A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

Want to Buy a Hotel in Portugal?

A lot of travelers and remote workers dream of owning their own B&B or boutique hotel. Just finding the listings can be daunting though, so it’s nice to see this site for Portugal simply called Buythathotel.com. It finds, curates and summarizes listings, in English, with prices listed from 625,000 euros to a few million.

Higher Costs for Airline Reward Travel

If you feel like you need a lot more points these days to book that flight on Delta or United, it’s not your imagination. This Travel Weekly article highlights a new study showing that costs in points have gone up 28% since 2019. I just booked a one-way ticket from the USA to Mexico on American Airlines for 8,000 points though and it turns out their points are the most valuable. Southwest’s are next and the value is higher if you are checking a bag. Get a huge bank of points with the credit cards from Southwest (50K) or American (70K).

New Jersey Gets a Boost From NYC Airbnb Ban

New York City banned most short-term apartment rentals six months ago, hoping it would lead to more housing and lower rents. Neither of those results has happened yet. Instead, the city just handed lots of business to New Jersey towns across the river. “Jersey City has seen demand rise 77 percent year-over-year as of mid-February, according to AirDNA, while in Weehawken and Hoboken demand has increased 45 and 32 percent, respectively.”

Winning and Losing Cities in the War for Talent

Now that so many remote workers can live anywhere they want—and pick up and leave if a place disappoints them—how well are international big cities competing? This fascinating Fast Company article breaks down stats to reveal which cities are luring knowledge workers, which are losing them, and which are stagnant. (Good retention in Toronto and Melbourne, quick goodbyes in Dublin and Dubai.) It also looks at factors these residents value the most. Cleanliness, safety, and housing beat out medical care and quality of government services.

05/2/24