How I Saved $7,500 on Hotels While Traveling to New York

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My travel benefits paid off big time when I booked expensive hotels.

Key Point

• I used my Travel Rewards points to book two hotels in New York City.
• Paying with points saved me about $7,500.
• With a travel credit card, you can earn rewards and save a lot of money on your travel expenses.

In September my wife and I spent 10 days in New York City. It was my first time going there and I figured it was going to be expensive based on everything I heard. $500 plus tax.

Luckily, I had accumulated quite a few points from using my travel credit card. He had to explore different options and ended up booking two hotels for five nights each, saving him nearly $7,500 by paying with rewards. To show you how to do the same thing, I’ll explain exactly how I did it.

make a plan

Whenever you try to book a trip using rewards, the first thing to do is check what types of rewards are available. .

• Over 200,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points
• About 140,000 Hilton Honors points

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are not tied to hotels, but can be transferred to select hotel loyalty programs. One of my favorite transfer options is the World of Hyatt program. Hyatt hotels often save you money when you book with points, so transferring your Chase points to Hyatt will save you even more.

I also wanted to use my Hilton Honors points, but I knew I wouldn’t get enough points to cover many nights. I also have Hilton Elite status through the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card, so I get my 5th night free on regular reward stays. So all you need is points for his 4 nights.

I knew which hotel brands to use based on my credit card reward options. We then visited the Hyatt and Hilton websites to see which hotels were available. I made a reservation here.

Thompson Central Park New York ($909 per night)

The Thompson Central Park New York is, as you might expect, a four-star hotel located a few blocks from Central Park. Great location if you want to go to Manhattan. The hotel is also well designed, but the standard room I booked didn’t even have a coffee maker, which didn’t impress me at all.

The average room rate for the dates I wanted was $909 before tax. Plus the ever-annoying “Daily Destination Fee” cost him $34.86. But the rooms were also available for just 29,000 points per night. Even better, when you book with points, you don’t have to pay taxes or Hyatt’s daily destination fees.

I transferred 145,000 Ultimate Rewards points to the World of Hyatt program and reserved a room for 5 nights. That means my point saved me:

• Accommodation $4,545 ($909 per night for 5 nights)
• $889 with tax
• Destination fee of $200 per day ($34.86 per night for 5 nights plus tax)

Total savings: $5,634

Hampton Inn Manhattan Times Square South ($450 per night)

The Hampton Inn is a Hilton brand and has several hotels around Times Square. I chose this one because it was a nice looking room, but later found out in the photos that it looked much better.

Room rates average $450 or 70,000 points per night. I only had about 140,000 points, so I was short for 3 nights.

I usually don’t like buying points, but after doing the math, I found it to be the best deal. I spent $780 and earned 140,400 points with Hilton’s bonus offer. With that purchase, there were his 280,000 points needed to stay for 4 nights. Hilton elite status allowed me to book a 5 night stay and get his 5th night free so that was good enough.

I spent a total of $780 to purchase these points, which saved me.

• Accommodation $2,250 (5 nights at $450 per night)
• $351 for taxes and fees during your stay

Total savings: $1,821

Total: $7,455

Saving so much money on travel is exactly why I spend my time figuring out how to maximize my credit card rewards. Getting the most expensive part of our trip free allowed my wife and I to spend more on our New York experience without worrying about going over budget.

If you want to earn more travel points and save on future trips, the following methods have been most helpful.

• obtain Credit cards with sign up bonuses. These bonus offers are how I earned the most points.
• use reward credit card as possible. Unless there are additional charges, I always pay by credit card to get rewarded for each purchase.
• Always pay full balance credit card statement. Interest is important to avoid as it can cost you more than you earn in return.

With travel costs likely to increase in 2023, now’s the perfect time to start accumulating travel points. It would be nice to get a free hotel, airline ticket, or other expensive travel expenses.