Multiply your points by 2.6x with this transfer bonus

Goooooood morning, and welcome back to another week of Daily Drop, the most fun travel newsletter on the planet.

Speaking of fun, let’s talk points and miles:

• 🔄 30% transfer bonus to Hilton (it’s better than you think)

• ✈️ Singapore Airlines launches Global Redemption Sale

• 🤓 Travel Trivia Tuesday

🔄 30% transfer bonus to Hilton (it’s better than you think)

Hotel transfer bonuses are generally not as valuable as airline ones; there’s no denying it.

Usually, that’s because transfer ratios are almost always 1:1, and hotel points are worth way less than airline miles.

But this one is different…

Until September 30th, you can transfer MR points to Hilton with a 30% bonus.

The reason this is different from normal transfer partners, however, is that MR Points typically transfer to Hilton at a 1:2 ratio.

With this bonus, transferring 1,000 MR Points will result in a whopping 2,600 Hilton points, which is not shabby at all.

For example, both of these hotels in downtown Portland, Oregon, cost 37,000 Hilton points per night.

With this bonus, you’d only need to shell out 14,000 MR Points per night, which is an excellent deal for a hotel in an otherwise expensive city.

When I did my road trip across the U.S. back in 2020, I stayed in plenty of budget-friendly hotels like this one in Elk City, Oklahoma, which costs just 25,000 Hilton points per night.

With this transfer bonus, a hotel like this would only run you 9,600 MR Points per night, which I’d say is an excellent use of your points if you’re into domestic travel.

Of course, if you venture to some weird places abroad, you can get even more ridiculous deals, like either of these hotels here in Indonesia:

• 15,000 points (or 5,700 MR points with the bonus) for a budget airport hotel

• 50,000 points (or 19,200 MR points with the bonus) for a luxury Conrad beach resort in Bali

Anyway, if you’re a Hilton fan and looking to cash in on this deal, here are two options I’d recommend for racking up some quick MR Points:

1. Get this card, which currently has an elevated welcome offer, which will easily give you enough points to book at least a few nights at higher-tier hotels or more at budget ones.

2. This card not only has a much higher welcome offer but also offers Hilton Gold status as a perk. So when you do transfer your points and stay, you’ll also get free breakfast.

One caveat to this offer is that it seems to be targeted, meaning not everyone will see it in their account.

However, I personally have it in my account, and everyone else I’ve asked about it has it, too… so there you go. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Anyway, don’t immediately disregard this transfer bonus; it’s actually deceptively good!

✈️ Singapore Airlines launches Global Redemption Sale

One of the best airlines in the world is back with a massive sale… and this is completely separate from their typical Spontaneous Escapes sales which happen on a monthly basis.

My friends, I’m talking about Singapore Airline’s latest Global Redemption Sale which is offering up to 25% off award tickets.

We last saw a sale like this about a year ago, so it’s always a happy day when they bring it back 😎

Here are the deets:

• Valid for bookings between now and September 22, 2024

• Eligible for travel between January 15 and May 29, 2025 (nice!)

• Valid for ALL Singapore Airlines destinations in economy (with some award sales for premium economy and business)

• You must make the booking via Singapore’s website or mobile app

• There are some blackout dates which you can find here

This particular promotion is great because I know many of you aren’t often able to take advantage of all the last minute sales and redemptions that happen.

This gives you plenty of time to lock in a discounted award price for a flight that is months away from now.

This is especially lucrative if you’re down to fly in economy as there are dozens of different routes available, even to/from Europe.

However, the discounted award rates for the premium cabins is much more restrictive—mainly sticking to routes within Asia.

But hey, if you’re in that part of the world or are looking to connect to another destination, there are flights from Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong (and MANY more) to Singapore for anywhere from 25,000 to 39,000 miles for business class.

Not bad 😏

And fortunately for us, it’s super easy to get some KrisFlyer miles into your account, as most major banks transfer to the airline.

Overall, this is a nice promo from Singapore Airlines that includes discounted rates for all flights in economy. Plus, it offers a much bigger travel window which I think will be applicable to a lot more of you!

🤓 Travel Trivia Tuesday

Surprisingly, there is a grand total of ZERO FLIGHTS between China and India, despite being home to 36% of the world’s population and many of its largest cities.

Prior to the pandemic, there were well over 500 weekly flights connecting the two countries.

But since March of 2020, not a single flight has connected them.

This is primarily due to COVID-19 and mainly related to China’s slow and prolonged border opening relative to the rest of the world.

Still, China has resumed flights with many of the world’s countries, including places like North Korea and even Afghanistan, so it’s still very surprising that India has remained unconnected for more than four years.

Anyway, these countries are complicated and have a long, complicated relationship, so there’s obviously a lot we could unpack.

If you’re interested in learning more about this aviation conundrum and the relationship between the two countries, check out this amazingly well-done YouTube video on this exact topic:

Hey y’all, if you haven’t checked out our Facebook community, the Daily Drop Lounge, you’re missing out on asking travel questions, sharing answers, and celebrating others’ travel wins! 👇

Come join us there, eh? 🙂

That’s all for today, folks! I hope you enjoyed the newsletter, and I’ll see you tomorrow for another edition.

Cheers,

6.1944° S, 106.8229° E