Upcoming Daily Getaways Highlights

The Amex US Travel Association Daily Getaways have been a little hit-or-miss this time around, so I thought I’d point out a few upcoming sales that might be of interest to readers so you can plan in advance if you want to get in (though I'll be writing reminder post for the really good deals).

Thursday, May 3: Choice Rewards
TPG reader Aaron tipped us off that, though this offer is kind of unexciting in terms of Choice Rewards, it could be a good deal for Southwest flyers. Here are the details of the sale itself.

Valid for travel anytime through December 31 two years from the date of deposit. No more than two sets of points purchased through this offer are allowed per loyalty number. Maximum of six sets of points allowed per loyalty number across all Choice Hotels offers.

-40,000 Choice Rewards points for $166 ($240 value). 175 available, 50 presale.
-36,000 Choice Rewards points for $156 ($270 value—not sure how they figure this). 575 available, 50 presale.
-32,000 Choice Rewards points for $134 ($200 value). 465 available, 50 presale.

You can use these at hotels such as Comfort Suites, Cambria Suites and Comfort Inn. Where this gets really interesting, though is when you transfer these to your Southwest Rapid Rewards account.

Let’s take the example of 36,000 Choice Rewards points for $156. If you use your Amex, you actually get these points for $140.40. With Choice and Southwest, the transfer ratio is 6,000 Choice points for 1,800 Rapid Rewards points, so those 36,000 points would get you 10,800 Rapid Rewards points, which you can then in turn use for $180.36 in “Wanna Get Away” fares (at a rate of 60 points per dollar). So by spending $140, you’ve gotten an extra $40, or an extra 28.5% in value. Not amazing, but also not bad, especially if you’re a Southwest flyer.

** Wednesday, May 9: Hyatt Gold Passport **
This is probably the sale I’m most excited about. Basically it is varying amounts of Hyatt Gold Passport points, which I value as some of the best in terms of hotel redemption value, so just ignore the part of the headline where it tells you how many nights and in what kind of property, and just pay attention to the numbers.

These points are good for stays anytime there is award availability. Just note that no more than one set of points purchased through the offer are allowed per membership number and a maximum of four sets of points is allowed per membership number across all these offers—so you can buy one of each of these offers. Points are deposited within 10 days of purchase, and you must be a Gold Passport member to take advantage of this offer. Hyatt Gold Passport points cost 2.4 cents each to buy normally, so there are some substantial discounts to be had here.

This sale breaks down to 1.1 cents per point with each of the four offers, but remember, if you use an Amex to purchase them, you get an additional 10% discount, so in fact, you’d be getting these points for 0.975 cents. That’s nearly a 60% discount, and a price far below the value you can reap from these points.

-24,000 Gold Passport points for $260 ($480 value). 100 available, 20 presale.
They couch this in terms of redemptions at Category 3 hotels, which are 12,000 points a night, but you could also use 22,000 of these points for one night at a Category 6 hotel like the Park Hyatt Tokyo or the Andaz Wall Street, where rooms are regularly hundreds of dollars more. You could also use these points for 3 nights in a Category 2 or 3 nights and change in a Category 1.

-36,000 Gold Passport points for $415 ($720 value). 15 available
This is enough for 3 nights at a Category 3 property like the Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach or the Hyatt Regency Montreal; or 2 nights at a Category 5 property like the Aneaz San Diego or the Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt Buenos Aires (where rooms regularly go for over $400 a night).

-30,000 Gold Passport points for $330 ($600 value). 35 available
That’s enough for 2 nights at a Category 4 hotel like the Hyatt Regency San Francisco (where a rate for just one night is often well over $300), the Hyatt Escala Lodge Park City, or the Grand Hyatt Istanbul.

-69,000 Gold Passport points for $775 ($1,380 value). 15 available
That’s more than enough for a 3-night stay at top Category 6 properties like the Ararat Park Hyatt Moscow and the just-redone Park Hyatt Sydney; and well over enough points for 4 nights at Category 4 properties like Hyatt 48 Lex in New York, and the Grand Hyatt Berlin.

Thursday, May 10: Club Carlson
I haven’t really stayed at Club Carlson properties much, but this deal seems pretty okay if you like Radisson Blu’s and plan on using the points at these properties—especially the ones in Europe, which can cost into the 600-euro range for standard room rates. You can purchase up to two of each of these offers, so four sets of points total, good for travel anytime.

-50,000 Club Carlson Gold Points for $194 ($350 value). 142 available
As I said, 50,000 points can get you a free night at a Radisson Blu like Le Metropolitan in Paris or the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel in London, where rates are well above this, so you’d save money instantly.

-100,000 Club Carlson Gold Points for $385 ($700 value). 71 available
Enough for two nights at a top-end Club Carlson property like the Radisson Blu portfolio.
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