Welcome to The Morning Shave. We read a ton of travel articles each day for our research to share the best travel tips, tricks, and news with you. Here are the articles for Saturday, January 11, 2025, that we think you should read.
Don’t miss out on any new posts. Join our email list for the latest tips, tricks, and travel news.
The Morning Shave
The Perks Travelers Get For Owning Shares of Hotel Stock.
I’m a huge believer in investing for your future. That’s why I use tools like Acorns ($5 bonus!) to invest automatically and Empower to track my money. Taking things a step further, when you own shares of certain hotels, you’ll receive exclusive benefits. While some benefits are pretty lackluster, others are fairly substantial. And, when you stay at the brand’s hotels, you’re putting a little bit of cash back in your pocket (higher revenues tends to equal higher share prices). Would you buy shares in a hotel just for these benefits?
Choice Privileges Award Booking Window Extended To 50 Weeks.
I opened a Choice Privileges Select Mastercard when they launched with Wells Fargo. While I like some of the card’s perks, one of the biggest issues I’ve found is the limits on redeeming points. Fortunately, Choice has now extended its booking window from 90 days to 50 weeks (roughly 1 year). That makes travel planning so much better. Now, they just need to work on room availability since I had trouble finding any locations in Barcelona or Madrid that would actually take their points. And you may want to burn your Choice points now because many people are predicting a massive devaluation this year.
JetBlue Launches New Transatlantic Routes to Madrid and Edinburgh from Boston.
JetBlue continues its European expansion with new flights to Madrid and Edinburgh from Boston. I’ve done podcast episodes about both cities, and I can’t wait to fly JetBlue to visit both of them. And, even if you aren’t a fan of JetBlue, their new routes will force other airlines to lower prices to remain competitive with this LCC. That’s a huge win for everyone!
Exchange your unwanted gift cards for United miles.
Christmas has turned from being a holiday with fun-filled surprise gifts to lame gift cards. While gift cards supposedly allow you to buy something you like, there’s very little thought that goes into buying them. And people still manage to screw that up by buying gift cards to stores you don’t shop at, or the stores have sky-high prices that far exceed the value of the gift card. If you’d rather fly than figure out how to use them, United offers a way to convert your gift cards into United MileagePlus miles. There are over 100 retailers on the list, and while the conversion rate isn’t that good, it is better than allowing the gift card to sit in a drawer unused (and potentially expiring!).
11 Important Things to Do Before Your Next International Trip.
If you haven’t traveled internationally in a few years, the world is a far different place than it was before COVID. Not only do certain countries have certain health standards that you need to be aware of, the U.K., Europe, and others now require electronic travel authorization (complete with a small fee) before you can fly. This to-do list will help you tackle these challenges and prepare you to have a wonderful experience on your next international trip (and some apply to domestic trips too).
Thinking of getting a new credit card?
To see the best credit card offers available, go to our credit card marketplace to find your next card.
