Of these trips, how much would you say you spent out of pocket vs. with points? Including things like food, transportation, activities, DVC dues, etc. I am curious. I would love to travel more, but for us it is harder because DH gets much less vacation time than me. Last year we were able to take a trip to Disney World for 6 nights in February and
Disneyland for 5 nights in November. Out of pocket costs for both trips weren't very high, since I had churned gift cards that covered many of our expenses. For WDW, I paid for tickets, food, souvenirs and DVC dues almost completely with churned cards. I just paid airfare costs out of pocket. And for Disneyland, I got free airfare to LAX for me and paid $250 for DH. I got free hotel at a Sheraton and I paid for tickets, food and souvenirs with churned gift cards. And I still had enough left over to pay our DVC dues for 2017.
Unfortunately, all the good Disney gift card churns are dead, so I can't generate nearly as much as before. For our May cruise, my OOP cost is about $2500. I got hotel, airfare and some activities with points. We have a weekend trip to Madison, WI in May as well and hotel is covered with points, so it will just be gas and food costs for that trip, so maybe $100. We will go camping for a weekend in June, which will cost around $100 total. And for the cruise next year, I am hoping to spend just $1200 for the remaining cruise fare plus excursion costs. I hope to cover hotel in Venice and airfare all with points. I am considering some shorter summer trip for next year as well, but I need to consider what might be friendly with an 8 month old and still fun for us.
We have 1300 DVC points so the annual dues are around $7800 ~ We use our DVA and use Disney GCs to pay them at a 5x UR earning rate. Sometimes we use discounted Disney GCs too.
Adventures by Disney group tours are expensive but we love them. We also pay those with Disney GCs that earn 5x UR points.
The Aulani Hawaii trip accommodations were on DVC points as was the stay in Disneyland. We opted to do 2 days of private guided tours and enjoyed the spa, did the VIP luau, ate out and were lucky enough to be invited to Club 33 in DLR. There were a lot of out of pocket expenses for that trip but we knew there would be going in and budgeted for that. Well except for Club 33, that was a surprise and we weren't saying no. Could I have done this cheaper? Absolutely. There is a Costco near Aulani and a super Target nearby. There is plenty to do at the resort and couodbhave a fantastic time without ever leaving. Taxes and fees on our airfare was $5.60 each way.
Now, the London weekend was the taxes and fees on BA in first and the cost of tickets to see the play. We ate at a historic pub which wasn't expensive, about $40 for two. The hotel was all on points. We visited the British museum which was free.
The Scotland trip is with a private guided tour. We have some B&B stays for under $100 and a night at a Holiday Inn on points. Again, if I chose to explore on my own or not try out some B&B properties the out of pocket costs would be much less.
The trip to San Francisco to see Hamilton OOP will be the tickets to the show and wherever we decide to go eat. That could range from a joint we saw on Diners Drive Ins and Dives or a Michelin Star rated restaurant.
Iceland is all on points and OOP costs will be food and if we decide to do a private tour.
If I wanted to mitigate the non airfare and hotel costs then I'd diversify with some cash back cards. We did that on a
Disney cruise that went to Norway, Iceland and Scotland. The sign up bonus points of 3 different cash back cards that both DH and I picked up paid for $3,000 worth of excursions and on board expenses.
We use the points to mitigate the costs of our vacations. Adventures by Disney trips come with some sticker shock but not worrying about budgeting for flights helps out. Not having to pay for airfare or hotels allows flexibility in the budget to splurge on tours, dining and souvenirs. OOP expenses will depend on the taxes and fees of a given airline and what the vacationer wants to experience.
It sounds like the CC rewards are MUCH easier to redeem for flights than the airline rewards. I'm Aadvantage Gold with 80,000 points, and redeeming for US flights is nearly impossible for less than 60,000 points. Trying to go from PHL to DEN in July. There are plenty of flights, but nothing for their advertised 25k miles. Maybe one flight for non preferred days at ridiculous hours.
If you are trying to find flights two or three months before your trip you might be hard pressed to find good availability with saver miles. I have no status with AA and between DH and I have over 400,000 miles with AA. None of it by actually flying on a paid flight. Just credit cards and shopping portals. We have always found saver miles for each flight whether it was domestic or international. However, we always book our award flights about 10 or so months in advance. We also get better value for our points by using them to book award tickets than we do by using points to pay for a flight.
@calypso726 , We got great prices to Paris last fall with Iceland Air (under $450 rt, Boston to Orly). Iceland Air allows free stopovers so we could have stayed a few nights to see the Northern Lights which I sorely wanted to do but did not want to cut any nights from our Venice, Florence,Paris itinerary. Alas, another trip then. Your Hawaii/Disneyland trip is one I am strongly considering. I would want to break up that long flight from the east coast and use our dvc points at DL as well. I was poking around the Chase travel site this morning ( new to us) and checked on Boston to Honolulu for January and the tickets are $$$$. More than we paid cash for DD to fly last summer.
You may be better off by using FF miles instead of paying for through the Chase portal. I've collecting UR points for 5 years and just used the pay with points for the first time this year to pay for a flight. Every other flight has been booked with FF miles. The Hawaii trip we did was 2 years in planning. I knew AA was our best bet for flights so I kept my focus there. Is Boston a hub for any particular airline? Start by searching which airline has the most flights to HNL and go from there.
Feels weird that I don't have any minimum spending requirements to meet! Just finished the spend on my Barclay Arrival card and it's getting sock drawered.
I will use my CSR for all travel related spend and my AMEX Platinum for everything else. Is this a good idea?
Customer service with Barclays leaves much to be desired, but AMEX customer service is top-notch. Can anyone recommend a good every day card? I currently have AMEX Platinum, Premier Rewards Gold, Green and Blue Cash Everyday.
I also have Chase Fairmont, CSR and Freedom. I have BOA Amtrak card (2X). I have Discover It. I also have Capital One Quicksilver.
No plans to open anymore cards for at least 6 months but will likely be AMEX everyday to keep my MR points alive.
I spend the most on travel and dining so I think CSR is a no brainer, right?
Good plan. My non bonus spend all goes on either SPG or CFU.
. Forgot that there is no forex fee so I may use it in Montreal!
