The ultimate off-season hack

Good morning from Tirana, Albania - where the food's as bold as the coffee and the views are seriously next-level.

Speaking of “next-level," let’s get straight to the good stuff, shall we?

• 🏃🏼‍♂️ Mike on the Move

• 🔥 Roast my Redemption

• ✈️ Flying Blue Promo Rewards (March 2025)

• 🤣 Meme

🏃🏼‍♂️ Mike on the Move

Remember when I asked for travel suggestions in KL?

Well, y’all delivered—so I booked a completely unhinged trip through China, Armenia, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, and Malta.

And honestly? No regrets.

As expected, traveling around this part of the world in the off-season has been amazing.

I wanted to quickly highlight some of the experiences so far that were particularly exciting.

For starters, I’m writing to you from the Marriott Hotel in Tirana, Albania - a high-end property in the city center that costs just 16,500 Marriott points per night. 👇

With my Titanium status, I was upgraded to the executive suite in addition to getting lounge access (which comes with dinner and free drinks) and free breakfast.

With the current 50% transfer bonus from Ultimate Rewards Points to Marriott, this 5-star hotel only runs you 11,000 points per night.

Overall, this is an AMAZING property in a city that, so far, has been really nice to hang out in.

If you’re looking to get a little off the beaten path in Europe and redeem Marriott points for great value, I’d check it out.

But it’s nothing compared to where I came from in Montenegro yesterday… 😏

I told you about how I booked a few nights at the Hyatt Regency in Kotor, Montenegro, for about $100 per night (despite costing many times that in the summer season).

This property didn’t come with many of the amenities that the Marriott example does…

But you know what it did come with?

A freaking private jacuzzi and a view that screamed “main character energy.”

With this room at this price, I felt like a rock star - and one free bottle of wine away from texting my ex “U up?” or something.

Anyway, even when the property is in peak season and pricing at $300 or $400 per night, you can redeem just 12,000 to 18,000 Hyatt points instead.

Since you can transfer points at a 1:1 ratio from programs like Ultimate Rewards Points and Bilt Rewards, this is a great way to experience what I experienced without breaking the bank.

Kotor is also a very cute town with stunning nature. If you can go in the off-season and avoid the cruise ship crowds like I did, I would highly recommend it. 👌

Finally, I want to tell you about Armenia, which was one of the first destinations on this journey.

It was AWESOME.

From the moment I landed, I felt such warmth and hospitality. I knew I was in for a good time when even immigration officers were being nice to me.

That never happens.

I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Yerevan, which cost less than 10,000 IHG Points per night.

Since you can often buy IHG points at 0.5 cents each, you could effectively just pay $50 per night to buy points and stay here.

It was one of my favorite hotel experiences in a while… It wasn’t over-the-top luxurious, but it was clean, cheap, in a PERFECT location, had nice staff, and a solid free breakfast.

Yerevan has some nicer luxury hotels, but I wouldn’t even bother trying them in the future. The Holiday Inn Express just killed it. 🤘🏼

If you want to explore Yerevan for yourself, there are tons of ways to do so with points and miles.

For example, you could fly on a number of airlines (Lufthansa, Austrian, LOT Polish) from the East Coast for just 40,000 Aeroplan points.

Or, you could fly on Qatar Airways like I did for slightly more at just 42,500 Avios.

BUT don’t forget that right now, you can transfer ThankYou Points, Membership Rewards Points, and Ultimate Rewards Points to Avios with a 20% bonus.

So, this flight would actually cost you just over 35,000 points from any of those programs, which is a great deal.

Yerevan is great because it allows you to access basically any part of the country very quickly and easily.

I took a day trip to Garni and Geghard, which were absolutely beautiful in the snowy winter season:

Anyway…

I’ve had a great time the last couple of weeks, so I hope this is some inspiration for you to come explore this region with points and miles yourself!

🔥 Roast my Redemption

So check it out:

I wanna do a reader feature where I rate/review your latest points redemption.

Send me your best (or worst) one, and I’ll tell you if you’re a genius… or if you should’ve consulted me first. 😂

And don’t worry, this isn’t a true “roast.” No negativity here!

Rather, I want to celebrate your redemptions so other readers can learn from you and also provide input and recommendations for getting better value in the future if you had one that was sub-optimal.

Send ‘em in, folks!

✈️ Flying Blue Promo Rewards (March 2025)

It’s that time of month again!

Flying Blue is back with another batch of dirt-cheap flights to Europe—aka, your chance to book a summer trip for the price of a fancy brunch.

This month, like most months, includes a big ‘ol list of cities in the U.S. for some nice, discounted economy-class awards.

If you’re flying from one of these cities, congrats—you win the cheap flight lottery this month and can get your butt to Europe for just 18,750 Flying Blue miles:

• Detroit

• Seattle

• Washington, D.C.

• Boston

• Austin

Here’s how this works:

To get these rates from these cities, you need to book flights by the end of this month. However, your travel can take place any time through August 31st, which is a nice big window.

Obviously, the longer flights to cities with fewer options are the best deals. Flying to a city like Vienna from a city like Austin for under 20,000 miles is a GREAT deal!

But you can also spice things up a little bit. 🌶️

If you live in Canada (or you’re willing to book a positioning flight), you can also book flights from Ottawa to Europe in BUSINESS class for just 45,000 Flying Blue miles.

As you can see from the screenshot above, this particular route (from Ottawa to Paris in business class) seems to have great availability through the summer.

As you know, you can transfer points from basically every bank to Flying Blue at a 1:1 ratio.

So if you’ve recently signed up for the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card because of its INSANE welcome offer (Earn 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months, plus receive a one-time $250 Capital One Travel credit in your first cardholder year – that’s equal to $1,000 in travel.), this would be a great way to put those new points to use.

Sadly, there’s no transfer bonus to Flying Blue at the moment…

But if one pops up, you can bet your bottom dollar that I’ll be here to tell you about it. 🫡

🤣 Meme

That’s all for today, folks! I hope you enjoyed learning about some solid new travel destinations, solid uses of points, and a good deal for your next European getaway!

Now, go forth and redeem points like the travel pro you were born to be. Amen. 🙏🏼

P.S. sorry to those of you who got rickrolled earlier 😉

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