Italy Anniversary Trip
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 9
Italy Anniversary Trip
Technically, I'm a newbie. Especially for using points/miles for trips abroad. Up to this point, I've only redeemed points/miles for flights/hotels in the US and trips to the Caribbean. I'm ready to jump across the pond and need some help!
Ideally we would love to take this trip in May/June of 2017. We would like to do 1-2 days in Venice, 3 days in Rome, and 3 days for the Amalfi Coast, in no preferred order. Also toying with the idea of a cruise of the Greek islands at the end of the trip.
I have lots of points/miles saved up, but certainly need some guidance on the best way to use them. We don't need 5 star hotels, just cheap, clean & safe. Here's what we have:
100k+ Amex points
300k+ Hilton Points
175K BA Avios
100k+ Chase Ultimate Rewards points
150k+ AA miles
46k IHG points
$600 AA voucher (must be booked by October 2016)
$200 Amex airline fee credit
$300 CSR travel credit
2 free nights Hyatt
For flights, we would need to fly out of CVG or SDF. Any insight you can provide would be most appreciated! Or any relevant threads that showcase great Italy hotel point redemptions, or airline mile redemptions.
Ideally we would love to take this trip in May/June of 2017. We would like to do 1-2 days in Venice, 3 days in Rome, and 3 days for the Amalfi Coast, in no preferred order. Also toying with the idea of a cruise of the Greek islands at the end of the trip.
I have lots of points/miles saved up, but certainly need some guidance on the best way to use them. We don't need 5 star hotels, just cheap, clean & safe. Here's what we have:
100k+ Amex points
300k+ Hilton Points
175K BA Avios
100k+ Chase Ultimate Rewards points
150k+ AA miles
46k IHG points
$600 AA voucher (must be booked by October 2016)
$200 Amex airline fee credit
$300 CSR travel credit
2 free nights Hyatt
For flights, we would need to fly out of CVG or SDF. Any insight you can provide would be most appreciated! Or any relevant threads that showcase great Italy hotel point redemptions, or airline mile redemptions.
#2
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: DL PM; IHG PlatAmb; Hilton Dia; Marriott Plat; Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 7,308
With such a broad question, it would be helpful to let us know what you've already looked at.
The Hyatt, IHG, and Hilton forums will have tons of information about hotels in that part of the world.
Have you looked at availability on AA and BA?
The Hyatt, IHG, and Hilton forums will have tons of information about hotels in that part of the world.
Have you looked at availability on AA and BA?
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 9
Looking in the Hilton forums and having difficulty finding updated information. My preference would be booking with the lowest possible points. Economy over luxury.
#6
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: DL PM; IHG PlatAmb; Hilton Dia; Marriott Plat; Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 7,308
There are only properties in those cities. Points rates are variable for Hilton, so the rates at each property depend on the specific dates.
VIsit this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...italy-ita.html
And if there isn't something current enough for you, post in the thread for that property and ask a question. Most of these properties haven't changed much.
If you are interested in specific properties, post in the Italy Destination forum.
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2009
Location: FRA / YEG
Programs: AC Super Elite, Radisson Platinum, Accor Platinum
Posts: 11,874
What class of service do you intend to fly? Economy class or business class? (either way, your main options are to redeem your BA Avios and to transfer some of your Amex points to a FFP)
#8
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: CLT
Programs: AA, UA, BA, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold, IHG Platinum
Posts: 2,074
Do you have any other use for this? Not the best thing to try to use for this purpose, but with no other expected use, you might can make it worthwhile.
For award travel to Europe, I don't think you'll get much of this used. Award taxes and fees don't trigger the credit, and you'll get free checked bags, so no fees there. Have you looked into using United Mileageplus X to use this?
I wouldn't worry about finding a way to use this. With Chase's generous definition of travel, I imagine you can knock out $300 pretty easily.
No Hyatts in Venice, Rome, or Amalfi Coast area, unfortunately. Milan, yes.
Generally speaking, I think your Hilton points are going to be the most useful for Italy. IHG has a good presence as well, but you don't have many. Side note: Don't transfer Chase UR to IHG. You can buy IHG for ~0.7cents each and UR are worth 1c in cash value, i.e., you'd be better off cashing out UR points and "buying" IHG than transferring UR=>IHG.
For flights, a big question is if 100k+ breaks the 120k mark. That would be enough for 2 round trips with many programs. Also, I'm guessing these point totals are actually two people's account balances combined. That's fine, but keep in mind that they need to be spread properly for redemption. For example, if you have 80k AA and spouse has 40k AA, while you have the 120k that 2 round trips cost, you can't book them, at least not without transferring miles from one account to the other at ridiculous costs.
As you look for award flights to Europe, think in terms of one-way awards. With your points spread out, being able to book one-ways will be helpful. So here are some one-way per-person prices and general guidance:
If you really want to use that AA voucher for this purpose, look for award itineraries with one seat available, then look at the cash prices for the exact same itinerary. Decide if you're willing to pay the cash price minus $600. This often will not be a good deal, but you may luck out.
For award travel to Europe, I don't think you'll get much of this used. Award taxes and fees don't trigger the credit, and you'll get free checked bags, so no fees there. Have you looked into using United Mileageplus X to use this?
I wouldn't worry about finding a way to use this. With Chase's generous definition of travel, I imagine you can knock out $300 pretty easily.
No Hyatts in Venice, Rome, or Amalfi Coast area, unfortunately. Milan, yes.
For flights, a big question is if 100k+ breaks the 120k mark. That would be enough for 2 round trips with many programs. Also, I'm guessing these point totals are actually two people's account balances combined. That's fine, but keep in mind that they need to be spread properly for redemption. For example, if you have 80k AA and spouse has 40k AA, while you have the 120k that 2 round trips cost, you can't book them, at least not without transferring miles from one account to the other at ridiculous costs.
As you look for award flights to Europe, think in terms of one-way awards. With your points spread out, being able to book one-ways will be helpful. So here are some one-way per-person prices and general guidance:
- Chase UR to United - 30k, fly on Star Alliance (United, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Swiss, SAS, Turkish, TAP, LOT, Austrian, a few others I'm surely forgetting) or Aer Lingus, no fuel surcharges. Exception to the one-way thing - if you have 120k+ UR and you are adding Greece to this trip, booking United round trip awards allows a free stopover. So you could do US-Italy, Italy-Greek isle, then Greek isle-US for the 120k price.
- Amex to Aeroplan - 30k, fly on United, Swiss, Turkish, SAS, Brussels without fuel surcharges (search united.com, confirm and book on aeroplan.com)
- Amex to ANA - 55k round trip only, fly on United, Swiss, Turkish, SAS, Brussels, without fuel surcharges (search united.com, confirm and book on ANA's website
- AA - 30k, fly on AA, airberlin, Finnair without fuel surcharges or Iberia with moderate fuel surcharges (~$125 each way). Avoid BA. Iberia doesn't show up on aa.com. You'll need to call AA to ask about availability or use iberia.com (look for Blue class availability that will match what AA sees when you call).
- BA - price varies by distance / legs, fly on airberlin without fuel surcharges
- Amex to Delta - 30k, fly on Skyteam without fuel surcharges on one-ways or round trips originating in US (one ways originating in Europe have fuel surcharges)
- Amex or Chase to Flying Blue - 25k, fly on Skyteam with modest fuel surcharges. Probably only beats Delta pricing on Delta flights or for one-ways originating in Europe
If you really want to use that AA voucher for this purpose, look for award itineraries with one seat available, then look at the cash prices for the exact same itinerary. Decide if you're willing to pay the cash price minus $600. This often will not be a good deal, but you may luck out.
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 9
Thanks everyone.
dukerau, actually, all of those points are just mine, all under my accounts. We haven't really started earning points in my husband's name yet.
The $300 CSR credit wasn't an issue, it has since been credited to my account from a recent weekend trip. And the $600 AA voucher, we used for flights for a wedding in Florida in the Spring. So, I ended up booking the Italy flights with BA, using Avios & our Companion Pass. I hated paying the fuel surcharges, but they are first class flights, and that's pretty much the only way I can get my husband to fly across the Atlantic! (When I priced our exactly flights, the tickets were $12k each...which is just crazy!)
So now the quest for hotel rooms begins. It looks like Hilton & IHG are my best bets. If I get the IHG CC, I can rack up points rather quickly through business purchases. Any hotel recommendations where you've personally stayed, would be most appreciated!
dukerau, actually, all of those points are just mine, all under my accounts. We haven't really started earning points in my husband's name yet.
The $300 CSR credit wasn't an issue, it has since been credited to my account from a recent weekend trip. And the $600 AA voucher, we used for flights for a wedding in Florida in the Spring. So, I ended up booking the Italy flights with BA, using Avios & our Companion Pass. I hated paying the fuel surcharges, but they are first class flights, and that's pretty much the only way I can get my husband to fly across the Atlantic! (When I priced our exactly flights, the tickets were $12k each...which is just crazy!)
So now the quest for hotel rooms begins. It looks like Hilton & IHG are my best bets. If I get the IHG CC, I can rack up points rather quickly through business purchases. Any hotel recommendations where you've personally stayed, would be most appreciated!
#10
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: DFW
Programs: UA 1K, HH Diamond, AA PLT, DL Silver
Posts: 427
My advice is to cut your stops in Italy down to two. I went through your same position ~28 months ago planning a trip to Italy in June 2015. We wanted to hit three places (the same three you do), spending 2-3 days in each. The advice I received, and I will pass on, is travel a bit slower. And I'm a fast traveler. Getting to airports, flying, getting bags, getting out of airports, these things all take your precious vacation time. If you are taking a train to Naples or Salerno from Rome, it's not a very quick drive out on the coast. So there's a fair bit of travel time involved between all your destinations.
What did we narrow our trip down to? 4 days in Rome and 4 days in Positano. And I thought that was perfect. Actually, we wanted more time in Positano, but work called for both of us.
Really think about how easy you both travel and how much time you would dedicate to the act of physically traveling when you are on vacation. And if it's still three places, so be it. We used oneworld for our outbound and star for our inbound. Found our AA+BA J flights at about T-330 and our final LH + UA flights at about T-180 (after originally booking something that "would work" at about T-330). Your AA miles or Avios would work fine for one way, and your AMEX and/or UR should work for the inbound. You could, for instance, transfer one or both to SQ and redeem on *A on one of the directions (or both). Some fuel surcharges will occur, but your travel credit is a means to reduce those. That's one option. But of course the best option is the one with availability near when you want to travel to one of your destinations!
Just my thoughts. We absolutely loved Positano. Highlight of our trip and our lives so far.
What did we narrow our trip down to? 4 days in Rome and 4 days in Positano. And I thought that was perfect. Actually, we wanted more time in Positano, but work called for both of us.
Really think about how easy you both travel and how much time you would dedicate to the act of physically traveling when you are on vacation. And if it's still three places, so be it. We used oneworld for our outbound and star for our inbound. Found our AA+BA J flights at about T-330 and our final LH + UA flights at about T-180 (after originally booking something that "would work" at about T-330). Your AA miles or Avios would work fine for one way, and your AMEX and/or UR should work for the inbound. You could, for instance, transfer one or both to SQ and redeem on *A on one of the directions (or both). Some fuel surcharges will occur, but your travel credit is a means to reduce those. That's one option. But of course the best option is the one with availability near when you want to travel to one of your destinations!
Just my thoughts. We absolutely loved Positano. Highlight of our trip and our lives so far.