NowBoarding, your daily travel news in 7 minutes or less. This is your host, Ed Pizza, bringing you the latest travel deals and travel news you need to know Monday through Friday.  Tune in daily so you don’t miss any of the best deals!

Look for links to all of today’s stories in the show notes on whatever podcast platform you’re listening.  And, please share the show with a friend!

We’ve got 6 stories to cover in today’s news, so let’s get started.

First up, Hilton has announced their first promotion of 2020.  It starts the day after their current one ends, which is great for road warriors.  The promotion itself isn’t quite as valuable as some of their recent promotions.  You’ll earn 2000 points for every stay and you’ll earn 10,000 points for every 10 nights.  Hilton’s points don’t stretch as far as chains like Hyatt or even Marriott, so they sort of need to run promotions like this to be offering good value to their members.

This promotion is perfect for folks who have very short stays.  If you’re a salesperson hopping from city to city on a daily basis, this one can make you a ton of extra points.  It feels like there’s some sort of Hilton property in just about every city across the US.  As always with promotions, make sure you register ahead of time so you don’t forget to do it later.  You’ll find a link in the show notes.

You know, while we’re talking about hotel promotions, I wonder what folks are planing for hotel status this year.  Which chain are you planning to patronize in 2020?  Look for a Twitter poll or tweet me your thoughts @pizzainmotion.

Don’t expect to see much visible holiday cheer if you’re flying United Airlines this holiday season.  The airline and their fight attendant’s union have messaged to flight attendants that Santa hats, festive aprons, reindeer ears and most other overt shows of holiday cheer.

If you’re still shopping for last-minute gifts, I’ve got three articles for you to look over.  God Save the Points has a number of travel-related itemsthat you can still purchase in time to squeeze under the Christmas tree.  And, if you’re looking for something simpler, Miles to Memories has a whole stack of gift card deals.  Uber, Grubhub, Cheesecake Factory, AT&T, Lowe’s all have gift cards on sale.  Costco is still having a last-minute toy sale and Office Depot has discounts on themed gift cards you can redeem at multiple locations.

And, wrapping up the holiday shopping theme, there are some last-minute shopping portal bonuses.  I’ve seen plenty of individual merchants offering extra miles in the holiday shopping season.  But, United, American and Alaska Airlines all have easy offers for cumulative spendingwith any merchant on their shopping portals.

If you’re not familiar with shopping portals, there are literally hundreds of merchants you probably already buy from on these portals.  Petco, Gap, Office Depot, Magazine Subscriptions, Macy’s, Under Armour, Apple.  Heck, my sister bought tires and an engine for her boat through a shopping portal.  If you have holiday shopping left and you’re not earning bonus miles, you’re doing it wrong.

Wrapping up today, If you’re looking to travel ultra cheaply and you don’t mind the bus, FlixBus is currently running a promotion offering 99 Cent ticketsbetween popular destinations like New York and DC for LA and San Francisco.  I’m not much of a bus guy, but if budget is the goal, FlixBus is your solution at the moment.

That’s a full wrap on today’s travel news. If you’ve got a piece of travel news that you think I should feature on NowBoarding, you can e-mail me at ed@pizzainmotion.com, or find me on social media, Twitter, Facebookand Instagram. And, you can find me blogging daily at pizzainmotion.com.

Lastly, I need your help, for just a minute. Reviews and ratings are a huge part of what helps us reach a larger audience. So take a minute and help us out, leaving us a review and a rating wherever you get your podcasts. And, please tell a friend. That’s your travel news in 7 minutes or less. I hope you’ll join us again on a future flight!