{"podcast":{"title":"MTM Travel - The Fun Side of Points & Travel!","slug":"mtm-travel-the-fun-side-of-points-travel-251388","podcast_index_feed_id":251388,"rss_url":"https://milestomemories.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"https://milestomemories.com/podcast","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/4/b/a/f/4bafcdeae464719de55e3c100dce7605/Copy_of_Copy_of_Copy_of_MtM_Vegas.jpg","author":"Shawn Coomer","episode_count":403,"summary":"The fun side of miles, points and travel! Hosted by Shawn Coomer and Mark Ostermann, MTM Travel dives into the points hobby & the lifestyle of travel with topical conversations and plenty of laughs along the way. Mark & Shawn have a combined 18 years of experience covering these topics on Miles to Memories and Travel on Points and are cohosts of the popular MtM Vegas Youtube Show on the Miles to Memories Vegas channel. They also host the 20 Minute Travel news show on this same feed where you can keep up with the latest deals, news and happenings.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-17T08:17:05.407415+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/mtm-travel-the-fun-side-of-points-travel-251388"},"episode":{"title":"Forget Hyatt: The Hotel Programs Actually Worth Your Points Now + Trip Rebooking CHAOS!","slug":"forget-hyatt-the-hotel-programs-actually-worth-your-points-now-trip-rebooking-chaos","published_at":"2026-03-17T19:24:19+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/mtm-travel-the-fun-side-of-points-travel-251388/forget-hyatt-the-hotel-programs-actually-worth-your-points-now-trip-rebooking-chaos","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/mtm-travel-the-fun-side-of-points-travel-251388","url":"https://milestomemories.libsyn.com/forget-hyatt-the-hotel-programs-actually-worth-your-points-now-trip-rebooking-chaos","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/milestomemories/MTM_Travel_Mar_17_26_audio.mp3?dest-id=1462559","summary":"Want to work with us? Reach out! inquiries at milestomemories dot com Hyatt just dropped five new pricing tiers on their award chart — and it's got Shawn and Mark rethinking their entire hotel strategy. Plus: Mark had to scrap his Istanbul trip, rebook his whole Europe itinerary using Aeroplan, LifeMiles, Delta SkyMiles, and Bilt credits, and lived to tell the tale. And yes — the LifeMiles call center almost broke him. **What we cover:** - Hyatt's award chart devaluation: five new tiers and what it actually means for redemptions - Why Hyatt's value proposition was always about consistency and Chase earning (not footprint) - Mark's current hotel rankings: Hilton free night certs, IHG's underrated card refresh, and Accor's flexible points - Choice Hotels and why Benjy's going to be thrilled - The Hilton Surpass card: still the best mid-tier hotel card and why - Hyatt free night certs — are they actually worth more now post-devaluation? - Why Mark abandoned Istanbul and pivoted to Warsaw two weeks before the trip - Rebuilding the whole itinerary: 70K Aeroplan on Turkish, 8K United miles Istanbul-Warsaw, 25K Delta SkyMiles on Air France business, and Bilt credits for the Sheraton - Turkish Airlines IT nightmare: can't check in, ticket number mismatch, and the LifeMiles call center hangup saga - RyanAir reality check: what Americans need to know about weight limits and bag rules - The case for travel flexibility and why points make last-minute pivots actually possible 📧 Free newsletter: https://milestomemories.us3.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=39c6737d725a04fea73324680&id=1e73edd8c8 ✈️ Track your travel credit cards for free: https://milestomemories.boardingarea.com/go/travel-freely-eop/ 💳 Join our free Facebook group (16,000+ members): https://www.facebook.com/groups/116…","meta_description":"Want to work with us? Reach out! inquiries at milestomemories dot com Hyatt just dropped five new pricing tiers on their award chart — and it's got Shawn…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1593,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/mtm-travel-the-fun-side-of-points-travel-251388/episodes/forget-hyatt-the-hotel-programs-actually-worth-your-points-now-trip-rebooking-chaos/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/mtm-travel-the-fun-side-of-points-travel-251388/forget-hyatt-the-hotel-programs-actually-worth-your-points-now-trip-rebooking-chaos.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}