One of the best parts of my job is hearing the amazing trips that our members are taking with the help of Travel Freely!
The members who take these trips aren’t experts. In fact, they’re beginners who have used our strategy and resources to maximize their everyday spending to earn free travel to their dream destinations!
Travel Freely members, Glenn and Janet, saved nearly $10,000 on a 10-day luxurious trip to Hawaii by using points and miles.
You, too, can take amazing trips like this!
Read on to see how they did it, and the #1 advice Glenn gives to beginners who want to take a similar trip!
Glenn and his wife traveled to Hawaii by using the information learned on our free travel app!
Tell us a bit about yourself. How long have you been using points and miles towards free travel?
My wife, Janet and I live in Highlands Ranch, CO. We’ve accumulated credit card points for many years, but always redeemed them for cash. We took a class with Zac in July 2019, and have been using points for free travel ever since!
Please tell us about your trip. Where did you go?
We took a 10-day vacation to Hawaii and visited 3 of the islands: Hawai’i, Maui and Oahu.
It felt wonderful to feel like we were in the Caribbean, but yet have the relative safety and ease of travel in these still-pandemic times!
Using points for our trip really allowed us to relax and enjoy our time! We snorkeled with sea turtles, visited an active volcano, and did a lot of relaxing on the beach and pools at some wonderful hotels.
Glenn and Janet used credit card points to book their hotel stays while in Hawaii!
How much money did you save by using points and miles for your trip?
We saved a total of $9,600 on this trip by using points and miles!
The cost of our extended trip should have been $11,000.
The best part is that our Southwest flights should have been $3,100. But, with our Southwest Companion Pass, we only paid $24 in taxes and fees!
What kind of points did you use for this trip?
We used Chase Ultimate Rewards points in combination with Hyatt and Marriott points to book our hotels. For our flights, we used our Southwest Companion Pass, which allowed Janet to fly for only the cost of taxes and fees!
By signing up for Travel Freely, you can be like Glenn and Janet, and save thousands on an epic trip to Hawaii!
What advice would you give to someone who is interested in using points and miles to book a trip like yours?
With the help of Travel Freely, you can put together some awesome vacations!
My wife and I have had credit cards for many years, but we always redeemed the points we earned for cash. After learning about Travel Freely, we started to appreciate that with a little bit of guidance and planning, we could get much more value from the various credit card programs.
Note from Madison: Transferable cards—like the Chase Sapphire Preferred card that Glenn and Janet used for this trip—are our favorite in the world of points and miles. Plus, this type of rewards card is the most recommended for beginners because they’re the most valuable and flexible.
The rewards for these cards are tied to the bank’s rewards programs, and not a specific airline, hotel, or other rewards program. This means that you’re not tied down to a specific airline or hotel—you have more flexibility with your points!
The points you earn on a transferable card can be redeemed for almost ANY type of travel!
Cards Used for This Trip
Our #1 personal card we recommend most often. Hands down the single best "starter card" for beginners and the MVP card for free travel.
This is a two-tiered signup bonus with the first bonus being 30,000 points earned after spending $3,000 on the card within the first 3 months. The second bonus offer is dependent on how much you spend, where you'll earn 2x points per dollar spent in the first 6 months (on purchases that normally earn 1x point), on up to $15,000 spent.
For a limited time - now with an updated offer valued at $950! Offer ends 1/6/25. This is Southwest's highest personal card annual fee card with a lot of perks for people who fly often on Southwest.
Would You Like Us to Share Your Story?
We’re always looking for reader success stories, and would love to hear yours! Please feel free to reach out at moc.y1734900426leerf1734900426levar1734900426t@kla1734900426tstel1734900426 and share the story of a recent trip you took using points and miles towards free travel!
