Our travel hacking savings YTD
If you’re passionate about travel like we are, travel hacking (aka using points and miles) can save you hundreds if not thousands in travel each year. We like to be transparent about what we’re redeeming our points for to demonstrate the power of points and miles.
Hawaii – January 2023
- 2 tickets from Chicago (ORD) to Honolulu (HNL) – $928
- 3 nights at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa – $1,192.62
- 2 nights at the Grand Naniloa Hotel Hilo – a Doubletree by Hilton – $720.00
- 3 nights at the Residence Inn Maui Wailea – $2,442.27
- 2 tickets from Kahului (OGG) to Chicago (ORD) – $888.00
We paid cash for flights between the islands, a rental car on each island, and our food & activities, including a luau. Total savings on 8 nights in Hawaii = $6,170.89.
Washington DC – March 2023
Not the most exciting redemption, but we had already planned to go to Washington DC in the spring. Without really realizing it, we’d accrued enough for one flight from Chicago (ORD) to Washington DC (DCA), saving $184.70. We used a credit card to pay for the hotel and rental car, earning points on those for this trip.
Dublin and Edinburgh – May 2023
Two flights from Chicago (ORD) to Dublin (DUB) and to return home from Edinburgh (EDI) to Chicago (ORD) would have cost $2,150.00. We transferred Ultimate Rewards points to United to cover these costs. We paid for hotels in both locations because we had a favorable employer discount where it made more say to earn points than burn points on hotels.
Portland – July 2023
We had never been to Oregon together, so we decided to spend the long Fourth of July weekend in Portland. Thankfully, we had travel credits from a previously cancelled flight for one round trip, but we used miles for the other round trip, saving $735.85. We paid for the hotel with an American Express Gold because one of us had an AmEx offer to receive $120 back when you spent $300 on a Marriott stay. We also paid for a rental car through Avis using an employer discount rate.
Through mid-July, we’ve saved over $9,000 by redeeming points and miles. Not exactly free travel as we had to pay for things to get these points, but these are expenses we have anyway. We like travel hacking because it allows us to use our regular spend on trips we may hesitate on because the sticker price is so high.
