Hiya friends, welcome back to another Weekend Round-Up!

It’s a fall weekend here in Texas, which means either sweating your face off at an Oktoberfest celebration or sweating anxiously as you watch your football team try to pull out a win.

Either way, we’re sweating. 😅 

Thankfully, a few things are still cool this weekend, like these solid hotel deals I’ve got for ya. They're also the only thing we can guarantee won't blow a fourth-quarter lead.

So let's skip the nail-biting and get straight to this week's wins. 👇️ 

🚄 Breaking news: this new partnership lets you book trains with transferable points.

👀 This 40% transfer bonus to Copa Airlines could snag you a deal on domestic flights.

✈️ A new Citi transfer partner + 30% transfer bonus = sweet deals to Europe or Japan.

🤑 Snag this limited-time promo for 250,000 Lufthansa miles to save on partner airlines.

🙅‍♀️ Dodge the expensive cancellation fees with this quick tip for Aeroplan award flights.

🎥 Card combos can boost rewards without extra effort or fees, and this one is the best.

🏆 Our Favorite Pick: 3 hotel wins to save big

The IHG sale I’m eyeing

Admittedly, I’ve been a full-blown Hyatt girlie since I started using points and miles. The deals are too good to resist. But with all the recent changes, I’ve been considering branching out to new programs, and IHG has repeatedly piqued my interest.

It’s one of Mike’s favorites, and I’m finally beginning to see why. 

They’ve got properties everywhere, from high-end to low-end, offer regular transfer bonuses, and have a sweet 4th night free perk if you hold their co-branded card.

They're also running a points sale right now with a 100% bonus.

Normally, buying points isn’t a great deal, but this is one instance where you come out significantly ahead.

Take this Kimpton property in Philadelphia, one of IHG's more upscale brands, where a night runs ~$350 after taxes, which is about 50,000 points per night.

You could buy 150,000 IHG points (75,000 + 75,000 bonus points) for $750, which sounds pretty yikes at first… until you realize the cash price of 3 nights is upwards of $1,050.

And if you’ve got that IHG co-branded card I just mentioned with the 4th night free perk… that’s $750 for 4 nights that would normally run you $1,400.

Hard to argue with $650 in savings. 🤷

Which is why this is a points sale to seriously consider and why this IHG card might be the next one I add to my wallet.

Earn 46x back at IHG

Now, if buying points still gives you the ick, we got you. There’s another way you can earn stacks of points on IHG stays.

IHG’s new global promo allows anyone to earn up to 3x points on paid stays — with a few catches.

• You gotta register for the promotion in the app for 3x points

• The bonus points don’t start until after your second stay

• Only paid stays count with dates between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31

But if you’ve got that saaaame IHG card I mentioned above, your 3x points are compounded big time. Math is hard though, so let’s lay it out:

• 10x points just for being an IHG member

• 20x additional points from the promo (if you book through the app)

• 10x more points for spending on this co-branded card.

• 6x more points from Platinum status (also from that card).

That’s 46 points per dollar, y’all — on a stay you were already going to pay for.

Mike’s an IHG wizard and included more tips for maximizing this promo in his newsletter section earlier this week, so be sure to check that out.

3 different ways to use a $300 hotel credit

If you aren’t tied to one specific hotel program and prefer to chase the best deal or opt for boutique hotels and vacation rentals, this one is for you.

For a limited time, you can get a $300 hotel credit for just $95.

It’s part of the latest welcome offer on the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card — a card that earns 2x miles on everything and only has a $95 annual fee.

Immediately upon approval, you’ll get a $300 credit to use toward hotels and vacation rentals in the Capital One Travel portal in your first cardholder year, and if you meet the minimum spend requirements of $4,000 in the first three months, you’ll earn 75,000 Capital One miles that can also be redeemed for travel.

And you can use that $300 in a variety of ways:

Cover an entire night here at the Kona Kai San Diego on Shelter Island with a private beach, full-service spa, and breakfast included.

Or you can use it to knock $300 off an expensive multi-night stay in the Swiss Alps, which is what I did this summer — the free breakfast was excellent, with the best scrambled eggs of my life. Oh, and perfect little mini pretzels. 🥨 😍 

Or, get some serious bang for your buck and book a TEN-night stay at this bed and breakfast in Bologna (the food capital of Italy) for $30 a night.

All the money you save on accommodations could go straight to pasta and wine. 🤤 

So yeah. We’ve been yammering on about the Venture card recently because its shiny new welcome offer is a legitimately good deal — largely because the card doesn’t usually include the travel credit.

This is a get-it-now-or-not-at-all kind of welcome offer that could help you save, at minimum, $300 on hotel stays.

👀 This Week’s Must-Reads

🌍 Week in Review

• Monday: ✈️ INSANE deal to buy airline miles

• Tuesday: ✈️ A new EPIC airline transfer partner

• Wednesday: 🤯 Business class to Europe for 28k points

• Thursday: 🍝 Get 10 nights in Italy for free

• Friday: ✈️ A very interesting 40% transfer bonus

Alrighty, y’all… I’ve gotta head back to the couch to check the score.

Here’s hoping your football team wins — unless you are a Volunteer. 🤘 

And if you’re not a football fan, here’s hoping you got a win out of these hotel deals!

See ya next weekend!

29.7499° N , 95.3584° W

With contributions by Mike Dodge and Sam Anthony.