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Over the years, we’ve had many readers share their success stories with us. Folks for whom traveling domestically once a year was a luxury are now traveling the world with just a few credit card sign-up bonuses. And the best part? They are sharing their stories with us and others who benefit from knowing that it is possible to see the world at prices we can all afford.
If you have your own success story to share, please email us and if it gets published, we’ll send you a $25 Amazon gift card as a thank you.
FTG Team,
My wife and I just celebrated our first year of marriage, so we decided to take a trip as kind of a second honeymoon. We ultimately decided on Chicago as I love the city from the few times I have visited, and it will be a first for her as she continues to build her travel portfolio now that she has met me.
Over our first year in marriage, we’ve done a number of housing remodel projects on a home we inherited. Knowing we were going to have to make a substantial amount of purchases, we signed up for every hotel and airline loyalty program that we could. We then made our purchases selectively, waiting to maximize the return value for something we were going to buy regardless. For example, during last November, many airline shopping portals had numerous occasions where a certain store we were getting an appliance from (such as Home Depot, Lowes or Sears) would offer 4 to 6 points for shopping through their portal. They were also offering Black Friday type bonuses where if you purchased a set amount (usually about $1,250 on average) you’d get a certain number of bonus miles (usually about 5,000 or so). This was of course on top of your regular spending. In other words, when we spent $1,500 on a refrigerator from Home Depot, we were rewarded with over 12,000 Southwest Airline points (1,500 x 4 = 6,000 + 6,000 bonus points).
Using these methods we ultimately accumulated around 70,000 total airline points on purchases we would have made anyhow — in addition to earning points on our credit cards of choice. In the end, the ultimate redemption value we get from those points will vary, but if you assume around a 1.5 cent per point average, we ultimately managed over $1,000 worth of airline points to use in the near future.
Ultimately we looked at the options and decided to fly into Chicago Midway on Southwest, and then return on American Airlines using their MileSaaver option. Total out of pocket costs for both my wife and I to get to Chicago and back? About 20,000 Southwest points (about 1.75 cents/point), 25,000 American Airlines points (about 2.23 cents/point), and $22.40 in required taxes.
Of course getting to and from a location is one thing. Where we stay is another question entirely. For that solution we turned to Wyndham. Both my wife and I signed up for the Wyndham Rewards Visa when it was being offered with a sign-up bonus of 45,000 points. In addition, Wyndham also kicked in an extra 15,000 points upon an inquiry about some spend bonuses (the worst they can do is say no). Add in the 15,000 points for an annual free room, plus a targeted promotion of 10,000 additional points for meeting monthly spend requirements for three months in a row, and suddenly my account alone had over 90,000 points in bonus and spend combined. With that 90,000 points, we booked six nights at the Wyndham Grand Chicago Riverfront, which almost everyone has agreed is one of the best redemption options available for Wyndham (including FTG). The nice thing about Wyndham is that the high-end properties cost the same 15,000 a night as low-end ones, so there is value to be had. In our case, we booked a deluxe king size bed riverfront view room for those 90,000 points. We literally paid nothing out of pocket for a room that is currently be offered for those nights at $1,867.08. That means we got a value from our points of about 2.1 cents per point.
In all $22.40 got us 7 days / 6 nights in Chicago. Not too shabby. Of course, we still have plenty of leftover miles and points from this and others, so our next nearly-free adventure shouldn’t be too far down the road either.
-Peter P.
[Image via Getty]
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Delta® Reserve for Business
- Annual Fee: $450 fee
- Foreign Fees: No
- Card Type: Travel
Add to Favorites
- Earn 40,000 bonus miles and 10,000 MQMs after you spend $3,000 in purchases with your new Card in the first 3 months.†
- Earn 15,000 Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) and 15,000 bonus miles after you reach $30,000 in eligible purchases on your Card in the calendar year.
- Earn 2 Miles per dollar spent on eligible purchases made directly with Delta. Earn 1 mile on every eligible dollar spent on purchases.
- Settle into your seat sooner with Priority Boarding and enjoy 20% savings on eligible in-flight purchases in the form of a statement credit.
- Pay no foreign transaction fees when you spend overseas.‡
- Complimentary Delta Sky Club® Access.‡
- Terms and limitations apply
- See Rates & Fees
Breakdown
Earn (pt.)
Spend
3 months
0
$3,000
Per dollar on eligible purchases with Delta Purchases
2.00
$1
All Purchases
1.00
$1
Already have this card? Track it and maximize your rewards.
Delta® Reserve for Business
- Annual Fee: $450 fee
- Foreign Fees: No
- Card Type: Travel
| FTG Review | Reward Breakdown | Points Breakdown |
|---|---|---|
Breakdown
Earn (pt.)
Spend
3 months
0
$3,000
Per dollar on eligible purchases with Delta Purchases
2.00
$1
All Purchases
1.00
$1
|
||
|
Already have this card? Maximize your rewards.
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