Points & Miles with Matt Clausen | Rove Stacking, Wells Fargo Cards, JetBlue Premier, and Getting Started

Justin Vacula welcomes Matt Clausen to the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast for a conversation about getting started with points and miles, smart card strategy, and some of today’s more interesting opportunities in travel rewards.

Recorded on May 11, 2026, this episode covers beginner-friendly advice, recent credit card news, and redemption examples that show how valuable the hobby can be.

Justin and Matt begin by talking about meeting at Justin’s Willow Grove, Pennsylvania meetup before getting into one of the most interesting topics in the episode: Rove stacking.

Matt shares how he got started in points and miles, beginning with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, and explains how his card strategy has evolved over time. The discussion includes his current setup with Hilton cards, Chase cards, JetBlue cards, and Wells Fargo cards, along with examples of successful redemptions, including a Wyndham stay booked through Wells Fargo’s 1:2 transfer ratio to Wyndham Rewards.

00:00 Podcast intro theme

00:32 Meet Matt Clausen

01:31 Rove stacking explained

03:05 Matt’s points and miles origin story

06:15 Starting and navigating Chase rules

08:06 Rebuilding a card strategy

09:50 Best redemptions so far

11:11 Europe trip planning

13:16 Card issuer realities

14:19 Amex Graphite discussion

15:41 Support the show

19:48 Why Wells Fargo may be underrated

25:04 JetBlue Premier card discussion

30:07 Convincing the skeptics

35:01 Wrap-up and where to find Matt

35:49 Outro and credits

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