Loyalty Perks Still Pay: Two Months Of (Mostly) Luxury Travel For US$3500

Today’s article is about my financial accounting for a two-month-long trip that I just returned from, and for which I mostly used points and miles benefits, but also mixed in certain independent hotels that were better value than using chains.

I always like to tally everything up at the end of each longer trip to get an impression of whether I did well or overspent on some things that I could avoid in the future.

Last year, I did a similar thing, and readers were quite interested, so for this spring trip, I have tallied up my expenses for accommodation and flights, so I’m able to give an accurate account to our readers as an example of how you can stretch your loyalty currency and perks for the best value.

Usually, I don’t go on such long trips with the exception of my annual April/May travel, where I try to avoid to scorching heat in Bangkok (where I’m primarily based for the last couple of years) and try my best to be gone for the entire two months when it’s really bad.

This year, I scheduled it like this:

• 24-25 March: TAIWAN
• 25 MAR -1 APR: JAPAN (Osaka & Tokyo)
• 1-10 APR: KOREA
• 10-12 APR: ITALY (Rome)
• 12-26 APR: Mediterraenean Cruise
• 26 APR – 14 MAY: GERMANY
• 15-17 MAY: HONG KONG

So my schedule was pretty packed and I spent a little bit more time in Germany this year because I wasn’t in the mood to fly to North America just for a one-week Alaska cruise. Awards are sparse at the moment and that would have complicated things.

I looked at the basic construct of my trip as the only firm items were the two-week cruise that was booked six months ago through a Princess Cruises casino benefit (complimentary Suite), and of course, the two and a half weeks in Japan and Korea for the cherry blossom.

I was also enrolled in the 20-night Globalist fast track, so completing this was something I was aiming for as I needed 13 more nights.

My entire set of flights:

• EVA Air Bangkok-Taipei: US$140 cash revenue fare (Economy Class)
• Cathay Pacific Taipei-Osaka: 8400 QR Avios plus $30 taxes (Economy Class)
• ANA Osaka-Tokyo: 6K United Mileage Plus Miles (Economy Class)
• Asiana Tokyo-Seoul: US$125 cash revenue fare (Economy Class)
• TWAY Air Seoul-Rome: $860 cash revenue fare (Business Class)
• Lufthansa Barcelona-Munich-Frankfurt: 12k United Miles + $50 tax covered by Amex Plat (Eco)
• Cathay Pacific Frankfurt-Hongkong: 84k Asia Miles + US$240 tax (Business Class)
• Cathay Pacific Hong Kong-Bangkok: 5000 QR Avios + US$145 (Economy Class)

My total flight expenditures were $1540 cash, which I think is very reasonable considering it was business class on the long-haul flights. Would I have preferred Business on all my flights? Yes, absolutely, but there was no availability on many dates, and most of these short-haul flights were less than 3 hours, so it’d be a complete waste.

Flight Review: First (And Last) Time Flying Korea’s TWAY AIR Business Saver Class To Europe

I probably won’t be taking this TWAY Air again on a long-haul flight, though. That was brutal!

These were my hotels for the trip:

• 1 night Hyatt regency Taipei Airport $110/night
• 4 nights Hyatt Caption Osaka (4x 6.5k Award)
• 2 nights Hyatt Regency Tokyo $225/night
• 1 night Hilton Narita 25k Hilton Honors Award
• 2 nights Grand Hyatt ICN $115/night (with Amex Offer)
• 1 night Holiday Inn Express Seoul Hongdae 28k IHG Award
• 2 nights The Plaza Seoul $180/night
• 2 nights GLAD Hotel Gangnam $80/night (Agoda)
• 1 night RYSE Autograph Collection Hongdae $110 + 20k Bonvoy Award
• 1 night Grand Hyatt ICN $80/night + 6000 points WOH C&P Award
• 1 night Hotel Scott Rome $100/night (Agoda)
• 1 night JDV Tribune Rome (Hyatt Cat 7 Award Certificate)
• 2 Nights Hyatt Place Frankfurt Airport 3.5k/night award
• 1 Night Langham Hong Kong $15 after $200 Amex Hotel Credit
• 1 Night Hyatt Regency Hong Kong $155

Total hotel costs in cash: $1770 + various points redemptions. In Germany I stayed at our family home except for the two nights at Hyatt Place Frakfurt Airport.

I had a one-day Sixt rental to go back to the airport due to train maintenance on the route I usually take for which I paid $40 (after Sixt took $40 [half] off due to some issues during the rental) plus $25 gas for the 220km.

The saving grace for this trip, as far as costs are concerned, was the complimentary cruise with Princess Cruise Lines, for 14 days in the Mediterranean. The routing was Rome-Naples-Mykonos-Istanbul-Crete 2x-Athens-Bar-Corfu-Messina-Barcelona.

Cruise Ship Loyalty: My Princess Cruises Captain’s Circle “Platinum In One Trip” Status Experience

This was a casino offer from Princess Cruises, a Casino Offer Match for which I only paid the $200 port tax and received a $200 onboard credit, as well as $500 casino free play. I didn’t win anything this time around but stopped playing when I was at $200 cashout value to be at plus minus zero for this cruise.

The onboard inclusions (due to being in a Suite) covered the premium wifi and all beverages, as well as gratuities and specialty dining. It was great value!

So, how much did I spend in total?

The expenditures for everything came to US$3,350 in cash plus the miles and points used. Side expenses for daily things like food and shopping where required are not considered in this amount.

I think I did very well for the amount of time spent on the road in rather comfortable hotels and airline seats. It’ll be hard to beat that next year!

Nevertheless, even with points redeemed and juggling the best travel booking skills, it’s important to remember that travel always costs cash money, and in many cases, there is also opportunity cost. I really hate reading articles saying, “I got a $24,000 ticket for $21” because that’s simply nonsense. Generating these miles typically cost you “something”, plus you likely would have never paid $24,000 for an airline ticket and these tickets sell for A LOT less on the retail market, so no need to quote a full fare as clickbait.

The same goes when you travel to aspirational destinations such as the Maldives on miles and points. Transfers, as well as F&B, will still cost you a couple of thousand bucks, so it’s good to always keep in mind that there is no free lunch, no matter how hard we try.

Conclusion

Exactly seven weeks after I left Thailand, I was back in Bangkok last Saturday, and it was a great trip. In the end, it was a little long, but I didn’t mind the extra few days in Hong Kong at the end as a nice icing on the cake before heading back to BKK.

I think the total financial expenditure of US$3500 ($3,540 to be exact) was very reasonable considering the length of the trip as well as the quality of hotels, flights, and cruise. This indicates that there is still a significant amount of value in the loyalty game when booking travel items at favorable prices during sales and with other publicly available discounts. IF you plan smart and shop around a bit.

There were also a few compensation cases along the way, so those also dampened the blow a bit. Also, the Marriott and Hyatt spring promotions resulted in a few points coming back into the account. I also managed to complete the Globalist challenge, and now I have Globalist status through 02/2027.

It’s always exciting for me to take a look back on how much I actually spend on my trips, and quite satisfactory to see that points and loyalty program memberships still carry decent value.

Source