Thanks to a new partnership with one of our favorite hotel chains and ride share companies you can now earn more on each Lyft ride. Hilton Honors has partnered with Lyft to earn hotel points on rides anywhere.
With this new partnership, those who link their Hilton Honors and Lyft accounts at hiltonhonorslyft.com will automatically earn points whenever they take a Lyft ride. The earnings structure is as follows:
Earn 3 Hilton Honors points per dollar spent on Lyft rides
Earn 2 Hilton Honors points per dollar spent on Lyft shared rides
You can earn points for up to $10,000 of Lyft spend per year
You can also stack this offer with airline miles for Lyft rides
While this partnership represents the first of its kind between Lyft and a hotel group, this isn’t the first opportunity to earn loyalty points for Lyft rides, as Lyft also partners with two airlines:
You can earn 2x Delta SkyMiles per dollar on US airport rides, and 1x Delta SkyMiles per dollar on all other US rides
What’s interesting is that there’s nothing in the terms restricting you from taking advantage of all of these partnerships, so you should be able to earn Delta miles and Hilton points from the same ride, for example.
Even looking at these partnerships independently, personally I think the Hilton one is the most well rounded, given that it’s not restricted to US rides, and given the earnings rates.
Best credit card for Lyft rides
When you’re paying for your Lyft rides, make sure you use a card offering bonus points on ride sharing or travel.
Chase Freedom has announced the 5% rotating categories for the Freedom card for the first quarter of 2019:
Gas stations
Drugstores
Tolls
This is for the first Quarter that starts in January and ends March 31, 2019. You must activate no later than March 14, 2019. They will announce the rest of the 5% such as restaurants, grocery stores, and rideshare soon.
The Chase Freedom card is available directly on the Chase Bank website, in Chase branches, and through our application link here for the up to $175 in bonuses offer.
Gas is always a popular category and they added tolls which can get expensive when you commute to work and pay hefty tolls. Some people pay more in tolls than on gas. At Drugstores you can buy things such as gift cards to help max out the $1,500 limit.
Chase Pay is one of the biggest new features for the Chase Freedom Card. Here were some of the recent benefits of this on top of the 5% or 1% on purchases you get cash back on:
$5 off during Chase Pay Happy Hour which happens a few times a month when ordering togo.
$10 off using Chase Pay 3 times with pick-up orders.
$7 off a movie ticket.
475 Starbucks Bonus Stars using Chase Pay to reload.
So you’ll earn 5X Chase Ultimate Rewards points per $1 AND get the discounts.
While these are great 5% categories we do hope that Chase Freedom adds back Chase Pay and mobile payments for a full five percent cash back like they did in a few quarters in 2018. They drip out the announcements unlike Discover which have already announced theirs for 2019. Discover will run their 5% back on Gas and rideshare starting in April.
Discover has announced all of the rotating 5% cashback categories for 2019. The categories are as follows:
January–March: Grocery Stores
April–June: Gas Stations, Uber & Lyft
July–September: Restaurants
October–December: Amazon.com
Tip: If you are not signed up for Discover IT then use our Discover $50 Bonus link. Simply make one purchase to get your $50 bonus! Don’t forget double cash back for the first year, which means you can get $100 referral bonus along with double for 5% cash back categories.
Discover has announced their 2019 categories for five percent cash back on categories that include groceries, gas, rideshare, dining out, and Amazon. The 5% back on Uber and Lyft actually pay more than the Uber Visa Card which is one of our favorite everyday spending cards. The Uber Visa pays 2% back on actual Uber Rides.
Our strategy will be to cancel our American Express Blue Cash Preferred card that is 6% in January when the annual fee comes up and use the Discover It card for groceries at 5% back. You can buy gift cards at stores such as Whole Foods, Kroger and Albertsons to get 5% back on everything doing this.
In April, we will switch from using the Cash+ card to the Discover Card to get 5% back on rides share. I feel safer earning with Discover than with Cash+ from U.S. Bank even though it’s the same 5% back. We will also use the Discover IT Card for Gas purchases.
Our favorite category is normally restaurants because we do lots of spending at nightclubs, bars, and dining out. We max out this category each year. This is only 1% above the Uber Visa which pays 4% year-long with no maximum putting the Uber Visa as our most used card right now.
As for shopping at Amazon in October through the end of the year that is most likely going to be a 5% category with Chase Freedom and Citi Cards so that’s not really a big deal.
Uber is rolling out a new program that frequent travelers have been requesting for years. The ridesharing service announced Uber Rewards, its very own loyalty program that will reward riders with Uber credits and elite status that comes with many perks.
The program resembles an airline rewards program. It’s free to join, but riders won’t be automatically enrolled, so make sure you opt-in in the app. You may also look into stacking miles with this program with a credit card that pays back on rideshare.
There’s two main aspects to the program: First the rewards you earn, and second, the different tiers of elite status you can attain and each perk that comes along with it. You can see how to earn points below:
Earn 3x points per eligible dollar spent on Uber Black and Uber Black SUV trips
Earn 2x points per eligible dollar spent on UberX, UberXL, or Uber Select
Earn 1x points per eligible dollar spent on Uber Eats and Uber Pool trips
Redeeming points with Uber Rewards
With Uber Rewards, 500 points can be redeemed for $5 in Uber credit, meaning that each Uber point is worth a penny. In other words:
You get a $5 credit for every ~$167 spent on Black and Black SUV (~3% return)
You get a $5 credit for every $250 spent on X, XL, and Select (~2% return)
You get a $5 credit for every $500 spent on Eats and Pool (~1% return)
These rewards will be added to your overall Uber Cash balance, so you’ll be able to redeem multiple credits towards a single ride.
Earning status with Uber Rewards
Uber Rewards has four status tiers — Blue, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. The requirements to earn status are as follows:
Blue status requires 0 points (the starting level for most)
Gold status requires 500 points, so requires ~$167-500 of spend or you get it if you have already matched this from previous months of spend.
Platinum status requires 2,500 points, so requires ~$833-2,500 of spend
Diamond status requires 7,500 points, so requires $2,500-7,500 of spend
Here’s a full listing of the perks offered at each tier:
Uber Blue status allows you to earn rewards
Uber Gold status gets you priority support and the ability to get flexible cancelation
Uber Platinum status gets you price protection on a route and priority pick ups at airports
Uber Diamond status gets you premium support, highly rated drivers, complimentary upgrades, and complimentary delivery of three Uber Eats orders
How does flexible cancelation work?
If you cancel a ride, you’ll get an in-app message letting you know if the ride qualifies for a refund of the usual cancellation fee. You’ll only get this refund if you rebook the ride within 15 minutes and complete the trip. Flexible cancellations are only available to Gold, Platinum and Diamond members. Pool and Express Pool trips are not eligible. This benefit can be used once per hour at most, up to three total uses per month. This benefit is only available in the US and may not be available in all locations, such as certain airports and venues/stadiums.
How does price protection work?
When you unlock the Platinum level, you’ll be prompted to set your two favorite locations. Once you’ve set these, any ride taken between those two points will enjoy a lower price that won’t be as affected by traffic or dynamic pricing. The price protection benefit has a 35% maximum discount per ride. You may be charged the amount of the price that exceeds 35% off the real-time (non-protected) price. Your chosen route can be changed once every 30 days by contacting support. This benefit may not be available in all cities, or for all possible routes. Only UberX trips receive price protection. and does not apply to scheduled rides.
How does priority picks up at airports work?
Based on driver availability, Platinum and Diamond members may receive faster pickups. This benefit is only available at some airports due to local regulations and rideshare agreements. Shorter wait times are not guaranteed for any given airport pickup.
How does complimentary upgrades work?
Complimentary upgrades are sometimes given on select UberX rides. These upgrades are only available to Diamond members. This benefit is not available in all locations, and excludes certain airports and venues/stadiums.
How does Free Uber Eats delivery work?
Once Diamond level is unlocked, you’ll receive three free Eats deliveries. These free deliveries will be added to your account automatically and will apply to your next three UberEats orders. You’ll need to have an Eats account. Free delivery means no booking fee and no busy area fee.
2019 Updates on Uber’s Rewards Program
[January 2019] We are stoked about the new Uber Rewards program and have been using it over a month now. We were given Platinum level because i’ve already taken hundreds of Uber Rides and several Eats orders over the past year which is how they count that. I haven’t noticed any big differences in service or the cancellation fee credit or waiver. I still get cancellation fees sometimes even when booking another ride immediately. So maybe they have some kinks to work out.
I have received the $5 credit after racking up 500 in points which was nice. The rewards program may be a replacement for the Ride Pass which saved me tons more money at giving me 15% to 20% off of all rides in the U.S. I would much rather have the Ride Pass but welcome this if I can eventually get to the Diamond level that will help out some at least with a free UberEats delivery.
In related news the Uber Visa Card which is becoming highly popular among Uber riders recently sent us a survey and you can see here.
Raise.com is a second-hand exchange selling discounted gift cards. Raise.com is offering 5% off site-wide this weekend with promo code: GAME. This 5% will stack on top of whatever discount is already showing on the site such as 2.4% on Uber Gift Cards.
Max $10 discount
Expires on 3/25 at 11:59 pm CST
One-time use
You can max this out with a $200 purchase. Raise has been running lots of promos this past month and these gift cards from places such as Walmart will go fast! They seem to have plenty of Uber Cards right now. We got 12.4 percent back on Uber by using the Chase Freedom Card at 5% using Apple Pay and this Promo at 5% and 2.4% on Uber savings they usually have.
Remember to use your Chase Freedom card and a mobile payment method in the Raise app if you haven’t maxed out your Freedom Card at $1500 spend yet. Or goto Raise.com and use a shopping portal on the purchase. There’s usually a lifetime max of how much you can earn across all shopping portals on Raise purchases, but it never hurts to try.
Make sure that you add the promo code before you check out and note that they do not add the promo savings until AFTER the purchase:
Amazon Prime members will soon get special discounts at Whole Foods. Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods will close on Monday, and the companies say they will then lower the prices of many grocery items.
Over time, they say they will extend special discounts to Prime members. Now is a great time to sign up for Amazon Prime and get a free trial for 30 days or 6 free months if you’re a student.
Amazon and Whole Foods Market technology teams will begin to integrate Amazon Prime into the Whole Foods Market point-of-sale system, and when this work is complete, Prime members will receive special savings and in-store benefits. (more…)
Raise.com is a second-hand exchange selling discounted gift cards. Raise.com is offering 5% off site-wide this weekend with promo code: GAME. This 5% will stack on top of whatever discount is already showing on the site such as 2.4% on Uber Gift Cards.
