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🤙🏿 Welcome back to the Better Than Points Newsletter - the premier place for all things Credit Card Points News and Travel

My name’s Luis and I’m the one writing this (hit me up here!)

Greetings from northern Minnesota, where we just got 8 inches of snow earlier this week.

Luckily, I drove up over the weekend and missed it.

But enough about me, lets get to it.

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Each week, I’ll share something cool I’ve discovered or tackle a question from the community. It’s my little corner to explore ideas, offer fresh perspectives, and hopefully spark your own curiosity.

I just want to take a second to say thank you.

If you opened this on Thanksgiving (or during your break), you gave me a little slice of your time, and that means a lot.

Hitting send every week can feel like yelling into the void, so when you read, reply, or share, it reminds me why I started this almost two years ago.

This newsletter has been a space for me to learn more about points, get better at the game, and pass it along to y’all.

That’s been the best part.

And something I haven’t really talked about yet—I finally released a book.

I’ve been working on it non stop, updating as the points world keeps changing, and decided to just ship it.

When big changes hit, I’ll keep updating it.

It’s basically a decade of everything I know in one place, and I’m really proud of it.

If you decide to pick it up, I’d be super grateful.

Send me a screenshot of your purchase, and I’ll send you a code for the audiobook version as a thank you. (Coming out soon)

I should have the audio wrapped up in about a week and a half, and I’ll make sure you get it so you have both the physical and audio versions.

Thanks for being here, for giving me your time, and for letting me help you travel more with points.

If you’ve got the means and the interest, the book helps me keep building tools and guides to help you make memories.

P.S. The view outside yesterday

With the year wrapping up and the holidays here, you’re probably seeing family you haven’t seen in a while.

Especially that uncle who lives in airports and has elite status.

He might even have a Guest of Honor type certificate to share.

It’s worth skimming which hotel programs let members gift status or perks.

Some let you give someone top tier benefits for up to 7 days (Hyatt).

So ask your family what status they have and whether they’ve got any perks, certificates, or “guest of honor” nights they can pass along if you’ve got travel coming up.

A lot of these rewards and certs expire at year end.

If they’re feeling generous, better you use them than let them die unused.

I keep saying Skymiles are no good, yet they keep proving me wrong.

Thrifty Traveler dropped a Unicorn Award Alert earlier this week: 110,000 SkyMiles one-way, nonstop for a ton of locations in business.

Considering this route often prices 400k+ (lol), that was a good bargain and it didn’t stick around.

It didn’t look like a mistake, availability was widespread, but Delta’s never going to announce this kind of thing.

You either catch it through an alert service or you miss it.

Another solid reason to be on Thrifty Traveler alerts if you want a shot at these.

It wasn’t just business, either.

Economy started at 14,400 miles, and I saw reports of 9+ seats on multiple dates.

If premium wasn’t in the cards, coach was a steal too.

Bottom line: book now ask questions later territory.

If you’ve got SkyMiles, keep an eye out.

When these unicorns pop up, they just don’t hang around.

It’s always fun to see which hotels climb (or tumble) on the “best in the world” lists each year.

The extra layer for us: which of those are actually bookable with points or where you can sneak in nearby for a lot less.

Sure, plenty of these spots run $1,000+ a night, so burning points there could be great value.

But getting a taste of a Top 50 hotel can be a once in a lifetime experience.

I like scanning the list, then hunting for properties on the list that take points, or nearby hotels with similar vibes/amenities that are bookable with points (or at sane cash rates).

Worth a browse, see what’s on top this year and what’s around it that you can actually book without lighting your stash on fire.

Check out these crazy award deals!

This section includes some of the best award flights of the week bookable with points and miles.

Chat with TravelBot - my AI clone. It’s trained on every newsletter I’ve published along with my 10+ years of points and credit card knowledge 🧠.

It’s also trained on my voice, so you can call it and have a full blown conversations. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

This section includes some of the best links videos and articles of the week around the points and travel community