2024 Month by Month Travel Recap
What a year it’s been! I can’t believe we were able to take so many incredible family vacations in ONE year!! Just doesn’t seem real. MOST of our vacations are booked with points. But we had a couple flights and hotels we paid out of pocket for. Here’s our 2024 travel recap…
January & February – Skiing
After a few years of ski lessons and many falls, I’ve decided skiing isn’t for me. BUT my son & husband love it. We only live a 2 hour drive from some of the best skiing in the country. They spent a couple of weekends skiing and used a combo of Hyatt category 1- 4 free night certificates & points (18K per night) to stay at the Hyatt Place Keystone. My take on 4 of the best ski towns in Colorado.
March – Maui
We visited Maui for the 2nd time and hotel hopped for this 9 night stay. We flew Southwest there & back. We have the companion pass so our son flew for just taxes ($11.20 roundtrip to Hawaii is unbeatable!). We stayed 3 nights at the Hyatt Regency Maui (LOVE the club lounge here), 1 night at Marriott’s Wailea Beach Resort using an 85K free night certificate we get annually with The Ritz-Carlton™ Credit Card, and 4 nights at the Andaz Maui using points.
April – Disney World
My favorite time to visit Disney World is for Epcot’s Flower & Garden festival. Due to work/sports/school this was a very quick hop to Disney! We flew Southwest late on a Friday night. Whenever we arrive late to Orlando we stay at the Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport using points. Then we stayed 2 nights at the Swan Reserve out of pocket (they had super low rates for our stay so didn’t want to waste my points). Then flew back late Monday night (giving us 3 full park days – and we bought the special ticket Disney had discounted at the time for visiting 3 parks over 3 days).
May – Huntington Beach
I’d been wanting to check out the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach so we booked a short stay there over Memorial Day weekend. We flew in late Friday and stayed at Staybridge Suites to burn an IHG free night certificate. Then spent Saturday & Sunday night at the Hyatt (29K points/night). The resort pools are way too small to handle holiday crowds. We spent an entire day biking to Balboa and part of the 2nd day at the beach. While we liked this hotel a ton, I would absolutely avoid over a holiday weekend.
June- Greece
We revisited some of our Greece favorites and added a few new favorite cities to that list!
We flew business class on British Airways (booked during a transfer bonus so these were 79K + $350 taxes/fees per person) from Chicago to Naples, Italy – this was because at first it was an Italy/Greece trip and somewhere along the way I decided it should be Greece only. So we just stayed 1 quick night in Naples, using my $300 travel portal that comes with the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. From there we took a cheap RyanAir flight over to Mykonos.
We booked the Myconian Ambassador using mostly cash & our annual Fine Hotel & Resort credit. From there we took a ferry to our perpetual favorite Greek island – Naxos. We stayed at the MOST adorable boutique hotel – Athena Suites. After 3 nights there, it was time to move onto Paros. Another cash booked hotel. Fell in LOVE with Paros. Stayed 3 nights. Then our last ferry over to Athens. We got to try the Grand Hyatt Athens and absolutely loved it!
We flew KLM business Athens – Chicago. We were able to combine this booking with a transfer bonus and get these flights for just 49K points per person + $312 taxes/fees!
July – Staycation
We stayed close to home and did a hosted stay with Gaylord Rockies. For the last few years we’ve used the free night certificate that comes with our Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card to stay here. We love doing staycations here because our son can bring a friend and there are endless activities. Plus the pool is fantastic!
August – Costa Rica
We snuck in a quick 4 night trip to Costa Rica right before school started. We booked the Andaz Papagayo before the award price nights went up – so we were able to book 4 nights for just 84K points! A total steal. We flew Southwest (using points/Companion Pass) to Costa Rica. We flew United home (using travel credits & out of pocket). We LOVE zip lining and adventures, but we also love being lazy by the pool so this vacation spot was perfect for us!
September – Universal Orlando & Disneyland
My birthday always falls over Labor Day weekend. The last 2 years we’ve gone to Universal Orlando. We are definitely roller coaster junkies. We LOVE them. We did the usual… fly Southwest super late on Friday night (using points/Companion Pass), stay at the Hyatt Regency Orlando airport on points that first night.
Then stayed at Loew’s Portofino Bay hotel using {night 1} $200 annual Fine Hotel & Resort credit and {night 2} $300 travel portal credit from Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. We still owed a few hundred out of pocket – but it was nice to offset a chunk of the cost.
My son’s birthday is also in September and he turned THIRTEEN this year!! To celebrate this special milestone, him and I flew Southwest from Denver to LGB (LOVED that small airport) to attend Disneyland’s Oogie Boogie Bash. We flew in the morning of the event. Arrived around 1. And were at the event by 4. Then we did the other park the next day and left the next morning.
One of the quickest trips I’ve ever taken and totally worth it. We had a blast. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Orange County. We booked 2 nights here using a combo of Hyatt category 1- 4 free night certificate + the other night we used 15K points.
October – Baha Mar Bahamas
The sleeper hit of the year! We spent 4 nights over fall break at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar. Wow! We were able to book this resort for just 21K points a night AND attach a Hyatt Suite Night Upgrade award. This was an incredible deal and we absolutely loved the property. There are so many pools to choose from plus an entire attached water park you get free access to. There were so many things to do at this resort that it was the perfect mixture of down time & fun.
November – Orlando + Disney Cruise
We spent 3 nights in Orlando before our Disney cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale. I was able to use 2 of my 50K Marriott Free night certificates at the Ritz Carlton Grand Lakes. I got these certificates as part of my welcome offer when I got the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card earlier this year. I LOVE this resort!! The Ritz Carlton pool is chic, relaxing, incredible service and then you’ve also got access to the JW pool/waterslides/lazy river next door. This is our 2nd stay here using free night certificates and I’m already planning how to get back! Then we had a quick 1 night at another favorite, Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. At only 12K points for the night, it was a steal.
Then we had a 5 night cruise on the Disney Dream.
Then a quick day stay at the Hollywood Beach Marriott using a Marriott 35K free night certificate you get annually with Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card. This hotel is fantastic for families! Right on the beach, free slushies at the pool, beach chairs included, bike rental included and it’s directly on the boardwalk.
December – Asia
Ending the year on a massive high note was our Southeast Asia trip! My son had 2 weeks off school for the Christmas/New Year holidays – what better time to visit Asia? We started with an entire day layover in Amsterdam (always adorable!), 3 nights at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong (83K points), 4 nights at the Hyatt Regency Phuket (60K points), 3 nights at the Grand Hyatt Bangkok Erawan (42K points), 1 night at the Grand Hyatt Taipei (9K points). We flew KLM business class both ways using about 190K points + $878 total per person (round trip).
Points for All These Vacations
As you can see, most of our hotel stays are with Hyatt. I heavily prioritize earning Chase points, so I can use those at Hyatt. I prioritize using my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. I use it for dining and online grocery to get 3x. People ask me all the time why don’t I use the card from Amex that gets 4x in those categories – the answer is because only Chase points transfer to Hyatt. And that one extra point is less to me than the value I get from booking incredible award nights at Hyatt.
Between us, we took 28 (one way) Southwest flights this year. Southwest often has incredible sales and it’s worth rebooking your ticket to get points back. Every year either my husband or I open a Southwest card when they have an elevated offer. We also prioritize earning the Southwest Companion Pass. And its definitely not too late to earn this!
We get a huge number of American Express points from shopping on Rakuten.
And last year I opened the Capital One Venture X Business card to pay taxes and earned over 170K points with that ONE welcome offer!!
Overall Strategy
But my overall strategy is to mainly focus on earning transferable points. I think this is the ONE thing that everyone will benefit most from. Being able to transfer my Chase points to Hyatt is HUGE. Being able to also transfer them to Air Canada is fantastic. And to Air France. So I don’t need to have an Air Canada credit card or an Air France card. My Chase points give me the ability to use those points in so many places!
