I wrote previously about the US Travel Association/American Express Daily Getaway Groupon-style offers here and here.
A limited number of discounted travel packages go on sale, and most of them go quickly. Some go on sale an hour early to folks with a special code on the travel provider’s Facebook page. Pay with an American Express for a 10% discount.
Most of the offers weren’t great, today’s Wyndham Rewards offer was outstanding.
And they’ve just posted the week 5 deals for May 7 – May 11.
- Monday, May 7 – 10,000 Best Western Rewards points for ~ $60, there’s 825 of these packages available with 160 going on pre-sale. I might pick one up to transfer points to US Airways for a Grand Slam hit, since I presume the airline will bring back that promotion in the fall. And I’ll have 500 points leftover for next year. That’s still an expensive ‘hit’ and I may not do it, but it’s easy enough and this one has plenty of availability.
- Tuesday, May 8 – Fairmont Reward Certificates on which I’ll pass.
- Wednesday, May 9 – Hyatt Points priced at about a penny apiece and I value these pretty highly, I plan to burn a bunch at the Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris in the near future and also return the Park Hyatt Maldives.
- 100 packages (20 on pre-sale) of 24,000 points for $234 after Amex discount, $0.00975 per point
- 15 packages of 36,000 points for $373.50 after Amex discount, $0.010375 per point
- 15 packages of 69,000 points fr $697.50 after Amex discount, $0.010109 per point
- 35 packages of 30,000 points for $297 after Amex discount, $0.0099 per point
I’ll jump on as many of the above packages as I can, since I can always burn 22,000 points for a night at the Andaz 5th Avenue if I need to and take a discount for staying there.
- 100 packages (20 on pre-sale) of 24,000 points for $234 after Amex discount, $0.00975 per point
- Thursday, May 10 – Club Carlson points, 50,000 points at a third of a cent per point (~$175 after discount) or 100,000 points at around the same per-point price ($347). I might be tempted, but it’s probably about only slightly better than a break-even proposition for me. Worst case I’d transfer 100,000 points to 18,000 miles equating to about 2 cents a mile.
- Friday, May 11 – Caesar’s Hotel Deals which don’t excite me personally
Mark your calendars.
How’s the internet speed at Park Hyatt Maldives? Can you log in multiple devices per room? We’ll be trying to get in on the Hyatt points from there, and if it will work, we’ll carry two laptops instead of one just for this promotion!
Are you really gonna travel that far to go to Park Hyatt Maldives again? 😉 Surely there is somewhere else to go in the world…
@Gene at one cent a point or $220 a night (probably plus buyup to the overwater) I’d go back…. 🙂
Internet was fine for more than one device at a time. There were times when the connectivity went in and out, mostly I’d just unplug the router in the room and plug it back in and it would be fine.
Gary- Are you going to buy any Hilton points? Seems like a lot more pt sets are available vs Hyatt. Could always use at a Conrad.
Gary,
What are the odds that you’ll actually get in on the Hyatt deal? I tried to get in on the Wyndham stuff today, and it was already sold out the second the sale started. (I started early and kept hitting refresh. “Other people had my purchase in their cart” until it was sold out.
TBH, these things piss me off — if I can’t get in on it during the first five minutes the sale is open, it’s quite annoying.
@John torn but probably have an obligation that will keep me away from computer when that one goes live
@Dan, last year we all had somewhat of a fighting chance. I got in on the Wyndham and Alamo deals.This year, the blogs are more popular than ever. That may be good for Gary, Mommy, Darius and Brian, but it limits the deals for us oldtimers.
Hi Gary,
In the future I would appreciate if you could put in your post that this is only available for US residents.
I know you probably have lots of international readers as well so please think of us as well! I had to put in a US adresss with my CC info so does not work for people not from the US.
Eligibility – The Program is available to all legal U.S. residents who are 18 years of age or older at the time of participation in the Program (the “Participant” or “you”). To be eligible to participate in the Program, Participants must comply with this Agreement and with any additional terms and conditions applicable to participation in the Program and/or or Merchant Offers (as defined below).