🌎 This month, UNESCO added 24 new sites to its World Heritage List, including Japan’s Sado Island Gold Mines and Malaysia’s Niah National Park’s Caves Complex, bringing the total to 1,223 sites worldwide. Pretty cool, huh? Read more about the sites here.
Good morning, and happy Dailydrop-iversary!
It’s officially been two years since we sent our very first newsletter, and I could not be happier to have hit that milestone with y’all.
I still remember when the panic set in after getting this job…
But now, we’ve written over 500 newsletters and have grown to over ONE MILLION subscribers.
WOOH!
So the best way I can think to celebrate is to give y’all another good ol’ fashioned travel newsletter:
🏃🏼♂️ Mike on the Move
As you know, I’m on the move… as usual.
I ended up changing my plans and booking an extra night here in Tashkent.
There wasn’t much last-minute hotel availability, with the exception of the Hilton Tashkent, which towers over the city center park.
The only issue is that it costs $500 per night… 😬😬😬
Thankfully, you can BUY Hilton points right now with a 100% bonus, or around half a cent per point.
Since I had 20,000 points lying around in my account, I only needed to buy 30,000 points to book a night at this property.
So, for $150, I got myself a night at the $500 hotel in the best location in the city. 🤗
Buying points can really come in handy with last-minute bookings like this (as you’ll see later in the newsletter).
While I’ve been enjoying my time here in Uzbekistan, I’ll soon be jetting off yet again to the city of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
To get there, I’m trying out yet another new airline - Uzbekistan Airways.
Of course, the best way to use points for flights like this is to have a card like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, which allows you to offset ANY travel purchase with your points.
💳 By the way, the Venture card also currently has an elevated offer, so there has never been a better time to pick it up and get some free flights.
And if you think there aren’t ways to use points in Kyrgyzstan, think again…
There are plenty of hotel options in Bishkek, including this epic Category 2 Hyatt Regency. 👇
It never ceases to amaze me how many low-category Hyatt hotels there are in all parts of the world.
Anyway, at just 8,000 points per night, this is a fantastic deal, and here’s why:
If we use our fancy calculation, we get the following value:
Total cost ($180) / Number of Points (8,000) = 2.3 cents per point
This hotel can also cost far more, which increases that value even further.
This is why I always tell people that Hyatt’s lower-category hotels are almost ALWAYS the best way to get outsized value for your points.
In case you don’t know, you can transfer UR Points to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio, making them SUPER easy to earn with a card like this one.
🍪 Tasty Travel Tidbits
🇫🇯 There’s another great way to cross the Pacific! Fiji Airways is launching nonstop flights between Fiji and Dallas. Better yet? You can book it with points.
😬 Ouch… The TSA says that the liquids ban will likely remain in place until at least 2040!!! Meanwhile, other countries like the U.K. plan to lift their version of this rule in the next year or so.
🏨 IHG and American Airlines have launched a deal to earn bonus AA miles on hotel stays. It’s not the best deal out there, but it could be worthwhile for AA fans.
🏨 Buy Hyatt points with a 20% discount
As I mentioned earlier, buying points can be a GREAT way to save money on flights and hotels.
Programs like Hilton and IHG basically always have sales that make it worthwhile.
Hyatt, on the other hand, rarely has sales…
…which is why it’s very exciting that they just launched an offer to get a 20% discount on purchased points.
Hyatt’s points sales can be deceptively good (I think that’s the right way to phrase it)…
Here’s what I mean:
A 20% discount sounds like poop. 💩
But Hyatt points are SO valuable that a 20% sale on Hyatt points is much more valuable than a 100% sale on Hilton.
For example, I am staying at this Hyatt Centric in Montevideo in a few months:
As you can see, the hotel costs more than $300.
But as a Category 2 hotel, it’s bookable most nights for just 8,000 points.
With this 20% sale on points, we can simply buy 8,000 points for just $154, thus saving us a whopping $169 per night.
By buying points, you’re effectively getting a 50% discount on a super expensive hotel stay.
This concept applies to ANY Hyatt hotel in the world, by the way.
For example, this hotel in Chicago costs over $500 per night (actually $665 with taxes)…
Instead, you could book the same hotel on the same night for $346 by buying Hyatt points with this sale.
It’s still pretty darn expensive, but saving over $300 per night is a fantastic deal.
So here’s the bottom line:
If you don’t have a credit card that can transfer points to Hyatt, buying them can be a great alternative.
Most of the time, buying points will be a better deal than booking the same hotels with cash.
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That’s all for today, folks! Thanks for sticking around with Daily Drop for these last two years, and I look forward to many more to come! 😊
Take care ❤️
