This week, we'll cover: 50 years of travel tips, how to find free unclaimed money from your state and get free pancakes, sparkling water, magazines, earn up to 45k bonus points (Wyndam, AAdvantage, Chase), recent airline and hotel devaluations and more.
🤗 Purpose, Friendship, and Human Skills
This week, I spoke to Simon Sinek about ways to unlock the power of purpose and friendship. Learn how to find your ‘why,’ strengthen your friendships, and master the human skills that truly matter.
🤑 Latest Deals
💰 Find Free Unclaimed Money From Your State
Did you know that you can find free unclaimed money you're owed on your state's unclaimed money site? After sharing this hack with hundreds of people, countless people have found out they're owed >$100 and a few people have even found more than $1,000. So definitely try it out and let me know how much you end up finding!
🆓 Free Pancakes, Sparkling Water, Magazines & More
Here’s a list of all the latest freebies I found this week:
- Free Buttermilk Pancake Stack on 3/4 (National Pancake Day): Just go into any IHOP dine-in location between 7am-8pm.
- Free Amazon Baby Welcome Box: When you sign up for Amazon's Baby Registry and make a $10+ purchase on Amazon but there’s a catch. You need to purchase the $10+ product after you "Add to Registry" and "Add to Cart" and checkout like you normally would.
- Free 6-Pack Bubbl’r Antioxidant Sparkling Water: Just enter your email here.
- Free Magazine Subscriptions: Check out this list on Doctor of Credit of free magazine subscriptions like Bon Appetit, Architectural Digest and Conde Nast Traveler (no CC required).
🛫 Travel, Points & Miles
📉 Recent Airline and Hotel Devaluations
We're only two months into 2025 and we've already seen a few devaluations of rewards programs. I think I'm most disappointed by World of Hyatt, but fortunately we haven't seen any super terrible devaluations yet this year.
- Avianca LifeMiles: Increased award prices on partner business and first-class flights. Business class increased by 8–15%, while first class saw hikes of up to 25% (e.g. Lufthansa First Class from 87,000 to 111,000 miles).
- Marriott Bonvoy: Expanded dynamic award pricing, leading to significant fluctuations in points required for free nights, especially in high-demand locations. However, their “secret” award chart helps identify the best uses for the free nights.
- Hilton Honors: Increased points required for premium properties, with some top-tier hotels now charging over 100k points per night.
- World of Hyatt: 2025 category shifts moved many hotels into higher award tiers, making free night certificates harder to redeem at popular properties.
✈️ Up to 5k Loyalty Points For AAdvantage Elite Status
If you’re planning to fly American Airlines in March, you might be eligible to earn up to 5,000 Bonus Loyalty Points if you register before you book the flights. You'll earn an extra 500 Loyalty Points per segment flown (except basic economy fares).
🤑 Up to 15k Bonus Points on Chase® Ink® Cards
If you're targeted, you'll earn up to 15,000 bonus points when you spend on qualifying purchases with a Chase® Ink® card. You get 5,000 bonus points for every $5,000 you spend (up to 3x) between 3/1 and 5/31 but you have to first register for the bonus here.
🏨 Earn Up to 22,500 Bonus Wyndham Rewards
The Wyndham Rewards Spring 2025 promo is offering members up to 15,000 bonus points for qualifying stays of 2+ nights between 2/26 and 6/16. Plus, if they’re a Wyndham Rewards Earner Cardmember, they can earn up to 22,500 bonus points. Registration is required before 5/9.
🛏️ Get 20% Off Stays at Accor
Accor is offering a discount of up to 20% on bookings made through their ALL app for stays of 2+ nights. The deal is valid for bookings made by 3/2 for stays between 3/28 and 6/7.
🕵️ Great Finds
🧳 50 Years of Travel Tips
Kevin Kelly wrote an incredible list of some amazing travel tips he's picked up throughout his 50+ years of traveling.
💾 Retro Tech Dreams
I came across this account on X that posts about retro tech, early web and vintage computing. It’s super nostalgic and I love it!
Editor’s Note: The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of our partner offers may have expired. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
