The coolest hotel hack I’ve used in a while

Goooooooood morning from beautiful Bandung, Indonesia!

While I murder the army of spiders that invaded my apartment while I was traveling for two months, here are some sweet travel tips for you to chew on:

• 🏨 The coolest hotel hack I’ve used in a while

• ✈️ Flying Blue Promo Rewards (December 2025)

• 🥾 Hydrate like a pro (even on the trail)

🏨 The coolest hotel hack I’ve used in a while

Accor has a million little subscription programs floating around, and honestly, most people ignore them because they look confusing or region-specific.

But there’s one that’s been quietly sitting there being stupidly valuable, especially if you live in – or plan to travel through – Asia or the Pacific.

It’s called Accor Plus, and after finally signing up this week, I realized it’s one of the most under-the-radar hotel plays out there.

Yes, it’s technically geared toward Asia–Pacific residents, but anyone traveling through the region can sign up and use the benefits.

The membership costs $229 USD, but here’s where it gets fun: the price changes depending on which country page you’re viewing the website from.

I live in Indonesia, so by switching the country selector to “Indonesia,” the price dropped to IDR 3,599,000 – about $216 USD.

Right when you join, they’ll throw 2,000 Accor points into your account.

Accor points have a fixed value of 2 Euro cents each, so that’s automatically $46 USD back, bringing your real cost closer to $170.

Not bad… but here’s where it gets even more interesting.

For that $170, you get:

• Accor Gold status (30 elite nights)

• Two “Stay Plus” free night certificates (more on that in a sec)

• Access to Red Hot Rooms (up to 50% off)

• Dining discounts across Asia Pacific

• Extra perks, member events, and other little goodies

Gold status is nice – you’ll get things like bonus points and the occasional upgrade (at Accor properties worldwide) – but the Stay Plus certificates are the real reason this membership prints value.

Here’s how they work:

You book a two-night stay at participating hotels across Asia and Oceania… and one of those nights becomes free (blackout dates apply).

Not “free” with an asterisk. Not a rebate. Not a coupon. It’s literally buy one night, get one free.

I’ve been playing around with the map, and the value is insane.

Next year, I’m planning a trip back to New Zealand, and the Hotel St. Moritz in Queenstown (a beautiful 5-star MGallery property) is eligible.

The cash rate is around €255 per night, meaning one Stay Plus certificate basically spits out nearly $300 in value instantly. And I still have another one to use.

But the best part?

You can still use Accor points to pay for the paid night. So you’re stacking: one free night, one night paid with points, and you’re walking away paying almost nothing out of pocket.

I tested this with a New Year’s Eve stay here in Jakarta at the Fairmont, which is one of the nicest hotels in the country. The total for two nights was €156 (after taxes), and the “Stay Plus” night counted… even on New Year’s Eve.

I could then use 6,000 Accor points to cover almost all of the cost and pay about $42 USD out of pocket.

So, in my case?

• I paid $170 for the membership

• I got $300+ in value just from the Queenstown example

• I got $356 worth of Fairmont stays for basically $42 and a few points

• I still have status and dining perks everywhere I go

In other words:

I paid $170 and walked away with roughly $477 in value and elite status on top.

If you live in Asia, this is a no-brainer.

But even if you’re planning a trip to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, or anywhere else in this part of the world next year, this membership is worth considering.

Two free nights in this region will more than cover the membership. And if you’re someone who loves a good hotel hack… yeah, this one’s delicious. 🤤

✈️ Flying Blue Promo Rewards (December 2025)

Alrighty, kids. It’s that time again – Flying Blue (points program for KLM/Air France) just dropped their new batch of Promo Rewards for December.

If you’re new here, Promo Rewards are basically Flying Blue’s monthly flash sales – up to 25% off select award routes between North America and Europe.

Sometimes they’re meh… sometimes they’re “holy crap, why is this so cheap.” This month leans very close to the second category.

You can fly to or from Europe for just 18,750 miles in economy, and the list includes Houston, Raleigh/Durham, New York, Washington, Detroit, Atlanta, Boston, Portland, Los Angeles, and Ottawa.

So basically… pick a city. Any city. You’re probably on the list. 🇺🇸🇨🇦

And if that wasn’t enough, Flying Blue decided to spice things up with something new this month: “Flying Blue Extra” exclusive Promo Rewards.

Flying Blue Extra is their paid subscription program (starting around $400+ per year), and if you’re a member, you get access to a few “exclusive” discounted routes, like:

• Miami → Europe for 30,000 miles (in premium economy)

• San Francisco → Europe for 45,000 miles (in business class)

These are legitimately great prices – if you were already planning on buying the membership for its other perks.

But if you’re thinking of dropping $400 just to unlock a handful of promo awards… ehhh. I love a deal, but not a “pay $400 to maybe save some points” deal.

Still, if you’re curious, you can poke around the membership page and judge for yourself. I’m not your dad (as far as I know).

Anyway – back to the good stuff.

The standard Promo Rewards are wide open this month, especially for early 2026 departures.

I’ve already seen solid availability sprinkled throughout winter and spring, and 18,750 miles each way to Europe is a… fine… deal.

The important fine print:

• Book by December 31, 2025

• Travel through May 31, 2026

• Valid only on Air France or KLM metal

• Taxes and fees are not discounted

• Point transfers from all major banks usually work instantly

If you’ve been itching for a winter escape or a spring Eurotrip, this is one of the easiest ways to lock in cheap seats.

That’s all for today, folks! Make sure you tune in tomorrow, where we’ll cover some topics you need to know about before the end of the year.

See you then,

6.9175° S, 107.6191° E

With contributions by McKay Moffitt and Alison Carrico