Our Personal Award Redemption History

This page tracks all of the flights, hotels, and more we’ve booked with our points, miles, and other benefits since starting this hobby back in August of 2014.  My goal is to capture the high level overview of each trip booked and the costs associated with each.  Links are included to any relevant posts that talk about the specific trip, but there are many that I’ve never written a specific post about.  Hopefully you will learn something new or be inspired to start earning for your next trip based on what we’ve been able to do with our points and miles.

Notes:

  • The year and month is when the travel actually took place, I will try to make a note of when each was booked as well.
  • Don’t treat the “Value” on each booking as anything more than retail cost minus our cost divided by the miles/points.  True value would depend on whether or not we would have taken the trip without points and will vary from person to person depending on travel preferences and a million other variables.  I only included the retail cost and “value” as a rough outline for what it might be worth.

Lifetime Redemption Stats

  • 20 Round-trip Flights (4 international, 2 in international business class)
    • Our Total Cost: 586k miles + $726
    • Total Retail Cost: $18,276
    • 2016 Totals (Incomplete): 6 Flights for 311k miles + $542.36 (Retail: $12,531)
    • 2015 Totals: 13 Flights for 235k miles + $172 (Retail: $5,220)
    • 2014 Totals: 1 Flight for 40k miles + $11.20 (Retail: $525)
  • 32 Nights in Hotels
    • Our Total Cost: 217k points + $724
    • Total Retail Cost: $10,112
    • 2016 Totals (Incomplete): 21 Nights for 108k points + $493 (Retail: $6,255)
    • 2015 Totals: 11 Nights for 109k points + $231 (Retail: $3,857)
  • Our Total Cost: 803k miles/points + $1,450
  • Total Retail Cost: $28,388

2016

  • 2016 Totals (Work in Progress)
    • 6 Round-trip Flights (4 international, 2 of those in business class)
      • Our Cost: 311k airline miles/points + $542.36
      • Retail Cost: $12,530.66
    • 21 Nights in Hotels
      • Our Cost: 108k SPG points + 4 free night certs + $493
      • Retail Cost: $6,255
    • Our Total Cost: 419k miles/points + 4 free night certs + $1035.36
    • Total Retail Cost: $18,785.66

August

  • 16 Night Honeymoon Trip to New Zealand and Fiji!!!
    • Totals:
      • Our Total Cost: 235k airline miles + 108k SPG Points + $804.20
      • Total Retail Cost: $13,970
    • 2 Seattle to New Zealand to Fiji and back in Business Class with stopover
      • Booked: October 2015
      • Our Cost: 110k Alaska Miles + 125k AA Miles + $360.20
      • Retail Cost: $10,443
      • “Value” per Mile: 4.29 cents
    • 4 Nights at Langham New Zealand via Citi Prestige 4th Night Free benefit
      • Our Cost: $444 ($148/night + 4th night free)
      • Retail Cost: $592
    • 1 Night at the Westin Fiji Resort
      • Our Cost: 10k SPG Points
      • Retail Cost: $225
      • “Value” per SPG Point: 2.25 cents
    • 5 Nights at the Sheraton Resort & Spa on Tokoriki Island, Fiji
      • Our Cost: 48k SPG Points (12k/night + 5th night free)
      • Retail Cost: $1,219
      • “Value” per SPG Point: 2.54 cents
    • 6 Nights at the Sheraton Fiji Resort
      • Our Cost: 50k SPG Points (10k/night + 5th night free)
      • Retail Cost: $1,491
      • “Value” per SPG Point: 2.98 cents

May

February

  • 5 Nights in Cancun, 4 of them All-Inclusive with Flights via Southwest
    • Totals:
      • Our Total Cost: 26k Rapid Rewards Points + 4 free night certs + $208.76
      • Total Retail Cost: $3855.66
    • 2 Seattle to Cancun round-trip flights on Southwest
      • Booked: August 2015
      • Our Cost: 25,690 Rapid Rewards Points + $159.76 (w/ Companion Pass)
      • Retail Cost: $1,127.66
      • “Value” per Rapid Rewards Point: 3.77 cents
    • 1 Night at the Intercontinental President Cancun Resort
      • Our Cost: $49 (annual fee on IHG credit card for free night cert)
      • Retail Cost: $312.00
    • 4 Nights at the All-Inclusive Hyatt Zilara Cancun
      • Our Cost: 4 Hyatt free night certs (earned via 2 Hyatt credit card signup bonuses)
      • Retail Cost: $2,416.00
    • After writing the booking post for our Cancun trip, Southwest moved our scheduled arrival up an entire day and unfortunately the Hyatt Zilara was sold out on that extra day, otherwise we would have just added a day with Hyatt points.  Instead we chose to use the free IHG night earned via the credit card at the IC down there which is pretty close to the Zilara.

2015

  • 2015 Totals
    • 13 Round-Trip Domestic Flights
      • Our Cost for Flights: 176k airline miles/points + 59k Arrival miles + $172
      • Retail Cost of Flights: $5,220
    • 11 Nights in hotels
      • Our Cost for Hotels: 70k hotel points + 39k flexible points + $231
      • Retail Cost of Hotels: $3,857
    • Our Total Cost: 344k miles/points + $403
    • Total Retail Cost: $9,077

December

  • 2 Seattle to Chicago round-trip flights on Southwest
    • Booked: May 2015
    • Our Cost: 28,241 Rapid Rewards Points and $22.40 (w/ Companion Pass)
    • Retail Cost: $980
    • “Value” per Rapid Rewards Point: 3.39 cents

November

  • 1 Night in Vegas for TravelCon II (Details Here)
    • Totals:
      • Our Total Cost: 15k Alaska + 12k TYP + $11.20
      • Total Retail Cost: $383
    • 1 Seattle to Las Vegas round-trip on Alaska
      • Booked: September 2015
      • Our Cost: 15,000 Alaska Miles and $11.20
      • Retail Cost: $239
      • “Value” per Alaska Mile: 1.52 cents
    • 1 Night at The Excalibur
      • Our Cost: 11,573 Citi TYP
      • Retail Cost: $144
      • “Value” per Citi TYP: 1.24 cents
      • I was upgraded to a top floor suite because of my M-Life Gold Status which was earned via Hyatt Platinum status which was earned from the Hyatt credit card.

October

  • 2 Nights in Vegas with Flights
    • Totals:
      • Our Total Cost: 17k RR + 7k SPG + 28k TYP + $22.40
      • Total Retail Cost: $1,076.64
    • 2 Seattle to Las Vegas round-trip flights on Southwest
      • Booked: April 2015
      • Our Cost: 16,917 Rapid Rewards Points and $22.40 (w/ Companion Pass)
      • Retail Cost: $576
      • “Value” per Rapid Rewards Point: 3.27 cents
    • 1 Night at The Westin Lake Las Vegas
      • Our Cost: 7,000 SPG Points
      • Retail Cost: $154.56
      • “Value” per SPG Point: 2.21 cents
      • We were upgraded to a junior suite because of our SPG Preferred Plus status
    • 1 Night at The Venetian
      • Our Cost: 27,908 Citi TYP
      • Retail Cost: $346.08
      • “Value” per Citi TYP: 1.24 cents
  • 1 Oakland to Seattle round-trip on Alaska (for a family member)
    • Booked: September 2015
    • Our Cost: 10,000 Alaska Miles and $11.20
    • Retail Cost: $183
    • “Value” per Alaska Mile: 1.72 cents

September

  • How We Spent 8 Days in NYC for Less Than $255
    • Totals (not counting the Broadway show):
      • Our Total Cost: 50k United + 63k IHG + 6 free night certs + $253.64
      • Total Retail Cost: $4,364.70
    • 2 Seattle to New York City round-trip flights on United
      • Booked: November 2014
      • Our Cost: 50,000 United Miles and $22.40
      • Retail Cost: $1,152.70
      • “Value” per United Mile: 2.26 cents
    • 4 Nights at NYC Intercontinental
      • Booked with Free IHG Nights earned in the Into the Nights promotion (Details Here)
      • Our Cost: $136.24
      • Retail Cost: $1,796
    • 2 Nights at the NYC Staybridge Suites
      • Our Cost: 63,000 IHG Points (70k w/ 10% rebate from IHG credit card)
      • Retail Cost: $758
      • “Value” per IHG Point: 1.2 cents
    • 2 Nights at the Conrad NYC
      • Our Cost: $95 (Annual fee paid to earn 2 free Hilton nights)
      • Retail Cost: $658
    • 2 Broadway Tickets to Wicked via SPG Audience Rewards (Details Here)
      • Our Cost: 1,000 SPG Points and $98
      • Retail Cost: $294
      • “Value” per SPG Point: 19.6 cents!!!

August

  • 1 Cinncinati to Seattle round-trip on Delta (for a family member)
    • Booked: June 2015
    • Our Cost: 25,000 Delta Miles and $11.20
    • Retail Cost: $489.20
    • “Value” per Delta Mile: 1.91 cents

July

  • 2 Seattle to Chicago round-trip flights on Southwest
    • Booked: May 2015
    • Our Cost: 30,659 Rapid Rewards Points and $22.40 (w/ Companion Pass)
    • Retail Cost: $902
    • “Value” per Rapid Rewards Point: 2.87 cents
    • This was our first use of the Companion Pass that we earned in early 2015 and the pass itself doesn’t expire until the end of 2017, so we plan to get a lot of use out of it.

February

  • 2 Seattle to Chicago round-trip flights on Southwest
    • Booked: October 2014
    • Our Cost: 58,500 Arrival Miles and $48.40
    • Retail Cost: $698.40
    • “Value” per Arrival Mile: 1.11 cents
    • This was a regular cash booking on a Barclay Arrival+ card that we then used the “miles” earned from that card to reimburse ourselves $650 towards the cost of the flight.  At the time, all redemptions returned a 10% rebate (6,500 miles), so it really only cost us 58,500 Arrival miles.  One bonus of doing it this way is that we both earned Southwest points on the flight as well (1,792 each to be exact)!

2014

November

  • 1 Seattle to Indianapolis round-trip flight on Delta (Some Details)
    • Booked: September 2014
    • Our Cost: 40,000 Delta Miles and $11.20
    • Retail Cost: $525
    • “Value” per Delta Mile: 1.28 cents
    • This was my first ever award booking and I was still learning the ropes.  That in combination with a strict schedule for the trip caused me to book a ticket for 40k when a little bit of planning ahead would have potentially reduced the cost to the standard 25k.