Thanks Raffles, I had read about the Cash and Points and Cancel trick but forgot about it. I am a relatively new reader of thepointsguy but have been reading daily. Unfortunately it seems like the 100k deal is being cancelled (some people are apparently having their 50k extra points taken away) and I have a Chase application just within the past week.

But I will be sure to get at least one Priority Club card with the biggest bonus that I can find this summer while I'm still a good 3-4 months away from the trip so that I can hopefully find some availability and do the CPC trick. That Priority Club card looks like a good deal with 1 free night per annum. Hopefully by the time I apply there will be a higher bonus point offer for that card.

stut: Thanks again, I will be sure to look at TheAA for B&B's and also apartments via booking.com.

My wife and I are currently discussing our itinerary and trying to pin down how many days in which cities, etc. so that we can go ahead and start booking rooms.