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- đ¨ Hyatt drops a new booking platform on us
đ¨ Hyatt drops a new booking platform on us
Plus, you can earn 5x United miles on certain flights for the next couple of months, and we'll finish off the day with some good ol' fashioned trivia.
Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 2 seconds
đ¤ Trivia Tuesday: This country is home to the oldest university in the world. Double the points if you can name the country and the university. Any guesses? Keep reading to find out.
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Goooood morning, and welcome back to Daily Drop, the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream of newsletters. We simply get better with each bite.
Speaking of sweet, here are todayâs highlights:
đ¨ Hyatt introduces new "Homes & Hideawaysâ platform
âď¸ Earn 5x bonus miles on United flights to Europe
đ¤ Travel Trivia Tuesday
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đ¨ Hyatt introduces new "Homes & Hideawaysâ platform
Hyatt has announced a new platform for booking vacation rentals, which is⌠honestly, itâs kind of meh.
Hyatt Homes & Hideaways is a new addition to the Hyatt suite of products that allows travelers to book vacation rentals and homes.
When booking these properties through Hyatt, you can both earn and redeem Hyatt points on the properties, which is definitely a neat perk.
Here is how many points youâll earn when booking:
Hyatt members: 5 points per dollar
Discoverist members: 5.5 points per dollar
Exploits members: 6 points per dollar
Globalist members: 6.5 points per dollar
In other words, the earning rates are the same as youâd earn on normal Hyatt stays, which is great.
Marriott has a similar program (Marriott Homes & Villas), but their earning rates are significantly lower than normal hotel earning rates, so Iâd say Hyatt has the edge here.
Additionally, you will earn elite night credit to help boost you to elite status, which is another nice perk.
There is one major drawback to this new program, howeverâŚ
You donât get any elite benefits when staying at these properties. So if you have Globalist status, donât expect any kind of special treatment.
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It makes sense though. These arenât normal hotels, so things like free breakfast, suite upgrades, etc. donât really apply anyway.
As I mentioned earlier, you can also redeem Hyatt points on stays, but I wouldnât recommend doing soâŚ
I ran a few sample searches, and it looks like you can generally only get about 1.2 cents per point in value when redeeming Hyatt points.
For example, this cozy lodge in Colorado costs $386 per night, but a whopping 32,000 Hyatt points⌠đŹ
For reference, thatâs enough Hyatt points to book NINE nights at a Category 1 hotel, or even enough to book a night at a bucket list hotel like the Park Hyatt in Tokyo, which only costs 30,000 points per night.
Unless youâre really in a tight place and need to use your points for a vacation rental, Iâd strongly urge you to save them for a better-value redemption.
So hereâs my take:
Hyatt isnât doing anything groundbreaking here. There are plenty of other platforms to book vacation rentals out there, so I wouldnât advise using this particular one without shopping around for other good deals too.
Still, for people who like staying in these types of accommodations and also want to rake in a few extra Hyatt points along the way, it could be a nice option.
Plus, Iâm never upset to see Hyatt pushing the envelope and expanding their program. After all, that is why we love Hyatt. đ¤ˇââď¸
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âď¸ Earn 5x bonus miles on United flights to Europe
I donât know about you, but I want to go to Europe right now.
But thatâs not enough for me⌠I want to go to Europe AND earn a boatload of points in the process.
Is that too much to ask?
Clearly, United doesnât think so. Because they have just come out with a promo to do⌠well⌠exactly that.
Right now, you can earn 5x bonus United miles on economy flights to/from Europe.
Here are the details:
You need to register for the offer (though any MileagePlus member is eligible)
This only applies to economy flights between the U.S. and Amsterdam, London, and Paris
Basic economy flights are not eligible
Connecting flights DO count as long as one leg is to/from the cities listed above
You must book and complete your flights before December 13th, 2023
You can earn a maximum of 50,000 bonus miles from this promo
So yeah, thereâs quite a bit of fine print, but overall this is not too shabby at all. Late fall and early winter is a great time to head to Europe, in my opinion.
I enjoy the cold weather, and REALLY enjoy the lower numbers of touristsâŚ
Plus, 5x miles is nothing to take lightly⌠for example, letâs take this flight from Newark to Frankfurt costs $1,010 round-trip. (Remember, you canât book basic economy with this promotion)
Since each direction has a leg between Newark and Paris, the 5x bonus miles would apply here.
Remember, you only earn miles on the base fare, which in this case is $800. The rest is taxes and surcharges, which do not earn miles.
With the promotion, youâd be earning 8,000 total miles (5x base miles and 5x bonus miles) from this journey, which is not a bad return on your spending at all.
If you have elite status with United, youâll earn even more total miles as well. Here is a quick chart that breaks down the earnings of this promo based on your level of status with United:
Overall, this is a great way to maximize the return on your spending for anyone interested in checking out Europe between now and December 13th. Just be sure to register for the offer before booking and taking your flights.
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đ¤ Travel Trivia Tuesday
Correct answer: The University of Al Qarawiynn, Morocco
Really, I should say this is the worldâs âfirst university,â since the âoldestâ is debated. Maybe Iâm just confused here, but wouldnât the âfirstâ one be the âoldestâ? Oh well.
The University of Al Qarawiynn was actually founded by a woman named Fatima al-Fihri back in 895 CE.
You might now recognize the institution under the name âThe University of Al Quaraouiyine," which is what it has been called since 1963 when it was incorporated into the countryâs state university system.
With many of the oldest universities being found in Western Europe, itâs pretty cool that the number one spot sits in the Middle East.
If youâre interested, you can read more about the universityâs history here.
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Did you know that Daily Drop has a YouTube channel? Check out our latest video for some visual travel hacking tips.
In this weekâs video, weâre talking about how to earn 3x UR points⌠on EVERYTHING.
This is not a deal you want to miss, and Brendan breaks it down in a way that makes it impossible to not take advantage of it. đ
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Thatâs all for today, kiddos!
Being someone who loves his hotel points, elite status, etc., Iâm always curious to learn how yâall feel about hotels vs. vacation rentals like Airbnb and this new Hyatt platform.
Do you prefer staying in hotels or vacation rentals like Airbnb? |
Have a great day, and see you bright and early tomorrow. â¤ď¸