200,000 Marriott points go to...

One of the big hotel loyalty programs out there is IHG. You may have heard of their top-tier luxury brand called Intercontinental Hotels.

What you may not know is that Intercontinental has its own mini loyalty program on top of IHG's loyalty program. It's like a loyalty program within a loyalty program. Loyaltyception? 🤯

The program is called Intercontinental Ambassador, and earning it is pretty simple: either pay $200 or 40,000 IHG points per year.

That's right. No need to spend dozens of nights at hotels to try and earn status - you just pay a fee and reap the benefits. But what are the benefits? (stick with me, I promise this is all going somewhere)

The benefits are also straightforward. Essentially you'll get the equivalent of IHG Platinum Elite status when staying at Intercontinental hotels. This means room upgrades, late checkout, and a $20 food and beverage credit per stay.

But here's the best perk - you also get a free weekend night certificate for every year that you have this status.

Why am I telling you all of this?

Because there's a potentially VERY good promo right now where if you sign up for Ambassador status, you'll ALSO get 20,000 IHG points in addition to the free night and other benefits.

I know this is a lot to follow, but I promise it's useful. I'm personally taking advantage of this promo and getting good value out of it, so let me walk you through my specific situation and why this is a great deal:

I already have a 2-night stay booked at an Intercontinental in Ljubljana, Slovenia. I stayed there a few months ago and it was incredible, so it was very easy to book it again when I found myself planning another trip to Slovenia. It's not the cheapest hotel, but I like to pamper myself every now and then and unleash my inner bougie self.

However, the promo for an extra 20,000 IHG points means I'm also getting hundreds of dollars more worth of value for doing this.

For example, I'll be in India next month where it's possible to book IHG hotels for as little as 5,000 points per night. So, the 20,000 points will also cover four nights of my stay there, which is meaningful value for me.

So basically, by spending LESS money than I was already planning to spend, I'm now getting multiple free nights and hundreds of dollars of value extra. I already have IHG Platinum status, but for those of you who don't, this would add even more value since having Platinum status will get you sweet (suite?) upgrades that you otherwise wouldn't get. 

Basically, if you were planning on staying at an Intercontinental (or think you might) and want to enjoy some luxury benefits and tens of thousands of free bonus points, I highly recommend looking into this offer.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for… The winner of 200,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.

Our lucky winner is…Oh, it's a couple named... Lara & Tate...?

Wait, that doesn't seem right…

Let me try again… the REAL winner is…. Jenna O.! Wooh! You now own 200,000 Marriott Bonvoy points! If you received a personal email from me this morning then you'll know that you're the winning Jenna O. and not one of those other, less lucky Jenna O's (sorry, other Jenna O's 😭).

200,000 is enough points to do…. well, a lot of things - check out our post to see exactly what you could book with that many points (and for the rest of you, see how you could easily earn that many points without winning any giveaway)!

Last week, a Nebraska man paddled 38 miles down the Missouri river in a boat… made out of a pumpkin.

That's right, y'all. Just when you think all modes of travel had been done, creative people find a way to push the limits.

The man, who did this in celebration of his 60th birthday, said he wanted to break the previous world record-setting pumpkin boat journey of 25 miles.

Wait… there was already a world record for PUMPKIN BOAT travel?? 😲

Yep. Because, why not?

Well, he succeeded on his journey, arriving in Nebraska City after more than 10 hours on the boat. Good thing he carved a cupholder into the pumpkin hull to stay hydrated… or maybe throw back a couple of beers 🤷🏼‍♂️

Well that's all for today. I need to go board my flight to the fourth and penultimate country of this hop around Europe.

Did you miss getting the Daily Drop yesterday? Are you more excited about the Delta miles or IHG points later this week? Let me know by responding to this email or reaching out on social media.

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