Melissa recently shared her incredible reader success story to Secrets Akumal in our Facebook Group and graciously said I could share it with all of our readers. I was incredibly excited to read about her stay as it is one that I’ve considered for a while.

We love that she and her hubby could make this trip happen on credit card points and miles because she said it was the trip they couldn’t afford 15 years ago! That is what credit card points and miles make happen, and why we love them so much!! She highly recommends the resort, too!

This gorgeous sunrise was taken at about 7:00 am – Melissa is an early riser!

Secrets Akumal Stay

Melissa has Globalist status, so they were upgraded to a King Swimout Preferred Club Suite. This room would cost over $1000/night, but Melissa paid 35K points/night for this stay. This is an all-inclusive resort, so that includes food and beverages!! She used Chase Ultimate Rewards® and transferred them to Hyatt.

The beach was her favorite part of the stay – it was one of her favorite beaches to date! She said: “The best part of the beach for me was the preferred section, which had shaded thatch huts (not sure what they’re actually called) and amazing lounge chairs that were so comfortable. I burn really quickly, so with the extra added shade, we enjoyed the beach every day for 8+ hours! At most resorts and beach locations we visit, I can do 3-4 hours tops because I can’t handle more sun exposure than that, given how fair my skin is.”

When your trip costs so little, it’s time to splurge on a Bali bed!

15 years later, credit card points and miles made the second honeymoon possible.

“Our favorite places to eat were Portifino (Italian) and Seaside (steakhouse). We were thrilled with the food (I’m picky!). Chicken quesadillas or flank steak with a side of handmade fresh guacamole served to us on the beach each day was our favorite at lunchtime. The staff came to take our orders every day between noon-12:30 so we didn’t need to leave our chairs. The grill the waiters got our food from was called Barefoot Grill (poolside).

The entertainment was the best of the three all-inclusive chains we’ve been to! There was live music every day and night (saxophone player at breakfast / live piano at dinner at the Italian restaurant), tons of good theater shows, and special celebrations (for example, a string quartet playing Bridgerton-type songs surrounded by candlelight for Valentine’s Day!).

Service was outstanding, and people were generally kind and seemed really happy/appreciative to interact with guests. We’ve been places before where we were treated well, but we could tell there was discourse amongst the staff. Here, it was truly a joyful atmosphere. Every single groundskeeper I walked by stopped what they were doing to greet me—every.single.one!”

Flights to Cancun

Melissa’s husband has the Southwest® Companion Pass, which means he used 26K Chase Ultimate Rewards® transferred to Southwest Airlines®, and she flew free!! Now, that makes the flight almost nothing – just taxes and fees!

Her total trip price would have been $10,789. She paid $1295 out of pocket and used 236,000 Ultimate Rewards. Here’s the breakdown of what she paid in cash (which included boarding her dog)

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