Prior to this trip we had NEVER taken a family vacation because we simply just could not afford a trip for all 6 of us, so this points vacation holds a very special place in my heart. I was fortunate to go to Honolulu for my honeymoon, but my daughters had never been and that was all they talked about when we discussed a family vacation. So when I learned about traveling on points, I went hard at work to earn enough points to get us a free vacation for the 6 of us and make my kids dreams come true.
The original plan was to go in September of 2022. I had booked our Hyatt condo, the Wailea Ekahi Village, for 21,000 points per night using our points from the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Cash would have been $633 a night! Then I was working on getting our airfare paid for through opening a personal and business Southwest credit card. When I did my research however, flights to Maui were over 50,000 points per person in September. I knew I couldn’t do that. So then I started researching on the Southwest app for more affordable flights. Turns out February of 2022 was a lot better because flights were only about 22,000 points per person. I googled the weather to make sure I wasn’t taking our family during a bad time. It was about 70 degrees average and with the humidity out there, it felt perfect.
When traveling with points, you have to be flexible with dates if you’re going to plan on short notice. This is a bit tough for me because I’m a teacher and I have a school schedule to work with if I don’t want to get fired. Luckily, I was able to work it out. I paid for all of our flights using my Southwest points, free flights for all 6 of us at 22,000 points per person for 5 of us. One person was free because I had the Southwest Companion Pass.
The hotel was now an issue because booking hotels with points has to be done far in advance in order to ensure there is availability. Since I was booking short notice there was no points hotel rooms available so I had to pay cash for our hotel. We stayed in the Sands of Kahana Resort and paid a little over $1,000 for our 3 night stay. It was a beautiful resort right by the water with 2 bedrooms, a living room, full kitchen, living room, dining area, 2 balconies, and an amazing view. When I posted our video on Instagram, people thought our view was a painting because it looked so picturesque. We used the $1,000 toward another minimum spend we were working on, so it all worked out.
Through traveling with points we were able to get a Maui vacation for a family of 6 for a little over $1,000! That’s how much my husband and I would pay when only me and him went on a weekend trip!
We’ve gone from NO family vacations ever, to 4 scheduled for this year and next. This summer we have Mexico and New York. and next summer we have a Disney Cruise to the Bahamas. Follow along on my journey so you can see how you too can do this with your family.
Points for this Trip:
22,000 x 5 people = 110,000 points
1 Companion pass ticket = no points and no money spent
6 plane tickets to Maui, that would have cost $1,428, for free
