Jodi sent us her reader success story to Clearwater Beach in Florida on credit card points and miles. We love reading your stories, and especially love when the stories are about someone’s very first award redemption! Here’s Jody’s story:

 

Jody’s Story with Credit Card Points and Miles

I first discovered the Travel Mom Squad in April 2023. I am a stay-at-home mom and an occasional substitute teacher with big dreams of traveling. However, a one-income household doesn’t always guarantee the ability to take big trips. I started googling budget family travel and found Pam, Alex, and Jess. I started listening to the podcast and have been hooked ever since! 

Being from North Dakota, I have always wanted to take my family on a winter trip to escape the cold. Based on the recommendations of the Travel Mom Squad, I opened card_name and used their referral link. Chase had an elevated welcome offer at the time, and I earned 80,000 Ultimate Rewards®. Wow! That was easy. 

I have had the original Chase Freedom since 2005, so I also had about 35,000 Ultimate Rewards in my account. (I can’t believe all the Ultimate Rewards® I wasted over the years by using them as statement credits—I am kicking myself over that!)

 

Finding a Redemption Using Chase Ultimate Rewards®

I searched for locations in the United States that included beach access and room for our family of five. I kept coming back to the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach Resort and Spa on Florida’s Gulf Coast. They had large rooms with two queen beds and a pullout couch. Perfect for us!

I transferred just enough Ultimate Rewards® to my World of Hyatt account, and the total cost for four nights was 104,000 points. At the time, these rooms sold for $664 per night, so we got a value of $2,656! I was pretty excited about that, and when my husband saw the value, he got on board with my new hobby (and obsession!) of credit card points and miles. 

One thing I appreciate about the Travel Mom Squad community is the kindness. Someone in the Travel Mom Squad Facebook group announced that they had a Suite Upgrade Award that expired at the end of February and were giving it away. Since we were checking in on February 24, this was perfect. That person generously transferred the upgrade to me, and World of Hyatt changed my reservation to an ocean-view residential suite! Now this really seemed too good to be true! These suites were on “sale” for $839 per night, so now our value went up to $3,356 for four nights! 

 

 

 

Flights to Florida

We ended up paying for our flights out of pocket because we found reasonable fares to Florida. We don’t have Southwest® Airlines in North Dakota, or that would have been my first thought. I have about 200,000 United miles, but there weren’t any reasonable award fares available, and it just didn’t make sense to use up my points when the price was reasonable. I plan to use my United miles when I can find flights for 15,000 miles one way (which is about the cheapest we ever see in North Dakota).

This was our kiddos’ first time flying and first time seeing the ocean! It was incredible to stay at a beachfront hotel on points. We would have NEVER even considered the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach before learning about miles and points because of the price. But because of Travel Mom Squad, we could give our kids this amazing experience. 

 

 

Review of the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach

The Hyatt itself is big. And it’s pink. You can’t miss it! Check-in was a breeze. Our suite had plenty of room, including a full-sized kitchen, so we could easily have gotten groceries and cooked meals to save money if we had wanted to. There was a balcony overlooking the pool area and, of course, the beach.

The suite had two bathrooms and two TVs—plenty of room to keep everyone in our family happy. There is also a free laundry room on each floor, and detergent is included. This helped us be able to pack light, as we knew we could wash a load of clothes if needed. 

The pool area was nice. It’s on the 8th floor and has a big beach view. It is heated, so on chilly days, the kids were still able to swim. Every day, they had free snow cones at 11:30 and free ice cream at 2:00. There were also other daily activities, but honestly, we were there for the beach, so we didn’t partake in those. 

 

 

Clearwater Beach

Now for the BEACH. The sand on Clearwater Beach is so soft. There’s a reason why it’s been voted one of the best beaches in America. My kids had so much fun playing in the sand and collecting seashells. Clearwater Beach does get crowded, but we walked a bit north, away from the “hotel zone,” and we were able to find plenty of space. Also, the further north you go, the better your chance of finding sand dollars. We found so many! And all of this time we spent on the beach was free. 

 

 

There are plenty of activities to keep you busy. We took a private boat ride to an island where we were the only people there. A dolphin jumped behind our boat, and we saw and touched sea stars. It was memorable! 

My husband and son are big fishermen, so they went fishing from the pier. They have a bathhouse right there, and you can rent fishing rods for $10 for the entire day. For the two of them to fish, with bait and license, it was $40 total, which is a fairly cheap activity. 

Knowing that we were able to stay in a $3,000 ocean-view suite on points has me excited to plan our next adventure. card_name wasn’t the only card that I opened with Travel Mom Squad referral links. In the past year, I also opened the following:

• card_name– 175,000 points
• card_name– 90,000 points
• card_name– double points back after 12 months (offer no longer available)

All information about the Chase Freedom Unlimited® has been collected independently by Travel Mom Squad. The Chase Freedom Unlimited® is no longer available through Travel Mom Squad.

I used the card_name for all of our dining on vacation, so I will essentially earn 6x for that. My mind is now constantly focused on multipliers, shopping portals, and finding ways to earn more points. 🙂  I’m building up for our next adventure. I have San Diego or Hawaii in my sights. 

Thanks, Jodi, for your reader success story to Clearwater Beach—it sounds great! Thanks, too, for using our links! We appreciate that so much!

 

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