I did it! I convinced my husband to take yet another trip this year, this time to Mexico, Playa Del Carmen. Again, credit card points/miles to the rescue!
So, what will the trip involve?
Dates:
– Dec 21st to Dec 29th, 2022
Itinerary:
– Fly Southwest Airlines to Cancun
– Stay eight nights at a condo in Playa Del Carmen, rented through Airbnb. The place is located a few blocks from the beach and close to groceries, restaurants, ferry to Cozumel. It also has two pools on site, so almost a resort in itself. This would be our first trip to Mexico when we are NOT staying in one of the inclusive resorts, we’ll see how it goes…
– Take a couple of trips to Cenotes, Mayan ruins, etc.
– Fly back to the US on Southwest Airlines
Credit Card travel awards:
– 64K Southwest Miles (which I still had after opening two SW credit cards to get a companion pass late last year), 174K Ultimate Rewards points (transferred to Southwest Airlines) and $393 for four round trips (it is a family trip so we are going with our kids), for the total value of $4,429 (1.7 cents per mile). One of the tickets is a companion pass ticket, so the cost here is the taxes.
– I am planning to buy a few Airbnb gift cards through Raise.com to get some (small) discount, probably around $30.
In total, credit card travel rewards saved us $4,036. This may not be the best booking I’ve done so far using credit card travel awards but Christmas time is an expensive time to travel, and ultimately I paid only about $93 per ticket! The miles obtained through welcome bonuses are almost free money, after all! In addition to the tickets we will pay for the accommodation, entertainment and food (don’t expect food to be expensive in Mexico).
So, the fifth big trip of the year! Turks & Caicos (2 people), Hawaii (6 people), Glaciers/Banff NP (4 people), Turkey (2 people) and now Mexico (4 people) – each of those assisted significantly by credit card travel hacking. Not bad, not bad….