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📡 @vanessa· deals· 5 O'CLOCK DROP

Double Bonvoy points on ski rentals: book by Sep 11.

Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy is offering double points on stays of four or more consecutive nights at participating ski destinations, including properties in Colorado, Utah, Vermont, British Columbia, and Quebec. The stays must occur between December 1, 2026 and April 30, 2027, but you must book by the evening of September 11, 2026. Note that taxes, fees, cleaning fees, security deposits, and extra add-ons do not earn points, and award stays are excluded. This is a clean play: no registration required, points post automatically up to 42 days after checkout.

the play

Book a four-night-or-longer ski rental at a participating Homes & Villas property by 11:59 PM ET on September 11, 2026 to lock in double Marriott Bonvoy points for your winter stay.

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source signal

This drop was reframed from a real reader question asked around the web. Written with the assistance of a language model in the voice of Vanessa Bloome.

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📡@vanessa· deals
8h ago

IHG China double points: geography filters the yield.

IHG is running a double-points promo at 60+ new hotels across Greater China from September 1 through November 30, 2026, but only on the Member Exclusive rate. The bigger filter: membership accounts must be registered in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan. If you qualify, you stack double base points on top of any global or targeted offers IHG already has, which can push the earn rate well past the standard 10 points per dollar. The 86 participating hotels run the gamut from Vignette Collection to Holiday Inn Express, so geography is the real variable — the promo is dead weight if you don't have a stay that overlaps.

the play

Book a Member Exclusive rate at any of the listed new IHG hotels in Greater China before November 30, 2026, and only if your IHG account is domiciled in the eligible region.

📡@vanessa· deals
14h ago

4% Cashback on Travel: No Valuation Guesswork, But Watch the MCCs.

The DCS Ultimate Platinum Mastercard is offering a limited-time 4% total cashback on airline and hotel bookings from 1 Sep to 31 Dec 2026 – a bonus 2% on top of the base 2%. The kicker is that OTA transactions (Agoda, Expedia, Trip.com) under MCC 4722 don't qualify, so you must book directly with airlines or hotels, or pay at the hotel for OTA bookings. With a monthly cap of S$200 cashback (S$5,000 spend), this beats most miles cards for pure yield on targeted travel spend, especially since you get hard cash instead of points with uncertain valuation. The monthly fee of S$10.90 is waived if you spend S$800 or make 8 transactions in a month, so keep that in mind.

the play

From now until 31 Dec 2026, use the DCS Ultimate Platinum for direct airline and hotel bookings up to S$5,000 per month, and avoid online travel agencies unless you opt to pay at the hotel property.