Strategic Ways to Earn Hits for the US Airways Grand Slam Promo!

Earlier this week I posted a detailed way to earn hits for the current US Airways Grand Slam promotion. I have gotten to be obsessed with this promotion and anxiously awaiting for the random items purchased to appear on my doorstep! My doorman is probably going to wonder why all these random packages are showing up in such a short time frame!

Getting additional hits from hotel stays and car rentals

With most of the partners, you are only allowed 1 hit max regardless of the number of items you purchase or points you transfer. Hotels and car rental partners, however, allow up 6 hits each. These 12 hits can really add up, so it is important to be strategic when staying at hotels or renting cards.

Remember, each hotel stay counts as 1 hit regardless of the number of nights it includes. Look to see if you can break up your stay into single nights – either by hotel hoping or checking in/checking out. While it is not guaranteed that checking in/checking out at the same hotel will result in multiple stays, it is worth a shot. While Starwood might audit your account at a later time and not include all the stays towards status, the points transferred over to US Airways will count.

For car rentals, again, each reservation counts as 1 hit regardless of the number of days included. Prior to your reservation, call the local car rental facility and ask them if they will break up your 1 reservation into multiple reservations. For these conversations, make sure to speak to the manager. They might be willing to do it, so definitely worth a try. Also explain that you do not want to go back to the car rental facility each day, so if you show your credit card and license once if that will suffice. Keep in mind that this would work best at a smaller local facility (not an airport location).

Getting more miles into your account for partner hotel program

Transferring the required number of hotel points into US Airways can result in up to 9 hits (1 hit per partner hotel program). If you do not have points in some of the hotel programs to qualify for a transfer, there are some alternative ways to get them. First off, with Chase’s Ultimate Rewards program, you are able to transfer points at a 1:1 ratio to the following programs: Hyatt Gold Passport, Priority Club, and Marriott Rewards. The minimum points needed to transfer to qualify for a hit:

• Hyatt Gold Passport: 5,000 points = 2,000 miles (5,000 Ultimate Reward points needed)
• Priority Club: 10,000 points = 2,000 miles (10,000 Ultimate Reward points needed)
• Marriott Rewards: 10,000 points = 2,000 miles (10,000 Ultimate Reward points needed)

Also, with the American Express Membership Rewards program, you are able to transfer points to the following programs (each hotel varies in transfer ratios):

• Choice Privileges: 5,000 points = 1,000 miles (5,000 Membership Reward points needed)
• Best Western: 5,000 points = 1,000 miles (5,000 Membership Reward points needed)
• Starwood: Your status dictates the minimum number of miles you can transfer
• Regular member: 2,500 points = 2,500 miles (8,000 Membership Reward points needed)
• Gold member: 1,500 points = 1,500 miles (5,000 Membership Reward points needed)
• Platinum member: 850 points = 850 miles (3,000 Membership Reward points needed)
• Hilton HHonors: 10,000 points = 850 miles (7,000 Membership Reward points needed)
• Priority Club: 10,000 points = 2,000 miles (10,000 Membership Reward points needed)

Additional things to know:

• To transfer and purchase US Airways miles, all accounts must have been open for at least 12 days.
• Make your purchases sooner than later. You do not want to risk that points do not post properly and do not backdate.
• For the Magazines for Miles hit, you must redeem miles for your magazine subscription, not purchase a subscription with a credit card.

If you have any other tips and tricks for other Deals We Like readers, please comment below!  Hope you are all enjoying this as much as I am!