Canadians Can Now Participate with U.S. Travel Association Daily Getaways!
You can purchase amazing travel getaways across the United States at discounted prices with the U.S. Travel Association through a promotion called the Daily Getaways. Offers are sold at a fixed price in limited quantities on a first-come, first-serve basis. Offers are purchased on the site but booking can be done at a later date. A new offer comes out at 1:00pm ET every weekday beginning April 10, 2017. Note that this promotion generally happens every year in the months of April and May for a total of 5 weeks of live sales and 2 weeks of post sales.
Partner Programs
This has been a very popular initiative that has partnered with the following loyalty programs:
- Alamo Rent-a-Car
- Avis Car Rental
- Best Western International
- Caesars Entertainment
- Carnival Cruise Line
- Choice Hotels International
- Expedia
- Fairmont Hotels and Resorts
- Hertz Rent-a-Car
- Hilton Hotels and Resorts
- Hyatt Hotels and Resorts
- InterContinental Hotel Group
- Las Vegas Sands Corporation
- Loews Hotels and Resorts
- Marriott International
- MGM Resorts International
- Omni Resorts and Hotels
- SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment
- Universal Parks and Resorts
- Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
Who is eligible to participate?
Originally, this was only offered to Americans, but they have now extended it to Canadian residents, excluding Quebec. I think I rather not get into the whole “why not Quebec” debate. But feel free to discuss in the comment section below. I will say this for Quebecors, if you have friends or family in the rest of the country, maybe you can work something out!
How does the Deals Work?
I will use today’s two deals as a way of explaining this program. The current deal is that you can purchase up to 50,000 IHG Rewards Club point for $299. I value 1 IHG point at 0.7 cents per point. That means that 50,000 points is worth a minimum of $350. It can be worth a lot more, depending on how you leverage your points. They estimate that it can be worth $575, but it depends on what you redeem your points for.
The next deal, available at 1:00pm ET is at visit to any Busch Gardens Park (in Florida or Virginia). You would pay $45 USD for a single-day admission ticket, which they claim has an estimated value of $103. But if you go to the Busch Gardens’ websites (Florida or Virginia), you will find tickets for less than $103.
Conclusion
The idea is that you spend less money to get more value. But I would always do the calculations first (including foreign exchange rates), to determine whether it is worthwhile. Also, I recommend doing a quick research to correlate the value, rather than taking their word for it.
Don’t forget to factor in the exchange rate.
Yes, as it fluctuates, it should be factored into the calculations, as I mentioned in the last sentence, but I clarify it further.
Keep in mind that sometimes it’s more advantageous to just pay the rate with money, as opposed to buying IHG points.
Best rate that the IHG points were offered at is 8500 points for 49 USD or 130000 points for 749 USD, which adds up to ~0.576 cents US/point.
For example, I am right now looking at a trip to Kyoto and Osaka in the fall.
Let’s look at some of the prices for September:
ANA Crowne Plaza Kyoto (the only IHG hotel in town)
Cheapest rate (weekday): ￥9880 (1 single bed non-smoking) ~= 90.17 USD
Most expensive rate (Sat/Sun): ￥11400 (1 single bed non-smoking) ~= 104.03 USD
Standard room rate (weekday): ￥12160 ~= 110.97 USD
Most expensive standard room rate (weekday): ￥15200 ~= 138.72 USD
or 30K points/night =~ 172.80 USD @ 0.576 cent/point
Paying cash is better then buying points in all circumstances. Last time I stayed at this hotel, I paid using Amazon.ca credit card. 0 regrets.
On the other hand:
Intercontinental Osaka
King Deluxe, weeknight rate ￥34200 ~= 312.11 USD
King Deluxe, Sat/Sun rate ￥47880 ~= 436.95 USD
Superior Room (42 sq meters), same as Deluxe room or 50K points/night =~ 288 USD @ 0.576 cent/point
Slight advantage to use points on the weekdays, about 34% (149 USD) savings if booking the room over Sat/Sun. However I am not about to spend this much money for a hotel stay, when other, much cheaper options are available.
However, one advantage of IHG points is…. From past experience, ANA Crowne Plaza Kyoto gets rapidly booked on the weekends. Even now weekend availability in September is very spotty. So having 90K points in my IHG account allows me to book the Thursday – Monday block (3 nights) now, and then, if I decide that I need it, cancel and book with cash with no penalty, or if I decide that I don’t need it, just cancel outright and get all my points back.
Thanks Stany V for the awesome breakdown of an example of what I mean by doing the calculations. Yes, if the points cost too much to buy, we are better off just paying cash for the stay instead.
So can we Canadians purchase the deals in CAD or do we still need to buy them in USD?
I believe USD only, I am unaware of a CAD option.