Apply for Chase Ink Business Cash or Ink Business Unlimited before Tuesday 9/17 at 9am ET

Friday, September 11, 2026 — End-of-Week Update

Hey friend! Here's what changed since Tuesday and what's about to expire over the weekend and into next week. Grab a coffee, this one's got a couple of genuine "don't sleep on this" items. ☕✈️

🔥 WHAT'S HOT — ACT FAST

• Chase Ink Business Cash & Ink Business Unlimited — best-ever $1,000 cash back offer ends Tuesday, 9/17 at 9am ET. $8,000 spend in 4 months, no annual fee, and if you can move the cash back into Ultimate Rewards (via a Sapphire card or Ink Business Preferred) it's worth up to $1,700 in travel value. This is the single best small-business card offer out there right now — six days left.
• Marriott Bonvoy Escapes — up to 20% off select hotels worldwide, but you have to book by Sunday, 9/13. Stays valid through October 4. Blink and it's gone.
• NEW as of Monday, 9/15: Amex folds Tock into the Resy dining credit. Hundreds of Tock-booked restaurants become eligible for the Platinum ($100/quarter) and Gold ($50/twice a year) Resy statement credits for the first time. Worth checking your favorite Tock spot after Monday.
• Amex Platinum/Gold Resy credit — Q3 window closes September 30. Up to $100 (Platinum) or $50 (Gold) doesn't roll over. If you haven't used it since July, put it on the calendar now.

💳 TRANSFER BONUSES LIVE RIGHT NOW

The Citi → LHW bonus is the one most likely to sneak past you this weekend — it's gone a week from Saturday. The rest cluster around month-end, so there's still time to plan a transfer if you have a redemption in mind (never transfer speculatively — only move points once you've priced out the award).

🏨 HOTEL PROMOTIONS

• Marriott Bonvoy Fall Promotion — Sept 22 – Nov 22, 2026: earn up to 4,500 bonus points per stay of 2+ nights at 10,000+ properties worldwide. No registration link was live yet as of this week — check your Bonvoy account/app closer to the 22nd.
• Marriott Bonvoy Escapes — up to 20% off select hotels, book by Sept 13, stays valid through Oct 4. (See What's Hot above — this one's urgent.)
• World of Hyatt × Thompson Hotels — register Sept 8 – Nov 10, 2026 via the World of Hyatt app for double points on stays at Thompson properties (celebrating the brand's 25th anniversary).
• Hilton Honors global promo — stays Sept 3 – Dec 31, 2026 earn 2,500 bonus points per stay. Registration wasn't live when Hilton first announced this in late August; check hilton.com's Honors offers page — it should be open by now.
• IHG One Rewards "Pick Your Points" — Sept 1–30, 2026: 2,000 points per 2 nights, up to 6,000 points for 6 nights ($30+ spend/night required). This one is targeted — not everyone will see it in their IHG account, so don't be surprised if it's not there.

✈️ AIRLINE SWEET SPOTS

From DFW (verified this week against published charts):

• American AAdvantage: DFW → Cancún or Los Cabos, Business Class, 30,000 miles one-way — published oneworld/partner MileSAAver-level chart (AA-operated metal prices dynamically, but partner carriers hold the line at 30K).
• Air Canada Aeroplan: DFW → Europe (London, Paris, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Lisbon), Business Class, 75,000 miles one-way on fixed-chart partners (Lufthansa, ANA, Turkish, EVA) — Economy on the same routes is 42,500 miles. Air Canada/United/Emirates-operated flights price dynamically instead.

Elsewhere:

• Delta One to Europe from 106,000 SkyMiles each way with a Delta SkyMiles co-brand card (125,000 without one) — per Thrifty Traveler's Sept 11 roundup. 🔥
• Buy miles while the bonuses are up: United is offering up to a 95% purchase bonus through Sept 30 (capped at 50,000 miles per rolling 90 days, 200,000/year), and Air Canada Aeroplan has a mystery bonus up to 100% on purchased miles through Sept 25 (revealed at login — most members are seeing less than the headline number, so check before buying).
• Southwest Companion Pass: still 135,000 qualifying points in a calendar year (or 100 one-way qualifying flights) to earn it. Earn it early in the year and it's valid through the end of the *following* year — worth planning toward for 2027.

🍽️ CREDIT CARD DINING & TRAVEL CREDITS

• Amex Platinum Resy credit: up to $100/quarter — Q3 (Jul–Sept) closes Sept 30. Use it or lose it.
• Amex Gold Resy credit: up to $50 twice a year — H2 window runs through Dec 31.
• Amex Gold monthly dining credit: up to $10/month ($120/year) at Grubhub (incl. Seamless), The Cheesecake Factory, Five Guys, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Wonder. Resets the 1st of each month; unused amounts don't carry over.
• Chase Sapphire Reserve dining credit: up to $150 for Jul–Dec 2026, no reservation needed — just pay with your CSR at one of the ~406 eligible restaurants. Heads up: Chase refreshed the eligible list on Aug 28 (36 added, 35 dropped), so double-check a restaurant is still on the list before you go — it moves more than people expect.
• Reminder from Aug 1 rule change: being bookable on Resy is *not* the same as qualifying for the Amex credit anymore. Look for the "Qualifies for Resy Credit" badge on the venue page before you count on the statement credit (see Dining Spotlight below for exactly how we verify this).

💳 CARD OFFERS WORTH THE SPEND

Eligibility traps to know before you apply:

• Chase 5/24 — if you've opened 5+ personal credit cards (any issuer) in the last 24 months, Chase will likely reject you for the Sapphire cards, no matter how good your credit is. Count your cards first.
• Amex once-per-lifetime bonus rule — if you've ever had *that exact card* before (Platinum, Gold, Business Platinum, etc.), you generally won't get another welcome bonus on it, even years later.
• Citi 48-month rule — the Strata Premier bonus (and most Citi ThankYou cards) is only available if you haven't earned a new-account bonus on that same card in the last 48 months.

Also live: Rakuten is offering up to $100 cash back (or 10,000 Bilt points) for approval on Chase Freedom Unlimited, Ink Business Unlimited, or Ink Business Cash — stackable on top of the Ink bonus above if you're applying anyway.

🍴 DINING CITY SPOTLIGHT: San Antonio, Boston, Atlanta, Portland & San Diego

This is our rotating dining feature — we cycle through 20 U.S. cities in groups of 5, and we always keep one Texas city in the mix for our DFW home base. This edition's group is San Antonio, Boston, Atlanta, Portland, and San Diego.

A reminder on the ✅ badge: as of the August 1, 2026 rule change, being reservable on Resy is *not* enough to trigger the Amex Resy statement credit — a venue has to carry the actual "Qualifies for Resy Credit" badge. We're only marking ✅ where we've verified that badge directly (data as of Sept 9, 2026), not guessing from a listing.

🇹🇽 San Antonio *(home turf)*

• Cullum's Attaboy — Michelin-recognized, and ✅ verified qualifying for the Amex Resy credit.
• Clementine — on the Chase Sapphire Reserve dining list, but not currently badged for the Amex Resy credit — good example of why it pays to check both lists separately.
• Of San Antonio's ~43 tracked Resy venues, only these two have a confirmed credit-eligibility read this week — treat any other San Antonio spot as unverified until you see the badge yourself.

Boston

• SRV ✅ — Back Bay Venetian spot, verified qualifying.
• The Salty Pig ✅ — casual wine bar/small plates, verified qualifying.
• Fox & The Knife — Michelin-recognized *and* on the Chase Sapphire Reserve list, but not currently badged for the Amex Resy credit.

Atlanta

• El Viñedo Local ✅ — top-rated in our tracker, verified qualifying.
• Bacchanalia ✅ — Michelin-recognized ATL fine-dining institution, verified qualifying.
• Mujō — Michelin-recognized *and* CSR-listed, but not currently badged for the Amex Resy credit — same pattern as Fox & The Knife above, worth remembering as a rule of thumb: Michelin/CSR status and Resy-credit status are two completely separate lists.

Portland

• We don't yet track Resy-credit status for Portland in our database, so we can't verify the ✅ badge for this city this week — treat these as reservable-on-Resy picks only until we can confirm eligibility.
• Tusk — Middle Eastern-leaning, family-style $75 multi-course menu, on Resy's current "Hit List."
• Adelleda — pasta pop-up-turned-restaurant, $70/person prix fixe, on Resy's current "Hit List."

San Diego

• Same caveat as Portland — no database read on Resy-credit status this week for San Diego; verify the badge yourself before counting on the statement credit.
• Addison at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar — three Michelin stars, one of only a handful in the state.
• Soichi — Michelin-recognized omakase counter, widely regarded as some of the best sushi in Southern California.

📊 VALUATION CHANGES

No new valuation shifts to report this week. Quick reminder of the changes already baked into the cheat sheet below from August 2026: World of Hyatt (revised down to 1.55¢ after May's award chart overhaul), Southwest Rapid Rewards (down to 1.3¢), and American AAdvantage (down to 1.4¢) all got less valuable this summer — if you've been redeeming on old mental math for these three, update it.

💰 POINTS VALUE CHEAT SHEET

🎯 THIS WEEK'S MOVE

If you don't already have a Chase Ink Business Cash or Ink Business Unlimited and you've got any side income (freelance, reselling, a hobby business — Chase is loose about what counts), apply before Tuesday, 9/17 at 9am ET. It's $1,000 cash back for $8,000 spend in 4 months with a $0 annual fee — and if you also hold a Sapphire card or Ink Business Preferred, you can convert that cash back into Ultimate Rewards points worth up to $1,700 in travel. This is a best-ever offer on a no-fee card; it won't be back at this level for a while.

*Travel Point is an independent points-and-miles newsletter. Offers, bonuses, and expiration dates change without notice and are frequently targeted or YMMV (your mileage may vary) — always confirm current terms directly with the issuer or loyalty program before applying, booking, or transferring points. This is not financial advice.*