Travel Tips
Travel Tuesday: Planning a Vacation Using Credit Card Benefits
A few weeks ago, I decided it was high time that my wife and I take at least a short vacation. So, doing things I bit backward, I selected some dates and then wrote down some possible destinations. Where did we choose to go? Northwest Arkansas.
That choice came down to a few factors. For one, it’s only a two-hour drive for us. Second, there are a few activities I’ve been meaning to do in the area, including visiting the Crystal Bridges Museum. Lastly, looking at pricing, we had quite a few different hotel options. In fact, being me, I decided on three hotels across our trip — and I intend on using a different credit card benefit at each property along the way.
So, come along with me as I explain my itinerary and how I plan to use my card perks at each stop.
Hotel #1: Capital One Travel Credit
Last month, I added the Capital One Venture Rewards card to my wallet. That add was motivated by their awesome welcome bonus offer (which ends next week) that not only earned me 75,000 bonus miles but also a $250 Capital One Travel credit. That $250 will effectively get us a free night at the first hotel I selected for our getaway. I’ll likely pay for the rest in case, although I could also redeem some of those bonus miles.
Hotel #2: Bilt and Mesa Points to Accor
Since I no longer rent, I don’t end up using my Bilt card much these days. Meanwhile, I’ve only had the Mesa card for a couple of months (and there’s no welcome bonus to speak of), so that hasn’t yielded a whole lot yet. However, I have found a way to turn these handful of points into one hotel discount.
Last autumn, Bilt Rewards added Accor Live Limitless as a new travel transfer partner — which also happened to be its first non-1:1 rate (instead offering 3:2). Then, when Mesa launched its transfer program last month, Accor was the only participating program I’d heard of. Plus, Mesa maintained the same 3:2 transfer rate as Bilt. Thus, this seemed like a good target for my combined points plan.
The other factor that makes Accor a good program to go with is that its points are pegged to a specific value, with 2,000 points worth 40 Euros. However, this doesn’t mean that you need to redeem points in 40 Euro increments. Instead, you can redeem any amount toward your booking — and, yes, can use them for booking made in Dollars instead of Euros.
Despite the fact that Accor doesn’t have a huge presence in the States, as luck would have it, they own the property I’m most excited about staying at in Bentonville. All together, my 3,383 points are worth “about $45.” Does that cover the room cost? Not even close. But, hey, a discount’s a discount.
As for the remaining balance, I have a couple of options. On the one hand, I could charge it to my new IHG card to put myself closer to earning my welcome bonus. Alternatively, I could pay with my Venture card and then cover my purchase using Capital One miles. We’ll see what I do when I end up booking.
Hotel #3: Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit
Lastly, I plan to stay at a third hotel for a specific reason: we need to use our Chase Sapphire Preferred Hotel Credit. We got this card a few years ago thanks to the 100,000 point offer at the time — but, as our renewal approaches, we intend to downgrade to a no-annual-fee option. So, before that happens, we’d like to use this annual credit (which you earn each cardholder’s anniversary).
I will say that hotel #3 is the cheapest of the trio, so this credit will cover nearly half of our stay. Also, this one isn’t in Northwest Arkansas but, instead, at a casino just over the Oklahoma border (which is kinda sorta on the way home but not really). Knowing that you’re a smart reader, I trust that you’ll understand that decision as we move to our last section.
The Big Option Left Out of This Plan
When I was first planning a vacation, I figured I’d take my wife to Las Vegas since she, unfortunately, missed out on my past couple of visits there. As part of that plan, I’d have used my $200 American Express Fine Hotels & Resort credit that comes with my Platinum Card. Alas, Vegas got ruled after our tax bill disaster and there aren’t any FHR or Hotel Collection properties in Northwest Arkansas. So, this isn’t an option this time around but will be used by the end of the year somehow.
As my wife and I look to enjoy a getaway vacation on the cheap, it’s awesome having a few credit card benefits at our disposal. Of course, in a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to jump through the hoops of booking with certain platforms and/or using specific cards for each stay — but that’s all part of the game, isn’t it? In any case, while we don’t have all the details hammered out yet, I very much look forward to exploring Northwest Arkansas, checking out some hotels, and cashing in my credit card perks in the process.
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