Once people start to earn some points, the next question I'm often asked is "where can I go?!" The answer is you can pretty much use points to take you anywhere around the world (literally if you want!. Here's a recap of our 2025 travel.
As a reminder - here's my general rule of thumb for how many points to anticipate spending for hotels and flights
Our 2025 Points Trips
January
Winter Break 2024-2025, we spent 5 nights in Maui at Hyatt Regency and 5 nights in Kauai at Grand Hyatt. Both of these hotels were booked a year in advance by transferring Chase points to Hyatt to book directly.
We used our two Southwest Companion Passes to fly from/to Denver and also in between islands (which meant that instead of using points to buy four flights to/from Hawaii, we only had to buy two and got two free!)
I used the $300 Capital One Venture X travel credit to book our Maui rental car (via Capital One Travel portal) and for Kauai we had booked a Turo but they cancelled last minute and I was able to get an awesome last minute deal with Hertz directly, paying cash.
Trip Cash Value: $18,000+
February
No travel for me, besides skiing; but my boys went to Palm Springs to visit my in-laws, using Southwest Companion Pass. I got a KILLER price going there - of just 2,617 points. Thanks for SW CP, my son flew free!
Trip Cash Value: $500
March
The first half of spring break we had our condo-share and skied; then at the end of break we went to Arizona to see Cubs Spring Training and stayed at Grand Hyatt Scottsdale for 3 nights. I booked this stay only a month (exactly) in advance, by transferring Chase points to Hyatt to book directly. We flew Southwest and used Companion Passes.
Trip Cash Value: $6,000
May
We spent a night at Gaylord Rockies, a Marriott property, as a staycation to celebrate our daughter's birthday. I booked directly with Marriott and used a mix of expiring Marriott points and Chase points transfer to Marriott during a transfer bonus (which is the ONLY time I consider using Chase points for Marriott!)
Trip Cash Value: $400
June
We were joined by my parents for a trip to Costa Rica! We flew United direct from Denver to Liberia, and had a rental car (directly booked with Hertz). We spent the first five nights in La Fortuna, staying at Tabacon Resort. I booked Tabacon by transferring Amex points to Hilton, at a 1:2 ratio (essentially doubling my points) and also got the 5th night of our stay free (for holding Amex Platinum Personal card, which automatically gives you Hilton gold status). Read all the details here!
From there, we spent 6 nights in Playa Langosta/Tamarindo area at an short term rental (which I put on a new credit card to earn a sign up bonus!). We flew home on Southwest, using our Companion Passes.
Trip Cash Value: $9,000 (including cash airbnb)
Aug
I booked a last minute (like two weeks in advance), trip to meet my sister in Copenhagen over Labor Day weekend! I flew Edelweiss Business Class there (booked by transferring Amex points to Air Canada), using Chase Sapphire Reserve points boost and cash to stay 3 nights at 1 Hotel and then moved to Hotel Skt Annae (which is a Mr and Mrs Smith hotel under Hyatt) for a cheaper last night stay. I flew Lufthansa economy home (booked by transferring more Amex points to Air Canada)
Trip Cash Value: $9,000
September
If you have followed me for at least one fall season, you know I'm obsessed with fall colors! I used points for some quick getaways in the nearby mountains to soak up all of the gold we could find!
Stay 1: I used Chase Points Boost with P2's Chase Sapphire Reserve Business card and booked one night at Indigo Hotel Silverthorne for 13,000 points. I highly recommend this hotel; but note during ski season it costs a lot more! The 13K stay seems like a lucky find.
Stay 2: I used my $300 Hotel Credit from my Amex Personal Platinum card to book a night at Grand Hyatt Vail; one of my fav local hotels. This one benefit use basically covered the high annual fee cost! I wrote about it in this post.
Trips Cash Value: $900+
October
October was our big 15-year anniversary trip! This include one night at Hyatt Regency Seattle, Business Class Singapore Air flights direct from SEA to SIN (16.5 hours long! but a breeze in business), 3 nights at Andaz Singapore, economy Singapore Air flight to Maldives, sea plane transfer from Maldives airport to our resort, 5 nights at Alila Kothaifaru Maldives (a Hyatt brand, booked direct by transferring Chase points to Hyatt. I then emailed the resort and paid cash $100/night plus taxes and fees, to upgrade to an overwater villa), sea plane back to MLE airport, business class flight from Maldives to Doha, one night stay at Doha Hyatt Regency and business class QSuite flights on Qatar Airways to Toronto. Unfortunately prior to our trip, our flight back to Denver from Toronto changed times, which resulted in us needing to spend one night at Hyatt Place Mississauga/Toronto, before flying Air Canada back to Denver.
(I'm still working on break out posts for this trip, more details to come! I was able to book this trip just five months in advance, which is pretty lucky to find saver award space on both Singapore Air and Qatar Airlines not a year in advance).
Trip Cash Value: $34,000+
November
Girl's trip to Blue Ridge, Georgia to celebrate a 40th birthday! I used my SW CP to fly the birthday girl for free!
Trip Cash Value: $700
December
After a big year of travel (which is not quite our norm!), I was glad that I had kept this year's winter break pretty easy. We went to Palm Springs for 5 nights and stayed at Grand Hyatt Indian Wells. I booked this trip a year in advance, as holiday points bookings often sell out quickly). I booked us Southwest flights as soon as the dates released and I'm glad I did. We still have companion pass, so we only had to pay for 2 flights, which were 23,000 points each going there and only 11,000 points coming back. After I booked, the point cost jumped up to around 60,000 points each, one way, and never seemed to drop!
I used the $300 Capital One Venture X annual travel credit to book our rental car only 3 weeks in advance (with Hertz via Capital One Travel portal)
For this trip, I used a Guest of Honor award; which got us free parking ($32+/night), free daily buffet breakfast ($130/day), and upgraded room from two queen beds to two king beds.
Trip Cash Value: $5,000+
Summary
In total for 2025, for the trips mentioned, we spent around 50 nights away and over $75,00 cash value for less than $8,000 out of pocket. 2025 definitely was not a "normal" travel year for us; we generally don't travel this much in a year! But we had some big celebrations, incredible trips, and memories made!
I'm grateful to points and for your support to make it happen!
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