Diving into Bilt

Earlier this year Bilt rolled out their credit card 2.0 program. If you're not familiar with Bilt, it's not actually a bank.... it's a financial program that allows you to earn points through loyalty spending, rent, mortgage, and every day purchases.

However, similar to banks, you can earn Bilt Points that can be transferred to third-party airline and hotel partners (or utilized to book travel in their portal, redeem for gift cards, or even redeemed to cover purchases).   

After months of debating, I finally opened the Bilt Palladium card in August (2026) and I'm already impressed!!

Opening new credit cards and earning sign up bonuses is still the most lucrative want to earn points; however, if you want an "in-between" card, or if you don't want to be opening several new credit cards a year - Bilt is a great everyday card. I have my Everyday Cards List; but Bilt really has become our go-to!

I'm going to caution you - Bilt is like an onion. Ha! It was SO many layers to the program, its definitely overwhelming. I personally think it gets a bit easier once you're in it and actually utilizing it.

This post is going to attempt to provide an overview of everything. If it makes your head hurt, don't worry, I felt the same way too initially. Hang in there or reach out for help!

BILT 101

Credit Card Options

There are three Bilt Credit cards. You can only hold one card at a time. As of September 2026, there are options to downgrade cards. The benefits listed below are highlights that I think are most relevant.

• Blue 
• $0 annual fee
• up to 4x points on Bilt partner restaurants
• 1x points on everyday purchases

• Obsidian 
• $95 annual fee
• up to 6x points on Bilt partner restaurants
• 3x points on other dining or groceries (your choice; up to $25k/yr for groceries)
• 2x points on direct travel (not Bilt Portal)
• 1x points on everyday purchases

• Palladium 
• $495 annual fee
• up to 5x points on Bilt partner restaurants
• 2x points on everyday purchases
• $400 Bilt Travel Hotel credit (2 - $200 credits twice a year, on 2-night stays booked in Bilt Travel Portal)*
• $300 Annual Bilt Cash*
• Gold Status* as part of sign up bonus (valid for the remainder of the calendar year minimum spend is achieve AND for the full calendar year following)
• *more on these topics and why they matter/how to maximize below

All of the cards can earn up to 1.25x on housing payments (rent and mortgage), with no transaction fee.

Referral Link Absolutely free to you to use to open this card; but gives me a small credit for you opening a card. This is an easy way to help support my small business and keep free content coming! Thank you!

Current Sign Up Bonuses

At the time of publishing this post, 10/23/2026, only the Palladium card includes points as part of the sign-up bonus (aka Bilt Rewards); which personally is why it's the only card I would recommend as worth taking up a 5/24 spot (if you're the kind of person opening a few cards a year).

A lot of the context of where and why I'm finding value in this card and the write ups below is going to be based on my Palladium card experience.

5/24: All of the current Bilt cards offered are Personal cards; therefore, they will take up a spot on your 5/24. (Chase 5/24 rule: Chase will only allow you to have 4 personal credit cards from ANY bank/store/airline/hotel/etc in the previous 24 months. If you exceed this limit, Chase likely will automatically not approve you for more cards. Read Item 2 here for more beginner basics). 

Referral Link Absolutely free to you to use to open this card; but gives me a small credit for you opening a card. This is an easy way to help support my small business and keep free content coming! Thank you!

Bilt Rewards and Transfer Partners

The ability to earn extra points (up to 3x's per all purchases), and how/where you can you Bilt points (aka Rewards), really are what has made this card a favorite for us.

This is going to vary from person to person, but for my family, Bilt has THE best transfer partners. Not only does it transfer 1:1 to Hyatt (the only other option to transfer points to Hyatt is Chase, and as of 10/1; not all Chase cards transfer at 1:1 anymore; only Chase Sapphire Reserve); but Bilt also transfers 1:1 to United and Southwest, which are the two most common airlines we flying, being based in Denver (hubs for both). Plus Japan Airlines is a 1:1 partner and has emerged as a great partner - not only to get to Japan, but also to utilize to book lower point and lower fee flights to Europe!

In total, Bilt has 27 transfer partners:

Hotels

Note: As of January 1, 2027: Hyatt will move to a 4:3 transfer ratio, which is a HUGE bummer! But still one of the best deals out there, given that Bilt Obsidian and Palladium cards earn more than 1 cent per point. (The only card left with a 1:1 Hyatt Transfer is the Chase Sapphire Reserve and/or Sapphire Reserve for Business)

Airlines

Note: JetBlue has since been added

Most recently, Rail

Bilt Cash

Okay - points we know and love. 

Bilt Cash? It's confusing. Its literally like made-up money that has no true cash value, but that you can utilize to unlock benefits and/or higher point earning. You earn Bilt Cash based on your spending and/or for every 25,000 Bilt points you earn. 

Earning Bilt Cash

With the Bilt Palladium Card, one of the benefits offered is that you can choose one of two earn options:

1. Earn 1.25x's points on your rent/mortgage (when paid through Bilt)
2. Earn 4% in Bilt Cash on everyday spend <This is how I earn the majority of myBilt Cash

I opted for Option 2. There are several online calculators to help you figure out in a year, in Option 1 or Option 2 will yield you the most points. Its depends how much you'll be spending and how much your housing payments are.

Bilt Cash, has many uses (see below), including the ability to pay your housing and earn points, and "buying points accelerator". 

What this means, is that you can redeem $200 Bilt Cash in order to earn an extra point on all purchases up to $5,000. Combined with the Palladium benefits above, this means that I'm earning 3x points on all purchases.  You can "purchase" (ie use Bilt Cash) up to 5 accelerators a year. Assuming you're always earning Bilt Cash with a 4% earn rate on all purchases; this basically makes Bilt Palladium a GREAT every day card to earn 3x points on all nonhousing purchases!

Using Bilt Cash

Note: these vary some with Bilt Status of Blue, Silver, Gold, or Platinum), you can redeem Bilt cash for: 

• $30 of Bilt Cash to earn points on every $1,000 of housing payments.
• Example: If your mortgage is $2,000/mo, if you redeem $60 of Bilt Cash (2*$30), you will earn 2,000 points for utilizing Bilt to pay your mortgage 
• Example: If your rent is $3,200/mo, if you redeem $96 of Bilt cash (3.2*$30), you will earn 3,200 points for utilizing Bilt to pay your rent 
• Note: I'm not going to cover more than this regarding housing payments and Bilt in this post. I will do a separate post for setting up your mortgage and rent payments. I do think it's a nice feature, but I don't necessarily thing it's the primary reason to get a Bilt card.
• $10/mo Lyft credit: note this goes into your Lyft account, somewhat like a gift card, and can be used at a huge time
• $10/mo Walgreen credit
• $10/mo Grubhub credit: this can be stacked with American Express Gold dining/flexible use credits
• $100 Bilt Travel Portal credit: this can stack with the twice a year Palladium $200 Bilt Hotel Travel portal credit; giving you $300 off a 2-night minimum stay
• $25/mo credit at select Bilt Dining Partners
• $50/mo Bilt Dining Experience credit
• $100 Blacklane credit/year
• Priority Pass 3rd and 4th guest passes: cardholder and one guest get in free

In my opinion, Bilt Cash is best used to unlock a "Points Accelerator" (learn how below).

Rent Day Bonus

Instead of having Transfer Bonuses like other flexible banks, Bilt has a "Rent Day Bonus". That is, on the first of the month, Bilt gives you the ability to earn 4x points on nonhousing purchases up to $500. This is an "easy" way to earn 2,000 points monthly! 

Rent Day Bonus does NOT stack with the Points Accelerator.

How to "Activate" Points Accelerator

1. Log into your Bilt account, and go to your Wallet. You'll see your rewards.

2. Under "Everyday rewards", click on "Boost your points"

3. "Swipe" at the bottom to redeem $200 of Bilt Cash for a point accelerator. That's it! (You can see here, that I've already utilize one of the five annual allowable accelerators)

Tip: You can activate a Points Accelerator as soon as you open a Palladium card with $200 of the $300 annual Bilt Cash as one of the card benefits. You do NOT need to hit a minimum spend first. In fact, I'd recommend activating a Points Accelerator immediately, so that your $4K minimum spend earns 3x's points!

When I first got the card, I had strategically opened the card to pay our Homeowner's insurance, $5,600. Since my Palladium came with Bilt Cash, I activated a Points Accelerator. When I charged the $5,600 bill, I earned a TON of points!

Within 5 days of having the card, I earned the 50,000 point Palladium sign up bonus; 15,000 points for the 3x Point Accelerator I added (remember, one accelerator earns you 3x points total for $5,000 spend); and 1,200 points (for the remaining $600, at 2x per $1 spent); thats a lot of 67,200 of the points I find most valuable right!

Summary

There's a lot to Bilt, I can't sugar coat that - but I do think it's a worthwhile program to take the time to figure out. The Palladium card has now become our every day card - thanks to the ability to earn 3-4x's points on all purchases AND having the most valuable transfer partners!

Not to mention, if you hold any of the Bilt cards, you have the ability to get a 1:1 transfer ratio from Rakuten (which is free extra points!).

I hope this intro helps; I'll continue to dive in and provide more reasons and examples how we're using this card.

If you're interested in opening a Bilt card, I appreciate if you use my referral link. This is completely free to you, but helps me to continue to provide free unfiltered content :) Thank you!

Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

Trying to figure out your next card? Here is my FREE personalized Next Card Recommendation form. Simply fill this out and I'll let you know suggestions.

Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!

RIP Southwest Companion Pass

Southwest Companion Pass has been a staple of travel for many people, for many years and today, 10/15/2026, Southwest announced devastating changes to the program as we know it.

Current Rules
Currently, you need to earn 135,000 qualifying Companion Pass points in one calendar year to earn companion pass. Starting in 2027, Companion Pass qualifying points will no longer exist. Southwest explicitly states that rapid rewards points earn from activities such as welcome bonuses and spend will not count towards companion pass.

New Rules
Starting January 1st, 2027, Southwest is rolling out new status tiers. Status is earned through Tier Qualifying Points (ie spend) or Qualifying Quantity of Flights. Platinum Status will be the only way to earn unlimited companion pass (although the news release does indicate that promotional companion passes will still occur)

How to earn Companion Pass through end of 2027

However, if you're able to pivot and earn 135,000 qualifying Companion Pass points in 2026, you will receive Companion Pass through 12/31/2027. Let's talk through how you can do this!

To be completely transparent, this is my hopeful plan for my family. Currently, myself and my P2 both have CP ending 12/31/2026. I'm in the same boat as y'all - trying to scramble to get enough points this year so that I can get us CPs through 12/31/2027! I really appreciate if you open a SW card and don't have a partner to refer you, that you use my referral links in this post. 

I'm happy to schedule 1:1 consult for your SW CP plan, in return for using my link!

Step 1 - Check your CP qualifying points status

Knowing how many points you have right now, towards the needed 135K is your starting point,

• Log in to your SW Account
• Click My Account
• Locate My Rapid Rewards
• Scroll down to "Earn your next Companion Pass"

As you can see here, I currently have 35,850 of 135,000 points needs to earn companion pass again by the end of 2026.

Step 2 - New Card Eligibility

From here, your next step is going to vary greatly, depending on:

• How many points towards CP you already have? ie - how many more points do you need?

• Are you eligible for business cards?
• If you are a sole proprietor business, your likelihood of approval depends on:
•  you need have opened 2 or less personal cards from any financial institution in the past 24 months (the new "3/24 rule")
• in addition to being until 3/24; if you have more than 2 Chase issued business cards open, you are not likely to be approved for a new SW Business Card

• Have you held a SW Personal Card in the past?
• If so, when did you receive the signup bonus?
• you're not eligible to apply for a new SW personal card until it's been 24mo since you received the sign up bonus on the previous personal card
• If it's been more than 24mo since you received a sign up bonus on a SW personal card, you're in the clear

• Do you currently hold any Southwest cards?
• Remember, there are 3 SW personal cards, but you can only have one at a time. So if it's been more then 24mo since you last received a personal card sign up bonus, but you still hold a SW personal card, you're going to need to close the card, and wait 30 days before applying for a new SW personal card

Step 3 - Do the Math

As of 10/15/2026, these are the current card sign up bonus offers; figure out how many points you need, which cards you're eligible for, and which specific card to open.

As a reminder, it's best practice to apply for the SW Business card BEFORE applying for SW Personal card; to ensure you can get approved for the business card and follow your action plan.

Southwest Business Cards

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business: Spend $3,000 in 3 months; earn 80,000 points*
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business: Spend $5,000 in 3 months; earn 80,000 points

Southwest Personal Cards

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus: Spend $1,000 in 3 months; earn 50,000 points
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier: Spend $1,500 in 3 months; earn 55,000 points
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority: Spend $2,000 in 3 months; earn 60,000 points

*Right now, the Premier Business is the only elevated offer.

Combination Examples

There are endless combination and considerations to get to 135K points based on your eligibility. Here are a few for thought:

• If you have NO Southwest cards open and have never held a SW card, and 0 points towards CP: your "cheapest" option is still the "traditional" method:
• Open Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business for 80,000 points SUB 
• Wait 30 days, then open Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus: for 50,000 points

• If you've received a personal card sign up bonus in the past 24 months, and have 30K points towards CP, you need 105K points buy the end of the year (135K-30K)
• Open Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business for 80,000 points SUB (80K points for SUB + 3K points for minimum spend, gets you to 113K points
• For the remaining 22K points:
• Refer someone: 20K points each
• Open a SW debit card and make a deposit: 10k points
• Spend strategically on your SW card and utilize SW offers (found in your Chase card account)
• Book a hotel stay through Southwest: points vary
• Southwest Shopping Portal
• Southwest Dining
• Southwest Surveys
• Southwest promotions and offers tied to your account/credit card
• Southwest cardholder anniversary points

• If you haven't received a personal card sign up bonus in the last 24mo, are a sole proprietor (and over 3/24 - aka likely not eligible for a new SW Business card), and have 12k points towards CP:
• Open personal Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority for 60,000 points (60K points for SUB + 2K points for minimum spend, gets you 74k points towards CP)
• 135K - 74K, means for the remaining 61K points needed:
• Refer someone: 20K points each
• Open a SW debit card and make a deposit: 10k points
• Spend strategically on your SW card and utilize SW offers (found in your Chase card account)
• Book a hotel stay through Southwest: points vary
• Southwest Shopping Portal
• Southwest Dining
• Southwest Surveys
• Southwest promotions and offers tied to your account/credit card
• Southwest cardholder anniversary points

Reminders

A few misc items to keep in mind:

• Southwest (currently) gives all cardholders 10,000 points towards companion pass annually.
• Points cannot be used to book flights
• Points are awarded annually on January 1st and/OR within 30 days of opening your first SW card
• You will only receive 10,000 points boost once annually (regardless of how many cards you hold; 2 cards does not equal 20,000 points)
• Southwest cardholders receive anniversary points, awarded at statement close, every 12 months. The number of points vary based on which card(s) you hold (Business Performance card is not listed below and receives 9,000 points):

• Statement Close: Typically points are awarded at statement close, after spend during your statement period. This is important because if your statement closes on the 15th of the month; you would want to complete all of your spend before Dec 15th in order to receive points rather than Dec 31st.
• You can call and request your statement close date be changed! Typically this takes one billing cycle to go into effect, so you may want to go ahead and request NOW that your statement close date be moved towards the end of the month!
• Although Southwest has said, any card open by or before December 2nd, 2026, can hit the minimum spend early 2027 and still receive the points. The assumption is that these points will be back dated to 2026, to earn CP for 2026 and all of 2027.
• Ideally, if you are closing a SW card and going to reapply for a "new" card, close and wait 30 days if you can

Summary

Ultimately, this is a HUGE hit and change to points and miles world. Since Southwest rolled out changes in 2025, their loyalty has already been fragile and in my opinion, this change really will cause Southwest to loose an even greater fan base.

If you're on the fence and interested in a 1:1 consult to talk about your options, feel free to reach out justcallmehaha@gmail.com

And as always, if you open one of these cards discussed, I so appreciate your support and use of my referral links to keep my content coming and free!

Southwest Business Cards

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business: Spend $3,000 in 3 months; earn 80,000 points*
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business: Spend $5,000 in 3 months; earn 80,000 points

Southwest Personal Cards

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus: Spend $1,000 in 3 months; earn 50,000 points
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier: Spend $1,500 in 3 months; earn 55,000 points
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority: Spend $2,000 in 3 months; earn 60,000 points

Elevated Southwest Offer Alert!

We are about to move into Southwest Companion Pass "Season"; that is the timing of which you can strategically earn Southwest Credit Card sign up bonuses to hit 135,000 points in a calendar year and earn companion pass (your companion flies for just taxes and fees, no additional cost. Domestic US taxes/fees are $5.60)...

... and  Southwest announced an elevated offer on their lower tier business card, Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Card

On October 15, 2026 Southwest announced the death of companion pass was we know it. If you want one more year of free flights for your companion, you need to hit 135,000 points by the end of 2026! This card is a great start!

Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Card

Elevated Offer (more points than typical): Spend $3,000 in 3 months, earn 80,000 points

(Elevated offer valid Sept 24, 2026 through Oct 26, 2026, potentially Nov 2, 2026 per differing dates listed on Chase. Standard Offer is to spend $3,000 in 3 months to earn 60,000 points)

Annual Fee: $149

Referral Link: absolutely free to you to use to open this card; but gives me credit with Chase for you applying. This is an easy way to help support my small business and keep free content coming! Thank you!

5/24: Because this is a Chase Business card, it does NOT count in your 5/24 (Chase 5/24 rule: Chase will only allow you to have 4 personal credit cards from ANY bank/store/airline/hotel/etc in the previous 24 months. If you exceed this limit, Chase likely will automatically not approve you for more cards. Read Item 2 here for more beginner basics). 

Don't think you have a business to qualify? Read more about what counts and a tutorial how to apply here.

Card Benefits:

• Free checked bag for cardholders and up to 8 people on the same reservation
• Automatic 10,000 points boost towards companion pass annually (these points cannot be used to book flights)
• Free Seat Upgrade: 48 hours before departure; select a Preferred Seat for you (and your companion) for fee
• 15% Flight discount annually
• No foreign transaction fees
• 25% back on inflight purchases

When to Apply/Open

If you don't care about Southwest Companion Pass, feel free to open this card now!

If you're trying to hit 135,000 qualifying points towards Companion Pass in 2026 through 2027, you should also open this card now.

BUT, if you are trying for 2027/2028 Companion Pass, do NOT open this now! You need to strategically time when you earn sign up bonus points so that the points hit early 2027, that way, combined with another card's sign up bonus, you'll hit 135,000 points in 2027 and earn Companion Pass for the remainder of 2027 and all of 2028, you need to wait until at least October 15thto open this elevated offer.

Once you open this card towards the end of October, you are going to watch the spending VERY carefully,  If you're going to immediately start using the card, monitor your spend very carefully and put the card away as soon as you hit $2,500 spend (if it's still 2026).

Why? Remember, we want to earn all 135,000 points in one calendar year, because you get companion pass for the reminder of the calendar year you hit 135,000 points AND for the ENTIRE full calendar year after. To maximize the amount of time you get companion pass, we want the signup bonus to hit your account in 2027.

So, if you were to spend the full $3,000 of the Southwest Business Premier minimum spend in 2026, then you would be awarded the sign up bonus points in 2026, but that doesn't do you any good when the "clock" for earning 135,000 points in a calendar year resets on January 1st!

The ideal is that you spend the majority of the minimum spend in 2026 ($2,500 for this particular card) and then January 1st, it's go time - spend the remaining $500!

Earning Companion Pass 2027-2028

Assuming there are no major changes to the Companion Pass Program, if you want to earn companion pass for the majority of 2027 and ALL of 2028, here is your plan.

The cards I'm recommending allow you to achieve 135,000 points to earn Companion Pass with the lowest total spend and lowest annual fees possible. If you want more Southwest points, you can open any of the three SW personal cards - just know that your minimum spend and your annual fee will increase (but you'll also receive more card benefits and more points).

(As a reminder, this is a conservative timing approach. Technically since points are awarded after statement close, there is a little room for flexibility)

1. October 15-31st: Open the SW Business Premier Card with the elevated offer highlighted in this post; to earn 80,000 points for $3K spend in 3mo, with a $149 annual fee 

2. 30+ days after you're approved for the SW Business Premier Card, apply for the SW Rapid Rewards Plus card

• The standard offer on the SW Rapid Rewards Plus card is to earn 50,000 points by spending $1K in 3mo, with a $99 annual fee

With the plan above, a minimum spend of $4,000 total and total annual fees of $248, you will earn the following points:

80,000 (Business Premier SUB) + 3,000 (at 1 point per dollar spent for Business Premier minimum spend) + 10,000 (companion pass "boost" from SW, given to cardholders, 10,000 total, - regardless of how many SW cards you hold; these points are NOT redeemable for flights) + 50,000 (Rapid Rewards Plus SUB) + 1,000 (at 1 point per dollar spent for Rapid Rewards Plus minimum spend)

80,000 + 3,000 + 10,000 + 50,000 + 1,000 = 144,000 points! (135,000 needed for CP)

Worth Noting - Remember

1. The points you earn towards Companion Pass are redeemable on flights. You don't need to hit 135,000 points and "trade them in" in order to get Companion Pass.

2. If you're planning to earn companion pass with the "traditional" 2-card method, you want to:

• Open a Southwest Business card first (to ensure you can get approved)
• Open a Southwest Personal card second; and at least 30 days after getting approved for the Southwest Business Card

3. Timing: Technically the spend needs to be completed by your statement period that ends in December; which can get really confused. If you need help with specific dates customized to your cards, please reach out and I'm happy to help!

Summary

Having the ability to purchase one flight (with points or cash) and add a second flyer for just $5.60 has drastically changed my family of 4's ability to travel and opened so many opportunities and memories.

SW CP timing is so critical and can be easy to be confused or mess up. My first time trying - I messed it up too! Thankfully if you screw up, you may have an opportunity to correct the ship. I'm here to help you learn how to earn and options to try to "fix" if you need it.

As a reminder, you can read about different methods of earning Companion Pass here. This post goes into detail not only for earning one companion pass, but also the option to earn two companion passes with three cards instead of four.

If you do not have a Southwest card yet, I appreciate if you use my referral links. This helps me earn my own companion pass too :) Don't forget - you can open any Southwest card (personal or business) from any Southwest referral link.

Wengen Rental (Jungfrau, Switzerland)

Our sunset balcony view

The majority of our 12 night trip to Paris and Switzerland in July 2026 for our family of four was booked using points and miles (you can find all of the details what/when/how/how many points here). However, I ultimately decided NOT to use points for the majority of our Switzerland stay.

We spent seven nights in Switzerland, six of those were dedicated the the Jungfrau Region, roughly two hours by train from Zurich. Jungfrau is a popular destination and now having been, I can see why! It includes the towns of Grindelwald, Wengen, Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken, Murren, Gimmelwald, and I'm sure more (these are the towns we visited).

Walk to Gimmelwald

Which Town to Stay In

In my research, I found a lot of recommendations to be based in Grindelwald, Wengen, or Lauterbrunnen. The more I researched, the more I decided that the car-free, mountain-side town of Wengen would be likely be the best fit for our family. After exploring all of the nearby towns, we agreed that Wengen was the best choice for us! (Grindelwald is also very popular, but was "out of the way" for several of the activities we did and also felt much more touristy). Wengen was actually larger than we anticipated, and not necessarily in a bad way.

I should note, that my goal for this portion of our trip was to save our energy for exploring and not "waste" time moving from one town to the next. We definitely could have based ourselves in at least two towns with our six allocated night, but staying in just one town made things less chaotic and easier to settle in.

Wengen

Using Points for Accommodations

However, before this, I looked quickly at options to use points in this region. There are no Hyatts/few hotels from any name brand chains. My best option to use points appeared to be to book in Chase Travel Portal and utilize my Sapphire Reserve for points boost. BUT, the downside (and ultimate reason we didn't book a hotel), is that standard rooms typically have an occupancy limit of 2; which meant for a family of 4, we would need 2 hotel rooms. Because Chase Travel portal points cost is based on cash price and we were looking at 6 nights in summer; we were easily going to have to spend over 600,000 Chase points - which I wasn't willing to do!

Instead, I pivoted to looking at short term rentals. I figured, we were going on a 2-week vacation, thus saving two weeks of camp cost for the kids; so I could utilize that as the basis for my rental budget. I started my search approximately five months in advance and immediately found that for our ideal budget (~$2000), there were limited, but doable options.

View from our Wengen Rental

Where We Stayed

We ended up selecting "Bristol, Apt K" in Wengen for our rental. A 2-bedroom, 1 bath, cozy condo located in the Bristol Apartment complex in Wengen with incredible views from the balcony. The condo itself is not updated, but it is clean and comfortable. It worked really well for our family - we were gone all day, everyday, but it was perfect to make breakfast at home, occasional dinners in, and sit on the deck nightly to take in the view. We would absolutely rent this unit (or others in the complex) again! (Although it didn't have a washing machine; I did a lot of sink laundry)

It's listed on Airbnb, VRBO, and direct with the property management company - Interhome. It doesn't happen often, but in our situation, the total price for all three booking options was the same. I elected to book through VRBO, which had a 5% back Rakuten offer at the time of booking. 

$103.19 cash back is equal to 10,319 points!

(Note - I put the initial deposit on my Chase Sapphire Reserve Business card, since we were working on the minimum spend at the time. I had planned to pay the final balance with my Capital One Venture Card, and then use my Venture Miles to "erase" a portion of the cost; but the communication after booking was poor and I missed this opportunity. Another card option would be to utilize your Chase Sapphire Preferred, which now earns 3x's points on vacation rental bookings).

Booking Tip

When searching, I found more options and better total rates if I searched for a week long rental, instead of the 6-nights I needed. So, I ended up booking a week long day to SAVE money; and then contacted the rental company to let them know we would be arriving a day late. 

This also could work really well if you wanted to check in before 4pm or checkout after 10a, as a "bonus" day to a 6-night stay. In the end, we paid, $2,178 for the rental (and easily saved at least $600 in meals/drinks by eating at home).

Other Options

If you're looking for Wengen rentals and Apt K is booked for your dates, here are some other 2-bedroom options that we considered at a similar price point:

Bristol Apt S

(Same building as our rental, but I think our view was better ;)

Schweizerhof Apt. S

Apartment Plein Soleil

Summary

Switzerland was a dream - I still can't believe I figured it out and we pulled it all off! The planning was absolutely a puzzle to piece together, something that I enjoy doing... but for my family and the memories we made, the trip itself was absolutely incredible! Wengen was a perfect home base for us.

If you're wondering what we did with 6 nights and 5 days in Wengen, I have a compiled itinerary post (including costs!) coming soon, but currently you can find day by day on my Instagram feed, @justcallmehaha

I hope that my posts and sharing can help you find ways to use your everyday spending to inspire you and your family to make your own special memories with the help of points and miles! If you're new to points and miles or wanted to get started - I recommend checking out this post and these beginner cards first.

____________________________________________

Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

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Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!

Extending and Combining Southwest Credits

We fly a lot of Southwest, thanks to having two Southwest Companion Passes (ie, our kids "fly free", which makes family travel a lot more affordable!) When Southwest rolled out their program overhaul in May 2025, one of the biggest changes they made was the expiration time frame for vouchers and credits.

"Basic" fare, is Southwest's lowest tier fare option. It doesn't offer seat selection and it doesn't offer full refunds. However, maybe you're like me and because you hold a Southwest Credit card, you get free checked bags and maybe even seat selection, and when Basic Fare flights with points; you still have the option to cancel a Basic Fare flight and get all of your points back.

BUT, if you book a Basic Fare flight paying cash, if you need to cancel, you won't get a cash refund, you'll get a Southwest Credit - valid for only six months. Keep reading to learn how to turn that six month credit into a no expiration credit! 

Similarly, if you experience Southwest delays/issues, you may be issued a LUV Voucher, which is valid for 12 months (travel must be completed before the expiration date). We have received over $800 in LUV Vouchers in the past six months! So this definitely happens (and here's how you can request a voucher too!)

In order to use Flight Credits and/or LUV Vouchers, it's important to know that when booking a flight, "each passenger can use a total of three forms of payment per booking, and each flight credit counts as one form a payment". 

The process I'm about to outline for you, not only will extend your credit's "shelf life" it also essentially allows you to combine multiple flight credits into one credit (even in your credits are non-transferable!), so that you can use all at once as one form of payment and perhaps pay the remains with cash/credit card.

In any instance - the jist is, if you have a Southwest Credit or Voucher that's going to expiring before you can use it; there’s a way to extend. Read on! 

How to Extend Expiring Southwest Credits

You can "beat" Southwest at their own game by following this hack to “convert” expiring travel funds to non-expiring and transferable travel funds. 

Is it a bit complicated? Yes. Does it work? Also yes. 

Keep in mind - you can locate flight credits in your Southwest Account. On a web browser, you do this by logging > My Account > Scroll down to My Flight Credits: 

However, LUV Vouchers typically are issued via email (and in my opinion are harder to keep track of! If//when I use a LUV voucher, I usually do a reply email to myself from the original issuance email, and I tell myself what date I used the voucher, what flight I used it for, and my confirmation number. This way, if I *think* I have a voucher to use, I can do a quick inbox search).

You can use this link to check the balance on Flight Credits and LUV Vouchers (as long as you know the confirmation code and/or voucher number.

How-To:

1. Find any one-way Choice Preferred tier flight that the cash price costs slightly more than your travel credit. The NEEDS to cost more than your travel credit value, not less. Ideally up to $20 more (you will need to spend the delta amount in cash, so the closer to your travel credit amount the better). This flight needs to be for a date that is before your travel credit expires. 

You can do this by using the low fare calendar and filtering search for Choice Preferred. From the main search page,  select "Search with low fare calendar" (note this option doesn't appear in App and needs to be done from a web browser)

After you click search, at the left, on the Fare type, select "Choice Preferred" from the drop down:

Example: Lets say you have a $90 travel fund expiring February 2027. You need to look for a choice preferred flight before February 2027 that costs at least $90. Using the low fare calendar, I found a $94 option in October 2026.

2. Purchase a Southwest giftcard to cover the cost of that flight minus the travel credit amount. 

This is why, you want to find a flight priced as close to your flight credit amount, but slightly higher. You technically could find any flight that costs more than your credit value, but then you'd be tying up a lot of extra money in Southwest credits.

The best place I’ve found for instant digital giftcards is DoorDash. Not only can you do any custom amount, but if you have a dash pass (benefit from tons of Chase cards), you also get 10% off gift cards!

Example: We found that $94 flight above and have a $90 travel fund; so you’re going to purchase a digital Southwest gift card, for at least $4 (in this case, the minimum amount is $25 though; so I'd buy a $25 giftcard, which means I'm tying up more money in Southwest credits)

3. Go to Southwest and put the cash Choice Preferred flight you found earlier, that costs the same as your travel fund + SW gift card, in your cart.

For our example: this would be the $94 choice preferred flight on 10/14/2026 that we found above.

4. At check you, use your expiring travel fund plus the newly purchased SW gift card, as your form of payment.

5. Pretty much immediately after purchase, you can cancel the flight and you’ll receive a non-expiring/one-time transferable travel credit, for the total amount that you paid!

From our example: this would a $94 non-expiring, one-time transferable credit. (The original $90 travel credit plus the $4 used from the $25 Southwest Giftcard)

Keep in Mind

- You technically have to put more money into this by purchasing the gift card, in order for this to work. That’s why I would look for a choice preferred flight priced as close to, but over the value, of your travel credit

- The flight you book MUST be choice preferred (or higher) tier flight for this to work, based on the different refund policies for each fare benefits

- You can also use this technique to combine multiple individual travel credits into one. For example, when my family of four each get our own LUV voucher, because Southwest limits you to three forms of payment per ticket purchase, I can’t use all four vouchers to purchase one flight… BUT if I used two or three vouchers to purchase base one flight, then canceled, I would have effectively “combined” those vouchers into one!

- Since the method above yields a one-time transferable credit, if you transfer the credit to someone else, when they go to use it, they HAVE to use it to pay for a flight for themselves. The passenger name has to match the name transferred to.

I found this out the hard way. I went through all of the steps above, and effectively moved a transfer credit to my P2’s account. My plan had been to combine it with a flight credit he had to purchase a ticket for me (on his account). Nope, didn’t work because I wasn’t booking a flight for him with his name on the transferred credit…. So I got it repeat the process all over again to transfer the credits back to me to book a flight in my name. But in the end, I was able to combine and utilize two flight credits that were expiring to book a flight for free (no points needed); which was worth it.

Summary

You never know what you don't know. This little trick is a great way to "extend" the useful life of those pesky credits. I know we've had more than one credit expire in the past and now I'm kicking myself that I didn't know this sooner. If this post doesn't help you right now, I hope it will in the future!

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Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

Trying to figure out your next card? Here is my FREE personalized Next Card Recommendation form. Simply fill this out and I'll let you know suggestions.

Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!