441,000 points to fund my new travel style

I know y’all like my nerdy analyses - and we’ll get there - but I want was reflecting on my travel style changes over the years and wonder where you’re at. Seriously, reply to this email and I’ll respond! Last week I talked about flights, this week it’s all about where I’m sleeping.

My travel through the ages

• Baby 0-5: didn’t really travel as my dad finished his PhD

• Child 1-9: stayed at various motels or lower-end hotels on summer vacations to Canada - sharing beds with my family.

• Teens 10-18: took one family summer trip a year mostly to national parks or Florida, so we stayed at motels with some resorts sprinkled in.

• Teens 16-18: my dad signed up for a Hilton timeshare so we based more of our vacations around cities and stayed in nicer hotels with suites for our family of 5.

• College 18-22: Airbnb was still in early stages and price was the most sensitive to me - I remember staying in someone’s basement one night for less than $30.

• Early Career 22-25: I traveled a lot and when work wasn’t paying, I was mostly bumming on people’s couches or stayed at cheap Airbnbs - I even convinced Sarah to couchsurf with me sometimes!

• DINK 26-29: Post COVID, Sarah and I gradually transitioned from nice Airbnbs to full-on Hyatt hotels because of the value found in redeeming points. Plus got hooked on Globalist status.

• Dad 30: Still all-in on Hyatt hotels, but now Suite Upgrade Awards are way more valuable to me. More down below

Suite Upgrade Awards - from nice-to-have to essential travel perk

I still remember my first complimentary suite upgrade as a Globalist. I actually joined Sarah on her work trip down to Orlando which was at the Hyatt Regency Orlando - which worked perfectly because I could get credit for booking the room. At check-in I asked about upgrade availability and the front desk and they gave me this massive suite below. Our bedroom was in the other room - pictured here was just the living room.

This room was super cool to have, but not necessary. Working remotely here was a little nicer than having to be right next to my bed, but not something I thought I would waste my awards on. But with the awards I had, I did “waste” them on upgrading myself or just giving them away since the extra space wasn’t important for us as a couple.

Then came Noah

Now the suite life is a much more desirable perk for us when we travel. In the past year, Noah’s bedtime fluctuated between 6-8pm. Meaning if we had a normal hotel room, it was lights out until he was fully asleep or we’d have to stick his crib in the bathroom. We even have a blackout tent for him, but that wouldn’t block out any noise.

Suites have become the essential travel perk. By having a one bedroom setup, we could stick Noah to sleep/nap in the bedroom, while we could still eat, play games, chill, and even invite friends over in the living room. Now that Noah can crawl around, just having more space as a whole helps him burn off more energy. Finally, a nice secondary perk is that suites are usually attached to another room, so we’ve traveled a couple times now where our suite was directly connected to a friend’s or family’s room to make it easier to hang out and help take care of Noah.

Now I’m more strategic about when I need to use my Suite Upgrade Awards and when I can bank on getting a free upgrade. For example, we went to Tampa after labor day - so while the redemption value wasn’t great, I knew there would be plenty of suites available.

BUT, at the end of the day, it’s not a guarantee, so I have to remind myself not to take suite upgrades for granted.

The hotel breakdown

For the past two years I've posted my 2023 and 2024 Hyatt hotel stays using points and awards - saving me tens of thousands of dollars. This year we traveled considerably less with the birth of my son, but we still got some pretty cool trips in and new Hyatt hotels to review. Overall you can see that since we didn’t go to as many fancy places as in previous years (e.g., Maldives) so the CPP valuations is below the usual 2cpp you’d find at Hyatts on average.

Still, using points to save almost $10,000 on hotel stays has allowed us to do some cool weekend trips to Boston, Florida, and New York. The other dynamic to consider is that with my Globalist status I’m incentivized to travel more to at least the mid-range Hyatt Regency and Grand Hyatts to take advantage of more of the perks. Also getting a bunch of the category 1-4 free night awards encourages us to travel and use them as well (e.g., Kent Narrows, Boston - which then always forces me to consider the balance of points travel and lifestyle inflation - am I ending up spending more than I would?

The last thing I want to reiterate like with last week is that if you have the points, go on that trip. Sure there’s a time to save for a specific redemption, but if you don’t have that and you’re just building up your bank of useless points. USE THOSE POINTS.

What’s In our Wallets (Newsletter Exclusive)

Our lineup for this week is below. See our rationale here just for newsletter subscribers like you.

Matthew: Sarah’s American Express Business Platinum

Sarah: American Express Business Platinum

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