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These past couple of years have been light on travel, obviously. All of our best laid plans had to be postponed or cancelled.
Even though the travel industry has had to deal with a lot of adversity, some of the big players did try to do right by their customers. For example, extending status, extending point expiration, and the best of all, extending the expiration date on the hotel free night certificates offered to holders of certain credit cards.
Which is how we found ourselves with 7 free nights that had to be redeemed in the near future.
7 11 Free Nights
Between the 2 of us we had 7 free night certificates that had to be redeemed before the end of 2021 plus a few that expire in early 2022. After cancelling our summer travel plans I mentally wrote them off as another covid-related loss / inconvenience. But then we somehow ended up back in the US… and I managed to used them all, plus 4.
First up we visited family in Santa Cruz, CA, staying 2 nights at the Holiday Inn Express. A stay at the HIE is never a memorable experience, but the beds were comfortable and we were only there to sleep anyway. Plus it includes “breakfast.”
It was a bit cold and windy but we did catch a sunset at the beach and explored the redwood forests.
Beach action and a wee sunset
 Big trees |  More big trees |
Next we spent a weekend in Truckee, CA to check out the fall colors around Lake Tahoe. It snowed like crazy our final night so we also got a sample for ski season.
Emerald Bay
Hi!
Fall Colors
Ski Season!
For Thanksgiving we are flying to Minnesota to visit family, probably. I booked fully-refundable tickets and we will make the call in a few weeks (I was hoping proof of vaccination would be required for domestic flights…)
My brother plans to grill a turkey and my grandmother will get to see great-grandkid number 25(?) in person for the first time.
In total we will spend 2 nights each at 2 different hotels.
Upon return we will once again visit Santa Cruz, CA, for 2 nights, but this time staying at a slightly nicer place (Marriott property.)
And then finally during Christmas break we will visit San Francisco for 2 nights to visit friends and do Christmasy things.
Blown Away in San Francisco
In total we will be away from home twelve nights and will pay for just one.
Costs
In total, for 12 hotel nights we will pay about $160 plus some credit card annual fees and parking.
For 2 nights at the Holiday Inn Express in Santa Cruz we paid $0 for the room and $20 for parking, using 2 free night certificates from my IHG Select card (no longer available.) This card has an annual fee of $49/year which is much nicer than the $250/night that this room would have cost otherwise.
In Tahoe we stayed 2 nights at the Springhill Suites in Truckee, CA. One night was free with a certificate from Winnie’s Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card ($95 annual fee) and parking was $10. This night otherwise was ~$230. The 2nd night we paid cash of $159 inclusive, reservation in my name.
In Minnesota we booked 4 free nights using points from the welcome bonus on Winnie’s card_name (annual fee $89.) The redemption value on these stays is off the charts, e.g. 39,000 points for 2 nights vs paying $179/night+tax or roughly 1.1cpp.
Back in Santa Cruz again we are using 2 free night certificates again with Winnie’s Boundless card instead of $199/night or $448.96 total with taxes and fees.
And in SF we are again using 2 free night certificates, 1 from my Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card and another from my card_name ($125 annual fee, Rates and Fees.) These free night certificates are worth up to 35,000 points each, which is generally good for a Cat 5 hotel. Alas, there are zero Cat 5 or below Marriott hotels in core San Francisco. But during off-peak booking Cat 6 hotels can be booked for 35k points, and I booked the only 2 such nights at the 1 hotel that has off-peak pricing before Christmas. The only downside here is I think parking is going to be $60/night unless I find an alternative (haven’t looked yet.)
Fuel was these driving trips is free since we get free charging for our EV.
Total costs:
2 nights parking in Santa Cruz: $20
1 night in Truckee: $160
1 night parking in Truckee: $10
4 nights in Minnesota: $0
2 nights in Santa Cruz: $0
2 nights parking in Santa Cruz: $20? TBD
2 nights in San Francisco: $0
2 nights parking in San Francisco: $120 TBD
Annual fee on Winnie’s Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa Signature card: $95
Annual fee on my Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa Signature card: $95
Annual fee on my card_name: $125
Annual fee on Winnie’s card_name: $89
Annual fee on my IHG Select card: $49
Total cost for 12 hotel nights: $783 or ~$65/night
(Alternative cash price: ~$2,665 or $222/night.)
Remaining free night certificates, expiring in 2022:
IHG – 1 (Winnie.)
Marriott: 3 (Winnie: 1, Me: 2)
Status
A funny side thing that happened this year, by staying 1 night at a Marriott hotel in 2021 I ended up with Platinum elite status for 2022. Normally this requires staying 50 nights, something I did regularly during my old work travel days.
For 2021, this is how those nights added up:
15 – for having a Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card
15 – for having a card_name
15 – Marriott deposited 50% of 2020 elite nights credits as a loyalty bonus due to the pandemic (due to having 2 credit cards)
4 – nights credits due to spending on Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card
1 – 1 stay at a Marriott hotel
So anyway, now I have Platinum status for the next 14 months or so which hopefully gets us some upgrades on 2022 travel (e.g. suites.) I’ll be trying to spend about 450,000 points in the near future ($3000+ value, but devaluation in progress), and probably have some stays for Tahoe skiing this winter.
Summary
Due to the pandemic, many hotel rewards programs and related credit cards extended expiration dates on points and free night certificates. We had 7 certificates that were going to expire at end of 2021 and managed to use them all (plus some points.)
This bought us $2,665 worth of hotel stays for about $783.
I also got a Platinum status bonus with Marriott which should get us some upgrades for a big point spending blitz this winter and coming spring.
Photos by Winnie (more on Instagram)
Cards and points programs mentioned in this post for those interested:
To learn more: Award Travel Series: Hotel Credit Cards with Free Night Certificates
| card_name - Intro bonus worth $750+. $95 annual fee. This is a great travel card! Points can be transferred to Marriott Bonvoy program. | |
 | IHG(R) Rewards Club Premier Credit Card - 150,000 IHG Points welcome bonus after $3k spend in 3 months. Free night certificate on card anniversary. $89 annual fee. |
 | Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa Signature Credit Card - 125,000 Bonvoy Points welcome bonus PLUS a free night (50k point value), after $5k spend in 3 months. Free night certificate on card anniversary. $95 annual fee. |
| card_name. - bonus_miles_full annual_fees annual fee.Rates and Fees Free night certificate on card anniversary (redemption level at or under 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy® points). Learn more here. Terms Apply. |
Editorial Note – Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
We are certainly on parallel tracks. I’m booking a ton of free nights using various card bonuses that expire this year and next as well.
We will even be going to San Francisco as well.
I totally agree that IHG provides insane value for the points. It has been my go-to hotel for a while because of this — especially by transferring Chase ultimate rewards points over when needed to top up.
PS Would you email me the name of the hotel in San Fran? I’m guessing you don’t want to put it here for the whole world to see.
Sure
I’ve always liked your stories and content, but when you put this statement in your blog, “(I was hoping proof of vaccination would be required for domestic flights…)” I don’t even want to continue reading. Keep your vax ‘opinions’ to yourself. I’ve traveled to 6 states this year with no issues and the thought of more govt’ intrusion is repulsive!!!!
Hi Kate,
No.
Thanks
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
Bravo!
Thanks (for standing up for common sense)
Max
I have a toddler so I have recent experience with that kind of attitude
Fyi My wife and I just flew to Paris. From Orange County to Dallas the mask requirement was a joke. Basically chin diapers or mouth guards on 20% of the passengers. We are triple vaxed so hoping we’re protected from a breakthrough.
Thanks for speaking out Jeremy.
Note from Dallas to Paris much better on attendants telling people to mask up. All on American Airlines.
Mark
We are now 3xVax also, except the kids… Jr maybe can get his 1st next week.
Our Taipei to SFO flight was well done. It was only Taiwan residents on the plane, everybody had a negative test, everyone wore masks without needing to be told (being adults and all), plane was only half full and we had 2 rows to ourselves, etc…
Our daughter is Jr’s age and also waiting for the vaccine before we fly. Even then with everyone’s careless attitude I’m not looking forward to it.
This is where I read about the Chase pay yourself back feature and I was able to redeem most of our points through that program.
This past summer we used 5 IHG nights and it was fantastic both to travel again and at minimal cost.
We have Hilton points and lots of miles so we’ll strategize for 2022.
“the thought of more govt’ intrusion is repulsive!!!!”:
The thought and action of care for others by government and residents resulted in Aus’ death rate per capita being 3% of USA’s.
The though of government inaction is contemptible.
There are no Murdoch-owned media companies in Australia, which helps
“no Murdoch-owned media companies in Australia”:
Australia is the ‘ancestral home’ of Murdock and of News Corp.
Sky News (100% owned by News Corp) corona coverage:
https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/coronavirus
Mostly neutral journalism.
Sorry I was thinking of NZ
In the US, Fox News has many programs that are basically the Two Minutes Hate
Would love to come see you guys in the Bay Area one day when meet ups are a thing again!
Mostly I have been meeting people for coffee, let me know if you are in the area sometime.
But I would like to host some larger gatherings, maybe in spring’22.
Sweet deals; very happy for you and the whole extended family, including those who you all will be meeting up with. Stay safe on those planes.
I still have a thing about paying annual fees for credit cards. I have tons of cards but only one I will pay a fee for (AmEx Blue Cash). Since I am not working anymore, and the wife does not want to fly, we tend to use only cash back credit cards. Plus we are the highest level in the Wyndham timeshare system so they automatically give us the highest reward level in the hotel system (Diamond), which normally takes at least 24 nights per year. We seldom have need of a hotel anymore since we travel so much with the timeshare side, but Wyndham does have a number of quality hotels in a variety of locations, such as the Mills House in Charleston. Safe travels, my friend.
How is the Wyndham timeshare working out financially? Over the years I have seen quite a few timeshares for sale 2nd hand, I’m curious how the math works out.
It took me awhile to warm up to cars annual fees, but then I thought of them a bit like a Costco membership in that I get more value out of them then the cost. The easiest example is the no longer available IHG Select card – $49 for a hotel night is good ROI.
Safe travels to you also! Enjoy
GCC, it is not everyone’s cup of tea, but the timeshare route has worked great for the wife and myself. We unfortunately paid list price for all our points; as you stated we could have saved a boatload by buying on the secondary market. But we do get a lot of bennies which are great for anyone no longer working. We tend to travel offseason since we don’t like crowds so we get 60% off the points required for almost all our stays. We spend the whole winter in an oceanfront condo and travel all over New Orleans, FL, and parts of TN as well. Bottom line – we travel 5-6 months out of the year and only pay the maintenance fees, which aren’t onerous for us at all.
And while I wish we didn’t pay retail for all the points, I was still working when we bought them and making good $, so they were never a burden. If our daughter and son-in-law want them after we are gone (and we hope they will since they are paid for) they can make the decision for themselves at that point. Bottom line is the wife and I stay in great places, our sunk costs are already covered, and the maintenance fees are nothing at this point in our lives. Best wishes.
Those are some great redemptions and awesome photos!
Would love to hear your take on the “Buy Borrow Die” Strategy and how the FIRE community can take advantage of the “securities based loan” such as Charles Schwab’s pledge asset loan as living expense or as emergency fund.
It’s a good option. It’s on my topic list.
I’m at the borrow stage now, hopefully won’t hit the 3rd stage for awhile
I’ve also had good luck with Holiday Inn Express. If you get to Santa Barbara try the HEI in downtown. It’s in a 100 year old Spanish Revival building in the heart of downtown. There’s even a free level 2 charger at a shopping mall within easy walking distance (even with kids).
I’m glad that Marriott and IHG are extending the dates on their Free Nite certs so I’ll have more chance to use them.