Travel for Free?
I made a mistake in this blog stating that Ultimate Rewards can be transferred to SPG. This is not accurate and I am going to fix below by striking through text and replacing with correct information. It is true that you can transfer Ultimate Rewards to Marriott and if your account is linked to SPG post the merger between the two, you can transfer from Marriott to SPG, but the conversion is 3 Marriott points = 1 Starpoint which isn't great conversion in that direction. So, I list alternative is to apply for SPG card that has 35,000 signup bonus which expires 4/5.
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My wife and her best friend were considering going on a trip in March either to Puerto Rico or Miami. They decided to go to Miami because it would be cheaper, so I thought why not just plan this trip for award travel now. I will write this one slightly different from the blog post I wrote before on, "Travel For Free to Washington DC" because the time frame is so short, I don't believe it is sufficient time to amass the points/miles for a March trip, but still doable for a later time frame. However, my wife already has the points, or is soon to have, so I will show how she might consider to use.
It stills applies, how you can do for free if you have good to excellent credit. A good to excellent credit score for the purpose of this blog is in the range 710 - 850. This will demonstrate that it pays to have good credit because it comes with perks if you know what to do.
This is the second of a series of these post for different places around the US initially and then perhaps some for more international travel. One
thing in common you will see on a lot of the domestic travel is me suggesting you use the Chase Sapphire Preferred and/or Reserve credit card. I mentioned in my blog, How To Improve My Credit Score, if you have good credit and you are not maximizing award travel, you are leaving money on the table. Below will demonstrate that fact. I also want to dispel any myth you might have about this strategy ruining your credit score, because last year I signed up for 18 credit cards, both business and personal, and my credit score is still 800+ as of January 29th. So, just do it, no more excuses!
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| My Credit Score |
Miami Here They Come
My wife and her best friend are going to Miami to have great time with attractions, nightlife, and some pretty nice places to eat. I am sure these young ladies want to be close to the beach and the club Liv in the Fountainebleau and Edan Roc hotels. The time frame for this example is March 23rd - 27th, for 4 nights.
So, I am looking from Houston for this example to MIA and this can vary for you, but this just gives you a rough idea of the cost. I am assuming my wife is going to cover her own flight and the hotel room for the 4 nights for the both of them. When I search for flights on Google Flights, I get
this list of available flights to the right. Since my wife just received the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card in early January, she has the $300 annual travel credit which she can use towards her flight. If they chose the American Airlines flight for $309, she will have to make up the difference on taxes and $9. I searched aa.com, united.com, and Chase Ultimate Rewards to see if it would be better to choose using points over using the travel credit. Based upon my analysis where AA didn't have award flights for the time frame and United would cost 50K points, and Ultimate Rewards cost 26,272, I deemed it better to use the travel credit for this trip. The retail cost of the trip is $309 - $364 if they chose any of these flights. I personally would chose the $309 and keep it moving on American Airlines and for accommodations rooms at the Four Points by Sheraton Miami Beach for 4 nights.
Retail cost for the flight and hotel for this trip is below:
Flight
Departure: Thursday March 23rd 1:49 pm - 5:15 pm
Return: Monday March 27th 7:10 am - 9:10 am
$329
$329
Hotel
That is the retail cost for this trip for 4 nights to Miami, FL for my wife and her best friend to be in the building, maybe not hotel Fountainebleau or Edan Roc, but on the beach and Uber ride away to these hotels.
The Strategy
I am not going to re-write here the steps on how to meet minimum spend so see this article below and follow instructions:
My wife applied for the Sapphire Preferred last year and the Sapphire Reserve early this year and the aggregator AwardWallet shows her current Ultimate Rewards points are
- Chase Sapphire Preferred - 55,000 Ultimate Rewards after $4,000 spent in 3 months $95 annual fee waived the first year. 5,000 for adding authorized user. Ultimate Rewards earning rate 2x for Travel & Dining and 1x for all other.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve - 100,000 Ultimate Rewards after $4,000 spent in 3 months $450 annual fee. $300 travel credit. $100 Global Entry fee credit. (the 100,000 is now 50,000 signup bonus unless you sign up in branch). Priority Pass Select lounge access. Primary auto rental collision damage waiver and points worth 1.5 cents towards travel. Ultimate Rewards earning rate 3x for Travel & Dining and 1x for all other.
- Chase Ink Business Preferred Card (if you have a business) - 80,000 Ultimate Rewards after $5,000 spent in 3 months $95 annual fee. (the annual fee can be waived for first year if you sign up in branch). Priority Pass Select lounge access. Cell phone protection against theft or damage and points worth 25% more when redeemed for travel. Ultimate Rewards earning rate 3x for Travel, Shipping, Internet, Cable, Phone, and Advertising, and 1x for all other.
- Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) - 25,000 Starpoints after $3,000 spent in 3 months and additional 10,000 Starpoints after $2,000 spend in 6 months. $95 annual fee waived the first year. Earn 2 Starpoints for each dollar of eligible purchases spent on the Card at participating SPG & Marriott Rewards hotels. Earn 1 Starpoint for all other purchases. Offer ends 4/5.
You can apply for any one of the Chase cards and couple that with the SPG. These card points are going to pay for the entire cost of the trip and you can apply by using the links on the card name or visiting my Affiliate and Referral page.
If you get started before the end of this month you can have the points by April and be setup for fabulous trip to Miami. You can follow the same system for meeting the minimum spend on Chase Sapphire Preferred for the Chase Sapphire Reserve and/or Chase Ink Business Preferred Card and the SPG.
Flight
American Airlines - 50,000 (wasn't available for these days 30,000 to go and 20,000 to return)United - 50,000 (25,000 each way)
Ultimate Rewards - 26,272 (total)
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| American Airlines Miles SAAver awards |
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| United MileagePlus Airline Miles |
Chase Ultimate Rewards Redeemed
Hotel
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| Four Points Sheraton Points Redeemed |
Four Points by Sheraton Miami Beach
March 23rd - 27th - 10,000 points per night
So, you have followed the instructions in How to Meet Credit Card Minimum Spend on Chase Sapphire Preferred and actually applied the same principal for the Chase Sapphire Reserve an/or Chase Ink Business Preferred Card as well. Once we have achieved the points from the signup bonus, you are going to transfer either 50,000 points from Chase Ultimate Rewards to our American Airlines loyalty account or 50,000 Points to United (open an account AA or United loyalty account if you don't have one), or book on Chase Ultimate Rewards using 26,272 to pay for the flight. We are going to use my existing Starpoints and combo those with her Membership Rewards converted to Starpoints and transfer into my wife's SPG loyalty account 40,000 points to pay for 4 nights. We are also going to transfer 40,000 points from Ultimate Rewards to SPG. You, on the other hand, will just book the hotel from your SPG loyalty account with the 40,000 Starpoints received from the signup bonus and 5,000 spend (open an SPG loyalty account if you don't have one). So, there you have it, $1,593 saved, 4 nights in Miami.
I would state it is essentially free, and I say this because you will still have to pay taxes and baggage fees, if any, and it doesn't include food, shopping, and entertainment cost; although, you could redeem your points at rate of $0.01 for cashback to pay all these additional cost, which I don't recommend, but that is up to you. So without adding in other cost besides the flight and hotel, it will cost 66,272 (26,272 Ultimate Rewards for flight + 40,000 Starpoints for hotel). This is optimal method leaving Ultimate Rewards points to spare.Ultimate Rewards using optimal method leaving points to spare
I would state it is essentially free, and I say this because you will still have to pay taxes and baggage fees, if any, and it doesn't include food, shopping, and entertainment cost; although, you could redeem your points at rate of $0.01 for cashback to pay all these additional cost, which I don't recommend, but that is up to you. So without adding in other cost besides the flight and hotel, it will cost 66,272 (26,272 Ultimate Rewards for flight + 40,000 Starpoints for hotel). This is optimal method leaving Ultimate Rewards points to spare.
Conclusion
What are you waiting for?
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