Blog #12 – $66.80 For 8 Days in Hawaii

Blog Post #12

$66.80 for 8 Days in Hawaii – Travel Hacking Trip

I finally booked my Hawaii trip after over a year of planning!! I originally thought that I collected most of my points through the renovation of my house, but after going back through my notes I saw that it was mainly just my normal spending put on a credit card! I’ve used points for only one other trip so far so this will really be my first big trip. 

Overall I saved almost $5,700 on the total expenses 

and only had to come out of pocket $66.80.

This includes 2 round-trip flights from Charlotte to Maui, and 8 nights in 2 separate luxury hotels. Here is the breakdown:

• $66.80 Total and almost $5,700 saved for:
  • 2 round-trip flights and 
  • 8 nights on Maui, Hawaii

• Flights
  • Total Saved = $1,500

• 2 round trip tickets on Qantas
  • Flights can only be used on Qantas points
  • 68,500 points x 2 = 137,000 points

• Comparable flight prices
  • $750/ticket = $1,500

• Hotels
  • Total Saved = $4,198 

• 5 nights at Hyatt Regency Maui Resort
  • $461/night = $2,305
  • 30,000 points x 4 nights = 120,000 points
    • + 25,000 points 
    • Total = 145,000 points

• 3 nights at the AC Hotel by Marriott Maui Wailea
  • $631/per night = $1,893
    • Saved 
  • Used my 3 free night awards and got them for $0 and 0 points

How I got my points

Simply, I strategically opened cards and used my normal spending to get the welcome bonus. I was going through a renovation on my house using three 0% APR credit cards, but I didn’t earn any points until I paid off the cards. So the majority of my points were from using the cards on my typical spending and paying them off every 2 weeks. Basically, I used them like I would a debit card which is what I recommend anyone who is playing the points game to do!!!

What sites I used

Starting out, I downloaded the Travel Freely app and set up an account so I could track all of my cards, their bonus dates, signup dates, and stay up to date on the latest offerings. When I finally had the points I was able to transfer them out to transfer partners like Hyatt, Marriott, and Qantas to book the hotels and flights. The biggest bonus was using my Marriott card where you can use your 3 free nights (up to 50k points), which you get every year when you have the card!!! 

Recap

• Total points used = 282,000
• 2 round trip flights & 8 nights in Maui, Hawaii
• Total Saved = $5,698
• Total Spent = $66.80