My almost free air and hotel booking for upcoming Miami trip

English: no original description (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I love to travel.  But sometimes trip costs can be expensive.  But who does not like to getaway during winter for few days.Thanks to Amex Canada.  I was able to use the points earned from American Express Gold Rewards card and American Express Starwood Preferred Guest credit card and book my air ticket for less than $60 (only paid the taxes) and hotel was 100% free.

American Express Gold Rewards card offers 25K bonus points and it is free for the first year.  It is a great card.

• You will earn double points for every $1 in eligible travel purchases charged to the card, including flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises, and more.
• You will earn double points for every $1 in eligible gas, grocery and drugstore purchases charged to the Card.
• You will earn one point for every $1 in purchases charged to the Card everywhere else.

The points from the transactions are posted immediately and you don’t have to wait till the statement. One disadvantages is that it may take little bit of time for them to post the bonus points but they will eventually post. Other disadvantage is that I would like to use this card for groceries as well but Real Canadian Superstore does not take American express. Please also note this is a charge card and you have to pay full balance each month.

Time to time Amex has bonus which will let you transfer the points with 50% bonus to BA – Avios points. (That means 25K will be 37.5K Avios points. You can book return ticket to from Toronto Miami for 20K+ $60 using Avios in points in the American airlines. That is direct flight.

If you like for apply the card, here is the Application Link

I also have an American express Starwood Preferred Guest credit card which I use for my business expenses. This card will earn SPG points on purchases.  I am ardent fan of SPG hotels and when I got the card I received 21K bonus points.  Unfortunately this card has fee of $120/year.  As I use the card for business purposes that fee is deductible. SPG points are well worth for the fee.

• You will earn one point for every $1 in purchases charged to the Card everywhere else.
• You will receive a Free Weekend Night Award when you reach $40,000 in purchases each year.
• You will get an automatic upgrade to Starwood Gold level when you spend more than $30K in a year.

 I was able to earn 13K points with transactions I posted to the card. I was able to book Four Points Sheraton in the Miami Beach for 20K points for two days and then Sheraton airport hotel for 14K.

SPG points can be transferred to airline points as well. It provides bonus for transfers to most of the airlines (provide bonus of 5K if you transfer 20K points). I usually keep the SPG points for hotel stay as those are more valuable for me for hotel stay.

If you like for apply the card, here is the Application Link

Voila I have booked air and hotel with out of pocket cost of $60.

How to reduce the cost of the vacation - Part 1

Who does not like cheap vacations?Especially a winter getaway.  

This post explains ways to book cheap vacations. I will do a second part about airline points, hotels points and travel rewards in another post.

Check online for deals:

I have used beatmyquote.ca and SellOffVacations. Beatmyquote.ca will always beat the price of any other online providers and they provided great service as well. Only concern I have is that they are based in Alberta and not registered with TICO. If I am booking a last minute all-inclusive vacation I will book with them.

I have also price matched online deals with Flight Centre as well. They will provide a $10 discount for all-inclusive package and $5 discount for flights.

Here is a list of some of the online travel sites
Redtag.ca
Beatmyquote.ca
Exitnow.ca
SellOffVacations
Tripcentral
Travelocity

Freebies or discounts:
Ask about any freebies. Once our travel agent gave us a free parking for a week at the airport. If you are booking more than eight tickets then some travel agents will give you a group rate or discount.

Use frequent flyer or hotel points to book flights and hotels (points collected through prior travels, credit card use, conversion of other points, sign up bonus etc).

I have booked airplane tickets using Aeroplan points and you can use your points to book tickets to your family members as well. You need to pay taxes and some misc charges. I have stayed in hotels without paying a single cent. I have stayed in Sheraton and Westin Hotels in Toronto, Whistler and India for absolutely free by using my SPG (starwood preferred guest) points. Some of these hotels are 5 star great hotels and offered free breakfast or other perks as well.

Review travel review sites:
Check Tripadvisor,ca Debbies Caribbean Resort Reviews, Fodor’s Travel Guides etc before the travel. During our recent trip to Mexico, we were able to save 50% excursions fare by booking it in the near by town rather than in the hotel we stayed. Thanks to the tips provided by previous tripadvisor posters.

Check the forums to see anyone else traveling at the same time, you may be able to get better group discount rates for excursions. You will find on site experts who can give lot of good tips. Some times you will even find a hotel contact and they can suggest and book the room with great view and other facilities before you arrive at the hotel.

Another great travel forum is flyertalk. There are experts who would advise how to get best use of hotel points and airline points.