How to book hotels for 4k points

Howdy, friends, and good morning from the sunny beaches of Kuta, Bali. 🏝️

I needed some tropical island vibes in my life, so I hopped down here from Manila late last night!

If you’re jealous about the nice weather, well, here’s a distraction for you:

• 🍬 Sweet Spot Highlight: Book hotels for 4,000 points

• 🏨 50% transfer bonus to Marriott

• 🌎 Where in the World Wednesday: London

🍬 Sweet Spot Highlight: Book hotels for 4,000 points

Normally, when we talk about “sweet spots,” it’s about solid ways to use airline miles for outsize value.

And when we talk about hotels, we talk about the heavy hitters like Hyatt, Marriott, IHG, and Hilton.

But today, I’m going to tell you about a hotel sweet spot that doesn’t involve any of the above…

So, without further ado, let’s talk about Choice Privileges.

Choice is one of those programs that doesn’t have many of the sexy perks that the other programs offer…

But there’s one thing they DO have that only ONE of the others has: the ability to double your points by transferring ThankYou Points at a 1:2 ratio.

And while Hilton has a similar arrangement with MR Points, Choice is better 👀

That’s because they have a fairly strict redemption range of 8,000 points to 35,000 points (except for some partner brands, like Preferred Hotels).

Transferring 4,000 points to Choice (thus giving you 8,000 points) and booking a hotel like this is one of the best hotel sweet spots there is.

But even the higher-end hotels (of which Choice has many) are a really solid sweet spot.

If any other program allowed us to book their highest-tier hotels for just 15,000 points per night, we’d be drooling. 🤤

But that is exactly the case with Choice since 15,000 points turn into 30,000 when transferring from ThankYou Points.

So here’s the bottom line:

We don’t often talk about cards like this one, which earn ThankYou Points.

But racking up a lot of ThankYou Points can REALLY come in handy when you find the perfect Choice Hotel along your travels.

🏨 50% transfer bonus to Marriott

Speaking of hotel stuff…

Last month, there was a very brief (and very tasty) 70% transfer bonus to Marriott. It was weird and only lasted about two weeks.

While it’s not quite up to par with that one, there is now a 50% transfer bonus from UR Points to Marriott - and this one is good for a whole two months (until November 15th)!

As I said, this isn’t the BEST transfer bonus we’ve seen to Marriott, but it’s pretty darn close.

Getting 50% more Marriott points than usual could be well worthwhile for the right redemption.

For example, let’s say you want to get your country music on and head to Nashville for a long weekend.

You could book this hotel for just 24,000 UR Points per night, which is actually not bad at all for a popular city like Nashville.

If you can take advantage of Marriott’s 5th-night free perk, you’ll wring even more value from those points.

For example, if you hate the cold and want to plan a warm winter getaway to South America, you could hop down to Medellin, Colombia, and stay at this hotel for FIVE nights for just 48,000 Marriott points total.

With the transfer bonus, that’s only 32,000 UR Points… for five nights… 😮

So here’s the bottom line:

There are still great ways to get good value for Marriott points. Having already spent over 100 nights with Marriott this year, I can attest to this.

Given the number of ways to rack up a lot of UR Points quickly (like with this card, which currently offers 90,000 points with no annual fee), this could be well worth taking advantage of for the right traveler.

🌎 Where in the World Wednesday: London

Grab the lads and get ready for this deal… FareDrop has highlighted round-trip flights to London for under $400 🤯

This particular deal is coming from Vancouver for all you West Coast peeps, but we’ve seen plenty of other routes drop from cities all over the U.S.

Plus, heading to the UK in February is not the worst idea… You’ll be past the mad holiday rush (and prices) at that point, so I find battling some cooler weather in exchange for fewer crowds is a big win.

But London has it all—double-decker buses, a renowned love for orderly queueing, and bold pigeons 🥴

And yes, the city of all things tea and scones may not always be a cheap destination, but it’s certainly a tasty one.

Honestly, I think I’ve had the best Indian food in the world there… Outside of actual India, of course 😉

London is also a fantastic city for those of you who enjoy history. The Churchill War Rooms are PRIME for anyone interested in World War II.

But if the British pound has got you down, you can find an entire list of free and low-cost activities here—including some of the best museums in the world.

Overall, London is a great city, no matter if you’re staying there for your entire trip or are just passing through to your final destination.

And to get there on a cheap flight from FareDrop? Even better 😎

Ahh, the age-old question… is business class worth the upgrade? 

If you aren’t used to flying in business class, you might not know exactly what all the fuss is about, what you can expect, and whether or not it’s worth the additional cash (or points).

Thankfully, we have our very own in-house guinea pig (Brendan) who tried out BOTH classes on a famous airline, so you don’t have to.

So check out this week’s Daily Drop YouTube video to see for yourself:

That’s all for today, kids! I hope you enjoyed this hotel-packed episode of Daily Drop, and I look forward to seeing you bright and early tomorrow.

Cheers,

8.7224° S, 115.1767° E