July 21, 2025 • 40 mins
Doubling your accounts is the most underrated way to earn more points fast, especially for families who want to travel without doubling their spending.
• Credit card points and miles hobbyists can double their rewards by using a "two-player mode" strategy with a spouse or partner
• Each person has their own credit score and ability to open cards, allowing couples to earn twice the signup bonuses
• When deciding which partner applies for which cards, consider credit scores, 5/24 status, and who can best maximize the benefits
• For beginners, alternating card applications every 45 days gives each person 90 days between applications
• Always refer your partner to cards when possible to earn additional referral bonuses
• Many loyalty programs allow families to pool points – including Air France, British Airways, United, Hilton, and Marriott
• Consider timing applications for cards with free night certificates so they expire around the same time
• Travel Freely is a helpful app for tracking all your credit cards across both players
If you have additional questions, message us on Instagram @travelpartyof5 We'd also love a review of our podcast wherever you listen!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Want to travel more without doubling your spending.
The trick is double youraccounts.
Two player mode is the mostunderrated way to earn more
points fast, especially forfamilies.
So today I'm breaking down howwe think about our two player
strategy without ruining ourmarriage.
Listen in.
(00:27):
Hi, I'm Raya and I'm Dwayne,and we are your hosts of the
Travel Party of Five podcast,where we share how we travel as
a family of five around theworld.
We will also share how we usepoints and miles to travel as
affordably as possible andsometimes even completely free.
(00:48):
So if you're wanting to travelmore with your family but you're
not sure how, we'd love for youto listen in.
So welcome to our podcast,where we hope you learn a thing
or two to get you closer to yournext trip.
Hey friends, welcome back toTravel Party 5 podcast.
(01:14):
My name is Rhea, I am your host, I am solo.
Today we are going to betalking all about building a
two-player strategy for yourcredit card points and miles
hobby and breaking down kind ofhow we think about that, not
only from like what cards toopen and when to open them, but
(01:34):
also even diving deeper into thedifferent loyalty accounts and
who should have what loyaltyaccounts and all that sort of
thing.
So listen in for that.
But before we jump into themain topic, I did want to give a
few card updates.
So one of the things that I getthe most feedback about on
(01:56):
Instagram is when I share creditcards that we are applying for
or that we got denied for, orcards I'm thinking of getting,
and so I want to do a better jobof talking about that on the
podcast and we definitely dotalk about it, you know, every
few episodes, but want to try todo that a little bit more.
So we let's see.
(02:18):
Duane was approved for the ChaseSapphire Reserve with the
elevated offer of 100,000 pointsabout a month ago now, I think.
Okay, yes, it was June 24.
So pretty much a month ago thathe was approved for that and
since then we have.
(02:39):
I have applied him for a ChaseInc card just within the last
week and he was denied.
I applied for the ChaseSapphire Reserve business card
and I was also denied.
I even called reconsiderationand was still declined.
I applied for that with our EINnumber and my plan is to wait
(03:00):
30 days for that application toexpire and then apply again
without the EIN under my namespecifically.
So that was a little bit of abummer.
Duane has not been approved fora Chase business card in almost
a full year.
It was fall of 2024 when he gothis last one and he only
(03:21):
currently has two open.
One is a United Business cardand one is a Chase Ink Preferred
.
So that is super frustrating.
I've also noticed my creditscore is a good 50 points higher
than his and I'm not 100% surewhy.
That is Because I have openedin my name, I think let me just
(03:43):
confirm and with travel freely,but I think it's like eight or
nine credit cards this year justunder my name.
Hold on, let me check.
Yes, I have opened nine creditcards under my name alone this
year, so it's funny to me thatmy score is so much higher than
his.
It also says my length ofcredit is significantly longer
than his length of credithistory, but I mean I have him
(04:06):
added as an authorized user onone of my oldest credit cards,
so I'm just not sure like wherethat comes from.
It's a little bit of a mysteryto me.
If you know, message me onInstagram and tell me so.
Anyway.
So we got those two denials.
So after those denials I did goin and close a Chase Inc card
under my name, so I closed aChase Inc Preferred that had
(04:31):
been open just over a year.
I also have a Chase Inc Cashthat has been open well over a
year that I could close.
But I'm hesitant to close thatone because I don't know that
we'll be able to get approvedfor another one, and we
absolutely use it for gift cardsat office supply stores like
almost once a month.
(04:52):
So I I had applied Dwayne forthe ink cash, thinking if he
gets this one then I can closemine.
But he didn't get it so wedidn't call reconsideration.
I think if I apply him againand he gets declined we will
call reconsideration for him,because it's silly really why
they wouldn't give him a card.
(05:12):
He only has two.
Anyways, and then the other cardthat I closed was under
Dwayne's name and it was anAmerican Airlines Advantage the
Barclays card.
So he had that over a year.
The annual fee was coming dueand I reached out via chat on
their website as him, asking ifthere was any retention offers
on the account.
(05:33):
They said no, so I said wellthen, in that case I'd like to
go ahead and close the account.
And so the account has beenclosed.
So tried to apply for two cardsgot declined.
Tried to apply for two cardsgot declined.
Close two cards and we'll waitthe 30 days to apply again.
I would really like us to eachbe able to get one more chase
(05:53):
business card before thereferral train ends, which is
October 7.
And if you don't know what I'mtalking about, the chase has
basically announced that,starting October 7, you cannot
refer someone to a chasebusiness card if they already
have one, meaning you wouldn'tearn any points.
And that is a big part of ourtwo player strategy is referring
(06:16):
cards back and forth.
So, while I understand, it kindof stinks.
So we definitely are trying toget each get one more before
that ends.
The other thing is, I was justapproved for a card yesterday,
so this is my.
This was my ninth card.
I was just approved for theAmerican Express Marriott Bonvoy
(06:40):
business card, the one thatgives you three free nights
valued at up to 50k each, andthen you can top them off with
another 15,000 points.
There is or at least there wasas of the time I'm recording
this an elevated offer on theMarriott personal card that
actually gives you five freenights, which is a better offer,
(07:02):
except we are both at $424.
So we can only apply forbusiness cards at this moment in
time.
So I did apply for the Marriottbusiness card and was approved.
I also applied Dwayne for thatcard and he got the Amex pop-up.
So, again, frustrating.
I want to use these nights nextyear on our fall break trip,
(07:28):
which we haven't really talkedabout yet, but in order to do
that, we need to get two roomsat each property, and so I was
thinking, if we each get thiscard, we'll be able to stay
three nights with two rooms each, and that's kind of how I'm
thinking about it.
But he did not get approved forthe card, so little
disappointing.
Um, probably we'll try again,maybe in a couple months on that
(07:52):
one for him.
Um, okay, so that's the cardupdates.
Um, let's move on to the maintopic.
So this episode came about.
Um, someone on Instagrammessaged me and said hey, like
I'd really love to understandhow you manage your P2.
And I'm just going to read thisword for word Hi, megan, if
(08:14):
you're listening, this episodeis for you.
Um, so, yes, I'm trying tofigure out which cards and
loyalty accounts to put in myname versus my P2, which ones
can share points between familymembers and which cannot, and
how to manage who gets whichcard.
I travel more than my husbandand most credit cards until now
are in my name, but he's the onewith the business.
(08:35):
So trying to figure out thebest way to balance everything.
Yes, 1000%.
So that is kind of theinspiration for today's episode,
and I'm going to first back upa little bit, in case you are
brand new to points and mileslike what are you talking about?
Player two, player one, this,like I hate video games.
What does that mean?
(08:55):
So two player mode is literallyjust when, like, you're
managing credit card points andmiles across two people.
So usually that's you and yourspouse or partner, but it also
could be you and a parent, youand a sibling, you know whatever
, you and a friend even, andthen you use those points that
you both earn to travel together.
(09:17):
Each person has the ability toopen up and use their own cards,
which enables you to basicallydouble the signup bonuses and
sometimes also get additionalreferral credits as a little
random tangent.
One thing that is a big petpeeve of mine is when people say
and I don't want to, I don'twant to like categorize.
(09:40):
But usually it's women who saythis.
They say, oh yeah, we have anAmex or we have a capital one
card and it's like no, no, no,that's not how this works.
We don't have anything.
Okay, there is you and there'syour partner, and one of you has
the like the card in your nameand, like, I understand, yes,
maybe you're married and, yes,like, the law looks at the debt
(10:02):
on that card as both of yours.
Like, yes, that is all true andI fully understand that.
But for the sake of this hobby,you are two individual people,
right?
Being married doesn't give youa joint credit score, so you
each have your own credit scoreto think about and worry about
and manage.
But the bright side of that isyou also have your own ability
to open up credit cards, and youshould.
(10:24):
Especially if you're a woman,you should absolutely make sure
that your credit score is justas good as your spouse.
So a couple benefits of doingthis I already mentioned a few
of them, which is earn morepoints.
It also gives you a little moreflexibility, because some cards
(10:44):
offer benefits but maybe ahigher annual fee.
So if one of you has that card,you both actually have access
to the benefits of that card,but you only have to pay one
annual fee.
So when I first read thismessage, I thought that's a
fantastic episode idea.
But then I thought, you know, Ilike I am definitely thinking
(11:07):
all these things through, but Idon't know that I ever thought
about my thought process, ifthat makes sense.
So I really had to sit down andthink like, okay, why am I
making the decisions that I'mmaking?
And like, what things am Ifactoring in to these decisions?
So let's talk about that.
So the first couple things I'mthinking about are what is our
(11:30):
individual credit scores right?
One might be higher than theother.
If one is higher than the other, which is the case for me and
Dwayne right now, you know, howcan I like whoever has the
higher one, what can I do tobring up their score right?
Because both of you having ahigh score is going to benefit
both of you, and I alreadymentioned like I've okay.
(11:52):
So let me back up some thingsyou can do to help increase your
partner's credit score areadding them as authorized users
to your credit cards.
Again, you have to have a goodcredit score.
And you have to have a goodcredit score and you have to
have a longer length of credithistory than they do.
So that's something that canhelp.
If they have like a delinquentpayment or something that's kind
(12:14):
of a one-off, you can write alike a goodwill letter basically
to the company basically saying, hey, like I've was on time,
you know, for 27 months, butmissed one, one payment and it
was late, and you could evengive them a reason why and just
ask if they'll remove it andstop reporting it to your credit
report.
(12:34):
And that works.
We've done that actually.
Um, so those are just somethings you can do.
But essentially, the first thingI'm thinking of is our
individual credit scores and formore premium cards, the higher
your score, the more likely youare to be approved.
So I am going to you know, likewhen I reapply for the Chase
(12:55):
Sapphire business card, I wasdenied under my EIN, and when I
reapply I'm going to do it undermy social security number, but
I'm still going to be the onethat applies for it, because my
score is again about 50 pointshigher right now than Dwayne's
score, and so I think that'sgoing to be beneficial.
So credit score is the firstthing that I'm thinking of.
(13:17):
The second piece that I'mfactoring in is our 524 status.
So, again, if you're new, the524 status is essentially a
unwritten or unspoken rule fromChase that says you are only
allowed to have five personalcards opened within the last 24
(13:37):
months in order to be approvedfor a Chase card.
So if you have opened, let'ssay, six personal cards in the
last 24 months, you will not begetting approved for a chase
card.
Personal or business doesn'tmatter, they're not going to
approve you for the most part.
So that's another thing thatI'm considering is where are we
(13:57):
at with our 524 status?
And if one person is over 524,then that makes it pretty simple
.
If we're applying for chasecards, right, like, okay, well,
you can't get approved for that,but I can.
That's another benefit ofhaving two players.
Another thing that I'm thinkingabout is in terms of when I
think okay, who is going to openthis card?
(14:18):
I'm thinking about who is goingto be able to utilize this to
the best of its ability.
So, for example, I travel forwork on occasion not a ton, but
maybe a few times a year andDwayne never travels for work.
So any hotel branded cards,like our Hyatt cards, or the
Marriott card that I just opened, or the IHG card.
(14:41):
Those are all in my nameBecause if I am going to travel
for work and stay at one ofthose branded properties, I'm
going to utilize that card whenI stay there, right.
And similarly, the Hyatt cardsare in my name.
I'm the one that has globaliststatus, because some of the
stays that helped us get toglobalist status last year, a
(15:03):
few nights, were a work trip,right.
And so if, if that if we weredoing that under Dwayne's name,
it wouldn't have worked, wewouldn't have had enough.
So all of our Hyatt nights arebooked under my name.
And then, kind of on the note offlexible points, so again
flexible points are, you know,chase, american Express, capital
One and City Chase.
(15:25):
You can combine your points ifyou live in the same household.
You just have to call and setit up one time so that they're
linked.
So all of our Chase points thatDwayne earns get deposited into
my account.
I mean like he earns them andthey're in his account and then
I go in and manually transferthem over to my name.
So all of our Chase accountslive in my name and then when
(15:47):
they need to be transferredagain, whether that's to Hyatt
or somewhere else again they'regoing into my Hyatt account.
So that's again why I hold theHyatt account versus him or the
Hyatt card I mean versus him.
He has a Hyatt account but weonly use it when we need to book
two rooms or something likethat, and then okay.
So as far as American Express,you cannot pool your points in
(16:11):
American Express.
So basically I'm building uptwo chunks of points Amex points
, one under my name and oneunder his name, and then when we
book flights, we pretty muchalways book one way flights.
We're usually not flying intoand out of the same airport,
just the way that we travel.
(16:32):
Sometimes we do, but for themost part we book one way
flights.
So I might book one way undermy name using my points and one
way under his name.
That kind of goes into thequestion about how do I know
what loyalty accounts to open,and I think we can talk more
about that in a little bit.
But I kind of do that on thefly.
(16:54):
There's a few loyalty appoints.
I'm sorry.
There's a few loyalty programswhere you have to wait a certain
amount of time between openingthe card and being able to
transfer in points, but so farwe haven't come across that
being an issue.
So, and then Capital One you canmove points to each other.
(17:17):
That's fine.
You don't even need to live inthe same household each other,
that's fine.
You don't even need to live inthe same household and city.
I am actually not sure.
In full transparency, I haven'tdelved much into the city
ecosphere, I don't have any citycards, and so that's like
pretty low on my priority list,quite honestly.
So I genuinely don't know theanswer to that.
Okay, so the again.
(17:39):
Let's quickly recap the firstfew things I'm thinking about
when deciding which one of us isgoing to open a card is our
credit scores and the type ofcard.
Right, more luxury, higher endcards.
I'm going to go with whoeverhas the higher credit score.
Number two, our 524 status and,thinking ahead, right, like
(18:00):
Dwayne doesn't drop under 520,or Dwayne is at 424.
And he doesn't drop under thatuntil October of 2026.
I think so it's actually goingto be a long time where we can
really only get business cardsfor him.
And then the third thing iskind of the where who's going to
get the best use out of thiscard in the near future.
(18:25):
So then the next piece of this,I think, is when to open the
card.
So those are the things I'mthinking about as far as
deciding which cards to open forwho, but when to open them.
I think if you're just startingout, a really solid strategy is
every 45 days you alternate.
So if I opened one today, in 45days Dwayne would open one and
(18:46):
then 45 days after that I wouldopen another one, and that gives
a full 90 days betweenapplications for each person,
which is like a pretty solidamount of time, especially if
you're alternating banks and ifyou're starting out kind of slow
, like I think that's the way togo, and then you don't have to
(19:08):
stress about meeting the minimumspends and you know it's a.
It's a really good way to dipyour toe in and kind of start in
this hobby.
Then at the end of the yearyou've you've each opened four
cards, right, and so that's likeyou've each opened four cards,
right, and so that's like likeyou can easily take a family
vacation, like a nice one, whenyou've opened eight credit cards
(19:28):
.
So, um, maybe two, depending onwhere you're going.
So, um, if you're a little moreadvanced than sometimes, we
open cards on the same day.
Sorry, my brain's going toofast.
If you want to do that.
You just need to be sure thatyou can meet the minimum spend
(19:50):
on both of those cards in.
Whatever the timeframe allottedis, whether that's three months
or, you know, sometimes we'vebeen seeing six months now as
long as you can meet the minimumspend on both cards within that
timeframe, I say go for it.
I open cards for each of us onthe same day all the time it's.
(20:11):
There's really not a bigstrategy there other than I'm
going to sit down at thecomputer and I'm going to do
this and then I'm not going tothink about it for, you know, a
couple of months because we'regoing to work on these cards and
then it's off my plate.
So, again, not really anystrategy there, just kind of
like easier for my brain, ifthat makes sense.
Okay, so we talked about likekind of the what and the when.
(20:36):
A couple of things to note.
Make sure that you arereferring your partner or your
P2 to any card you can.
So I did talk about how I thinkabout who's going to open what
card.
But I think it's also worthnoting that my intention is
(21:01):
always for us both to get mostcards.
So, for example, with theMarriott card that I was just
approved for with the three freenight signup bonus.
My intention is for Dwayne toalso get that card.
He just was declined for it,and that's because I know where
I would use our three freenights and I know that we would
(21:22):
need two rooms, and so that'skind of how that works.
Um, I will, now that I have thecard, I will wait some time and
then I will try to refer himand then earn some extra points,
which will be great if he canget approved.
Stay tuned, but make sure thatyou're referring whenever you
(21:43):
can, so like I would.
If neither one of you have thecard or any card in that family,
then I would use a creator'slink, referral link right, open
your card.
Then, once you're ready foryour P2 to have the card, you go
into your account and find thereferral link.
Sometimes there are notreferral links, especially for,
like, airline cards, like AAcards don't often have them.
(22:06):
You have to be invited, I think.
So that's kind of annoying, butwhen you can, you always want
to make sure that you refer yourpartner.
As far as who kind of handlesall the cards and the
responsibilities, personally Ithink it is easiest if one
person does all of these things.
That is generally the P1.
(22:27):
That is me.
In our household.
I manage not only all thecredit cards and everything, but
I manage all of our bills, allof our investing retirement
budget.
Like all of that is me.
I just think it's a lot easierwhen it's one person and
obviously you know Dwayne hasinput, but I'm the one who has
(22:47):
like the vision and the plan.
So, um, I handle all of ourapplications, all of our
tracking.
I use travel freely to input.
Every time we get a new cardand every time we close the card
, I also go in and remove it.
Or if we downgrade a card, Ichange it the way and then.
So I do that and Dwayne is like, hey, what card do I use for
(23:09):
this?
Or like, what card are weworking on right now?
Like he knows enough to ask.
He also knows enough to notapply for store credit cards.
Like when they ask you oh, doyou want to save like 10% by,
you know, signing up for thiscredit card today?
He knows that, no, heabsolutely does not want to do
that and that is a big help.
(23:32):
The other day I was in Old Navyand I was getting some like back
to school stuff, I think, forthe kids, and they said, oh, do
you want to sign up for a totalrewards card?
Or I forget what they called it, but it was something like that
and I was like, oh, is that acredit card?
And they're like it's a rewardscard.
And I'm like, um, okay, likefirst of all, I'm a little bit
full of rage right now because Iknow that you're telling like
(23:53):
that you're asking me to sign upfor a credit card, but you're
being very misleading about it,which I think is super shady.
And if someone is uneducatedabout what that means, then
you've just signed them up for acredit card that they didn't
necessarily want.
So that's another littletangent for you.
That was so annoying.
But don't sign up for thosebecause, yes, it counts against
(24:15):
your 524.
Before we started points andmiles, we actually have a tire
credit card that sits at thebottom of our travel freely.
Um, that mocks me, even thoughit's.
It's been more than two years,so it doesn't count towards 524
anymore, but it's there.
So that is how I find thebiggest help.
(24:39):
Dwayne, essentially, has givenme free reign over his social
security number and his emailaddress and whatever, and I do
all of these things right.
I basically manage it as if I'mone person with two different
identities who's playing thishobby.
But again, it's it's identitytheft with full permission.
So let's be clear about that.
(24:59):
It's identity theft with fullpermission.
So let's be clear about that.
I do think that he trusts me alot, which is absolutely a must.
I don't know, and also in fulltransparency and he and I have
talked about this if the roleswere reversed, I don't know that
I would be as trusting to giveover my social security number
and all that.
I mean.
He knows what it is, but youunderstand what I'm saying.
(25:21):
I've also had my identitystolen via someone filed taxes
on my behalf a long time ago,and so ever since then, I'm like
super paranoid about it.
So, anyways, I digress Travelfreely is the best app to keep
track of all the cards that youare opening.
Let's talk about, like, loyaltyaccounts.
(25:41):
Now we talked, we brieflytouched on it, but I think I'll
just share what has worked forus so far.
Um, I pretty much have themajority of the loyalty accounts
in our family.
So, like, our flying blueloyalty account is under my name
.
What else?
(26:04):
British Airways We've prettymuch used my accounts only to
transfer flexible points intothe loyalty account.
So and if you're not familiarthe name on the credit card
account has to match your nameon your loyalty account.
(26:25):
So, like I cannot transfer myAmerican Express points into
Dwayne's flying blue account,for example, if I wanted to, I
could not.
However, there are some airlinesthat allow family pooling, so
that can be one way to getaround the names not matching.
So, for example, if Dwayne has20,000 points stranded in a
(26:48):
flying blue loyalty account butall the rest of the chase or
Amex points are in my name, Ican transfer from Amex to my
loyalty account and then set upa family pool with him to get
access to those other 20,000miles.
So I'm not going to go throughlike an exhaustive list of every
single airline that does this,but I'm going to name a few of
(27:10):
the top, like most popular ones,and then if there's a specific
one you're wondering about, Iwould Google.
You know, google that specificone.
Okay, so Air Canada is one thatallows family pooling.
I already mentioned Air FranceFlying Blue.
They also allow family poolingand, as a side note, I actually
need to go in and create loyaltyaccounts for my children and
(27:34):
then request miles from theflights that we paid cash for
when we went to Europe.
And I'm probably running out oftime, so I need to do that like
pretty soon, because once I dothat and they get the miles,
then I'm going to set up afamily pool and I'm going to
take them all in my account.
Okay, let's see what are someother ones.
(27:55):
Oh, british Airways allows youto kind of pool points as well,
allows you to kind of pullpoints as well.
You have to set up what'scalled a household account, and
I think you can do this for upto six people that live with you
.
And I've actually had to dothis also and this was a while
ago, so the details are a littlefuzzy but essentially I needed
(28:18):
to buy a last minute ticketbecause my grandfather was going
to pass away in the next fewdays and I needed to fly from
Phoenix to North Carolina and Ididn't have enough points in
either my Chase account orDwayne's, but together we did,
and so I essentially transferredsome from his, some from mine.
(28:38):
Had to set up a householdaccount in order to be able to
book my flight there, and sothat is one where that works as
well.
Jetblue, if you're on the EastCoast.
We don't ever fly JetBluebecause they're not really
prevalent on the West Coast, butthey have a really family like
(29:00):
family friendly kind of poolingthing.
So that works really well.
Let me think of who else?
Oh, united, that's the otherbig one.
So United allows you to poolmiles for free with up to I
think it's four other mileageplus members.
Mileage plus is like the nameof the United program.
(29:22):
I don't even think these peopleneed to live with you.
I think they can be whoever.
But the trick here is that thepooled miles can only be used on
United operated flights.
So if you were trying to booklike a partner flight through
United, you cannot use pooledmiles to do that.
(29:43):
Now there is, I think, a trickI've heard floating around on
Reddit where it's like you makethe pooled miles and then if you
leave the pool, like whoeverleaves the pool, then maybe you
can use those miles on partneroperated flights.
But I don't know.
Tbd haven't tried that part.
(30:07):
Let's see.
I feel like those are kind ofthe top airline options.
Anyways.
Let's briefly talk about hotels,because we've also done this a
few times.
So Hilton makes it super easy toshare your points.
You can transfer, I think, upto like.
Let me see if I get this right.
(30:29):
I think you can send 500,000points a year and you can
receive up to 2 million pointsper year.
I'm pretty sure is how it goesand, like I have, my sister has
transferred Hilton points to me.
I have transferred some pointsto Dwayne.
Essentially, we're transferringbecause we want the person with
(30:49):
the highest status to be ableto book the room.
So there was a time whereDwayne had Hilton Diamond, which
is the highest status, and Idid not.
But I had Hilton points and soI sent my points to him so he
could book this day.
So that's another reason whyyou may want to do that is you
know status.
You you always want the personwith the highest status to book,
whatever it is.
(31:09):
That goes for hotels andairlines.
I think I believe Marriott alsoallows you to transfer points
for free, but I don't think it'sa ton of points Like I think
maybe hold on, let me look it up.
Yep, so you can transfer up to100,000 points per calendar year
to another account.
(31:30):
You can receive up to 500,000points, but in the world of
Marriott that's not very muchright, 100,000 points might not
even be one night, depending onwhere you're staying.
And then Hyatt you can transferpoints to another Hyatt member.
I do this all the time.
You have to fill out a likepaper form and email it.
(31:51):
It is called the pointcombining request form.
You download it, you fill itout and you literally email it
to world of Hyatt at Hyattcom.
It can take several weeks, sokeep that in mind, like plan for
at least four weeks and beexcited if it happens sooner.
But I've done that plenty oftimes.
And then, as far as IHG goes,so generally this costs money to
(32:17):
do.
I think it's $5 for everythousand points, which is a lot.
But if you have status, I thinkyou can do it for free.
So stat, the highest IHG statusis diamond elite.
Or if you have like a businessrewards.
So I think if you have like abusiness card which then gives
you a business account, thenpotentially you can also
(32:39):
transfer for free.
I don't have an IHG businessaccount, so that's not something
I've ever looked into, but justso you know it's an option.
Okay, so we've talked aboutairline and hotel loyalty
accounts and kind of when youcan pool and when you can't.
I want to come back to one morepiece of the question that Megan
(33:00):
asked, which was um, you knowshe said I travel more than my
husband, but he's the one withthe business.
So if one of you owns abusiness, um, I think I would
probably do a couple of things.
One I would make sure thatwhatever his business spends
(33:21):
money on is getting the highestcategory spend possible.
So, like, if they're spendingat office supply, I would make
sure he's using like a chasingcash or something that's going
to get, you know, 5x at aminimum.
If they have, like, a lot ofgas expenses, then I would make
sure I'm using a card thatmaximizes spend at gas stations.
(33:45):
Okay, and then the last piece Ithink that I think through when
deciding who is going to getwhat card and when is.
Where are we going and like,how many points do we need to
get there?
So, for example, I alreadytalked about the Marriott card
briefly.
Right, I like just me havingthose three free night
(34:12):
certificates is not enough.
So Dwayne also needs to getthat card or some version where
we can utilize, you know,similar Marriott certificates.
So in that's a scenario excuseme, that is a scenario where we
both need to get the cardbecause I have a very specific
(34:32):
use in mind for them.
Another scenario would be weare going to go to Scotland next
summer and I am like superclose to being able to book it,
but the availability is just notquite open yet.
So in like another week or twoit should be.
And I knew that we were going tostay at a Hilton and I knew
(34:56):
that we needed enough points tobe able to cover that.
And we're going on that tripwith my mom and my sister, so
there will actually be seven ofus total, and there is a Hilton
that we're going to stay at thatactually sleeps for, so we have
seven people total, so that'stwo rooms.
So I'm just going toessentially put one of my kids
(35:17):
in my mom and my sister's roomand the other two will stay in
our room.
And.
But I then needed my mom toalso have Hilton points, right?
Because, again, we've alreadymentioned, we don't really share
our points because we are afamily of five and we barely
earn enough points to sustainour travel habit and by our
travel habit I mean mine, really, let's be honest.
(35:38):
So I knew my mom needed to getsome Hilton points as well.
So I referred her to a Hiltoncard and, you know, went from
there.
But Dwayne and I also want tostay at a couple of these like
aspirational Hilton propertieswhich, if we're taking the kids
1000% we need two rooms, whichmeans we need a ton of points
(35:58):
and maybe some free nightcertificates, and so we both
have the Hilton Aspire card now,for that reason and the timing
didn't work out super great,because I wasn't able to get the
card until a good like three tofour months after him so, like,
my free night certificatedoesn't expire until like July,
(36:20):
but his expires in November.
So it's, I'm sorry.
Let me explain His expires thisNovember and mine doesn't
expire until next July.
So the timing of that isn'tgreat because it shortens our
window in which we have toutilize both of them together,
right, because he's not going toget a new one until November.
(36:43):
So then we really have roughlyeight months to use the two
together versus, you know, afull year, if that makes sense.
So another thing to think aboutin this hobby, as if there isn't
enough nuance, that's one morepiece to add to the puzzle.
So, if you are, in addition towhere you're going, right, being
(37:03):
a factor of consideration.
If you are aiming for cardsthat offer free night
certificates, if you can linethem up as close as possible so
that the expiration dates aresimilar, I would also recommend
doing that and then going backto kind of where we're going.
Sorry for the ADHD today Idon't even have ADHD, I don't
(37:24):
think, but my brain sometimessure does.
So, going back to kind of wherewe're going, I know that the
advice is always get as manyflexible points as you can and
worry about it later.
I do always want to be workingon flexible points, but I also
sometimes plan like to get aspecific card for a specific
(37:48):
trip.
Okay, so let's quickly recap.
We talked about what player,what two player mode is and why
it can be beneficial.
We talked about kind of whatwe're thinking through as we're
opening up cards.
Right, credit score, 524 status.
Who can maximize the benefitsthe most, based on work, travel,
(38:08):
if any business spend that sortof thing.
Then we talked about the timing, like when does it make sense
to open the cards?
Should we stagger?
Should we do it at the sametime?
Again, I will reiterate that ifyou're just new and starting
out, staggering is for sure thebest way to go so you don't get
overwhelmed.
We talked about making sureyou're referring back and forth
(38:28):
between cards whenever possibleso that you're not leaving those
you know, five, 10, 15, 20,000points on the table.
We talked about who is handlingthe cards and kind of P1 versus
P2 responsibilities and how weorganize it, which, again, is
travel freely.
And then we talked about theloyalty programs and kind of who
(38:51):
pools and who doesn't and howwe kind of want to think about
the booking of those and shouldwe book one ways and all that
sort of thing.
So, okay, I hope that that washelpful.
If you have any additionalquestions, please message me on
Instagram at travel party offive.
(39:11):
I will respond to.
I do respond to every singleperson who sends me a message
and I love it every time.
If you are so inclined, wewould love a review of our
podcast wherever you listen.
That helps more people find ourshow and we don't do any sort
of like advertising or anything.
So all of our growth has beenfully organic, which I'm super
(39:32):
proud of.
And then, last and but not least, if you signed up on the
waitlist for the pointsconsultations, that is still
coming, so I apologize, it'staken a little longer.
There's been a few logistics,including making sure my
calendar is blocked correctly sothat it will schedule times
appropriately when I'm notworking, because, as a reminder,
(39:53):
I do work a full time corporatejob during the week, and so
that has been kind of thebiggest hurdle.
That and I have to set up aStripe account which takes
payments, which is also new tome.
So appreciate your patience, aswe've been traveling a bit this
summer, and it has definitelytaken me longer to get to that
than I intended.
It is coming, though, and Iwill email you, likely in the
(40:17):
next week, with some additionalinformation and next steps on
when you can start booking those.
Okay, I think that is it.
Thank you so much for listening.
As always, we are superappreciative of all of your time
, and I hope you had a good walkor drive, or dishes, or
whatever it is you're doingwhile you listen, and we will
catch you next week.
Bye.
Want to travel more without doubling your spending.
The trick is double youraccounts.
Two player mode is the mostunderrated way to earn more
points fast, especially forfamilies.
So today I'm breaking down howwe think about our two player
strategy without ruining ourmarriage.
Listen in.
(00:27):
Hi, I'm Raya and I'm Dwayne,and we are your hosts of the
Travel Party of Five podcast,where we share how we travel as
a family of five around theworld.
We will also share how we usepoints and miles to travel as
affordably as possible andsometimes even completely free.
(00:48):
So if you're wanting to travelmore with your family but you're
not sure how, we'd love for youto listen in.
So welcome to our podcast,where we hope you learn a thing
or two to get you closer to yournext trip.
Hey friends, welcome back toTravel Party 5 podcast.
(01:14):
My name is Rhea, I am your host, I am solo.
Today we are going to betalking all about building a
two-player strategy for yourcredit card points and miles
hobby and breaking down kind ofhow we think about that, not
only from like what cards toopen and when to open them, but
(01:34):
also even diving deeper into thedifferent loyalty accounts and
who should have what loyaltyaccounts and all that sort of
thing.
So listen in for that.
But before we jump into themain topic, I did want to give a
few card updates.
So one of the things that I getthe most feedback about on
(01:56):
Instagram is when I share creditcards that we are applying for
or that we got denied for, orcards I'm thinking of getting,
and so I want to do a better jobof talking about that on the
podcast and we definitely dotalk about it, you know, every
few episodes, but want to try todo that a little bit more.
So we let's see.
(02:18):
Duane was approved for the ChaseSapphire Reserve with the
elevated offer of 100,000 pointsabout a month ago now, I think.
Okay, yes, it was June 24.
So pretty much a month ago thathe was approved for that and
since then we have.
(02:39):
I have applied him for a ChaseInc card just within the last
week and he was denied.
I applied for the ChaseSapphire Reserve business card
and I was also denied.
I even called reconsiderationand was still declined.
I applied for that with our EINnumber and my plan is to wait
(03:00):
30 days for that application toexpire and then apply again
without the EIN under my namespecifically.
So that was a little bit of abummer.
Duane has not been approved fora Chase business card in almost
a full year.
It was fall of 2024 when he gothis last one and he only
(03:21):
currently has two open.
One is a United Business cardand one is a Chase Ink Preferred
.
So that is super frustrating.
I've also noticed my creditscore is a good 50 points higher
than his and I'm not 100% surewhy.
That is Because I have openedin my name, I think let me just
(03:43):
confirm and with travel freely,but I think it's like eight or
nine credit cards this year justunder my name.
Hold on, let me check.
Yes, I have opened nine creditcards under my name alone this
year, so it's funny to me thatmy score is so much higher than
his.
It also says my length ofcredit is significantly longer
than his length of credithistory, but I mean I have him
(04:06):
added as an authorized user onone of my oldest credit cards,
so I'm just not sure like wherethat comes from.
It's a little bit of a mysteryto me.
If you know, message me onInstagram and tell me so.
Anyway.
So we got those two denials.
So after those denials I did goin and close a Chase Inc card
under my name, so I closed aChase Inc Preferred that had
(04:31):
been open just over a year.
I also have a Chase Inc Cashthat has been open well over a
year that I could close.
But I'm hesitant to close thatone because I don't know that
we'll be able to get approvedfor another one, and we
absolutely use it for gift cardsat office supply stores like
almost once a month.
(04:52):
So I I had applied Dwayne forthe ink cash, thinking if he
gets this one then I can closemine.
But he didn't get it so wedidn't call reconsideration.
I think if I apply him againand he gets declined we will
call reconsideration for him,because it's silly really why
they wouldn't give him a card.
(05:12):
He only has two.
Anyways, and then the other cardthat I closed was under
Dwayne's name and it was anAmerican Airlines Advantage the
Barclays card.
So he had that over a year.
The annual fee was coming dueand I reached out via chat on
their website as him, asking ifthere was any retention offers
on the account.
(05:33):
They said no, so I said wellthen, in that case I'd like to
go ahead and close the account.
And so the account has beenclosed.
So tried to apply for two cardsgot declined.
Tried to apply for two cardsgot declined.
Close two cards and we'll waitthe 30 days to apply again.
I would really like us to eachbe able to get one more chase
(05:53):
business card before thereferral train ends, which is
October 7.
And if you don't know what I'mtalking about, the chase has
basically announced that,starting October 7, you cannot
refer someone to a chasebusiness card if they already
have one, meaning you wouldn'tearn any points.
And that is a big part of ourtwo player strategy is referring
(06:16):
cards back and forth.
So, while I understand, it kindof stinks.
So we definitely are trying toget each get one more before
that ends.
The other thing is, I was justapproved for a card yesterday,
so this is my.
This was my ninth card.
I was just approved for theAmerican Express Marriott Bonvoy
(06:40):
business card, the one thatgives you three free nights
valued at up to 50k each, andthen you can top them off with
another 15,000 points.
There is or at least there wasas of the time I'm recording
this an elevated offer on theMarriott personal card that
actually gives you five freenights, which is a better offer,
(07:02):
except we are both at $424.
So we can only apply forbusiness cards at this moment in
time.
So I did apply for the Marriottbusiness card and was approved.
I also applied Dwayne for thatcard and he got the Amex pop-up.
So, again, frustrating.
I want to use these nights nextyear on our fall break trip,
(07:28):
which we haven't really talkedabout yet, but in order to do
that, we need to get two roomsat each property, and so I was
thinking, if we each get thiscard, we'll be able to stay
three nights with two rooms each, and that's kind of how I'm
thinking about it.
But he did not get approved forthe card, so little
disappointing.
Um, probably we'll try again,maybe in a couple months on that
(07:52):
one for him.
Um, okay, so that's the cardupdates.
Um, let's move on to the maintopic.
So this episode came about.
Um, someone on Instagrammessaged me and said hey, like
I'd really love to understandhow you manage your P2.
And I'm just going to read thisword for word Hi, megan, if
(08:14):
you're listening, this episodeis for you.
Um, so, yes, I'm trying tofigure out which cards and
loyalty accounts to put in myname versus my P2, which ones
can share points between familymembers and which cannot, and
how to manage who gets whichcard.
I travel more than my husbandand most credit cards until now
are in my name, but he's the onewith the business.
(08:35):
So trying to figure out thebest way to balance everything.
Yes, 1000%.
So that is kind of theinspiration for today's episode,
and I'm going to first back upa little bit, in case you are
brand new to points and mileslike what are you talking about?
Player two, player one, this,like I hate video games.
What does that mean?
(08:55):
So two player mode is literallyjust when, like, you're
managing credit card points andmiles across two people.
So usually that's you and yourspouse or partner, but it also
could be you and a parent, youand a sibling, you know whatever
, you and a friend even, andthen you use those points that
you both earn to travel together.
(09:17):
Each person has the ability toopen up and use their own cards,
which enables you to basicallydouble the signup bonuses and
sometimes also get additionalreferral credits as a little
random tangent.
One thing that is a big petpeeve of mine is when people say
and I don't want to, I don'twant to like categorize.
(09:40):
But usually it's women who saythis.
They say, oh yeah, we have anAmex or we have a capital one
card and it's like no, no, no,that's not how this works.
We don't have anything.
Okay, there is you and there'syour partner, and one of you has
the like the card in your nameand, like, I understand, yes,
maybe you're married and, yes,like, the law looks at the debt
(10:02):
on that card as both of yours.
Like, yes, that is all true andI fully understand that.
But for the sake of this hobby,you are two individual people,
right?
Being married doesn't give youa joint credit score, so you
each have your own credit scoreto think about and worry about
and manage.
But the bright side of that isyou also have your own ability
to open up credit cards, and youshould.
(10:24):
Especially if you're a woman,you should absolutely make sure
that your credit score is justas good as your spouse.
So a couple benefits of doingthis I already mentioned a few
of them, which is earn morepoints.
It also gives you a little moreflexibility, because some cards
(10:44):
offer benefits but maybe ahigher annual fee.
So if one of you has that card,you both actually have access
to the benefits of that card,but you only have to pay one
annual fee.
So when I first read thismessage, I thought that's a
fantastic episode idea.
But then I thought, you know, Ilike I am definitely thinking
(11:07):
all these things through, but Idon't know that I ever thought
about my thought process, ifthat makes sense.
So I really had to sit down andthink like, okay, why am I
making the decisions that I'mmaking?
And like, what things am Ifactoring in to these decisions?
So let's talk about that.
So the first couple things I'mthinking about are what is our
(11:30):
individual credit scores right?
One might be higher than theother.
If one is higher than the other, which is the case for me and
Dwayne right now, you know, howcan I like whoever has the
higher one, what can I do tobring up their score right?
Because both of you having ahigh score is going to benefit
both of you, and I alreadymentioned like I've okay.
(11:52):
So let me back up some thingsyou can do to help increase your
partner's credit score areadding them as authorized users
to your credit cards.
Again, you have to have a goodcredit score.
And you have to have a goodcredit score and you have to
have a longer length of credithistory than they do.
So that's something that canhelp.
If they have like a delinquentpayment or something that's kind
(12:14):
of a one-off, you can write alike a goodwill letter basically
to the company basically saying, hey, like I've was on time,
you know, for 27 months, butmissed one, one payment and it
was late, and you could evengive them a reason why and just
ask if they'll remove it andstop reporting it to your credit
report.
(12:34):
And that works.
We've done that actually.
Um, so those are just somethings you can do.
But essentially, the first thingI'm thinking of is our
individual credit scores and formore premium cards, the higher
your score, the more likely youare to be approved.
So I am going to you know, likewhen I reapply for the Chase
(12:55):
Sapphire business card, I wasdenied under my EIN, and when I
reapply I'm going to do it undermy social security number, but
I'm still going to be the onethat applies for it, because my
score is again about 50 pointshigher right now than Dwayne's
score, and so I think that'sgoing to be beneficial.
So credit score is the firstthing that I'm thinking of.
(13:17):
The second piece that I'mfactoring in is our 524 status.
So, again, if you're new, the524 status is essentially a
unwritten or unspoken rule fromChase that says you are only
allowed to have five personalcards opened within the last 24
(13:37):
months in order to be approvedfor a Chase card.
So if you have opened, let'ssay, six personal cards in the
last 24 months, you will not begetting approved for a chase
card.
Personal or business doesn'tmatter, they're not going to
approve you for the most part.
So that's another thing thatI'm considering is where are we
(13:57):
at with our 524 status?
And if one person is over 524,then that makes it pretty simple
.
If we're applying for chasecards, right, like, okay, well,
you can't get approved for that,but I can.
That's another benefit ofhaving two players.
Another thing that I'm thinkingabout is in terms of when I
think okay, who is going to openthis card?
(14:18):
I'm thinking about who is goingto be able to utilize this to
the best of its ability.
So, for example, I travel forwork on occasion not a ton, but
maybe a few times a year andDwayne never travels for work.
So any hotel branded cards,like our Hyatt cards, or the
Marriott card that I just opened, or the IHG card.
(14:41):
Those are all in my nameBecause if I am going to travel
for work and stay at one ofthose branded properties, I'm
going to utilize that card whenI stay there, right.
And similarly, the Hyatt cardsare in my name.
I'm the one that has globaliststatus, because some of the
stays that helped us get toglobalist status last year, a
(15:03):
few nights, were a work trip,right.
And so if, if that if we weredoing that under Dwayne's name,
it wouldn't have worked, wewouldn't have had enough.
So all of our Hyatt nights arebooked under my name.
And then, kind of on the note offlexible points, so again
flexible points are, you know,chase, american Express, capital
One and City Chase.
(15:25):
You can combine your points ifyou live in the same household.
You just have to call and setit up one time so that they're
linked.
So all of our Chase points thatDwayne earns get deposited into
my account.
I mean like he earns them andthey're in his account and then
I go in and manually transferthem over to my name.
So all of our Chase accountslive in my name and then when
(15:47):
they need to be transferredagain, whether that's to Hyatt
or somewhere else again they'regoing into my Hyatt account.
So that's again why I hold theHyatt account versus him or the
Hyatt card I mean versus him.
He has a Hyatt account but weonly use it when we need to book
two rooms or something likethat, and then okay.
So as far as American Express,you cannot pool your points in
(16:11):
American Express.
So basically I'm building uptwo chunks of points Amex points
, one under my name and oneunder his name, and then when we
book flights, we pretty muchalways book one way flights.
We're usually not flying intoand out of the same airport,
just the way that we travel.
(16:32):
Sometimes we do, but for themost part we book one way
flights.
So I might book one way undermy name using my points and one
way under his name.
That kind of goes into thequestion about how do I know
what loyalty accounts to open,and I think we can talk more
about that in a little bit.
But I kind of do that on thefly.
(16:54):
There's a few loyalty appoints.
I'm sorry.
There's a few loyalty programswhere you have to wait a certain
amount of time between openingthe card and being able to
transfer in points, but so farwe haven't come across that
being an issue.
So, and then Capital One you canmove points to each other.
(17:17):
That's fine.
You don't even need to live inthe same household each other,
that's fine.
You don't even need to live inthe same household and city.
I am actually not sure.
In full transparency, I haven'tdelved much into the city
ecosphere, I don't have any citycards, and so that's like
pretty low on my priority list,quite honestly.
So I genuinely don't know theanswer to that.
Okay, so the again.
(17:39):
Let's quickly recap the firstfew things I'm thinking about
when deciding which one of us isgoing to open a card is our
credit scores and the type ofcard.
Right, more luxury, higher endcards.
I'm going to go with whoeverhas the higher credit score.
Number two, our 524 status and,thinking ahead, right, like
(18:00):
Dwayne doesn't drop under 520,or Dwayne is at 424.
And he doesn't drop under thatuntil October of 2026.
I think so it's actually goingto be a long time where we can
really only get business cardsfor him.
And then the third thing iskind of the where who's going to
get the best use out of thiscard in the near future.
(18:25):
So then the next piece of this,I think, is when to open the
card.
So those are the things I'mthinking about as far as
deciding which cards to open forwho, but when to open them.
I think if you're just startingout, a really solid strategy is
every 45 days you alternate.
So if I opened one today, in 45days Dwayne would open one and
(18:46):
then 45 days after that I wouldopen another one, and that gives
a full 90 days betweenapplications for each person,
which is like a pretty solidamount of time, especially if
you're alternating banks and ifyou're starting out kind of slow
, like I think that's the way togo, and then you don't have to
(19:08):
stress about meeting the minimumspends and you know it's a.
It's a really good way to dipyour toe in and kind of start in
this hobby.
Then at the end of the yearyou've you've each opened four
cards, right, and so that's likeyou've each opened four cards,
right, and so that's like likeyou can easily take a family
vacation, like a nice one, whenyou've opened eight credit cards
(19:28):
.
So, um, maybe two, depending onwhere you're going.
So, um, if you're a little moreadvanced than sometimes, we
open cards on the same day.
Sorry, my brain's going toofast.
If you want to do that.
You just need to be sure thatyou can meet the minimum spend
(19:50):
on both of those cards in.
Whatever the timeframe allottedis, whether that's three months
or, you know, sometimes we'vebeen seeing six months now as
long as you can meet the minimumspend on both cards within that
timeframe, I say go for it.
I open cards for each of us onthe same day all the time it's.
(20:11):
There's really not a bigstrategy there other than I'm
going to sit down at thecomputer and I'm going to do
this and then I'm not going tothink about it for, you know, a
couple of months because we'regoing to work on these cards and
then it's off my plate.
So, again, not really anystrategy there, just kind of
like easier for my brain, ifthat makes sense.
Okay, so we talked about likekind of the what and the when.
(20:36):
A couple of things to note.
Make sure that you arereferring your partner or your
P2 to any card you can.
So I did talk about how I thinkabout who's going to open what
card.
But I think it's also worthnoting that my intention is
(21:01):
always for us both to get mostcards.
So, for example, with theMarriott card that I was just
approved for with the three freenight signup bonus.
My intention is for Dwayne toalso get that card.
He just was declined for it,and that's because I know where
I would use our three freenights and I know that we would
(21:22):
need two rooms, and so that'skind of how that works.
Um, I will, now that I have thecard, I will wait some time and
then I will try to refer himand then earn some extra points,
which will be great if he canget approved.
Stay tuned, but make sure thatyou're referring whenever you
(21:43):
can, so like I would.
If neither one of you have thecard or any card in that family,
then I would use a creator'slink, referral link right, open
your card.
Then, once you're ready foryour P2 to have the card, you go
into your account and find thereferral link.
Sometimes there are notreferral links, especially for,
like, airline cards, like AAcards don't often have them.
(22:06):
You have to be invited, I think.
So that's kind of annoying, butwhen you can, you always want
to make sure that you refer yourpartner.
As far as who kind of handlesall the cards and the
responsibilities, personally Ithink it is easiest if one
person does all of these things.
That is generally the P1.
(22:27):
That is me.
In our household.
I manage not only all thecredit cards and everything, but
I manage all of our bills, allof our investing retirement
budget.
Like all of that is me.
I just think it's a lot easierwhen it's one person and
obviously you know Dwayne hasinput, but I'm the one who has
(22:47):
like the vision and the plan.
So, um, I handle all of ourapplications, all of our
tracking.
I use travel freely to input.
Every time we get a new cardand every time we close the card
, I also go in and remove it.
Or if we downgrade a card, Ichange it the way and then.
So I do that and Dwayne is like, hey, what card do I use for
(23:09):
this?
Or like, what card are weworking on right now?
Like he knows enough to ask.
He also knows enough to notapply for store credit cards.
Like when they ask you oh, doyou want to save like 10% by,
you know, signing up for thiscredit card today?
He knows that, no, heabsolutely does not want to do
that and that is a big help.
(23:32):
The other day I was in Old Navyand I was getting some like back
to school stuff, I think, forthe kids, and they said, oh, do
you want to sign up for a totalrewards card?
Or I forget what they called it, but it was something like that
and I was like, oh, is that acredit card?
And they're like it's a rewardscard.
And I'm like, um, okay, likefirst of all, I'm a little bit
full of rage right now because Iknow that you're telling like
(23:53):
that you're asking me to sign upfor a credit card, but you're
being very misleading about it,which I think is super shady.
And if someone is uneducatedabout what that means, then
you've just signed them up for acredit card that they didn't
necessarily want.
So that's another littletangent for you.
That was so annoying.
But don't sign up for thosebecause, yes, it counts against
(24:15):
your 524.
Before we started points andmiles, we actually have a tire
credit card that sits at thebottom of our travel freely.
Um, that mocks me, even thoughit's.
It's been more than two years,so it doesn't count towards 524
anymore, but it's there.
So that is how I find thebiggest help.
(24:39):
Dwayne, essentially, has givenme free reign over his social
security number and his emailaddress and whatever, and I do
all of these things right.
I basically manage it as if I'mone person with two different
identities who's playing thishobby.
But again, it's it's identitytheft with full permission.
So let's be clear about that.
(24:59):
It's identity theft with fullpermission.
So let's be clear about that.
I do think that he trusts me alot, which is absolutely a must.
I don't know, and also in fulltransparency and he and I have
talked about this if the roleswere reversed, I don't know that
I would be as trusting to giveover my social security number
and all that.
I mean.
He knows what it is, but youunderstand what I'm saying.
(25:21):
I've also had my identitystolen via someone filed taxes
on my behalf a long time ago,and so ever since then, I'm like
super paranoid about it.
So, anyways, I digress Travelfreely is the best app to keep
track of all the cards that youare opening.
Let's talk about, like, loyaltyaccounts.
(25:41):
Now we talked, we brieflytouched on it, but I think I'll
just share what has worked forus so far.
Um, I pretty much have themajority of the loyalty accounts
in our family.
So, like, our flying blueloyalty account is under my name
.
What else?
(26:04):
British Airways We've prettymuch used my accounts only to
transfer flexible points intothe loyalty account.
So and if you're not familiarthe name on the credit card
account has to match your nameon your loyalty account.
(26:25):
So, like I cannot transfer myAmerican Express points into
Dwayne's flying blue account,for example, if I wanted to, I
could not.
However, there are some airlinesthat allow family pooling, so
that can be one way to getaround the names not matching.
So, for example, if Dwayne has20,000 points stranded in a
(26:48):
flying blue loyalty account butall the rest of the chase or
Amex points are in my name, Ican transfer from Amex to my
loyalty account and then set upa family pool with him to get
access to those other 20,000miles.
So I'm not going to go throughlike an exhaustive list of every
single airline that does this,but I'm going to name a few of
(27:10):
the top, like most popular ones,and then if there's a specific
one you're wondering about, Iwould Google.
You know, google that specificone.
Okay, so Air Canada is one thatallows family pooling.
I already mentioned Air FranceFlying Blue.
They also allow family poolingand, as a side note, I actually
need to go in and create loyaltyaccounts for my children and
(27:34):
then request miles from theflights that we paid cash for
when we went to Europe.
And I'm probably running out oftime, so I need to do that like
pretty soon, because once I dothat and they get the miles,
then I'm going to set up afamily pool and I'm going to
take them all in my account.
Okay, let's see what are someother ones.
(27:55):
Oh, british Airways allows youto kind of pool points as well,
allows you to kind of pullpoints as well.
You have to set up what'scalled a household account, and
I think you can do this for upto six people that live with you
.
And I've actually had to dothis also and this was a while
ago, so the details are a littlefuzzy but essentially I needed
(28:18):
to buy a last minute ticketbecause my grandfather was going
to pass away in the next fewdays and I needed to fly from
Phoenix to North Carolina and Ididn't have enough points in
either my Chase account orDwayne's, but together we did,
and so I essentially transferredsome from his, some from mine.
(28:38):
Had to set up a householdaccount in order to be able to
book my flight there, and sothat is one where that works as
well.
Jetblue, if you're on the EastCoast.
We don't ever fly JetBluebecause they're not really
prevalent on the West Coast, butthey have a really family like
(29:00):
family friendly kind of poolingthing.
So that works really well.
Let me think of who else?
Oh, united, that's the otherbig one.
So United allows you to poolmiles for free with up to I
think it's four other mileageplus members.
Mileage plus is like the nameof the United program.
(29:22):
I don't even think these peopleneed to live with you.
I think they can be whoever.
But the trick here is that thepooled miles can only be used on
United operated flights.
So if you were trying to booklike a partner flight through
United, you cannot use pooledmiles to do that.
(29:43):
Now there is, I think, a trickI've heard floating around on
Reddit where it's like you makethe pooled miles and then if you
leave the pool, like whoeverleaves the pool, then maybe you
can use those miles on partneroperated flights.
But I don't know.
Tbd haven't tried that part.
(30:07):
Let's see.
I feel like those are kind ofthe top airline options.
Anyways.
Let's briefly talk about hotels,because we've also done this a
few times.
So Hilton makes it super easy toshare your points.
You can transfer, I think, upto like.
Let me see if I get this right.
(30:29):
I think you can send 500,000points a year and you can
receive up to 2 million pointsper year.
I'm pretty sure is how it goesand, like I have, my sister has
transferred Hilton points to me.
I have transferred some pointsto Dwayne.
Essentially, we're transferringbecause we want the person with
(30:49):
the highest status to be ableto book the room.
So there was a time whereDwayne had Hilton Diamond, which
is the highest status, and Idid not.
But I had Hilton points and soI sent my points to him so he
could book this day.
So that's another reason whyyou may want to do that is you
know status.
You you always want the personwith the highest status to book,
whatever it is.
(31:09):
That goes for hotels andairlines.
I think I believe Marriott alsoallows you to transfer points
for free, but I don't think it'sa ton of points Like I think
maybe hold on, let me look it up.
Yep, so you can transfer up to100,000 points per calendar year
to another account.
(31:30):
You can receive up to 500,000points, but in the world of
Marriott that's not very muchright, 100,000 points might not
even be one night, depending onwhere you're staying.
And then Hyatt you can transferpoints to another Hyatt member.
I do this all the time.
You have to fill out a likepaper form and email it.
(31:51):
It is called the pointcombining request form.
You download it, you fill itout and you literally email it
to world of Hyatt at Hyattcom.
It can take several weeks, sokeep that in mind, like plan for
at least four weeks and beexcited if it happens sooner.
But I've done that plenty oftimes.
And then, as far as IHG goes,so generally this costs money to
(32:17):
do.
I think it's $5 for everythousand points, which is a lot.
But if you have status, I thinkyou can do it for free.
So stat, the highest IHG statusis diamond elite.
Or if you have like a businessrewards.
So I think if you have like abusiness card which then gives
you a business account, thenpotentially you can also
(32:39):
transfer for free.
I don't have an IHG businessaccount, so that's not something
I've ever looked into, but justso you know it's an option.
Okay, so we've talked aboutairline and hotel loyalty
accounts and kind of when youcan pool and when you can't.
I want to come back to one morepiece of the question that Megan
(33:00):
asked, which was um, you knowshe said I travel more than my
husband, but he's the one withthe business.
So if one of you owns abusiness, um, I think I would
probably do a couple of things.
One I would make sure thatwhatever his business spends
(33:21):
money on is getting the highestcategory spend possible.
So, like, if they're spendingat office supply, I would make
sure he's using like a chasingcash or something that's going
to get, you know, 5x at aminimum.
If they have, like, a lot ofgas expenses, then I would make
sure I'm using a card thatmaximizes spend at gas stations.
(33:45):
Okay, and then the last piece Ithink that I think through when
deciding who is going to getwhat card and when is.
Where are we going and like,how many points do we need to
get there?
So, for example, I alreadytalked about the Marriott card
briefly.
Right, I like just me havingthose three free night
(34:12):
certificates is not enough.
So Dwayne also needs to getthat card or some version where
we can utilize, you know,similar Marriott certificates.
So in that's a scenario excuseme, that is a scenario where we
both need to get the cardbecause I have a very specific
(34:32):
use in mind for them.
Another scenario would be weare going to go to Scotland next
summer and I am like superclose to being able to book it,
but the availability is just notquite open yet.
So in like another week or twoit should be.
And I knew that we were going tostay at a Hilton and I knew
(34:56):
that we needed enough points tobe able to cover that.
And we're going on that tripwith my mom and my sister, so
there will actually be seven ofus total, and there is a Hilton
that we're going to stay at thatactually sleeps for, so we have
seven people total, so that'stwo rooms.
So I'm just going toessentially put one of my kids
(35:17):
in my mom and my sister's roomand the other two will stay in
our room.
And.
But I then needed my mom toalso have Hilton points, right?
Because, again, we've alreadymentioned, we don't really share
our points because we are afamily of five and we barely
earn enough points to sustainour travel habit and by our
travel habit I mean mine, really, let's be honest.
(35:38):
So I knew my mom needed to getsome Hilton points as well.
So I referred her to a Hiltoncard and, you know, went from
there.
But Dwayne and I also want tostay at a couple of these like
aspirational Hilton propertieswhich, if we're taking the kids
1000% we need two rooms, whichmeans we need a ton of points
(35:58):
and maybe some free nightcertificates, and so we both
have the Hilton Aspire card now,for that reason and the timing
didn't work out super great,because I wasn't able to get the
card until a good like three tofour months after him so, like,
my free night certificatedoesn't expire until like July,
(36:20):
but his expires in November.
So it's, I'm sorry.
Let me explain His expires thisNovember and mine doesn't
expire until next July.
So the timing of that isn'tgreat because it shortens our
window in which we have toutilize both of them together,
right, because he's not going toget a new one until November.
(36:43):
So then we really have roughlyeight months to use the two
together versus, you know, afull year, if that makes sense.
So another thing to think aboutin this hobby, as if there isn't
enough nuance, that's one morepiece to add to the puzzle.
So, if you are, in addition towhere you're going, right, being
(37:03):
a factor of consideration.
If you are aiming for cardsthat offer free night
certificates, if you can linethem up as close as possible so
that the expiration dates aresimilar, I would also recommend
doing that and then going backto kind of where we're going.
Sorry for the ADHD today Idon't even have ADHD, I don't
(37:24):
think, but my brain sometimessure does.
So, going back to kind of wherewe're going, I know that the
advice is always get as manyflexible points as you can and
worry about it later.
I do always want to be workingon flexible points, but I also
sometimes plan like to get aspecific card for a specific
(37:48):
trip.
Okay, so let's quickly recap.
We talked about what player,what two player mode is and why
it can be beneficial.
We talked about kind of whatwe're thinking through as we're
opening up cards.
Right, credit score, 524 status.
Who can maximize the benefitsthe most, based on work, travel,
(38:08):
if any business spend that sortof thing.
Then we talked about the timing, like when does it make sense
to open the cards?
Should we stagger?
Should we do it at the sametime?
Again, I will reiterate that ifyou're just new and starting
out, staggering is for sure thebest way to go so you don't get
overwhelmed.
We talked about making sureyou're referring back and forth
(38:28):
between cards whenever possibleso that you're not leaving those
you know, five, 10, 15, 20,000points on the table.
We talked about who is handlingthe cards and kind of P1 versus
P2 responsibilities and how weorganize it, which, again, is
travel freely.
And then we talked about theloyalty programs and kind of who
(38:51):
pools and who doesn't and howwe kind of want to think about
the booking of those and shouldwe book one ways and all that
sort of thing.
So, okay, I hope that that washelpful.
If you have any additionalquestions, please message me on
Instagram at travel party offive.
(39:11):
I will respond to.
I do respond to every singleperson who sends me a message
and I love it every time.
If you are so inclined, wewould love a review of our
podcast wherever you listen.
That helps more people find ourshow and we don't do any sort
of like advertising or anything.
So all of our growth has beenfully organic, which I'm super
(39:32):
proud of.
And then, last and but not least, if you signed up on the
waitlist for the pointsconsultations, that is still
coming, so I apologize, it'staken a little longer.
There's been a few logistics,including making sure my
calendar is blocked correctly sothat it will schedule times
appropriately when I'm notworking, because, as a reminder,
(39:53):
I do work a full time corporatejob during the week, and so
that has been kind of thebiggest hurdle.
That and I have to set up aStripe account which takes
payments, which is also new tome.
So appreciate your patience, aswe've been traveling a bit this
summer, and it has definitelytaken me longer to get to that
than I intended.
It is coming, though, and Iwill email you, likely in the
(40:17):
next week, with some additionalinformation and next steps on
when you can start booking those.
Okay, I think that is it.
Thank you so much for listening.
As always, we are superappreciative of all of your time
, and I hope you had a good walkor drive, or dishes, or
whatever it is you're doingwhile you listen, and we will
catch you next week.
Bye.
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