Why you need this type of point

Howdy, friends. Welcome back to Daily Drop, your favorite newsletter (or at least it’s my favorite).

I’ve got plenty of content to catch you up on, so let’s jump right in:

• 💳 Why you need this type of point

• 🍪 Tasty Travel Tidbits

• 🏨 Buy Hyatt points with a nice bonus

💳 Why you need this type of point

As you know (because I won’t shut up about it), two of the best cards in the world currently have elevated welcome offers, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, which is not an opportunity that comes around very often.

But some of you have reached out with a question along the lines of:

It’s a great question.

So today, I thought I’d explain what role UR Points play in your wallet and why you need them - even if you already earn other currencies.

The main reason you want to diversify your wallet with UR Points is simple: access to World of Hyatt.

As of now, there are only two ways to transfer points to Hyatt:

• Transfer from UR Points

• Transfer from Bilt Rewards

Since the Bilt card doesn’t offer a traditional welcome offer, opening a card that earns UR Points (like the Sapphire Preferred) is the only way to get a huge stash of Hyatt points quickly.

Here’s why having Hyatt points is so special:

Hyatt uses a fixed award chart to determine award pricing.

That means it’s a very stable, predictable way to book hotels with points and offers more value per point than any other hotel program.

Since this chart allows you to book hotel nights for as few as 3,500 points per night, you can imagine how having a stash of UR Points can take you VERY far with this program.

But Hyatt points can also save you from ABSURDLY high hotel prices in a pinch.

A few weeks ago, the Daily Drop team (or at least most of us) had a meetup in the Caribbean that required a one-night stay in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Hotels were selling for $300, $400, or even $700 per night, as it was during peak travel season…

However, Hyatt had a hotel for just 12,000 points per night… and had plenty of award nights available.

12,000 points is a fantastic tradeoff for saving hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

But this isn’t the only reason you need UR Points in your wallet…

UR Points are also one of the only currencies that consistently allows you to redeem points through the bank itself for more than one cent per point in value.

• If you have the Sapphire Preferred, you can redeem points for 1.25 cents each through the bank’s portal

• If you have the Sapphire Reserve, you can redeem points for 1.5 cents each through the bank’s portal

Now let’s look at some ways this could present VERY unique opportunities to book one-in-a-lifetime travel.

This round-trip flight in Emirates first-class costs just $925 when booked through the bank’s portal (about $20 higher than booking direct with Emirates, but you’ll see why that’s okay).

If you have the Sapphire Reserve, you could book this flight for just 62,000 points since you can redeem your points for 1.5 cents each.

There is no other possible way to experience seven hours of Emirates first class for that few points.

And the best part?

Since this is essentially a “cash” booking that’s being covered with points, there are no additional cash costs for taxes and fees.

If you try to book Emirates first class through Emirates itself, you’ll be slapped with ridiculous fees and surcharges…

Even if you book Emirates’ fifth-freedom flights from the U.S. to Europe, you’ll still pay double the points and over $100 in fees for the same amount of time in first-class as what you can book with 60,000 UR Points and no cash fees…

So here’s the bottom line:

UR Points (and cards that earn them) are popular for a reason.

Even if you’re earning other currencies, these points serve a role that none of the other programs serve, and you should consider adding one of these cards to your wallet while the bonuses are sky-high:

1. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

2. Chase Sapphire Reserve®

🍪 Tasty Travel Tidbits

✈️ Emirates has just announced that it will be retrofitting hundreds of planes, including many of their famous Airbus A380s. This means new first-class suites, adding more premium economy sections, and a new (much-improved) business-class product (yay).

🤔 Air China has just launched a new “fifth freedom” route, but the origin and destination might surprise you… Starting tomorrow, Air China will fly between Madrid, Spain, and Havana, Cuba twice a week. An interesting route for you av-geeks. 😉

🚴 Do you like exercising AND Hyatt points? If so, you’ll be pleased to know that hundreds of Hyatt hotels will begin awarding points for using Peloton. Time to stretch those quads, kiddos.

🏨 Buy Hyatt points with a nice bonus

Wow… anyone else feeling a bit of Deja Vu?

Hyatt is back with yet another points sale, this time lasting until July 1st, and offering a 20% bonus.

As per usual, this could be a great opportunity to book Hyatt hotels at highly subsidized rates, and I’ll tell you how.

As I mentioned earlier, Hyatt uses a fixed award chart to determine pricing.

That means that even if a hotel charges insanely high cash rates, there is a hard cap on the number of points it can charge.

For example, Hyatt just opened a new hotel in Harare, Zimbabwe (which is freaking cool in the first place).

As a Category 2 property, you could pay as few as 6,500 points per night despite the constant cash rate of at least $242 per night.

For a 2-night stay here, you’d have to pay $570 after taxes… 😬

Instead, you could simply buy 13,000 points for just $264 with this bonus.

So by simply buying points, you’re saving over $300 to book the SAME hotel on the SAME nights.

Crazy, right?

So here’s the bottom line:

While the best way to earn Hyatt points is to open a card that earns UR Points, many of you already have those cards and can’t hop on these new welcome offers…

If you’re in this boat, buying points with a bonus could be a great alternative to save money on Hyatt stays.

That’s all for today, kiddos. I hope you enjoyed today’s newsletter as I get back into the rhythm of writing them…

For now, I’ll leave you alone. But I love you - and I can’t wait to see you again first thing tomorrow. ❤️

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