2024 Points and Miles Rewards Recap

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. 

Miles:

• 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

Total value:

• Hyatt - $10,329
• Other - $5,281

Grand total = $15,610

We have big travel plans in 2024, so hoping to strategically use lots of additional points & free nights! Feel free to ask any questions about how we think about travel planning, credit card usage or anything else!