New York was supposed to be our first ever family trip. We had it booked on cash and then COVID happened and all travels plans got cancelled. We got some money back but not all of it. Then we decided to sell our old house and buy a new one. Life got busy and our money had to be allocated elsewhere. Visiting New York with my family never left my mind. So when I learned about traveling with points and miles and received my first welcome bonus, I couldn’t wait and booked our trip to New York. This trip was partial points and partial cash. Could it have been done on points alone, of course? However, I have impulse control issues so I had to fund it with cash as well because I could not wait any longer to take this trip. How YOU choose to proceed with booking New York for your family is completely up to you. Here’s my experience.
The Cost
I used 80,000 points total to stay at the Hyatt Place New York/ Midtown-South for 4 nights. I chose this hotel for many reasons. A) It was very well priced at 20,000 points per night. B) It was located in the middle of all the places we wanted to go to C) It allowed 6 people to stay in one room and I will say we fit comfortably D) One of the most important reasons, it offered free daily breakfast for all 6 of us. That was a huge savings to our budget. The room in cash would have cost $1,380. Add onto that daily breakfast for 6 of us for 4 days, booking this hotel on points easily saved us close to $1,600.
I booked our flights in cash. We flew JetBlue from Los Angeles to New York for $502 per person roundtrip. This was a total of $3,016. To help alleviate the cost of this just a tad, I used a 75,000 Ink Business Card bonus I earned later after booking. I cashed out (I know! The horror!) the 75,000 points and turned it into $750. Chase transfers at a 1 point to 1 cent ratio, not all bank points transfer at this ratio so be aware when you’re considering cashing out points. I applied this $750 to the charge on my credit card.
Making the total cost for this trip $2,266 and 155,000 points. Points saved our family a little over 50%!
I earned those 155,000 points through:
- Opening a Chase Sapphire Preferred- 60,000 points
- Referring my husband to the Chase Sapphire card- 15,000 points
- Opening a Chase Ink Unlimited Business Card- 75,000 points
- The last 5,000 were through points on money spent to meet the minimum spend
If you want to make this trip completely free for your family on points and miles, you totally can. You’ll just need more time to plan it out and earn more welcome bonuses. It is possible!
Our Trip:
In 4 days we were able to fit in many sights and made so many unforgettable memories. This trip was worth every penny we spent on it. We laughed so much. Our first big laugh was when we got on the subway for the first time and my daughter did not know wo hold on and she fell onto someone’s bag. The other big laugh was when my husband and kids loved to make fun of me because every day I would take a to go bag from breakfast with muffins and fruit so we could have a free snack. They named me “The Muffin Lady” and said people probably whispered about me, “She’s at it again! hide all the muffins”. But they all happily ate their snacks when we were out and about. Aside from the laughs we saw many historical places. We created amazing memories together as a family.
The sites we fit in this trip:
- Times Square
- St Patrick’s Cathedral- My second favorite place. It was so beautiful to look at both inside and out. A definite must see.
- Rockefeller Center
- FAO Schwartz- My favorite new core memory happened at this place. Watching my daughters dance across the giant piano with Rockefeller Center as their background, laughing and having a great time. My mom heart was so happy.
- Central Park
- 9/11 Memorial
- Statue of Liberty
- Dumbo Brooklyn
- Brooklyn Bridge Park where the kids rode the carousel
- Walked the Brooklyn Bridge
- A baseball game at Citi Field: Home of the Mets
- New York Public Library- This was my absolute favorite place. My teacher heart was so happy going to this world famous library. It was so stunning when you walk in. I couldn’t believe I was standing there.
- Empire State Building
- Big Bus Tour around New York
Quick Tips:
- Bring hats for everyone and lots of suncreen
- Summer months will be hot and sticky so bring lots of hot weather clothes, Preferably clothes that dries easily when wet due to unexpected rain.
- Bring a plastic poncho. We got stuck in a heavy downpour.
- Bring a refillable water bottle. Our hotel had a water dispensing station. Another big money saver.
- Bring comfy shoes that you aren’t afraid will get ruined by rain.
