acctrav91

Last year (2010) my wife and I decided to take a trip to Hawaii this year (2011). This gave me a year to plan the trip and make it as cost-effective as possible. We completed the trip a few months ago and now that everything has settled I wanted to recap for reference and possible help to others.

Below is what I did to get the miles/points and how we spent them.

A couple of notes:

1. I wasn’t trying to maximize value on the points we earned or anything like that. We had one specific trip in mind and collected and used points specifically with that in mind. If we travelled regularly we likely would have spent points differently and more efficiently.
2. Many of the things we did cannot be repeated because the credit card offers change regularly, so I haven’t provided any links. But there seem to be many other good offers that come and go. Flyertalk.com, fatwallet.com and freefrequentflyermiles.com were the ways that I kept up with the best offers available. My understanding is that the hotel tier matches are “one time only”.
3. Some are concerned about signing up for multiple (many) credit cards at one time. After doing everything below I actually saw my credit score go up. However, everyone should consider their individual situation and research credit scoring models.
4. When I signed up for 2 of the same card unless otherwise stated I got one for me and one for my wife.

Getting Airline/hotel points:

1. Starwood Prefered Guest Starpoints (total earned about 80,000). I signed up for 2 Starwood American Express Cards. After charging XX amount of dollars, I received 30,000 Starpoints for each card. I opened a TD Ameritrade account, deposited XX and received 20,000 starpoints as a bonus
2. American Airlines Aadvantage miles (total earned about 200,000). I signed up for 2 Citibank American Express Visa Cards and received 75,000 miles apiece after spending XX in X months. I signed up for a fidelity brokerage account and received 50,000 miles as a bonus. This bonus was dependant on depositing 100K. However, it was not necessary to transfer all of that money at once. In my case I could take the same 5K and deposit it, remove it, deposit it again, remove it, deposit it again etc. After doing this 20 times I still had 5K in the account but had deposited 100K and received the 100K bonus.
3. Hyatt Hotels (total earned 4 free nights). I signed up for 2 Hyatt chase visa cards and for each received 2 free nights at any Hyatt.
4. Misc points. I signed up for a Capital one Venture Card and received a 100,000 mile match on one of my Aadvantage accounts. These miles could be used to reimburse $1000 worth of travel expenses purchased anywhere.

Getting top tier status at hotels

Hotels give room upgrades and other amenities to guests who are in their rewards programs. I was given the below statuses without staying in any of these hotels.

1. Marriot Rewards. I opened a Marriot Rewards account. I emailed them and asked them to let me try their platinum level. They let me have it for 3 months
2. Hyatt. I opened a Hyatt Gold Passport Account. I faxed them my Marriott info and they gave me Diamond Status through early 2013
3. Starwood Hotels. I opened an SPG account. I faxed them my Hyatt info and they gave me Platinum status through 2011 (though the card says 2012).

Spending the points

1. Airfare. We used 180,000 Aadvantage miles to get 2 Aanytime tickets roundtrip to Hawaii on the specific dates we wanted. We charged any miscellaneous travel fees to the Capital One venture card and were reimbursed through their total rewards program.
2. Rental Car. We charged the rental car to the Capital One Venture card and were reimbursed through their total rewards program.
3. Hotels. We used 80,000 points to stay at a nice SPG resort for 5 days (20K per day plus one free if you stay four days). Because of my Platinum status with SPG we were given an upgraded room. Miscellaneous charges were charged to the Capital One Venture card and reimbursed through their total rewards program. We used the free Hyatt stays to stay at a large Hyatt Resort. Because of my diamond status were given an upgraded suite and club access (which has free food and nice amenities). Miscellaneous charges were charged to the Capital One Venture Card and reimbursed through their total rewards program.

Summary

Getting to Hawaii and back, staying in nice places and car rental were free. My best estimate is that we saved around $2500 in airfare, $11,000 on hotels/resorts (considering the suites we stayed in) and $200 on a rental car for a total of around $13,700.
In retrospect we could have saved more money by buying Hyatt certificates through the Capital One Venture program and charging all island activities to the hotel and paying with the certificates.
Again, we could have gotten much more for these points, but we had a specific trip/dates/place in mind and worked towards that.

Gamecock

Congrats on your trip! Sounds like you had a great time. ^

Oh, it's great to hear from new people who have learned how to put all of this together. All to oftet we have one hit wonders who post asking questions and we never hear from them again. It's good to have positive feedback for a change.

jcmitchell21

I agree. Mrs. jcmitchell21 and I are taking our 1st rewards trip this fall to Hawaii. 9 FRNs and first class flights. Out of pocket so far is $20. I look forward to a lifetime of earning/burning.

XStAnt

Sounds like a great (free) trip. Don't worry about how you could have maximized your point usage. You had a dream trip you wanted to take and came up with a great plan to take the dream trip for free. Most of us are not able to take an extravagant trip every year and try to do trips like you did. Well done.

azepine00

To recap:
SPG match is no longer there in it's old form. Hyatt match is no longer there in it's old form. Fidelity started pulling miles. Amex is beginning to crack down on promo codes. Mint made it to WSJ. Countless promos were ended because of 'how to milk it' manuals are all over the web.

I don't really think we need to have separate bragging threads here - perhaps trip reports is a better place for this.

c0ldlimit

Is Marriott still offering trial platinum memberships?

cwilson830

They do challenges

Happy

Very true.

Hotels get wised up - now the matching requires statement not just your status but ALSO THE ACTUAL STAYs posted on the statement, precisely because of the actions such as OP's post detailed.

However, OP deserves kudos in that he had a clear goal and then formulated his plan to achieve his goal in the time (one year) when mega promotions were the norm that allowed him to execute his plan flawlessly.

sargenet

I lurked on here for the last few years and have been learning so much. Here is what I have done:

3 trips to Hawaii in the last 3 years and counting.

1st trip...Marriott Points in a 1 bedroom oceanfront villa...

I learned more the next year:

5 nights on Big Island with points..5 nights in a Westin Villas in Maui...one of my car rentals paid.

This year: The best yet:

First Class to Hawaii (only coach back but there were 3 of us!)
First Class ticket roundtrip for my sister
4 nights on Oahu - Free
9 nights on Maui - Free

The Cap One Venture card gave us $2000 for this last trip. The timing could not have been more perfect because we had miles sitting there from AA Citicards!

It has been a great year....more to come!

b1513

Great first post, acctrav91. Welcome to FT.

Bobette

kmwjes

Another FT Success Story!

1. Flew DL/KLM from IAD/CPT for $740 in March 2012 with fare posted in MR Deals

2. Booked 7 night premium award - Hilton Cape Town for 122,500 points
a. Get points back promo: 36,750
b. Points for $336 folio: 19,500
c. Net points used for 7 nights including b'fast/executive lounge upgrade: 66,250

2. CPT airline mileage provided for our DL award(s) AVL/SJO (would have been $800+ if paid ticket)

3. Used free night Marriott certificate at the Fairfield Inn AVL which also included free airport parking and shuttle.

4. Cashed in 270,000 Marriott Points for a Travel Package.
a. Waited for USAirways (or other airline) transfer bonus promotion.
b. Received 180,000 USAirways miles (rather than 120,000 without the bonus)
c. Received 7 pool view free nights at a CAT 5 Marriott. Booked JW Marriott Guanacaste prior to CAT changes to save points.

5. Second room - wanted Ocean Front:
a. Booked 3 nights at $355 including breakfast. Submitted successful LNF claim- paid $206 Oceanfront incl b'fast.
b. Next 3 nights booked $310 EcoAdventure package which was very good value if you have 4 people.
included breakfast and excellent experiences for ziplining, horseback riding and Palo Verde for 4!
Breakfast for 2A/2C would cost $100; zipline/horseback for 4 - $180; Palo Verde for 4 - $200
c. 7th night used Marriott Visa CC Cat 5 free night (booked before CAT change)

6. Hotel upgraded reward pool view room to oceanfront room thanks to status. Hotel offered suite with two connecting rooms and plunge pool for $50 night which we happily accepted. Suite had 2 large bedrooms, 2 1/2 huge bathrooms with dressing room and walk in closet, large living room and private plunge pool.

7. Bought $1500 Marriott Travel Cards for $1200 via Amex Daily Deals promo which covered paid nights and meals

8. DS now in Berlin for a study abroad with a $640 Delta flight found from Mileage Run Deals. His friends paid $1500.

9. Booked a Doubletree and successfully submitted a BRG. Rate is $69 and I will receive a $50 Amex gift card after my stay.

10. 2011 flew (family of 5) to Munich as a stopover on award travel - 7 night VIP award (2 rooms) at Munich Hilton; flew to Athens - then Doubletree Kos for 7 nights (paid as rates were unbelievably low) had 2 rooms with semi-private pool; flew to Athens for 3 nights at Hilton Athens upgraded to executive floor.

11. 4 nights last month at Hilton New York on 4 night AXON award with executive lounge access.

12. 2010 - Cashed in a 270,000 MR Travel Package. Bonus time with USAirways so 180,000 USAir points, 7 free nights at the Marriott Curacao, also used the now extinct All inclusive award which included all meals.

13. 2009 - 5 award tickets to Paris. 2 VIP 7 night award rooms at Hilton Arc de Triomphe - was upgraded to a phenomenal Family Suite, same award flight onward to Naples Italy and stayed at the Hilton Sorrento with VIP 7 night award, 3 nights paid at Hilton Florence; 5 night award stay for 1 room at the Waldorf Astoria Rome Cavalieri. Second room was paid to ensure we had access to the Imperial Lounge as there is a separate diamond lounge that is fine but not the experience of the Imperial Lounge.


Just a sampling of my successes...now if only I can become more fluent in the trick it thread! Thanks FT Community!

onefasteuro

grats on the success.

kyunbit

Can we have a separate thread for these posts? People are thankful to the forum and post success stories from time to time. However we do not want too much attention to these stories, yet would love to hear these experiences

bpo26c

Great post!

tjbrooks

Good planning and execution.
But why so vague in the hotels and locations? I'm guessing Kauai, St Regis and Grand Hyatt. Make sure to report back any useful info to the property master threads.

However, it is important to note for future/novice readers that you did this during a big "boom" period, most of these offers are long gone. Make sure to adjust expectations in the future.