In past years, it was a ritual.  The hotel point packages went on sale 1pm East Coast USA time which meant I had to be up before 3am in Brisbane.  One year, we were on holiday in Rarotonga and I had to traipse down to reception where the internet was at some ridiculous hour 4 or 5am.  Competition was fierce and the best packages went within seconds!  My target was always Wyndham points which I would quickly transfer to either United, US Airways or American depending on my needs.  It was exasperating but fun to try to get the timing right to snag at least one package or maybe 2 if I was using the 2 browser method.  Then I would go on the Flyertalk thread and join the other in bragging about my successes……………..or commiserating about not being fast enough.

What a difference a devaluation makes!   While a few point packages have still been selling well such as Hyatt and Choice (the latter probably for Southwest Companion passes), the previously hot Wyndham packages are going begging.  IHG are also not selling, probably because of the lackluster Pointbreaks (Disa-Pointbreaks as I call them).  If anyone is interested, plenty of points up for grabs but unless you have worked out a good use for them, save your money and book hotels via Pointshound or Rocketmiles and earn your miles that way!

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