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🤙🏿 Welcome back to the Better Than Points Newsletter - the premier place for all things Credit Card Points News and Travel

My name’s Luis and I’m the one writing this (hit me up here!)

You can never underestimate what a Hotel/Airline program is going to do.

Because just when you think you’re good.

They’ll surprise you again.

And not in the good way.

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It happened in December 2024, May 2025, and again this week.

Hilton Honors bumped award rates on a bunch of properties with some nights now price as high as 250,000 points.

A big bummer, especially since intro bonuses haven’t moved.

The only silver lining is that the 5th night free on awards still applies, which helps bring the total down. But you’d still be looking at 200k points a night for 5 nights.

This just reinforces what I always say, earn and burn and don’t hoard hotel points.

Here are some examples of the increases.

Conrad Maldives Rangali Island was 120,000 a night. Now it’s 180,000.

Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal was 95,000 in January 2021. Now it’s 250,000.

Conrad Bora Bora was 120,000. Now it’s 200,000 per night.

From what I’m seeing, they’re targeting the dream spots, the places everyone wants to go.

And they’re not exactly announcing these changes ahead of time.

If there’s a hotel on your list, earn the points, book it, go.

Wait a couple years and you might be priced out.

I talked about the Mesa card when it first came out, and it launched with a 5,000-point welcome bonus.

That’s still there, but now there’s another offer that’s open to both new folks and existing cardholders, which is kind of interesting.

If you refer two people to get the card, a promo unlocks that gives you 50,000 bonus points after $10,000 spend in 90 days.

While that’s a lot of money, it’s interesting because it applies to people who already have the card too.

The headline perk is earning 1 point per $1 on your mortgage payment, capped at 100,000 points per year.

Bilt has said they’re getting into the mortgage game as well, but that’s yet to be seen.

They’ve also got some solid multipliers: 3x on home/family spend like daycare, home décor, home improvements, maintenance, insurance, and taxes, basically a card built for homeowners.

On the points side, value looks decent because there are a lot of 1:1 transfer partners.

The best one is Air Canada Aeroplan, and I’ve seen some decent awards via SAS EuroBonus too.

For a $0 annual fee card, it’s worth a look.

There are also a bunch of smaller perks (mostly quarterly/monthly), like credits for things such as home warranty, pet services (Wag / The Farmer’s Dog), and up to $65 toward Costco / Sam’s Club / BJ’s.

One thing to note is you must spend $1,000 per billing cycle on the card to be eligible to earn points on your mortgage payment.

If you’ve got a mortgage and want to start earning points on it, this is a card to consider just make sure the points you expect to earn are worth it for your situation.

Every year, Point.Me drops their top airline rewards program rankings.

They’re not guessing either, they’re pulling from 22+ million searches, program policies, and earning opportunities from August of this year through September of last year.

Here’s what moved from 2024 → 2025:

Flying Blue stayed number one.

I agree.

Same great rates to Europe whether you’re East or West Coast, tons of seats, family friendly, and child pricing beats most programs.

AAdvantage jumped the most from sixth to second.

Honestly surprised, but here we are.

Alaska Miles landed third.

I would’ve pegged it for number two, but with the Hawaiian merger and the longer range fleet coming online, I think their international footprint (and partners) will make them even stronger.

Virgin Atlantic held at fourth (it was tied for fourth before).

I’m still salty, dynamic pricing and higher fees took a lot of shine off it.

United rounded out the top five.

Sixth was British Airways Executive Club.

The shocker was Air Canada Aeroplan sliding from number two to seven.

I still think Aeroplan is elite for Europe and beyond 50+ partners.

Even with the drop, I’d keep it in my personal top three and rank it above Virgin.

Cool to see how the broader data lines up (or doesn’t) with my own picks.

This stuff drives which cards I keep or downgrade and which points I focus on earning all year.

Each week, I’ll share something cool I’ve discovered or tackle a question from the community. It’s my little corner to explore ideas, offer fresh perspectives, and hopefully spark your own curiosity.

It’s that time of year to start thinking about Southwest Companion Pass.

One Caveat, Southwest has been changing a lot and I don’t have a crystal ball for what Companion Pass looks like in 2026 or if it’s even around.

Right now there are still elevated offers on some co branded cards.

I usually avoid airline cards, but Southwest has a quirk: timing the bonus at year end can do most of the heavy lifting for Companion Pass.

For example the Southwest Rapid Rewards card with 100,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first five months.

You need 135,000 points in a calendar year to earn Companion Pass.

Earn it, and you get CP for that year and the next.

The move is to apply now, but don’t complete the $4,000 until early 2026 (Jan–Feb).

That way, the bonus posts in 2026, and you get Companion Pass for all of 2026 and 2027.

If you finish the $4,000 now and the bonus hits in 2025, you’d only get CP for 2025 and 2026.

You’ve got five months from approval to hit the $4,000, so depending on when you apply, you can push the spend into January/February.

I’ve seen some folks who were a couple hundred short in December still get the bonus others just wait to start spending until January to be safe so the points post in the right year.

That 100k gets you most of the way to 135k.

From there, you can close the gap with card spend, a few flights, or pair it with the business version to lock it in.

Then after two years, let your spouse run the same play.

(Again, programs change, no promises on how this looks in two years.)

Why think about this now?

If you’ve got a family, a spouse, and you fly Southwest a lot, this might be worth planning, even if you’ve never tried it before.

Check out these crazy award deals!

This section includes some of the best award flights of the week bookable with points and miles.

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This section includes some of the best links videos and articles of the week around the points and travel community