2018 Travel Hacking

Travel is one of the things we love the most. Spending money, is one of the things we love the least. To reconcile these two values, my husband and I spend an enormous amount of time “travel hacking”. This means staying on top of travel credit card sign-ups with large bonuses by reading blogs, achieving said bonuses with our tithing and donation spend (we typically don’t spend as much as the credit card sign-ups require, but we donate 10% of our gross income each year, which is significant), and keeping track with spreadsheets, and calling / writing customer service to make sure that things pan out.

This year our goals are such:

Spend no more than $5,000 in cash on travel (this is for 2 of us)
Visit London, Hawaii, Alaska, for our vacations
See our families in Indiana and California for the winter holidays
Attend a few weddings

Travel hacking benefits / goals unlocked recently:

100K points at sign-up, ~25-50K points annually: With my Chase Sapphire Reserve card. This is my main credit card. I earn more points on travel and eating out (3x points). I receive airport lounge access via Priority Pass which helps me never pay for food when transferring through airports. There are myriad other benefits including Global Entry / TSA Pre and primary rental car insurance coverage
Both my husband and I still have airline points remaining with United, British Airways (which we can use to book American Airlines flights)
My greatest loyalty is to Starwood Preferred Guest. I participated in the SPG 2018 Status Challenge and achieved Platinum. This gives me suite upgrades, 3x starpoints per stay, and lounge / food access in certain hotels. I registered for their “SPG Great Weeks, Great Weekends” which multiplied my starpoint earn on my trip. From one 3-week work trip I earned 13,000 points, which was enough to book a free night for my friend Carmen on her dream trip to Japan
- As part of reaching Platinum status, I could also link it to other statuses across the system using Crossover Rewards. Despite flying very infrequently, I now have Delta Silver status, Marriott Platinum, United Silver Status, and Hertz Five Star status
25K + 35K points at sign-up, ~5-10K points annually: I have both the SPG American Express and the SPG Business American Express card. These cards give me a boost each of 2 stays and 5 nights credit per year, and 2x starpoints on spend at hotels. I use this card to tithe when we don’t have other credit card sign-ups, and when I stay in SPG hotels
80K points at sign-up – IHG credit card – this card has a reasonable annual fee of $49, and comes with a free anniversary night. The points aren’t much to write home about, but the free anniversary night can be used on Kimpton and Intercontinental hotels – which often start at $300 a night. It’s a great way to get a luxury hotel night for a reasonable price
~10K points remaining – I had the Barclaycard Arrival + which was really helpful in 2016 and 2017 when we made a lot of trips where we mostly stayed in lodges, inns, and no-brand hotels. The points on this card convert to travel credits. They’ve made it a bit harder to use now (it used to be any denomination above $100, now it has to be increments) so I stopped using this card
Alaska Airlines credit card – my husband signed up for this in anticipation of our Alaska trip, it comes with a Companion Pass
National Car Emerald Club – This is a free sign-up and gets you additional driver fees waived. Chase has booking discounts with National, so it helps us save money on drive-heavy trips
2 free nights – Wyndham Rewards. We stayed in a bunch of Super 8 when we went to Yellowstone / Montana last year and using a promotion, earned 2 free nights

Accomplished so far:

London / Berlin / Munich, ~$500 in spend

This was the surprise / opportunity of a lifetime. I had mentioned early after the new year how much I’d love to see London, but figured it would happen in 2019 or later. Then suddenly I was offered a rare opportunity to work abroad for my company, which allowed me and my husband to visit Europe together.

Airfare – Most was comped, but we also spent ~$140 to get me moving around Europe
Lodging- Stayed with friend in Berlin, used Accor points for Novotel in London, and some ~$20 in taxes
Transportation – ~$200 – this is an over-estimate, on trains (one being the Munich to Berlin train), a special tourist pass in Munich, and local public transportation
Food – ~$140

Hawaii, 10 days – ~$1,200 in spend

We used massive amount of travel points to book this amazing trip

Alaska, 8 days – ~$2,000-$2,500 estimated

I am currently planning this trip
Airfare – ~$900 with the use of the Companion Fare
Lodging: ~$550. We used Wyndham Rewards to redeem for 2 free nights. The hotel cost is helped somewhat as we are bringing hubby’s parents along, and can find 4-occupancy cabins and B&Bs that are not double the price
Car – to be booked with Chase points
Food – ~$400, hope to save some by having kitchenettes a few nights so we could cook groceries
Tours – ~$600. Alaska is the land of expensive but impressive tours, and this is where we are splurging. We were able to book one of the most expensive tours using Chase points
Gas – ~$100
Cash / points reimbursement – ~$500 – We are getting some cash back from the in-laws for booking a bunch of things for free

Winter holidays – ~$200-400 estimated