Hey ya'll! The Dr. returns to give another update about using miles and points for our trip to Europe. Spoiler alert: we stayed in some dreamy places!
During our trip we were in Europe for 14 nights and we stayed
in some amazing places!
Let’s get to the trip! To be equitable, we split the trip in
half. Sarah planned the locations of the first week of the trip and I planned
the second. This was Sarah’s first trip to explore Europe. She served as a missionary for our church in Southern England but didn't get to see much of London itself. Sarah was so excited and wanted to see Paris, London, and visit some friends from her mission in Western
England. I wanted to relax in Nice and also check out Barcelona.
Here’s a little chart showing our location and how many
nights we needed in each location.
Location
|
Nights in
that Location
|
Hotel
Nights Needed
|
Paris,
France
|
2
|
2
|
London, UK
|
2
|
2
|
Western
England
|
3
|
0
|
Nice,
France
|
5
|
5
|
Barcelona,
Spain
|
2
|
2
|
Starting from nothing, we needed to get 11
nights at hotels. It seems impossible but, you know what? We did it! And basically for free!
 |
| View from our room at Park Hyatt Paris Vendome |
After studying several of my favorite travel blogs (
Million Mile Secrets is a favorite), I discovered that credit card sign-up bonuses offer probably the greatest value for getting free travel. After understanding how my credit score works, I decided to take this approach to get free stays for this trip.
(
Follow-up: Both Sarah’s and my credit score are now much higher than it was last year before applying let me know if you are interested in me writing a post about how your credit score works)
For the hotel stays for this trip, we signed up for a total of 4 credit cards. All four of the cards have an annual fee, however the fee is waived for 3 of the 4 cards in the first year. Here is a list of the cards and their sign-up bonus at the time:
- Chase Hyatt Visa- in Sarah's name: 2 free nights at any Hyatt hotel (+2,000 Hyatt points after minimum spending requirement)
- Chase Hyatt Visa- in my name: 2 free nights at any Hyatt hotel (+2,000 Hyatt points after minimum spending requirement)
- USBank Club Carlson Visa: 85,000 Club Carlson Points & 2nd Night Free points stays (+15,000 Club Carlson Points after minimum spending requirement.
- Starwood Preferred Guest American Express: 30,000 Points (+5,000 SPG points after minimum spending requirement)
Every Point Currency has a different value and redemption rate at different hotels. This is how I redeemed the points I got from the credit cards we opened. I also used 16,000 additional Chase Ultimate Rewards points converted to Hyatt points for this trip.
Location
|
Hotel Brand
|
Hotel Name
|
Nights
|
Points Cost
|
Cash Price
|
Paris, France
|
Hyatt
|
Park Hyatt Paris Vendome
|
2
|
2 Free Nights
|
$2,584
|
London, UK
|
Carlson
|
Radisson Blu Edwardian Mercer St
|
2
|
50,000 Club Carlson Points
|
$910
|
Nice, France
|
Carlson
|
Radisson Blu Nice Cote d’Azur
|
2
|
50,000 Club Carlson Points
|
$1,380
|
Nice, France
|
Hyatt
|
Hyatt Nice Palais de la Mediterranee
|
2
|
2 Free Nights
|
$1,112
|
Nice, France
|
Hyatt
|
Hyatt Nice Palais de la Mediterranee
|
1
|
20,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points
|
$556
|
Barcelona, Spain
|
Starwood
|
Four Points Barcelona Diagonal
|
2
|
14,000 SPG Starpoints
|
$530
|
|
|
Totals
|
11
|
|
$7,072
|
I got about $7,000 of value out of the 4 card sign-ups and I had 16,000 SPG points leftover. Note: We did pay about $100 over the 11 nights for room taxes and upgrades.
Common-Sense Check: I would never pay cash to stay at a place that is $1300 per night. So, I looked up hotel costs and by choosing the cheapest economy hotels available I could have done the trip for a little over $2,000 + tax in hotels. With points we were able to stay in some of the nicest & newest places in Paris, London, Nice, and Barcelona rather than the cheapest. And we always felt safe and comfortable which definitely has it's own value. I estimate the true value we would have spent on hotels this trip would be somewhere in between $2k to $7k.
Here are some highlights from the hotels we stayed at:
 |
| Our Room at Park Hyatt Paris Vendome |
The posh bathroom at Park Hyatt Paris Vendome
 |
| Sarah at Parc Guell in Barcelona |
Our three nights in Western England: If you know
someone in a place you plan to visit, consider asking to stay with them if it’s not too much
trouble. Sarah had some amazing friends from her mission to England. They were so friendly and generous with their space for 3 of our
nights in Europe. We stayed with the Taylors in Torquay and with the Smuteks in
Melksham. The Smuteks even let us do a load of laundry at their place which allowed us to pack very light- each of us took just one carry on bag for the whole two-week trip.
I hope we were good houseguests to them. We love having friends stay with us, so hopefully we can return the favor to these folks someday.
If you have any questions about the process of opening credit cards or it's effects on your credit score, booking hotels with points or anything else please leave a comment!
I have to say that when the Dr. first came to me with the idea to do a trip to Europe and not really pay for it I was very skeptical. After staying at some of the most posh hotels I have ever seen I am a huge believer! It does take time and research to make it happen but this trip was a dream come true thanks to the Dr.'s willingness to put in that hard work.
