Marriott and United team up (again)

Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop! Before we get started, I want to extend a happy 4th of July to all of you Americans out there!

The reason I’m telling you now is that we’ll all be too busy celebrating to send out a newsletter tomorrow, so don’t be surprised when you don’t see us in your inbox. 😉

Anyway, let’s get into the good stuff, shall we?

• 💳 80% transfer bonus to IHG

• 🏨/✈️ Marriott and United cross-promotion

• 🎥 The best way to use your Free Night Awards

💳 80% transfer bonus to IHG

Aside from the occasional Bilt Rent Day, it’s rare to see transfer bonuses above 20%, 30%, or maybe 50%.

But until July 31st, there’s a whopping 80% transfer bonus from UR Points to IHG One Rewards, which could definitely be worth considering!

Before I go down the rabbit hole of how you could utilize this bonus, I want to address what many of you are probably thinking already:

You can transfer UR Points to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio, right?

So, if we value Hyatt points at 2.4 cents each (which we do), transferring 1,000 UR Points gives us a value of $24.

Since IHG points are worth about 0.5 cents each, transferring 1,000 UR Points is only worth about $9, even with this huge 80% bonus.

But guess what?

I don’t really care. And you shouldn’t either.

Here’s why:

These are just average values. And they don’t take into account other factors like whether or not there is a Hyatt hotel where you might be traveling, or whether you have elite status in one program versus the other, etc.

For example, let’s say you want to travel to Hong Kong. You could book this top-notch luxury Regent hotel for around 50,000 IHG points per night.

Since this hotel has a cash cost of $450 per night, your IHG points are worth about 1 cent each in this specific scenario.

With the transfer bonus, your UR Points are worth more close to TWO cents each which is, as we say in the biz, very good.

Alternatively, this Hyatt hotel in Hong Kong costs 12,000 points per night but has a cash rate of only $110 USD.

In this case, your Hyatt points (and UR Points) are worth less than one cent each, or about half of the value of using the same points toward the aforementioned IHG stay.

It just goes to show that these blanket values that we like to assign to points are AVERAGE values.

You should always take your own travel plans into consideration before making a judgment on whether a transfer bonus is worthwhile.

As you’ve seen, this 80% transfer bonus could be well worth considering for the right IHG redemption!

🏨/✈️ Marriott and United cross-promotion

One of my favorite things about playing the loyalty game is when programs partner up to offer reciprocal benefits.

For years, Marriott and United have offered such benefits, including:

• Marriott Titanium elite members get automatic United Silver status

• When you convert Marriott points to United miles, you’ll get more miles than with other airlines

Until August 31st, this power couple has a new offer to give elite members in both programs even more value for their flights and hotel stays.

The deal is broken down into two main components:

1. Get 500 bonus United miles per stay at Marriott hotels

2. Get 750 bonus Marriott points per qualifying flight on United

This is pretty solid, considering that Marriott and United are two of the most popular programs in the U.S.

As with any good promotion, there are some key terms to be aware of:

• To participate, you must have elite status in one of the two programs:

  • Marriott: Titanium or Ambassador status

  • United: Gold, Platinum, 1K, or Global Services

• You also must link your accounts and register for this offer (here)

• This is valid for flights and stays through August 31st, 2024

• If you have stays/flights already booked before linking your accounts, they will still count toward the promotion (yay)

• This only applies to cash flights and cash stays

I know this is all pretty tedious, but stick with me…

There is one final component to this offering, which is that if you complete one of each (an eligible flight and eligible hotel stay), you’ll also receive a one-time bonus of 350 United miles and 350 Marriott points.

Overall, this deal falls into the category of “Why not take one minute to link your accounts and register?”

Worst case scenario, you’ve wasted a minute of your time.

Best case scenario, you can earn thousands of extra points and miles without any effort or extra spending. It doesn’t get much better than that, folks!

In this week’s YouTube video, Brendan busts out the big guns for all things FNAs…

That’s Free Night Awards for those of you who aren’t nerdy enough to have an acronym for everything in the miles and points world… like some of us… 🫠

Each major hotel brand has its own version of what an FNA looks like, how you earn them, and how you redeem them.

So no matter if you’re a loyalist to Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, or IHG… there’s something for everyone here.

BUT… earning and redeeming there aren’t as straightforward as it might seem.

If you want to learn the tricks of the trade and get the MAXIMAL value out of each type of FNA, this video is for you 😎

That’s all for today, my friends. Don’t forget that we’ll be off tomorrow! 

Since tomorrow is projected to be one of the busiest travel days in history, I’m curious to know:

I hope you all have a lovely holiday, and I look forward to seeing you again on Friday.

Cheers,

7.5695° S, 110.8250° E