Pretty much a newbie myself. You don't mention the airline you plan to use, nor the hotel chain you might stay with, but I'll assume United and that you're mostly looking to cover airfare.

For United you can of course apply for the credit card with the best up-front offer. Or cards actually.

So 25-40K miles on a United Mileage Plus Explorer from Chase (40K may be hard to get for more than one of you), and up to 40,000 miles on a Chase Saphire Preferred, which allows you to transfer points 1:1 to UA. Also get a Business version of the Explorer Card. Google for advice on how to fill in the application as an individual proprieter.

Repeat more than once per year. Repeat for each eligible person.

Remember to cancel the cards before the 1 year anniversary when you'll have to pay the annual fee.

Once you've satisfied the minimum spends on THOSE cards, you'll likely want to use different cards to put your actual spending on if you have any left. Optimize for the number of points you get for each type of spending.

There are probably other tricks as well. Not sure this will get you there though.