Hotel Stays on our Cross Country Trip
In early 2021, my husband and I decided that we wanted to take advantage of new post-Covid remote work opportunities and move across the country from San Francisco, CA to the Washington, DC area. We also decided that we wanted to move up the timeline for us to try to start a family.
Part of this decision meant postponing a big life goal that I previously had, which was to travel the world for a year before having kids. Given the unique circumstances of 2021, we realized that we wouldn’t be comfortable with international travel for a while, and we didn’t really want our life plans to wait on a pandemic to end.
Although it hurts a little whenever plans change, we realized that moving was still an opportunity for travel, even if it wasn’t going to be a year-long international adventure. Giving up our apartment in San Francisco meant that we could devote our rent money to travel if we didn’t settle into a new apartment right away. Thus began the plan for our four month cross-country move.
As we are wrapping up the last month of this trip, I have so much to share about how we used points and miles to make this trip a reality! First up, a roundup of the hotels we have stayed at on this trip, and how you can stay there too if you like!
Hotel or House Rental?
One of the biggest questions when we started this trip was where should we stay? Originally we thought that we might just stay in month-long home rentals for the whole time and choose only four cities to visit. Quickly we realized that we had so many wedding invitations and family events this year. Since we were going to be location independent we felt that we could attend them all! This meant that full month rentals were not going to be an option for the whole time given the set schedule of these events.
I was really pushing to do as many stays as possible in hotels, because I knew that I could cover the cost with points. My husband was pushing for Airbnbs because he wanted somewhere more comfortable to be working eight hours a day. What we ended up with was a mix of both.
If you are thinking about doing this yourself, I would highly recommend a home rental for couples or families traveling and working. It has been much more comfortable to be in Airbnbs where one person can work in a bedroom with a desk and the other person can be in the common space. I think solo travelers would be comfortable in a hotel room, and so would couples or families who do not have the restriction of remote work.
Another thing to keep in mind is location. Hotels are often, but not always, located downtown, which can be very convenient and feel a little sterile. Rental homes are more often in neighborhoods, often a more desirable way to get a feel for a new city, and usually less convenient to attractions.
Ultimately, I’m glad we were able to stay in hotels for part of the time, even though they didn’t fit our needs as well, because we were able to subsidize so much of the cost of our trip with points!
Below, you’ll find a rundown of the hotels we’ve stayed in on this trip, what status I have with each program, and how you can earn points to book stays like these.
Hyatt
Status: At the start of our trip, I had Discoverist status with Hyatt. This status comes automatically with the World of Hyatt credit card. In August, I reached Explorist status. By the end of this year, I will earn top tier Globalist status. This was possible because Hyatt cut the nights needed to earn status in half for 2021 due to the pandemic. I haven’t had Explorist status for long, but I did receive a suite upgrade at the Hyatt Regency Cleveland at the Arcade. I’ve also definitely taken advantage of late check out policies.
Stays:
Hyatt Regency Cleveland at the Arcade
How we booked: Booked two rooms for one night at 12,000 Hyatt points each - one for us and one for family visiting with us.
Rating: 4/5 - While the architecture of the building was beautiful, the rooms felt fairly basic.
Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa
How we booked: Booked four nights for 25,000 Hyatt points per night.
Rating: 5/5 - The resort truly had everything on site. Very family friendly, so I wouldn't recommend it for people who don’t want to be around kids.
How we booked: Booked ten nights for 12,000 Hyatt points per night.
Rating: 3/5 - This is the best deal for a Hyatt property in Waikiki. However, the breakfast was bad and the hotel felt very outdated.
How we booked: Booked two nights with cash at $200 per night.
Rating: 4/5 - The Grand Hyatt felt like a boring business hotel, but it was updated and spacious.
How to get Hyatt points: There are two ways to earn Hyatt points through credit cards.
Chase has two Hyatt co-branded credit cards - the World of Hyatt personal and business cards. In addition to earning Hyatt points, there are sometimes deals specifically for card members and having the card will help you earn status more quickly.
If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve cards, you can transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards cards to Hyatt at a 1:1 rate. If you have multiple Chase cards, you can pool all of your points from your Ultimate Rewards earning cards into your Preferred or Reserve account to transfer to Hyatt.
Learn more about the recent changes to the World of Hyatt rewards program here.
Marriott
Status: I have been Gold Elite status all year due to my Amex Platinum Card. My new Amex Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card also comes with Gold Elite status, so I could cancel one and keep the status. The only real benefit I’ve gotten from this status is late checkout, otherwise I wouldn’t say it’s done anything for me.
Stays:
Elliot Park Hotel, Minneapolis
How we booked: Booked two nights at 25,000 points each, and used a free night certificate earned with the Amex Marriott Bonvoy Business Card
Rating: 5/5 - The hotel felt very modern and the hotel breakfast was great. The chair that comes with the desk is a stool, so we had to request a more substantial chair for remote work.
JW Marriott Minneapolis Mall of America
How we booked: Booked one night with a free night certificate earned with my husband’s Amex Marriott Bonvoy Business Card
Rating: 3.5/5 - This was a pretty good hotel, nothing extremely special about it. We stayed here because it was close to the airport, but the hotel did not have airport transportation, so that was a bit disappointing.
How to get Marriott points:
Marriott has four co-branded credit cards with American Express and Chase. All of these cards are currently offering their highest-ever bonuses (ending today!). Click here to find a comparison of the cards and rules regarding signing up for multiple cards.
You can transfer American Express Membership Rewards to Marriott. Currently there are some very high sign up bonus offers on these cards, and they tend to be more rewarding on regular spending than the Marriott cards. However, Marriott is typically not the most rewarding transfer partner for these cards, so it’s worth considering other options before transferring these points.
You can also transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to Marriott, and there is currently a limited time offer to get 50% bonus points when transferring. Same as above, this is typically not the best deal for Chase points.
Learn more about recent changes to the Marriott Bonvoy program here.
IHG
Status: I have Platinum Elite status with IHG, received from holding the Chase IHG Premier card. I did not receive any noticeably different treatment based on my status.
Stays:
Kimpton Alton Hotel Fisherman’s Wharf
How we booked: We booked four nights to take advantage of the fourth night free benefit that comes with the Premier card. IHG has dynamic pricing, so the first three nights ranged from 37,000 - 39,000 points.
Rating: 4/5 - I loved this brand new hotel in Fisherman’s Wharf. I think this is a great neighborhood to stay in if you want to be a tourist in San Francisco. Supposedly the restaurant in the lobby is very good, but it was booked for when we were there. The biggest negative is that they charged a resort fee on the award stay, which Hyatt and Marriott do not do.
How to get IHG points:
The Chase IHG Premier card is currently offering an all-time high bonus. Like many other hotel cards, it offers an annual free night as well.
You can also transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to IHG. Similar to Marriott, this is typically not the best deal for Chase points.
Future Hotel Strategy
Having hotel points definitely made our four month trip possible! Without them, we would have had to make some different decisions about where to stay and what to do. However, it was sort of overwhelming to have points in so many different programs! Over the next year, I am going to evaluate how I use my hotel credit cards and see if it makes sense to downsize to just a couple programs rather than four. I didn’t even use any Hilton points on this trip, but I have a large number of points there too. I definitely find value in having points in more than one program, though, because it offers more options and flexibility.
If you are just getting started with hotel points, I recommend choosing a specific hotel that you want to stay in on a specific trip and choose a card that will earn points for that hotel. Then, you can practice using those points and see how you want to move forward for future trips! Stay tuned for some speculative trip planning for next year and how hotel points might fit into that. Believe it or not, I still have some points and free nights left to try to put to good use!
