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The title, a real life quote from Phil from Pennsylvania, a past attendee, really does say it all. One good tip can literally save you hundreds. But, what happens if you get 2, 3, or a 100 great tips? The savings are exponential. If you like the idea of leveraging your points and miles to take fantastic trips to dream destinations, but you’re a bit overwhelmed by the volumes of information out there, ZorkFest is for you. You don’t have to know every trick in the book, but just a few tips and tricks can save you A LOT. ZorkFest gets that, and puts some great experts in one location, Treasure Island, so that you can do what many do not…walk away from Vegas a guaranteed winner.
Sadly, we won’t be able to attend ZorkFest 2018, but that doesn’t mean we can’t share a discount offer. Register with code: ZORKMONKEY and get an additional $10 off your package.
Here’s the official agenda for the 2018 ZorkFest
Many topics of the expanded agenda for 2018 include:
* Flight deals for beginners
* Tools for booking and getting the best hotel rates, airfare and car rentals
* How to attack casino marketing offers
* “Sweet Spot Award Redemptions” – Best Uses of Miles & Points
* Everything you ever wanted to know about cruise promotions and family travel to destinations such as Disney theme parks
* Leveraging your everyday spending into first-class flights and five-star hotel redemptions with a few key credit cards
There is a discount if you register early: Take a look at the packages: ZorkMonkey gets $10 off
- The High Roller package includes the 5/25 VIP Dinner, 5/26 Breakfast and Mimosa, and the Podcasters After dark with a VIP seat = which is a $130+ value.
There are also add-ons which will be excellent venues to rub shoulders with presenters, learn more VIP tricks, and enjoy yourself Vegas style.
- If you were to book the High Roller Package the VIP dinner and “Breakfast and Mimosa” Add-ons are included.
VIP Dinner (optional)
-Allows your audience a chance to mingle further and socialize during dinner. Dinner is after the cocktail reception on Friday evening. This is an add-on when purchasing the ticket, or can be purchased directly at any time.
LINK: https://travelzork.com/product/zorkfest-2018-vip-dinner/
Charity Craps Tournament (optional)
-The craps tournament is to support a charity that Adam (Travel Fanboy) has been supporting and working with for many years, Pangea Educational Development.
* This private craps tournament will have professional dealers from Treasure Island (Single Craps table with Pit boss and Dealers)
* We will also feature EXCLUSIVE craps lessons from Mark of You Can Bet on That during the VIP Dinner! This is your chance to learn to play craps, and ask any of your craps questions.
* Tournament is great for beginners (or those who have never played craps) and the most avid dice players.
LINK: https://travelzork.com/product/zorkfest-2018-charity-craps-tournament/
If you’re new to the points and miles club – this could be a great way to add tools to your kit. Richard Kerr, of Award Travel 101 and The Points Guy, leads a 3 hour intensive designed to whip you into point booking shape.
Award Travel Bootcamp (optional)
— 3 hour intensive boot camp for anyone who wants to learn the basics of award travel and set themselves up for their first award trip. Our teaching will start with all attendees selecting a travel goal to attain with points and miles and working them from the ground up to achieve that goal. Throughout the course we give practical examples/applications of the methods using attendees goals.
Three modules:
• The FICO score and the right ways to obtain/utilize credit cards while protecting credit score
• Transferable versus fixed redemption currencies and how to use them
• Hotel and Airline Loyalty Program basics
Cost $99 per attendee. Each attendee gets 1 year of AwardWallet Plus ($30 value).
LINK: https://travelzork.com/product/zorkfest-2018-award-travel-bootcamp/
Straight from the site – here’s a more descriptive list of what you can expect:
– “Crossover of Hotel Loyalty and Casino Properties”
Your gateway to miles and points can start right in the casino. Many major hotel loyalty programs crossover into the casino space, with reciprocal hotel-chain benefits/perks. For instance, maybe you didn’t know that you can use your IHG points and free nights without any blackout dates at The Palazzo/Venetian. There’s also a sweet MLife/Hyatt partnership with unique benefits to unlock. Heck, even having a stash Wyndham Rewards points can save the day when Atlantic City or Las Vegas room rates are impossible! Like many people may not know about IHG free nights for Palazzo/Venetian, mlife/Hyatt crossover benefits, and heck if someone wanted to stay in AC on a big night like NYE. Learn when it makes sense to buy hotel points for an expensive casino property.
– “Sweet Spot Award Redemptions” – Best Uses of Miles & Points
It’s no secret that airline miles and hotel points are a valuable currency of their own. Whether you dream of a last-minute getaway or a huge, round-the-world first class trip, you’ll learn the best use of each program and the best redemptions in each award chart.
– “How Dumb Gamblers became Frugal Gamblers”
will be hosted by Jean and Brad Scott. Jean had been taught thriftiness since she was born. Brad Scott had been gambling since he was five years old. Now meeting as middle-agers and going to Las Vegas on their first vacation together, the “frugal gambler team” was born. And for the last 34 years, they have scrambled to use every coupon, find every casino promotion, take every airplane bump, and play every video poker machine that would contribute to their amazing financial success.
– “Expert Credit Card Strategies” (Will start with an Intro to Credit Cards.)
Traveling the world starts in your wallet, and some credit cards offer lucrative ways to save thousands of dollars each year on travel. Not only will you learn about the best credit cards used by the experts, but also how to truly maximize each and every card benefit (free roadside assistance, lounge access, return protection, money-making airline credits, etc.
– “Behind the scenes of casino marketing”
How casinos really decide what to send to different players, differences between land-based casinos, Caribbean casinos and cruises, and what players can do to maximize their offers.
– “Comps at Sea”
Inside the world of comps and casino marketing on cruise ships.
We’ll discuss the evolution of cruise ship casinos from small foreign operators leasing space on the ships to the massive operations they are today. The differences between cruise and land-based comps. How to maximize your “bounceback” offers from your cruises and how the complex relationships between land-based corporations and cruise lines are shaping your offers.
And you can pick and choose which seminars seems most interesting to you:
-Getting Started With Miles and Points
-Flight Deals For Beginners: How To Always Get The Best Price On Flights
-Introduction and Overview – Total Rewards and Mlife
-Building a startup in the casino industry – What we learned about the casino industry (and casino players) in growing URComped from 0 – 65,000 users.
-Tools for Booking and Getting the Best Hotel Rates, Airfare and Car Rentals
-“Travel Inspirations”
-Miles & Points or Cash
-Adding Video Poker to Your Casino Arsenal
-Crossover of Hotel Loyalty and Casino Properties + Points for Shopping
-Introduction to table games for slot players, etiquette, tipping, and process.
-Introduction to casino craps
-Advanced Techniques – Maximizing Value With Total Rewards
-Ask Me Anything – Travel Loyalty Miles&Points
-Ask Me Anything Casino Table Games
-Upgrades 101: How To Get Them Using Cash Or Miles
-Best Travel Apps For All Trips
-Using British Airways Avios for travel in the United States
-Best airline redemptions for Las Vegas. Best hotel program redemptions in Las Vegas
-Las Vegas and Fine Hotels and Resorts. Strategically Combine Amex’s FHR Benefit with casino offers and hotel Loyalty for big benefits, cheap rooms and lots of points
-Leverage Your Everyday Spending Into First Class Flights and 5 Star Hotel Redemptions with a Few Key Credit Cards
-Loyalty Program Elite Status Without the Loyalty. Easiest ways to obtain elite status in airline and hotel programs and maximize the value of your perks.
-Everything you ever wanted to know about casino cruise offers
-How To Get The Most Out Of Hotel Loyalty Programs For Business Travel
-Disney World Tips And Tricks and Understanding Disney Vacation Club, How To Leverage For Free Vacations
-Family Travel For Dummies
-How to attack casino marketing offers
- Award Travel 101 Bootcamp, Intensive basics of award travel
Register here and use code ZorkMonkey to get $10
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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