Latest

Virgin Atlantic Built A Loyalty Reward For People Who Don’t Fly Constantly

One flight per year. Five different calendar years. Surprisingly easy for some travelers, surprisingly awkward for others.

Expat Vista

May 30, 2026

Oslo Hotel Math

Why the expensive hotel belonged on the cheaper nights, why the family hotel handled the expensive ones, and why this was never going to be a one-hotel trip.

Expat Vista

May 26, 2026

My MGM Offers Changed Again: What Got Cut First

Freeplay fell, Bellagio tightened, and the repricing pattern became more interesting.

Expat Vista

May 25, 2026

London Marriott Maida Vale, Revisited: Second Stay, Revised Economics

We needed to be in northwest London anyway. The question became whether a nearby apartment, dinner, drinks, breakfast, and revision space could beat the normal weekend spend.

Expat Vista

May 24, 2026

Crowne Plaza Nottingham Review

An expiring certificate, an oversized room, and the obvious choice between wine and 500 IHG points.

Expat Vista

May 24, 2026

Missing the Final FNC Swap by Hours

A Hilton Free Night Certificate had posted just hours before the Calala transfer, briefly keeping alive hopes of swapping out the remaining 240,000-point night.

Expat Vista

May 21, 2026

Singapore to Fiji: When Business Class Quietly Became the Rational Option

A Fiji Airways overnight flight that initially looked like a straightforward economy booking until flexibility, seat selection, and realistic pricing changed the math.

Expat Vista

May 19, 2026

Best Western Las Mercedes Managua Airport Review

A tropical transit compound, cats by the pool, and the strangely perfect chaos of a Nicaraguan positioning night before Calala Island

Expat Vista

May 19, 2026

While We Were There: Miami Wynwood

Murals, construction cranes, cafés, side streets, and a long walk through Wynwood before the flight south.

Expat Vista

May 18, 2026

Load more

Beyond the Obvious

Systems, incentives, pricing distortions, and the second-order effects behind travel decisions.

Miles & Points

+3

Jan 10, 2026

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7 min read

Becoming the Miles Bank

Liquidity, trust, and the hidden cost of ‘free’ miles

Expat Vista

Program Mechanics

+4

Jan 27, 2026

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7 min read

Marriott Lifetime Platinum Is About to Be Everywhere

How Marriott’s post-2020 mechanics turned an elite status into a default outcome

Expat Vista

IHG

+4

Jan 24, 2026

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6 min read

IHG Points Are Almost Always on Sale

How Often IHG Runs 100% Buy-Points Bonuses, Quantified

Expat Vista

IHG

+6

Jan 26, 2026

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4 min read

When Points Pricing Ignores Room Hierarchies

How IHG’s “standard room” logic can quietly erase cash premiums

Expat Vista

Capital One

+4

Jan 22, 2026

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7 min read

A good redemption. A messy process. One real mistake.

A business-class case study in sequencing, pricing anchors, and hindsight

Expat Vista

Amex Platinum

+5

Feb 7, 2026

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6 min read

Taking One for the (Expat) Team

Testing Amex’s New Q3 Resy Credit From Outside the U.S.

Expat Vista