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🤝 The two-card combo of the summer

🤝 The two-card combo of the summer

Plus, a brand new Starting From Zero course just for you

Katie Begnoche
July 11, 2026

Happy plain-old-no-holiday-zero-reason-to-celebrate-weekend, y’all.

Oh wait… we’ve been dropping killer travel news all week, and it’s the end of the workweek — two things that are always worth celebrating. 🎉

But before we jump into all the goodness from this past week, we’ve got a quick personal note from April, our Director of Content and Conversion:

“If you’ve been reading the Weekend Round Up for a while, you’re probably familiar with our superstar writer, McKay Moffitt. She’s been bringing the weekend travel news to y’all for a while now, full of spunk and spice.

Well, friends, the breaking travel news this week is: next week is McKay's last week with Daily Drop.

She's moving on to a new opportunity, and while we're thrilled for her, we're not going to pretend we're not a little sad about it too.

I'll be honest... McKay is one of the two big reasons I took this job. Watching her grow here has been one of the best parts of my week, every week. She's around my daughter's age, and if you've ever watched a kid you love head off to chase something bigger than what you could offer them... you know exactly what this feels like. Proud and bittersweet, all at once.

If McKay's weekend roundups have ever made your Saturday or Sunday better (and let's be honest, they have), next week's a good week to tell her so.”

I’m not crying, you’re crying. Who’s kidding? We’re all crying. 😭

Thankfully, we’ve got a few more days with McKay, and since the travel world marches on, let’s get into some more happy-tears-worthy news from this week.

💙 Did someone say Flying Blue business-class promos to Europe??

🏨 Premium cardholders, don’t miss this chance to snag Marriott Gold Elite status.

🌴 This 20% transfer bonus to Hilton brings luxury island getaways within reach.

✈️ Check out this very underrated transfer bonus from Capital One.

☎️ Credit card application denied? If at first you don’t succeed, call, call again!

📣 Don’t miss our upcoming live class, Miles and Points 101: From Zero Points to Your First Free Flight, July 14th at 3 pm ET.

‼️ Keep reading to the end for info on our brand new free course dropping ASAP.

🏆 Our Favorite Pick: The must-have card pair in your wallet

Mike gave us two great card tips this week: 5x cash back on gas, and hotels for under $3 a night.

That second one snuck out a day early thanks to our little gremlin issue (now fixed 🙏), so consider this the official (non-feral) overview.

Mike extolled the perks of a card with a red-alert level welcome offer of 100,000 UR points that we clearly can’t stop talking about, simply because it rocks.

Easily earned and easily redeemed, those 100,000 points can go a looooong way when used to book hotels.

In fact, Mike showed us how to book a hotel for dirt cheap in my neck of the woods. 🤠

I mean, come on, paying less than 5,000 points a night for a hotel always feels like a good deal.

And with 105,000 UR points (which you’d have after hitting the minimum spend) redeemed at that rate — that’s more than 25 hotel nights, right there.

Now, realistically, many of us aren’t staying in hotels 30+ times a year, or we’re booking hotels that have higher price points.

But redeeming nights for 5,000 points, 8,000 points, or even 12,000 points could net you anywhere from 20 nights to a solid week of free accommodations.

Not too shabby for one little card (with a very doable annual fee), huh?

But the perk I like the most about this card? It plays well with others.

The sidekick of the summer

While the card we just discussed does all the heavy lifting when it comes time to travel, it has a companion that can quietly do more work behind the scenes.

It’s currently having its moment in the sun with 5x cash back on gas this summer.

If you’ve got this no-fee card, you can swipe it at the pump (or EV charger) and earn 5x cash back through the end of September on the first $1,500 you spend — which amounts to $75 back in your wallet.

But if you’ve got the first card we talked about, you can transfer points from this companion card and turn that cash back into points.

👀 Quick Tip: Here’s our guide on how to combine UR points between cards.

So your $75 just became 7,500 points — which, as Mike showed us, could help you book another 1 to 2 hotel nights.

This duo works all year long, with rotating categories on the no-fee card that can really boost your earnings organically.

And as the resident writer of our new roadtripping newsletter, these two cards are the co-stars of my summer.

I earn points on the road and redeem them for my overnight stays along the way. 😎

But if you’re not a roadtripper, you can still use this card to earn 5x cash back on gas while putt-putting around town, combine it with the aforementioned welcome offer on our most popular travel card, and then use it for a future trip — by booking a ton of hotels or some great award flights (hello, this month’s Flying Blue promo 👀)

Bottom line: This duo does all the work, while you get to sit back and enjoy the ability to travel on all the points. 💁‍♀️

Brand New & Coming Soon

If you’re feeling a little lost or overwhelmed by all of our regular points-and-miles content and could use a deep dive into the basics, our Starting From Zero email series (built just for you!) launches THIS Monday.