I like to track these numbers to ensure we're 1) getting the most from our travel budget and 2) that we are not overvaluing things like our credit cards & making the right tradeoffs. We pay our credit cards off each billing cycle, and don't carry a balance.
Before I dive into the value of our perks, points & miles usage, here's how we approach travel & accrual of points, miles, etc.
We use credit cards for all purchases, as long as the cost of using a credit card doesn't outweigh the value. For example, if a purchase charges 1% fee and our card gives the equivalent of 1% cash back in Hyatt points, but also accrues free night awards, and additional bonus points, then it's a worthwhile trade off to us.
Sam's tuition is definitely the heavy hitter here. As you may have heard, college is expensive. ;-) We charge his tuition on our credit card, and then reimburse ourselves from our 529 (minus the credit card transaction fee, as that's not a covered expense).
We also make sure to leverage airline miles whenever a flight is extraordinarily expensive, we are covering a gift for someone else or we are just trying to offset the cost of the rest of a trip.
Here are all of the miles, points & perks we used in 2024, and their approximate value:
Hyatt:
- Used a free night award for Arizona college tour in January, saving $175
- Used two free nights for the Napa half race with my mom & sister, saving $700
- Used four free hotel nights for the Sedona hiking trip with my mom, saving $1436
- Gifted my nephew a free night at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo (with lounge access & room upgrade) - $450
- Points to cover our all inclusive Costa Rica hotel, and applied a Suite Upgrade Award, saving $4,218
- Travel not happening in 2024, but redeemed/booked in 2024
- 3 nights at a hotel in Sedona in March for a girls trip - $1500
- 2 free nights in Madrid - $800
- 3 nights at a hotel in Seville - $1050
- Gave away a ton of expiring upgrades, suite awards & guest of honor benefits to friends & neighbors (not included in total below, but approximate value of about $1500). Possibly more value, depending on where each of them redeem the awards. I lost track at some point, as I gave away so many. These are the types of awards intended to be gifted.
- Alaska miles to cover the cost of 2 tickets to Portland for Sam's graduation party/family event, saving $872
- Southwest points to book my mom's flight to Sedona, saving $359
- Used the following United upgrades (came free with my status earned in 2023. Unfortunately, I will have no status in 2024, thanks to zero work travel ;-))
- Upgrades for Sam & Nick to Portland, about a $200 value
- Upgrades from a friend & her daughter from Denver to Portland, about a $300 value
- Upgrades for a friend & her daughter on an international flight, saving them about $750
- Received a gift card for a United upgrade via one of M's coworkers - $150
- Upgrades for Nick, Sam & my nephew on a flight from Portland to our house, about a $300 value
- Alaska miles to cover a flight for my sister, saving $300
- Southwest points to get my nephew from Tucson to Portland, saving $650 (we used miles because the flights were insanely expensive)
- United miles for a flight for myself & a friend on the way back from Moab (in turn, she covered the car rental), saving $400.
- Hotel comps in Las Vegas to cover a hotel & meals with a friend - $1000
- Hyatt - $10,329
- Other - $5,281
Are you transferring miles in from an airline card to Hyatt? If you care to share. I need to analyze usage as you have!
ReplyDeleteI'm not. We have three cards (Costco cash back, primarily used for Costco), Chase Sapphire & Hyatt. We use the Hyatt card for probably 90% of big expenses. Occasionally, if there is a good promo with the Chase card to transfer to other partners, that's when we will transfer. I'm more likely to transfer to Marriott (depsite Hyatt being a better deal), because there is a Marriott in the town my son attends college (no Hyatt) & the room rates are often nuts. (HP)
DeleteWe use our points and room rewards all the time. We have never had work travel expenses since TheHub always used the corporate plane, and our points only accrue from recreational travel and points we get from our credit card. Like you we use it for everything and it adds up quickly.
DeleteGood work using up your points & room rewards, Anne. I'll be curious to see how this year nets out. We still have a lot of big expenses (in fact, we will have 2 kids in college), but no work travel, so I'm losing airline status. We have 500k in United miles, so that will help offset any cost. Those miles were almost all earned on international work flights! I don't miss the travel, but I do miss the reward. (HP)
DeleteWe just have the cash back on our cards, but man that can add up over the year. We also pay our cards off each billing period.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
It really does add up, Jackie! Glad you are getting value out of your cards as well. May as well make your money work for you. (HP)
DeleteIt's fortunate his college allows no fee credit card payment. None of my kids allowed without a 3% fee so that was a hard no. I try to maximize my points too. I have no more big buys (like fence) so it's not going to be a big year but I do put what I can and still should get points at least for a small get away each year off the points.
ReplyDeleteThey actually charge a 1% fee, so as long as your credit card gives better returns than that, it's a win. I track because, like you, as long as the returns are better than the fees, it's a win. I also find it fun to see how much we saved over the year. We've had cards that weren't worth it, so this exercise also helps highlight that as well. (HP)
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