🍓 What do Strawberry Hotels, Hyatt, and IHG have in common?

Good morning, lovelies!

I’m en route back to Vancouver after an incredible week in the British Virgin Isles with most of the Daily Drop and FareDrop team 😍

We may have been indulging in some bleisure, but we certainly didn’t slack on keeping you up to date with all the travel news and deals from the week.

Let’s dive in!

✅ Take advantage of this 30% transfer bonus from [[ american-express-gold-card.points-program-override.points-currency ]] to Virgin Atlantic!

✅ Win a Hyatt Award from Mike (he’s giving some away!).

✅ Consider getting some bonus points from IHG’s point sale.

✅ Catch up on our latest YouTube video about whether or not the Capital One Venture X Reward Credit Card is still our favorite in 2024.

✅ Check out week two of the U.S. Travel Association’s Daily Getaways promos.

🏆 Favorite pick of the week: Let’s talk about safety fights

You might initially be thinking this is some sort of safety protocol that ensures planes don’t just fall out of the sky.

But you’d be wrong.

To pique your interest, safety flights are one of the ways you can book business class seats on the regular without burning through all your points. 👀

Plus, safety flights can also save your butt if you’ve got a really important travel day that can’t afford to be delayed or canceled.

Essentially, a safety flight is a flight you book with the absolute intention of finding something better and canceling said safety flight before your trip.

So yeah, safety… e.g. security… you’re starting to get the picture.

I’ve done this for myself a handful of times in the past, but Mike does it a lot. Like, a lot a lot.

Rather than me reiterating the same story for you all, I’ll kindly direct you to the master himself.

Trust me, this is useful stuff, folks 👇

🏃🏻‍♀️ Runner-Ups

🥇Hyatt adds 700 new luxury hotels

Earlier this week, Hyatt announced some big-boi news. It’s both good, and a touch bad though…

You may or may not remember that last year Hyatt acquired the luxury booking platform, Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Ahem, primo example of luxury👇

So as you can see, this new launch adds some pretty freaking nice hotels to Hyatt’s portfolio.

This launch also means that staying at one of these new properties will count toward earning a free night award through Hyatt’s “Brand Explorer Award” (yay).

But… *inhale*

Hyatt will be pricing award nights for Mr. and Mrs. Smith properties dynamically… for the first time ever.

This means the amount of points needed will be directly influenced by how much the cash price of the hotel is, which can be a lot 😭

There are obviously some positives here with new hotels being added to the portfolio, but the points situation… is not great.

Mike lays this out in more detail and provides some additional booking examples in this newsletter if you want to learn more about this major update!

🥈 Get a five or ten-night summer pass for Nordic hotels

Scandinavia is one of my favorite regions in the world, but it also makes me sweat thinking about how much a coffee and cardamom bun costs there.

So yeah, Europe’s northern region is a stunner, but she’ll cost ya 🙃

Fortunately, a new offer from Strawberry Hotels (Who? I know, wait for it…) just popped up for the summer season.

Formerly known as Nordic Choice hotels, Strawberry Hotels are full of brands like Clarion Hotels, Comfort Hotels, and some others that you might recognize.

But the real reason you’re reading this is to learn about their new Summer Pass which will allow you to prepay for five or ten nights at a fixed (discounted) rate.

To break that down further, you’re looking at either €99 a night for the 5-night pass or €89 a night for the 10-night pass. 

Once you have a pass, you’ll be able to redeem it for your hotel nights at a ton of properties all around glorious Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and even Lithuania!

It’s also important to note that valid stays must be between June 20th and August 18th.

Honestly, getting a hotel in Scandinavia for under $100 a night is kinda crazy, so I’m fully on board with this promo!

And if this interests you at all, check out our full newsletter section that’ll give you all the remaining good-to-know details to jump on this deal 🤗

📣 Quick Callouts

❌ Expired: Southwest’s $49 flash sale 

😍 Inspiring: Where in the World Wednesday: Bergen, Norway

🤗 Good to know: Safety flights save the day time and time again

🤓 Travel Trivia: Can you name the rarest passport in the world??

😎 Sweet: Mike on the Move (Spirit Airlines edition)

That’s all for this week! I hope some of you were able to take advantage of a few deals or learn some fun travel tips this time around.

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend, and I’ll see you all next time!

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