Hi class! While most posts will be instructional in nature, I will demonstrate every few posts how we can use all of those points to do something fun: travel!
In each case study, I will go over flights, hotel, food, and activities, and provide an estimate of costs for that trip, both for points and miles. Additionally, I may go over a specific strategy of mine that I use to try and gain more points so I can take more trips in the future!
As you will see in each case study, the main way that I use points and miles is to cover the two most expensive aspects of traveling: flights and hotels. By using points for these two parts of the trip, I am able to travel well and actually enjoy my destination more fully.
For our first case study, I’ll be discussing one of my favorite places in the whole world: Miami! My wife and I went to Miami for the first time in February 2020 (yep, right before COVID), and went back last August. We have two trips to Miami planned this year, all on points and miles. It’s one of our favorite places in the world, and we can’t recommend it enough.
Anyways, let’s get started!
Flights
When flying to Miami, there is actually two airports in the vicinity: Miami International & Fort Lauderdale. I always fly into Miami International because Fort Lauderdale is about an hour away from our hotel, while Miami International is about 20 minutes away. Most people try to fly into Miami International anyways, but if you fly Southwest, JetBlue, or a low cost carrier (Spirit, Frontier, or Allegiant), you’re much more likely to fly into Fort Lauderdale. If you’re paying cash for those flights, way the added cost of a traveling to Miami Beach against the money that you’ll save flying into Fort Lauderdale (although, I have heard great things about Fort Lauderdale proper, and I’ve heard it’s a great place to use as a home base for exploring the Everglades. Once I get to visit, I’ll let y’all know how that is).
Miami International is an American Airlines hub, so, obviously, using American Airlines miles is pretty easy. If you have American Airlines miles (which are easy to get, since there are 7 different American Airlines credit cards, as well as the Bilt credit card, which transfers to American), you can go from anywhere in the US to Miami for 25k points roundtrip (at the saver level) or 40k miles at the normal level.
If you find saver space, and live within 2k miles of Miami International airport, it’s actually better to go through British Airways Avios program. You can fly to Miami for 22k points roundtrip (or less, if you live closer, because they have a distanced-based award chart). You can transfer British Airways Avios from any of the major credit cards. The difficult is that saver level availability can be difficult to find. It’s often easier to find saver availability out of small airports that don’t have a ton of business customers (for example, it was easy to find saver availability in Huntsville, Alabama, and Tallahassee, Florida). If you’re flying out of somewhere bigger (like Birmingham, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; or Indianapolis, Indiana), it’s often much harder to find that saver award space.
When we flew to Miami from Tallahassee, we actually paid 15k British Airways Avios each on American Airlines, since we were within 600 miles of Miami. We paid 30k points roundtrip for the both of us. What a steal, especially since the cash rates for those flights were over $500 together! I had earned those miles from signing up for the American Airlines Citi business card, where I received 70k miles after $4,000 in spend. I got a lot of value out of that sign-up bonus!
Car Rental
To be honest, we have never rented a car in Miami. Car rental prices are about $100 a day for a base car such as a Toyota Camry, and you can do roundtrip from the airport to Miami Beach in a taxi or Uber for about $60. Getting around Miami Beach an Uber is pretty cheap too (thinking no more than $15 one way…and that’s an expensive Uber ride if so)…and these prices include the tip.
Of course, if you want a luxury car to do Miami in style, that will run you several hundred dollars a day (gotta listen to Mr. Worldwide if you do that).
The most expensive ride we took (after the airport) was going back into Miami to go to Wynwood (great street art, Asian food halls). We paid between $15 and $20 each way. In a nutshell, just Uber everywhere
Hotel
One of my favorite parts of Miami is easily the hotels. Running north and south on the East side of Miami Beach from Mid-Beach to South Beach is a fantastic trail, where you can see all of the hotels along the water. You’ll see that there’s a plethora of hotels that you can stay at, all with fantastic looking pools, bars, and dayclubs. What’s great about them is that many of them are associated with major hotel chains that you can get great value from your points and miles. Miami Beach is notoriously expensive (especially since COVID; there’s actually MORE business in Miami Beach now than there was pre-COVID), so using your points to pay for hotels is a great way to enjoy Miami Beach.
There’s hotels associated with every major hotel chain, as well as great hotels that you can book directly with your credit card points through their travel portals (like Expedia). The only place we’ve ever stayed at is The Confidante, which is associated with Hyatt. It’s become our favorite hotel, due to its fun atmosphere (think 60’s Miami), luxurious rooms, and fantastic service. Dua Lipa even filmed one of her music videos there, so it shows you how much fun the hotel is. The location is also fantastic, as it’s not in South Beach (which is a lot, to say the least), but it’s close enough where you can easily walk down there to enjoy it.
What makes this hotel so special is that you can spend a lot of your time there relaxing. We love to get up, get a cup of coffee, and then go workout, either at the rooftop workout room (LOTS of neon, which we love!) or go for a run up and down the boardwalk between the hotel and the beach. We then get ready for the day, eat a leisurely breakfast, and then go hang out by the pool or at the beach. The pool here is really special, as there is a family side (it’s a family-friendly hotel) and an adult side. We go to the adult side, but the service is the same on both sides. They have a bunch of inflatables that you can grab, which makes getting a perfect fun Miami picture quite easy. Additionally, when you have a large party, they have cabanas available for rent. When we go with friends, we’ll definitely rent a cabana to make it even more fun.
We plan on taking a trip to The Confidante at least once a year for the forseeable future. Come join us!
The Confidante is a category 4 hotel with Hyatt, which means that it ranges between 12,000 and 18,000 points to stay there (depending on the season). However, this hotel is also eligible to be redeemed with free night certificates earned via earning certain tiers of elite status with Hyatt or from holding a Hyatt credit card.
My wife and I both hold a Hyatt credit card, and we plan on our two free night certificates that we earn every year at the Confidante. Cash rates vary, but they’ve typically been $300+ per night as of lately for a base room (with suites going for $700+). For our next trip, we’ll be staying for 3 nights over a holiday weekend, where rates are running $449 a night. It’s safe to say that using 15,000 points for one night at a $450 a night hotel is a GREAT deal! Additionally, because I’m using points, I don’t have to pay the resort fee, which runs an additional $35 a night. I used 45,000 points to stay at a place that would cost me, at a minimum, $1450. That’s a great deal, and you can actually get those points with only one credit card sign-up bonus (with points left over!).
The deal is made even sweeter because I am a top-tier elite member with Hyatt. I earned this through a combination of stays and spending on their credit card throughout the year. Because of that, I get a delicious free breakfast buffet for both my wife and I (I think that runs $32 per person plus tip if paying cash), a space available suite upgrade (I’ve gotten that before, and it’s really nice), and a free drink when hanging out at the pool. It pays to be an elite!
While we love The Confidante, if I’m ever not a top-tier elite member with Hyatt, I’d love to try Fontainebleau, SLS South Beach (associated with Accor Hotels), 1 Hotel South Beach, or Pharrell William’s the goodtime hotel.
Food
Miami has one of the biggest immigrant communities in the United States (and has even been called the “Capital of South America.” Because of that, there’s a lot of great food all around. Our favorite Cuban place is on Ocean Drive in South Beach, called Havana 1957. I highly recommend the Cuba Libre and the plantains. They even have live Cuban music on the weekend.
One of our favorite traditions is, as soon as we have checked into the hotel, is to go to this sandwich stall in South Beach called La Sandwicherie in South Beach. They literally have a few windows with some bar stools, and it’s a great place to grab a quick bite. They open at 7AM, so you can get a breakfast sandwich, or you can get a delicious Italian sub for lunch or dinner. If you want to go out until late in the evening, I believe they are open until 5AM on the weekends, so you can always get your sandwich cravings.
We actually like to head north of our hotel to go out in the evening, so when we are getting some late night food, we like to go get food at this little bar about a block south of The Confidante called The Tavern. They used to have a full kitchen open until like 4AM (no, I have not seen it close late at night, and I will not see it close), but it’s great to grab a late night snack (however, they may have changed their hours, due to COVID).
In terms of breakfast, there’s all kinds of brunch places up and down the boardwalk within the individual hotels. If you are looking for something cheap, there’s a deli/convenience store with a full restaurant across the street from The Confidante, so you can grab a full breakfast there (if you don’t want to eat at the hotel)
If you really want to enjoy your weekend, expect to spend about $125 per day per person in Miami Beach, including drinks. It’s not a cheap food city, but the food is delicious, usually has big portions, and is well worth the price you’re paying (you’re not paying for flights or hotels, so enjoy it!).
Activities
I’ll put it plain and simple: you come here for the pools, beach, and nightlife. We spend all of our time during the day at the beach and pool. It’s also fun to nap and go workout at the rooftop workout room or running along the boardwalk.
It’s also fun to go into Miami proper and go to Wynwood, where they have tons of street art and great little local restaurants. We haven’t been to Little Cuba yet, but we hope to explore that on one of our next trips.
At night, we like to walk to Collins Avenue, and, in non-COVID times, we do enjoy going dancing, but expect to spend a pretty penny (paying $40 to get in, followed by $25 per drink). We enjoy LIV nightclub at the Fontainebleau, as they built it under the hotel in a big cave. We also appreciate how the clientele is a little more upscale and a little bit older (i.e., upper 20s to mid-30s). It’s a ton of fun!
Conclusion
In conclusion, I hope that you can get a taste of what it’s like to spend a weekend in Miami. Using points and miles, it’s easy to save well over $1500 just paying for your hotel and flights. This trip can be replicated with just one or two credit card sign-up bonuses and is a great way to have a ton of fun!
What weekend trips do you imagine yourself doing with points and miles? Let me know in the comments!
Comments (6)