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Living on a budget can be frustrating. Nobody wants to make sacrifices. When you’re not able to afford something really important to you, it’s frustrating to say the least. Last week I discussed why I love credit cards and so should you. Today, I’m going to share a personal story of how I used travel rewards and other tricks to save on my dream ski vacation. A trip I’d never have been able to squeeze into my budget at full price. Earning the coveted credit card sign up bonuses has improved my life. That’s why you’re here after all right? To improve your own life.

My First Travel Hacked Ski Trip

Last winter, to keep spending in line with budget, all my skiing took place within driving distance on the East Coast. I really enjoy skiing the the east but am always drawn to the bigger mountains of the Rockies. Unfortunately, that winter, flights were not in the budget. Especially when they needed to be paired with a rental car, more expensive lift tickets and lodging.

Eventually, I discovered the concept of travel hacking and earning credit card sign up bonuses. My wife and I have each opened a few cards since and started to accumulate points.

Chase Ultimate Rewards Cards

I opened the Chase Sapphire Preferred card with a 50,000 ultimate reward point sign up bonus and an annual fee of $95 that was waived in the first year.

My wife opened the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card with a 50,000 ultimate reward point sign up bonus and an annual fee of $450 that was not waived. The reserve card offers a $300 annual credit on travel so as long as you’re paying for some travel without points, the fee is effectively $150 a year. It also earns three points per dollar spent on restaurants and travel that make the extra $150 in cost worth it to us. Opening these cards allowed us to expand our travels beyond a car ride.

(As mentioned in last weeks post, opening credit cards without paying the bill in full each month is a losing strategy, don’t do it!)

The Trip Details

My ski trip to Utah this year had two separate and distinct parts. First, I flew out and spent four nights and skied four days with two of my buddies. We skied two days each at Alta and Snowbird. The amount of terrain at each of these resorts is mind blowing. I can probably ski at either of them every day for a full season never get bored.

My wife likes to ski, but does not really enjoy the steep technical runs I do. So she sent me out to get tired with the boys first. Then my friends left and my wife flew out to meet me for another four days. I know, I’m lucky to pull off a trip like this! She and I skied two days at Alta and another two at Snowbasin. Yes, I’m a little crazy to ski for eight consecutive days. I love it, what else can I say?

The Flights

We booked flights through the Chase portal using points from the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card at a value of 1.5 cents per point.

My Departure cost $163. We paid 10,880 points instead.

Mrs. WPF Departure cost $98. We paid 6,546 points instead.

Both Returns cost $266. We paid 17,760 points instead.

In summary, we used 35,186 points and saved $527 on flights.

The annual fee on the Chase Sapphire Reserve card was $450. It included a credit of $300 on any travel related items which was used up on other charges. In effect, the card cost $150 in annual fees. The bonus points from one sign up bonus covered the flights for this trip and we still have some points left over. Plus, Mrs. WPF was able to enjoy a premium lounge in JFK airport for free which is another perk of the card.

The Hotels

Reservation #1

For the “guys” portion of the trip, we stayed in the Hyatt Place in Cottonwood, UT for four nights. The accommodations were terrific and included breakfast. The retail rate for the hotel for those four nights was $818 ($204 per night) after taxes and fees. Instead of paying cash, I transferred 32,000 points from my Sapphire Preferred card to my World of Hyatt account to cover the hotel cost. One of the perks of the Chase Ultimate Rewards Program is being able to transfer the points to different travel partners. Hyatt and Marriott are both partners of the program.

I paid credit card annual fees and spent money to earn those points, so I needed to share the cost of the hotel with my friends. Yet, I did not want to charge them the rack rate price. Since I could use the points for just about any travel at a rate of 1.5 cents each, I used that as the basis for sharing the costs. Therefore, each room night was estimated at $120 and each of the guys paid me $40 per night for the room or $320 total. This was a win/win. They paid a share of a $120 room that would have cost $204 per night with cash. I traded points for cash to pay for other items on this trip.

Reservation #2

For the next two nights with my wife we stayed at the same hotel. Since it was midweek, the two nights would have only cost $382 in cash. Instead, I transferred 16,000 more points over from my card and stayed for free.

Reservation #3

Mrs. WPF and I switched hotels the last two nights to be closer to Snowbasin. This time we stayed in the Courtyard by Marriott in Ogden. The cash price for the hotel for two nights would have been $258. I had some Marriott points left over from years ago when I had a Marriott rewards card. This hotel felt high end but was still considered a category 1 hotel, so the room only cost 7,500 points per night or 15,000 points for both. Since I had the points, I did not even have to open a new credit card or transfer my remaining Ultimate Rewards points for this free hotel stay.

Rental Car

Once we decided on our trip dates, I booked a cancellable rental car reservation. The price for the car was initially $603 for the eight days. I didn’t think the price was great at the time but due to the steep snowy mountain roads, this was one of the few times an SUV was required. I’m mean literally, the road we were driving on required you to have four wheel drive with snow tires or have chains (not allowed on rentals) on a two wheel drive car.

Car Rental Savings Hack

After booking the reservation, I entered the info into the “track a rental” section at Auto Slash. This site is a fantastic way to save money on rental cars. Once they have your info, they will email you any time they find a better deal. They emailed a few times and I kept rebooking the rental car at a better rate.

Note, you can, but do not have to use the rate they send you. Once I got an email, I did a quick 5-minute search for the best available rate and rebooked either with the Auto Slash rate or a different vendor. By the time of the trip, I got the rate down to $383. Saving $220 for a few minutes of work is not too bad in my book.

Splitting The Bill

My friends paid me $127 of the rental car amount so my portion of the cost was $256. For the record, I could have booked a rental car through the Chase portal using points from one of our cards. I made a calculated decision to try and get more value from the points elsewhere in the future than the 1.5 cents I would have been charged for using them for a rental. I’m mentioning this to let you know that we also could have also gotten the car for free if we wanted! If you don’t travel often, it could be a great option.

Lift Tickets

I tend to pre-purchase my lift tickets or season pass product in the spring of the prior ski season for some significant savings. The cost to walk up to the window and buy a lift ticket on the day you want to ski is now over $100 at the major resorts.

This season I had signed up for a Mountain Collective Pass. It allowed me to ski two days each at three different Utah resorts along with many others across the country. Plus, I was able to purchase additional tickets for 50% off.

I skied a total of 11 days using my pass and needed to pay an extra $52 each for two of them. My final cost was $503 or $46 a day. Mrs. WPF spent $399 on her pass and used it for 7 days, so she had a daily cost of $57.

Cost and Savings Wrap Up

Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card Effective Fee $150

Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card Fee $0

Flights $0 (Savings of $527)

Hotels $0 (Savings of $1,358)

Hotel Cash Payment From Friends $320

Net Cash Gain From Flight/Hotel/Credit Card $170

TOTAL Flight & Hotel Saving $1,885

Rental Car Cost $256 (Savings of $220)

Lift Tickets Jason: $366 for 8 days (Savings of $506 off window rate)

Lift Tickets Mrs. WPF: $228 for 4 days (Savings of $198 off window rate)

Total Cost: $680 (excluding gas, food and baggage fees)

Total Savings $2,809

What’s Next?

Winning involves preparation and advanced planning. The next cards I opened were the Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus and Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier. By opening and earning a bonus and a some regular miles on both of these cards, I earned a companion pass that’s good for the remainder of 2018 and all of 2019.

Yes, this means that on every Southwest Flight I take during this time period, I can bring a companion with me for (just about) free. I can even pay for my flight with miles! I’m still working on the exact trips we are going to take next but I’m sure they are going to be fun and only possible (within our budget) by using travel rewards.

I’ve also purchased the IKON pass for next year’s skiing. It covers days at 26 destinations so even though I pre purchased a pass, I still have lots of options for next year’s trip planning.

Was it Worth It?

Hell yes! The trip was amazing. Since this is not a skiing blog, I’m not going to give you a run-by-run trip report. I will say that even during a season with “less than average” snowfall for the area, the skiing was fantastic. I’ll let this photo do the rest of the talking!

Review of Travel Rewards Cards Mentioned

If you sign up for one of the Chase cards below, you can get a bonus and I will earn a few extra points for my next trip. It’s a win/win!

The Sapphire Cards For Flexible Travel Rewards

1- Chase Sapphire Preferred – 50,000 bonus Ultimate Reward Points with $95 annual fee (the fee is waived in year 1)

2- Chase Sapphire Reserve: – 50,000 bonus Ultimate Reward Points with $450 annual fee and a $300 annual travel credit

Note that Chase no longer allows one person to open both the Preferred and the Reserve so you need to pick just one. In my house, I carry the Preferred and Mrs. WPF carries the Reserve.

Want a Southwest Companion Pass?

3- Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus – 50,000 bonus miles with $69 annual fee

4- Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier – 50,000 bonus miles with $99 annual fee

By earning a bonus on both Chase Southwest cards, you could be well on your way to earning the coveted companion pass!

UPDATE – Since this was posted, the Southwest cards are now offering 40,000 bonus miles each. I’m not sure if/when the offer will be increased back to 50,000 again.

Weigh In!

Where would you go if you can get the flight and hotels for free with points?

Have you taken a rewards trip?

Are there any redemptions you found that seem too good to be true?

Do you have a skiing addiction also?

Finally, a big thank you to my friend Tony who took each of the skiing photos of me shared in this post.

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Winning Move Series

This article is part of a series of posts about the actions I have taken to save or earn more money. After adding in the travel savings, the annual wins total $6,323.

Previous Winning Moves: