My daughter and I plan a Girl’s Getaway trip almost every year. We didn’t take one in 2023 because she was getting married and we were very busy with wedding plans. I decided we needed to take an extra big trip for 2024 so we planned a 10-day trip to Paris!
The 2024 Summer Olympics are being hosted in Paris beginning in July so our first goal was to beat those crowds by visiting in May. Our second goal for this trip was to utilize points and miles to cover most of the travel costs and still have a 5-star experience. I had been saving up for a trip like this for quite some time so I had a stockpile of points available in several loyalty programs.
I do love a challenge!
Flights
I started off by using some websites like Roame.travel and Points.Yeah in an attempt to locate a great flight deal, but the only things coming up were flights with 2-3 connections. Hoping to reduce stress and avoid any travel hiccups I preferred to keep the flight itinerary simple for this trip so those options were not appealing.
To secure the best deal, I thought we may need to position out of ORD, JFK, or BOS, but I still continued looking at DTW because it is our home airport. I regularly checked several different air carriers, but with a pile of Skymiles available, I hoped to find a good deal through Delta or a Delta partner.
Sitting on my couch on a Sunday morning in October doing what I do, searching for airfare deals, I found the unicorn!
It was a Delta Non-Stop flight from Detroit to Paris for about 125,000 points per person round trip. Our Delta gold cards saved us 15% off the posted rate so each flight came to 108,800 Skymiles.
I didn’t have quite that many miles in my account, so I transferred some from my husband’s account for a $190 transfer fee and then topped it off with a transfer of American Express Membership Rewards Points ($62 transfer fee). Taxes and fees for both flights came to $172 so with the transfer costs we were at $424 for 2 round-trip flights to Paris!
Here is a comparison of the cash rate vs our initial points booking. Huge savings!
I used my Hilton Aspire card to pay the flight taxes and received a $50 airline statement credit a few days later bringing our final total down to $374 for our flights.
Pro Tip: If You Snooze You Lose! Because I have lost redemptions by dragging my feet in the past, I knew when I saw these flights not to snooze on the deal. Within 48 hours after I booked our flights, the price had gone back up! If you find a great price, snag it right away because it may be gone if you don’t. Book a fare that can be changed or canceled if you change your mind or find something better later.
I know the super serious travel hackers will challenge this redemption saying that my points per dollar value isn’t high enough. But here is the thing, I saved these points for a long time for this trip and got exactly what I wanted. When redeeming points and miles if YOU are happy with the outcome that is all that really matters in the end!
These flights were of great value to me because they were non-stop and originated from our home airport, eliminating the need to position. Positioning flights from a different location can mean extra transportation or hotel costs, added stress, and increased travel time.
But wait…2 weeks later while I was checking flight prices hoping to change our return flight to a later date, I found an even cheaper flight that would return on Saturday. Woo Hoo! It took some time on the phone with a Delta Customer Service Agent to make the change, but we got it done and I received a credit of 22,000 Skymiles. This reduced our points per flight to 96,000 per person Round Trip!
Hotels
Individual Hotel Reviews Will Be Coming Soon!
An important stop on our Paris trip was the Palace of Versailles. We wanted to be there on a Saturday to enjoy all the fountains and fireworks shows in the gardens. Rather than taking a late train back to Paris, we chose to stay overnight in Versailles.
We had hoped to redeem a Hilton Free Night Certificate (FNC) at the Waldorf Astoria Trianon Palace, but that option wasn’t available. I had to dig deep and use 171,000 points to secure an award stay, but this was one of those bucket list items and I wasn’t willing to compromise.
I continued to check the price after making this reservation and was eventually able to rebook it for 158,000 points. Still a lot, but totally worth it!
The extra points I used for the Waldorf Astoria Versailles redemption were originally earmarked for 2 nights at the Hilton Paris Opera Hotel so I found myself a bit short. Fortunately, my daughter also had some Hilton points so I set up Hilton Points Pooling. She shared some of her points with me and we booked the room for 90,000 points per night.
We chose to make the reservation from my account because I have Hilton Diamond Status which would provide us with extra hotel perks and the potential for a room upgrade.
The Kimpton St. Honore
I had saved up my IHG points for a few years knowing that they often go further for European redemptions. This was my chance to use them, but room availability was disappearing fast even though it was still 7 months before our trip.
IHG doesn’t have a set award chart, so I checked their site frequently until I found the best rate. I combined the Book 3 Nights and get the 4th Night Free feature with 260,000 points to secure a 4-night stay at the Kimpton St. Honore.
Best Western de la Paix- Reims
Another part of our itinerary was a trip to the Champagne region of France. It made sense to book a hotel because we planned to visit both Epernay and Reims. The hotel selection is a little more limited in these areas but I landed on the Best Western de la Paix in Reims for our stay.
Although I had some Best Western points, it was not enough to book an award stay. I remembered that my Delta credit card had recently added a new $150 credit on hotels booked through their “Delta Stays” site. When I checked out the price it ended up being competitive. The hotel and taxes came to $213.31 so after my $150 statement credit my final cost was only $63.31. The statement credit was applied to my Delta card within 48 hours after making the reservation.
Even though I booked this hotel through an outside source and would not be eligible to accrue BW points for the stay, I added my loyalty number to the reservation. This allowed me to track our stay in the Best Western app and earn a few points from other BW promotions.
Hyatt Place CDG Airport
We had a morning flight back to DTW from Paris and would need to be at the airport about 3 hours before the flight. Rather than fight the Paris morning traffic, I chose to book our final night at the Hyatt Place at Charles De Gaulle. The hotel is only minutes from the airport plus offers a shuttle service and complimentary breakfast. It saved us so much time, stress, and money.
When I made the reservation, the hotel was a Hyatt category 1 bookable for only 3,500 points! Sadly, Hyatt recently increased this property to a category 2 and it now requires 8,000 points per night to book an award stay.
It’s still a solid deal if you have early morning flights.
How Did We Do It?
It’s important to know the tools you have available to you, and how to use them to your advantage. Being familiar with my credit cards and all their perks and benefits helped me find more ways to save on our reservations. Leveraging hotel status meant we received additional hotel benefits including some really nice room upgrades.
- Points transfers: American Express Membership Rewards, Delta and Hilton Honors
- I applied the Delta Take Off 15% benefit from my Delta credit card to reduce the cost even further for award flights
- Booked a hotel using a $150 Delta Stays credit from my Delta credit card
- IHG book 3 get the 4th night free benefit + Platinum Status room upgrade
- Using my Hilton Diamond Status for extra perks during our stays at the Hilton Paris Opera and the Waldorf Astoria Trianon Palace for food and beverage credits, late check-outs, and room upgrades
- Paying for additional airline fees separately to use a credit card that has an airline statement credit or a higher point earning potential
L’Addition S’il Vous Plait
- Round Trip airfare DTW to CDG $374.00
- 2 Nights at the Hilton Paris Opera 180,000 points
- 1 Night at the Waldorf Astoria Trianon Palace Versailles158,000 points
- 4 Nights at the Kimpton St. Honore 260,000 points
- 1 Night at the Best Western Premier de la Paix in Reims $63.31
- 1 Night at the Hyatt Place CDG airport 3,500 points
For 600,000 points and $437, we booked 2 round-trip flights and 9 nights in some fantastic hotels. Not too shabby!
Award redemptions like these are exactly what I mean by being Boujee on a Budget. It took a lot of strategy, planning, and the right mix of points and miles to book all these flights and hotels for the lowest possible price, without sacrificing comfort. Securing our flights and hotels without blowing our travel budget meant living large and having more money left for sightseeing, fine dining, amazing experiences, and macarons.
Time for me to start planning how to refill my points banks for my next adventure!
Dream, Plan, Save, Adventure!!!
The World According to Dev 