If you do not care about hotel and airline loyalty status(es) and you simply want the best deal on flights and hotels, using ShopBack is especially amazing because you can stack promotions fairly easily. With that being said, if you are a loyalty-chaser and you only care about earning and retaining elite statuses with these programs each year, you can still use ShopBack to earn some additional cashback while keeping these eligible nights (and flights).

I wrote about the ability to search for award space on most major airlines with ExpertFlyer previously. While that was impressive enough, did you know that you can actually check out the seat map on any given flight with ExpertFlyer too? I'm not talking about the seat configurations that you can get from SeatGuru but I am actually talking about the availability of seats on a given flight - you can see which seats are taken and which are not!

Hilton is finally removing the extra 'H' from its award-winning loyalty program - the newly-branded Hilton Honors (yes with one 'H' now) will feature a number of changes to the way points can be utilised for award nights. The changes seem to be largely positive at this point but time will tell when the full details of the newly-revamped program are launched. Here is a summary of the upcoming changes.

The next time you drop by a Plaza Premium Lounge, look our for the opportunity to sign-up to be an Arrture member - it is completely free of charge and you will be able to accrue Arrture Points which you can redeem for complimentary lounge access passes (for yourself or your family and friends). Arrture is also planning to allow members to redeem their Arrture Points for "goods and services in the future".

If you have seen my complete list of credit card renewal miles in Singapore, you would have noticed that the UOB Reserve Card offers 100,000 renewal miles each year. One of the ways to get invited for this exclusive credit card is to be a UOB Privilege Reserve Client with S$2,000,000 in deposits/investments with the bank. Not much is known about this card until now - find out what the benefits of this ultra-elite card is.

Everyone knows about the major loyalty programs and the general saving tips in the market. Miles are amazing since they allow you to experience premium cabin products without having to actually pay for it. With that being said, wouldn't it be better to get both miles and cash back though? Here are 5 lesser known ways that I have discovered over the years to help you save more money and earn more miles in 2017.

Mile accrual and redemption is extremely lucrative - it allows you to travel in a premium cabin (e.g. Business and First Class) for free (well, you still have to pay for taxes) - check out my experience on-board the Suites Class in Singapore Airlines. One of the best ways to start raking up these miles is to make small changes to your spending habits each day and if you enjoy eating out, traveling or simply enjoying the finer things in life, Mileslife can help get you on-board a First Class seat a lot faster. 

While checking out room rates this evening on the Hilton HHonors app, I noticed something a little different - the first result is the Hilton Garden Inn Serangoon which is apparently coming soon (first Hong Kong, now us?!). I did not actually know (assuming this is right) that there is a Hilton Garden Inn opening in Singapore (this could be great news for us Hilton HHonors members) and with a little digging, I found a little more proof to back this speculation.