This weekend, I took a road trip to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to attend a friend's wedding. 💍🥂 Unfortunately, what should have been a simple overnight hotel stay turned into an absolute nightmare! I booked a room at a 𝗛𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝗛𝗶𝗹𝘁𝗼𝗻. Now, I'm a loyal Hilton customer. I've stayed at plenty of their properties over the years, and I generally know what to expect from the brand. So, I made one BIG mistake... 🚩 𝗜 𝗗𝗜𝗗𝗡'𝗧 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪𝗦 𝗕𝗘𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚! I figured, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘐𝘯𝘯. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦? Well... I found out pretty quickly. 🤦‍♀️ 🏚️ Red Flag #1: The Room Was DISGUSTING!When I arrived, the hotel looked like it was in the middle of a construction zone. 🚧 But things got MUCH worse when I walked into my room. 🤢 The musty, moldy smell hit me IMMEDIATELY. I walked into the bathroom and noticed: 🚩 Wallpaper peeling off the walls 🚩 What appeared to be mold growing around the shower 🚩 Water stains on the ceiling 🚩 A damp, neglected feeling throughout the room And mind you... 💸 𝗜 𝗣𝗔𝗜𝗗 $𝟭𝟳𝟱 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧! I immediately went back to the front desk and asked to switch rooms. They told me they didn't have another king room available, only a room with two beds. At that point, I didn't care about the bed situation. 𝗜 𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗔 𝗖𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗡 𝗥𝗢𝗢𝗠! 😤 They agreed to move me and said they would adjust the price. The second room looked better at first glance, but I was already running late for the wedding. So I dropped my bag off and headed out without doing a thorough inspection. 🚗 Red Flag #2: ZERO Parking Spaces Available!Fast-forward to around 𝟭𝟭 𝗣𝗠. 🌙 I returned to the hotel, exhausted and ready to call it a night. Except there was ONE BIG PROBLEM... 🚨 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗪𝗔𝗦𝗡'𝗧 𝗔 𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗟𝗘 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗦𝗣𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗔𝗩𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘! Not one! I went inside to ask the front desk what I was supposed to do. The employee's initial suggestion? "𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘁." 😳 Excuse me?! After I expressed my frustration, he offered to move his personal vehicle so I could take his parking space.

For the longest time, I hadn’t. It wasn’t until I really started learning how 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗵𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 worked that I realized some of these experiences were actually within reach. Less than two years ago, I took my first-ever business class flight to 𝗛𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗶𝗶 for my 40th birthday. I flew nonstop from Chicago to Honolulu, which is a 9+ hour flight, and I was SO excited to finally experience a lie-flat seat. 😂 And it was absolutely worth the hype. The crazy part is, I would never spend thousands of dollars out of pocket for a business class ticket. That’s just not something I personally would prioritize. But points changed the equation. Instead of looking at a $𝟯,𝟬𝟬𝟬, $𝟰,𝟬𝟬𝟬, or even more expensive ticket and thinking, “There’s no way I’m paying that,” I was able to use credit card points to unlock an experience I probably never would have paid cash for. That’s one of the things I love most about learning points and miles. It’s not always about traveling for free. Sometimes it’s about being able to travel in a way you normally wouldn’t justify paying for. Now I’m curious… 𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀? And if you haven’t, what’s one destination where you’d LOVE to experience it? 👇

You find a great flight deal… but the cheapest fare means you can’t choose your seat. For an extra $40, you can guarantee an aisle or window seat. What are you doing? Drop your answer below — and if you picked D, you HAVE to share the hack! 👀

I was unfortunately in a car accident over the weekend. Fortunately for me, I was not hurt just my car got some pretty good damage and it's going to need to go into a body shop. Because I have a Tesla, I'm going to try to get it into a Tesla approved body shop... and lord knows they can be back logged. Well... my mind goes directly to ... how can I earn points from this unfortunate event?? So the wheels in my head are already turning thinking MAYBE I could book my own car rental on my Chase Sapphire Reserve card since it has car rental protection. This way I could earn 8x points per dollar through the car rental agency on Chase Travel. Then I could just have the insurance company cut me a check. Now - I'm not saying this is going to go down but at least it is worth a TRY!

💳 A $129 Lesson I Learned the Hard Way... Here's a reminder to regularly log in to every one of your credit card accounts and review the benefits and transfer offers. I learned this lesson the expensive way. For the past two years, I've been paying $129 per year for a Point.me membership. Then I recently logged into my American Express account and realized that Amex now partners with Point.me, giving eligible cardholders access to award flight searches through the Amex Travel portal. Had I known that sooner, I could have saved myself $129 this year. 🤦‍♀️ While I was in my account, I also noticed a couple of transfer bonuses that are currently available: 🏨 Hilton Honors: 20% transfer bonus ✈️ Virgin Atlantic: 30% transfer bonus These promotions change over time, which is exactly why it's worth checking your accounts regularly. You never know what new benefits, statement credits, transfer bonuses, or partner offers have been added since the last time you logged in. Takeaway: Don't just use your credit cards—make sure you're taking advantage of everything that comes with them. A quick five-minute check could save you money or help your points go much further. Question for the community: Have you ever discovered a credit card benefit you didn't realize you already had?