express travel house

American Express expands vacation rental platform to new destinations

It appears American Express' pilot program of a luxury vacation home rental platform is doing well enough to expand to new destinations and invite more members into the mix.

American Express first piloted Select Homes + Retreats in August, according to Travel Weekly . The vacation home rental platform was initially only offered to a small group of consumer and Business Platinum Card members and limited to a small number of locations: beaches near San Diego; the Gulf Coast of Florida and Alabama; Cape Cod, Massachusetts; Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Vail in Colorado; Maui, Hawaii; and Park City, Utah.

Destinations like Palm Springs, California, and Charleston, South Carolina, are now also on the luxe home rental platform, according to the Select Homes + Retreats website . Additionally, more of Amex's Platinum Card members report getting emails and invitations signaling their eligibility into the program. It is unclear what exactly the eligibility requirements may be.

Those who book through Select Homes + Retreats earn 5 Membership Rewards points per dollar on each getaway made using the Platinum Card. Further, you can pay with points for all or part of your rental. There does appear to be a two-night minimum for booking a stay, according to sample bookings made on the website.

"As we develop and learn from the initial roll out, we will look to continue enhancing the program, including adding additional properties and locations in the coming months," notes a pop-up notification on the Select Homes + Retreats" website.

Another hat in the ring of glitzy vacation rentals

If this kind of offering sounds familiar, you're not wrong.

Marriott, Accor, Hyatt and Mandarin Oriental all have some form of high-end vacation home rental platform. But don't call these Airbnb copycats.

Similar to how Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy or Homes & Hideaways by World of Hyatt works, Amex Select Homes + Retreats only works with homes operated by professional vacation management companies like Vacasa or Island Escapes rather than individual homeowners, which is where Airbnb gets many of its listings.

The trend is indicative of how travel companies increasingly see a need to provide travelers with a variety of options to book a trip. While it's unlikely any of these companies or American Express will ever appeal to the couch-surfing crowd, it is important they have something like a luxury vacation home rental platform to appeal to existing customers who want a different kind of accommodation when they travel — and still want to be able to earn and redeem points.

It's highly unlikely Airbnb leaders are losing too much sleep over this: American Express has a small number of listings compared to the more than 6 million found on Airbnb. Further, the short-term rental giant has a wide mix of clientele, from those who rent a bedroom in someone's home (while the owner is still there) up to those wanting an entire waterfront mansion for a weekend.

"There is overlap. I'm not going to pretend there isn't, but I do want to say there's less overlap than anyone realizes," Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said earlier this year at the Skift Global Forum. "Airbnb allowed a whole bunch of people to travel that weren't traveling."

Related reading:

• The best hotel credit cards
• Get free breakfast, upgrades and more with the Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts program
• The best hotel rewards programs in the world
• The best premium credit cards: A side-by-side comparison

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American Express Travel: Your Guide to Booking Flights, Hotels, Car Rentals, & Cruises

Jarrod West

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Keri Stooksbury

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Table of Contents

What is amextravel.com, why should you use amextravel.com, booking flights with amextravel.com, amextravel.com hotel programs, flights+hotel packages, rental cars, amextravel.com insiders, final thoughts.

We may be compensated when you click on product links, such as credit cards, from one or more of our advertising partners. Terms apply to the offers below. See our Advertising Policy for more about our partners, how we make money, and our rating methodology. Opinions and recommendations are ours alone.

American Express is best known as a credit card issuer, but the company also offers other products and services, including travel booking and planning using AmexTravel.com.

While AmexTravel.com is available for anyone (not just cardmembers), holding an Amex card can definitely help you get extra value when using the program.

Here’s a look at what AmexTravel.com is, what services it provides, what the cost to use, the best ways to use it, and when it’s worth using!

At its most basic, AmexTravel.com is an online travel booking portal (or “online travel agency”) just like Expedia , Kayak , and Orbitz .

You can use it to book a whole trip or just a flight, hotel (or flight + hotel packages), rental cars, or even cruises. If you’d like extra assistance from a customer service agent, you can book by phone as well.

Flights booked through the portal can be subject to small fees. However, sometimes the benefits can make these fees worth it, and they’re waived for holders of the Platinum Card ® from American Express .

There are also a few “sub-categories” that fall under the AmexTravel.com umbrella, including the Hotel Collection and Fine Hotels and Resorts .

The main reason to book with AmexTravel.com is the incredible customer service . If you run into any problems during your trip (like delays, cancellations, over-bookings, etc.), you can connect with a live travel agent by phone 24/7 who will work with you to find a solution.

Additionally, if you hold an Amex credit card that earns Membership Rewards points, you can often earn 2x points or more by using it to pay for travel services booked through AmexTravel.com.

Hot Tip:  If you use your Amex Platinum card , you can earn 5x Membership Rewards points on flights booked directly with airlines or with AmexTravel.com. 

Fees for Using the Portal

Anytime you book a flight through AmexTravel.com (either on its own or as part of a package), you’ll pay a fee of $6.99 for domestic flights and $10.99 for international flights .

These fees are waived if you have the Amex Platinum card and are logged into your account.

If you choose to book a flight by phone rather than online, there’s an added $39 phone service fee .

If you make changes to your flight, there’s a $39 reissue fee in addition to whatever fee the airline charges. This only applies to advance changes, not changes due to problems like canceled flights .

Below, we’ll take a look at how to use AmexTravel.com to book flights, hotels, vacation packages, rental cars, and cruises.

Searching for Flights

Searching for flights with AmexTravel.com is similar to other online travel agencies. You can search by city or by specific airport, select your departure and return dates, and click whether you want to search for lower fares within 3 days of your chosen dates.

On the results page, American Express lists the most relevant Delta result at the top highlighted as a “featured airline.” The featured airline is followed by the lowest available fares.

When you scroll down, you can use the controls on the left sidebar to filter the results by the number of stops, departure/arrival times, airline, or even specific flight number.

By default, flights are displayed in price order starting with the lowest, except for a featured Delta flight at the top (when available). At the top of the search window above the results, all available airlines are shown, as well as the lowest available price with each airline.

Insider Fares

Depending on your search, you may see a blue tab labeled “Insider Fares Available” above some of the airlines listed at the top of the search window.

These are discounted fares, and they only apply if you pay for the entire flight with Membership Rewards rather than cash. Note that cash prices are rounded to the nearest dollar.

If you’re logged in and have enough Membership Rewards points to cover the entire flight, you will be able to see these discounted fares.

For example, in the below search, you’ll see an example of an Insider Fare available for purchase. The Insider Fare offered a slight discount rather than just matching the cash price in points with each point worth 1 cent (more on that below).

The difference can be fairly minimal. In the JFK-ATL example above, the discount was from 25,259 Membership Rewards points to 24,120 — changing the value from 1 cent per point to about 1.05 cents per point .

Amextravel.com charges a fee to book, but they bundle this into the displayed price. The fee is $6.99 per domestic ticket or $10.99 per international ticket. These fees are waived as a benefit of the Amex Platinum card , just make sure you’re logged into your Amex account when booking.

Hot Tip: AmexTravel.com now offers Trip Cancel Guard coverage that you can add when purchasing flights via AmexTravel.com whether paying with an American Express card, with Membership Rewards points using the Pay With Points option, or a combination of both. It provides for reimbursement of up to 75% of the cost of the non-refundable prepaid flight expense, penalty and change fees caused by the cancellation, or the amount of any expired vouchers/flight credits received for the canceled flight. Coverage is applicable when your flight is canceled for any reason and is valid until 2 full calendar days prior to your trip’s originally scheduled departure date.

When searching several different flights across different online travel agents, we found similar results to the below example each time.

To compare prices, we searched multiple online travel agents and portals using the same search parameters: departing John F. Kennedy-New York (JFK), arriving at London-Heathrow International (LHR), round-trip, 1 traveler, economy, and nonstop on specific dates.

We selected the lowest-priced nonstop flight available through AmexTravel.com: a Finnair flight operated by Oneworld partner , American Airlines.

When searching on AmexTravel.com, the flight was $595.86. This breaks down to $133 in base fare and $462.86 of government, airline, and American Express-imposed fees.

We received the same search results when we replicated this search on Finnair’s U.S. website, Kayak, and Orbitz.

In a second search, we looked for a domestic round-trip from Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) to Los Angeles International (LAX) on the same dates. This flight was priced at $199.40. Keep in mind, you would usually see this rate plus the $6.99 Amex booking fee, but again, this is waived for Amex Platinum cardholders.

When cross-referencing this itinerary on Delta’s website, we found the same price listed for a regular economy fare of $199.40. However, there was a basic economy option that was a bit cheaper, which was not available through AmexTravel.com.

Other online travel portals, including Orbitz and Kayak , listed the same price.

This means, if you’re already set on the specific itinerary you want to fly, booking through AmexTravel.com can often cost the same as booking directly with the airline, or through a third party . This assumes you receive waived booking fees for being an Amex Platinum cardholder.

However, what if you’re just looking for the cheapest flight on a particular day? If you do a general search for a route on set dates, will AmexTravel.com find the same rates as other portals? In our experience, the answer is no.

In our example search, here are the lowest available regular economy non-stop flights we could find between New York (any airport) and London (any airport) when searching the same set of dates on a few different websites (sorted by price ascending):

*Including a $10.99 AmexTravel.com booking fee.

The reason for these results is likely due to the fact that the Amex portal doesn’t include some low-cost carriers like Norwegian, so travel portals that do will often win on price.

Even excluding the low-cost carriers, though, other portals like Expedia and Orbitz were able to offer lower fares by about $15.

That said, AmexTravel.com was able to find about the same fares you would find when booking directly with an airline.

Hot Tip: If you hold The Business Platinum Card ® from American Express you can get a 35% rebate on select flights when you pay with points through AmexTravel.com.

There are actually 3 programs offered for booking hotels:

The Hotel Collection

• Fine Hotels and Resorts
• AmexTravel.com booking (standard)

What Is The Hotel Collection?

The Hotel Collection is a program through AmexTravel.com only available to holders of certain cards:

• The American Express ® Gold Card and the American Express ® Business Gold Card

The Amex Platinum card and the Business Platinum Card ® from American Express

The Centurion card

Perks of The Hotel Collection

When you book a hotel through The Hotel Collection, you get certain perks including:

• Room upgrade at check-in (if available)
• Up to a $100 hotel credit for on-site amenities like the restaurant, bar, room service, or spa
• Ability to use Pay With Points on prepaid reservations
• 3x Membership Rewards points for Amex Gold cardholders on prepaid bookings
• 5x Membership Rewards points for Amex Platinum cardholders on prepaid reservations
• Up to $200 credit each year towards prepaid hotel reservations with either The Hotel Collection (2-night stay) or Fine Hotels and Resorts with select credit cards

Usually, American Express guarantees that any hotel booked through AmexTravel.com will have the lowest publicly-available rates (prepaid rates only), but this rule does not apply to bookings through The Hotel Collection per the terms & conditions . Be certain to check multiple booking options to ensure you’re getting the best deal.

Rooms have to be booked through AmexTravel.com. That means that if you book directly through the hotel or another service, you won’t get the perks, even if the hotel is a part of The Hotel Collection and you pay for the stay with your American Express card.

Further, you must stay a minimum of 2 nights , and you cannot book consecutive stays within 24 hours of each other.

The good news is that these benefits are available for up to 3 rooms per stay . So if you book 3 rooms for family members, you’ll get a total hotel service credit of up to $300.

Hotel Points and Elite Benefits

Typically, you won’t earn points through a hotel loyalty program if you book through a third party, and this includes the AmexTravel.com portal.

Further, you won’t get any elite benefits that you might otherwise be entitled to if you have status with that hotel chain.

Bottom Line:  The Hotel Collection is potentially useful if you’re planning to pay with your eligible Membership Rewards-earning card. This comes at the expense of hotel-specific elite benefits, including points and elite credits in any hotel loyalty program.

American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts

What is the fine hotels and resorts program.

AmexTravel.com runs a second hotel program called Fine Hotels and Resorts (FHR). It can be a little bit confusing since it sounds like it would overlap with the Hotel Collection, but that’s not the case.

The Fine Hotels and Resorts program is exclusive to Amex Platinum cardholders (personal or business) , as well as those with the invitation-only Centurion Card .

FHR includes different hotels and resorts than The Hotel Collection, with minimal overlap. The FHR collection tends to be more geared toward leisure travelers who wish to book stays at higher-end properties.

Perks of Fine Hotels and Resorts

Booking hotels through the Fine Hotels and Resorts collection entitles you to a handful of potentially valuable perks, including:

• Early noon check-in (when available)
• Room upgrade on arrival (when available)
• Daily breakfast for 2 people
• Guaranteed 4 p.m. late checkout
• Complimentary Wi-Fi
• A unique amenity valued at $100 or more; examples include a property credit, dining credit, spa credit, or similar amenity

Unlike The Hotel Collection, rooms booked through Fine Hotels and Resorts are not all prepaid. In fact, most are standard rates that you’ll pay for at the end of your stay when you check out. In comparing several properties, including the Park Hyatt in Chicago, we found rates identical to the non-prepaid rates when booking directly through the hotel.

However, keep in mind that the hotel may directly offer prepaid and early-purchase options which may be much cheaper, though you won’t benefit from the Fine Hotels and Resorts perks.

There are fewer terms with Fine Hotels and Resorts than with The Hotel Collection. You must book through AmexTravel.com/FHR to receive the benefits .

As with The Hotel Collection, if you book directly with the hotel or through a different travel agency or portal, you won’t be able to claim FHR benefits even if it’s a participating hotel. Other terms vary by property.

Good news here! Unlike stays booked through The Hotel Collection, stays through American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts count as “qualifying rates” for hotel loyalty programs. That means if you’re staying at a hotel that’s part of a loyalty program, you’ll be able to earn points and receive the relevant benefits if you hold elite status.

Hot Tip: Want to know about the differences between these programs? Dig into our dedicated guide on the differences between the Hotel Collection and Fine Hotels & Resorts .

Standard Hotel Booking

Searching hotels.

Searching for hotels at AmexTravel.com works more or less the same as with flights. You enter your city, dates, number of rooms, and guests. You can check a box to have properties from The Hotel Collection and Fine Hotels and Resorts displayed at the top.

Of course, if you’re interested in booking through either of those programs, you could also just book on their dedicated pages.

By default, search results are ranked by “recommended,” which seems to be decided by an algorithm factoring in price, location, and reviews.

Terms vary by the specific hotel and rate you book, so make sure to read the fine print.

The site can be a bit confusing when trying to compare prices since American Express doesn’t include all taxes and fees in the price displayed (while some hotel websites do).

For example, we searched for a 4-night stay at the Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill. American Express quoted an average of $337/night, which should make the total stay around $1,348. When you go to book, though, the total with fees is $1,625.

While it initially looks more expensive to book directly with Hyatt (where the cost is quoted at $404/night), that price includes all taxes and fees , so you’ll actually pay $1,611, or $14 less.

Our search for the Marriott Regent Park yielded similar results. It’s listed at $233/night in the search function, which implies the total to be $932.

In reality, once you click through, the total is $1,120. Booking directly with Marriott, rates are listed at $261/night, but that includes taxes and fees — for a total prepaid rate of $1,080.

For the 2 hotels in question, here’s how total prices compared through different portals (sorted by price ascending):

In both tickets, AmexTravel.com was within a few dollars of the other online travel agencies, which were all more expensive than booking directly through the hotel’s website.

Similar to The Hotel Collection, rates booked through AmexTravel.com aren’t eligible for elite benefits or hotel loyalty points.

Bottom Line:  Like most other online travel portals and agencies, prices can vary between AmexTravel.com and the hotel’s direct booking channel. You won’t get elite benefits or hotel points, so it might be worth booking directly if those are valuable to you. 

Like with many online travel portals and even airline websites, you can book packages that include flights and hotels through AmexTravel.com. Usually, the point of booking these packages is to get a discount, special perks, or promotions.

Searching for Packages

The search window for Flights+Hotels is simple: input airports (or cities), dates, number of travelers, and rooms. Results are listed in a recommended order by default just like when searching for a standard hotel.

Terms vary by the specific package you book, so make sure to read the fine print !

As with standalone flight reservations, AmexTravel.com charges a fee to book Flights+Hotel packages: $6.99 per domestic ticket or $10.99 per international ticket .

Again, these fees are waived for holders of the Amex Platinum card  or the Centurion card.

In the results field, a total starting price  per person is listed, including all taxes and fees with the cheapest flight option. American Express also lists how much you’re saving with the package, although this is missing for some hotels.

Once you select the hotel, you can customize your flight. The total price changes based on which flight you select.

In a sample search, we chose the Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill, and picked the cheapest nonstop flight: British Airways flight, which was Newark Liberty International (EWR) to LHR and London-Gatwick (LGW) to JFK. The package came to $1,446 per person, or $2,892 total.

Compare Flights+Hotel to Booking Separately

Annoyingly, AmexTravel.com doesn’t show a breakdown of hotel and airfare costs and fees; instead, it just displays a total per person.

For comparison, you can search the flight and hotels separately. We tried searching for the flight first on the same day.

We found Finnair flights operated by American Airlines for $660 per person — an option that wasn’t offered as part of the package (although with the booking fee, the flights should have been $671). When we filtered the search to British Airways only, it showed a ton of options for $671.

Searching hotels next, we again chose the Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill’s lowest prepaid rate. It was listed as $337 per night for 1 room (plus taxes and fees), for a total of $2,031. For the 2 flights and the hotel, that comes to a total of $3,351, or $1,675.50 per person.

In this case, booking the trip as a package saves almost $460, even though the search results page didn’t highlight any savings specifically.

The main downside to booking a package is that you have less flexibility. Say you want to change hotels for part of the trip or maybe stay with a friend for the last few days. This isn’t an option because you must book a single hotel for the entire time between your flights. It can also make solutions harder to find if there are any problems — although the AmexTravel.com customer support should make up for that.

Bottom Line:  If you’re using AmexTravel.com and your plans allow for the lack of flexibility, you might be able to save a lot of money with a package. Just make sure to compare the listed price to booking everything separately. Note that you can’t book a package retroactively: you have to book the flights and hotel at the same time. 

AmexTravel.com also offers a rental car booking service. You can make reservations from rental stations at airports and elsewhere.

To search for rental cars, simply enter an airport or city . You can also click a button to search near a specific address.

Results are shown in a handy grid format, with each column showing a different rental company, and each row displaying the pricing for a different category of car (economy, compact, midsize, and so on).

Bookings of up to 4 days are charged a daily rate, while bookings 5-7 days are charged on a weekly basis. There are specific rates for weekends and weekdays, as well as monthly options, with specific details varying by the rental agency.

In several sample searches, prices were generally consistent with other online travel agencies — though sometimes lower by $1-$2/day. Prices were identical to booking with the rental company directly.

Bottom Line:  Renting a car through AmexTravel.com doesn’t get you any benefits above what you’d receive for paying with your credit card, such as the collision damage waiver for paying with your Amex Platinum card. However, the convenient search page makes it a great option for comparing multiple prices at once. 

AmexTravel.com also offers tools to book cruises . In addition to letting you search for cruises all over the world, AmexTravel.com periodically highlights special offers on cruises, usually in the form of credits to use onboard.

Searching for Cruises

To search for cruises, you need to enter the region you want to travel in, the cruise line(s) you want to travel with (or search all available lines), the month you’re planning the trip for, and the approximate length of the cruise you want.

Results are shown in order, from the lowest-priced option to the highest . Note that this is based on the lowest available rate; hovering over any result will show all available cabin types and the corresponding prices.

Under each result, the information shown includes the port of departure/return, date of departure, and ports visited.

Hot Tip:  Wondering what to pack for your time at sea? Check out our ultimate cruise-based packing list  — it’s printable and complete with tons of tips and advice!

Cruise rates booked through AmexTravel.com were within $1-2 of rates found on other online travel agents and websites . We found identical prices on the various cruise company websites — though each online travel portal and cruise line offers different promotions, so it might be worth comparing them.

For example, during a sample search for a weeklong Caribbean cruise in December, we found that Royal Caribbean was offering a $50 onboard credit if you booked directly.

Special Offers

On the search results page, you might notice a tab labeled “Special Offers.” Those offers are generally onboard credits, but can also include discounts or other special features. If you aren’t committed to a specific cruise line, these are often worth exploring.

Cruise Privileges Program

Those with the Amex Platinum card have special access to the Cruise Privileges Program . Like the Fine Hotels and Resorts program, this is only available on specific cruises, although it’s more limited than FHR.

It includes onboard credit (often higher than otherwise offered) and a special onboard amenity, like complimentary dinner for 2 or a bottle of premium champagne.

Bottom Line: It can be worth booking a cruise through AmexTravel.com, especially if there are special offers. Make sure to compare different booking sites , though, as some may have better or exclusive promotions.

AmexTravel.com offers a feature called Travel Insiders. When you use the program, American Express connects you with a travel expert who can help you plan an itinerary based around your desired destination. Fees vary based on location, length of the trip, and details of the itinerary.

AmexTravel.com can be a very useful tool when booking flights, hotels, vacation packages, cruises, or rental cars. In many cases, it may not offer the best rate options , but it’s worth comparing to other booking sites and airlines or hotels directly.

If you have an American Express card that offers access to the Hotel Collection or Fine Hotels and Resorts, the perks can be very worthwhile.

Additionally, the extra Membership Rewards points you earn by booking through AmexTravel.com can be valuable, as long as the price is right.

Aside from the Hotel Collection and Fine Hotels and Resorts, the real value of AmexTravel.com is in the customer service provided. Booking a trip on your own is easy — dealing with problems when they arise can be less so!

If you book through AmexTravel.com, you’ll have easy access to someone who can help you get on a new flight, find a new hotel, or manage whatever other issues come up day or night. So if you’re looking to have that extra support, then AmexTravel.com might be a great choice for you!

The information regarding the Centurion ® Card from American Express was independently collected by Upgraded Points and was not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. 

For rates and fees of The Platinum Card ® from American Express, click here . For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card ® from American Express, click here . For rates and fees of the American Express ® Gold Card, click  here . For rates and fees of the American Express ® Business Gold Card, click here .

Frequently Asked Questions

What is american express travel.

AmexTravel.com is an O nline  T ravel  A gency (OTA), just like Orbitz , Kayak , or Expedia . You can book flights, hotels, rental cars, or cruises through AmexTravel.com.

Do I need an American Express card to use Amex Travel services?

Whether or not you have an American Express card, you can book flights, hotels, rental cars, or cruises through AmexTravel.com. If you do have an Amex card, you might be eligible for certain perks or rewards.

Does American Express Travel cost anything?

If you book a flight through AmexTravel.com, there’s a small fee ($6.99 for domestic flights, $10.99 for international) that fee is waived for Amex Platinum, Amex Business Platinum, and Centurion cardmembers. Other services, like hotels and cruises, do not have fees.

Why should I book with American Express Travel?

AmexTravel.com has very helpful customer service resources. If you have any problems with your trip (like a canceled flight), you can call an agent who can help solve the issue.

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About Jarrod West

Boasting a portfolio of over 20 cards, Jarrod has been an expert in the points and miles space for over 6 years. He earns and redeems over 1 million points per year and his work has been featured in outlets like The New York Times.

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Chase Travel Exec On How In-House Agency and Tech Provide an Edge

Dennis Schaal , Skift

December 12th, 2023 at 2:46 PM EST

Chase Travel and American Express Travel are among the top handful of leisure travel sellers in the U.S. That's mostly good news for online travel agency partners, as well.

Dennis Schaal

Chase Travel has at least one asset that CapitalOne doesn’t have — Chase owns its own technology while CapitalOne relies to some extent on Hopper.

Meanwhile, Chase Travel is battling with American Express Travel, and is on track to meet its 2023 goal of $10 billion in travel sales. In 2022, American Express Travel did an estimated $9.2 billion and Chase was on its tail at $8.5 billion, according to the Travel Weekly Power List .

“So we’re right at that number and continue to grow,” Jason Wynn, head of travel at JPMorgan Chase told Skift. “So I feel confident that we will grow and be at $15 billion by 2025.”

In a wide-ranging interview, Wynn talked about Chase Travel’s acquisitions of cxLoyalty in 2021 and Frosch Travel Group in 2022, and the advantages that gives Chase over competitors.

He also discussed Chase’s partnership with Expedia on hotels, why Chase feels the necessity to open money-losing airport lounges with free perks, and the advantages that come with co-branded card relationships with partners such as Southwest, United and British Airways.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length:

Where does Chase Travel stand today? Jason Wynn: I think we’re still well within the top five ranks of U.S. leisure [including Expedia, Priceline, American Express and Flight Centre]. Our growth continues to be on track. We said in an investor day in 2022 that we would be at around $10 billion in sales in 2023. We have hit that mark or are expected to hit that mark with a couple of weeks left in the year. So I feel confident that we will grow and be at $15 billion by 2025.

How have the acquisitions of cxLoyalty and Frosch worked out for Chase?

Wynn: The reason for both of those specific acquisitions was we had this idea that we wanted to sit at the intersection of high tech and high touch. And we did it. While there are a number of players that we would categorize as on the high tech side and a number we’ve categorized on the high touch, we didn’t see anyone really doing an incredible job with both. And so the acquisition approach obviously gives us that high touch and being able to have access to high-caliber, high-tenured agents who are focused on delivering the unexpected, and then cxLoyalty gave us the booking platform.

So owning the end-to-end point-of-sale experience is something that if you look at our immediate competitive set is somewhat unique to us. We have full ownership of that. It’s a big expense, and you have to be committed to maintaining it. But we saw that as absolutely critical to delivering on the customer experience and being able to be nimble too.

Why would you need online travel agencies as partners if you have Frosch in-house?

Wynn: You’re not going to be able to go replicate Expedia or Priceline with hundreds of thousands of hotels very, very easily. So for us, they’re great partners. We continue to leverage Expedia in particular on the hotel side as our as our hotel source. We relaunched our hotel program called The Edit by Chase Travel. These are direct deals that we’ve negotiated. We’ll continue to expand that where we need to deliver the right level of content. But we envision having Expedia as part of that equation going forward.

How do you get airline content?

Wynn: The content source for that is the GDS (global distribution system), at this point. We have our own negotiated rates. Frosch has very deep ties and relationships with the airlines. Our co-brand partnerships (United, Southwest, Air Canada and British Airways) also give us a direct foray into having deeper opportunities as well.

What do you think of what CapitalOne is up to these days in travel with their partnership with Hopper and appeal to younger generations? And how do you see the competition with other credit card companies?

Wynn: I won’t speak directly to any one of them. I will say the focus on the younger generation, and as they become a higher percentage of the overall travel volume, is smart. It’s what we are looking to do as well. It is part of the reason that we acquired cxLoyalty so that we own our own tech, we can get customer feedback and be able to iterate and test and learn more as that new buyer has a different set of needs and behaviors.

It’s also the reason for some of the other Chase acquisitions, for example, The Infatuation, which is our dining discovery platform specifically targeted to Gen Zs and millennials.

What about getting into fintech and price freezes like Hopper and CapitalOne have done?

Wynn: I’m interested to see how that plays out within the industry. There are a lot of things that the airlines have done; change fees have gone away, you now have credits for unused tickets. So I know that others are seeing success with that. I just would want to watch and see a little bit. See if they stand the test of time.

Some analysts say that the the online travel agencies are making a mistake by doing so many of these partnerships with banks and with others, and that they’re nurturing their competitors. I’m sure you agree with that, right ?

Wynn: Listen, they are making decisions based off their business model. I believe it’s true that the partner businesses, at least for the Expedia, is a fast-growing business. The profits they’re generating from that enterprise allows them to reinvest in their core business and that seems like a good thing to me.

How do you view Chase in the competitive landscape among other credit card companies?

Wynn: Owning our technology is a big advantage in being able to build out the point-of-sale that the customer needs going forward. Also just our scale: We have over 80 million customers in the U.S., 63 million digitally active customers. Those give us a huge advantage and lend itself to the first party data that we have, which is just significantly bigger than anyone else in our competitive set. And then the strength of our rewards currency is just an incredibly valuable asset for us.

What’s is the upside and challenges in doing airport lounges?

Wynn: If you want to compete for the top travel customer, it’s become table stakes in the card space. So for us, it’s a matter of making sure that we can meet that expectation and also try to differentiate ourselves. So we’re very much focused on creating lounges that bring forward the local flavor.

A great example of that is Boston, where we work with a local chef who’s providing all the food in there. There are local Boston beers at the bar. And we’ll look to extend those concepts as we build out our strategy going forward.

We’ve announced the locations that will be coming forward with in the next couple of years. Our flagship plans will be in New York LaGuardia. We’ve announced Phoenix, Philadelphia, Dallas, Las Vegas, San Diego, and we also have a terrace in Austin. We’ll continue to look for other opportunities.

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Tags: airport lounges , american express , banks , british airways , capital one , capital one travel , chase , credit cards , expedia , hopper , jp morgan chase , online travel newsletter , priceline , southwest , united

Photo credit: Chase Travel is chasing American Express for the top dog among U.S. leisure sales for credit card companies. Source: Ajay Suresh/Wikimedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Credit_cards#/media/File:ChaseSapphire_(33986741558).jpg Ajay Suresh / Wikimedia Commons

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Celebrity homestays are now open to public

Here are houses of some famous people that are open to the public..

Celebrity homes as tourist destinations are not new. Global aggregator Airbnb even has a new category called ‘Icons’ where it offers celebrity homes as homestays. Here are houses of some famous people that are open to the public.

RK Narayan’s house in Mysore

In 2016, the government of India converted author RK Narayan’s house in Karnataka’s Mysore into a museum. Narayan’s double-storey home in Yadavagiri has a collection of his works and several personal items on display. Known for the warm, evocative nostalgia in his classics such as Malgudi Days and his compassionate humanism, celebrating the ‘ordinary’ in his books and short stories, his Mysore house resonates with this simplicity. The white washed house built in 1952 is airy, sun-lit and spacious with red cemented floor, and is now maintained by Mysore City Corporation. The ground floor has a verandah and living room. The walls are lined with snapshots from his life and adorned with awards such as Padma Vibhushan.

Jamini Roy’s house in Kolkata

One of the most prolific painters of India, Jamini Roy’s house in Kolkata’s Ballygunge Place became the country’s first private artist museum last year. Located in a quiet leafy lane of Kolkata, his house used to be a convergence of creative minds as ‘adda’ who would come to visit Roy. Roy’s home was a place where he not only operated his studio but was also open to the public who wanted to view his work. In one documentary based on him, Jamini Roy: Portrait of a Painter, he is even seen painting his Christ series sitting in his garden. Roy is known for minimalist style of painting who ushered in the era of modernism and channelised his art through Bengali folk heritage having created 20,000 paintings in his illustrious five-decade career. After his death in 1972, his descendants continued to live in the building until it was acquired by DAG (previously known as Delhi Art Gallery) last year to convert the place into a private museum showcasing his life and work.

Jane Austen’s house in Hampshire

Best known for several of her novels including Pride and Prejudice (1813), English novelist Jane Austen’s cottage in Hampshire was her home and the birthplace of her six beloved novels. Her novels became popular worldwide posthumously and still resonate with contemporary readers. While she was born in 1775 in the United Kingdom’s Stevenson, her cottage in Hampshire’s Chawton was where she spent the last eight years of her life and published six of her novels. Her house is built in Victorian style where she used to live with her sister Cassandra. It still has several of her belongings. Jane Austen’s House Museum, established in 1947, was opened to the public in July 1949. It sees over 40,000 visitors every year.

Frida Kahlo’s house in Mexico

Famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo’s house, known as ‘Blue House’ or ‘La Casa Azul’, remains intact in the same manner as it was when she died. She was known for portraits, self portraits, and work that was influenced by Mexican artifacts and nature in a folk art style on identity, postcolonialism, gender, class, and race in Mexican society with autobiographical elements, mixed realism and fantasy. She got married to fellow Mexican artist Diego Rivera which she had described as one of two major accidents defining her life — a bus crash that left her shattered and bedridden for a year and marrying Rivera. Her house represents Kahlo’s life and passions with portraits of her heroes Lenin and Mao hanging over the bed, her clothes in the wardrobe, wheelchair by an unfinished portrait of Stalin and ashes in an urn on display. 

Ernest Hemingway’s house in Florida

Best known for his short novel, The Old Man And The Sea, American novelist and short story writer Ernest Hemingway’ house in the United States’ Florida is a visitor’s delight. Constructed in Spanish colonial style of architecture in 1851, it served as Hemingway’s home with his wife Pauline Pfeiffer for nine years from 1931 to 1940. His writing studio can be found inside the house where he produced the best of his literary works, including the non fiction Green Hills of Africa (1935), the 1936 short stories The Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, and novels To Have and Have Not (1937) and Islands in the Stream (1970). It was converted into a private museum in 1964.

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Senate Approves Bill to Reauthorize F.A.A. and Improve Air Travel

The Senate also passed a short-term extension of the current F.A.A. law to give the House time to clear the longer-term package early next week.

By Kayla Guo

Reporting from the Capitol

The Senate on Thursday passed legislation to reauthorize federal aviation programs for the next five years and put in place new safety measures and consumer protections for passengers, at a moment of intense uncertainty and disruption in the air travel system.

The bill , which still must win final approval in the House before becoming law, would provide more than $105 billion to the Federal Aviation Administration and another $738 million to the National Transportation Safety Board for airport modernization, technology programs and safety. It would also bolster the hiring and training of air traffic controllers, codify airlines’ refund obligations to passengers, ensure fee-free family seating and strengthen protections for passengers with disabilities.

“Aviation safety has been front of mind for millions of Americans recently, and this F.A.A. bill is the best thing Congress can do to give Americans the peace of mind they deserve,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, said on the Senate floor on Thursday evening.

It passed in an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 88 to 4, just one day before the current law is scheduled to lapse. The Senate also unanimously approved a short-term extension to allow time for the House to take up and clear the longer-term package next week, a step that would send it to President Biden.

The legislation is a bipartisan compromise negotiated over months by the Senate and House committees with jurisdiction over the F.A.A., after Congress authorized several short-term extensions of the agency when lawmakers failed to meet earlier deadlines. The House passed its version of the bill almost a year ago in a lopsided vote of 351 to 69.

Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, chairwoman of the Commerce Committee, celebrated the bill’s provisions on consumer protections, aviation safety, air traffic controllers, airport infrastructure and work force development on the floor after passage.

“This is a big moment for aviation,” Ms. Cantwell said. “We have had safety issues and concerns that we need to make a big investment. This legislation is that investment — in safety standards, in protecting consumers and advancing a work force and technology that will allow the United States to be the gold standard in aviation.”

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the top Republican on the Commerce Committee, said: “This legislation is a strong, bipartisan, bicameral bill that includes hundreds of priorities for senators and representatives, both Republican and Democrat. This bill gives the FAA the safety tools it needs at a critical time.”

As one of the few remaining bills considered a must-pass item this year, the F.A.A. package, which prompted several regional disputes, became a magnet for dozens of amendments and policy riders that threatened to delay it in the Senate.

With the legislation threatening to stall, the House on Wednesday approved a one-week extension for the F.A.A. before leaving Washington for the weekend. The Senate followed suit on Thursday, steering around lingering disputes that had threatened to scuttle the effort and cause a brief lapse for the F.A.A.

The debate came at a time of acute uncertainty about the aviation system, which has had a recent spate of concerning episodes such as dangerous near collisions on runways, plane malfunctions and thousands of flight delays and cancellations.

It was unclear for much of Thursday whether the Senate would be able to push through the legislation and the extension, as senators demanded votes on amendments or threatened to block speedy passage. No amendments were ultimately brought to a vote.

The most intense regional fight was over a provision in the bill that would add five round-trip long-haul flights out of Ronald Reagan National Airport outside Washington. Proponents, which include Delta Air Lines, have said they want to expand access to the nation’s capital and increase competition.

The proposal incensed lawmakers representing the area , who argued that the airport maintains the busiest runway in the country and cannot support additional flights. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner of Virginia and Benjamin L. Cardin and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, all Democrats, filed an amendment to strike the new flights.

Mr. Kaine and Mr. Warner threatened to hold the bill up if they did not receive a vote. But Mr. Cruz blocked an effort to bring up a compromise amendment that would have given the transportation secretary the final say on new flights after considering any effects they would have on delays and passenger safety.

“The Senate abdicated its responsibility to protect the safety of the 25 million people who fly through D.C.A. every year,” Mr. Kaine and Mr. Warner said in a statement. “Some of our colleagues were too afraid to let the experts make the call. They didn’t want to show the American people that they care more about a few lawmakers’ desire for direct flights than they care about the safety and convenience of the traveling public. That is shameful and an embarrassment.”

The senators from Virginia and Maryland were the only votes against the bill.

Another group of senators failed to secure a vote on a proposal to halt the Transportation Security Administration’s expansion of facial recognition technology at airports and restrict it where it is in use.

Senators had also proposed adding a number of unrelated bills, including one that would compensate people harmed by exposure to the nation’s nuclear weapons program , legislation to fully fund the replacement of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, and a credit card competition measure. Senators Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, and Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, were pushing for a vote on their bill to protect minors online into Thursday. None of them made it into the final product.

An earlier version of this article misstated the name of the bridge in Baltimore that collapsed. It is the Francis Scott Key Bridge, not the Francis Key Scott Bridge.

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Kayla Guo covers Congress for The New York Times as the 2023-24 reporting fellow based in Washington. More about Kayla Guo

A Divided Congress: Latest News and Analysis

Marjorie Taylor Greene: The hard-right congresswoman from Georgia failed spectacularly in her bid to depose Speaker Mike Johnson. But for a figure who sees her power in creating chaos, the loss was the point .

Reauthorize FAA and Improve Air Travel: The Senate passed legislation to reauthorize federal aviation programs and put in place new safety measures and consumer protections, at a moment of intense uncertainty  and disruption in the air travel system.

Mike Johnson: The House speaker easily batted down an attempt  by Greene to oust him from his post, after Democrats linked arms with most Republicans  to block the motion.

Antisemitism Hearing: A Republican-led House committee turned its attention to three of the most politically liberal school districts  in the country, accusing them of tolerating antisemitism, but the district leaders pushed back forcefully .

Legalizing Marijuana: Senate Democrats reintroduced broad legislation to legalize cannabis on the federal level, a major policy shift with wide public support , but it is unlikely to be enacted this year ahead of November’s elections and in a divided government.

Driver found dead after crashing into White House complex gate, Secret Service says

WASHINGTON — A driver was found dead after crashing into an outer perimeter gate of the White House complex Saturday night, according to the U.S. Secret Service.

The incident, which occurred shortly before 10:30 p.m., posed no threat to the White House, and the public doesn't face any ongoing safety concerns, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi shared on X , formerly Twitter.  

Officials said in a statement early Sunday that “security protocols were implemented as officers cleared the vehicle and attempted to render aid to the driver who was discovered deceased.”

Washington's Metropolitan Police Department identified the driver as an adult male and shared in a post on X that the vehicle crashed into a security barrier around the complex. Law enforcement officials added that the incident is currently being investigated “only as a traffic crash.”

The Secret Service said it will continue investigating the matter while the fatal part of the crash will be turned over to Washington police.

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

Putin reappoints Mishustin as Russia's Prime Minister

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday reappointed Mikhail Mishustin as the country's Prime Minister after the previous stint on the job during which the low-key technocrat has shown a distinct lack of political ambitions.

In line with Russian law, Mishustin, 58, who held the job for the past four years, submitted his Cabinet’s resignation on Tuesday when Putin began his fifth presidential term at a glittering Kremlin inauguration.

Mishustin’s reappointment was widely expected by political observers, who noted that Putin has appreciated his skills and low political profile. Mishustin, the former head of Russia’s tax service, has steered clear of political statements and avoided media interviews during his previous tenure.

The speaker of the parliament's lower house, Vyacheslav Volodin, announced that Putin has submitted Mishustin's candidacy to the State Duma, which will hold a session later Friday to consider it.

Under the constitutional changes approved in 2020, the lower house approves the candidacy of the prime minister, who then submits candidacies of Cabinet members.

Mishustin’s approval is a mere proforma in the Kremlin-controlled parliament.

Mishustin and other technocrats in the Cabinet were credited for maintaining a relatively stable economic performance despite bruising Western sanctions.

Most Cabinet members are also expected to keep their jobs and their reappointments are expected shortly.

The fate of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appeared uncertain, however, after last month’s arrest of his top associate, Timur Ivanov.

Ivanov, who served as deputy defense minister in charge of multibillion military construction projects, was arrested on bribery charges and was ordered to stay in custody pending official investigation.

The arrest of Ivanov was widely interpreted as an attack on Shoigu and a possible precursor of his dismissal despite his close personal ties with Putin.

Shoigu was widely criticized for Russian military’s setbacks in the early stage of the fighting in Ukraine. He faced scathing attacks from mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who launched a brief attempted march on Moscow last June to demand the ouster of Shoigu and the chief of the General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov.

After Prigozhin’s death in a suspicious air crash two months after the rebellion that was broadly widely seen as a Kremlin revenge for his mutiny, Shoigu appeared to shore up his position, but Ivanov’s arrest, seen as part of Kremlin’s political infighting, again exposed Shoigu’s vulnerability.

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Xi’s European tour: where is Chinese leader going and what are visit’s aims?

Emmanuel Macron and Viktor Orbán among leaders Xi is meeting, with several key issues on the table

China’s president, Xi Jinping , has begun a three-country tour of Europe – his first state visit to the continent in five years – at a time when China-EU ties are under strain from trade disputes and Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Where is Xi visiting and who will he meet?

The Chinese leader’s visit begins on Monday in Paris, where he is meeting the French president, Emmanuel Macron, for a day of talks that will include a trilateral meeting with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen , and a state banquet at the Élysée Palace in the evening.

On Tuesday, Macron will accompany Xi to the Tourmalet pass 2,000 metres up in the Hautes-Pyrénées mountains, an area where the French president spent childhood holidays visiting his grandmother, for a day of less formal discussions. The two last met in April 2023 during a three-day state visit to China by Macron .

On Wednesday, Xi will travel to Belgrade for talks with Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, and on Thursday he will go to Budapest where he will meet Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán . Both countries are pro-Russia and big recipients of Chinese investment.

What is the purpose of his visit?

Officially, Xi’s visit to Paris is to mark 60 years since diplomatic relations were established between France and China: France was the first western country to formally recognise the People’s Republic of China, on 27 January 1964.

His visit to Belgrade coincides with the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Serbia , when three people died after a US strike accidentally hit the compound during Nato’s air campaign against Serb forces occupying Kosovo.

Analysts have said that in his meetings with Macron and von der Leyen, away from the ceremonies, Xi will mainly be aiming to lobby against the EU’s anti-subsidy investigations, particularly on electric vehicles, and on stabilising diplomatic relationships.

In Serbia , where China is the biggest single source of inward investment, he will hope to play up Beijing’s anti-US, anti-Nato agenda – one reason why China has maintained its support for Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

In Hungary, Xi will underline the close economic and diplomatic ties between the two countries, including in security cooperation, and discuss progress on China’s belt and road initiative , which includes a high-speed Budapest-Belgrade rail link.

Hungary, a vocal supporter of China that has blocked some EU motions criticising Beijing on human rights, has Huawei’s largest base outside China and will soon host the carmaker BYD’s first European factory.

What big issues will be on the table?

Overshadowing the visit are EU concerns over China’s support for Russia two years into war against Ukraine, and Beijing’s concerns over the bloc’s economic security agenda, including the threat of heavy tariffs on Chinese imports.

Macron and von der Leyen will call on China to stop exports to Russia of “dual-use” and other technologies aiding Moscow war effort. Beijing claims to be neutral in the conflict but China-Russia trade has helped offset western sanctions on Moscow.

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Beijing, for its part, aims to head off the threat of European tariffs on Chinese EVs after an EU investigation into state support for the industry in China. Studies put China’s subsidies at between three and nine times those of other major economies.

Human rights groups have said the issues of Tibet and Xinjiang , where the UN has said China may have committed crimes against humanity by placing up to a million ethnic Uyghur Muslims in re-education camps, must be raised.

What is the outcome likely to be?

Most analysts doubt that the EU and its messages on the looming trade dispute and Chinese support for Russia over Ukraine will make much headway with Xi, whose visit seems designed to exploit the bloc’s internal differences.

China’s economy is facing some difficulties and the US is increasingly reticent about opening up to Chinese companies, meaning the EU could have some leverage, but its 27 members are not fully aligned on China policy, undermining their influence.

Macron wants a more aggressive EU stance on subsidies and has warned that the bloc risks falling behind without one, but other leaders, such as Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, stress the importance of the Chinese market for their own exporters.

Overall, said Janka Oertel, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, Xi’s Paris visit is “unlikely to have a significant impact on Chinese behaviour”. And Shen Dingli, a Shanghai-based analyst, said the Belgrade and Budapest stops were part of China’s efforts to deepen divisions within the west.

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Watch: Two men arrested on suspicion of murder after two women die in Wolverhampton house blaze

Two women have died in a house blaze today in Wolverhampton resulting in two men being arrested on suspicion of murder.

Watch more of our videos on Shots! and live on Freeview channel 276

The victims, believed to be aged in their 20s, were found after emergency services were called to the terraced house in Dunstall Hill, in the Dunstall Park area, shortly before 2am after reports of a severe fire and smoke spewing out.

West Midlands Police said they were tragically confirmed dead at the scene and the thoughts of the emergency services staff were with their loved ones at what is "this terrible time".

The force said three men and another woman were taken to hospital, with the woman currently in a critical condition.

A total of 20 firefighters from Wolverhampton, Fallings Park, Tipton and Bilston fire stations attended the scene with the first crew arriving at the scene off A449 Stafford Road within three minutes after being called out.

They arrived to find a severe fire in an end-terrace property from which four people had managed to escape.

West Midlands Fire Service said several firefighters wearing breathing apparatus entered the property, but that sadly, the bodies of two people were found inside.

The service said the flames and smoke were put out shortly before 3am.

The service said: "Our investigators will be working with West Midlands Police to establish exactly how the fire started. The police have made arrests in connection with this incident."

Meanwhile West Midlands Police stated: "We've arrested two men on suspicion of murder after two women have died following a house fire in Wolverhampton this morning.

"We were called to Dunstall Hill, alongside other emergency services, just before 2am.

"Two women, understood to be in their early 20s, were tragically confirmed dead at the scene and our thoughts are with their loved ones at this terrible time.

"Following initial enquiries we've arrested two men, aged 19 and 22. The men, who are understood to be known to the women, will now be questioned. We're working with fire service colleagues to establish the cause of the fire.

"We have officers in the area as our inquiries, including reviewing all available footage, continue."

Anyone with information or witnesses should contact the force via the website's Live Chat or by phoning 101 quoting reference 360 of 11/5/24.

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Money blog: Loud budgeting - the taboo-busting money hack you can do without giving up daily coffee

Created accidentally by a comedian, "loud budgeting" is breaking down the taboo of speaking about money. Read this and the rest of our Weekend Money features, and leave a comment, and we'll be back with rolling personal finance and consumer news on Monday.

Saturday 11 May 2024 20:15, UK

Weekend Money

• 'Loud budgeting': The money-saving trend that has nothing to do with giving up your daily coffee
• What is most in-demand period property?
• £12m tea advert, downsizing, £320 tasting menus and job interview mistakes: What readers have said this week
• Free childcare applications about to open for new age band
• Where has huge week for UK economy left us?

Best of the week

• How to avoid a holiday data roaming charge (while still using the internet)
• Mortgage rates up again this week - here are the best deals on the market
• My daughter discovered undeclared £600 management fee after buying her flat - can we complain?
• Best of the Money blog - an archive

Ask a question or make a comment

By Jess Sharp , Money team 

Money saving trends are constantly popping up on social media - but one in particular has been gaining huge amounts of attention.

Created accidentally by a comedian, loud budgeting is breaking down the taboo of speaking about money.

The idea is based on being firmer/more vocal about your financial boundaries in social situations and setting out what you are happy to spend your money on, instead of "Keeping up with the Joneses". 

On TikTok alone, videos published under the hashtag #loudbudgeting have garnered more than 30 million views - and that figure is continuing to climb. 

We spoke to Lukas Battle - the 26-year-old who unintentionally created the trend as part of a comedy sketch. 

Based in New York, he came up with the term in a skit about the "quiet luxury" hype, which had spread online in 2023 inspired by shows like Succession. 

The term was used for humble bragging about your wealth with expensive items that were subtle in their design - for example, Gwyneth Paltrow's  £3,900 moss green wool coat from The Row, which she wore during her ski resort trial...

"I was never a big fan of the quiet luxury trend, so I just kind of switched the words and wrote 'loud budgeting is in'. I'm tired of spending money and I don't want to pretend to be rich," Lukas said. 

"That's how it started and then the TikTok comments were just obsessed with that original idea." 

This was the first time he mentioned it...

Lukas explained that it wasn't about "being poor" but about not being afraid of sharing your financial limits and "what's profitable for you personally". 

"It's not 'skip a coffee a day and you'll become a millionaire'."

While talking money has been seen as rude or taboo, he said it's something his generation is more comfortable doing. 

"I've seen more debate around the topic and I think people are really intrigued and attracted by the idea," he said. 

"It's just focusing your spending and time on things you enjoy and cutting out the things you might feel pressured to spend your money on."  

He has incorporated loud budgeting into his own life, telling his friends "it's free to go outside" and opting for cheaper dinner alternatives.

"Having the terminology and knowing it's a trend helps people understand it and there's no awkward conversation around it," he said. 

The trend has been a big hit with so-called American "finfluencers", or "financial influencers", but people in the UK have started practising it as well. 

Mia Westrap has taken up loud budgeting by embarking on a no-buy year and sharing her finances with her 11.3k TikTok followers. 

Earning roughly £2,100 a month, she spends around £1,200 on essentials, like rent, petrol and car insurance, but limits what else she can purchase. 

Clothes, fizzy drinks, beauty treatments, makeup, dinners out and train tickets are just some things on her "red list". 

The 26-year-old PHD student first came across the idea back in 2017, but decided to take up the challenge this year after realising she was living "pay check to pay check". 

She said her "biggest fear" in the beginning was that her friends wouldn't understand what she was doing, but she found loud budgeting helped. 

"I'm still trying my best to just go along with what everyone wants to do but I just won't spend money while we do it and my friends don't mind that, we don't make a big deal out of it," she said. 

So far, she has been able to save £1,700, and she said talking openly about her money has been "really helpful". 

"There's no way I could have got this far if I wasn't baring my soul to the internet about the money I have spent. It has been a really motivating factor."

Financial expert John Webb said loud budgeting has the ability to help many "feel empowered" and create a "more realistic" relationship with money.

"This is helping to normalise having open and honest conversations about finances," the consumer affair manager at Experien said. 

"It can also reduce the anxiety some might have by keeping their financial worries to themselves." 

However, he warned it's important to be cautious and to take the reality of life into consideration. 

"It could cause troubles within friendship groups if they're not on the same page as you or have different financial goals," he said.

"This challenge isn't meant to stop you from having fun, but it is designed to help people become more conscious and intentional when it comes to money, and reduce the stigma around talking about it." 

Rightmove's keyword tool shows Victorian-era houses are the most commonly searched period properties, with people drawn to their ornate designs and features.

Georgian and Edwardian-style are second and third respectively, followed by Tudor properties. Regency ranked in fifth place.

Rightmove property expert Tim Bannister said: "Home hunters continue to be captivated by the character and charm of properties that we see in period dramas.

"Victorian homes remain particularly popular, characterised by their historic charm, solid construction, and spacious interiors. You'll often find Victorian houses in some of the most desirable locations which include convenient access to schools and transport links."

Throughout the week Money blog readers have shared their thoughts on the stories we've been covering, with the most correspondence coming in on...

• A hotly contested debate on the best brand of tea
• Downsizing homes
• The cost of Michelin-starred food

Job interview mistakes

On Wednesday we reported on a new £12m ad from PG Tips in response to it falling behind rivals such as Twinings, Yorkshire Tea and Tetley....

We had lots of comments like this...

How on earth was the PG Tips advert so expensive? I prefer Tetley tea, PG Tips is never strong enough flavour for me. Shellyleppard

The reason for the sales drop with PG Tips could be because they increased the price and reduced the quantity of bags from 240 to 180 - it's obvious. Royston

And then this question which we've tried to answer below...

Why have PG Tips changed from Pyramid shape tea bags, to a square? Sam

Last year PG Tips said it was changing to a square bag that left more room for leaves to infuse, as the bags wouldn't fold over themselves.

We reported on data showing how downsizing could save you money for retirement - more than £400,000, in some regions, by swapping four beds for two.

Some of our readers shared their experiences...

We are downsizing and moving South so it's costing us £100k extra for a smaller place, all money from retirement fund. AlanNorth

Interesting read about downsizing for retirement. We recently did this to have the means to retire early at 52. However, we bought a house in the south of France for the price of a flat in our town in West Sussex. Now living the dream! OliSarah

How much should we pay for food?

Executive chef at London's two-Michelin-starred Ikoyi, Jeremy Chan, raised eyebrows when he suggested to the Money blog that Britons don't pay enough for restaurant food.

Ikoyi, the 35th best restaurant in the world, charges £320 for its tasting menu. 

"I don't think people pay enough money for food, I think we charge too little, [but] we want to always be accessible to as many people as possible, we're always trying our best to do that," he said, in a piece about his restaurant's tie up with Uber Eats... 

We had this in... 

Are they serious? That is two weeks' worth of food shopping for me, if the rich can afford this "tasting menu" then they need to be taxed even more by the government, it's just crazy! Steve T

If the rate of pay is proportionate to the vastly overpriced costs of the double Michelin star menu, I would gladly peel quail eggs for four-hour stints over continuing to be abused as a UK supply teacher. AndrewWard

Does this two-star Michelin star chef live in the real world? Who gives a toss if he stands and peels his quails eggs for four hours, and he can get the best turbot from the fishmonger fresh on a daily basis? It doesn't justify the outrageous price he is charging for his tasting menu. Topaztraveller

Chefs do make me laugh, a steak is just a steak, they don't make the meat! They just cook it like the rest of us, but we eat out because we can't be bothered cooking! StevieGrah

Finally, many of you reacted to this feature on common mistakes in job interviews...

Those 10 biggest mistakes people make in interviews is the dumbest thing I've ever read. They expect all that and they'll be offering a £25k a year job. Why wouldn't I want to know about benefits and basic sick pay? And also a limp handshake? How's that relevant to how you work? Jre90

Others brought their own tips...

Whenever I go for an interview I stick to three points: 1. Be yourself 2. Own the interview 3. Wear the clothes that match the job you are applying Kevin James Blakey

From Sunday, eligible working parents of children from nine-months-old in England will be able to register for access to up to 15 free hours of government-funded childcare per week.

This will then be granted from September. 

Check if you're eligible  here  - or read on for our explainer on free childcare across the UK.

Three and four year olds

In England, all parents of children aged three and four in England can claim 15 hours of free childcare per week, for 1,140 hours (38 weeks) a year, at an approved provider.

This is a universal offer open to all.

It can be extended to 30 hours where both parents (or the sole parent) are in work, earn the weekly minimum equivalent of 16 hours at the national minimum or living wage, and have an income of less than £100,000 per year.

Two year olds

Previously, only parents in receipt of certain benefits were eligible for 15 hours of free childcare.

But, as of last month, this was extended to working parents.

This is not a universal offer, however.

A working parent must earn more than £8,670 but less than £100,000 per year. For couples, the rule applies to both parents.

Nine months old

In September, this same 15-hour offer will be extended to working parents of children aged from nine months. From 12 May, those whose children will be at least nine months old on 31 August can apply to received the 15 hours of care from September.

From September 2025

The final change to the childcare offer in England will be rolled out in September 2025, when eligible working parents of all children under the age of five will be able to claim 30 hours of free childcare a week.

In some areas of Wales, the Flying Start early years programme offers 12.5 hours of free childcare for 39 weeks, for eligible children aged two to three. The scheme is based on your postcode area, though it is currently being expanded.

All three and four-year-olds are entitled to free early education of 10 hours per week in approved settings during term time under the Welsh government's childcare offer.

Some children of this age are entitled to up to 30 hours per week of free early education and childcare over 48 weeks of the year. The hours can be split - but at least 10 need to be used on early education.

To qualify for this, each parent must earn less than £100,000 per year, be employed and earn at least the equivalent of working 16 hours a week at the national minimum wage, or be enrolled on an undergraduate, postgraduate or further education course that is at least 10 weeks in length.

All three and four-year-olds living in Scotland are entitled to at least 1,140 hours per year of free childcare, with no work or earnings requirements for parents. 

This is usually taken as 30 hours per week over term time (38 weeks), though each provider will have their own approach.

Some households can claim free childcare for two-year-olds. To be eligible you have to be claiming certain benefits such as Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance or Universal Credit, or have a child that is in the care of their local council or living with you under a guardianship order or kinship care order.

Northern Ireland

There is no scheme for free childcare in Northern Ireland. Some other limited support is available.

Working parents can access support from UK-wide schemes such as tax credits, Universal Credit, childcare vouchers and tax-free childcare.

Aside from this, all parents of children aged three or four can apply for at least 12.5 hours a week of funded pre-school education during term time. But over 90% of three-year-olds have a funded pre-school place - and of course this is different to childcare.

What other help could I be eligible for?

Tax-free childcare  - Working parents in the UK can claim up to £500 every three months (up to £2,000 a year) for each of their children to help with childcare costs. 

If the child is disabled, the amount goes up to £1,000 every three months (up to £4,000 a year).

To claim the benefit, parents will need to open a tax-free childcare account online. For every 80p paid into the account, the government will top it up by 20p.

The scheme is available until the September after the child turns 11.

Universal credit  - Working families on universal credit can claim back up to 85% of their monthly childcare costs, as long as the care is paid for upfront. The most you can claim per month is £951 for one child or £1,630 for two or more children.

Tax credits -  People claiming working tax credit can get up to 70% of what they pay for childcare if their costs are no more than £175 per week for one child or £300 per work for multiple children.

Two big economic moments dominated the news agenda in Money this week - interest rates and GDP.

As expected, the Bank of England held the base rate at 5.25% on Wednesday - but a shift in language was instructive about what may happen next.

Bank governor Andrew Bailey opened the door to a summer cut to 5%, telling reporters that an easing of rates at the next Monetary Policy Committee meeting on 20 June was neither ruled out nor a fait accompli.

More surprisingly, he suggested that rate cuts, when they start, could go deeper "than currently priced into market rates".

He refused to be drawn on what that path might look like - but markets had thought rates could bottom out at 4.5% or 4.75% this year, and potentially 3.5% or 4% next.

"To make sure that inflation stays around the 2% target - that inflation will neither be too high nor too low - it's likely that we will need to cut Bank rate over the coming quarters and make monetary policy somewhat less restrictive over the forecast period," Mr Bailey said.

You can read economics editor Ed Conway's analysis of the Bank's decision here ...

On Friday we discovered the UK is no longer in recession.

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.6% between January and March, the Office for National Statistics said.

This followed two consecutive quarters of the economy shrinking.

The data was more positive than anticipated.

"Britain is not just out of recession," wrote Conway. "It is out of recession with a bang."

The UK has seen its fastest growth since the tailend of the pandemic - and Conway picked out three other reasons for optimism.

1/ An economic growth rate of 0.6% is near enough to what economists used to call "trend growth". It's the kind of number that signifies the economy growing at more or less "normal" rates.

2/ 0.6% means the UK is, alongside Canada, the fastest-growing economy in the G7 (we've yet to hear from Japan, but economists expect its economy to contract in the first quarter).

3/ Third, it's not just gross domestic product that's up. So too is gross domestic product per head - the number you get when you divide our national income by every person in the country. After seven years without any growth, GDP per head rose by 0.4% in the first quarter.

GDP per head is a more accurate yardstick for the "feelgood factor", said Conway - perhaps meaning people will finally start to feel better off.

For more on where Friday's figures leaves us, listen to an Ian King Business Podcast special...

The Money blog is your place for consumer news, economic analysis and everything you need to know about the cost of living - bookmark news.sky.com/money .

It runs with live updates every weekday - while on Saturdays we scale back and offer you a selection of weekend reads.

Check them out this morning and we'll be back on Monday with rolling news and features.

The Money team is Emily Mee, Bhvishya Patel, Jess Sharp, Katie Williams, Brad Young and Ollie Cooper, with sub-editing by Isobel Souster. The blog is edited by Jimmy Rice.

If you've missed any of the features we've been running in Money this year, or want to check back on something you've previously seen in the blog, this archive of our most popular articles may help...

Loaves of bread have been recalled from shelves in Japan after they were found to contain the remains of a rat.

Production of the bread in Tokyo has been halted after parts of a "small animal" were found by at least two people.

Pasco Shikishima Corp, which produces the bread, said 104,000 packages have been recalled as it apologised and promised compensation.

A company representative told Sky News's US partner network, NBC News, that a "small black rat" was found in the bread. No customers were reported to have fallen ill as a result of ingesting the contaminated bread.

"We deeply apologise for the serious inconvenience and trouble this has caused to our customers, suppliers, and other concerned parties," the spokesman said.

Pasco added in a separate statement that "we will do our utmost to strengthen our quality controls so that this will never happen again. We ask for your understanding and your co-operation."

Japanese media reports said at least two people who bought the bread in the Gunma prefecture, north-west of Tokyo, complained to the company about finding a rodent in the bread.

Record levels of shoplifting appear to be declining as fewer shopkeepers reported thefts last year, new figures show. 

A survey by the Office for National Statistics shows 26% of retailers experienced customer theft in 2023, down from a record high of 28% in 2022.

This comes despite a number of reports suggesting shoplifting is becoming more frequent. 

A  separate ONS finding , which used police crime data, showed reports of shoplifting were at their highest level in 20 years in 2023, with law enforcements logging 430,000 instances of the crime.

Let's get you up to speed on the biggest business news of the past 24 hours. 

A privately owned used-car platform is circling Cazoo Group, its stricken US-listed rival, which is on the brink of administration.

Sky News has learnt that Motors.co.uk is a leading contender to acquire Cazoo's marketplace operation, which would include its brand and intellectual property assets.

The process to auction the used-car platform's constituent parts comes after it spent tens of millions of pounds on sponsorship deals in football, snooker and darts in a rapid attempt to gain market share.

The owner of British Airways has reported a sharp rise in profits amid soaring demand for trips and a fall in the cost of fuel.

International Airlines Group said its operating profit for the first three months of the year was €68m (£58.5m) - above expectations and up from €9m (£7.7m) during the same period in 2023.

The company, which also owns Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling, said earnings had soared thanks to strong demand, particularly over the Easter holidays.

The prospect of a strike across Tata Steel's UK operations has gained further traction after a key union secured support for industrial action.

Community, which has more than 3,000 members, said 85% voted in favour of fighting the India-owned company's plans for up to 2,800 job losses, the majority of them at the country's biggest steelworks in Port Talbot, South Wales.

Tata confirmed last month it was to press ahead with the closure of the blast furnaces at the plant, replacing them with electric arc furnaces to reduce emissions and costs.

In doing so, the company rejected an alternative plan put forward by the Community, GMB and Unite unions that, they said, would raise productivity and protect jobs across the supply chain.

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We believe everyone should be able to make financial decisions with confidence. And while our site doesn’t feature every company or financial product available on the market, we’re proud that the guidance we offer, the information we provide and the tools we create are objective, independent, straightforward — and free.

So how do we make money? Our partners compensate us. This may influence which products we review and write about (and where those products appear on the site), but it in no way affects our recommendations or advice, which are grounded in thousands of hours of research. Our partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews of their products or services. Here is a list of our partners .

Yes, You Can Balance Homebuying and Summer Travel

Some or all of the mortgage lenders featured on our site are advertising partners of NerdWallet, but this does not influence our evaluations, lender star ratings or the order in which lenders are listed on the page. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners .

By late spring, homebuying season is in full swing. And right when all the good listings start popping up, so does summer wanderlust — especially if you were cooped up all winter.

House hunting can be exhausting, especially in today’s competitive market. So if you need a vacation, are you throwing away your shot at success?

Karen Wilder, a real estate agent with Mott & Chace Sotheby's International Realty in Charlestown, Rhode Island, doesn’t think so.

“Sometimes, it can be the best thing for your search for you to just take a little time off,” she says.

If you want to travel and house-hunt at the same time, you have to plan ahead and consider your short- and long-term goals. Here’s how to balance the homebuying process with a much-needed summer getaway.

Weigh your priorities

First, gut-check your travel plans against FOMO: the fear of missing out. In a hot market, home shoppers need to act fast when a great house gets listed. Maybe you have a truly can’t-miss trip — say, your bestie’s destination wedding or a major work conference. But if you have the option to schedule your travel later, it might be worth it to wait.

To help you decide, consider how you’d feel if “the" house came along while you were out of town. Would you regret not being there for an in-person walkthrough? Would you rather be on the beach than on the phone with your buyer’s agent ?

“Everybody needs to consider their own comfort level with shopping remotely — their own sort of FOMO when it comes to going away and unplugging,” Wilder says.

The homebuying process is less familiar for first-time home buyers , who might prefer to handle things in person. In her experience, Wilder notes that seasoned real estate buyers or investors are often more comfortable with overseeing a transaction from a distance.

Find a proxy

Krystal Stearns, branch manager at Valor Home Loans in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is one of those seasoned pros. She has purchased six properties across three states without seeing any of them in person first. Digital tools like virtual walk-throughs and listing videos can help, but nothing beats a boots-on-the-ground perspective, she says.

Before you travel, ask an experienced buyer’s agent, trusted friend or family member to attend walk-throughs or open houses on your behalf. When Stearns bought her Florida vacation home sight unseen, she knew she could trust her buyer’s agent to give candid feedback on the place.

“You really need someone who is going to be honest with you, that's going to look out for you and your family and understand your goals,” she says.

If any must-see listings arise while you’re away, your proxy can walk through the house with you in real time on a video call. They might notice things the listing photos can’t fully capture, from a breathtaking view to a troublesome odor.

“You cannot scratch and sniff online,” Wilder says.

Stay plugged in

Unless you can accommodate a complete pause on your homebuying journey, it’s wise to remain somewhat connected during your travels.

“It might not be the time to climb Mount Everest or, you know, go somewhere completely off the grid,” Wilder says.

Heading on a cruise or long flight? Buy the Wi-Fi. Going camping? Bring a portable power bank to charge your devices (and make sure its battery is full before you leave). Share your travel plans with your buyer’s agent and mortgage team so they know the best way to reach you and how quickly you’re able to respond.

If you’re under contract, your homebuying squad can explain which time-sensitive requests to expect and who will be sending them. For example, if your loan is in underwriting, you might have to submit recent bank statements or pay stubs. Following a home inspection , you’ll want to review the inspection report and negotiate any requests for repairs.

“A closing is, you know, three to four weeks,” Stearns says. “A lot happens in that time period.”

Before you reply to any urgent-sounding emails, check the sender’s address to make sure the request is legit. If something looks off, it could be a mortgage closing scam . Identity criminals can send convincing lookalike emails that attempt to steal your money or personal information.

Watch your spending

A home is one of the biggest purchases you’ll ever make, so now isn’t the time to drain your savings. Before you leave, make a travel budget and stick to it. That’ll save you the stress (or regret) of wondering if you can afford something while you’re in vacation mode.

After mortgage preapproval , lenders keep a close watch on your finances. While you’re traveling, avoid making any unexpected large purchases or opening new lines of credit (like signing up for that airline credit card offer after too many tiny bottles of wine on the plane). Doing so could affect your credit score or debt-to-income ratio, potentially putting your loan approval at risk.

Ultimately, buying a house while enjoying summer travel is possible if you plan ahead and remain reachable by phone or email. It all depends on how you prefer to spend your time.

“Life is short, so live your life as much as you possibly can,” Stearns says. “Don't let a vacation stop you from buying a house, and don't let buying a house stop you from going on vacation. Just know it's going to be a little bit of extra work.”

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