How I Paid for a Week in Italy With Only Credit Card Points
There's nothing like an all-expenses paid trip to Italy to remind you what all those points you're obsessively accumulating are actually for.
I just got back from a nine-day trip to Florence, Pisa and Rome with my partner, where the only money we spent was on food, museums and a few impulse purchases. The flights and hotels were covered entirely by miles. It was a ton of fun and a great reminder that spending points is just as important (maybe even more important) than earning them.
That can be easier said than done if, like me, you tend to be more of a saver than a spender. I was proud of the more than 300,000 miles I'd accumulated, and it was hard to imagine watching that balance shrink. But the reality is, points are worth nothing if you don't use them.
So I finally forced myself to spend some of them, and I'm glad I did. A week in Italy turned out to be far more exciting than staring at a large point balance.
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How I found the right deal to use my points
The first thing I did was check the monthly valuations page at The Points Guy, which is regularly updated with the latest estimated redemption rates for just about every points program available. Based on that page, the average redemption rate for Delta SkyMiles is 1.2 cents per mile.
I decided that as long as the trip I booked was at or above that redemption rate, I would just go for it.
The easiest way to get a good redemption rate on your points is to be flexible on your destination and timing. Delta regularly offers award deals for passengers booking with miles, and the list of destinations and booking windows is always changing. So I kept tabs on the page where deals are listed for a couple of months and waited until something interesting popped up for the time frame when I wanted to travel.
When the Rome deal for the end of October appeared, I jumped on it. Italy's been on my bucket list for a while, and I always prefer to travel during off-peak seasons. Though I'd later learn from my Vatican tour guide, as we stood in a room packed wall-to-wall with people, that there really is no such thing as "off-peak" in Italy.
After finding the deal, I used the 15% discount I get from my American Express card when I book with miles to make it an even better deal. That discount also applied when booking the hotels in Florence and Rome with miles.
Based on the cash price for the exact same booking at the time, my redemption rate across flights and hotels was 1.5 cents per mile, beating the 1.2 cent threshold I was aiming for.
That redemption rate ended up even better on the day of departure. Thanks to my Delta SkyMiles American Express Reserve Card, I scored a free upgrade to Delta Comfort – worth $299 per person based on the cost of upgrading our seats the day of the flight if we'd paid for them.
What makes a points travel deal feel even better
After this experience, here's what I've learned are the keys to a deal that makes you feel good about parting with your points:
- Be flexible about your destination and timeframe. You don't have to book a trip to a destination you'd never visit otherwise. But if you're flexible enough to wait for an interesting offer to pop up, you can score some great deals. If I tried to use my balance to book flights home for Christmas, my options (and redemption rate) would have been limited.
- Stack your perks to save more. In addition to the deal price, I was able to shave an extra 15% off the total because of my credit card. That same credit card also includes free checked bags, and it bumped me to the top of the upgrade list to help me earn those free seat upgrades. Lastly, the Ubers we took to and from the airport were $10 cheaper each way because of the rideshare credits I get. We left in October and returned in November, so the monthly rideshare credit was applied to each ride.
- Take advantage of travel credit card welcome bonuses. Most of the miles used for this trip to Italy were earned from the welcome bonuses I got from the Delta SkyMiles American Express Platinum and Reserve cards. Trying to earn the amount I got from bonuses entirely through spending instead would have delayed this trip by another two years at least.
Don't hoard your points like I used to
For the last couple of years, I've been accumulating Delta SkyMiles. I started with an 80,000-mile welcome bonus for signing up for the Delta SkyMiles American Express Platinum card.
The following year, I closed that card and earned another 100,000 miles by signing up for the Reserve card. In between, I'd accumulated another 120,000 or so miles from booking flights and miscellaneous miles earned from everyday spending.
This year, as I was contemplating my next move to earn yet another welcome bonus, I realized that 300,000 miles is probably more than enough and I should focus on actually using some instead of just hoarding them.
Read more: These Credit Cards Have Some of the Biggest Welcome Bonuses Right Now
I admit it was hard to click "confirm" and watch so many of those miles disappear even though I knew it meant I'd finally get to see the Colosseum and eat my weight in pasta and gelato.
But, unlike cash that can earn interest if you put it in the market or even a high-yield savings account, points and miles tend to get devalued over time. The longer you hold on to them, the less they're worth.
If you're sitting on a large pile of points you've been accumulating for years, use them. I promise that the experiences you can enjoy while spending them are far more worthwhile than the sense of pride or accomplishment you might feel by having such a large balance.
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