Buy transferable points for cheap

Good morning from Kigali, Rwanda – the cleanest and most chill city in Africa.

Today is going to be fun. I want to cover some awesome ways to earn and redeem points that you might not normally think about.

Strap in, folks:

• 🤓 Travel Trivia Tuesday

• 💳 Buy transferable points for cheap

• 🍔 How I bought a Michelin-starred dinner with points

• 🌎 Travel Trivia Reveal

🤓 Travel Trivia Tuesday

The answer is waiting a little farther down… keep scrolling 👇

💳 Buy transferable points for cheap

Okay, this is a fun one…

As I have talked about many times, Rakuten is a great way to earn cash back on everyday purchases.

But what’s more exciting is the ability to earn MR points or Bilt Rewards instead of cash back.

In other words, earning 1% results in earning one point back instead. So when there’s a deal with INSANE cash back rates, you can effectively buy points for cheap.

Right now, there’s a deal to get 97% back at NordVPN, for example.

Let’s do some math 🤓

An annual plan at NordVPN costs $83 (in this case, the terms state that you’ll only earn cash back on a Basic plan, so that’s the most you can spend).

Getting 97% cash back means you can choose to get $81…. OR…. You can get 8,100 MR points or Bilt points.

So which should you choose?

Well, let’s look at an example…

You could choose to earn Bilt points and then transfer those points to World of Hyatt, which is enough to book as many as two free hotel nights at certain hotels:

So, would you pay $81 for two nights at Hyatt (and still have points left over)?

For most people, it’s probably a hard yes.

I personally just did this, and the cash back showed as pending on my account within about an hour. 👇

But wait, there’s more!

Rakuten also currently has a referral offer. When you use a link (you can use Daily Drop’s link if you want to make me happy), you’ll get $50 of cash back when you spend $50.

So now let’s run the math on the NordVPN offer.

You’ll spend $83, which will trigger both the 97% cash back AND the $50 referral offer, for a total of $131 back, or 13,100 points.

Heck, even if you don’t care about points (totally fair), you could just treat this as a way to spend $83 and get $131 back. It’s literally free money.

All of this isn’t even taking into account the value of having 2+ years of a VPN, which you should have anyway.

The fine print

Okay, a few small things…

You can earn Bilt points at a rate of 1 point per 1% cash back, but this offer is valid only until mid-May. Then, the rate goes down.

Also, read the terms of every offer carefully. For example, the $50 signup offer from Rakuten requires you to be a new customer, and NordVPN’s offer requires the same.

So just be careful, and enjoy your cheap points or free money.

🍔 How I bought a Michelin-starred dinner with points

Last week, I stayed at the Sofitel in Cotonou, Benin. This might surprise you, but it was one of the nicest and most expensive hotels I’ve ever stayed at.

One of the highlights of the hotel was dining at L’ami, a fantastic restaurant by Michelin-starred chef Georgiana Viou.

It was one of the best meals I’ve had in Africa, and was definitely a splurge – coming out to over $100… which is insane for a country like Benin.

Anyway, I didn’t spend a cent on it.

In fact, I racked up a $988 bill for my two-night stay at this hotel. But out of pocket, I paid just $49.

That’s because Accor Live Limitless allows you to use points to pay for any expenses you charge to your hotel room upon checkout.

How it works

You can apply points to a stay when booking a hotel through the app. But when you check out, you can also tell the staff you want to apply points to your remaining room charges.

They’ll ask how many points you want to apply, then send a one-time password to your email, which arrives instantly.

Then, voila – room charges erased.

Here’s what my bill looked like for my Sofitel stay in the end:

As you can see, the only charge on my actual card was $49. Everything else – laundry, drinks, multiple meals – all covered with points.

This is why Accor is freaking awesome. We have multiple programs that allow us to transfer points to Accor:

• Capital One miles

• ThankYou points

• Bilt Rewards

• Rove Miles

In other words, it’s a very accessible and VERY flexible currency.

This is also a good reminder of how you can use points and benefits at hotels even when you aren’t staying there.

Some of the best restaurants and spas in the world are associated with chain hotels. And in many cases, you can leverage your points and benefits even if you don't stay.

In the case of Accor, you could dine at a nice restaurant like I did (if it’s part of an Accor hotel), and use your points to pay – even when you aren’t a guest.

Other cool perks

Last year, my Daily Drop colleagues and I went to Lijiang, China.

We asked around for the best Peking Duck in the city. And by pure chance, it happened to be at the local Hyatt hotel.

We weren’t staying there, but we decided to dine there. And even without being guests, I was able to earn Hyatt points on the meal – including my 30% bonus for Globalist status.

Here’s another fun one:

In my home city of Bandung, there’s a Moxy hotel (a Marriott brand) with the best rooftop bar and restaurant in the city.

Sometimes, I like to go there to grab a drink or some food. And when I do, I get a 25% discount because of my Marriott Titanium status – again, even though I’m not a guest.

Then, I use my Marriott co-branded card to pay and earn even more bonus points.

Okay, okay, this has been a little ramble, but here’s the point:

Points, miles, hotel loyalty, and elite status can come in handy for far, far more than just booking a room.

🌎 Travel Trivia Reveal

A few minutes ago, we asked which airline was the most punctual in 2025…

And if you chose Delta Air Lines, congrats — you nailed it. 🙌

According to Cirium’s 2025 On-Time Performance Review, Delta finished the year as the most on-time airline in North America, continuing its streak as one of the world’s most operationally reliable carriers.

Cirium’s rankings look at factors like:

• On-time departures and arrivals

• Schedule reliability

• Consistency across the full year

And Delta came out on top when it came to actually getting people where they needed to go… on schedule.

Globally, airlines in the Middle East and Asia also dominated the rankings, with carriers like Qatar Airways once again earning top marks for punctuality and overall operational performance.

So yeah — if you’ve ever felt oddly confident booking a tight connection on Delta, the data says that instinct wasn’t wrong.

👉 You can read the full punctuality rankings and methodology here.

That’s it, my friends. Take care and see you tomorrow,

1.9441° S, 30.0619° E

With contributions by McKay Moffitt