Endless hotel promos 🤑

August 23, 2022

Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 37 seconds

Good morning! This is The Daily Drop. We've been described as "the best travel newsletter on the internet."

...well, at least my mom has described it that way 😊

Here's what's on the docket today:

• 🎯 Marriott Bonvoy targeted promo offer
• 🏩 Best Western is giving away free nights
• 🌍 Delta and United launch new routes to Africa

🏨 Marriott Bonvoy Promo (targeted)

Marriott Bonvoy is one of the biggest hotel chains in the world with over 30 brands and thousands of properties.

As of a few days ago, they launched a targeted promotion to offer double elite night credits on hotel stays within a certain time period.

The keyword there is targeted. This means that not everyone will have this offer in their accounts. However, even if you don't have a Marriott Bonvoy account yet, you can still sign up for the program and you may have this offer available to you.

Essentially, for every night you stay at a Marriott hotel you'll receive two elite night credits.

Screenshot of the offer from my own account

How can this benefit you?

Basically, elite nights are what you need to earn in order to get elite status. Once you have elite status, you get different perks like late checkout, free breakfast, room upgrades, and more. This promotion basically lets you earn elite status much more easily. Here are the different tiers of Marriott Bonvoy status:

• Silver status - 15 nights
• Gold status - 25 nights
• Platinum Status - 50 nights
• Titanium status - 75 nights
• Ambassador status - 100 nights (and pledging your soul to Marriott)

As you can see, there are multiple tiers that are pretty easy to achieve with this promotion (and some that are pretty much impossible...). For example, you could earn Silver status by staying only 8 nights or Gold status for staying 13 nights, both of which will give you some decent benefits at Marriott hotels.

I recommend considering this offer if you stay at hotels frequently and would like to get some added benefits for the next year by holding elite status, or if you just want to be able to walk up to the front desk and flex your elite status. No shame. Okay, maybe a little shame 😛

🏩 Best Western free night promo

When you think about Best Western, your mind probably jumps to True Grit with John Wayne or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Well, here's a fun fact for you: the Best Western is actually a major hotel chain with thousands of properties around the world (crazy, I know).

If that revelation wasn't exciting enough already, Best Western is offering a promotion for a very limited time to "buy two, get one free." Basically, if you spend two nights at a Best Western property before September 4th, you'll get a free night to use at any best western until February 23, 2023.

How you can get a ton of value from this

This falls into the same category as the Etihad miles deal from last week. You can essentially leverage cheap Best Western nights to achieve a free night potentially worth FAR more than the two cheap nights.

Let me explain how I'm personally going to use this promotion.

I'm heading to Europe tomorrow where it's easy to find cheap Best Western hotels. I don't plan on staying in Best Western hotels, but that doesn't matter. I'll book a couple of nights at a Best Western like the one in Italy below that costs about $50 per night, earn a free night award, and redeem it on a room that costs hundreds of dollars more per night (like the one in NYC below 👇).

So, by paying $100 for two nights at the first hotel, I'm getting a free night that I can use to book the $400 hotel.

I also happen to have an Amex Offer for $20 off of a purchase of $100 or more at Best Western. If you have any American Express cards you should check to see if you have the same offer.

Essentially, I'm trading $80 for $400 (or even more, depending on which hotel you decide to book). 🤯

These are the perfect offers to beat hotels and airlines at their own game without ever needing to earn points or open a credit card. It's the most satisfying type of travel hacking, in my opinion.

Now, there are some restrictions as to when you can use your free night, so be sure to register for the offer and read all of the terms to make sure this is a deal worth pursuing to you. Happy hacking!

🌍 Delta and United launch nonstop flights to Cape Town

In other exciting news, both Delta AND United will be expanding their existing set of African destinations to include Cape Town.

For anybody interested in traveling around Africa, this is great news. In recent years, Delta in particular has made efforts to fly more non-stop routes between the U.S. and sub-Saharan Africa including to destinations such as Accra, Lagos, Dakar, and Johannesburg.

The reason the Cape Town route is so exciting is that there has been some serious drama surrounding the airlines' pursuit of the route...

Anyone else getting Lion King 2 nostalgia?

Let me fill you in. The U.S. Department of Transportation has to approve international routes before airlines can fly them. Typically this is due to specific agreements between two countries that limit the number of daily or weekly flight frequencies that airlines from that country are allowed to fly.

For Cape Town, there were four frequencies that Delta and United were competing against each other for. In the end, the U.S. DoT ended up working with South Africa to allow BOTH airlines to fly all the frequencies they both were hoping for. It was very exciting.

So, once these routes launch, there will be a total of 9 weekly flights between the U.S. and Cape Town from Atlanta, Newark, and Washington Dulles airports.

All of the nonstop routes between the U.S. and South Africa

That's all for today. I'm super pumped about all of the great hotel promos happening. It seems like every hotel chain is trying to "one up" each other...

What's your favorite hotel chain? Have you ever been to Cape Town? Do you prefer the Lion King 1 or 2? Let me know by replying to this email or reaching out on social media.

Cheers,

Mike Dodge
Head Writer, The Daily Drop
43.6532° N, 79.3832° W

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