How to use Frequent Flyer Miles for Hawaii flights

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using frequent flyer miles to get to hawaii

How to use Frequent Flyer miles for Hawaii flights

I don’t believe in coincidences, so when 3 different friends recently asked me about getting to Hawaii using Miles & Points, I felt like the stars were aligned or the universe was trying to tell me something (or maybe Hawaii is just really popular). I needed to write a post about this. Hawaii is, so far, my favorite place on the planet (specifically Kauai, specifically-er the North Shore). While I am not an expert, I have planned 3 trips to Hawaii where all of the flights were free (so I guess that does make me an expert, right? Not really).

I will start by explaining how we have planned our Hawaii trips, and then will add some other options as well. For all 3 of these trips, we are originating from the East Coast, but wanted to break up the trip by flying to/from the West Coast and avoiding a super-long flight. We (and my in-laws) have family to visit on the West Coast and places we wanted to go before/after Hawaii, so this is how I chose to book our trips.

How we used miles for our next Hawaii vacation flights (#1)

1. Used British Airways Avios (their frequent flyer mile program) on Alaskan Airlines metal (this means the actual plane you will be flying on) to get from (OAK) Oakland, CA to (KOA) Kona Airport on the Big Island.

  • I knew we wanted a direct flight from the West Coast to the Big Island, so I looked here to see which airlines fly from which airports to get to KOA
  • British Airways uses a distance-based award chart, which makes it “cheaper” in miles to get from the West Coast to Hawaii than it would with any other Frequent Flyer program (it is 12,500 Avios per person instead of the more typical 20,000 miles in other programs)
  • Because BA is in the Oneworld alliance, you can “purchase” a flight on one of their partner airlines using Avios & use the Avios award chart (which is more generous for the short-haul flights)

TOTAL = 50,000 British Airways Avios for 4 people from Oakland-Kona

How can you get British Airways Avios?
  • By getting a Chase British Airways credit card (at the time of this writing, the bonus is 50,000 miles after spending $2000 within 3 months)
  • By transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards point 1:1 for Avios (you can get UR points by getting a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Bold or Ink Plus Business Card)
  • By transferring American Express Membership Rewards point to British Airways (you can get Amex points from various Amex cards). Many times there are transfer bonuses of 20%-50% when you transfer Membership Rewards point to British Airways Avios
  • By transferring SPG points to British Airways (you will get 25,000 miles for transferring 20,000 SPG points). You can get SPG points by staying in their hotels or you can get an SPG personal and/or business card with a 25,000 point bonus
  • Shopping at the British Airways shopping portal

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2. Used Southwest Rapid Rewards miles to get us from Philadelphia to Oakland

(We will stay a couple of days before our flight to Kona)

  • Southwest reward tickets are based on the cost of the actual ticket (70 points per dollar, just recently raised from 60 points per dollar), so the lower fares will have lower miles “cost”
  • Southwest offers Companion Passes (maybe my favorite thing ever) – if you earn 110,000 miles in a calendar year, you get a pass where you can bring a companion on your paid OR reward flights & just pay the taxes (like, $2.50). So if you get 2 credit card sign-up bonuses at 50K bonus miles each, you just have to get an extra 6K miles (after the minimum spend requirements) to get a Companion Pass

TOTAL = It was about 20,000 miles total for all 4 of us

How can you get Southwest Rapid Rewards points?
  • Chase has 4 different Southwest credit cards (2 personal, 2 business) and they often offer 50,000 bonus miles for signing up and meeting the minimum spend requirement
  • Transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards (same as above)
  • Shop using the Southwest shopping portal
  • Transfer hotel points to Southwest
  • Earn Southwest points when renting cars
  • Rapid Rewards Dining  (see here for more information about earning miles & points for dining out)

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3. Used United Airlines miles for inter-island flights on Hawaiian Airlines – from the Big Island to Kauai (via Honolulu)

  • Each flight cost 5,000 United Miles (flown on Hawaiian Airlines) and $5.00

TOTAL = 20,000 miles for the 4 of us

How can you get United miles?
  • Chase offers United Airlines credit cards. When we got them a while back, the bonus was much higher at 65,000 miles per card (and we each got one)
  • Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points (as above)
  • United’s Dining and Entertainment partners
  • United shopping portal

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4. Used British Airways Avios to fly from LIH (Kauai) to SEA (Seattle) on Alaskan Airlines

  • Same as above. 12,500 British Airways Avios each to get from Hawaii to the West Coast

TOTAL = 50,000 British Airways Avios for 4 people

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5. Used United miles to fly from Seattle to Philadelphia

  • We were able to get first class saver tickets for 25,000 miles per ticket, which was the best option for the flights and dates that we wanted and needed

TOTAL = 100,000 United miles for 4 first class one-way tickets

So the total for 4 people is 240,000 miles for this Hawaiian vacation! 5 different flights.  And we only paid the taxes/fees!

This is how it breaks down for that trip in Credit Card sign-ups:

  1. British Airways Chase card (we got it when the bonus was 100,000 miles), but if you have 2 people you could each get it with a 50,00 mile bonus
  2. Southwest Chase card x 2 (we each got 2 Southwest cards – we booked tons of trips with these miles plus Companion Pass)
  3. United Airlines card (we each got one when bonus was 65,000 miles)

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PicMonkey Photo2

How my in-laws are getting to Hawaii (#2)

This is similar to what we did, with less credit card sign-ups and only 2 people.  They are only going to one island, so did not need the interisland flight.

  1. They got a British Airways Visa with the 50,000 mile sign up bonus.  This is enough for the 2 of them to get roundtrip from the West Coast to Hawaii
  2. They got a Southwest Visa with a 50,000 mile bonus.  This was enough to book the 2 of them to and from the West Coast

So, for 2 credit card sign-ups, they were able to get 2 people from the East Coast to Hawaii only paying for the taxes and fees.

 

How we traveled to Hawaii in 2012 (#3)

We pretty much followed similar steps as in #1.   We used British Airways Avios (that we had gotten from a 100,000 mile sign-up bonus) to book the 4 of us roundtrip to Hawaii from the West Coast on American Airlines (because of the partner alliance). We used American Airlines to get us to the West Coast so that we could spend some time at Disneyland before Hawaii and visiting family near Los Angeles after our Hawaii trip.

PicMonkey Photo3

 

Using other Frequent Flyer programs to get to Hawaii

In addition to what I have written about our experiences, you can also fly airlines such as American, United, USAirways, Delta, Alaskan, and Hawiian airlines to Hawaii from the Mainland.  Generally flights are 40,000 miles roundtrip.  They can be harder to book, and you may have various connections and layovers. There are also some direct East Coast to Honolulu flights as well, but these have not been practical for our family and our travel plans.

Here are the things to consider:

  • It can take time to apply for the card (and wait for a good bonus), get it in the mail, meet the minimum spend, have the miles post to your account, and then book the flights.
  • You may have to be flexible with dates, flights, airports (both on the Mainland and in Hawaii)
  • I have booked our 2 trips exactly on the date that the flights became available (11 months out), and my in-laws’ trip about 8 months out (they weren’t able to get the exact dates that would have been ideal, but it worked out)

What do you do if you don’t have much time to wait?

If you are looking to book a Hawaii flight, but don’t have much time to wait for the above considerations, consider getting a credit card that offers cash back for travel.  That way you can purchase your tickets and get a refund (statement credit) for your travel purchase.  I recently got the Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard. This would be a great option for any travel that you have to pay for, especially if 2 spouses could each get a card.  With the current bonus, you would each get $440 worth of free travel. You could use this bonus to offset the cost of your flights. The 40,000 bonus points for this offer equal $440 worth of travel.

Here is the information for the Barclaycard:

barclaycard

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Universal Studios Orlando For Free!

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Universal Studios Orlando For Free!

Family Theme Park Vacation. For Free. During Holiday Break. Yes, we did it!

We generally like to travel around Christmas/New Years break because the schools are closed and it’s the perfect time for us to get away.  The time leading up to Christmas is the busiest of the year for me at work, and I am so in need of a vacation once Christmas is over!  Unfortunately, the rest of the world (at least those with kids or who work in schools) also seems to have the same idea! That leaves us with three chioces 1) plan ahead in order to use our miles & points for our vacation 2) be extremely flexible with where we are going to go or 3) pay top dollar.  Number 3 is not an option for us.

We really wanted to visit Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.  We have been to Disney World about a million times, but had never been to Universal.  Or, as they say on the Disboards, the “dark side” (I’m not joking, that’s really what they call it). Because we have been traveling so much in the past couple of years, we like to avoid paying for anything travel related, if at all possible.  So I sought out a way to get our flight home from Orlando (we had flown into Fort Myers to go to Marco Island), our Universal hotel for 4 nights, and Universal Studios tickets for the 4 of us.

This is what I did.  It worked out perfectly for us, YMMV (your miles may vary), literally.

1. Loews Royal Pacific Hotel

This is one of the 3 onsite Universal Orlando hotels.  There are major advantages to staying Onsite, especially if you happen to be a Harry Potter fan.  The main advantages that were important to us:

  • Get in an hour early (before parks open) to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  This perk enabled my HP-obsessed daughter to go on Harry Potter the Forbidden Journey seven times….yes 7 times in 2 days
  • “SKIP THE REGULAR LINES with Universal ExpressSM Unlimited ride access in both theme parks – a FREE benefit worth up to $89 per person, per day^ (valid theme park admission required). It’s the fastest way to ride – enjoy unparalleled access all day long, as often as you’d like!”
  • Proximity to the parks – we didn’t use our rental car for the entire time we were there.  We made the short walk or took the water taxi to the parks

How did we stay for free? We used our American Airlines AAdvantage miles to book hotels, which you can do here.  Make sure that you sign in to your account, because they somehow show much higher point amounts when you are not signed in.  We have also booked Disney hotels using this method & you can read about that here.  For our 4 nights (during a holiday, high-season period) we “paid” 21,000 – 23,000 points per night.  When I priced it out at the time, it would have been $1800.  It was so worth it for us.

This is an example of a search that I did for the Loews Royal Pacific using AA miles

This is an example of a search that I did for the Loews Royal Pacific using AA miles

 

2. Universal Studios Theme Park Tickets

Another major expense of any theme park vacation is the park tickets, especially when you have a family to pay for!  We were able to get our tickets for free using our American Express Membership Rewards points.  The price (in points) of the tickets can fluctuate, and sometimes they do run out.  When we got ours, we were able to get 2 adults passes and 2 children’s passes for 3 day park tickets.  I think it was about 12,000 points for the kids and 15,000 for the adults.  At the time, it was a buy 2 days get one free promotion at the parks.  There have also been times when you could get these tickets for just 5,000 MR points.

The current offerings on the Amex site for Universal Studios tickets

The current offerings on the Amex site for Universal Studios tickets

 

3. Flights from Orlando to Philadelphia

We were able to use our Southwest points to get from Orlando to Philadelphia.  My husband and I both have Southwest Companion Passes, which I will write about another time.  The basic gist of it is, if you get 110,000 Southwest points in a calendar year, you get to bring a companion on any of your flights (paid or points) for free.  It’s the best thing since sliced bread (which, apparently, is younger than Betty White, but I digress).  We only had to use about 18,000 Southwest points total to get all 4 of us home.

So, that is how we went to Universal Studios for free at one of the busiest times of year! And we had an amazing time & may even be considering going over to the Dark Side for good.

Hogwarts...Forbidden Journey...best ride ever

Hogwarts…Forbidden Journey…best ride ever

Some cool props from comics that the kids have never heard of...this SHOULD be Spongebob World

Some cool props from comics that the kids have never heard of…this SHOULD be Spongebob World

 

Is it a bad parenting to have your daughter's pic taken with the Duff Beer Guy, Duffman?

Is it bad parenting to have your daughter’s pic taken with the Duff Beer Guy, Duffman?

Pretty much my life motto, for real

Pretty much my life motto, for real. Thanks Dr. Seuss

 

Embassy Suites Waikiki with Kids: Hotel Review

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Embassy Suites Waikiki Hotel

Embassy Suites Waikiki Hotel – view from the pool

Embassy Suites Waikiki with Kids – Review

Where:  Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii

When: July 2012

Who: Family of 2 adults and 2 young school aged kids (that would be the 4 of us!)

The Hotel:

We spent 2 nights at the Embassy Suites Waikiki Beach hotel on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.  It was in a great location, within walking distance to the beach and many other things that we wanted to do.  It was is a huge hotel, and it was extremely family friendly.   We used American Airlines miles to pay for our hotel, as I detailed here in this post about Disney Hotels, so it was free for us to stay here.  I don’t remember the exact cost (in miles) for the room, but I do remember that we got an excellent redemption value.  Hotel prices were very high because we were there for the July 4th holiday, and using miles worked out perfectly for us. For some reason that I am not quite sure about (cute kids is my guess), they upgraded us to the largest room type (2 bedroom, 2 bathroom) and we were told that it was the best room in the hotel.  It had a huge balcony with ocean views as well.

View from our balcony at the Embassy Suites Waikiki

View from our balcony at the Embassy Suites Waikiki

Bedroom #1 in our suite at Embassy Suites Waikiki

Bedroom #1 in our suite

Bedroom #2 in our suite Embassy Suites Waikiki

Bedroom #2 in our suite

 

Because who doesn't want to see a picture of a toilet

Because who doesn’t want to see a picture of a toilet

If you have to see one toilet, might as well see both

If you have to see one toilet, might as well see both

The Embassy Suites Waikiki includes a decent cook-to-order breakfast (like all Embassy Suites hotels) and also includes a happy hour where you can get as many watered down drinks as you are willing to stand in line to get.  Actually, the happy hour at the Embassy Suites Waikiki was great.  It was at the pool, and the drinks were pretty good.

The Pool:

For our family travels, the pool is always an important factor.  We aren’t super picky about it, but do enjoy a good pool when one is available to us.  The pool at this hotel was nice and the kids had lots of fun making friends and playing in the pool until dark.

View of the pool looking down from our balcony - those tiny dots are the kids

View of the pool looking down from our balcony – those tiny dots are the kids

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The Location:

There are tons of places to walk that are close to this hotel.  You can walk across the street to Waikiki Beach.  There are plenty of restaurants within easy walking distance as well.

Surfing lessons are a great Father's Day present!

Surfing lessons are a great Father’s Day present!

Overall…. We really loved this hotel, our huge upgraded room, and the location.  We would definitely stay here again if we go back to Waikiki.

Free Disney Hotels : How to Use Miles and Points

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Free hotels at Disney using Miles & Points - it's possible!

Free hotels at Disney using Miles & Points – it’s possible!

Free Disney Hotels

We have been crazy lucky enough to visit Walt Disney World in Orlando about a million times.  One year in the not so distant past, we even had annual passes (and we live in Pennsylvania, so that’s some pretty hardcore Disney devotion).  One of the ways that we have made this work for us is by staying for free in our Disney hotels using our Miles & Points.  Many of the hotels have been off-property, and we are totally fine with that, often preferring to trade proximity to the parks for lots of extra space.  That is a whole debate in itself though.  I will show you how to  use Miles & Points for both on-property and off-property Disney hotels to make them free.  The following are places we have stayed & points we have used.  

Disney Hotels where we have used our Miles and Points to make them FREE -

Christmas in July at the Swan & Dolphin

Christmas in July at the Swan & Dolphin

1. The Swan & Dolphin

The Swan & Dolphin are 2 adjacent hotels that are located right in the heart of Walt Disney World, but they are operated by Starwood and not Disney.  This is great for you because it means you can use your SPG points  to stay at this hotel for almost free (you usually still have to pay a resort fee).  At the time of this writing, The Swan and The Dolphin are each 10,000 points per night, with the additional benefit of the 5th night free when using points.  40,000 SPG points for 5 nights at a Disney “on-property” hotel is a fabulous deal.  You can even call the reservations department to ask if they have any suites or larger rooms available.  If so, they will often let you use extra points (like 11,500 vs 10,000) to book one of the larger rooms.  We have stayed at both of these hotels a couple of times, and will be reviewing them in another post (But a little hint: Thumbs Up!).

Walking around the grounds at the Sheraton Vistana Villages in Orlando

Walking around the grounds at the Sheraton Vistana Villages in Orlando

2. Sheraton Vistana Villages

This is another great hotel near Disney World (and also near Universal Orlando) that you can get for free using your SPG points.  It is also 10,000 points per night or 40,000 points for 5 nights.  Although not on-property, you will get lots of space plus a kitchen.  You will need a car, as it is about 10 miles from both The Magic Kingdom (some of the other Disney parks are a bit closer), and 10 miles from Universal.

One of the pools at the Sheraton Vistana Villages in Orlando

One of the pools at the Sheraton Vistana Villages in Orlando

When we stayed at the Sheraton Vistana Village, it was a better deal for us to use American Airlines miles to “pay” for our hotel.  We had tons of AAdvantage Miles that we were not planning on using for flights, and the value was much better than using our SPG points at the time.   We were also able to choose a room type, since AAdvantage uses your miles to book through a travel agency.  The miles correlate to the price of the room, so you can sometimes just use more miles for a larger room type.  We were able to use our miles to get a huge 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo with a full kitchen and washer/dryer.

Liki Tiki Resort in Orlando, FL

Liki Tiki Resort in Orlando, FL

One of the pool areas at Liki Tiki in Orlando

One of the pool areas at Liki Tiki in Orlando

3. Liki Tiki Village

Similar to the Sheraton Vistana Village, we were able to book this timeshare resort hotel using our AAdvantage Miles.  It ended up being a very, very low amount of miles per night for the room that we booked (something like 6,000 miles).  We had a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit with a full kitchen, washer/dryer, living room, and lanai.  It was about 15-20 minutes by car from the Main Gate to Disney.  Not a bad drive at all.

The Pirate Pool at the Marriott Harbour Lakes in Orlando

The Pirate Pool at the Marriott Harbour Lakes in Orlando

4. Marriott’s Harbour Lake

Marriott has several properties in the Orlando area, and this is consistently ranked as one of the best.  Once again, we were able to score a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit with full kitchen, washer/dryer, living room, lanai.  It was one of our favorite places we have ever stayed, and we have friends who just got back and loved it as well. It is close to Sea World and Aquatica (so fun), and an easy drive to Disney and Universal as well. While you will need a significant amount of points to stay at this Category 7 property, you can often get 70,000 points just by signing up for the Chase Marriott card and completing the spend requirements, which is enough for 2 nights on a regular reward (or 4 if your significant other or travel companion gets the card too).

Nights Stay Points Needed
 Point Savers* 
One night 35,000 30,000
Two nights 70,000 60,000
Three nights 105,000 90,000
Four nights 140,000 120,000
Five nights 140,000 120,000

* Some locations offer these limited-time, reduced-point offers.

Using Miles to Book Disney Properties

You can also book some on-site, Disney-owned properties using your American Airlines miles.  This is something we almost did last time we visited Orlando, but we decided to (gasp!) go to Universal Orlando for the first time instead.  More on that later.  Here are some tips for using miles to book Disney Properties:

Assuming you have AAdvantage Miles in your account, you should make sure you log in to get the best prices.  For some reason, the price (in miles) always goes down once I log in (and I have no status of any kind on AA, as I haven’t paid for an airline flight in 10 years).  For example, when I go to the website (without logging in) and put in June 7, 2014 for Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, it gave me the cost of 27,467 miles per night.  After I log in, the cost is 16,500 miles per night…huge difference!

Here are some examples of some more of Disney’s own hotels that show up on the AAdvantage site, searching the random date of June 7, 2014.  (TIP: since there are hundreds of hotels in the area, type “Disney’s” in the search box, and the Disney-owned hotels will pop up like this):

Disney's Hotels on www.useaamiles.com

Disney’s Hotels on www.useaamiles.com

As you can see, the miles for each of Disney’s hotels vary widely, but so does the cost in dollars.  You have to make your comparisons for your dates based on many factors.  As an example, I checked the same date on the Disney reservations website for Port Orleans Riverside.  The price was $205 (which included a promotion discount).  The cost in miles would be about 19,000.  It’s not a stellar points redemption value, but maybe you have millions of AAdvantage miles that you earned on your company’s dime? Sometimes we are points-rich and cash-poor and we just would much rather use our miles.  We tend to save more money by using miles/points to stay offsite (and even more when there is a kitchen to help cut down on food costs).  We have paid to stay in many on-property Disney hotels though (Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Port Orleans French Quarter, Boardwalk, Grand Floridian).  There are so many factors that go in to making the choice that is best suited to the family’s needs at the time, so it is helpful to evaluate all of your options.

The Wilderness Lodge - probably our favorite on-site Disney hotel

The Wilderness Lodge – probably our favorite on-site Disney hotel

There are also many, many more options for free Disney hotels using miles and points, and I will explore this further in a future post.

Have you ever used your miles and points for a free Disney hotel?

 

 

 

 

Hyatt Regency San Francisco Review (Hint: it was free!)

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Hyatt Regency San Francisco lobby - free babysitting???

Hyatt Regency San Francisco lobby – free babysitting???

 

Hyatt Regency San Francisco Review

We spent 3 nights at this San Francisco hotel as part of a larger trip.  See here for information about what we did while we were in San Francisco .

We chose this hotel for a few reasons:

1. It was a Hyatt & that’s what we were looking for

2. We could use our Hyatt free night certificates

3. The Regency Club had good reviews

4. Location

 

Why were we looking for a Hyatt hotel?

First of all, Hyatt is probably our favorite hotel brand.  We have had great experiences every time we have stayed in a Hyatt hotel, no matter which of the Hyatt Brands (Grand Hyatt, Hyatt House, Hyatt Regency, etc).  At the time we were booking this hotel, we had Hyatt Diamond status as part of a trial that we did where we had to stay 12 nights in order to get Diamond status.  The benefits of Hyatt Diamond status are many, but our favorites are upgrades (YMMV but we are 100% for getting good upgrades so far – it helps to have really cute kids), and the Regency Club (or free breakfast if they don’t have one).

Another reason was that we each have a Hyatt Credit Card, which gives us a “free” night each year in a Category 1-4 Hyatt hotel (after we pay the $75 annual fee – so not truly free, but you get the point).  This hotel was a great value for these certificates, as it was prime season in a very popular city.  I don’t remember how much the hotel was going for (this was way pre-blog so I was not making notes or taking great photos) but it was in the $300-$400 range.  Maybe even more, as we were upgraded to a larger room, with a view, and we had access to the Regency Club.  We used 2 free night certificates and 1 night we paid for using points (15,000 points).

What is the Regency Club?

Hyatt (and other hotels) have certain hotels, definitely not most, that have a “special” area that is for certain guests only.  If you are a business traveler or a high roller, you probably don’t need this explanation.  As a typical American family, this was new to us before we discovered this whole Miles & Points world.  It is a level 2 skill, so if you aren’t there yet, don’t worry.  At some point this will be really boring for you to read & you’ll be like “Duh! Pass me the Canvas Chardonnay and shut up!” According to Hyatt,  ”Regency Club guests have private access to the Regency Club Lounge, where continental breakfast, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, snacks, beer and wine are served daily.”  This is a fantastic benefit for a family, as you don’t have to pay for food and you don’t have to cook it either (score!).

In order to stay in a Regency Club room (where you are given the benefit of access & are sometimes on the same floor where you need a special key to make the elevator button light up & you will feel important), you have to be upgraded either by status or using an upgrade certificate or pleasing the upgrade gods, pay extra for the Regency Room, or use extra points (21,000 for this hotel vs. 15,000 for a regular room).

I will state that it is important that your children are well-behaved while you are in these club lounges (and everywhere else, but if you can pull that off please email me with some tips). There are business travelers here who want peace and quiet.  Do not disturb them. They sometimes look like they might bite.  Seriously though, I have read lots of complaints on various websites about kids running around in the club lounges.  You can argue that they are not the private domain of any one guest who is enjoying the benefit. I agree, but I feel more comfortable keeping my kids quiet and as still as possible by bringing things for them to do like drawing, playing handheld games (with earphones), etc.  That way we are all happy & everyone can eat their free food & drink their Canvas Chardonnay in peace. And no nasty looks from the businessmen.

View from the Club Lounge at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco

View from the Club Lounge at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco

This particular Regency Club was fabulous.  There was tons of seating, it was not crowded (when we were there), they had massage chairs, and the VIEW!  I actually love the food in the Hyatt Regency Clubs I have been to.  They usually have a decent light breakfast (perfect for us), good coffee, and I like the evening offerings because there are lots of vegetables.  This saves us tons of money because we aren’t huge eaters, and the food generally serves as meals (at least for us adults). And I like the Canvas Chardonnay (I’m easy to please, wine-wise).

Hyatt Regency San Francisco Location:

They say that this hotel is in the Financial District.  I guess that’s a good thing because we felt that the location was great.  It was very close to the Ferry Building, and was easily walk-able to other areas.  We do like to walk a lot, so it worked out well for us.  It felt very safe, even at night (naive? maybe). There was a Big Bus Tour stop close by as well, so we could hop on there.

Would we stay here again?

Yes, in a heartbeat.

Hyatt Regency San Francisco lobby art

Hyatt Regency San Francisco lobby art

 

Amtrak California Zephyr with Kids : Denver to San Francisco

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Amtrak California Zephyr going around the bend

Amtrak California Zephyr going around the bend

Amtrak California Zephyr Train

As part of a larger National Parks Road Trip through 5 states in the Summer of 2013, we rode the Amtrak California Zephyr train from Denver, Colorado to Emeryville (near San Francisco), California.   The train originates in Chicago, but there are other spots to board along the way.  We were in Denver so that is where we got on.  The station is right in Denver & boarding was very easy.  We checked our larger bags (separated out whatever we needed for the journey in our smaller bags), and just waited in the waiting area until we were ready to board.  30 hours later we were in Emeryville, CA.  From there we boarded a bus for the short ride right into San Francisco (the bus ride is included with the train ticket). 

California Zephyr Family Bedroom

View from California Zephyr Family Bedroom Window

View from California Zephyr Family Bedroom Window

We had booked a Superliner Family Bedroom on one of the sleeper cars on the train, which was tiny but comfortable and big enough for the 4 of us.  Having never seen these types of rooms before, we were not sure what to expect.  It turned out that there were only 4 of these rooms on the whole train, so we were lucky to get one.  I booked about 8 months in advance (more on that below). According to Amtrak’s description, “The Family Bedroom spans the entire width of the car and has two picture windows. The sofa and two reclining seats convert to beds and the two upper berths fold down from above. Located on the lower level of Superliner sleeping cars, these bedrooms include two adult-sized berths and two child-sized berths.”  Berths are beds, in case you weren’t sure. The size of the room was tight 5’2″ by 9’5″, but Amtrak made decent use of the space.  The kids liked having the top bunks folded down, even during the day.  There was plenty of room under them for 2 adults to lounge around.  One of the best features was that there were windows on both sides, so we could see the scenery easily. These rooms do not have bathrooms (the smaller ones do), but there was a bathroom very close by, and our sleeper car was at the end of the train and kind of empty so there was never a problem using it.  If you are looking for luxury, turn around right now.  This is more along the lines of camping in a small motorhome than staying in a 5-star hotel (although the prices would make you think otherwise).  It is, however, an experience we will never forget & one we hope to repeat.

Next time I think we will get 2 of the smaller rooms with the bathrooms in them.  We are hoping to do one of the other long and scenic Amtrak routes at some point in the next couple of years.

California Zephyr Food

amtrak california zephyr dining car

Amtrak Dining Car – Much better than expected!

This was perhaps the most surprising part of all.  The food was actually really good and served in a lovely dining car with friendly services and great views.  Being that we were in the Superliner Family Bedroom (which is like first class), all of our meals were included.  Which was a great value for us because we got this for FREE (more on that below).  During set dining times for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we would put our name in for a time we would like to eat & would be called when a table was ready for us.  There were lots of choices on the menu, even for a picky eater, and the food was good and more gourmet than I ever expected (things like mahi mahi and steak).  This is one of the menus for the train.  Alcoholic drinks are also available for purchase.  There was also a snack bar kind of area with foods for purchase.

Scenic Train Ride

View from Amtrak California Zephyr

View from the train

This was one of the best parts of this whole train ride – the views.  The California Zephyr passes through the Rocky Mountains & the Sierra Nevadas.  Much of what can be seen from these rails can be seen in no other way.  Some of the time there were no roads or anything else obstructing the sheer wilderness other than our train passing through.  There are lounge cars and an Observation car with large floor to ceiling windows to view this gorgeous scenery.  We also had a good view from our room, especially of the people mooning us from all along the banks of the Colorado River (true story).

California Zephyr with Kids – What to bring?

Playing games in the Amtrak California Zephyr Lounge Car

Playing games in the Amtrak California Zephyr Lounge Car

We made sure to bring lots of entertainment for the kids, because this is a long ride (ours ended up being about 30 hours, which was a few hours longer than it was supposed to be because of delays).  We brought card games, books, art supplies, handheld video games like the Nintendo 3DS, small toys (mini Lalaloopsies and Pokemon cards) and the iPad.  We made sure we had all of our chargers too.  This was a great chance for us to read Harry Potter together, as we had more downtime than we ever have!  We also brought some snacks and maybe even some wine (not for the kids).  Obviously we had comfortable clothes and our toiletries as well.

The Observation Car on the Amtrak California Zephyr

The Observation Car on the Amtrak California Zephyr

How much does the Amtrak California Zephyr cost?

Nothing.  Not for us, anyway.  At the time of our booking, the price was over $1200 for the Superliner Family Room for 4 people.  Say what?  I realize that is also around the same amount as 4 plane tickets, but I’ve never had to purchase (with money) 4 plane tickets so I don’t really know.  Our cost in points was much less than the miles needed for 4 airplane tickets. How did we do it?  We used Amtrak Guest Rewards points.  25,000 to be exact.  We got these points in 2 ways…one was was from the Amtrak Shopping Portal (more about that here) and the other was from transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Amtrak Guest Rewards points.  We got those Chase UR points from the Shopping Portal and from the Sapphire Preferred credit card.   As of this writing, the bonus is 40,000 points on that credit card, so more than enough for a ride on this train!

California Zephyr Verdict

Thumbs up! If you are not too picky or germaphobic & don’t need extreme high-class luxury and you want to have an unforgettable family bonding experience, see some great scenery, and possibly get mooned along the way…this is the trip for you! If we can do it, you can do it too!

Residence Inn Denver City Center – Hotel Review

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Hotel Review: Residence Inn Denver City Center

We spent one night at this hotel as a part of a very long trip in which we visited 5 states and 7 National Parks.  We were able to do a lot in the short amount of time we had in Denver (see this post), and the location of this hotel was helpful for that.   The Residence Inn Denver City Center is located within walking distance to many of the attractions.  We walked to the 16th Street Mall (very close) and to Coors Field (a bit further, but we needed the exercise) from here.

Residence Inn hotels are Marriott’s all-suite style of hotels.  They are often marketed toward business travelers with extended stays, but I also think that they can be perfect for families.   This particular Residence Inn was very clean and updated.  The room that we had was very large, with a kitchen, living room, dining area, and bedroom.   I like these kinds of rooms because we can spread out.  I also like having a kitchen area because we can often save money on snacks (and some meals on longer stays).   The breakfast was included in the dining area near the lobby, and I thought it was great for a ‘free’ breakfast.  It is included in the price of your stay, which for us was free!

How did we get this hotel for free?

At the time when we stayed at this hotel (July 2013), it was 20,000 Marriott points per night.   At the time the hotel was going for about $275+ tax per night, so we got a great deal by using our points and getting it for free.  Note: you don’t have to pay the tax on free point redemption nights, so the savings is even greater than the room rate.

My husband had gotten this Marriott credit card from Chase.  At the time when he got the card, and at the time of this writing (these things can change quickly and often) the card offered:

- Earn 70,000 points after spending $1,000 within 3 months

- 1 free night stay now (at Category 1-4 hotel)

- 1 free night stay every year (at Category 1-5 hotel) after account anniversary (and after paying annual fee)

- $0 annual fee for the first year, $85 each year after

-  5 points for every $1 spent at over 3600 Marriott Locations

- 2 points for every $1 spent on airline tickets purchased directly with the airline, and at car rental agencies & restaurants

- 1 point for every $1 spent on purchases anywhere else

So just by getting this one credit card we were able to stay at this and some other hotels for free!