Our reader success story today is from Azar who took her family to Maui, Kauai, and San Diego with points and miles. Here is her story:

Our family took an epic family trip to Hawaii in July/August of 2021.  We are from Massachusetts, so we flew from Manchester, New Hampshire to San Diego. We spent the night in San Diego and then flew out the next morning to Maui.

In Maui, we stayed at the Wailea Beach Resort (at the recommendation of Alex) for 5 nights. From Maui, we flew to Kauai and stayed at the Grand Hyatt Kauai for 6 nights.  We then flew back to San Diego and spent 4 nights there exploring the city.  We used IHG points for our nights in San Diego.

 

 

Our Southwest Companion Pass was used for all of our flights. Our hotels were a mix of transferring our Chase Ultimate Reward points, using Bonvoy points from the Amex Marriott business cards, and using the IHG card.  I even booked 2 excursions for my husband and son using the Chase travel portal with points!  One excursion was a surf lesson in Kauai, and the other was a snorkel excursion in Maui.

 

 

I started opening cards Spring of 2019, so this was really our first big points and miles trip, and it was amazing and perfect!   I also emailed both hotels in Hawaii and asked for upgrades and was able to get them!

We stayed in the rooms with the walk-out patio facing the ocean.  When I did the math I think I saved about $15k between flights/hotels.  I will say, we spent A LOT of money on food though!

It was an amazing trip and we have some beautiful memories from it.  We keep our Hawaii photos on repeat in our digital frame.  As you can see in the photos I was pregnant at the time, so for now we are laying low with a new babe at home.  We can’t wait for the next big trip though!  We have booked the Hyatt Ziva Cancun in February 2023, and then most likely Europe in Summer 2023.  Thanks for all you do and all the helpful info you have provided that helped make Hawaii a reality for us!

 

 

Thanks, Azar for sharing your reader success story to Maui, Kauai, and San Diego! What an epic first credit card points and miles trip you made happen!