Good morning and welcome back to The Daily Drop, the newsletter that mixes travel content, memes, and other random stuff.
It's like Lays chips. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's terrible, and sometimes it's just downright odd.
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I've got some fantabulous travel hacks for you today, so let's not waste any time:
- 🏨 Hilton's 2023 elite status challenge/status match
- 🌴 An update on our Maldives giveaway...
- 🍪 Bite-sized tidbits to keep you occupied
- 🧳 An update on our most popular travel hack of all time
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🏨 Hilton's 2023 elite status challenge/match
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Status matches and status challenges are some of the best ways to fast-track your way into amazing benefits at massive hotel chains.
A status match is when you already have elite status with one loyalty program, and a different loyalty program offers you the equivalent tier of status in an effort to steal your business.
A status challenge is when a program temporarily gives you some level of status. During that temporary window, you can complete specific requirements to lock in that status for a much longer period of time.
Hilton, however, is doing a hybrid version that combines both of these... and it's pretty sweet.
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Here's how it works:
- If you have a lower-level elite status with any other hotel chain, Hilton will give you Gold status for 90 days
- During those 90 days, you can stay 7 nights at Hilton hotels and earn Gold status through March 2024
- During the same window, you can stay 12 days and earn Diamond status through March 2024
This is actually a great option, in my opinion. Here's why:
Although you can earn Hilton Gold status pretty easily through credit cards, earning Diamond status is harder. The only credit card that offers it as a perk costs $450 per year, which is pricey...
The only other way to earn Diamond status is through staying at Hilton hotels and doing one of the following during the calendar year:
- Stay 60 nights
- Complete 30 individual stays
- Earn 120,000 Base Points
The fact that this challenge allows you to earn Diamond in just 12 nights compared to the usual 60 is definitely enticing.
Obviously, this only works if you already have another status to match to it.
Thankfully, you have some options on that front as well.
You see, Hilton doesn't care how you earned your other status - including credit card perks.
So, for example, if you owned IHG's awesome co-branded credit card, you'd already have Automatic IHG Diamond Status.
You could match that to Hilton, stay 12 nights, and have both IHG Diamond and Hilton Diamond status, which is a very powerful combination.
Both of these statuses get you free room upgrades, free breakfast, and tons of other perks at thousands of hotels around the world.
Since that IHG card only costs $99 per year, you can imagine how easy it would be to justify that fee, given the valuable benefits you'd receive.
Registering for this Hilton Status Challenge is easy: simply fill out their online form, and voila!
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My recommendation would be to strategize about this. Since you only have a 90-day window to complete the stay requirements, I'd wait to register until you have some upcoming stays.
Even if you don't plan on staying 7 or 12 nights, why not register for the promo and enjoy 90 free days of Gold benefits at your Hilton stays, even just for one or two nights?
Overall, this is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to take a shortcut to elite status with Hilton.
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🌴 Update on our Maldives giveaway...
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Remember how we gave away a trip to an overwater villa in the Maldives and the winner was Sean? Well, you'll never guess how he responded...
Sean: "this trip is not a good fit for me, so I am declining this very generous offer"
I am not sure why he is declining, but I like to think it's because Sean is an absolute baller!
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Anyways, we drew another winner! Hopefully, this trip is a good fit for... Martina M. from Ontario, Canada (Wooh, shoutout to a fellow Ontarian!!)!
We will be reaching out to you in a separate email. Congrats, Martina!
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🍪 Bite-sized travel tidbits
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🧳 An update on our most popular travel hack of all time
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A few months ago, I told you about how you could leverage a Rakuten promotion to get a free Apple AirTag and case.
Many of you signed up for the promo and got your free AirTag, which is awesome.
But thousands of you (3,252 of you, to be exact) who signed up for the offer still haven't made a purchase to claim your $40... Since you only have 90 days to do so after signing up, I wanted to give you a quick reminder.
We have a lot of new folks here as well. Thankfully, Rakuten currently has a different promotion. You won't be able to get a free AirTag...
...but you CAN still get one for $0.92 😮
That probably got your attention, huh?
Let me give you a crash course:
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Rakuten is an online shopping portal that gives you cash back at hundreds of different retailers when you shop normally.
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Apple AirTags are little tracking devices that you can attach to your keys, wallet, or luggage when you travel so that you can always locate it.
Right now, when you sign up for Rakuten with our referral link, you'll get $30 cash back after you spend $30.
So here's what you do:
- Sign up for Rakuten with this link
- Go to Apple.com (via Rakuten, after you've signed up)
- Add an AirTag to your cart
- Get a $30 rebate from Rakuten
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As you can see above, an Apple AirTag with tax costs $31.55 in total. Because Apple offers 2% cashback on Rakuten, you'll get $0.63 cashback in addition to the $30 signup rebate.
That means you can get an AirTag today for a grand total of $0.92... Pretty sweet deal for ensuring your luggage never gets lost, eh?
Whether you signed up for their $40 promotion a few months ago or are just hearing about this for the first time and want to claim the $30 promo, now is the best time to add a valuable travel accessory to your arsenal, basically for free.
FYI Rakuten only pays out the cashback you earn once per quarter, so you'll have to be patient to see it show up in your bank account 😉
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That's all folks!
Do you own AirTags? Have they ever saved your butt from a dicey travel situation? Do you care about elite status at all? Let me know by replying to this email or reaching out on social media.
Au revoir,
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