The only way we’ve been able to travel through Europe and stay at 5-star hotels on a budget was through the art of travel hacking.
If you’re curious on how to get free flights and free hotel stays for you next trip in 2024, keep reading!
Travel hacking is leveraging credit card rewards, airplane miles, and hotel points to maximize travel benefits while minimizing out-of-pocket expenses.
We’ve been travel hacking since 2014 and visited almost 30 countries as a couple. We had plans to document this journey back then, but what better time than now – with our recent Europe trip with a toddler in tow.
We’ve used various strategies in the past to accumulate points and miles to book free flights and hotels. These are the exact steps on how we recently spent $4,505 on a $17,625 Europe trip (excluding food) for our family of 3.
Step 1: Determine your travel plans
A. Which countries will you visit?
We knew we wanted to revisit France, Italy and Switzerland on this trip, but kept the specific cities open while planning the trip on points.
B. When do you plan to travel?
It’s ideal to travel during low season when it’s less crowded but, depending on your family needs, that might not always be an option. Most families are only able to travel during school breaks – spring, winter or summer break.
If you have younger kids and have the flexibility, we recommend traveling to Europe in September or October when the weather is still mild and it’s not as crowded.
C. How long will you travel for?
We found the perfect amount of time for any of our international vacation travels tends to be at the 2.5 to 3 week mark. Anything less than that felt too short, but anything over 3 weeks felt too long for our family.
Step 2: Leverage Credit Card Bonus Offers
A. Assess your current points/miles situation
Make a list of your existing points and miles balances from previous travels or credit card rewards, if any. If you’re starting at 0 that’s perfectly fine!
B. Sign up for credit card promotions
The next and most important step is to be on the lookout for credit card promotions with substantial signup bonuses. This strategy will give you the most amount of points in the shortest amount of time.
If you happen to receive credit card offers in the mail (yes paper mail), pay attention to them as they often times have the best offers.
Things to consider when choosing a card:
- Flexible transfer programs that allow you to transfer points to airlines and hotels. You can check their websites for a list of transfer partner airlines and hotels.
- Consider how many points you earn per dollar spent. Some cards offer bonus points in specific spending categories, such as travel, dining or groceries.
- Check annual fees and weigh them against the card’s benefits. Most of the time the annual fees are well worth the value of the perks (e.g., airport lounge access, TSA Precheck/Global Entry, travel insurance, etc.). If you do not intend to take advantage of them in the future, don’t forget to cancel the card.
Note that to earn these signup bonuses, you must meet a minimum spend requirement within a specified time frame. Do not apply for them all at once – space out your credit card applications to help manage your credit score and meet the minimum spend.
We recommend American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards.
These are the credit cards and bonuses we used to fund our current trip on top of our existing accumulated points:
- American Express Gold (personal): 90,000 signup bonus points
- American Express Platinum (personal): 150,000 signup bonus points
- Chase Ink Business Preferred: 100,000 signup bonus points + 20,000 points for using a referral link (we got 2 cards)
*Note that offers and eligibility may vary.
C. Create a spending game plan
Have a game plan on how to meet the minimum spend requirements.
Take inventory of your current spending and see how you can shift some expenses over to the credit card during the spending period required. Some cards offer bonus points in specific spending categories so take advantage of those.
Whatever you do, do not rack up unnecessary debt just to meet the minimum spend!
Remember that travel hacking involves managing your finances responsibly. Always pay your credit card bills on time and avoid carrying a balance to prevent interest charges.
Step 3: Strategically Map Out Your Itinerary
Once you’re in the process of accumulating points and have a good idea of how many points you’ll have, it’s time to start planning your Europe trip for 2024!
Login to the credit card rewards portal to have an idea of which airlines and hotels are transfer partners. This is an important resource to have on hand while you’re researching flights and hotels.
Pay attention to which airlines and hotels have better redemption value, meaning some offer a 1:1 transfer ratio, whereas others might be higher or lower.
FLIGHTS:
A. Research on Google Flights
We recommend starting your research using Google Flights to get an idea of various flight options based on dates and locations. Take into consideration if the airlines are part of the credit card’s transfer partner list.
B. Sign up for Airline Frequent Flyer Programs
Once you have an idea of which airlines you will be flying, go to the airline’s website and sign up for their frequent flyer program. Then you can log in to search the airline’s calendar for available award flights.
Travel Hack: Some airlines and airports have extended layovers as part of a “stopover” program, allowing travelers to spend more time than usual in a layover city. Redemption flights tend to have layovers/stopovers so you can take advantage of this and incorporate it into your itinerary. For example, we’ve taken advantage of long layovers and stayed 24-48 hours in popular cities like Vienna, Berlin and Korea.
Pay attention to the additional fees, taxes and fuel surcharges from airlines. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic tend to have higher fuel charges for long distance flights.
Travel Hack: For our recent trip, we transferred our Amex credit card points to Virgin Atlantic because they were offering a 30% bonus. However, if we had booked a Virgin Atlantic flight we would have paid the fuel surcharge (which can get expensive). We discovered that you can use your Virgin Air miles to book Delta flights, which do not pass on most or any of the fuel surcharge for reward miles.
HOTELS:
Once you have a good idea of your flights, now it’s time to determine if you can leverage free hotel stays in those cities.
C. Research on Awardmapper
Use Awardmapper to determine which hotels to stay at on points. You can search by destination and popular hotel chains.
The website gives you a basic idea of how many points per night but remember to click over to the actual hotel website to check actual reward nights availability. You can book on points or points + cash. Some free award bookings may have additional costs associated with the stay, such as taxes or resort fees, so pay attention to those and plan accordingly.
D. Sign up for Hotel Loyalty Programs
Once you have an idea of which hotels you might stay at, sign up for their loyalty programs.
We highly recommend World of Hyatt since they have the best hotel loyalty program and gives you the most bang for your buck. They have hotels all over the world and also a strong partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World, which gives you the opportunity to stay at independent boutique luxury hotels for free. These were some our favorite hotel stays by far.
Travel Hack: For our trip, we booked 12 free nights (10 nights where Hyatt) and paid for 6 Airbnb nights, which worked perfectly for a good balance of luxury hotel stays vs. a more authentic, local experience. Also having Airbnb stays scattered throughout the trip was perfect for homecooked meals and laundry days.
Although the direct airline/hotel website will have the best redemption value in terms of points, they may not always have the availability. You can also book airlines and hotel directly on the credit card portal, which is usually more points.
Travel Hack – When booking on points, you might find that there are limited reward nights when booking for more than 2 people for multiple nights. If you have 2 adults and child that can fit with you on a King Bed, we recommend doing a search for just 2 adults. We found that sometimes adding a child, certain rooms might count as 3 adults, which limit the reward night options. If the reward nights are limited for multiple nights, try testing the dates for one night at a time. Once booked, you can later message the hotel to request a rollaway bed or crib for your child free of charge.
Be on the lookout for special promotions when transferring credit card points to hotels or airlines which can multiply your points value. As mentioned above, we took advantage of Virgin Atlantic’s 30% transfer bonus and booked our main flight with them.
Step 4: Book Your Trip
Once you narrow down a solid itinerary considering all of the above and your points has hit your account, it’s time to book your trip!
Airlines and hotels typically release award availability around a year in advance. Plan and book as early as possible to secure your desired flights and accommodations. If you should need to cancel or make changes to your trip, flights and hotels booked on points are usually refundable and points will just get reinstated to your account.
Europe Trip Breakdown: Cost vs What We Paid
This was the approximate cost for our family of 3 (with 2 adults and a 3 year old) for transportation and lodging. This excludes the cost of food and entertainment, as that was a variable expense. On average, we spent $120/day on food for the 3 of us.
Note that the below prices and point redemption value were the going rate when we booked for our September-October 2023 trip.
A. TRANSPORTATION
1. Flights
We took a total of 6 flights. The below reflects the cost for 3 people.
Delta (California-Paris Roundtrip)
Cost: $4,650
Paid: $260 + 138,000 Amex points that converted to 180,000 Virgin points
Air France (Paris-Nice, Zurich-Paris)
Cost: $840
Paid: $410 + points
EasyJet (Nice-Mykonos)
Cost: $565
Paid: $565
Ryanair (Santorini-Puglia)
Cost: $280
Paid: $280
ITA (Puglia-Zurich)
Cost: $585
Paid: $585
Total Flight Cost: $6,920
Amount Paid: $2,100
2. Other Transportation
Ferries
Cost: $245
Paid: $245
Car Rental
We rented cars in most places we visited for our larger party of 6. This was our share for our family of 3. This includes additional expenses, such as parking, gas, tolls, etc.
Cost: $1,400 (15 days)
Paid: $1,000 + 40,000 points
Ubers
Cost: $280
Paid: $280
TOTAL TRANSPORTATION COST: $8,845
AMOUNT PAID: $3,625
B. LODGING
Paris Hyatt Madeleine (paris, france)
Cost: $800 (1 night)
Paid: Free – 35,000 Hyatt points
Renaissance Paris Republique (paris, france)
Cost: $500 (1 night)
Paid: Free – 92,000 Marriott points
InterContinental Paris – Le Grand (paris, france)
Cost: $800 (1 night)
Paid: Free – 120,000 IHG points
Hyatt Regency Nice Palais de la Mediterranee (Nice, france)
Cost: $1,000 (2 nights)
Paid: Free – 58,000 Hyatt points
Archipelagos Hotel (Mykonos, Greece)
Cost: $1,000 (2 nights)
Paid: Free – 58,000 Hyatt points
Naxian Collection (Naxos, Greece)
Cost: $1,400 (2 nights)
Paid: Free – 70,000 Hyatt points
Santorini Secret Suites & Spa (santorini, greece)
Cost: $1,000 (1 night)
Paid: Free – 40,000 Hyatt points
Ambassador Hotel (Zurich, switzerland)
Cost: $800 (2 nights)
Paid: Free – 46,000 Hyatt points
Airbnbs (cannes, puglia, Switzerland)
We rented Airbnbs for our larger party of 6 and this was our share for our family of 3.
Cost: $1,170 (6 nights)
Paid: $1,170
TOTAL LODGING: $8,770
AMOUNT PAID: $1,170
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TOTAL TRIP COST (exc. food): $17,615
TOTAL AMOUNT PAID: $4,795
SAVINGS: $12,820
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Good Luck & Bon Voyage!
