Brenda & Dave part 2
While visiting my parents this past week, I took the time to help them book some of their travel with points. They needed two hotel rooms in South Florida for two separate occasions and then I went ahead and just looked at their flights to see if we could get some points back
First, my parents are joining me on a cruise in November. They needed a hotel the night before the cruise in Ft. Lauderdale. I started looking at hotels for this and realized they needed to book this ASAP. Some of the places I usually stay at were sold out and the ones left were very pricey over $500 a night. Since they have the Chase Sapphire card I moved 18,000 points to my mom’s Hyatt rewards. I booked a fabulous hotel on Los Olas in Ft Lauderdale the night before the cruise. I am staying with a friend that night but I plan to meet them up for dinner and go to the fabulous pool they have at that hotel.
They also needed to book a hotel for January in Miami. My youngest and I are joining them on this cruise. We both moved 20,000 points from the Chase Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt and were able to book free nights at Dreams South Beach. This room was over $250 and we both got it free.
Since I was in town and already looking at all their travel arrangements. My parents have an upcoming cruise to Hawaii. They booked their cruise through my friend and cruise agent Mary Kennedy (marymkennedy@att.net). I told them I would help with airfare/hotels and excursions. I have been to Hawaii 5 times so I felt confident I could help them pick out fun things to do on each island based on their needs. We went ahead and booked all their excursions with the cruise line. Then we looked at all their flights booked on Southwest and I rebooked a few of them for the same flight for around 9000 points less (we ended up doing this twice while I was there - it just kept getting lower).
My parents were thrilled to get more free hotel rooms and Southwest points back. They don’t churn credit cards like I did but I love that we can get them so many things free with the plan I set up for them. They have only a couple of cards but I am happy they maximize their points with the tips I have taught them.
