🏨 How to play the points game without credit cards or loyalty programs
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So I did something cool the other day - I slept in a nuclear war bunker in the city of Brno, Czechia.
The bunker is mainly a museum, but they do offer the option to sleep in one of the soviet-era rooms that are adorned with Cold War-era decor. |
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The best part?
I used points to book my stay there.
And no, this nuclear bunker in an obscure Czech town is not part of a major hotel brand.
I actually used Expedia points to book this stay for free. 😮
I love my hotel points as much as any other person, but the reality is that some cities are just so darn expensive that it’s almost impossible to find an affordable hotel with the big boy companies like Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, etc.
In my opinion, it makes absolutely no sense to spend hundreds of dollars or tens of thousands of points extra to stay loyal to a hotel chain when you could get a decent hotel for a fraction of the price. |
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When I find myself in this situation, I actually have other “backup” loyalty programs like Expedia and Hotels.com.
The benefit of these programs is that they have a HUGE range of properties at just about every price point, and they let you earn points, albeit at a much lower rate than if you were staying with a major brand.
With Expedia, I also have used the app to book both flights and car rentals as well, which also earn points that I can redeem at hotels in the future.
Over time, these non-loyalty stays end up earning me a decent number of points pretty quickly.
Because of the popularity of companies like these, I end up finding pretty interesting properties, some of which end up really surprising me with their quality (or lack thereof).
The nice part about this tactic is that you don’t need a credit card, elite status, loyalty number, or anything. Well, I guess you need a computer or a smartphone, but I assume you have one of those if you're reading this.
You simply book stays in the app, earn points, then use those points in the same app. It’s a great tool that anybody on earth can use to participate in the great game of miles and points.
Of course, just because you don’t need a credit card doesn’t mean you can’t still get some extra benefits. Most travel credit cards offer points multipliers on travel purchases, a category which this obviously falls into.
So if you’re worried about not having access to hotel credit cards, or don’t feel like you travel enough to invest time into larger loyalty programs, consider taking advantage of apps and websites like these to get your foot into the door of the points world. |
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✈️ How to book Delta business class to Europe
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All this talk about points and miles, amazing destinations, blah blah blah is great, but I think showing you some real-world, concrete examples is a great way to illustrate how you can actually apply some of these strategies we’ve been talking about.
Today I thought I’d share a current “sweet spot” in the points and miles world that can get you across the Atlantic in one of the best business class seats in the sky for only 77,000 points round-trip, which is a killer deal.
Delta’s business class seat is called Delta One. Maybe you’ve walked past these seats on your way to your teeny economy class seat as a furtive tear rolled down your cheek at the realization that you were about to be so much less comfortable than you’d like.
In case you’ve never seen the seat, here’s what it looks like: |
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The good news for you is that there is a way for you to experience this luxury seat on a long-haul flight without breaking the bank.
First, I want to give you a little reminder that when booking flights with points, you don’t always need to book through the airline you want to fly.
In this specific example, we’re going to book a seat on Delta using Virgin Atlantic.
So why do it this way?
Because the flights are significantly cheaper than when booking directly through Delta. There’s no way to read the minds of the points gods (or, you know, the algorithm), but sometimes this is just how things work out.
Right now, Virgin Atlantic has seats available in Delta One between New York and Brussels for 50,000 Virgin points each way for a total of 100,000 points round-trip.
Here's a quick look at their award calendar in January and February: |
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“But wait… didn’t you start off this topic by saying it would cost us 77,000 points…? What gives, Mike? Are you terrible at math?”
Great question. The answer is yes, I’m terrible at math. But not in this example.
Right now, you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic with a 30% bonus. So, to get those 100k points you need to book this flight, you’d only have to transfer 77,000 Ultimate Rewards points.
For such a luxurious trip across the ocean and back, this is actually a really solid deal.
For those of you who don’t live in New York or don’t want to go to Brussels, this is still a great deal. Here’s why:
There are tons of cheap options to get you between these two cities and your desired start and end points.
For example, if you live in Florida and want to come to hang out with me in Poland, you could book this $49 flight to New York, book the Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic, then take a $10 flight from Brussels to Warsaw. |
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Considering a round-trip flight on Delta One will cost you a minimum of three or four thousand dollars if you pay cash, spending the extra $50-$100 to connect to the flights is still definitely worth it.
This is a perfect example of a “sweet spot,” or a route/airline/promotion that lines up perfectly and lets you book amazing, once-in-a-lifetime flights with ease.
If you have Ultimate Rewards lying around, this is definitely a high-value way to make use of them. If you don't have any UR points, they're quite easy to earn by signing up for any Chase credit card that earns them. |
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🇧🇦 The bold bridge divers of Bosnia
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Today I thought it would be fun to share a fascinating cultural tradition from a unique corner of our world. All the talk about points and miles is great, but there’s no point to it if we don’t have any inspiration for where to go!
I read a cool article recently about a 400-year-old bridge-jumping tradition in the small Bosnian town of Mostar.
Specifically, this tradition involves a bridge called Stari Most, built in the 16th century. Since its construction, there has been a strong tradition of locals braving the 75-foot leap into the river below, a tradition that has continued for hundreds of years. |
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There are so many people who participate in this daring feat that there is even a club for it, which they fund by raising money from locals and tourists who come to watch members diving through the day.
In recent years there have been multiple documentaries made on the subject, and Red Bull even features it on its cliff-jumping circuit every year.
There's a lot more to read about this place, its traditions, and the turbulent history it's faced in the last century, so I highly recommend "diving" a little deeper into the subject.
Both the bridge and the jumpers are representative of this town and culture, and I think it’s really cool to see something like this survive for so long.
Bosnia and Herzegovina wasn’t exactly high on my list (only because I didn’t know much about it), but after reading this it definitely has a place on my list now 😊 |
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That’s gonna do it for today, friends.
Do you like learning about cultural traditions from around the world? Do you think you’ll use that Delta deal to head over to Europe sometime soon? Let me know by replying to this email or reaching out on social media.
Take care and see you tomorrow, |
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