How You Can Get Free Perks and Luxury Upgrades While Traveling

As promised, here’s how I got free perks like using lounge showers at the airport, and getting upgraded to a deluxe ocean suite in the Seychelles.

Just got back from an incredible vacation to the middle of the Indian Ocean which was high on my bucket list! This African Country is a long ways from home, and the journey was 40+ hours with a layover in the United Arab Emirates. So, being able to get some of the perks above made things so comfortable and it was great to get them for free!

I’ll go into detail about this dream destination later, but first, I’m super excited about how we were able to get these free travel perks!

Loyalty programs, points and status – that’s the answer!

Want a fast-tracked method to status? Sign up for specific credit cards like the American Express Platinum Card during promotional periods! If you time it right like I did, you actually “make” money 😀

Right now, there’s an offer until June 29th, 2016 that’s even better than the deal *I* got, so definitely jump on this if you plan to travel in the next 12 months!

If you sign up using my link – you get 75,000 bonus points which translates to $750 off your credit card bill or a round-trip flight to Europe (I only got 50,000 which I’m more than happy with). I will get 25,000 bonus points if you use my link – win:win for everyone 🙂 Email me @: poymeetsworld@gmail.com

The Details:

The American Express Platinum Card costs $699 a year (yikes!), but the perks, especially with the bonus points, makes it more than worth your while in the first year (and you can cancel after that if you want).

Sign up using the link and earn 75,000 Membership Rewards points when you charge $1,000 in purchases to Card in their first three months of Card membership. (We had to spend $3,000 – so using a referral link, preferably mine, is a much faster method than what we did!!)

In addition to the bonus points which equals $750 at a minimum anyways (free card!) you get these standard benefits:

Access to over 600 airport lounges world-wide including the Platinum Lounge Benefit ($399+ value)
Earn 1.25 Membership Rewards points for every dollar in purchases charged to your Platinum Card
Extensive travel benefits, including a $200 Annual Travel Credit

(The travel insurance is also incredible – if you are missing luggage for more than a few hours, you get $1000 to buy new clothes, for instance.)

And, my favourite – Automatic Elite Status at several hotel groups!!

Typically, if you stay loyal to a hotel chain such as the Hilton, Marriott, Starwood Group (Westin, W) and Fairmont, you can accumulate hotel loyalty points. Once you have 50+ stays, you reach elite “Gold” status, which entitles you to complimentary upgrades and free perks like food.

50+ nights – well that is a LOT of stays and usually reserved for people who are independently wealthy or frequent travelers for business.

With this Platinum American Express – you get fast-tracked to Elite Status immediately, at the hotels listed above.

And that, my friends, is how I got stay here at this beautiful deluxe ocean-front villa with a private infinity plunge pool <3

Now, onto the Lounge Access!

Lounge access is included through business class and first class airplane tickets. Or, in our case, we got the Priority Pass (which you can buy separately for $399) as a complimentary perk of the Platinum American Express credit card.

Each airport we went to- Vancouver, Toronto, Abu Dhabi had several lounges. We went to 5 in total.

Let’s say each lounge stay = $40 value x5 – that’s $200 worth of lounge access. Plus, with the Priority Pass, you can take a guest for free. So now that’s $400 worth of lounge access in just one trip! I love math.

At the lounges, we had dinner which was so beneficial when flying across Canada because Canadian airlines do not feed you! I don’t drink alcohol but each of them had complimentary alcohol and beverages which I could see many others getting excited about.

My favourite lounge was in Abu Dhabi because the food was great AND…. SHOWERS!! 4 private showers with towels and toiletries. AMAZING. I felt like a VIP.

So, there you have it – how a $699 annual fee may sound steep and first, but with all the signing bonuses and perks, the card MORE than pays for itself.

Go ahead, sign up using my link. Or feel free to contact me or comment below to ask any other questions 😀