Welcome back, weekend warriors! I found this meme funny and relatable, and wanted to share it with you all 👇
It’s true, right? Travel can fix just about anything… 😅
Speaking of travel, let’s get to work covering what went down this week.
✅ Alaska Airlines’ Global Getaways is BACK and BETTER than ever.
✅ Get 20,000 bonus Hyatt points with this current promo!
✅ Hop aboard La Compagnie for pretty cheap CASH business-class flights to Europe.
✅ Grab some bonus Hilton points for booking premium Delta flights.
✅ Catch up on our latest YouTube video about booking unique accommodations with miles and points.
🏆 Favorite pick of the week: BIG card updates
Remember last weekend when I said July was a quiet month for card updates? Exhibit A 👇
Me, not predicting the future
Well, the joke’s on me 🤡 because WOW a lot went down in the credit card world this week.
For real, there was a lot of movement, as demonstrated by the 19 credit cards on our increased welcome offers page.
But two cards made the biggest splash in the group, so let’s highlight ‘em.
First up, this blue business card is offering the highest welcome bonus we’ve ever seen for UR points… I’m talking about 120,000 UR points 🤯
For a business card, and for a card at all to be offering that amount of points, you must be thinking it’s got to be expensiiiiive.
But nope, its annual fee is under $100.
And pretty please, if you’re turned off by the word “business,” don’t be!
If you do online freelance work, dabble in photography as your side hustle, walk your neighbor’s dog, or even sell goods on Etsy… you have a business.
Mike wrote up a really comprehensive piece that gives you all the details about this card, why you should consider it, and all the TRAVEL things you can do with it. Check it out here.
And onto our second contender… this hotel card is truly one of the best.
And right now, the welcome offer includes getting five IHG Free Night Awards (FNAs) worth up to 60,000 points each… that’s a value of 300,000 points!!
This is one of Mike’s favorite cards, and it’s a card that I’ve been eyeing for a while now… I might finally pull the trigger on it with an offer this good.
To get a more detailed breakdown of all the additional perks this card has on offer, read this newsletter.
🏃🏻♀️ Runner-Ups
🥇The easiest hotel status match ever
This might actually be the easiest thing ever—we’re not just saying that!
And the hotel program in question? Choice Privileges.
Choice may not be the biggest and most flashy hotel brand, but they’re still a good one.
And what makes them go from good to great is their totally dope Diamond elite status that comes with perks such as earning bonus points, early check-in and late checkout, an elite welcome give, room upgrades, complimentary breakfast for you AND a guess, plus more.
If any of those perks sound like stuff you’d want… there’s a sort of secret (easy) way to get ‘em 😏
And that is taking advantage of what they call the Diamond Status Jump if you happen to have hotel status elsewhere.
Here’s what you need to do:
Book a stay at a Cambria hotel (one of Choice’s brands)
Send an email to Status_Match@choicehotels.com with the following:
Copy of your receipt from your stay
Proof of status with another hotel program
Your Choice Privileges member number
And boom. That’s… it…
With this match, you have the potential to get status through the entire following year 😮
But I digress… this is a weekly round-up newsletter, and we don’t have the space here.
If you want additional details and even some examples, head to our Tuesday newsletter to read all about it.
🥈 Hyatt is being SUPER generous with another promo
Hyatt is like the Santa Claus of hotels right now… They just keep on giving and giving and giving us gifts in the form of promos.
And this newest one is available to everyone in the world—no matter if you’re a good boy or girl, or a naughty one 😉
For the next few months, you can earn DOUBLE points on stays at Hyatt Place and Hyatt House properties.
Here are the deets:
You gotta register for the promo by September 15th
Valid for cash stays until October 15th
You’re capped at earning 25,000 bonus points
Only base points will be doubled (e.g. doubling the 5x base points all members earn)
And the jolliest thing about the promo is that it applies to Hyatt’s budget brands, so you won’t have to fork over a ton of cash for this deal.
And because Hyatt points are arguably the most valuable hotel points in the game, doubling your earnings (even if they’re small) can help you score a sweet redemption in the future.
So, thanks, Hyatt. I’ll leave some milk and cookies out for ya 🎅🏻🍪🎁
📣 Quick Callouts
❌ Expired: 40% off Southwest flights to Hawaii (and more)
😊 Interesting: Mike is saving money on rent by living in a Hyatt hotel
👻 Booo: Using Avios in the U.S. just got more expensive
🤓 Travel trivia: According to a 2024 survey by Forbes, what’s the safest city in the world for travelers?
🌎 Inspirational: Where in the World Wednesday: Zurich, Switzerland
Thanks for spending a few minutes of your morning with me to talk about travel 😍
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and I’ll see you next time!
