Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop!

I’m still in my Qatar Airways Qsuite en route to Canada… It feels like I basically live here now. And honestly? I’m cool with that.

Here’s what we’ve got today:

• ✈️ Delta’s new “SkyMiles Starter Pack”

• 🏨 Buy 30,000 hotel points for $19.26

✈️ Delta’s new “SkyMiles Starter Pack”

Delta just launched a fun offer for people who somehow made it this far in life without a SkyMiles account.

It's called the SkyMiles Starter Pack, and new members can pick up as many as 5,000 bonus miles for doing three fairly small things.

Now, 5,000 SkyMiles is not going to change your life. But it’s also not nothing.

This one's free, it's genuinely easy, and 5,000 miles are likely more useful than you think (more on that later).

The three activities

Here's the full menu of what you can earn after signing up:

The first one is 100 miles for opting into Delta's marketing emails. It takes about 30 seconds, and you can unsubscribe later.

The second is 1,400 miles for joining SkyMiles Dining, linking a card, and spending $30 on dine-in purchases within 30 days of signing up.

It’s worth noting that the standard SkyMiles Dining welcome bonus is 1,000 miles, so this promo is bumping it by 400.

The third is 1,500 miles for booking a flight in Delta’s app and actually flying it before the clock runs out.

This is the one that requires real effort, since you have to have a Delta trip on the books. So, I’d recommend signing up for a new SkyMiles account and registering for this offer only after having a flight in mind that you need to book.

If you complete all three, you’ll get another 2,000 miles, bringing the grand total earnings up to 5,000 SkyMiles.

The fine print

This is for new members only, and you have to enroll in the promo within 45 days of joining SkyMiles. If you've had an account since 2011, this isn't for you. 😬

You then get three months from enrollment to finish everything. The dining spend has its own separate 30-day window from when you join SkyMiles Dining, so don't sign up for that and forget about it.

Registration closes December 31, 2026, so there's no real rush. Once you have a new account, you can enroll on the Promotions page in your account.

What 5,000 miles actually gets you

Delta's award pricing is dynamic, which is usually a complaint, but it also means short domestic hops can land under 5,000 miles.

Like this one. 👇

And if you hold one of Delta's co-branded cards, the 15% award discount drops that same flight to about 4,165 miles, which leaves you with almost 1,000 miles left over.

That's not a business class seat to Tokyo. But… but it is a real flight you didn't pay for, which is a pretty good return on opening an email and eating dinner.

The bottom line

If you don't have a SkyMiles account, this is close to free points for a few minutes of setup.

The flying requirement is the only real hurdle, and if you're not planning a Delta trip in the next three months, you'll still walk away with 1,500 miles for the two easy ones.

Just don't sign up for the dining portion until you know you've got a $30 dinner coming.

🏨 Buy 30,000 hotel points for $19.26

Wyndham is out with a fun (and somewhat frustrating) new promo that is a really solid deal… if you’re lucky enough to get it.

Wyndham is releasing a commemorative candy collection for the 100th anniversary of Route 66.

Yes, one of the flavors is smoked brisket. Another is deep-dish pizza. 🤷🏼‍♂️

The box costs $19.26, a nod to the year Route 66 opened, and it includes 30,000 Wyndham Rewards points.

That last part is the reason I’m talking about this.

What's actually in the box

There are six flavors:

• Deep-dish pizza (Chicago)

• Pecan pie (Tulsa)

• Smoked brisket (Amarillo)

• Roasted green chile (Albuquerque)

• Prickly pear soft serve (Flagstaff)

• Root beer float (Kingman)

Two of those sound delicious. The rest sound… 🤮

You also get a Route 66 travel guide and the 30,000 points, with shipping included in the price.

And to be clear, you do not have to eat any of it to get the points.

Now the catch

Wyndham is selling exactly 100 of these.

One hundred. For the entire country. First come, first served, limit one per household.

The sale goes live August 20 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, and my honest guess is they'll be gone by roughly 10:00 a.m. Eastern. 😬

So this is a “set-an-alarm, have-the-tab-open, be-sitting-there waiting” deal.

Why 30,000 points is worth it

Wyndham award nights currently start at 7,500 points, and there are real properties at that number.

Here's a Baymont in Orlando, about 20 minutes from Universal. 👇

So, 30,000 points is enough for four nights there and similarly priced hotels around the country.

It's about to get better

Remember those Wyndham changes I covered recently? On September 15, the award floor drops from 7,500 points to 5,000.

At that rate, 30,000 points is six nights, which is fantastic for a $20 purchase.

These will be the most basic hotels in the portfolio, obviously. But if you're on a road trip and just need a bed and a shower between driving days, that's what Wyndham is for.

The bottom line

This is a fantastic deal, and you will probably not get it.

Treat it like a lottery ticket that costs nothing to enter: alarm set for 9:55 a.m. Eastern on August 20, page loaded, click fast.

If you miss it, you've lost a minute of your morning. If you get it, please let me know. ☺️

That’s all for today… I’m gonna get back to my lobster bisque, beef tenderloin, and Côtes du Rhône (god it’s nice to be in business class).

See you tomorrow. 🫡

45.5089° N, -73.5617° W

With contributions by Katie Begnoche and April Wilson.