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On April 29, 2018, PointsWise co-hosted a “Learn How To Travel Hack” meetup in Vancouver with Kyle from Adventure Never Enns. The event was held at the St. Regis Bar and Grill to a SOLD OUT crowd who came hungry to learn all of the expert tricks and tips for earning and redeeming points for their dream trip.
We had a great mix of beginner travel hackers, travelers who had points but weren’t quite sure how to use them, and expert travel hackers who were some familiar faces in the crowd.
Originally we planned to have a half hour session of “ask the experts” where the audience could rapid fire questions about anything they wanted to know travel hacking wise at Tyler and Kyle. But once we got on a roll, the questions kept coming and it turned out to be a jam packed info session with that portion of the evening lasting well over double the allotted time. Good thing some of our guests came with a notepad and pen to keep up! Here are just a few of the topics we covered:
A Recap Of What We Covered At The Travel Hacking Meetup
A brief introduction to the history of travel hacking…well, maybe not quite…but we did cover the travel hacking basics, starting with simply, what is travel hacking? And how long will it take me to earn enough points for my dream trip?
Manufactured spending – how to earn credit card points faster through buying gift cards, loopholes at a major Canadian department store, and even how to buy a car on credit! Everyone who attended the meet-up was invited to join a private group chat dedicated to manufactured spending – a topic that is rarely blogged about as opportunities tend to disappear once widely known.
Churning credit cards – how often can you take advantage of welcome bonuses, and can you re-apply for the same card?
Plastiq.com – using credit cards for purchases at business that don’t accept credit cards to accelerate your travel reward points. When you use this link to create your Plastiq account, and make a payment of $500 or more, the Plastiq processing fees will be waived. That’s $500 fee free dollars.
The future of Aeroplan and how to best use your points before June, 2020, when Aeroplan and Air Canada part ways.
The best credit cards for Canadians looking to travel hack, including:
- New Platinum® Cardmembers, earn Welcome Bonus points
- American Express is currently offering Membership Reward welcome bonus points on the Business Platinum Card .
- The American Express Business Gold Rewards Card, currently offering 40,000 Membership Reward points and the first year annual fee waived (our top pick)
- The American Express Cobalt Card, offering 2,500 points per month, up to 30,000 points per year (our favourite way to earn SPG points quickly).
The Raffle Winner Of The Free Night Luxury Hotel Stay!
After the roundtable discussion, it was time for a quick bathroom break and to grab a drink. That gave everyone a chance to mingle and sneak a few minutes with the experts one on one before getting ready for the grand finale announcement! Everyone who attended the meetup was automatically entered into a raffle to win a free night stay at the JW Marriott Parq Hotel in Vancouver, BC and we made the announcement at the end of the evening.
Congratulations to Ian Ho who was our lucky winner! He’ll get to experience one of Vancouver’s newest luxury hotels – a pretty great prize just for attending the meetup!
Thank You To Everyone Who Made This Event A Success!
We’d really like to thank everyone who came out to this meetup and made it a success. We had a ton of engagement from everyone with different skill levels, and everyone just seemed to feed off each other’s questions.
Thank you to the St. Regis Bar and Grill for allowing us to use their downstairs portion of the pub for our meetup and the to the staff who took care of everyone’s food and drink requests.
And lastly, thank you to our experts, Tyler and Kyle who had an answer for everything that was thrown at them! They definitely know their stuff and have spent years learning the ins and outs of travel hacking and were generous enough to share their knowledge with the crowd.
For everyone who couldn’t make this event, stay tuned for an announcement about when and where the next travel hacking meetup will be.
Let Us Know Your Thoughts Below
Did you attend the meetup? Or couldn’t make it, but have a question about what to expect next time? Let us know your feedback in the comments below!
Had a blast hosting this event with you guys!
Thanks so much for everything you did to make it a success.
Can’t wait for the next one!
Hey Kyle! Thanks so much for sharing your expertise and helping coordinate the event. We look forward to doing another one together!
– Britt
I am of two minds about these meetings. First they are great for learning, the experts put a lot into the meeting. The information is invaluable.
However, the more the information becomes known , the increased chance that the powers that be will devalue the award system.
These events are a lot of fun. I am not complaining., I wish I had been in the west to attend.
Hi John, thanks for the feedback. I think it’s about striking that balance between sharing general knowledge online where there are limited barriers to entry (ie blogs, forums, social media) and networking with like minded people in person who have made it a priority to come out and exchange their knowledge in mastermind group setting.
I agree with you that hard earned information in this industry shouldn’t be freely given away for just anyone to exploit, so that presents an opportunity to network and find people on a similar level as you to collaborate instead.
Hope you can make the next meetup and thanks for visiting the blog!
-Britt
Hi, I use a couple of cards and the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite does not credit points through use of Plastiq, so I can see no value in advertising Plastiq to card holders unless for some reason they were short of cash and had to put something on credit. I’ve spoken with managers at Aeroplan and it’s a firm decision.
Hi Glen,
Thanks for the data point. It sounds like TD Visa is considering Plastiq purchases as ‘cash-like transactions’, which code as a cash advance and wouldn’t be eligible for reward points. This is the first I’ve heard of this happening, and recently used an American Express Business Gold Card for a large purchase and received points. Hopefully this is an isolated event and not the new norm!
-Tyler