Yes, former President Reagan and I actually share a birthday, February 6th. I’m not quite ready to tell you how I spent my actual birthday, but Mrs MJ on Travel and I celebrated my 42nd year with a night at the beautiful W Hotel Washington DC on Saturday night. Yes, I promise a full review of my stay is coming. But today was my actual birthday. There were no big plans to celebrate and I was up at 6:45am almost ready to walk out the door for work this morning when my day took a turn for the worse. Nothing terrible, just worse. I’ll tell you later.

Marriott Rewards actually sent me a “Happy Birthday” email though, which always makes my day better. My gift for having lived this long? An extra elite night credit. I won’t scoff or complain, I’ll take it with thanks! That’s one more night towards Gold status.  Have any readers received a similar birthday wish from Marriott Rewards? What was your gift?

I was perusing my blog reading list today, which of course includes The Frugal Travel Guy. Today’s post caught my eye. In it, Rick notes that he’s been asked to add the term “Limited Time Offer” to the Chase Sapphire Preferred ads on his site. I think we’ve all known that the 50,000 Ultimate Rewards bonus points offer would not last forever. I don’t think anyone (except Chase) knows when (or if) that signup bonus is going to be reduced, but if you are thinking about getting this great card, don’t wait. Do it now.

Hat tip to Rick.

Just a friendly reminder. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post about hotel promos, Starwood’s latest promotion is now open for registration. I just registered, and so should you!

Click here to do so.

One of my MJ on Travel resolutions for 2012 is to put myself on a “get well” plan for paying better attention to hotel bonus promotions and sharing my experiences with those here on the blog. All of this has already been widely blogged about, but just in case you missed it, here’s a summary of the latest promos from the 3 programs I frequent most. Not to mention… practice in posting makes better posts.

Starwood – Double SPG points on 2-night stays and triple SPG points on 3-night stays. Registration opens tomorrow (1/9). According to this FT thread, the link to register is here. Should work tomorrow.

Marriott – Q1 Megabonus. Varies by account. Go here to see what your offer is. Mine was 1 free night after every second paid stay with a max of 2 free nights.

Hilton – More Points promotion. 1,000 bonus points per night, and a 2-night weekend stay earns 5,000 bonus points. Click here for the terms and registration.

These are the 3 programs I’m likely to use. Feel free to comment to the blog if you are aware of other great promos at these chains and especially others.

Hat tips to Points, Miles & Martinis as well as Loyalty Traveler.

Already mentioned by some, but I didn’t want to let the night pass by without saying something. I received an email from American this evening with an offer for double elite qualifying miles from now through January 31, 2012. Registration is required and you can do so by clicking here. So….if you’re close to a different status level this could be an incentive to go for it, and this will certainly be an incentive to get out there in January and fly if there are some decent fares around.

I doubt this is the last promo we see from American as they navigate through bankruptcy. I already have one roundtrip booked on AA in January. Will there be more? We will see.

Previously posted, but just a reminder since they’ve extended the offer. If you carry the US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard, you can earn an extra 1,000 Dividend Miles when you pay for US Airways tickets with your card through November 14th. Details here.

I received an email from Delta SkyMiles this evening that I thought was worth sharing. It’s apparently a targeted offer, so your mileage may vary. That said, Delta is offering a rebate on SkyMiles award tickets to some customers.

From the email: “Book a Delta or Delta Connection® round-trip Award Ticket and earn a 20% mileage rebate in BusinessElite®, First or Business Class and a 10% rebate in Economy Class. Plus, earn a 25% mileage rebate for each additional BusinessElite, First or Business Class Award Ticket and a 15% mileage rebate for each Economy Class Award Ticket.

Award Tickets must be booked by October 31, 2011, and travel must be completed by April 30, 2012. There is no limit on the number of rebates you can earn. Rebates will appear in the redeeming member’s account after travel is complete.”

Again, I believe this email to be targeted.

I logged into my Dividend Miles account this morning to see that the bonus miles had posted for my 12th Grand Slam “hit.” Always nice to see an extra 5,000 miles in your account. I’ve already “swung” at my 13th through 16th hits and assuming they post in time, the next Grand Slam sweep should earn me an additional 10,000 miles, and 2,000 Preferred Qualifying Miles (PQMs). Sweet! Next week, hits 17 and 18 will roll in, and to tell you the truth, I haven’t even tried very hard yet. I’ve still got a little time to get serious, and I’m thinking at least a little of my time on my weekend mileage run will be spent figuring out how to go for home with this great promo!

I signed into my account this morning to find that the first miles from the Dividend Miles Grand Slam promo have posted. A couple of my “hits” have not hit my account yet, so I was only credited for the 4 “hit” level, but still, it’s nice to see the miles begin to post. I was a little worried when I read yesterday and the day before that miles were starting to trickle in, and I had not received any yet. Just in case, I made a .pdf of my successful registration confirmation so I wasn’t that worried. Onward! Time to get back in the game and start really scoring some great hits.

I can’t believe I let life get in the way of my Grand Slam goals, but that’s exactly what happened. Well, work got in the way and I just haven’t given the promo that much thought in the last few days. A rental car this week and a Marriott stay I’m about to complete will earn my 11th and 12th hit. I’m a little embarrassed that I fell behind, but there’s still plenty of time to catch up between now and November 14th.  My motto for this promotion for now is TRY HARDER! My score to date:

1 – US Airways Visa debit card transaction

1 – US Airways MasterCard transaction

1 – Dividend Miles purchase

1 –  SPG transfer

1 – Hilton transfer

1 – Marriott transfer

1 – Dividend Miles toolbar for 3 searches

1 – Purchased Trial Preferred

1 – Dividend Miles shopping purchase

1 – Points.com transfer to US

1 – Avis Rental Car

1 – Marriott stay

Register in advance using promo code EUR11, and earn some serious bonus miles for premium class trans-Atlantic travel on American as well as Oneworld partners BA and Iberia. Earn 25,000 bonus miles for your first trip booked in purchased First, Business, or full fare Economy (Y, B, or H). Earn 35,000 miles for the second roundtrip, and 45,000 for the third roundtrip. That’s a total of 105,000 bonus miles after 3 roundtrips. Earn 45,000 bonus miles for each additional roundtrip flown during the promotion period. Register first, and travel between September 19, and December 31, 2011. Catch more details from AA here.

Makes me wonder what advance bookings for premium travel are looking like this fall and early winter?

Hat tip to AAdvantageGeek.