00:00:00:02 - 00:00:04:12
Chris
If you collect points and miles, 2026 is not business as usual.
00:00:04:14 - 00:00:10:18
Katie
These are climbing, lounge rules are tightening and some of your favorite transfer partners are quietly getting worse.
00:00:10:20 - 00:00:18:12
Chris
Today we're breaking down what's actually changing what. It's just noise and what we're adjusting in our own strategy. Heading into 2026.
00:00:18:14 - 00:00:32:02
Katie
The people who win in this game aren't the ones chasing the biggest bonuses. They're the ones paying attention to the small shifts.
00:00:32:04 - 00:00:35:05
Chris
Hey, I'm Chris. Welcome to the Upgraded Points podcast.
00:00:35:07 - 00:00:53:08
Katie
And I'm Katie and today we have some United credit card news. We're going to talk about my trip to Bimini. We've got credit card trends for 2026. And we are going to answer a reader question about Chris's trip to Japan. Before we get to that, don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you are watching or listening.
00:00:53:13 - 00:01:01:18
Katie
And be sure to share us with a travel loving friend. So, Chris, what's going on with United Cards? They just dropped some news. What's going on?
00:01:01:20 - 00:01:20:00
Chris
Yeah, they just dropped some news right before we started recording. So coming April 2nd, there are new benefits coming to, United co-branded cards. And this means increased points earnings on United purchases. So we'll drop all this information in the show notes for you. This is just a quick overview, but pretty much what you need to know.
00:01:20:00 - 00:01:39:08
Chris
If you have a you need a co-branded card, you will be getting a discount on your award flights. All co-branded card members will receive at least 10% off United Award flights that they book and those with premier elite status and a co-branded credit card. Co-branded credit card will save at least 15%. That's good news, especially of a card and status.
00:01:39:10 - 00:02:05:18
Chris
However, basic economy tickets, as you can probably guess where this is heading, are going to stop earning. That is unless you have status and or a co-branded credit card. So unfortunately, this is the trend we're seeing lately. Airlines are, you know, not rewarding based economy as much. And then leaning focusing more on, on credit cards. This is a kind of a great intro to our topic today.
00:02:05:18 - 00:02:16:10
Chris
But first, I want to hear about your trip. Katie. It sounded like it started really nice. You want some? Really nice. Didn't end up in the nicer spots. Tell us that. Tell us all about you at long weekend.
00:02:16:11 - 00:02:37:02
Katie
Started great. Ended. Not so amazing. So we just talked about weekend trips in the US last week and I had a great weekend trip just outside of the US, just over 60 miles from the, coast of Florida. I went to Bimini, which is a teeny tiny little, like, I think it's like seven miles long island in the Bahamas.
00:02:37:02 - 00:03:05:12
Katie
It's the closest Bahamian island to the US. But previously you had to take a ferry from Fort Lauderdale or little seaplane to get there. So even though it was so close, it was really hard to access. But I was down there because there was the inaugural flight on American Airlines from Miami to Bimini. This is the only direct flight from the US to the island of Bimini.
00:03:05:14 - 00:03:22:00
Katie
This is it's been. I think, eight years since there was a direct flight from the US to Bimini. So this was a really big deal. And it's going to open up, open up accessibility to that island not only from South Florida. I mean, it's going to be so easy and quick to get there from South Florida. But American Airlines uses Miami as a hub.
00:03:22:00 - 00:03:42:13
Katie
So anywhere in the country you can make an easy, quick connection in Miami to get to Bimini. The flight itself, I think it was booked. You know how they always add all the time in before and after the actual flying time? I want to say it was like blocked like 50 minutes or something. And the actual flying time was 18 minutes.
00:03:42:15 - 00:03:53:16
Katie
So it's a quick flight. As we were taking off, we were still climbing and they started playing the the landing like recording like put away your stuff for landing.
00:03:53:18 - 00:03:54:05
Chris
That's good.
00:03:54:05 - 00:04:17:08
Katie
Yeah, yeah, it was funny. So this flight will operate three times a week on an Amber air 175. Prices start around a $400 round trip, which kind of sounded a little more expensive than I was expecting. But then I looked at the ferry, and that can easily cost over $300. And that takes two hours. So this actually, price wise, it's kind of right in line with what you might have to pay.
00:04:17:08 - 00:04:27:12
Katie
And probably cheaper than booking a seaplane. The real magic, though, is if you can find this flight and points if you booked through a it's 20,000 points round trip, which.
00:04:27:14 - 00:04:27:22
Chris
Is.
00:04:28:00 - 00:04:47:13
Katie
Fine I guess, but I looked you can book the same flight through Alaska for 9000 miles round trip. You know, there was a lot of availability. So that's the key. You can book this through Alaska on American for 9000 at most points. So, Great deal. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And there are some people.
00:04:47:14 - 00:04:48:13
Chris
Say 9000 round.
00:04:48:13 - 00:04:50:10
Katie
Trip. 9000 round trip.
00:04:50:12 - 00:04:54:00
Chris
Oh that's not. Yeah okay. Yeah.
00:04:54:02 - 00:05:21:03
Katie
Yeah. I was really surprised when I found that yesterday. So that was that was exciting. So that was a fun flight. There was some hoopla at the airport. There were people there from the airport, from the Bahamas Tourism Bureau. And it was just it was it was a fun little party before we took off. And I was there to check out, resorts World Bimini, which is, I think, the only major resort on that island you do, once you get to the airport, you have to take a 20 minute ferry to the resort.
00:05:21:03 - 00:05:41:07
Katie
But it's a nice little boat ride. It was quite fun. The main building of this, resort has two pools, and it's a it's a waterfront resort, but it's not beachfront, so it's kind of on a canal. Right across the canal are private homes. And, you know, if you have boats, you can pull right up. So there's a little Marina there as well.
00:05:41:07 - 00:06:05:23
Katie
It's a very popular place with boaters because, previously, you know, a lot of people would come over from Florida with a boat. So at the main resort building, there's, there's a pool right down on the waterfront, and there's also a rooftop pool. There's a casino right there. But the real magic of this place happens when you go to Bimini Beach, which is their beach and main pool area.
00:06:06:01 - 00:06:24:17
Katie
There's two huge resort pools. The, you know, the. It's it it's what you would expect from a big resort. So there's two big pools, lots of chairs, and it's a beach front. The beach is really nice. The pool is a little too much for me, a little too late. It was a very party atmosphere, but people look like they were having a great time.
00:06:24:20 - 00:06:45:11
Katie
Not quite my speed. So I went out to the beach, got a nice chair in the shade. I was a very happy girl. Really lovely white sand beach, soft sand, clear water. It's. It was this shade of turquoise. It was just gorgeous. That you can see sometimes in the Caribbean. But this one was just. It was, it was really spectacular.
00:06:45:11 - 00:07:12:02
Katie
Unfortunately, I don't think my photos or videos will do it justice, but really, really nice beach area. It is the same beach spot that is used by the cruise ships. So if you visit Bimini on a cruise, I know, Virgin Voyages goes their celebrity. I think a couple other lines stop there. That's the same beach area that they will use so it can get a little crowded on port days, but nothing more than what you'd expect at any resort.
00:07:12:02 - 00:07:30:06
Katie
So you know nothing. Nothing really to worry about. And they do have a free shuttle. It took like three minutes maybe, to get there. So really, even though it's not right on that property, it's very easily accessible. But this was a cool island. We we were able to do a quick tour of the island on a golf cart.
00:07:30:08 - 00:07:49:23
Katie
And if you go there for a couple days, rent a golf cart for a couple of hours of the day and just kind of cruise around, it was just a really laid back vibe, not overly developed. So it feels still very. I hate using the word local, but you know what I mean? You know, it's not not big resorts everywhere, which is kind of nice.
00:07:50:01 - 00:08:13:17
Katie
Radio Beach was there kind of main public beach? Absolutely beautiful. Big, you know, white sand, the blue water. It was just really nice. Lots of, beach side and roadside bars and restaurants. I know some of the people who were traveling with were after a lobster pizza at a very specific place. They'd had it years ago, and they remembered it ever since.
00:08:13:17 - 00:08:21:20
Katie
So they went after this lobster pizza. It's just a really neat, really neat island. It was my first time there, so prices start.
00:08:22:01 - 00:08:22:07
Chris
Nice.
00:08:22:09 - 00:08:44:14
Katie
275 ish. A night so very reasonably priced. It used to be a Hilton, but it is not anymore. So you can't use points. So this is a great option if you have like a Capital One venture or venture ex, you can pay with that card and then pay yourself back with your points on the credit card so that using that purchase eraser feature.
00:08:44:16 - 00:08:53:07
Katie
So that would be a good, card to use for this day. So okay, I'll tell you about getting home because that's where the drama started.
00:08:53:07 - 00:08:59:17
Chris
You care about all this fun stuff I want? I saw the drama on on stories I want I want to know what happened.
00:08:59:18 - 00:09:19:04
Katie
Man. So everything was fine. We get to Miami. It was great. I tried to get on that earlier flight. It was. It was, It was booked. Couldn't get on standby. It was President's Day weekend, so I should have known better. But anyways, so I go again on my flight, and they had said before we left, there's a little bit of weather in Columbus, but we're going to beat it, so we're going to be fine.
00:09:19:06 - 00:09:37:04
Katie
And I knew how long the flight was, and once I got to the point of the flight, I'm like, we should be landing by now. I look at the flight tracker and the app and it said, three minutes left and I checked like ten minutes later and it said three minutes left on like last night. Right? So I actually just got the flight app, which I know Chris you use, right.
00:09:37:04 - 00:10:02:22
Katie
Oh yeah. We've talked about that app before. And so I pulled it up and looked at the flight path, and it was like going around Columbus. I'm like, well, that's not good. That can't be good. So I knew something was wrong before they made an announcement. Which was nice to not be, you know, surprised when they came on the, the loudspeaker and said, well, there's really thick fog in Columbus.
00:10:02:22 - 00:10:21:15
Katie
We can't land. We've been kind of, you know, circling around for a while, but now fuel's a problem. So we're going to divert to Indianapolis, which is not what you want to hear. So we ended up landing at Indianapolis at 130 in the morning. Yeah. I was trying to be really proactive about it. And we've talked about this before.
00:10:21:15 - 00:10:48:03
Katie
You know, if you have situations like this, everyone, when they get off the plane is going to be looking for a new flight, a hotel. That and I think you've you've talked about it on the podcast before where you're able to get all that situated before you even land. So that's what I was trying to do. But I'm exhausted and just like, you know, I, I didn't do this perfectly, but I had found a flight leaving the next morning at 5:30 a.m..
00:10:48:05 - 00:11:04:01
Katie
And actually, there's no direct flights to Columbus from Indianapolis because it's close. But I was like, you know, that's fine. I'm going to be on this flight before everyone gets to the desk and, you know, gets a flight at 8 p.m. the next night. So I book that in points. And I try to figure out a hotel.
00:11:04:01 - 00:11:22:20
Katie
The hotel situation is grim. Long story short, we land. They tell us that actually, they're just going to take that whole flight and move it to the next morning. So I was able to cancel the flight that I made, which was great, because then we could just go direct to Columbus. So I was actually very happy that that's how it worked out.
00:11:22:22 - 00:11:33:18
Katie
And then they sent us a link saying, we'll cover your hotel. Here's a link that you can choose what hotel you want and a $12 food voucher.
00:11:33:20 - 00:11:35:19
Chris
So only $12. $12.
00:11:35:19 - 00:11:53:18
Katie
Yeah. And this is where I went wrong. I was originally trying to book the Hyatt place, and it was unworkable. You know, this is 130 in the morning. It's. You can't really book online for that night when it's already the next day. So yeah. And I was like, you know what? Fine. So I just clicked one of their options.
00:11:53:18 - 00:12:04:15
Katie
They were all terrible options. But I clicked it, went to get my Uber, and that's when I found out that the hotel they put me in was 20 miles away from the airport.
00:12:04:17 - 00:12:05:19
Chris
No.
00:12:05:21 - 00:12:08:11
Katie
I was not happy about that. And that.
00:12:08:11 - 00:12:09:08
Chris
Time was just.
00:12:09:10 - 00:12:25:22
Katie
To one 3145 in the morning. Yeah, not not a super awesome situation. So I was I was mad at them, but I was also kind of mad at myself for like not realizing this ahead of time and just booking an airport hotel and sending them the bill, which is what I should have done. Yeah. If.
00:12:25:22 - 00:12:26:21
Chris
You found something better.
00:12:26:23 - 00:12:43:06
Katie
Yeah. But, you know, sometimes in these situations, you're right in the moment and it just happens and it's, you know, so I get to the hotel, it's a total dump. It's by a Cracker Barrel and a lion's den. So take that what you will.
00:12:43:12 - 00:12:45:20
Chris
What's a lion's den?
00:12:45:22 - 00:12:48:18
Katie
You don't want to ask on air? Okay, let's show you later.
00:12:48:22 - 00:12:50:04
Chris
Different episode.
00:12:50:06 - 00:12:54:04
Katie
It's it's not that kind of show, Chris.
00:12:54:06 - 00:12:55:22
Chris
So.
00:12:56:00 - 00:13:14:11
Katie
In the end, it was fine. I got home all as well, but it was just, you know, sometimes this stuff happens. I was trying to be chill about it. The poor ladies next to me who are not very seasoned travelers, were losing their minds. They were freaking out. They're. I think they're going to have someone come and pick them up from Indianapolis.
00:13:14:11 - 00:13:31:15
Katie
Columbus? Yeah, I think it's a three hour drive. And I mean, but that's just to say, you know, it's good to be prepared in these situations. But also even when you're a super seasoned traveler, sometimes it doesn't work out great. But, you know, all good. So there we go.
00:13:31:16 - 00:13:58:17
Chris
Okay. Well, I'll try to segue that into our main topic. I don't know how, but today we are covering a topic that has been getting a lot of attention or an upgraded points.com. Lori, one of our writers, she wrote a great article about, travel trends that she's watching in 2026. And Katie and I thought it would make a great episode, great podcast episode, and we would love to hear feedback from our listeners as well.
00:13:58:17 - 00:14:16:08
Chris
So wherever you're listening or watching, make sure to drop a comment or or shoot us an email after to let us know what you think. But we're going to break it down into a few different sections, and I'm going to kick it off with a trend that we cannot ignore, and that is annual fees are going up.
00:14:16:10 - 00:14:53:14
Chris
We saw this in 2025, and we expect to see this trend continue in 2026. Unfortunately, we saw the annual fees increase to 7.95 and the Chase Sapphire Reserve and then 8.95 on the platinum card for American Express last year. This really just opened up the market, for this ultra premium level of card. So just don't be surprised if we see more of these, coming this year along with these increasing annual fees, the these issuers are leaning more into the premium experience, whether that's, you know, access to World Cup tickets or more lifestyle, you know, focused benefits or credits.
00:14:53:20 - 00:15:03:16
Chris
We saw the aura and Lululemon credits from the platinum card. The Chase Sapphire Reserve just dropped that really nice whoop benefit. Whoop. Okay.
00:15:03:18 - 00:15:05:17
Katie
I know I saw.
00:15:05:18 - 00:15:19:06
Chris
The yell it when you pronounce it. Sorry. But just because that these perks are increasing, if you aren't using them, it doesn't necessarily mean you need to keep the card. Right?
00:15:19:11 - 00:15:29:07
Katie
Yeah. I mean, there's a big difference between optimizing the credits and justifying the credits. It's now it's becoming more complicated. So you really do have to kind of take a peek at it.
00:15:29:09 - 00:15:40:05
Chris
Yeah. So I think, what's important, especially 2026, is that you just need to run the math annually, okay? If you're not clearly winning with you, with your credit card, it's it's time to reconsider.
00:15:40:07 - 00:16:00:20
Katie
Okay. Number two, transfer ratios. They are not as simple as they once were. And they're shifting. And we're seeing this more and more. So the good news is we're seeing a lot of transfer partners and programs adding transfer partners, which we love. But it's not always at a 1 to 1 ratio. And you know, five, ten years ago almost everything was a 1 to 1 ratio.
00:16:00:20 - 00:16:22:15
Katie
And that is just not the case anymore. And these devaluations don't really make it into the headlines. So unless you're really paying attention, you might not have even noticed any of this. So we saw it in 2025. Amex to Emirates devalued in September. Very, very recently. Amex to Cathay Pacific went from 1 to 1 to 5 to 4.
00:16:22:17 - 00:16:37:18
Katie
And also Capital One to Emirates went from 1 to 1 to 1 to 0.75. And so this makes the math more difficult and opens the door to more of these weird numbers.
00:16:37:20 - 00:16:54:18
Chris
Yeah, it kind of reinforces the, you know, the different diversification of your points. It's not really just, it has to be part of your strategy. You can't be a preference. Oh, I only like this type of points. If you want to really insulate yourself from these changes, you need to diversify your points.
00:16:54:20 - 00:17:01:07
Katie
Yeah. And that flexibility across these different ecosystems really matters more than ever.
00:17:01:09 - 00:17:24:11
Chris
Here's a big one that I know our listeners and readers are feeling. It's, airport lounges are changing fast. Lounges are a big part of the travel experience, especially for Katy, myself and a lot of people in this hobby. The good news is we're seeing a lot of more and better lounges lately. There's some incredible lounges popping up.
00:17:24:12 - 00:17:48:02
Chris
But we're also seeing a lot more restrictions, and we know that you're feeling this. There are already several changes underway in 2026 alone. Just a few weeks ago, Capital One lounges, they started restricting, authorized users on the Capital One Metrics inventory business card. Amex is tightening guest access on layover rules on the Centurion lounges.
00:17:48:02 - 00:18:07:12
Chris
Yeah, that's starting July 8th, folks. So keep that in mind. Guests now must be traveling in the same flight as the eligible card number. And then next during layover is limited up to five hours before the departing flight. So keep that in mind if you're planning on spending, you know, the whole day in the lounge, maybe take that earlier flight.
00:18:07:14 - 00:18:35:18
Chris
And then for those of you who still have the Ritz-Carlton credit card, which is only available by switching over from another Chase issued American, they no longer offer the unlimited complimentary guests, and that was starting in January as well. So overall, this is kind of good news for the lounge experience itself, right? If you're already in the lounge, there's less overcrowding and more options to choose from, but there's fewer and fewer guests each time.
00:18:35:20 - 00:18:56:04
Katie
Yeah. And it there comes a point when, like, lounge access shouldn't drive your credit card decision anymore, where maybe it was a huge factor a couple of years ago. You know, even if you have access, you are not guaranteed entry. When I was at the Miami airport this past weekend, there was an hour and a half way to get into the Centurion Lounge.
00:18:56:06 - 00:18:56:20
Chris
Wow.
00:18:56:22 - 00:19:15:08
Katie
All day because I was there all day. And with these new rules that are starting in July, I wouldn't have even been able to get on the waitlist. Even though I was on a layover. You know, you most likely are going to have to pay for guests now for most of these lounges, with the exception of the Sapphire lounges at the moment.
00:19:15:10 - 00:19:28:21
Katie
And all of that kind of makes your free lounge access not free anymore. So while it's a great benefit, it's not one that I think it should really weigh. Be a big factor for your decision.
00:19:28:23 - 00:19:43:18
Chris
Yeah, that's a good point. All right, let's take a break. And when we get back, we have a couple more points that we want to talk about. And then we'll we'll give you some tips for for our listeners moving into 2026.
00:19:43:19 - 00:19:54:10
Chris
You. Hey, real quick before we jump back in, if you're listening to this podcast, you're exactly the kind of person we built our free newsletter for.
00:19:54:12 - 00:20:05:02
Katie
We break down the best credit card offers, transfer bonuses, award alerts, and travel news that actually matters. No fluff, no spam. Just the stuff we'd text a friend if something big dropped.
00:20:05:04 - 00:20:09:20
Chris
A lot of these deals that we talk about on the show don't last long. The newsletter is where we flag those fast.
00:20:10:01 - 00:20:20:06
Katie
It's totally free, and you can sign up at upgraded points.com/join-newsletter.
00:20:20:08 - 00:20:51:06
Katie
Yeah. Okay. Welcome back. The next trend that we're going to talk about is new cards and the mid-tier gap. And so you're going to be seeing a lot of these mid-tier cards. And we're kind of considering that sort of 250 to $500, which used to be considered a premium card. But now with all of these 800 plus dollar cards or six 700 plus dollar cards, $500 is mid-tier now.
00:20:51:08 - 00:21:08:03
Katie
And we love those luxury cards, but this mid-tier group is is one to keep an eye on because I think there's going to be a lot of sneaky value in these cards. So we're seeing more of these and more new cards in general. We just saw the introduction of three new built cards, a $0 annual fee card, a 95 and a 495.
00:21:08:03 - 00:21:35:09
Katie
So they definitely have one in that nice mid-tier range. We are expecting new Hyatt cards this year, which is super exciting. We do not have any details yet. We found out that they are planning new cards a couple months ago. They currently have a $95 consumer card and a $199 business card. So I'm expecting to see either a mid-tier and or a luxury high end card.
00:21:35:11 - 00:21:55:16
Katie
We don't know yet. I guess there could be a $0 annual fee card. I mean, all other hotel chains have a fee free option. I kind of wouldn't be surprised if Hyatt skipped that, because I think they think of themselves as the luxury option, so I don't think we'll see a free Hyatt card. But you know what?
00:21:55:17 - 00:22:26:11
Katie
We'll see. Expect to see more debit cards. Last year we saw a United debit card and a southwest debit card that were actually kind of worth sort of talking about. They were coming with some perks, points earning, and I think they even had small welcome bonuses. We've already seen a announcement for a new spirit card. So while that might not be wildly exciting, there are some people that that's going to be excellent for, and it's a trend that we are seeing.
00:22:26:11 - 00:22:58:10
Katie
So I would expect to see more of those in 2026. We also have some rumors swirling. These have been around since late last year. For a Capital One savor ex, it should be cost $295 according to rumors. We don't know anything, but these are kind of well documented on the internet. If you do a quick Google search, you'll find this, and this card is rumored to offer four points per dollar on dining and entertainment, three points per dollar, and grocery and annual $100 dining credit for their collection of restaurants.
00:22:58:12 - 00:23:29:23
Katie
An annual $120 Starbucks Credit Apple TV and an Uber one membership so that if those rumors are true, that kind of makes it seem like Capital One is a following the trend of these mid-tier cards, but also, unfortunately, following the coupon defying trend and complicated cards. Because I'm going to bet a lot of money that that $120 Starbucks credit is not coming as a $120 Starbucks credit, that's going to be $10 a month.
00:23:30:02 - 00:23:40:12
Katie
We all know it, and I don't like seeing that. So Capital One, don't touch the venture. I don't need coupons on that card.
00:23:40:14 - 00:24:10:09
Chris
Yeah, I think we've seen enough of that last year. But unfortunately, I think you're right. Katie. I think the writing is on the wall for a lot of these, a lot of these companies. One more thing to keep in mind this year is the fact that legislation could actually reshape rewards. Politicians have become some of the most important players in your points strategy, the credit card competition X keeps popping up, keeps getting squashed, and keeps popping up again, most recently in January.
00:24:10:11 - 00:24:38:19
Chris
As a reminder, if it passes, merchants will be, will be receive reduced operating costs and interchange fees. And credit card companies, you know, could take away rewards to offset that lost revenue. Nothing has changed yet. But if the if the bill gains traction, it could fundamentally, fundamentally change how banks offer rewards to credit card holders. This is one area where staying informed and contacting law, lawmakers, if you oppose it, actually matters.
00:24:38:19 - 00:24:45:14
Chris
And so you write about all this on a creative point scheme. We'll drop the link in there so you can have some more information, but that's something to keep an eye on.
00:24:45:16 - 00:25:11:01
Katie
Yeah, I'm totally okay. So let's wrap it up with six key takeaways. You can consider this year 2026 Travel Credit Card Playbook one. Reevaluate annual fees intentionally and often at least once a year, sometimes maybe twice a year. It's a good idea to diversify your transferable currencies. It is no longer a one program game. Get in all of them.
00:25:11:03 - 00:25:28:09
Katie
Number three don't overpay for lounge access. Number four, watch the legislation. Don't fear it. Keep yourself informed. Number five, look harder at those mid-tier card options. And number six, as always, stay disciplined with payments and never carry a balance.
00:25:28:11 - 00:25:46:09
Chris
Yeah, 2026 is not just about collecting more credit cards. It's about being more intentional with the ones that you already have. But we want to hear from you, our listeners, our watches, our readers. What do you think of these trends? What do you want to see, this year? Send us an email at podcast. Podcast. It upgraded points icon.
00:25:46:11 - 00:26:15:21
Katie
Okay, let's move on to a reader question. We got an email from Hayden, and this was, in response to our episode about Chris's trip to Japan. He says, I really enjoyed the latest episode of your podcast regarding Chris's family trip to Japan. I was wondering if he had any extra insights on room capacities for hotel rooms in particular, where a family of four with two adult children, when any of the hotels that Chris booked be able to fit us in one room, or would we be required to book two rooms each night?
00:26:16:02 - 00:26:31:23
Katie
I know that room occupancy is more strictly enforced in many parts of Europe, so I just want to clarify if this is true for Japan as well. Thanks again. Would love to see more of these practical trip breakdowns in the future. So thank you for the email. Hayden and Chris. What do you have to say?
00:26:32:00 - 00:26:54:17
Chris
Yes. Thank you. Hey, that is a great question because that is something that, I ran into and I neglected to cover in my, in my, review of my trip. So in general, I think we all know that Japan, they have a lot of hotels with smaller rooms. So occupancy limits are real. However, most of the hotels I stayed at, I did not have any issues at all.
00:26:54:17 - 00:27:12:00
Chris
There was one issue at the Park Hyatt where I had booked a king because they didn't have two doubles. And they said it's not going to fit for. I held on to it anyways. And then two doubles opened up and it worked fine. But when you're searching for your rooms, I would not recommend searching for it at four people at a time.
00:27:12:00 - 00:27:30:14
Chris
I would do 2 or 3 adults. Find a room that works for you, put on hold if possible, or reach out to the hotel. So what I ended up doing, I booked two adults and one child, reached out to the hotel via email, said, hey listen, we have another child, can we add them to the room? They say, yeah, no problem.
00:27:30:16 - 00:27:47:21
Chris
They often had an extra bed, which we ended up didn't need. But a lot of the systems will not allow you to put four people in a room. So I would just start reaching out to the hotels. You're interested in, see what their policy is. You may be surprised that they actually do allow for even more people in a room.
00:27:47:23 - 00:28:16:18
Chris
However, there were a handful of, hotels that said no, so sorry, we can't do that. And almost all of them were happened to be IHG hotels. I've been really trying to use my good points and Intercontinental and Holiday Inns and every one that I came across said it was not possible. And the other side, since you have two adult children, one way you could go is you could book those two rooms because there are some really cheap and small rooms around Japan.
00:28:16:19 - 00:28:33:02
Chris
We were looking at, I think it was a Holiday Inn where we considered getting two rooms because it was so cheap, or was a choice hotel or something like 4 or 5000 points a night. I was like, okay, well, I'll get a room for me and my son and my wife will get one for me and my daughter, and we'll spend 10,000 points and have two rooms and be kind of fun.
00:28:33:02 - 00:28:40:06
Chris
Whatever. But yeah, so you are correct, there are occupancy limits, but definitely reach out to the hotel to see what they are.
00:28:40:08 - 00:28:45:19
Katie
Because when you were looking at those, were there any options for adjoining rooms?
00:28:45:21 - 00:28:52:17
Chris
No. The only time that I let me rephrase that, I put.
00:28:52:17 - 00:28:53:20
Katie
You on the spot there.
00:28:53:22 - 00:29:09:20
Chris
Yeah. Oh, because I just remembered we did we did stay in a room that had a door. It. So they exist. The one time that I asked for two rooms, I asked if they could be adjoining. They said, no, we don't have that. We can put you next to each other. So I think that was at a at one of those choice hotels.
00:29:09:22 - 00:29:22:05
Katie
Yeah. Thank you, Hayden, for the question. And if you have any questions, comments about any of our episodes or something you'd like to see on a future episode, you can reach us at podcast it up through the points.com. And that's going to do it for us this week. We will see you next week.