Parisian hotspot Tour d’Argent, famous for its wine cellar, duck recipe, and 441-year history, is now reopening with front-row seats for the 2024 Summer Olympics and Notre Dame's revival. Want seats? Read more about it here.
Good morning, and welcome back to Daily Drop, the newsletter like Julie Andrews. We're timeless, classy, and let's face it – queen material.
And speaking of travel-hacking queens… I’m filling in for our resident Canadian boi today, so let’s see what’s up in the travel world on this fine Thursday 👸🏻
💌 Come meet us in Atlanta!
In case you don’t remember… Daily Drop will be at the Atlanta Travel & Adventure Show! 🎉
There will be TONS of fun travel stuff going on: Expert speakers, trip giveaways, and event-only exclusive travel deals (plus lots more!).
We’ll have our very own booth, Mike and Megan will be doing a live podcast, and the whole DD team will be there to get in on the fun.
We would LOVE for you all to get your party pants on and meet us there. Plus, we want to have a little private get-together after the show, just you and us 😉
WHAT & WHEN: Atlanta Travel & Adventure Show + DD Meet-Up
Catch us at the show from 10am - 5pm on Saturday, March 9th, 2024. You can purchase your tickets to the event here, and it’s located at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, GA.
If you want to hang out with us after the show, we’ll be getting together at 6:30pm, March 9th, at a nearby brewery.
There is no additional cost to come hang with us at the brewery, but it will be a “buy-your-own food and drink situation” if you care to indulge.
Please RSVP!
We want to know how many of you fine travel folk are planning to make it. Use our short RSVP form here to let us know!
But dang, March will be here before we know it, and I can’t wait to mingle with other travelers and talk about travel things.
Hope to see you there!
🌎 Hyatt’s BIG expansion: They’re taking over the world in 2024
Just a few days ago, Hyatt released exciting news that it’s going to expand its presence in Asia, Europe, the U.K., the Middle East, and even Africa in 2024 🎉
They reported a whopping 70 hotel openings that are coming to places like Greece, Italy, Austria, South Africa, China, Malaysia, and Mexico City… among TONS of other locations.
And for those of you who prefer to get down with domestic travel, you’ll be happy to also find dozens of hotels opening from Maine to California (and everywhere in between).
Plus, these new properties will span across multiple brands: Destination by Hyatt, Dreams, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt House, Hyatt Studios, Park Hyatt, Thompson, and Zoëtry (among others).
It may or may not be obvious that the Hyatt loyalty program has a literal chokehold on many Daily Drop team members… because we really freaking love it, and for good reason.
Hyatt still uses a relatively fixed award chart (they do have off-peak and peak redemptions). Still, this general, fixed nature is what sets it apart from other hotel programs that operate dynamically—meaning other programs’ award redemptions can vary wildly depending on the cash price of the room.
But not Hyatt!
For example, a Hyatt Category 1 property with off-peak prices could cost you as few as 3,500 points per night. Which, we can all agree, is dope.
Care for a stay in Los Cabos?
And if you’re wondering how the heck you can get your mitts on some Hyatt points… Well…
They actually just refreshed one of their credit cards, which is now offering up to 75,000 points as part of its welcome offer 🤯
That’s a lot in Hyatt’s world.
In fact, if you managed to snag all off-season prices at Category 1 properties (at 3,500 points a night), that welcome offer alone would grant you 21 free nights. That’s THREE WEEKS of accommodations paid for in points.
Even if you went for something fancier or at peak season at 6,500 a night, you’re still banking 11 free nights just with that one card.
💡You can also transfer Bilt points or UR points (from a card like this one) to Hyatt, which we are also in favor of.
No matter how you spin it, this is exciting news for both Hyatt loyalists and Hyatt newbies when it comes to widening the pool for redemption opportunities!
It’s especially cool to see this expansion reach Europe and Africa—both places where Hyatt hasn’t had a widespread presence in the past.
✈️ Delta is offering bonus MQDs on Pacific Northwest flights
Ah, the good ole’ PNW. As a resident Washingtonian, I can confirm we all dress in The North Face, drive Subarus, and look as if we’re ready to launch into a hike in our wet, grey environment at any given moment.
And if you’re a SkyMiles member and are planning a trip to the upper left U.S. anytime soon, Delta has a little promo for you 👇
Courtesy of Delta
If you’ve decided to hang with Delta despite the massive changes to its SkyMiles program, this feels like a nice little boost if you’re still working towards Medallion status.
Delta is offering travelers 10% bonus MQDs in economy class (Main Cabin) and 20% bonus MQDs in Comfort+ and First Class on select flights to/from the PNW if you:
Register for the promo
Book by February 1st, 2024
Travel from February 2nd through March 15th, 2024
These are the cities that qualify:
Flights originating in the U.S. 50 states to Seattle (SEA), Boise (BOI), Eugene (EUG), Spokane (GEG), Medford (MFR), Portland (PDX), Pasco/Tri-Cities (PSC), or Redmond (RDM)
Flights originating in Seattle (SEA), Boise (BOI), Eugene (EUG), Spokane (GEG), Medford (MFR), Portland (PDX), Pasco/Tri-Cities (PSC), or Redmond (RDM) to the other U.S. 50
Award tickets, Pay with Miles tickets, and Miles + Cash tickets qualify, and you must be flying on a ticket marketed by Delta (and not a partner airline).
You can read the full details of the promo on Delta’s website here.
CREDIT SCORES: Two words in the credit card world that sometimes make people shudder in horror.
But, using travel credit cards responsibly can actually boost your credit score.
Curious? 😏
Mike breaks down all things credit scores in our latest podcast.
And if you want to see him in a dashing lavender-colored shirt, you can also watch it on YouTube.
That’s all for today! You lovely people have almost made it to the weekend. Thursday is just Friday Eve, isn’t it?
In fact, we might just have a little surprise for you this weekend……
Stay tuned 👀
