The best travel deals are usually found outside a destination’s peak season. But what if you’re attending an event that draws hundreds of thousands? Or your schedule is limited to peak times by work and school? How do you save more money if you want to celebrate Christmas at home on Christmas morning?
It is possible to save more money traveling at peak times. You can even do it without booking months in advance. This post explains in detail how I saved thousands at the peak of Spring Break/Cruise season.
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Spending a Month in South Florida
After two years of living in hotels full time I decided to buy a place in South Florida. The process of house hunting and inspections meant I couldn’t just take off for somewhere with lower rates.
Committing to being here when rates are high meant a lot of my favorite hotels were not available to book at a feasible rate. I was looking at the prospect of spending $5000-6000 in February, and similar rates beyond that if there was any delay in finding a home. So I had to figure out a way to save more money.
Save More Money by Buying Points
The solution I landed on was a marathon month of maxing out points redemptions. I’ve previously detailed how to maximize hotel point earnings and earn a free night while staying for free in previous posts. While I did have a healthy store of points, it wasn’t nearly enough to stay for a full month.
My solution was to buy the points I needed. I had about $1350 set aside for this purpose after cashing out points before closing a Citi Premier card. (For accounting purposes here I’m counting this sum as Citi Thank You points.) These Citi points converted into 189,000 Wyndham Rewards points (.72 CPP cost). Wyndham points are very valuable and practical when prices spike because redemption rates are held steady.
I also went ahead and bought 400,000 IHG One Rewards points for $2000 when they were on sale for half a cent. That’s the annual cap you’re allowed to buy. IHG Points are easy to get great value from at that price although the chain’s near term award availability is typically pretty bad. There were also a few nights I was able to find acceptable cash rates at some hotels.
Save More Money Booking Hotels
The first two days of the month were at a Holiday Inn Express in Washington State. The points applied cost $170 vs a cash rate of $283. The Doubletree Seatac on the third was a cash rate of $115. Then it was time to head to Florida.
I found a semi-last minute cash rate at the Wyndham Garden Dania Beach for two nights totaling $312. (Down from more than $300/night previously.) After that it was four nights at the Chateau Mar and three at the Sleep Inn Hollywood, all booked with points at no cost. The next three nights were spent visiting Family in North Florida.
Coming back south I booked 7 nights at the La Quinta Dania Beach on points. Then it was a four night stint at the Holiday Inn Miami Airport West. That stay was booked with points previously earned and required nothing out of pocket. The final two nights of February were booked at the Best Western Deerfield Beach for $270.
Total out of pocket for February was $866.94.
If I had been forced to pay cash for the same rooms the total would have been $4939.32. Total savings was a whopping $4072.38 over four weeks.
Bottom Line
I had a lot of points left over but of course I’m continuing to redeem them in March while rates remain high. Using credit card points to buy hotel points on sale presented a lot of value in this case. Another great option would have been transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt, although it wasn’t necessary for me this time.
All of these points were redeemed at values well above what they can be purchased for on sale. In the end this strategy made it possible to stay where I couldn’t have afforded to at cash rates.
