Reader Redemption: 10th Anniversary in Kauai
Editorial Disclosure – Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post..
I’m thrilled to share Keri’s story of redeeming points for her trip to Kauai! She did an amazing job by using her points to pay for her hotels and airfare. This post is full of valuable information that you won’t want to miss!
Keri’s Story
My husband and I had an amazing summer vacation in Kauai, Hawaii! We had planned to do something like this a couple of years ago for our 10th anniversary and to celebrate both of us turning 40. But we were in a pandemic, so we held off.
We weren’t sure we would visit Hawaii because prices were so high, and we weren’t sure we could justify the expense. Then, thanks to Points and Miles Teachers, credit card points came into the picture!
Once I started digging in and learning a little more, I realized we could save so much money on a Hawaiian vacation if we could use points. Not only did I start learning about using points, but I also learned about obtaining a Southwest Companion Pass and earning Southwest LUV vouchers. Keep reading to learn how we flew to Hawaii and stayed for 5 nights for less than $75!
Our flights were booked on Southwest. We could have solely used points, but we were actually able to only end up using around 30,000 points due to throwing in some other travel tricks. We easily could have used around 100-120,000 points! I originally found it cheaper to book 2 separate 1-way flights for our flights out. We planned to fly into LAX on one flight and then from LAX to Kauai on two flight reservations. But, 5 days before our flight, I noticed it would be the same price to fly to Kauai with one stop in Las Vegas. It had us leaving 40 minutes later and arriving 1 ½ hours earlier. I called Southwest, and they got everything changed for me. To pay for our flight out, we actually used some Southwest LUV vouchers, and with the difference, we ended up paying just under $50 for taxes, fees, and the difference. Lauren or I will explain how we earned LUV vouchers from a delayed flight another day. For our flight home, we booked our 1-way flight back with a little over 59,000 points.
This was a lot, but it was the only thing available when booking, and we were worried there wouldn’t be anything left. I was planning on getting a Southwest companion pass soon, so my husband would be traveling for free with me, so I was okay with spending a little more points than anticipated on the flight back. Well, we lucked out! A few months after booking, I looked at flights on Southwest and saw our flight back was on sale for just under 30,000 points! So, I canceled my reservation and re-booked. Southwest gave me my other 30,000 points back, so now we have them for a future flight!
After some research on Hyatt hotels on the islands of Hawaii, my husband and I decided we wanted to stay at the Grand Hyatt Kauai. We visited Maui on our Honeymoon in 2011 and tried to change it slightly. This 5-star hotel always has amazing reviews, so we decided this was the one for us!
At the time of booking, each night was 25,000 Hyatt points (now most nights are around 30-35,000 points because the hotel has moved from a Category 6 to a Category 7 hotel.) We paid 125,000 points for our 5 nights at the resort and $0 for our stay.
Resort fees are covered with Hyatt when you pay with points, and this hotel even has free parking! We were upgraded to a partial ocean view/resort room and even had wine, sparkling cider, and snacks waiting for us.
Now for the exciting part- how much money we saved using points and miles tips! Our stay at the Grand Hyatt Kauai would have cost us over $5550 with taxes, fees, resort fees, etc., but our price was $0! Our flights at booking (when they were practically the highest I saw them) would have cost us around $2,700, but we paid under $75 for taxes, fees, and the small amount we owed from our vouchers. Remember, I also saved many points for future trips by using a couple of other travel tricks. Our total money saved on flights and hotel was $8,250!!!
Of course, we spent money on food, a rental car, a luau, and tubing adventure, etc. But we could enjoy these experiences even more because we weren’t shelling out so much money for our flights and hotel! With a little digging, we could save a couple of hundred dollars on our rental car and even earn points on our experiences by using the right travel credit cards!
Final thought
I couldn’t agree with Keri anymore. She is right! Points and miles can open up many opportunities when spending only some of your vacation money on hotels and flights. Great job, Keri!
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Earn the Southwest Companion Pass
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Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
I found out about points and miles accidentally.
I was researching index funds and happened upon the points and miles community through creators who also post about budgets, financial independence, and investing.
Points and miles allowed those people to travel and work toward financial independence simultaneously.
Thank goodness I got started when I did. The past almost two years of travel have been something we will never forget.
Earning points and miles through credit cards is only a good choice if you have the financial discipline to use them, like cash/debit cards.
Since we started traveling with points and miles, we have had more money going into our investment and savings accounts than ever.
Now I'm excited to teach you!
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