🏝️ The points/miles hotspot you've never heard of

Estimated read time: 5 minutes and 23 seconds

Goooooood morning from beautiful (though horrifically overcrowded) Kyoto, Japan!

We’ve got a longer newsletter today packed with points and miles tips and some inspiration for your next big vacation, so let’s dive in:

• 🌎 The miles/points hotspot you’ve never heard of

• 🍪 Tasty Travel Tidbits

• ✈️ 30% transfer bonus to Avios

🌎 The miles/points hotspot you’ve never heard of

As I told you last week, I just spent some time in China. But this trip was very different from my past China trips…

You see, there’s a lesser-known policy that allows Americans (and 59 other nationalities) to visit one Chinese province for 30 full days with no visa and no annoying rules.

Specifically, you can visit the island province of Hainan with NO visa for a month.

I was surprised to see that, unlike the visa-free transit in cities like Shanghai, Chongqing, and Beijing, this visa-free visit didn’t require any paperwork, no arrival card, no registration, nothing.

I just showed up at the airport, they stamped my passport, and sent me on my way.

I also had a lot of fun exploring such a unique place for a longer period without needing to stay in a single city.

Especially because this island is a points and miles PARADISE… maybe more so than anywhere else in the world.

And while I was there, I realized something:

Hainan is the perfect destination for anyone in the U.S. who doesn’t travel often and wants to book that one annual getaway to a unique destination that ticks literally EVERY box:

• 🌎 Unique cultural experience

• 🚫 No visa required

• 💸 Low prices

• 🏙️ Big cities

• 🏔️ Mountain adventures

• 🏝️ Luxury beach resorts

• 💳 ENDLESS ways to use miles and points

Sounds pretty good, right?

And getting there is way cheaper and easier than you might think…

For example, you can fly from the U.S. to Hainan Island using Cathay Pacific miles for just 27,000 miles one-way, with wide-open availability:

If you sign up for the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, you could transfer enough miles over to Cathay to book this round-trip from the U.S. and still have almost 30,000 miles left over.

I personally started my journey in Haikou, the largest city there, which has some crazy points and miles options…

For example, I stayed at the Westin Haikou, a 5-star hotel where I got a luxurious suite, free breakfast, lounge access with dinner every night, and more.

At just 13,500 points per night, this is easily the best Marriott redemption I’ve ever made…

If you sign up for this card (which just increased its welcome offer last week), you’d have enough points to book a 5-night stay here and still have 30,000 points (and the $300 travel credit) left over.

If you want to add a few thousand points, you can even book the Ritz-Carlton here for just 18,000 Marriott points per night. 👇

But the other thing I love about Hainan is that it has an extensive high-speed rail network that goes around the entire island, so visiting every corner of this province is super easy and cheap.

That’s also good because down south, there are ENDLESS beach resorts with all of the big programs like Marriott, Hyatt, IHG, and Hilton.

In fact, there are well over a hundred of them in Hainan, including some other insane deals:

One of the many hotels I stayed at was the Grand Hyatt, a Category 5 hotel that costs 23,000 Hyatt points or… wait for it... about $100 per night.

I was upgraded to a deluxe suite with a private pool, beach access, and lounge access with free breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

It really doesn’t get better than that…

And if you still want to avoid paying cash, don’t worry - there are a bunch of Hyatt Category 1 and 2 hotels, too.

This Hyatt Regency costs as few as 3,500 points per night, for example.

Want to get up into the mountains? No problem. There are hotels like this Marriott property that cost less than 5,000 points per night:

Or this IHG resort which costs just 13,000 IHG points per night, or less than 10,000 points if you have this card to get IHG’s fourth-night free perk.

So literally by signing up for a card like this one and/or this one, you could book a 10 or 15-day luxury vacation to a really cool place in the world without any hassle, crowds, or high expenses, using all points and miles.

Personally, I spent a total of about $15-20 per day on transportation, food, activities, and everything else, so it’s one of the cheaper parts of the world.

Anyway, Hainan was amazing and such an underrated destination.

I think it’s perfect for an easy and fun points and miles getaway, and I hope some of you consider it for your next vacay!

🍪 Tasty Travel Tidbits

🇮🇪 Hey, there, Ireland. Starting in 2025, Aer Lingus will be operating nonstop flights between Dublin and Nashville, adding yet another great way to get to Ireland with points and miles.

💳 Traveling on Air Canada anytime soon? This U.S. card will now get you access to Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges (of which there are many) when flying on Air Canada.

✈️ Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flights are now bookable using Delta Skymiles as they continue integrating into the SkyTeam alliance, so keep your eyes peeled for some award flight deals to Europe!

✈️ 30% transfer bonus to Avios

Last week, we saw the tragic death of a beloved transfer bonus from MR Points to Avios… Personally, I cried a bit.

But as I wiped my tears away, I saw a light. A bright light.

In the form of a NEW 30% transfer bonus to Avios, this time from UR Points.

Yay!

This is great. I think Avios is one of the best points programs out there, with endless ways to use your miles whether you’re traveling in the U.S. or abroad.

Having another way to transfer points with such a large bonus is great news.

One of the reasons that we love Avios so much is that when you have Avios in any program that uses that currency (British Airways, Qatar, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Finnair), you can freely transfer them around between all of those airlines.

As you might imagine, this means you have hundreds of cool ways to use these points after getting your tasty 30% bonus from UR Points.

But even if you just want to book some domestic flights on American Airlines, for example, Avios are a solid way to do it.

You can book this flight from Charlotte to Dallas on American Airlines for just 16,000 Avios through British Airways:

With the transfer bonus, that’s just 12,000 UR Points.

Of course, AA charges around 10,000 miles for the same flight. However, since points cannot be transferred to AA from any bank, this Avios option is a great alternative.

So here’s the bottom line:

Avios is a great program that I use all the time. Regardless of where your travels take you, getting a 30% bonus is a great deal if you have a specific flight booking in mind.

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That’s all for today, folks! I hope you enjoyed my spiel about China - I really think more people should add it to their lists.

I will also personally be sending over some UR Points to British Airways for that tasty bonus since I have a couple of Japan Airlines flights to book here in Japan next week.

Anyway, I promise tomorrow’s email will be a little shorter, so thanks for sticking around today. 😇

Cheers,

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