No Annual Fee Card Can Pay You To Use Hotel Award Alerts

U.S. Bank has a little-noticed credit that can cover a year of hotel award alerts and leave you with about $52 more than you spent. Its Triple Cash Rewards business card has no annual fee, and the software benefit pays a fixed $100 after a qualifying run of monthly purchases. The interesting part is that you don’t need to spend $100 to earn it. And travelers report that MaxMyPoint and Seats.aero purchases qualify. You just have to pay monthly, not annually. I’ve written about using MaxMyPoint for hotel award space and Hyatt confirmed suite alerts. Here’s a way for existing cardholders to have the bank cover the search subscription. A $100 Credit That Can Exceed Your Spending The bank’s terms require eligible software purchases directly from a provider for 11 consecutive months. They promise a $100 statement credit per 12-month period, arriving within one or two statement billing cycles afterward. There’s no $100 spending requirement. A contributor to a detailed Reddit discussion reports: “I have personally gotten $100 credit for a $4/mo plan” Separately, a report last month says both MaxMyPoint and Seats.aero still appeared as merchant category code 5734 in downloaded transactions, which should trigger the credit. At the services’ published monthly prices, a full year works out like this, before tax and ordinary card rewards: MaxMyPoint Gold: $3.99 a month, or $47.88 for 12 months. A qualifying $100 credit leaves you $52.12 ahead. MaxMyPoint Gold: $7.99 a month, or $95.88. The credit exceeds the subscription cost by $4.12. Hyatt suite upgrade alerts are a Platinum feature. Seats.aero Pro: $9.99 a month, or $119.88. After the credit, the year’s subscription costs $19.88. The Monthly Charge And Its Coding Are What Matter Buying an annual subscription creates one purchase. It doesn’t create 11 months of purchases, even though you receive a year of service. The annual discount costs you the bank credit. Terms say “11 consecutive months.” A Doctor of Credit reader reports that calendar months, rather than statement periods, determine the streak. Start before month-end so a delayed charge doesn’t leave a calendar month empty. Check the first posted transaction instead of waiting a year. Customers report downloading transactions from U.S. Bank’s desktop Activity page as a CSV, then looking in the Memo field for 05734, the code for Computer Software Stores. The spending label in an app isn’t as useful as the actual code. Coding can change. In that same September discussion, a new SimpleFIN customer reported 5818 through Link, while an older subscriber still saw 5734. This is most useful for business travelers who already have the card and a subscription they can use. Topics on this page