This 17-day trip would have cost $19,915 if we had paid cash. But by using points and miles, our travel and lodging expenses were only $437! (Want to know what would these flights and hotels would have cost us if they had been refundable and if we had paid cash- $31,000!)

 

 

 

In September, Kate and I wanted to visit friends in Switzerland. The flight over had a layover in London, so we added a couple days there. The flight back had a layover in Brussels so we added a couple days there too.

We started our trip off with a positioning flight on American Airlines from San Francisco to Washington DC. (note, it was cheaper overall to use a positioning flight and stopping in Washington DC also allowed us time to visit a cousin of Kate’s). We spent the night in the Homewood Suites by Hilton Dulles Int’l Airport.

From Washington D.C., we flew to London and spent three nights at the Arosfa Hotel London by Compass Hospitality. We toured Westminster Abbey and other places. But the most impressive thing was the cost of musicals in London. We saw three outstanding musicals (A Choir of Men, Moulin Rouge & The Temptations). The cost was 10% of what we would have paid for similar seats in San Francisco!

From London, we flew to Geneva. We spent two nights at Kate’s friend’s house. Then we spent one night at the Hotel B&B Les Acacias Le Chable. Next, we hiked a Haute Route and spent one night in a mountain hut. We had planned another night on the Haute Route, but unfortunately, we got sick. So we hiked down the mountain and got an unplanned hotel in Le Chable.

We had planned to spend the next two nights at Kate’s friend’s house. But, wanting to make sure that they didn’t catch what we had, we made another unplanned hotel booking. This time at the Hilton Geneva Hotel & Conference Center.

Next, we flew to Brussels. We got a train to Ghent and spent two nights at the Ghent Marriott hotel. After that, we took the train back to Brussels and had one night at the Hilton Brussels Grand Place hotel.

After Brussels, we flew to London. Due to our flight times, we needed to spend one night there. For this we stayed one night at the Staybridge Suites London.

We managed free business class seats for the entire trip except for the initial flights from SFO to Washington D.C. (for that we just had economy seats, although they upgraded us to Premium economy).

THAT SOUNDS GREAT, BUT HOW DID YOU DO IT?

For the positioning flight on American Airlines from San Francisco to Washington DC, we redeemed 44,000 miles for the round-trip flights and had to pay $22 in taxes. For this flight, we purchased economy tickets but received free upgrades to Premium Economy. These flights would have cost us about $1,000 if we had booked with cash. For the American miles, we already had about half of these miles and we picked up about half of these miles though the AAL shopping portal.

When we arrived in Washington DC, we spent the night at Homewood Suites in Washington DC. Our Capital One Venture X card has an annual $300 travel credit and we used $150 of this towards this hotel. We had a $10 hotel charge. So if we had not used our credit this hotel would have cost us $160.

All of the rest of our flights were in business class. From Washington DC, we flew on United Airlines in business class to London. We purchased a multi-city ticket with the legs being from Washington DC to London; London to Geneva; Geneva to Brussels; Brussels to London and London to Washington DC. For this we redeemed 261,800 United miles and we paid $202 in taxes. These flights would have cost $15,573 if we had booked with cash ($31,000 if we had booked refundable flights equivalent to the refundable options you get when using miles). For the United miles, we used Welcome Bonuses from a Chase United Explorer Mileage Plus card, a Chase Sapphire Reserve card and a Chase Sapphire Preferred card. We topped these bonuses off with shopping portal bonuses.

In London, we spent four nights at the Arosfa Hotel London. For this we redeemed 75,026 Chase points. This hotel would have cost us $1,125 if we had booked with cash. To earn the Chase points, we used the rest of a Welcome Bonus from the Chase Reserve card, a referral bonus from the Chase Preferred card (Kate referred Mike) and shopping portal bonuses.

From London, we flew to Switzerland. We spend two nights at a friend’s house. Then we spent one night at the Hotel B&B Les Acacias Le Chable. We redeemed 23,667 Amex points and paid $7 in taxes. If we had paid cash this would have cost us $167. For the Amex points, we used a small part of Welcome Bonus from an Amex Platinum card.

Next, we hiked a Haute Route and spent one night in a mountain hut. We paid cash for this and it included breakfast and dinner. I think it was only about $40.

From here we originally had planned a second night in another mountain hut and then two more nights with friends. But we became ill and had to modify our plans.

We spent another night in a hotel in Le Chable. This was unplanned, we could have looked at using points to book this but elected to just pay cash (about $150).

From Le Chable we went to Geneva. We still weren’t feeling one hundred percent, so we elected to spend two nights in a hotel rather than with our friends. Booking on the fly, we made a reservation for the Hilton Geneva Hotel & Conference Center for two nights. Upon checking in, they gave us a free upgrade. For this we redeemed 127,000 Hilton points. If we had paid cash for this, it would have cost us $584. We earned these points from the Welcome Bonus from an Amex Hilton business card.

From Geneva we flew to Belgium and took a train from Brussels to Ghent. In Ghent, we stayed at the Ghent Marriott hotel for two nights. Upon checking in, they gave us a free upgrade. We used Mike’s Marriott free night certificate (good for 35,000 points) and topped this up with 15,000 points for the first night. For the second night, we redeemed 54,000 points from Kate’s account. If we had paid cash this would have cost us $644. The hotel combined our two reservations and upgraded our room for us. We earned these points from the Welcome Bonuses from Kate’s Amex Marriott Bonvoy Business card and from the annual free night certificate and Welcome Bonus from Mike’s Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card.

From Ghent, we took the train back to Brussels. We spent one night in the Hilton Brussels Grand Place hotel. Upon checking in, they gave us a free upgrade. We redeemed 60,000 Hilton points. If we had paid cash, this would have cost us $326. After Brussels we flew back to London. We earned the Hilton points from referral bonuses on our Amex Hilton Business cards (Mike referred Kate, and then Kate referred Mike for a second card).

In London, due to our flight times, we needed to spend one night there. For this we spent one night at the Staybridge Suites London. Our Capital One Venture X card gives us $300 of annual travel credit and we used $150 of it towards this $156 hotel cost. Our out-of-pocket cost was $6. If we had paid cash this would have cost us $156.

From London we flew to JFK and from JFK back to San Francisco.