In my last post, I shared how my boyfriend and I travel hacked our trip to Hawaii to have a more luxurious experience! Today I will be talking about how we were able to travel to Hawaii a second time, and spend significantly less than our trip in May (less than $1500 per person)!
I had been eyeing the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card for a while, but was waiting for the sign on bonus to be “spend 5k in 3 months get 5 free nights up to 50,000 value per night.” In June, I noticed that the sign on bonus had increased, so I applied and got my new credit card! I spent the 5k on the card (thank you car AC for breaking so I could pay for it with this card) and had my 5 free nights… the tough problem? How to spend them!
We ended up deciding on going to Hawaii because Alaska Airlines was running a flash sale on a BOGO flight to Kona! If you remember from my last post, the Alaska BOGO perk that comes with my credit card is how we flew to Hawaii in May! The flash sale made it pretty simple to decide on how we should use my 5 free nights!
We ended up staying 6 days and 5 nights on the Island of Hawaii.
Hotel: $95 per person
That’s right! For 5 nights we paid a total of $95 per person! We did this by using my 5 free night certificates! The first 3 nights we spent at the Marriott Waikoloa. This resort was more secluded and about 35 minutes away from downtown Kona. The pools were wonderful, but the beach was okay. There was a decent number of rocks, and since there was a sailboat coming in/out of the area, I felt like the water wasn’t as clean. Overall, we really liked this resort! We had originally booked this hotel for 2 nights because staying here longer would’ve cost more than 50,000 points, but we liked it so much that I spent 7,000 of my own Marriott points to stay here for a third night!
https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/koamc-waikoloa-beach-marriott-resort-and-spa/overview/
The second hotel we stayed at was in the heart of downtown Kona: The Courtyard King Kamehameha. The hotel itself was more basic, with a smaller pool and beach, but the beach was nice because it was in a cove, so the water was calmer. What I really loved was the location. It was enjoyable to walk to restaurants and shops! I also preferred this beach because even though it was more crowded, the water felt very clean. If you were staying at the hotel, you also got a free snorkel set at the shop by the beach so you could snorkel. What was really wonderful about the hotel is the IRONMAN National Championships had just finished a few days before we arrived, so the swim course was right by the hotel and multiple locals were swimming the route!
https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/koacy-courtyard-king-kamehamehas-kona-beach-hotel/overview/
I truly enjoyed the combination of the two hotels for the relaxation vibes of the Marriott Waikoloa and the beach and action of the King Kamehameha
Original Cost: $4050 total or $2025 per person
$3000 for the Marriott Waikoloa + $1050 for the King Kamehameha
Travel Hacked Cost: $191 total or $95.5 per person + 7,000 Marriott points
Money Saved: $3859 total or $1929.5 per person
That is some remarkable savings! What I learned when doing some research for this trip was that the price of the hotel itself isn’t always necessarily expensive, but the taxes and fees that come with booking are pricey! For staying 3 nights at the Waikoloa, the taxes and fees would have cost us $570. That is a lot of money! When you use points to book these stays, you don’t have to pay all the taxes and fees. This is a major benefit to using points to book these stays.
Airfare: $650 per person
This time, we were able to save even more money on our airfare. Thank you, dynamic airline pricing!! (Jk it’s not my favorite). We booked the BOGO flight from MSP to KOA and then booked a separate roundtrip ticket from RDU to MSP for Tyler.
Original Cost: $2300 total or $1,150 per person
Travel Hacked Cost: $1300 total or $650 per person
Money Saved: $500
Food: $282.5 per person
We stopped at Costco after we picked up our rental car to stock up on lunch food, snacks, and breakfast items! This helped save us a bunch of money. There was also some construction work that needed to be done in one of our rooms, so we got a $50 credit for a hotel restaurant due to the inconvenience.
Groceries: $45 per person
This includes our Costco run.
Rental Car: $233 per person
We used my Hertz Presidential Status that I have from my AMEX Platinum credit card. This status gives me 20% off the original booking price, guaranteed one car class upgrades, and bonus points!
Original Cost: $707.5 or $353
Travel Hacked Cost: $566 total or $233 per person
Hacked Savings: $141.5 or $70.75
Gas: $30 per person
No real hacks for this category.
Activities: $142 per person
This was the cost for the Manta Ray Snorkel! So worth it! We went through Eka Canoe Adventures and had a wonderful experience.
Total:
Here is a breakdown of the total cost per person! This trip we stayed one extra day and spent $1500 less. A true testimate to the power of travel hacking with credit cards!
Here is a screenshot of the total breakdown of our trip in October!
And here is a breakdown of our 4 night, 5-day trip in May:
