The ANZ Optimum World MasterCard is the only cashback card I have in my wallet. Since I do enjoy dining (and staying) at hotels quite a bit, the card has been a little bit of a godsend since it allows you to earn 5% back in cashback if you pick Dining & Leisure as your preferred category. Most of you should know that using your Citibank Rewards Card or UOB Preferred Platinum Visa will not earn you 4 miles per dollar because hotels are generally excluded from bonus spending. One year in with the ANZ Optimum World MasterCard, it's time to finally say goodbye.

I have written about the DISCOVERY Loyalty Program by the Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) on multiple occasions. Personally, I have completed at least 30 stays at the Pan Pacific Singapore and the Pan Pacific Orchard in the last two years. Within Singapore, the DISCOVERY program is one of my personal favourites as it offers everything important for a perfect staycation - especially when you reach top-tier with the program after 30 eligible nights! 

Purchasing miles by either paying for a credit card's annual or renewal fee may be a good idea if you are thinking about a Business flight redemption of higher. While I have previously written a summary of credit card renewal miles in Singapore where HSBC's Visa Infinite Card emerged the top, Standard Chartered is currently running an exclusive promotion which gives KrisFlyer members 40,000 miles for simply signing up using this link - you do have to pay the annual fee though! 

You might find yourself on Expedia or Agoda if you are looking for the best deals on hotel stays. While the two aforementioned sites already offer some pretty great deals on hotels, did you know that you can get at least 10% of the amount spent by going through an additional step? In fact, the 10% is on top of whatever you earn on your credit card so in reality, it is possible to get a much higher cashback depending on how much you value miles and points.

If you hold The American Express® Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Ascend Credit Card, some (favourable and unfavourable) changes are coming your way on 01 May 2016. As a disclaimer, the following changes will only come into effect from 01 May 2016 and at the time of publishing, these changes are still inactive. Here is a summary of the upcoming changes that will come your way: 

Did you know that Sixt SE (more commonly known as Sixt), a European multi-national car rental company that operates over 100 different countries has a loyalty program that you should take advantage of - even if it is the first time you are renting! Since I will be traveling out of Singapore soon, I was curious to see what I could get with my hotel statuses and it turns out that Sixt is matching Hilton HHonors Diamond (amongst various other top-tier hotel loyalty program status) to the Platinum Sixt Card. 

While it used to be incredibly easy to get a status match to Platinum in the Le Club AccorHotels program previously, that has changed since the beginning of last year. As you may already know, at the moment, all points that you earn with Le Club AccorHotels are elite-qualifying. This means that if you have signed up for a promotion that gives you 10,000 bonus points, these points will count towards achieving Gold status for a rolling 12-month period. Unfortunately, this will change come 2017 and as you will now earn Status Points (which are elite-qualifying) and Reward Points separately - much like other hotel loyalty programs. 

UOB has just announced a brand new credit card - the UOB YOLO (yes, it really stands for You Only Live Once). This is a cash rebate card so mile warriors and chasers can go someplace else now. For everyone else, the UOB YOLO will offer you up to 8% cash rebate on weekend dining and entertainment for local and overseas spend.