The $10,000 trip that never happened

We cancelled our St. Kitts trip... good thing we used points.

Author

Wuhoo Group
March 11, 2026

The evening we were supposed to head to St. Kitts in the Caribbean was actually spent in the emergency room at a hospital near our house. My son Noah had RSV and was wheezing and coughing, in no shape to fly.

Trip cancelled.

What didn’t get cancelled was the almost $10,000 in travel value - because we used points or credit cards to get things for free.

Here’s the full breakdown of what I had booked already for the trip and what it would have cost. And then keep reading to see how much value I got back!

Item

Normal Cost

What I paid

Airport Parking

$145

$145

Outbound Flight

$1,245

39,000 AA points + $31.20

Inbound Flight

$1,245

35,000 AA points + $139.89

Airport Hotel (1 night)

$344

1 Hyatt Free Night Award

St. Kitts Hotel (3 nights)

$6,141.52

88,000 Hyatt points + 1 Free Night Award

ESim (x2)

$52

$0 from Visa Infinite benefit for free Gigsky

St. Kitts Visa (x3)

$36.38

$36.38

Total

$9,208.90

$352.47 + 162,000 points + 2 Free Night Awards

Fortunately, even though I cancelled the day of, I was able to get my money back for some of these items:

  • Airport Parking - $145 refunded since I cancelled before an hour prior

  • Flights - 74,000 AA points + $171.09 refunded since points flights are booked as refundable fares, and you can cancel them before boarding

  • Airport Hotel - Free Night Award refunded because the hotel was nice even though it was in the cancellation window

  • Other things I booked, but didn’t pay yet like the Airport Taxi were cancelled without charge!

Unfortunately, there were other charges I couldn’t take back

  • The Visa - $36.38 lost since I did it the day before - that’s what I get for being too prepared, I could have done it at the airport, but I didn’t want to go through that stress

  • The Park Hyatt St. Kitts - all 88,000 points and Free Night Award LOST. Unfortunately, the property manager was not as lenient as the other Hyatt, and wanted to keep the points since I was past their cancellation window. The bright side is that if I had booked the hotel in cash, I would have had to pay 1 night’s stay as a fee. And it’s a bougie hotel… so I would have had to pay over $2,000 to cancel, which is way out of my hotel cancellation budget.

So even though it sucks to be out 88,000 points and a lucrative Category 1-7 award, the cent per point value, is still strong! I’d rather lose the points and award for cancelling the trip than paying all that money.

What’s the lesson here? Points still provide an excellent travel strategy that is flexible and less painful. Losing cash hurt more emotionally and practically.

While I had planned an awesome newsletter post with videos and pictures to call out how taking last-minute trips with points can be doable - this is also a good lesson for y’all!

Weekly Credit Card Tip #53

Points bookings are usually the “Main” or refundable equivalent when booking in cash. So when comparing points and prices, make sure you’re comparing apples to apples and not points to basic economy.

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About WuhooPoints

WuhooPoints focuses on the credit card consultation side of Wuhoo Group. We help you unlock the power of your credits cards for free luxury travel.