An important travel hacking lesson to remember

Hey, y’all - welcome back to Daily Drop. This is Mike, by the way. 👋🏼

Wow, it feels like it’s been a lifetime, huh? For those of you who may be wondering, I’ve spent the last week and a half in Ukraine, and am staying for another week or so.

It’s been an incredibly interesting and meaningful rollercoaster of a time, and I’ll have more to say about the subject soon… but not today.

For now, let’s go straight to the travel-hacking good stuff:

• 🏨 The most generous status match of all time

• 🛒 This browser extension keeps offering me 20% back on travel…

• 😰 Remember not to stress too much about points and miles

🏨 The most generous status match of all time

If you couldn’t tell by now, we LOVE us some status matches and challenges here at Daily Drop… It’s an incredible way to get all of the amazing perks of elite status without ANY of the effort normally required to do so.

But sometimes, we spot a white whale. A Moby Dick of status matches, if you will.

Right now, Wyndham is offering a very generous status match… and you might be surprised to learn just how valuable it is, and how easy it is to earn.

Here are the details:

Wyndham will let you match to the Gold, Platinum, or Diamond elite tiers from various other programs.

You can find a full chart of which programs and levels of status apply to this on their dedicated page, but for now, I’m going to focus on matching to their top-tier Diamond Elite Status, which is actually quite powerful.

Here are the programs and tiers that can earn you Diamond status:

As you can see, even lower tiers of status that you can earn from simply signing up for a credit card could match you to a super valuable status with Wyndham.

But there’s even better news…

Even if you’re simply a MEMBER of a program like Marriott or Hilton, you can still earn Wyndham Gold status.

Let me clarify:

By simply signing up for a FREE account with any major hotel chain, Wyndham will offer you GOLD elite status…

Now let’s dig into some more of the fine print.

Upon approval, you’ll have elite status for 90 days. During that 90-day period, you can retain the status for the rest of the year, AND the entire next year by completing certain requirements.

For example, if you sign up today and complete the requirements by the end of June, you’d have that status for the rest of 2023 and all of 2024…

Here are the requirements for how many nights you need to stay to retain each level of matched elite status. 👇

As you can see, THIS IS EXTREMELY REASONABLE! I’m sorry to yell at you, but I’m really trying to hammer this home. 🤷🏼‍♂️

So by simply staying four nights, you could earn yourself a year and a half of Platinum status. But even the highest level (Diamond) only requires ten nights.

Overall, this is a fantastic opportunity for anyone who wants to earn some free hotel perks for 90 days, and possibly well beyond.

It seems to be an “evergreen” program, meaning there is no end date to this offer. Therefore, you should wait to register until you have a Wyndham stay planned in order to maximize your time as an elite.

🛒 This browser extension keeps offering me 20% back on travel… it’s awesome

Okay, this is a quick one.

We’ve raved about the Capital One Shopping browser extension, but I wanted to follow up and give you some data points for recent offers I’ve received from this tool.

If you aren’t aware of this magical tool, then let me give you two quick points:

1. You do NOT need to bank with Capital One or have any of their products to use this.

2. You can read our article if you want to learn more about it. 🤗

The other day, I got an offer for 19.5% back on Best Western Hotels.

I generally prioritize other hotel programs over BW, but it’s hard to argue with a 20% return, especially when you combine this with any promotions they might have going on.

Additionally, I got an offer for… wait for it… 23% back at Hyatt Hotels. 🤯

As you know, I’ve been crushing on Hyatt pretty hard this year, so this one was particularly appealing…

And to be clear, this tool will give you offers on everything from hotels to sites like Viator, Expedia, and even Amazon… and all kinds of other stuff that have nothing to do with travel.

The point is this:

Just sign up for this free browser extension and you’ll start getting insane offers like this over time. Unlike most portals, this tool offers SIGNIFICANT value that will add up very quickly in a short period of time.

Have fun!

🌎 Sponsored by Babbel

I’ll tell ya right now, some of my dumbest moments in life have been listening to my European friends seamlessly switch between two (or five 🙄) of their fluent languages.

And I’m just standing there like a lonesome English speaker… 🙃

But one practice I always employ is learning a few polite greetings and phrases in whichever language is used in the country I’ll be visiting next.

It REALLY makes a difference in your interactions with locals, and Babbel can help you do it.

Here’s why we love Babbel 🧡

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Plus, RIGHT NOW, they’re running a Memorial Day sale where you can get up to 60% off your subscription!

But hurry! The sale is ending soon, so don’t miss out on this awesome language-learning opportunity 👇

😰 Remember not to stress too much about points and miles

Miles and points are an incredible tool for unlocking the world and experiencing things that most people only dream of.

But sometimes, it’s easy to get caught up in playing the travel hacking “game.”

The past week has been one of the most meaningful travel experiences of my life.

And guess what?

There was ZERO travel hacking involved. There is no air traffic in or out of the country which makes it a challenge to get to, and most of Ukraine doesn’t have chain hotels or programs to use points with, as you might imagine.

It made me remember that miles and points are just a tool. As someone who writes about this stuff for a living (which I love more than anything in the world), I spend a LOT of time digging into these travel hacks, overanalyzing, and trying to maximize every last component of my trips.

It can be overwhelming and a lot to keep track of, and it’s easy to lose sight of why I truly love travel.

This past week has been a nice reminder of the fact that there are many places and experiences in our world that miles and points simply can’t unlock, and that’s okay.

So I just want to encourage you to take a step back if you find yourself overwhelmed by the travel hacking game. Some experiences are far more important than the number of dollars you save on a flight, which elite benefits you can use, and how many promotions you take advantage of.

Make sure that you’re using travel hacking as a tool, and not letting it dictate all of your travel decisions.

That concludes my PSA. Carry on, my wayward travelers.

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That’s all, folks. I can’t wait to jump back into another full week of Daily Drop on Monday. But in the meantime, fill me in on what’s been going on with you:

Take care and have an amazing weekend ❤️

49.8397° N, 24.0297° E 🇺🇦