A brand new suite of benefits for Platinum Card Members were announced late July this year and card members in Singapore are finally getting that beautiful sleek metal card that card members in the United States have held since 2017. For the sake of comparison, the annual fee of The Platinum Card in the US is US$550 (approximately S$760) but the annual fee here in Singapore is S$1,712 (approx. US$1,250) - at least two times more! I have always been a strong advocate for paying annual fees where it is due (on selected credit cards that actually give you something in return) but since you do not officially get any renewal miles with this card, I debated about getting it for a while. Finally, I caved in and decided to apply for The Platinum Card a few weeks ago and here's why I actually did it (but more importantly, why I decided that the S$1,712 annual fee was worth it).

Chope will be rolling out a brand new loyalty programme and all of the features will be available by 05 November 2018. The new loyalty programme will be a five-tier-based one and it is based on the number of fulfilled reservations that you make each year. Chope has also introduced a more definite stand on the expiration of Chope-Dollars - they will expire at the end of the following year (e.g. if you earn Chope-Dollars in 2018, they will expire on 31 December 2019).

Just a couple of months ago, I wrote about how I was getting pre-upgraded for upcoming stays at Hilton properties even though I am just a Gold member. Two days prior to my stay at the JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach, I was invited to complete a mobile check-in for the stay via the Marriott International app and I was a little apprehensive since my previous experience with digital check-ins on the Hilton Honors app have been disappointing (well before they started pre-upgrading elite members anyway).

While I have never been an advocate for a cashback card, it does make sense for some consumers (especially when you have no interest in using miles for Business Class and First Class travel) - using your miles for an Economy class ticket is just heart-wrenching and honestly, you maybe better off with a cashback card. The OCBC 365 Credit Card has always been a strong contender and it brings about some new revisions this month. On the whole, it looks like it has gotten better but there are some caveats that you should take note of.

Mileslife is a great way to supercharge the accrual of miles especially when bonuses are in place - there is currently the opportunity to earn up to 8 miles per dollar (on top of credit card spend) at selected restaurants. This means to say that if you are using the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa credit card, you can essentially earn up to 12 miles per dollar on dining which is crazy if you think about it! Apart from spending, users are able to accrue miles by simply completing a few simple tasks.

In case you have been asleep for the last week or so, the unification of the Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards as well as the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) programmes has happened over the weekend (and is continuing to do so right now). Members logging in to their Marriott Rewards account should now be given the option to 'combine your accounts' - doing so will allow you to pool all those elite nights, points and bookings together.

After a series of Business Class flights on Emirates, I have finally achieved MVP Gold status on the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program. I have previously written about how crediting flights to the right program makes a world of difference - on my Business Class flights from Singapore to New York, I would have gotten only a one-way Economy Class flight from Singapore to Perth if I had credited it to Emirates Skywards. However, since I chose to credit it to my the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account, I had almost enough miles for a return-flight (somewhat even though a short detour is required) to Tokyo in Business Class.

The Citi Rewards Card is one of my recommended credit cards to hold in Singapore - up until last month, this credit card was offering a massive 8 miles per dollar on all Apple Pay transactions! Now that the promotion has ended, cardholders are still able to earn up to 10X Rewards (4 miles per dollar) when shopping for clothes, bags or shoes or at department stores or online shopping websites at eligible merchants. As you already know, the 10X Rewards is capped at maximum of 120,000 Rewards points per card anniversary year - this is about to change on 04 October 2018.