🚗 The best card for gas and EV charging

Estimated read time: 3 minutes and 39 seconds

☀️ Gooooooooooood morning from Harbin, home of the famous Harbin Ice Festival. But it’s pretty hot here, so I had to take my skiing indoors this week (yes, really).

While I enjoy the wonders of Northern China, here are some simple but useful travel tips to help you on your points journey:

• 💳 Earn 5x points on gas

• 🏨 20% transfer bonus to Hilton

• 🌵 Points Pursuit Episode 3: Phoenix

💳 Earn 5x points on gas

When this credit card dropped its new benefits last month, a lot of you were excited about the ability to earn a whopping 3x UR points per dollar on things like gas and electric vehicle charging.

And that’s cool, but there’s actually a limited-time way to earn even more points on those categories… 😏

You see, this underrated no-fee card offers 5% cash back on specific categories that change every quarter.

And this quarter, those categories are as follows:

• Gas stations

• EV charging

• Public transportation

• Select live entertainment

• Donations to United Way

Those first two categories are what should excite you…

Here’s why:

If you hold a card that earns UR points (like the one I mentioned earlier), you can turn your cash back from this no-fee card into UR points.

In other words, from July through September, you can earn 5x UR points per dollar on gas stations and EV charging.

Let’s get the fine print out of the way while we’re at it:

• You need to activate these categories before you can get the 5%/5x

• You only earn 5% or 5x on up to $1,500 of spending total

Given the high gas prices lately, this could be an awesome way to soften the blow by using a card combo that totals less than $100 in annual fees.

As a reminder, the first card I mentioned is still offering 100,000 UR points after signing up and spending $5,000 in the first 3 months.

If you have either of the cards, now could be the perfect time to complete the pair. 🧦

🏨 20% transfer bonus to Hilton

Until July 14, you can get a 20% transfer bonus from MR points to Hilton Honors.

And I know – it sounds underwhelming… but hear me out.

The normal transfer ratio from MR points to Hilton is 1:2, meaning you’re always doubling your points.

With this bonus, transferring 1,000 MR points will yield 2,400 Hilton points, which suddenly feels pretty darn good.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not always a slam dunk. But for the right redemption, it could be a great way to use your points.

Take these hotels in Cologne, Germany, where I just stayed last year for Christmas.

Both of them cost 70,000 Hilton points, which feels like a lot… but with a bonus like this, that comes to less than 30,000 MR points per night.

That means a single welcome offer like the one on this card could unlock multiple free nights in European cities that are otherwise very expensive.

This transfer bonus could also be a good solution for super-expensive aspirational stays.

For example, I recently spent a few nights at the SAii Lagoon resort in the Maldives last month, which costs 85,000 points per night:

Normally, it’d be hard to rack up a lot of points to book a multi-night stay.

But with this transfer bonus, you could book a 5-night stay at the SAii Lagoon for just 142,000 MR points.

Here’s how:

If you have Hilton Honors Silver status, you can get every 5th night free when using Hilton points. (And Silver status is complimentary if you hold this no-annual fee Hilton card. 👀)

That’s pretty insane for a luxurious 5-night private island getaway in the freaking Maldives, am I right?

Anyway, here’s the bottom line:

This isn’t the most valuable transfer bonus. But if it unlocks a stay you want or need, definitely don’t hesitate to pull the trigger. 🔫

Keep in mind this bonus lasts less than a week, so you’ll need to use it quickly.

🌵 Points Pursuit Episode 3: Phoenix

We’re back with another episode of Points Pursuit. By now, you should know the drill:

Every week, we’re dropping a video and article where one person on the Daily Drop team shows Brendan and Erin around their hometown, all while trying to earn as many points as possible with just $500 of spending.

This week is a lot of fun, because it features our Director of Engineering, Brian Redd – someone you don’t hear from often but is crucial to keeping the ship afloat here at Daily Drop.

This week, Brian takes us on a fun points-earning journey through his home city of Phoenix, Arizona. 🌵

And if you want to read about the journey from Brian’s perspective, check out his article here:

That’s all for today, my friends! I hope you enjoyed today’s short and sweet set of tips.

Make sure you check out that episode of Points Pursuit, too – it’s a fun one!

See you next time,

45.7500° N, 126.6333° E

With contributions by Sam Anthony, Katie Begnoche, Alison Carrico, McKay Moffitt, and April Wilson.