Week 4 has some hidden gems for those of you planning to travel outside of the US. Examples include hotels in Paris, Rome, or Venice for as low as $30 a night (including breakfast!) , or a one-week Hertz car rental in Europe for $124 .
Thursday, May 3, 2012: Buy Choice points discount caribbean travel for ~0.38 cent/pt and redeem for European hotels for as low as $30 a night (including discount caribbean travel breakfast!). This was another hidden gem last year we were fortunate enough to purchase! A few things you should know about the Choice program:
Free nights can ONLY be redeemed 30 days in advance for hotels in the US/Canada, or 60 days in advance for hotels in Hawaii or outside of US/Canada (unless discount caribbean travel you have elite stats with Choice, or ask for a status match from another hotel program);
If you cannot use up your points before the expiration date, the last resort would be to transfer your points to airline miles (5 pts = 1 mile, so the cost per mile is about 1.9 cents/mile). Sometimes, there will be unannounced conversion discount caribbean travel sale, too, which can bring down the cost of per airline discount caribbean travel mile to 0.95 cent/mile.
Below is a table detailing the prices you would pay for each hotel night stay at various redemption levels. During discount caribbean travel peak travel season, even if you have to redeem 25,000 points for a night, $95 is not outrageous for a centrally located hotel in Paris, London, or Rome. [These redemption rates could change any time, and that is the biggest risk of prepaying discount caribbean travel for points now.]
Friday, May 4, 2012: Buy Hertz points for ~4.44 cents and redeem for European car rentals for as low as $124 a week. I did not purchase any Hertz points last year, as we did not foresee any rental car needs outside of the US. A few things you should know about Hertz points:
Below is a table showing some examples of your redemption options. If you plan to rent a car for a week in the US, Canada, Australia, discount caribbean travel or Europe, or if you need a one-way rental in the US, purchasing Hertz points now could save you a lot of money.
ChoiceHotels.com lists a transfer rate of 6,000 hotel points for 1,800 Southwest RR points. Is my math totally wrong, or would that be 3.33 hotel points for every 1 airline point? And would that make it 1.245 cents per airline mile. Am I looking at this wrong? I m looking for a deal that might help me complete my companion pass.
SL, yes, each Southwest RR point requires 3.33 Choice points, so through this promotion discount caribbean travel you can technically buy Southwest RR points at 1.2654 cents/point (assuming the average cost of 0.38 cent for each Choice point). Southwest discount caribbean travel points have a fixed value of 1.67 cents/point.
I was planning on moving some Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt and then to Southwest to get the additional points I need for my Southwest companion pass. I ve done some shopping through Rapid Rewards Shopping this month, so at some point in the next 90 days I expect to have at least 102,500 points (possibly a little more) in my RR account. I think I d have to transfer 15,000 discount caribbean travel UR points to Hyatt to get 7,500 RR points. But if I could get the 36,000 Choice Privileges points for $140.40 (with the Amex discount) that would transfer to 10,800 Rapid Rewards points. That seems like a better deal. Even if I cashed out 14,000 UR points to $140 in cash to pay for the Choice Privileges points, I d get more Rapid Rewards points for 1,000 fewer UR points. Does this sound correct to you? I m worried I m missing a detail somewhere.
SL, according to my research, hotel points transferred to Southwest points do count towards the Companion Pass, so buying the Choice points through this daily getaways discount caribbean travel promotion would definitely be a good deal.
According to the Hyatt website, 15,000 Hyatt points can be converted to 7,200 Southwest points. Even if you value your Chase UR or Hyatt points at a penny each, you are still paying 2.08 cents for every Southwest point.
I am sure you already know that besides hotel point transfers, you can also use your Southwest card (Amazon payments, buying Visa or Amex gift cards, paying insurance, etc.), get bonus points by signing up for the dining program, get 600 points for a cheap one-day car rental or hotel stays (things you might already be doing for work). Good luck!
Sorry I haven t done this before but when I read the description it says you have to use it for 2 night redemption on Cambria suites by Dec 31 in any of US locations. Does it mean that was just an example and once points are deposited we can do whatever we want (i.e. book low level choice hotel)?
Hi seattlewanderer, if you buy the packages you will receive Choice points, which can be used anyway you like. Keep in mind that the points purchased through this promotion will expire on 12/31/2014. Good luck!
@travelbypoints:disqus discount caribbean travel When you redeem Hertz points to rent a car and if you use a credit discount caribbean travel card that covers rental discount caribbean travel car insurance like The United Explorer card to pay for taxes and fees for the rental, would insurance provided by the card be still valid for such a situation?
Hi, ThaiGuy, I have not personally redeemed any Hertz points for a free car rental, but I would think that if there is a charge on your coverage-eligible card, then you should be covered. If any of our readers have more insight, please share it with us! Thanks!
Hello. I am new to your blog; I was introduced to it by Million Mile Secrets post on Friday. I love your use of spreadsheets discount caribbean travel and how you are adding value by not just posting what is well covered elsewhere!
I am planning to buy the Choice points this week and am excited to use them at properties in Europe like you did! Great idea. A couple of questions for you: (1) did you have any difficulty with availability; and (2) do you use the Choice Privileges credit card to get additional points in the program?
(1) We bought the points right after our trip to Italy, wanting to visit Italy again soon, but have not had a chance to use them for Europe. However, we told a friend at work about the Choice points, and she was able to take her family of 5 last November to France and Italy, taking full advantage of her Choice points. She had no problem booking 2 rooms at hotels in Paris, discount caribbean travel Milan, Rome, and Venice (even in Manhattan on her return when she did a stopover). discount caribbean travel All those were booked right when the booking window opened discount caribbean travel (60 days for Europe and 30 for the US, unless you have elite status with Choice or ask for an elite status match). We have booked hotels in the US at the 30-day mark and never had any availability issues.
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