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🏨 Best Western launches pretty solid promotion
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We don't talk much about Best Western here at the Daily Drop. In fact, we don't talk about Westerns in general much at all, let alone the best one. |
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Well, there's a new sheriff in town because Best Western has just launched its latest promotion. And it's a good one. Until February 5th, you can earn up to 20,000 bonus points and 2x points afterward on hotel stays.
Here are the details:
- Promotion is valid for stays between December 5th and February 5th
- Bonus points will be awarded as follows:
- 1st stay: 2,000 bonus points
- 2nd stay: 4,000 bonus points
- 3rd stay: 6,000 bonus points
- 4th stay: 8,000 bonus points
- 5th stay (and subsequent stays): 2x points on all stays
- Only stays in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean are eligible
It is also important to note that you must register for the promotion before completing your hotel stays. Strangely, the registration page is not live yet, but it certainly will be before December 5th.
So what's the strategy here?
Well, if you have any trips planned, definitely look into Best Western to see if you could log a few stays with them. Given their massive global footprint and generally cheaper hotels, this is a great time to save money on hotel stays while earning outsize value.
For example, you could book four individual stays at a hotel like this one in Vicenza, Italy, which costs less than $50 per night.
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If you were to do so, you would earn 20,000 bonus points from those four stays, which would cost you under $200.
Because Best Western points are worth roughly 1 cent each, you're getting about $200 in value for spending $200. And that's not even including the non-bonus points you earn from your stay just for being a loyalty member.
As you can see, there are plenty of ways to get value from this promotion.
Even though the promo doesn't start until December 5th, you can still book properties now, and as long as you register before staying at the hotel, it will still count toward the promotion. When the registration goes live, you can find the offer in your Best Western account under "Offers."
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🏠 Marriott Homes & Villas 10,000 bonus points
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In a strange twist on the Black Friday landscape, Marriott Homes & Villas has decided to relaunch a promotion that they just finished a couple of months ago, but even better. |
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A couple of months ago, Marriott Homes & Villas had a promotion that offered 10,000 bonus points on stays of at least 5 nights.
Until the end of the day on Monday, November 28th, you can earn this same chunk of bonus points for booking a stay of only 3 nights.
I'll explain why this is such a fantastic offer in a minute. But first, I want to remind you that Marriott H&V lets you earn Marriott Bonvoy points, elite nights, and even bonus points if you have elite status with Marriott.
Oh, and in case you're wondering, the properties in this program are definitely on more of the "home" side than the "villa" side of things... and that's not a bad thing. It's more like Airbnb than it is like the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection.
As an example, the very first part of this around-the-world trip I'm currently on started with a 5-night stay in Athens, Greece, at a Marriott Homes & Villas property. I was taking advantage of the last version of this promo, so I stayed five nights.
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The apartment I stayed in wasn't luxurious by any means but only cost about $40 per night. Considering hotels in Athens were hovering around the $300/night range, this was an amazing deal for me, even without the promotion.
If you were to book a property like this, you could book three nights for around $120-$130 total and earn at least 10,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. That means you're getting a minimum of $100 worth of hotel points, or a roughly 83% return in this case. Even if your booking is more pricey than my apartment in Greece, it's still hard not to get pretty good value out of this offer.
And speaking of Greece...
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✈️ 70% discount on Aegean flights (Today Only)
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With all this talk about turkey and Thanksgiving and Black Friday, you Europeans probably thought I forgot about you, huh?
I wouldn't dream of it. I've been toiling over my computer night and day trying to find a travel hack for Europeans that's so amazing you'll start crying just from the sheer beauty of it.
Sadly, I never found one like that.
I did, however, find a pretty sweet deal with Aegean Airlines. For today only, you can get massive discounts (up to 70%) on ALL Aegean flights within specific date ranges.
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Here are the details:
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Get 70% off flights between January 16 - February 22, 2023
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Get 40% off flights between March 1 and June 30, 2023
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Get 30% off flights from February 23-28 and July 1-October 28, 2023
- To get any discount, you must book by the end of the day TODAY
- No promo code is required, just search for flights on Aegean's website
As you can see, there are significant discounts for pretty much any date within the next year, making this an extremely flexible offer for any potential travel plans.
If you were hoping to plan a trip to Greece next year, this is obviously good news for you.
But the best part about this offer is that it applies to connecting flights. So if you live in Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East and want to travel somewhere in Aegean's network, you could also get some amazing deals.
For example, if you live in Frankfurt and want to book a trip to Cairo, you could fly on Aegean Airlines (with a layover in Athens) in February for only €132, which is significantly cheaper than any other airline on those dates.
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Even North Americans can take advantage of this offer. If you were planning a trip to Greece for next year, you could book your flight across the Atlantic to somewhere like London, then book a dirt cheap connecting flight to Greece with this promo.
A flat 70% discount on every flight in an airline's network is virtually unheard of. If you're based in Europe and have any travel plans for next year, I'd take a peek at what Aegean has to offer and participate in the Black Friday bonanza.
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🦦 Travel activity idea: Animal cafes
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To finish the week, I'm going to mix things up a little and share one of my favorite travel activities with you all.
I'm not sure if you're aware of the concept of cat cafes. They're basically cafes where you can enjoy a coffee or tea while playing with cats. If you like one of the cats, you can even adopt it, as most cafes partner with animal shelters. It's amazing, and I'm convinced it's the one true cure for anxiety and stress.
Spending time playing with cats and drinking tea in countries around the world is one of my favorite relaxing activities, and I hope I don't have to explain why.
Recently, however, I discovered a whole new level of this trend... Otter cafes. It is precisely what it sounds like - a cafe where you can play with adorable otters. Anyway, I stumbled into one of these cafes in Kyoto this week and felt morally obligated to let you all know that these exist.
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If you get overwhelmed by the stress of the holiday shopping rush, take a sec and appreciate this adorable creature. By the way, his name is Wasabi.
If this sounds like something you'd enjoy, do a quick Google search next time you travel... you'd be surprised how many animal cafes are out there. Personally, I've been to cat, otter, and bunny cafes. Japan even has owl cafes, apparently... 🦉
Sadly, you cannot adopt owls or otters... I definitely asked, though...
Anyway, I hope this puts a smile on your face to end the week 😊
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That's gonna do it for this week, folks. Next time you hear from me, I'll be on a flight back home to Toronto after this amazing 9-week journey around the world. It's hard to believe it's almost over, but I'm ready to be home for a little while.
What is your favorite activity when traveling to new places? Did you venture out into stores for Black Friday and live to tell the tale? Are you planning on using any of today's promotions? Let me know by replying to this email or reaching out on social media.
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