Daily Getaways by the US Travel Association is back this year, every day from April 10th until May 12th they are offering a travel deal. The deals go live at 1PM EDT, they are limited in number and whoever is first gets the deal. The more popular deals are basically impossible to get and the less popular deals don’t sell out at all.
Contents
Schedule
Week One
Week Two
Week Three
Week Four
Week Five
Best Deals
Everybody values deals and points differently, so I’d recommend reading through the schedule to see if there is anything you might be interested in. Here are the deals I think are interesting:
Hyatt May 10th
These are advertised as free nights, but it’s actually a deposit of points. For example:
- 2 Nights in a Hyatt Premium Hotel for $260 = 24,000 points
- 2 Nights in a Hyatt Top Hotel for $415 = 40,000 points
- 3 Nights in a Hyatt Suite for $775 = 72,000 points
- 2 Nights in an Elite Hyatt Hotel for $330 = 30,000 points
You’re paying a bit more than 1¢ per point, you’re better off transferring Chase UR points to Hyatt (if you’d normally redeem those for 1¢ each in cash). These always sell out quickly.
Orbitz May 5th
35% discount on Orbitz. Keep in mind the promo code can only be used for hotels and must be redeemed by December 31st, 2018. Also isn’t clear if it must be used in a single booking, but my guess is yes. Personally I prefer stacking discounts with Hotels.com. Update: It’s one time use only, so no good for me.
Marriott May 4th
20% discount on Marriott eGiftcards.
Our Verdict
I’d buy the Hyatt deal, but I know it will sell out in seconds so I’m not even going to bother. If Orbitz was more transparent and could be used over multiple bookings, I’d probably grab that deal as well but I just know it’s going to be a pain to actually use and won’t really save me that much money. Overall I find these deals average to terrible, but I’m eager to know what you think in the comments below.
Anyone remember how long did it take last year for Choice package to sell out?
Does it even make sense to try?
would be super helpful if you put CPP info next to each deal with pts that MAY make sense.
for example, IHG / HH / Choice / Wyndam etc etc. even the hyatt packages are different CPP each. but like u said, impossible to get because people use robo scripts to buy everything ASAP just like show tickets and are much faster than a human.
Don’t forget that using your CSR will get you 3% back as these deals code as travel. As a DP from last year we bought the Busch Gardens tickets and got 2% back on our CSP.
Thanks, UPS good datapoint!
all travel CC should work if bonus for travel agency. Barclay A+ / Citi etc.
How about the Marriott gift cards? If I get a $500 one can it be used in multiple bookings until I exhaust all the values? Also, is it true that Marriott gift card cannot be used for advance booking (and therefore you can really only use it to book under a regular rate and thus not be able to take advantage of the advance booking savings)?
For those around DC, Costco sells giftcards for the company that runs National Harbor for 20% off. On the back of the card it says they’re good at any Marriott.
I think the Choice package could also be useful for some people. I got it last year and used in some national park locations in peak season.
Yeah, I obviously need to do some more research on Choice as a lot of readers have been getting good value from it.
Exceptional value at several European locations; Prague, Norway, Sweden.
Do I understand it correctly, that I can purchase e.g. 2 nights in Cambria (40.000p) and then use it for 5 nights in a 8000p Sleep Inn hotel?
Actually Orbitz made it clear it’s a one-time code. In the terms,
“Promo codes can only be used once. Any leftover value is void. Promo codes can only be used on reservations paid for at time of booking. Simply use the promo code at checkout.”
Anyone know if this would code for travel and trigger Barclay Arrival+ credit?
yes.
You don’t find the IHG deal worthwhile?
Not really, like I said everybody is different.
Deals I’ve gotten with IHG points recently were $200 of points for Mardi Gras in New Orleans when rooms at the Crowne Plaza Astor were $390 bottom rate, weekend rates at the Crowne Plaza La Concha in Key West for $200 in points when rooms were $400 bottom rate, and the HIE at Phoenix Airport for $100 in points when rates were $280 bottom.
IHG is all over the place on points vs. bottom rate, some awful, some steals.
I recently bought 400K points at .5 cent to replenish my IHG wallet.
could make sense. it depends.
best rate is when you buy 130k for $749 @ 0.576. but you can do better during their 100% bonus points offers if you max out 120k points $690 @ 0.575 cents per IHG Rewards Club point. what does this mean? it means if ur already buying at 100% bonus then its still pretty much worth it to by during DD if you have huge pt needs in the near term. Why?
well 60k is max annual directly thru IHG but here, you can buy 3 packages and it does NOT count towards that 60k limit. so that means you can buy 4 total packages. so you can rack up huge pts if the math makes sense.
You can always buy IHG points at this price by booking a “cash+points” and cancelling immediately. The cash part is returned as points.
They often have sales on these C+P’s where the cost is about .5 cent per point. I recently did a few of these at a HI in San Diego where 20K points were $101, right at .5 cent.