I have been on a mission to obtain Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Platinum Status ahead of the upcoming program merger in August 2018. Since I have not really stayed over at the JW Marriott Singapore South Beach before, I decided to book myself into a weekend stay - I have booked a Deluxe Room since SPG Platinum Status would give me guaranteed lounge access (which also includes breakfast) for the stay. Last evening, I received an email from the reservations team upselling me breakfast and club lounge access for this stay - this is not the first time that I have actually received this, so I wanted to share a couple of thoughts regarding such upsells.

Asia Miles will be introducing some new changes to the way miles are being earned and redeemed on 22 June 2018 - everything stays the same until then. If you are unfamiliar with the differences between Asia Miles and The Marco Polo Club, feel free to check out my primer on this subject. Asia Miles is a particularly important subject for Singaporean consumers since most credit card points convert either into KrisFlyer or Asia Miles - this article aims to list the top few changes that would probably affect you the most.

KrisFlyer vRooms now allows KrisFlyer members to use their valuable miles on hotel stays and car rentals but the bottom line is this - save your miles for those Business Class and First Class flights instead. Now I have no expertise in car rentals but I dare say that I have had my fair share of hotel stays over the years.

Japan is very much a cash-based society and it drives me crazy for a number of reason. Firstly, I personally do not like carrying coins since getting rid of them is always a bit of a pain. Secondly, every time I transact using cash is a missed opportunity at earning miles - the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Credit Card gives me 3 miles per SGD on foreign currency transactions with a S$2,000 minimum spend requirement in each statement period. With all that being said, a lot of the shops here in Tokyo at least accept the use of Pasmo and Suica cards. I have been using a Pasmo card for the last couple of years but I found out quite recently that it is possible to add a Suica card into your iPhone (or Apple Watch) so you can use it very conveniently with your preferred Apple device but more importantly, it creates a proxy to use your credit card(s) via the Suica card (which means you can potentially earn 8 miles per dollar on your next bowl of ramen!).

One of the most common mistakes that people who are new to flying make is crediting their flights into the wrong Frequent Flyer Program (FFP). As many of you would already know, crediting your flights into the right FFP can make a huge difference and I just wanted to highlight this point on a number of flights that I have taken recently. If you have been following me on Instagram, you would have noticed that I travelled to the USA recently on Emirates Business Class - this is a return Business Saver ticket from Singapore (SIN) to New York (JFK) via Dubai (DXB).

With the upcoming Grab-Uber merger on the horizon, there is no better time than now to revisit the best credit cards and platforms to use for Grab rides (especially with the recent introduction of new membership programs). This article aims to highlight a combination of promotions and offers that you can use to get most value out of your Grab rides in Singapore (even though some of them apply to rides taken overseas as well) and while it may not be exhaustive, it will definitely help you save more money on your Grab rides on the whole.

Everyone knows about the acquisition of SPG by Marriott International and as most of us would have expected, all three loyalty programs which are operating independently today (even though they are linked and points can be transferred freely between them), will come together to form one powerful program. Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards as well as the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) programme will be unified in August 2018 to offer loyalty benefits across all 29 brands that are under the Marriott International portfolio - a brand new loyalty program name will only be unveiled in 2019.

Many of you have already heard about the Changi Rewards program which to put it simply, gives you Changi Rewards (CR) points for every S$10 that you spend at participating merchants. These CR points can then be used to offset your next eligible purchase (1,000 CR points = S$5 rebate). Alternatively, you may choose to convert your CR points into valuable KrisFlyer miles (which you can then use on things like free First Class flights) or things like vouchers amongst other things. There are also a number of benefits that you get with the Changi Rewards program but the point of this article is to introduce the different membership tiers as well as qualification requirement.