How I Turned 273,000 Chase Points Into $6,000+ of Free Travel
17 Free Nights at Hyatt Hotels in 2024
The Credit Card Game: Buckle Up.
Alright friends, here we go — the wild, weird, wonderful world of credit card points. Hold on tight, because once you’re in, you may never want to go back.
Last year I had 17 free nights in Hyatt hotels AND I don’t remember the last time I paid for an airplane ticket. Wowzers, right?! For someone that flies 5-10 times a year, that’s pretty good. Too good to be true? It’s not. It’s credit cards points.
Full transparency, I had a pretty hefty medical bill in 2023 thanks to asking a nice surgeon to cut open my abdomen and take out the bad stuff (he kindly obliged). Major surgery = major bill = major points. So I opened a few new credit cards to hit those sweet sign-up bonuses. Thankfully my out of pocket medical costs were covered by my health sharing program (another post for another time).
I’m not here to reinvent the points-hacking wheel—there are plenty of awesome bloggers who do that. Instead, I’m here to share how I’ve leveraged my Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (CSP) and what the CSP has done for me. The CSP is the #1 travel card, and right now, they’re offering the highest bonus they’ve had in years. The last time this bonus was this big was in 2021!
Earn 100,000 bonus points after $5,000 in purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
So get it now, but ONLY if you:
Can meet the minimum spend to get the bonus.
Pay off your balance in full each month (no sense in paying high interest fees)!
273,000 points on Hyatt Hotels in 2024, Points vs. Cash Rate
Here’s how I used 273,000 points to stay 17 nights at some amazing Hyatt properties:
Bloomington, Minnesota: Hyatt Regency Bloomington/MSP
2 nights at 8,000/night (16,000/$290)
Bonita Springs, Florida: Hyatt Regency Coconut Point
3 nights at 23,000/night (69,000/$2,400)
Chicago: Hyatt Regency Chicago (18,000/$350)
Chicago: Hyatt Regency Chicago (12,000/$290)
Dublin, Ireland: Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin
2 nights at 15,000/night (30,000/$468)
Houston: Hyatt Place Houston Medical Center
2 nights at 9,500/night (19,000/$280)
Naples, Florida: Hyatt House Naples/5th Avenue
2 nights at 23,000/night (46,000/$1,236)
Puerto Rico: Hyatt Vacation Club At Hacienda Del Mar
2 nights at 20,000/night (40,000/$600)
Puerto Rico: Hyatt Place San Juan (15,000/$300)
Rochester, Minnesota: Hyatt House Rochester / Mayo Clinic Area (8,000/$150)
Total Cash Value of My Hyatt Stays in 2024: $6,504!
As you can see the point redemption widely varies. For 100,000 Chase points you can stay at the Hyatt Regency Bloomington/MSP (by the Mall of America) for 12 nights! Or you can redeem those points for four nights at my favorite Hyatt…
Best Hyatt
My favorite Hyatt hotel, by far, is Hyatt Regency Coconut Point. Hyatt recently raised the point redemption there to 25,000/night, but still worth it in my book. For just 100,000 points, you can score four nights at this dreamy property. And get this—it has THREE pools, water slides, lazy river, kids' activities, and the best part…a private beach. Yes, you read that correctly. They have a boat that takes you to a private beach. WOW.
The dolphins like to show off. :)
I still dream of this vacay and going back one day!
CSP points have great value when you transfer them to Hyatt hotels. Other hotel brands, not so much. But what about flights?! Read on!
First Class International Travel
I’ve used CSP points to book some seriously swanky travel, including my first-ever international first-class flight for just 50,000 points one way. For the return trip, I used only 15,000 points for economy. I’ll share those redemption deets soon!
This #1 Travel Card Is Your Passport to Luxury!
It takes a little bit of strategy and planning, but if you’re spending the money anyway — groceries, bills, medical expenses (ugh) — why not let those dollars work for you?
If you want to start playing the game — I’d be forever grateful if you used my referral link (yes, I get a bonus — thank you kindly).
Let me know if you want me to do a deeper dive on strategy, favorite cards, or best practices. I could talk about this stuff all day, well not all day, a girl has Dickens to read.
Happy travels, friends.
