I prefer hotels to Airbnb. Hotels are also great to “hack” as there are loyalty programs and credit cards which earn points which can be redeemed for stays. Unfortunately, programs continue to devalue their programs in order to make more money. I have been a Marriott loyalist for the past 5 years, but this year I starting doing more with Hyatt and with Marriott’s most recent changes this week I will stick with Hyatt.
My favorite use of points is when I can get the biggest bang per point. This is often on fancy hotels or when rates are high. Some places we’ve stayed in the past where the St. Regis Aspen, Park Hyatt Paris, Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay, and many more. I would not have paid $800 a night for any of those, but with points sure thing. I would rather spend 50,000 points for an $800 room than 25,000 points for a $200 room. However, everyone is different. The same logic applies for my flights. I prefer to save points for business class, while other may prefer to take twice as many trips in economy.
Here are recent and upcoming trips I have, how much they cost, and how much I will spend on them. I am flying Southwest on all of these since we have the Companion Pass.
Big Sky – $3000
I booked this with points for 100,000 Marriott Points before the price went up 140,000. Buy 4 nights get one free with a Marriott redemption. I had the points from various activities.
Steamboat – $900
I used 2 free night certificates that you get for keeping your credit card. There is a $95 annual fee, so that $190. The third night was a certificate I got from earning Titanium status with Marriott.
Park City – $4400
I used a 7 night package for this stay. I got the package for 390,000 points, but I didn’t have enough so I had to buy some. The package include 110,000 United miles which is worth almost 4 economy flights to Europe. I’d value United miles worth 2 Marriott points, so let’s says the hotel cost 390,000 – 220,000 = 170,000 points. The hotel would have been 240,000 points, so it is like saving 70,000 points. Since I had to buy points for around 1 cent each, we’ll say this stay cost me $1700.
Aspen – $1700
This was booked with 90,000 Wyndam points which was the amount of points received from the Wyndam card sign up bonus. It’s not a Days Inn, it should be pretty nice. Annual fee of $95.
Nashville – $700
Booked with some of the signup bonus from the IHG card. Still have 50,000 points left. IHG has buy 3 get one free when using points.
New Orleans – $800
This was an earned Hyatt free night and a credit card night. That is a $95 annual fee.
Conclusion
$2,080 and 100,000 points I earned paid for $11,500 worth of hotels. I find paying less than 1/3 of the price a steal. The prices for the first four are so much because it is near ski resorts and during ski season prices are really high. If we did the cheapest places in all these locations it probably could have been around $5,000 for the 25 nights. However, you can see I’m paying even less and getting to stay at nicer places. Another thing to note is that even though the credit card hobby saves a lot of money, it is by no means free. $2,080 is still a lot of money.