Working Backwards to Portugal and Spain

We hope you had a chance to read our previous post, an interview with Julia Menez, founder of Geobreeze Travel.  She is a travel hacking coach, helping people to play the Points & Miles Game for their benefit by financing some or all of their travel.  She encourages her clients to work backwards by determining where they want to travel first, then constructing a plan to help them get there by maximizing the use of their points and miles.  We thought we’d illustrate this approach by constructing a fictitious plan of our own.

Well, perhaps this plan isn’t THAT fictitious.  A quick review of the “Top Five Next Trips” that the TET community shared a couple of weeks ago shows that Portugal and Spain are on several of your lists.  Based on that, how can we construct a plan to get you there?  From a timing standpoint, let’s assume this won’t happen until next spring because of Covid-19 restrictions.  That gives us a year to amass the necessary points and miles we’ll need for airfare and hotels.  We’ll also assume that we’re starting from scratch and that “our client” doesn’t have any points or miles today.

Having been to both countries, we feel that a first-time visitor could construct a wonderful itinerary by staying in Lisbon and Barcelona.  Each city boasts several one-of-a-kind attractions and would provide a great sampling of their respective cultures.  We love both cities and have some thoughts on where to stay and, of course, what to do.  So, let’s start with how to get there and stay for the lowest possible out-of-pocket cost.  There are multiple ways to accomplish this; for this conversation, we’re going to focus on the lowest cost alternatives.

First, let’s look at flights.  Portugal’s national airline, TAP Portugal, flies directly to Lisbon from about a half dozen US cities (at least in normal times).  United and American have direct flights from Newark and Philadelphia, respectively.  We would propose using United, taking advantage of their Excursionist perk for this itinerary.  The United Excursionist perk allows you to book a “three-leg” trip (say Cleveland to Lisbon to Barcelona, then back to Cleveland) and only pay points for two of the “legs”.  We looked at booking these legs this September (it’s too early to book for next April or May) and found you could book the trip for a total of 60-75,000 miles in Economy, depending on the dates and connections.  We chose the fewest connections at decent times.  The first leg, from Cleveland to Lisbon (through Newark), was 33,000 points. . .Lisbon to Barcelona was zero points (there’s your free leg). . .Barcelona back to Cleveland (again via Newark) was 41,000 points.  You could do it for fewer points if you took flights with more connections or at inhumane times.  Or if you were just flying from Newark to Lisbon.  Let’s figure that you will need about 75,000 points that will convert to United miles for each person flying.  Paying cash for that itinerary would set you back at least $2,000 at today’s fare rates.

Lisbon, Portugal.  Photo by Oxy Design on Unsplash

Next, where to stay.  In Lisbon, the Hotel Da Estrela is centrally located, well reviewed and part of the Hyatt system.  Four nights will take 60,000 World of Hyatt points.  In Barcelona, we would splurge and stay at The Cotton House, part of the Marriott system, and on our list of “Top 10 Hotels” where we have stayed in Europe.  Using Marriott Bonvoy Cash & Points option, you could stay five nights (recommended in beautiful Barcelona) for 150,000 Marriott Bonvoy points plus 352 euros (about $420).  In total, the nine nights’ lodging shown above would cost approximately $2,000 if you paid cash.

Okay, you say:  Great itinerary.  When do we go and how do we get all those points???  Here’s where the planning comes in.  And, it’s fairly simple, because Chase Ultimate Rewards points are transferable to United, Hyatt and Marriott.  Currently, the sign-up bonus for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is a best-ever 80,000 points (after spending $4,000 in your first three months) plus a $50 statement credit for grocery store purchases that would offset a little over half of the $95 annual fee.  If you’re making this trip with someone else, you should both get this card. In just a few months, you would have a total of at least 168,000 points between the two of you.  Those points, transferred to United, would take care of your airfare, with about 18,000 points left over.

Next, one of you should apply for the World of Hyatt credit card (also from Chase).  That card currently has a pretty convoluted sign-up bonus offer: you get 30,000 points for spending $3,000 in the first three months plus 2X points for whatever you spend above that $3,000 in your first six months, up to $15,000.  Your goal would be to spend at least $6,000, which would give you another 12,000 points, for a total of 42,000.  Transfer the 18,000 points left over from your Chase Ultimate Rewards above and you’ve got the 60,000 points needed to pay for your Lisbon hotel stay.

Lastly, the other person in your two-player setup should apply for the American Express Bonvoy Brilliant card.  The current offer (also best-ever) gives you 125,000 Bonvoy points for a $5,000 spend in the first three months.  After 3-6 additional months, you should have the 150,000 points needed for your stay in Barcelona.  Plus, you can use the $300 annual travel credit from this card to offset most of the $420 due in cash.  Note that current Marriott rules permit you to make a reservation even if you don’t currently have enough to points for it, so you wouldn’t have to wait six or more months to make this reservation and risk the hotel being sold out.

Sagrada Familia Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain.  Photo by Ken Cheung on Unsplash

There’s the plan.  Ten days in Portugal and Spain for a net $120.  Not bad.  Of course, you’d have to pay for meals and tours out of pocket, but your travel budget has just been increased by about $4,000 by using points and miles.  This is only one of several different approaches that you could take, but it’s meant to illustrate how much you can save with a little advance planning, and by using a few different travel hacks that are pretty easy to implement.

Let us know if you have questions or additional thoughts or comments by in the section below.  We hope this gets you thinking about how to play The Points & Miles Game!