One of my goals for 2025 was to optimize points, perks & miles for travel & track our value over the year. I'm currently not tracking the value vs cost for our credit cards themselves, but maybe I should, as that appears to be a fine distinction & otherwise sort of mixes things. That will be a goal for next year, perhaps. :-)
Without further ado, here's how we did with this goal, including the approximate value of each:
- Used two free Hyatt night awards on a ski trip - $720
- Three free nights at the Corvallis Marriott (some with points, others with credit card points) - $760
- Three free nights at the Hyatt in Sedona on a girls hiking trip = $1144
- Two nights at the Hyatt in Boulder during orientation - $938
- One New Zealand business class flight using United miles - $9900
- Two nights in a very fancy Napa resort + a room upgrade - $2500
- Two economy plus flights to Greece using old British Airways points - $6000
- Two rooms for one night at Boulder during move in weekend - $600
- Four nights in a suite (we have three people, so it's either a suite or two separate rooms when we go many places) for the girls trip to Greece - $2572
Total value = $25,437. Wow! This is crazy & definitely not something we can replicate often. As you can see, we used basically 9 years of United miles (mostly accrued through work travel at my former job) to cash out for the New Zealand ticket, and similarly used old British Airways points accrued for years through M's old credit card for the two flights to Greece.
2026 is a big year, with an anniversary/birthday trip to NZ as well as the girls 50th trip to Greece. I'm very happy we were able to cash out years of accrued flight miles for these special occasions.
How do we earn points/miles/perks?
- Work travel. While inconsistent & not something to count on, I did make three international trips in 2025. Unfortunately, the hotels are typically ones without reward programs, and I had flights spread across all of the airlines. I'm still tracking the miles, because business class international travel is pricey regardless.
- Personal travel. Way less accruals, but we always make sure to have everyone's frequent flier mile program attached to the reservation. This is now something Nick will get a bit of value out of, as he is traveling a lot more for college.
- Hyatt credit card* (this has a fee). We accrue additional points for every dollar we spend at Hyatt, as well as for other spend. I really like this card & the rewards, and have Globalist status, which helps when we travel. However, Hyatt has a more limited footprint outside of the US, so we are much more likely to use our rewards on domestic travel. An example of this is using a free night award in Boulder during move out & graduation weekend. The free night award is part of my credit card perks, but the room goes for $1k/night due to demand from graduation & move out. When planned well, these can save you a tremendous amount of money.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve* (has a fee). This is an all purpose travel card that you can redeem for flights or hotels. I cashed out most of my points for a few nights at the Marriott in Corvallis + some of the nights in Greece. I prefer to book flights directly, to minimize any problems if the flights are changed or cancelled. That said, I have a Southwest credit to use, so I will be trying that in 2026.
We put all of our spending on our credit cards, and I can also charge some of my work travel expenses (everything minus flights), which really adds up on the spending. We track the cost of each card against the rewards to make sure it pays for itself. I'll do a better job of capturing the full year's worth next year, so I can post about this.
*My standard credit card disclaimer. Any credit card should only be used if you can comfortably pay off the balance each month, and do not accrue interest and/or spend more because you are using a card. No benefits outweigh interest charges.
Happy to answer any questions and here about how you maximize rewards & points for travel!
My hacks are miniscule compared to yours but every bit helps. My UK airfare gave credits for my Memphis Trip. My Delta card gives me free bags. My Orbitz points for Greece covers baggage fees in my super budget flight on another airline. My credit card returns will cover all my spending money for Greece. And I'm so glad you did the reminder to only use cc if paying off in full as any savings is wiped out with interest.
ReplyDeleteI agree - everything helps to track. Sounds like you've got some good options that work for you. Yes, some people chase the perks, but they are absolutely never worth it if you are paying interest. The math is not possible to make that make sense. - HP
DeleteYou did great! I’ve been doing points and miles stuff for a while now, but have never done a year end review. Going forward, I will do that. We have a major trip coming up (New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia and Fiji) which involves a long cruise, 1 layover night in San Francisco, 1 layover night in Dallas, 2 layover nights in Fiji, 2 nights in Auckland, 4 nights in Sydney and possibly 1 night in Bali. All the non cruise nights are free with points or free night certificates (including Park Hyatt stays in Auckland and Sydney, which I am excited about). I couldn’t find business class flights using points after looking for months, and the cruise is costly. Still, I’m happy to save where we can (those free Globalist breakfasts are a great add on to the free nights). We also used an FHR credit to book a staycation at a nice hotel in our area for my husband’s birthday this week. After the $300 credit, the room was $59. We also got free breakfast and $100 to use in the hotel restaurant, which provided us with lunch, a leftover dinner, and one leftover lunch. It’s like they paid us to stay there! The credit card couponization together with hotel free nights makes for a lot of tracking! How do you keep track of it all?
ReplyDeleteFor the credit card perks (dining, travel, shopping), I did track them towards the end of the year, because as you mention, the couponization leads to a lot of tracking. But, I don't have a full year's worth. I have a simple spreadsheet where, as soon as I make a reservation using points, miles, etc I look up the cash value on the same day & track how much we are saving. I also note what the reservation is for (e.g. Boulder move in weekend or whatever), what we got (e.g. 2 free nights) & how we got them (Hyatt free night awards). It takes maybe five minutes after each transaction to write it down. If you don't do it in the moment, it would be pretty difficult later to reconcile the approximate cash value, as that's always changing. Super interested to hear about your upcoming big trip - that sounds amazing! I'm definitely not flying business to Greece, and similarly kept my eye out for options, but just couldn't find availability that worked with our schedule. My sister & I are going with our BFF, and she has very limited travel options due to her work. Agreed on the free breakfasts, and well done on your birthday booking! - HP
DeleteWow you did a good job. I too save points. If a flight is 500 or less I pay it and save my points for more expensive or emergency travel.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good approach. I try to help my parents maximize their points & miles as well, and give them similar advice. - HP
DeleteOh my, you did amazingly well.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
It was a crazy year for redemptions! - HP
DeleteCan you share a credit card that will let you use for a mortgage payment? We are on our final little bit to pay off and I would like to accrue something travel related.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I would check to see if your mortgage company charges a fee, as that would be my only concern. You can use any credit card to pay anything, as long as the person billing (the mortgage company) allows, as far as I know. We've paid taxes, college tuition, etc. One option is to get a free cash back card (Citi's Costco card?) or something like that and then convert to cash. There are fewer options that are travel cards that are free, but I believe that the Chase Freedom is free & sometimes even has sign up offers that give you a starting bonus. I like Nerd Wallet for recommendations - https://www.nerdwallet.com/m/credit-cards/excellent-travel-credit-cards?bucket_id=Desktop&gad_campaignid=21379365279&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADhM4h80uxVE1cY89-YIck0TXADap&gclid=Cj0KCQiAosrJBhD0ARIsAHebCNrjlmLhnX9tFG87l84EzGqZj_duMukShh9mKvkWle5H6CVISo3DwJQaAnrVEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&mktg_body=1678&mktg_hline=11649&mktg_place=kwd-133017701&model_execution_id=054F0103-5D43-485B-87AB-481D2EAA41B6&nw_campaign_id=150238306694147300&utm_campaign=cc_mktg_paid_061824_travel_topperformers&utm_content=ta&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=goog&utm_term=best+travel+credit+cards - HP
DeleteI am over here dying over a $9900 plane flight to New Zealand!!! Yikes!!! Glad you had points and rewards! Cindy in the South
ReplyDeleteI know! It's insane. I travel for work reasonably often, and have paid more (or, work has, rather) for international business class flights. Especially depending on the days. I have no flex on timing, and our company policy is least expensive (no stop) business class flight, regardless of airline. The company even has deals with all of the major airlines for discounts, and have still paid more than that. It's wild. - HP
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