Tuesday, November 11, 2026 Edition — Weekly Kickoff *(Checked and written Monday night/Tuesday, November 10, 2026)*
Hey friend — welcome to this week's Kickoff, your full rundown of everything live right now in points, miles, cards, and dining. Grab a coffee, this one's a good one: there's a fat Hilton transfer bonus, a Marriott promo that closes THIS WEEK, and a fresh five-city dining lineup headlined by a Michelin three-star in Chicago.
🔥 WHAT'S HOT — ACT FAST
These either close within days or just launched. Don't sleep on them.
- Marriott Bonvoy Fall Promo — register by Friday, Nov 13. Earn up to 4,500 bonus points per qualifying 2+ night stay (Sept 22–Nov 22 stay window). Register here
- Marriott Homes & Villas bonus — book by Nov 13. Up to 12,000 bonus points on a rental of $1,500+, stays through March 31, 2027.
- Citi ThankYou → Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, 10% bonus — ends Nov 14. Smaller bonus, but it's the one closing soonest.
- World of Hyatt Thompson 2x points — last day is today, Nov 10 (11:59pm CT). Only useful if you're already mid-stay at a Thompson property tonight; otherwise this one's gone by morning.
- Brand new: Fanatics joins American Express as a transfer partner. Not a travel partner, but notable — MR points now convert to Fanatics FanCash at 1,000 points = $10, and it's the first non-travel partner Amex has ever added. Mostly a curiosity for sports-merch shoppers, not a redemption strategy.
✈️ TRANSFER BONUSES LIVE RIGHT NOW
Bilt: No transfer bonus running this cycle. November's Rent Day skipped the usual transfer-bonus perk in favor of gift-card redemption boosts (25–100% by elite tier) and up to $150 off hotels through Bilt Travel.
🏨 HOTEL PROMOTIONS
🛫 AIRLINE SWEET SPOTS
Act fast — closes tomorrow: American AAdvantage's economy award sale books through Nov 11 for travel Jan 11–Feb 28, 2027: domestic from 7,000 miles one-way, Mexico/Caribbean from 8,000, Europe from 21,000, Asia/Australia/NZ from 25,000. Book here
Evergreen premium-cabin sweet spots from DFW (static partner award charts, last verified Sept 8, 2026 — these move slowly, so still solid reference points):
- American AAdvantage partner chart, DFW → Cancún/Los Cabos, Business: 30,000 miles one-way
- Air Canada Aeroplan fixed partner chart, DFW → Reykjavík, Business: 60,000 miles one-way (Icelandair/partner metal)
- Air Canada Aeroplan fixed partner chart, DFW → Naples/Rome, Business: 75,000 miles one-way (Lufthansa Group/Turkish/ANA)
- Lufthansa Miles & More fixed chart, DFW → Athens/Rome/Naples, Business: 55,000 miles one-way
No fresh fare-drop alerts from the tracker this week (none logged for DFW, CHI, or HOU), so the AA sale above is the move if you want to lock something in before it closes.
💳 CREDIT CARD DINING & TRAVEL CREDITS
Dining Credits By Card
We couldn't confirm a standalone Capital One Venture X dining *credit* — if you've seen one claimed online, it's likely confusing Venture X with Amex Gold benefits. The two get mixed up a lot in aggregator content.
🎁 CARD OFFERS WORTH THE SPEND
Eligibility traps to know before you apply:
- Chase 5/24: If you've opened 5+ personal cards (any bank) in the last 24 months, Chase will generally decline new personal-card applications — this is unwritten but widely confirmed. Most Chase business cards don't count toward your 5/24 total, but you still need to be under 5/24 to get approved.
- Amex once-per-lifetime: You generally won't get a welcome bonus on a card you've held before — community consensus pegs "lifetime" at roughly 7 years, though Amex doesn't publish a number. The restriction applies to the *bonus*, not the card itself.
- Citi 48-month rule: You can't earn a new welcome bonus on a Citi card if you've gotten a bonus on the *same card* (or close family of it) in the past 48 months.
We couldn't confirm a live current public offer for Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve this week — reporting is mixed and mostly dated to mid-2026, so check your Chase account or chase.com directly before applying on either Sapphire card.
🍽️ DINING CITY SPOTLIGHT: Dallas, Chicago, Las Vegas, Boston & San Diego
New quarter, new rotation group — this is the first edition under our refreshed 20-city pool (more on that below). Resy credit-badge status (✅) comes straight from Thom's database as of Sept 15, 2026 — that check is a bit older than we'd like (56 days), so treat ✅ as "qualified as of mid-September" rather than "verified today." Michelin and CSR (Chase Sapphire Reserve) status pulled from the same database, snapshotted Sept 9, 2026.
Dallas (hometown pick 🤠)
- Mamani — Michelin 1 star, also on the CSR dining list. Reservable via OpenTable.
- Lucia — Michelin Bib Gourmand, James Beard 2026 nominee (Outstanding Pastry Chef, Maggie Huff). ✅ Qualifies for the Amex Resy credit. Book via Resy.
- Barsotti's — Michelin Selected. ✅ Qualifies for the Amex Resy credit. Book via Resy.
Chicago
- Smyth — Michelin 3 stars (one of the country's few). Book via Resy — credit-badge status not confirmed as qualifying in our database, so don't assume the Resy credit applies here; check the venue page for the badge yourself.
- Alinea — Michelin 2 stars. Book via OpenTable.
- Galit — Michelin 1 star. ✅ Qualifies for the Amex Resy credit.
- Monteverde — Michelin Selected, James Beard 2026 nominee (Emerging Chef, Bailey Sullivan). ✅ Qualifies for the Amex Resy credit.
Las Vegas
- Restaurant Guy Savoy (Caesars Palace) — Michelin 1 star. No online booking — call direct.
- é by José Andrés — Michelin 1 star. No online booking.
- COTE Vegas — ✅ Qualifies for the Amex Resy credit. Book via Resy.
- Kabuto Edomae Sushi — Michelin Selected. ✅ Qualifies for the Amex Resy credit.
Boston
- Asta — Michelin Selected. ✅ Qualifies for the Amex Resy credit.
- La Padrona — Michelin Selected. ✅ Qualifies for the Amex Resy credit.
- Somaek Korean — Michelin Selected. ✅ Qualifies for the Amex Resy credit.
San Diego — thinnest of the five this edition; our database doesn't carry CSR or Resy-credit status for this city yet, so treat these as Michelin-confirmed picks only, with credit-badge status unverified:
- Morning Glory — Michelin Bib Gourmand.
- Callie — Michelin Bib Gourmand.
- Kingfisher — Michelin Selected.
📊 VALUATION CHANGES
One flag this week: Chase Ultimate Rewards. Third-party valuations (The Points Guy, November 2026) now peg UR at 2.05¢/point, noticeably above our 1.8¢ baseline — a real bump, likely reflecting the strong run of transfer-bonus activity to IHG, Avios, and Wyndham this fall. We're keeping our conservative 1.8¢ baseline below for the cheat sheet since that reflects realistic redemption value for most readers (not best-case transfer-and-stretch scenarios), but it's worth knowing the ceiling is higher right now if you're an aggressive transferer.
No other program shifted by 0.1¢ or more against our reference set this week.
💰 POINTS VALUE CHEAT SHEET
🎯 THIS WEEK'S MOVE
Transfer Amex Membership Rewards to Hilton Honors now — the 40% bonus (through Nov 24) turns every 1,000 MR points into 2,800 Hilton points. That's enough runway to meaningfully stretch a points balance toward a Waldorf Astoria or Conrad stay that would otherwise run several hundred dollars a night in cash. Price your dates on hilton.com *before* you transfer (Hilton award pricing is dynamic, so there's no fixed "chart" to check against) — transferring on spec is the one way to turn a good bonus into a bad decision.
📌 A note on this edition
A few housekeeping notes, in the spirit of full transparency:
- This is the first edition under a refreshed 20-city dining rotation (the old pool expired Sept 30). Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio each still get a guaranteed hometown slot every single edition — that didn't change.
- Resy credit-badge data (✅) is from a database check run Sept 15, 2026 — 56 days old. We're labeling it rather than presenting it as live; it's the best signal available, but if you're planning a specific visit, double-check the venue's Resy page for the "Qualifies for Resy Credit" badge yourself.
- Michelin and CSR dining-list data is from a Sept 9, 2026 database snapshot — also older than we'd like, labeled accordingly above.
- We weren't able to reach Wikimedia Commons from this session's network to source a lead photo this week, so this edition ships without one. Noted for Thom to fix the network allowlist if he wants photos back next time.
Always verify terms directly with the issuer or program before booking or applying — offers, award charts, and credit terms change without notice, and targeted offers vary by account.
*Travel Point is an independent points & miles newsletter. Not affiliated with any airline, hotel program, or card issuer. All offers subject to change — verify before you book.*