Cheap Vacation Ideas?
 

Hello-

I am looking to do a last minute trip for end of February. Are there any current hotel or air credit card promos I could hit by then. I don't really have a destination in mind, however, airfare to Puerto Rico and some other Caribbean places seem cheap (looking feb 18 - feb 22nd). I do not really have any points currently.

Any cheap ideas or way to get some points?

Thanks

Kelly

To get points through a credit card you would need to apply, get the card, hit the minimum spend on the card, and then wait for that statement to close to get the bonus. The only exception that I know of is the Alaska Airlines Visa which gives 25,000 points upon approval, however, they wouldn't be an option to the Caribbean. With wanting to travel so soon, your best (maybe only) option is to pay cash for a ticket. If you just want to get somewhere cheap and have some flexibility in your travel dates you should consider Frontier, Spirit, or Allegiant, as they often have sales as low as $20 each way (make sure to be aware of all additional fees before booking).

We have a whole CC forum dedicated to signup bonuses. It does take a little while to post the points after minimum spend is met though.

For inexpensive stays, besides hotels you could also consider Airbnb (stays in people's home). I've tried a couple places in San Juan and both worked just fine. Considerably less expensive than hotels.

For less expensive hotels, you can also explore Priceline bidding, plus Priceline Express and Hotwire.

What is your home airport?

Romelle

I found Puerto Rico hotels not to be particularly cheap. OTOH, if you do it with points ...

And that would probably help, unless you are just interested in obtaining points, in which case you want to visit CC forum.

I've had OK, more or less, experiences with Airbnb, one of them in SJU. Hotels were expensive, both for $$$ and points, so saved a bunch.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"The only exception that I know of is the Alaska Airlines Visa which gives 25,000 points upon approval, however, they wouldn't be an option to the Caribbean."

:confused:

Why not? AS miles are redeemable for travel on lots of other airlines, including AA and DL. (Not sure how many AS miles are required though for an award to the Caribbean.)

Would the Barclay Arrival+ card work for the OP?

Sorry, I should have clarified. I meant that the 25,000 wouldn't be enough for a roundtrip flight to the caribbean as those are 17,500 miles o/w.

FWIW, if you have a lot of flexibility and are in ATL, it has been possible lately to go to LAS at $58 RT on F9 on some days and stay in Laughlin at a place like the Edgewater around $18/night, no resort fee. Maybe drive to see the London Bridge in Arizona or route 66 in Needles. Eat cheap at buffets and try not to hit the tables.

LAS itself is not as casino-subsidized as it once was and resort fees are very annoying, but it's still possible to extract good value. I also like RNO but it's so much harder to get to from most places.