LONG TERM RESIDENT---NOW TRAVELING A LOT

Hilton

Purchase your tickets with a premium credit card that accumulates the miles that you can use on any airline. Marriott is the largest hotel chain, but if you are six, you probably will do better with airbnb.

Frequent flyer membership allows for civilized travel, giving you seat upgrades and access to VIP halls in airports. Makes all the difference. Definitely worth affiliating to. Choose depending on where you will be traveling. 

Look at Star Alliance.... United , Air Canada and many others.

My Philadelphia friends flew to Toronto to get to Hong Kong.
Good Asia flights , economical.
Europe too.

Star Alliance will give you options.

First, you need to get credit card....AMEX is a good one... flights for all airlines.
United's card is good too..... they all are.

Research the destination and pick the airline 

Good luck 

For someone in DR who plans to fly to Europe and Asia, Emirates Skywards travel, hotels, etc., awards program is well worth considering in addition to One World and Star Alliance airline membership.

Emirates is a quality airline and have code shared flights with partner Jet Blue to DR.

https://www.emirates.com/english/skywards/about/skywards.aspx

The main thing is to collect with one or other award scheme every flight, hotel and car hire.

Since most airlines have devalued (word??) their miles it makes it harder to use/earn them. I have a good amount of miles with AA and in the past easy to use. Now not so much unless your pretty flexible. Many airlines have gone to a "money spent vs mileage" based program. Hilton has a good points program, and they very often have discounted rates for Hilton members (actually I think most hotels offer this for their members). Hyatt is also a good chain and has a good member program. Hyatt chains in Asia are very nice...

potus said:

So, the way I understand so far is to use AMEX and EMIRATES for flights and Hilton for Hotels, correct?

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I would enroll with Emirates for sure and you get awards for staying at Hilton hotels and other hotels with their program (scroll down on link and look at partners).

I would also enroll with (British Airways Executive Club or) American Airlines Frequent Flier Program to get awards on all One World partner flights and say United to get rewards on all Star Alliance flights. It will probably be worth booking with an credit card affiliated to one or other airline you use (AA is on offer here in DR with Scotiabank, Emirates suggest they have a deal with American Express). And book using a portal such as Expedia using your airline affiliated card. You can then use Expedia points earned for discounts.

I am not sure hotel programs are that good on their own. Prices always seem higher than portals and you still get points with airlines programs and portals.

I am sure there is an ideal way but I just keep totting up miles these days whereas before I was aiming at maintaining a above standard frequent flyer status. Accumulated miles keep adding up assuming you keep flying......AA has an 18 month period with no activity before they expire and they always offer ways to keep miles active.

As a good example of usage of accumulated miles, I was able to use my AA miles a couple of years back for business class flights from Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific, brilliant flight incl. HK lounge) to London then Miami and Santo Domingo (BA/AA). So mileage collection every trip is worth it.

potus said:

Good day to all,

I have a couple of simple questions.
I am 12 years now uninterrupted on the Island with my family.
I now was able to put myself into a position where me and my family (six of us) have to travel a whole lot. Since I cover iniotially all traveling costs I can choose any airline or Hotel chain I wish.
I never used frequent flyer miles. I assume it works because you commit yourself to one airline, correct.
We will be traveling a lot to Asia and Europe, while the DR is our HUB for now.
Also, regarding Hotels, which is the most recommandable Hotel Chain? What are the benefits? We treally do not need a lot of Luxury.
Thank you for your information in advance.

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First, find an airline that originates in the DR that you can make connections through the States or Europe to your final destination. You might have two different airlines. Next, join the airline frequent flier program. If you have an American Express Card you can link this to certain airlines, such as Jet Blue, who are also affliated with airlines that fly to Europe and Asia. You can transfer your American Express Points directly to the participating airline's rewards program. Also I would look into getting a credit card that is directly linked to a travel rewards programs such as the American Airlines, AA Advantage Credit Card. There are also others. You can find this into on many on-line sites. Use this card to make your reservations for your trip and you will get maximum reward miles. Look on-line to see what International Hotel Chains have locations in the countries you are travelling to. There are many posibilities depending on what level of hotel you are interested in. This can vary from moderately priced to very expensive. Join one or two hotel rewards programs to earn points and free stay credits. There are many ways to earn rewards when travelling and it is certainly a good idea if you are a frequent traveller to take advantage of these. Do a little research on-line to see what is available. I would consider getting an American Express Gold Card. This gives you reward points and additional perks that could come in handy when travelling to another country. There is a yearly fee associated with this card but if you are going to travel with family it would be worth the money to have it. The credit requirements are probably more stringent to get an American Express Gold or Platinum Card but it sounds like in your case you would qualify. Good luck and good travels.

Beware of using American Express points for airline tickets, at least through Banco de Progreso. They work with a travel agency whereby you will end up paying very high taxes and fees on the ticket, to probably make it worthless to use the points that way. 

OP really needs a US based card 

Probably need a US bank account.

Just don't travel by United; one of the perks include a possibility to get beaten up if you voluntarily refuse to vacate the seat you paid for when asked so that United employees can travel instead of you.

https://twitter.com/hashtag/boycottunited?src=hash
https://twitter.com/hashtag/unitedjourney?src=hash

Dolores said:

Beware of using American Express points for airline tickets, at least through Banco de Progreso. They work with a travel agency whereby you will end up paying very high taxes and fees on the ticket, to probably make it worthless to use the points that way. 

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In the States you can transfer American Express reward points directly to an airline rewards program, such as, JetBlue, True Blue Rewards. I am not sure what you are referring to. There is no bank involved. This is directly between your American Express Account which is tied into your airline rewards program. Maybe it works differently in the DR but I doubt it.

A DR bank uses an AMEX card.... Dolores' comment doesn't apply to US based accounts.

The hard part about getting any card in the US is having a US bank account.... if you don't already have one.

If you think DR is hard for foreigners to get accounts, try the US

Get a Amex card. You can use points for ticket. They have travel med. ins. Really cheap. If you have a problem anywhere, you can call and they really help. I've had a card for 40 years. travel a lot and they never let me down and they are there 24-7. Just a thought.

LTSteve said:

In the States you can transfer American Express reward points directly to an airline rewards program, such as, JetBlue, True Blue Rewards. I am not sure what you are referring to. There is no bank involved. This is directly between your American Express Account which is tied into your airline rewards program. Maybe it works differently in the DR but I doubt it.

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Learned to transfer American Express reward points the hard way, after the bank referred us to the travel agency. The same frequent flyer points ticket on American Airlines direct paid RD$14,000 in taxes and airport fees, through the bank-travel agency, the American Airlines points were RD$35,000 in taxes and airport fees. That was on a ticket to Italy. Here the bank officer helps with the travel arrangements. 

The Banco de Progreso American Express account here is not automatically tied into an airline rewards program. 

American Express cards issued by foreign banks will surely operate differently, as you observe.