Daily Getaways is back for 2016!  In what seems to be an annually recurring spring thing, the US Travel association has announced Daily Getaways 2016.  While a few years ago this was also sponsored by American Express, and you could get a discount on the Daily Getaways deals by using your Amex card, there is no such association, sponsorship or discount this year.

While I do find most of these deals to be rather iffy, Daily Getaways 2016 can be a good opportunity to buy points on the cheap but I would only recommend doing that IF you have a specific recommendation in mind.

With that said, here are details on Daily Getaways 2016 Week 1.  Remember, all of these deals go live at 1pm EDT, and there are limits on most of them, and the really good deals will sell out quickly.

Daily Getaways 2016 – Week 1 offers

You can find the Complete list of the Daily Getaways here, but here is the Week 1 calendar

As they did last year, for whatever reason Choice Hotels decides to “brand” their giveaways, which is misleading if not outright deceptive.  In any case, even though it talks about “Comfort Inn”, “Comfort Suites”, “Sleep Inn”, and “Cambria Hotels and Suites”, it’s really just buying Choice Hotels points

• 36,000 points for $155 (0.43 cents per point or cpp)
• 32,000 points for $132 (0.4125 cpp)
• 20,000 points for $90 (0.45 cpp)
• 40,000 points for $160 (0.4 cpp)

I would value Choice points around 0.5 or 0.6 cpp, so this can be a good opportunity but again, only IF you are planning on using them.  We used 16,000 points to stay at a Rodeway Inn and Suites in Yellowstone during the peak of summer (cash cost $290 / night).  So if you bought 2 of the 40,000 points deals for $320 total, you’d be spending $320 for 5 nights at this hotel ($64 / night) when it goes for nearly $300 / night.  On the other hand, I did stay at a Rodeway Inn for $39 / night (and lived to tell the tale!), so points would NOT be a very good redemption there 🙂

Keep in mind that Choice Hotels does have a rather strange loyalty program, where you can only book your hotel 60-75 days before the stay, which I find rather odd.

Daily Getaways 2016 Week 1: the maybes

The 2 deals that I’d consider “maybes” are Tuesday and Thursday’s deals.  If you’re already planning on going to Busch Gardens or Sea World, then you’re not likely to find tickets cheaper than they’re being offered on Tuesday.

The Best Western points deal on Thursday is also a maybe.  0.55 cpp is about what I would consider a decent deal for Best Western points, but because it’s a bit harder to get Best Western points (with no transfer partners) you might find value here.  Again, I’d only buy here if you have a specific stay in mind.  I’ll say in my case, having a stash of Best Western points did save my bacon last week when trying to book an orphaned hotel night.

2016 DailyGetaways Week 1: the duds

The IHG points are not a BAD deal, though you can often “manufacture” IHG points for as little as 0.6 cents per point.  The reason I classify Wednesday’s DailyGetaways as a dud is because there are lots of ways to get IHG points.  They are a Chase transfer partner (though typically I would not recommend transferring from Chase as the value is not there), but due to their promotions, you can often get better deals – ofr instance, with the fall Accelerate promotion I ended up with 45,160 points for 2 nights stay ($185) (about 0.40 cpp).  Plus, you all got your 100,000 IHG points from filling out envelopes from the IHG Priceless Surprises promo, right?!? (I finally did!)

And those Vegas deals are always in the Daily Getaways, and Daily Getaways 2016 is no exception – those are always ways to get cheaper deals in Vegas.

Planning on taking advantage of any of the 2016 Daily Getaways?