Credit card points and miles are not only for flying to destinations—road trips are also a great way to use points for hotel stays. In this post, Brooke primarily road-tripped most of her trip in her reader success story: a Southwest road trip! Here’s her story:

 

Southwest Road Trip

We spent nine days and eight nights on a Southwest national parks road trip for spring break 2024 (the last week of March), which took us from Northern California to Las Vegas; Hoover Dam; Grand Canyon National Park; Williams, Sedona, and Page, Arizona; Bryce Canyon National Park; and Zion National Park.  Then it was back to Las Vegas for our flight home. We flew direct to Las Vegas on Southwest® using points and two Southwest® Companion Passes for only $45. The cash price for four round-trip flights (Sacramento to Las Vegas) would have been $1,450 if we’d paid out of pocket.

Our flights were covered by my husband opening the card_name in the fall during a period with a elevated offer (which also earned him a Companion Pass) and by me opening two Southwest business cards to earn my Companion Pass.  We used approximately 53,000 points for the two adults, and our two children flew as our companions.

 

Lodging for Southwest Roadtrip on Points

Our first night, we stayed off-strip in Las Vegas at the Hyatt Place Silverton Village for 15,000 points (cash price $350). They were not able to accommodate an early check-in (1 p.m.) when we first arrived, so we left our luggage in the car and took a rideshare to the strip to explore a few hotels, have dinner, and see the Blue Man Group.

Our next two nights were spent at the Thunderbird Lodge in the Grand Canyon (cash booking).  Then we stayed in Flagstaff for a night at their brand-new Hyatt Place for 9,500 points ($545 would have been the crazy-high cash price for the single night). This stay was standard for a Hyatt Place, though the breakfast buffet ran out of forks within 15 minutes of opening. It was incredibly strange. Luckily, my husband and son were still at breakfast by the time my daughter and I made it downstairs, so we just used their forks, but there were many diners looking perplexed at all the missing utensils! 🤦‍♀️

 

 

Page, Arizona

After exploring Sedona for a day, we drove to Page, Arizona, and checked into the Hyatt Place Page for 18,000 points total for two nights (cash price $660). At check-in, they told me parking was $8 per night, but I never saw a charge for parking on my card. This hotel has a beautiful lobby and breakfast area.

The sunset views from the lobby were spectacular (but I didn’t have my phone to take pictures as I caught the view on my way to do laundry). If you think you may be in your room for sunset, I would consider using Pam’s upgrade template email or paying for the upper floor rooms with a view (we did not and were on the 1^st floor facing the east). Watch for an email about a month before your stay. It should read “Special Offers from the Hyatt Place Page/Lake Powell” to make this upgrade request.

 

Zion National Park

We departed Page and spent our final two nights at the Zion Lodge (cash booking; absolutely beautiful lodge and grounds) before returning to Las Vegas to catch our flight home on Easter Sunday. 

 

 

Our Hyatt stays (42,500 points) were more than covered by the bonus I earned on my first business card of this hobby, the card_name. Also, Hyatt had a promo during this time, and I even earned 3k World of Hyatt points back for staying 3 nights in Hyatt hotels during the trip.

 

Using Bank Account Bonuses

The four nights we stayed in national park hotels and our rental car costs were covered by earning new bank account bonuses (the total earned was $1800) when opening checking and savings accounts with Chase. Our out-of-pocket costs were mainly for food, gas, souvenirs, and entrance/tour fees.

All in all, using credit card points saved us about $3,000 for 4 round trip tickets and 4 nights of accommodations, all for under $400 in annual fees on four credit cards. We saved another $1,800 using the bank bonuses to cover the rental car and National Park lodges. One tip for the national park lodges is that you need to book them far in advance—I booked our rooms the previous July. I do not regret paying cash to stay inside the parks and avoid the traffic to enter the parks each morning.

 

Fun Activities on Our Trip

We did some fun things for our trip, many of which were made possible by the money we saved with our points bookings!

• I purchased the Guide Along app’s package for Western US National Parks (we have more national parks planned already!)
• In Las Vegas, we took our kids to see the Blue Man Group, which they loved.
• On the drive from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon, we stopped for a tour at Hoover Dam for my Percy Jackson-obsessed kids.
• We drove the Desert View Road in the Grand Canyon with the Guide Along as our guide.
• We were spoiled by a family member who paid for a Maverick Helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon, which included flying over the snowy cliffs of the North Rim.
• On our drive from the Grand Canyon to Flagstaff, we stopped in Williams, AZ, to explore Bearizona (a spur-of-the-moment bit of fun!)
• In Sedona, we took an off-road Pink Jeep Tour that the kids loved.
• In Page, AZ, we toured Canyon X through Taadidiin Tours
• We enjoyed a beautiful sunset at Horseshoe Bend.
• On our drive to Zion, we stopped to hike the Toadstool Hoodoos
• Explored Kanab Sand Caves (the caves are not for the faint of heart—it was quite treacherous to access them!)
• Detoured to Bryce Canyon National Park to see the amazing amphitheater of hoodoo rock formations before doubling back to Zion National Park.

 

 

Bottom Line

Thanks, Brooke, for all the inspiration on your reader success story: a Southwest road trip! It sounds like you had a great time creating family memories!

 

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