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Using points and miles can significantly reduce the cost of family vacations — especially for flights and lodging. Depending on your situation, you might not mind paying cash for extras like excursions and activities. For our family's Christmas break trip to Mexico, I wanted to see how low I could get the actual cash cost of our vacation. In the end, I paid only $790 for a five-night vacation for five to Los Cabos, Mexico.
Not only did I book an all-inclusive resort and roundtrip flights (nonstop, even!) for five people, I also used points for transportation and an excursion. Here’s a breakdown of exactly how I hacked this vacation worth over $9,000 and saved over 90% on the cost.
Booking Award Flights
Christmas break is an expensive time to fly. Example: Five roundtrip, nonstop flights from Portland (PDX) to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (SJD) costs about $3,500 on Alaska Airlines in December. Instead of paying cash, I booked our flights using 187,500 Alaska Airlines miles plus $555 in fees. The key to finding flights that cost only 17,500 to 20,000 Alaska miles each way? Watch the calendar open up 330 days in advance and snag low fares the first day Alaska releases them.
Related: How Far in Advance Can You Book Airline Award Tickets?
As Alaska Airlines frequent fliers, we typically have a stash of Alaska miles we earn from flying and from Alaska's co-branded cards like the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card.
In 2024, we’re breaking out of our Pacific Northwest mold and earning Southwest Airlines Companion Passes. Southwest Airlines doesn’t fly nonstop from Portland to Cabo, but once we have two Companion Passes we could fly our family of five round-trip to Cabo through Phoenix for 92,628 Rapid Rewards plus $656.85 on most dates (actual cash cost for those flights: $2,795.35).
Related: Why I’m Giving up My Alaska MVP Status To Fly Southwest Airlines
Lodging at an All-Inclusive Resort
We stayed at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos, an all-inclusive resort which would have cost us $5,612.84. Instead, we used 250,000 World of Hyatt points to book five people in two rooms for five nights, which included adding our third child to the second room for 10,000 extra points per night (we could have paid $85 per night to add him but stuck with our goal of keeping the cash cost as low as possible).
We booked this stay before the Hyatt category changes in early 2023; today, it would cost a minimum of 63,000 Hyatt points per night to book five people in two rooms at this resort (25K points each night per room during off-peak pricing, plus 13K/night to add the third child under 13). Accordingly, 250,000 points today would cover almost four nights for our family, instead of five.
To book our trip, we transferred Chase Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt. Luckily, earning Ultimate Rewards points has never been easier — especially if you have a travel partner who can also open credit cards. Numerous credit cards earn Ultimate Rewards, and you can even refer your travel partner to one of the same cards. They'll earn the welcome bonus from the card as a new applicant, and you'll earn a referral bonus along the way.
Between the two of you, you’ll be well on your way to a free stay at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos or another property of your choosing, thanks to these bonuses (just make sure at least one of you has Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, or the Chase Sapphire Reserve® — cards that give you the power to transfer points to travel partners like Hyatt).
Beyond flights and all-inclusive resorts, other costs like transportation and excursions add up quickly, especially for families. Here’s how I covered a few extra costs with points.
Related: How To Create a Travel Rewards Credit Card Strategy for Families
Paying for Extras With Points
A few weeks before my stay, the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos sent me an email advertising round-trip airport transfers for up to 10 people for $260. Confident I could find a better deal, I searched Viator.com and found Los Cabos Airport Shuttle for $160. Next, I searched in the Chase Travel℠ portal and found the same airport shuttle for $112.44. Because I have a Sapphire Preferred, my Ultimate Rewards are worth 25% more in the portal. In the end, I booked the Los Cabos Shuttle for only 8,995 Ultimate Rewards (using points at 1.25¢ apiece). Total cash cost for round-trip airport transfer in the end: $20 to tip the driver ($10 each way).
My teenagers requested a ziplining excursion, so I searched Viator again and found Los Cabos Costa Azul Zipline Eco-Adventure for $392. The same excursion showed up in the Chase travel portal for $325.63, and I booked using 26,050 Ultimate Rewards points. Holding the Sapphire Reserve unlocks even more savings, increasing the Ultimate Reward value by 50%. Our total cash cost for the ziplining excursion: $150 for tips, food, and park entry.
What I Paid for With Cash
When booking our award flights, we had $555 in taxes and fees, which I paid with my Sapphire Preferred. This card offers 2x points on travel and also some of the best trip protection around. One way to cover that $555 with points and miles would be to pay with a Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card or Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and then use Capital One miles to cover the cost since you can use Capital One miles to offset recent travel purchases.
We also brought cash with us to cover the following: tipping van drivers, tips for resort and excursion staff, and paying $12 per person for entrance to the park where the ziplining takes place (not included in the cost of the excursion).
In the end, we paid less than $800 in cash for a vacation worth $9,262.84. The lion's share of our cash costs came from the taxes and fees on our flight redemptions.
Related: Best Credit Cards for Travel Purchases
Bottom Line
With the right flexible rewards points in your wallet, you can cover much more than hotels and flights with credit card points and airline miles. By combining travel portals with credit cards that increase the value of your points, you’ll be able to use points for transportation, excursions, and more. This can help you reduce the cost of your trip beyond just hotels and flights — a real money-saver for families whose expenses can add up quickly during vacations.
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