybridge Suites: 22 nights
Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts: 19 nights, including three nights at the Crowne Plaza Beijing Wangfujing in China and three nights at the Crowne Plaza Times Square in New York
Holiday Inn Resort: 19 nights, including 10 nights at the Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma Maldives in the Maldives
Voco: 11 nights, including six nights at Voco Gold Coast in Australia
Regent: Nine nights
Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants: Eight nights
Six Senses: Six nights, including four nights at Six Senses Laamu in the Maldives and two nights at Six Senses Yao Noi in Thailand
Atwell Suites: Two nights at Atwell Suites Miami Brickell in Florida
Avid: Two nights at Avid hotel Oklahoma City — Quail Springs in Oklahoma
Even: One night
Over the last six years, I’ve stayed 161 paid nights at IHG properties for an average of $152 per night. The least I paid was $48 per night at the Holiday Inn Express Berlin — Alexanderplatz in Germany. And the most I paid was $1,564 per night during a review of the InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau Resort in the Maldives.
Meanwhile, we redeemed IHG points for 209 nights over the last six years, including 36 fourth-night-free rewards. On average, we redeemed 15,591 IHG points per night. We also redeemed 20 anniversary nights over the last six years, including at the InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa in French Polynesia and the Kimpton De Witt Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
You might wonder how we earned so many IHG points and anniversary nights. We maximize IHG promotions to earn points on stays. And we often buy points during IHG points sales with a 100% bonus when we can do so for 0.5 cents per point. As for the anniversary night certificates, we both have multiple IHG credit cards, so we’ve each earned two anniversary nights for most of the last six years.
We frequently stay at IHG One Rewards hotels and resorts due to the high value we often get when redeeming IHG points. But, with the launch of the new IHG One Rewards program last year, we are also getting good value from the annual lounge membership you can select through IHG’s Milestone Rewards program after staying 40 nights in a year.
Related: 9 budget strategies for getting the most out of your points and miles
209 nights at other brands and independent hotels
These days, we usually stay at major hotel brands to earn and use elite status perks and benefit from the consistency provided by these brands. But we often stayed at independent hotels when we first hit the road as digital nomads in 2017. And even now, we sometimes find ourselves in a destination without major hotel brands or where staying at a property outside our brand loyalties makes the most sense.
For example, we couldn’t pass up staying in a twin cell at YHA Fremantle Prison in Australia and a robot hotel in Japan. Likewise, staying within Addo Elephant and Kruger national parks in South Africa let us maximize our time seeing wildlife in these parks.
We often book these stays through online travel agencies since we don’t have to worry about missing out on elite status benefits and earnings while staying at properties outside our primary brands. For example, we’ll sometimes book through credit card portals to use credits, like the $50 hotel credit each account anniversary year on the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. And we’ll occasionally book through American Express Fine Hotels + Resorts to snag extra perks and use the prepaid hotel credit we get each calendar year as a perk of The Platinum Card® from American Express. We’ll also sometimes use Rocketmiles to earn American Airlines miles and Loyalty Points on our stays.
On average, I paid $83 per night on these stays. But, my least expensive night was $18 per night for a private room with a shared bathroom at Stella Di Notte in Belgrade, Serbia. And my most expensive night was $235 per night at the RLJ Kendeja Resort & Villas in Liberia during PeaceJam.
203 nights at 21 Marriott brands
Over the last six years, I’ve stayed 140 paid nights at Marriott properties for an average of $121 per night. The least I paid was $44 per night at the Four Points by Sheraton Bogota in Colombia. And the most I paid was $350 per night during a review of the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa in Hawaii.
Meanwhile, we redeemed Marriott points for 49 nights over the last six years, including six fifth-night-free benefits. On average, we redeemed 16,167 points per night on Marriott award stays. We also redeemed 14 free night awards we earned through Marriott credit cards and promotions over the last six years.
Related: Here’s why you need both a personal and business Marriott Bonvoy credit card
115 nights at 6 Choice brands
Ascend Hotel Collection: 54 nights, including 28 nights at Emotions All Inclusive Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, nine nights at Gowanus Inn & Yard in New York (no longer bookable through Choice Hotels) and three nights at Bluegreen Vacations Fountains in Florida
Comfort: 37 nights, including 19 nights in Japan
Quality Inn: 13 nights
Cambria Hotels: Four nights
Rodeway Inn: Four nights
Clarion: Three nights
Over the last six years, I’ve stayed 34 paid nights at Choice Privileges properties for an average of $93 per night. The least I paid was $54 per night at the Comfort Hotel Airport CDG in France. And the most I paid was $239 per night at Cambria Hotel New York — Times Square in New York.
Meanwhile, we redeemed Choice points for 81 nights over the last six years. On average, we redeemed 9,531 Choice points per night. I’ve found I can get excellent value when redeeming Choice points for unique redemptions and for stays in Japan, Europe and destinations that typically feature high paid hotel rates. So, as with IHG, we often buy Choice points during sales or through Daily Getaways promotions.
87 nights at 11 Hyatt brands and partners
I didn’t stay much with World of Hyatt until the program offered reduced qualification requirements and double elite night credits in early 2021. I earned Globalist status in 2021 for far fewer nights than is usually required, but I’ve prioritized maintaining it due to the on-site perks it provides.
I’ve stayed 53 paid nights at Hyatt properties for an average of $139 per night over the last six years. The least I paid was $24 per night at the Excalibur Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. And the most I paid was $353 per night at Hyatt House New York/Chelsea in New York.
Meanwhile, I redeemed Hyatt points for 27 free nights over the last six years. I’ve found some excellent Category 1 Hyatt hotels that provide wonderful value on award stays. So, it isn’t surprising that I’ve redeemed 5,563 points per night on average and just 3,500 points per night for nine nights. Additionally, I redeemed seven free night certificates that I earned through Hyatt credit cards, Hyatt Milestone Rewards and the Hyatt Brand Explorer promotion over the last six years.
40 nights at 10 Wyndham brands
Days Inn: 10 nights
Ramada: Nine nights
Ramada Encore: Five nights
Microtel: Five nights
Club Wyndham: Three nights
Super 8: Three nights
Viva Wyndham: Two nights at Viva Wyndham Azteca — All-Inclusive Resort in Mexico
Baymont: One night
Howard Johnson: One night
Travelodge: One night
Over the last six years, I’ve stayed 29 paid nights at Wyndham properties for an average of $103 per night. The least I paid was $48 per night at the Days Inn Guam-Tamuning in Guam. And the most I paid was $200 per night during a review of the Viva Wyndham Azteca — All-Inclusive Resort in Mexico.
Meanwhile, we redeemed Wyndham points for 11 nights over the last six years. On average, we redeemed 9,068 points per night on Wyndham award stays. And we love getting a 10% redemption discount when we redeem Wyndham points as a benefit of our Wyndham Rewards credit card, as this brings an award night that would typically cost 7,500 points down to just 6,750 points.
32 nights at 6 Hilton brands
Over the last six years, I’ve stayed 18 paid nights at Hilton properties for an average of $130 per night. The least I’ve paid was $58 per night at the Hilton Jaipur in India. And the most I paid was $168 per night at the Hilton Niseko Village in Japan.
Meanwhile, we redeemed Hilton points for eight nights over the last six years, including one fifth-night-free benefit. On average, we redeemed 46,250 points per night on Hilton award stays. We also redeemed six Hilton free night certificates that we earned through Hilton credit cards over the last six years for excellent value at the Conrad New York Midtown, the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island and the Hilton Maldives Amingiri Resort & Spa.
The average amount we redeemed per night with Hilton Honors is significantly higher than with other hotel loyalty programs. This, combined with my struggle to get more than TPG’s valuation (0.6 cents per point) when redeeming Hilton points, is why I don’t frequently stay at Hilton brands despite having Hilton Diamond status through a Hilton credit card.
19 nights at 4 Accor brands
Ibis: 12 nights
Mercure: Four nights
Grand Mercure: Two nights
Ibis Budget: One night
Over the last six years, I’ve stayed 19 nights at Accor properties for an average of $56 per night. The least I paid was $36 per night at the Ibis Muenchen City Nord in Germany. And the most I paid was $84 per night at the Ibis Madrid Alcobendas in Spain.
8 nights at 2 Best Western brands
Best Western: Six nights
Best Western Plus: Two nights
Over the last six years, I’ve stayed eight nights at Best Western properties for an average of $78 per night. The least I paid was $57 per night at the Best Western Amsterdam Airport Hotel in the Netherlands. And the most I paid was $147 per night at the Best Western Plus Mountain View Auburn Inn in Washington.
452 nights camping
When I became a digital nomad in 2017, I didn’t think there was any chance I’d camp 452 nights in the next six years. And even three years ago, I’d only spent three nights tent camping for a concert at The Gorge in Washington state and three nights in a rental RV doing a relocation from Las Vegas to Denver.
But, as it became apparent the coronavirus pandemic would affect international travel for more than just a few months, my husband and I tried out a six-night RV relocation rental in July 2020. Then in August 2020, we decided to buy the same RV model we’d relocated.
When we bought our Class C RV, we expected we’d sell it as soon as international travel to most destinations became relatively simple again. But, we discovered we enjoy working remotely from our RV while in the U.S. We’ve now spent 440 nights camping in our RV since buying it — 97 nights in 2020, 234 nights in 2021, 80 nights in 2022 and 29 nights so far in 2023.
Nineteen nights in our RV have been free at locations (like select Walmarts, select Cracker Barrels and businesses that participate in Harvest Hosts) that allow RVers to stay overnight upon asking permission. We’ve also spent 37 nights sleeping in the driveways of friends and family while visiting them.
But we usually find paid RV campsites with power and water. We’ve paid for campsites on 393 nights as follows:
171 nights at city and county campgrounds ($32 per night on average)
133 nights at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds ($27 per night on average)
66 nights at state park campgrounds ($34 per night on average)
37 nights at private campgrounds ($52 per night on average)
Four nights at national park campgrounds ($48 per night on average)
On average, we’ve paid $33 per night for our RV campsites. The highest we paid was $104 per night at Orlando / Kissimmee KOA Holiday in Florida. And the least we paid was $17 per night at Shady Grove Campground in Cumming, Georgia, during a half-off promotion.
Related: The cheapest place to stay at Disney World is a tent — so I tried it
443 nights with family and friends
One aspect my husband and I appreciate about being digital nomads is seeing our family more than when we lived in one place. Here’s a breakdown of our nights with friends and family over the last six years:
July 2 to the end of 2017: 32 nights
2018: 90 nights
2019: 83 nights
2020: 167 nights
2021: 29 nights
2022: 27 nights
So far in 2023: 15 nights
We spent significant time with each of our parents in March through August of 2020 as much of the world locked down. However, the nights since August 2020 are lower than pre-pandemic since we now stay in our RV (either in the driveway or a nearby campground) while visiting most friends and family members.
Related: 43 real-world family travel tips that actually work
104 nights in transit
Over the past six years, I’ve spent 101 nights in flight or sleeping in airports. I typically avoid overnight flights, but sometimes overnight flights are unavoidable (and they’re enjoyable if I book a lie-flat seat or luck into a row to myself in economy).
If I have an overnight layover at an airport, I’ll book a hotel if the layover is long enough and I can find a modestly priced hotel on-site or with a free shuttle. But sometimes the layover is too short, or it just doesn’t make sense to get a hotel. In these cases, I’ll usually sleep in a lounge — ideally one with a sleeping area or at least lounge chairs — or in a Minute Suites (or a similar type of space) that participates in Priority Pass.
I’ve also spent three nights on trains, including two on the Amtrak Empire Builder from Portland, Oregon, to Chicago and one on a Trans-Mongolian train from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to Hohhot, China. I thoroughly enjoyed both experiences, so it’s surprising that I haven’t taken any other overnight trains in the last six years. However, low-cost flights on many routes served by overnight trains often make flying a more convenient and less expensive alternative.
Related: 11 of the most scenic train rides on Earth
90 nights in vacation rentals
Vacation rentals are the accommodation of choice for many digital nomads, especially those who stay in each location for at least a month and appreciate having their own kitchen. And I spent 39 nights in vacation rentals in 2017 after becoming nomadic July 2.
However, one particularly bad Airbnb experience in 2018 and an increasing interest in hotel elite status caused me to switch most of my nights to hotels instead of vacation rentals. I stayed in vacation rentals for 17 nights in 2018 and 20 nights in 2019. I only stayed in one vacation rental each in 2020 (for three nights), 2021 (for two nights) and 2022 (for two nights). And so far, I’ve only stayed in one vacation rental (for seven nights) in 2023.
On average, I paid $53 per night for vacation rentals across my six years as a digital nomad. My least expensive vacation rental was $17 per night for a private studio apartment in Da Nang, Vietnam, that I booked through Airbnb. And my most expensive vacation rental was $129 per night for a waterfront apartment in Auckland, New Zealand, through Hotels.com.
I’ll still stay in vacation rentals when they’re my best option. But I generally prefer to stay at hotels for consistency and to earn and use my elite status perks.
Related: When a vacation rental makes more sense than a hotel
259 cities in 52 countries and territories
Finally, let’s talk about destinations. Over the last six years, I’ve visited 259 cities in 52 countries and territories. Here’s a look at the number of nights I stayed in each:
1,253 nights: United States of America (including 318 nights in hotels or vacation rentals)
88 nights: Germany
69 nights: Japan
56 nights: Australia
54 nights: South Africa (including 32 nights in or near South African national parks)
36 nights: Dominican Republic
27 nights: Maldives, Thailand
24 nights: Spain
22 nights: Hong Kong, Malaysia
21 nights: New Zealand, Serbia, Vietnam
20 nights: Canada, Colombia, Italy
19 nights: India
18 nights: Netherlands, United Arab Emirates
16 nights: Singapore
14 nights: Bahamas, French Polynesia, Indonesia
13 nights: Fiji, South Korea
11 nights: Brazil, Mongolia
10 nights: China
Nine nights: Bulgaria, England, France, Pakistan
Eight nights: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Liberia, Mexico, Sri Lanka
Seven nights: Greece, Guam
Six nights: Turkey
Five nights: Belgium, Marshall Islands
Four nights: Sweden
Three nights: Argentina, Chile
Two nights: Panama
One night: Ethiopia, Finland, Ireland, Northern Mariana Islands, Taiwan
As you can see, I would have spent the most time in the U.S. even if the coronavirus pandemic hadn’t kept me in the country for much of 2020 and 2021. And interestingly, even my most visited country outside the U.S. (Germany) accounted for just 88 nights across the last six years.
I also visited 14 other countries and territories before becoming a digital nomad. So, although I’m not striving to visit every country in the world, I’ve visited 66 different countries and territories so far. My husband and I are trying to visit a few new-to-us countries each year while also returning to some of our favorite destinations like Germany, Japan, South Africa, Australia and Hong Kong.
Related: The 18 best places to travel in 2023
Bottom line
I feel incredibly thankful for the last six years I’ve spent as a digital nomad. I’ve grown significantly as a person and content creator while traveling full-time.
And I’ve had some amazing experiences, including swimming with manta rays in French Polynesia and the Maldives, watching a sea turtle dig a nest and lay her eggs on a Florida beach, staying at some awesome resorts (Six Senses Laamu, Six Senses Yao Noi and Alila Fort Bishangarh immediately come to mind), and overnighting in second-class hard bunks on a Trans-Mongolian train.
But it’s not these epic experiences that keep me on the road. After all, I could enjoy many of these experiences on vacation. Instead, the daily things like being surrounded by languages I don’t know, enjoying delicious local foods and exploring new cities and neighborhoods on foot keep me attached to the digital nomad lifestyle.