I feel like a master of maximizing vacation value!

[Nika]

I stayed up until 2:30 am yesterday, and checked dozens of times in the last few weeks, but now it is done - another one booked!

I feel like a master of maximizing vacation value!

Why am I bragging? *It is not an easy task to coordinate award reservations together across 2 airlines and 3 hotels! And get lowest price and mile saver awards while doing it.
With ever changing prices and restrictions, at a ski resort, slopeside, in prime ski season...

This year our annual big ski trip is Vail, Colorado

Flight there -- * $0 Delta certificate for getting bumped off during business trip. * (upgradable fare, so hoping for an upgrade, Gold Medallion member so there is a chance).
Day 1 - Denver, Ritz, at a reasonable rate of $149 plus tax ($171) I can pay for it with points, but I think at 40,000 points I would not be maximizing the value of the points.
Days 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 - *$0 * Vail Marriott, slope side at Vail, 140,000 points
Days 7, 8 - * * * * * * $0 * Park Hyatt Beaver Creek paying with certificate
Day 9 - $366 same Hyatt (Monday is the cheapest possible day, and I've been checking fairs for a while and this is as low as it goes. If it goes lower, I can cancel and re-book with no penalty) Staying one extra night gets makes better use of our ski passes, plus, cheapest AA award is not available on Sunday, if we did not stay one day extra, I'd have to pay more miles for the ticket.
Flight back from Eagle- * *$0 -- 12,500 AA miles + $5 fee per person
Lift passes - $1,100 (cheapest available, no points or better deals). *This is a lot to pay for lift tickets, but considering how huge the mountains are, and how much they have to maintain, they are justified in charging this.

Even with all the rewards not a cheap vacation, after you add taxis and food and drink at the mountain for 8 days, but if I had to pay for all flights and hotels, we would not be going to Vail again. *

Marriott for those 5 days is $1800+, Hyatt for those days is 1,200-1,300, and the air would be about 1,000 (about 500 per person, plus minus 20, as it fluctuates). *
That would add 4k onto our ski week. I know you guys who live out west are used to cheap great skiing, but if you live in NY, local skiing sucks. So we go some place nice each year. Until last year it has been Vermont and Cananda, and we drove. Last year we did Vail rewards thing, so I thought I'd try same thing again.

We really enjoy skiing and always try to build a nice trip without paying through the nose for it.

I think I've gotten a good value for this trip.

[BuckyBadger]

Am I reading that right? $1637 for the whole trip (excluding food and incidentals, of course)?

That is EPIC.

[Nika]

Yep, that is for 2 skiers, staying in high-end slopeside properties, with lift passes and air included.

[nimisht]

Amazing. Delta reimbursed for a past gaffe? That is cool.

[nimisht]

I recently visited San Francisco and the tab for one night at Marriott alone was over $300. Ouch!

[Nika]

I've gotten even better rewards in the past, like $2,300 suite in Tokyo or open jaw business ticket NYC-Tokyo-Shanghai-Beijing-NYC) in a fully reclining bed with points on its own floor, luxury 600-700 euros a night rooms in Europe.... And paying so little for highest expenses like lodging and air, we have more money left to spend while there, on good food and entertainment.

That is why one should not make conclusions about people's financial habits based on Facebook photos. People might look at photos from our trips and think that we are either making a boat load of money, or irresponsibly blowing every last cent we have on luxury vacations, or worse yet, charging it and going into debt. But no, I would never pay 8K for one business class ticket, and most luxury hotel rooms are either fantastic deals or free with points. I don't specify it on FB though. Nor do I describe how much research and planning goes into making these vacations great. (the truth is I enjoy the anticipation that comes with this planning, with knowing we are getting great deals, and knowing that from the time we get into the cab, we can start relaxing and enjoying).

[BuckyBadger]

That's a good point. One of the things that annoys me about this board (because boards like this are the only place one would see that) are how people are always jumping to conclusions about the spending habits of other people.

"My neighbor wastes money on a lawn service. I'm sure he's in debt up to his eyeballs!"

"My brother in law spent a fortune on his big screen tv. He should be contributing to retirement!"

Unless you know that people are in debt or not saving (which, in my opinion is still none of your damn business) you have no idea if some luxury purchase or service is costing them a fortune, or if they got some sort of deal, or if they are scrimping on another part of their budget in order to pay for something that they really enjoy.

Like you said -- it's dangerous to make assumptions based on what you see on the surface. You could be jumping to the completely wrong conclusions.

Sorry! Rant over!

[sblatner]

I stayed up until 2:30 am yesterday, and checked dozens of times in the last few weeks, but now it is done - another one booked!

I feel like a master of maximizing vacation value!

Why am I bragging? *It is not an easy task to coordinate award reservations together across 2 airlines and 3 hotels! And get lowest price and mile saver awards while doing it.
With ever changing prices and restrictions, at a ski resort, slopeside, in prime ski season...

This year our annual big ski trip is Vail, Colorado

Flight there -- * $0 Delta certificate for getting bumped off during business trip. * (upgradable fare, so hoping for an upgrade, Gold Medallion member so there is a chance).
Day 1 - Denver, Ritz, at a reasonable rate of $149 plus tax ($171) I can pay for it with points, but I think at 40,000 points I would not be maximizing the value of the points.
Days 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 - *$0 * Vail Marriott, slope side at Vail, 140,000 points
Days 7, 8 - * * * * * * $0 * Park Hyatt Beaver Creek paying with certificate
Day 9 - $366 same Hyatt (Monday is the cheapest possible day, and I've been checking fairs for a while and this is as low as it goes. If it goes lower, I can cancel and re-book with no penalty) Staying one extra night gets makes better use of our ski passes, plus, cheapest AA award is not available on Sunday, if we did not stay one day extra, I'd have to pay more miles for the ticket.
Flight back from Eagle- * *$0 -- 12,500 AA miles + $5 fee per person
Lift passes - $1,100 (cheapest available, no points or better deals). *This is a lot to pay for lift tickets, but considering how huge the mountains are, and how much they have to maintain, they are justified in charging this.

Even with all the rewards not a cheap vacation, after you add taxis and food and drink at the mountain for 8 days, but if I had to pay for all flights and hotels, we would not be going to Vail again. *

Marriott for those 5 days is $1800+, Hyatt for those days is 1,200-1,300, and the air would be about 1,000 (about 500 per person, plus minus 20, as it fluctuates). *
That would add 4k onto our ski week. I know you guys who live out west are used to cheap great skiing, but if you live in NY, local skiing sucks. So we go some place nice each year. Until last year it has been Vermont and Cananda, and we drove. Last year we did Vail rewards thing, so I thought I'd try same thing again.

We really enjoy skiing and always try to build a nice trip without paying through the nose for it.

I think I've gotten a good value for this trip.

As a former travel agent, I can only imagine how much work went into this trip. Congratulations.

[BuckyBadger]

As a former travel agent, I can only imagine how much work went into this trip. Congratulations.

I agree! I am super impressed, but I also know that there is absolutely NO way that I could have coordinated that much stuff at once. We didn't go on a honeymoon for three YEARS because I was so tapped out from organizing the wedding!

[Nika]

I agree! I am super impressed, but I also know that there is absolutely NO way that I could have coordinated that much stuff at once. We didn't go on a honeymoon for three YEARS because I was so tapped out from organizing the wedding!

Complete opposite here - I skipped the wedding - found wedding industry frustrating and cookie-cutter so we did simple city hall thing which was nice, with few closest friends and family and simple dinner afterwards. Than we spend the money we would have spend for the wedding for a 30 days luxurious honeymoon, just 2 of us across Argentina. I figured I'd enjoy that more. And we did enjoy it! That was one great trip!

Great Malbec every day, fantastic food, exploring Patagonia, the lakes, climbing glacier, eating king crab near where it is caught. From salt deserts near Bolivia to penguins at the southern tip of the continent, gorgeous nature and great food everywhere. aahhh

[disneysteve]

Good job. It is such a good idea to maximize reward programs. Lots of people fail to do that. They just use their points on the first thing that comes along without thinking about whether or not that is a good use of the points. We do Marriott rewards for travel and Coke rewards for other things. We also have RecycleBank where we earn rewards for our recycling at home. I also do a couple of online survey programs with reward point systems. Before redeeming any points, I always make sure I'm getting a good value for the points. Sometimes, as you did, I choose to pay for a hotel stay rather than redeem points because the price just doesn't justify it.

[snafu]

Your trip sounds fabulous. Kudos for doing such a great job of maximizing points. How many hours were devoted to accomplishing your goals? Last January I was able to work-out flights and an apartment in Bangkok for 3 months at a very reasonable cost. On the other hand, I spent way too much traveling around Thailand and Cambodia because they make it so pleasant to spend, spend, spend.

This year I'm trying to work out Cartegna, Columbia and Quito, Ecuador but it's complicated. If you have any suggestions or sites, I'd appreciate the ideas.

[Blessed]

Sounds fantastic!!!

[Nika]

This year I'm trying to work out Cartegna, Columbia and Quito, Ecuador but it's complicated. If you have any suggestions or sites, I'd appreciate the ideas.

I don't know what you are doing with air, but I can give some hotel recommendations for Ecuador. In Quito, there is a nice hostel in the middle of Gringolandia called The Magic Bean. The Magic Bean - Hostel They serve good breakfast with good coffee and fresh squeezed juice. Books up fast. We had a private room with bathroom there.

Are you just going to Quito, or seeing more of Ecuador? Banos? Place we stayed there:
Hosteria Isla De Banos , Banos & Rio Verde , Ecuador | HostelTrail.com was nice and inexpensive. In general, hostels in Ecuador are much more pleasant experience than in many other countries. I stay in high end hotels now, but if I went to Ecuador again, I'd be fine with those hostels.... I don't know, maybe it is for sentimental reasons. Banos is a gateway for all sorts of outdoor activities, horse riding, rafting, whatever. Though you can find a lot of it outside Quito, Banos is different, small beautiful mountain town.

Area outside the Magic Bean is full of tiny agencies that sell things like rafting tours, biking tours (also, tonn of bars and internet cafes, internet cafes with bars in them... at least this was the case few years ago).
In Ecuador will let you book anything, even if you don't know what you are doing. Want to do grade 4 rapids? Never went rafting before? No problem. Mountain biking off volcanos? They drive you up there with a jeep, give you a bike and assume you have a strong will to live and can make those turns. Will meet you at the bottom. It was fun. I almost got killed there. The "almost" part matters though.

Thermas de pappallacta.
They are actual hotel rooms with prices to much, grounds with hotsprings are beautiful. Relaxing. About hour and a half from Quito.
Termas de Papallacta

The rainforest? I liked Cuyabeno River Lodge and would recommend the experience (also, they don't have mosquito problem in that area of rainforest). That area is close to the border with Colombia, so I would research if you can cross there and go to Colombia by land or small local plane. (they do have some security issues on the Ecuador/Columbia border area, something to keep in mind, but locals generally know where it is ok to go and what is not a good idea). The lodge is fine - it is remote and you can only get to it by canoe, (after a cropduster plane and a jeep ride that is).

If you love nature, there are so many things to do.
All of these things can be easily booked locally (but we had to pay in cash, so trips to the bank).

Good luck!

[EarlyRetirementJoy]

That is why one should not make conclusions about people's financial habits based on Facebook photos. People might look at photos from our trips and think that we are either making a boat load of money, or irresponsibly blowing every last cent we have on luxury vacations, or worse yet, charging it and going into debt. But no, I would never pay 8K for one business class ticket, and most luxury hotel rooms are either fantastic deals or free with points. I don't specify it on FB though. Nor do I describe how much research and planning goes into making these vacations great. (the truth is I enjoy the anticipation that comes with this planning, with knowing we are getting great deals, and knowing that from the time we get into the cab, we can start relaxing and enjoying).

I can relate to this. Our life as early retirees centers around traveling about half of each year. We get lots of "Must be nice" comments when we post photos on Facebook while on the road, or after returning from a trip, but what people don't see is that we live very prudently otherwise. We are very conscientious about not letting our money dribble away at Starbucks, the Verizon store, the Apple store, or the nearest auto dealership. If I sat down with the monthly budget of most of my friends, I am convinced I would find plenty of money for them to travel with if that truly were their priority. My contention is that their lifestyle choices would indicate that it is actually not.