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Postponing Hawaii Due to a Pandemic

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Postponing Hawaii Due to a Pandemic

Like many of my fellow travelers, the situation in the world right now has forced me to cancel vacation plans that I was very much looking forward to. This trip was going to be a big one, and one paid almost entirely with points and miles. For a few years now, I’ve been planning to celebrate my 5th wedding anniversary with Annie in Hawaii. Everything was booked — flights, hotel, rental car — $10,000 worth of travel booked for a mere $250!

I booked the entire trip in early February and less than two months later, the entire world had changed. While this trip was important to Annie and I, it obviously pales in comparison to the devastating impacts that COVID-19 has had on the world. I feel lucky that nobody in my family has gotten sick and that I’ve been able to continue to earn a living and work from home. That being said, it was still disappointing to finally come to terms that this trip would no longer occur.

Cancelling Our Anniversary Trip

Of course, cancelling the reservations wouldn’t be easy. My hotel reservations allowed cancellations up to 2 days prior to arrival, so I had no problems with those. However, I ran into some issues cancelling the car rental and airfare.

Car Rental

I rented the car through Hertz with 7,500 Hertz points. When I cancelled the reservation, they charged me a 25% redeposit fee, putting only 5,625 points back into my account. When the pandemic hit, Hertz announced they’d be waiving that redeposit fee since customers would be cancelling through no fault of their own. Of course, the execution of that policy change didn’t happen.

So I filled out a case on their website, and argued that I shouldn’t have been charged the redeposit fee. Within just a few days they responded by adding the missing points back into my account. However, only a few days afterward, Hertz filed for bankruptcy. So who knows if I’ll be able to use these points in the future, but for now, I’m happy to have them back.

Airfare

United Airlines was harder to work with and quite frustrating. During March and April, I was listening to news reports every day and reading articles to figure out the right time to cancel my flights. United’s website stressed that customers wishing to cancel flights more than 21 days in the future should wait, so that other customers with sooner flights could be prioritized. That made a lot of sense, so I waited. I also knew that if the airline cancels the flight, you will definitely not be charged a cancellation fee.

Then about a month from the date of our flight, and with Hawaii strictly enforcing a 14-day quarantine for arriving tourists, I decided it was time to cancel. I didn’t want to string it out any longer since there was a 0% chance we were going to Hawaii.

Grrrrrrr!

So I logged onto United’s website and saw a message that cancellation fees would be waived for those cancelling reservations more than 30 days in advance. That was very different than the previous messaging to come back once you were within 21 days from departure. And now, guess how many days it was to our flight? 29 days of course! Naturally, I was charged $125 per ticket to cancel the flight, which I went ahead with anyways.

Later that month, I called United’s customer care team. They were pretty easy to deal with on the phone and agreed to process a refund for $250. The entire call, with hold time, was around 45 minutes. Receiving the refund could take around 27 business days, for some odd reason, so this isn’t totally resolved just yet. So I’ll be watching my credit card statements to ensure they keep their word.

Bottom Line

So now we wait. I have no travel plans scheduled at all for the remainder of 2020 and there’s no guarantee that 2021 will look much better. However, I’m hopeful that we can try this again next spring. In the meantime, I pray that everyone stays safe and the scientists are able to get the world a vaccine as soon as possible.

Trip Report Index

  1. Introduction and Planning
  2. Using Points and Miles to get to Hawaii
  3. How a Flight Change Put 45,000 Miles Back in My United Account
  4. Postponing Hawaii Due to a Pandemic
  5. Flight from Chicago to Maui
  6. Grand Wailea Maui, A Waldorf Astoria Resort
  7. Activities in Maui
  8. Flight from Kahului to Honolulu
  9. Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort And Spa
  10. Activities in Honolulu
  11. Flight from Honolulu to Chicago

How a Flight Change Put 45,000 Miles Back in My United Account

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If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.

Thomas H. Palmer

When I booked our award flights to Hawaii last month, I wasn’t very happy with the number of miles needed to book the Chicago to Maui segment. United was charging 45,000 miles per ticket or 90,000 total for Annie and I. In my excitement, I went ahead and booked the trip instead of waiting to see if I could get a better deal. Then last week I decided to check if anything had changed. To my surprise, there were tons of flights from Chicago to Maui for only 22,500 miles per ticket or 45,000 in total.

Flight Change Details

For a change fee of $150, I re-booked the Chicago to Maui segment and was refunded 45,000 United miles! Those miles are worth way more than the $150 it cost me to change the flight. I can use the miles to score a round-trip flight somewhere else in the world for free. If I used them to go back to Hawaii, the miles would be worth more than $1,000!

The new award redemption details are below:

Hawaii Trip Award Itinerary (two tickets)

FlightMiles (originally)Miles (after flight change)
ORD to OGG90,000 (45,000 each)45,000 (22,500 each)
OGG to HNL00
HNL to ORD45,000 (22,500 each)45,000 (22,500 each)
Total135,00090,000

Chicago (ORD) to Kahului (OGG)

Leg 1: Chicago to Honolulu on a Boeing 777-200

Instead of flying to Denver and then Maui for 90,000 miles, we’re now flying to Maui via Honolulu for 45,000 miles. We arrive about 1 hour and 40 minutes later than the original flight, which is fine since all we’re going to do that night is eat dinner and go to sleep. We also like that we go all the way to Honolulu, since that will limit the impact of any possible connection issues. There are so many daily flights between Honolulu and Maui, we’ll be just fine no matter what. If we’d missed our connection in Denver, there’d be a much better chance of getting stuck for a night.

When I re-booked this segment, the money I used to pay for seat upgrades on the original flight was also refunded. Once that is back in my credit card account, I’ll purchase new economy plus seats on this flight.

Leg 2: Honolulu to Kahului on Boeing 717-200

After an hour and 25 minute layover in Honolulu, we’re taking a quick 42 minute flight over to Maui on Hawaiian Airlines.

Bottom Line

With these changes, the airfare now cost me 90,000 miles plus $311 in taxes, change fees and non-reimbursed seat upgrades. The value of the airfare redemption is now 2.76 cents per point ($2,488 / 90,000 miles), up from 1.84 cents per point originally.

The lesson here is not to “set it and forget it”. If you’re not happy with your booking, keep checking periodically to see if things change. You might end up finding flights with better times, cheaper fares or for less miles. I checked every day for one week and noticed that the cheapest flights appeared in searches on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday was long thought to be the best day to book flights but that’s since changed. However, in this case, the day I booked mattered. That’s something to keep in mind next time you’re looking at flights.

Trip Report Index

  1. Introduction and Planning
  2. Using Points and Miles to get to Hawaii
  3. How a Flight Change Put 45,000 Miles Back in My United Account
  4. Postponing Hawaii Due to a Pandemic
  5. Flight from Chicago to Maui
  6. Grand Wailea Maui, A Waldorf Astoria Resort
  7. Activities in Maui
  8. Flight from Kahului to Honolulu
  9. Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort And Spa
  10. Activities in Honolulu
  11. Flight from Honolulu to Chicago

Using Points and Miles to get to Hawaii

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The anticipation of this moment is what originally lead me to the points and miles game. Now, almost two full years after I started this journey, I’ve finally booked our 5th wedding anniversary trip to Hawaii. As planned, I used points and miles for as much as I possibly could, and saved over $9,600! Annie and I will celebrate the anniversary of our marriage with 6 nights in Maui and another 2 in Honolulu. This post explains how we’ll get there, where we’re staying and how we saved over 97% off the retail price of the trip.

Using Points and Miles to get to Hawaii
Photo courtesy of the Grand Wailea Resort

In This Post

Airfare

Prior to booking, I always assumed I’d be flying United because they have so many flight options from Chicago to Hawaii. Plus, United is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards. So if I needed a few extra miles to book the flights, I could always transfer some Chase points to my United MileagePlus account. Before booking though, it’s always a good idea to check around in case you can get better flights (i.e. flying direct instead of connecting, getting into a better cabin or redeeming less miles) on other airlines. In my case, after reviewing flight options on American and a few other airlines, United was still my best option.

For 135,000 miles and $22 in taxes and fees, I booked two multi-city award tickets from Chicago to Maui, Maui to Honolulu and Honolulu to Chicago.

Hawaii Trip Award Itinerary (two tickets)

FlightMiles
ORD to OGG90,000 (45,000 each)
OGG to HNL0
HNL to ORD45,000 (22,500 each)
Total135,000

When I was ready to book the trip, I only had 131,000 United miles in my account. So I logged onto Chase and transferred the 4,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points needed to United. In less than two minutes, the extra miles were in my account and I was able to book the trip.

Paying for these flights would’ve cost around $2,500 which means the value of my miles redemption is around 1.84 cents per point ($2,488 / 135,000 miles). That’s better than the widely considered value of United miles, which is 1.3 cents per point. What makes me even more excited is that around two thirds of the miles used for this trip came from “freebies”. In other words, many miles I earned were not earned through credit card purchases or paying for United flights.

The top three ways I earned miles for free were: 50,000 miles from the sign-up bonus on the United Explorer card, almost 16,000 miles from United’s shopping portal and their MileagePlus X app, and 12,000 miles from taking online surveys.

Chicago (ORD) to Kahului (OGG)

Leg 1: Chicago to Denver on a Boeing 757-300

All flight options from Chicago to Maui included one stopover. While there were a few flights available for 22,500 miles per ticket, they had long layovers that were not ideal. I had to spend 45,000 miles per ticket instead to reduce the overall travel time and ensure that we’ll land in Maui in the afternoon instead of later in the evening.

According to SeatGuru, these regular economy seats offer extra legroom.

In choosing seats, I referenced SeatGuru.com and found a quirk in the economy cabin that we could take advantage of. Row 22 is considered standard economy and so United doesn’t charge extra for those seats. However due to an exit row in front, the seats have extra legroom. Even better, there are only two seats on each side of the aisle, so Annie and I get the row to ourselves.

Leg 2: Denver to Kahului on Boeing 777-200

For this long flight, it was worth it to me to pay for upgraded seats in economy plus. Of course, sticking with the theme of this trip, I wasn’t going to pay for the seats in full. At the time of booking, I selected random seats in economy for all legs of the journey. I paid the taxes with my United Explorer card so that we’ll get free checked bags. To save money on the economy plus seats, I then went back into the reservation and purchased the seats with my American Express Hilton Honors Aspire card. That card has $250 in annual airline credits which can offset various fees, including paying for seats. I used some of the credit first for our flight home, so I only had $144 left for this flight. In total, the cost to upgrade both our seats to economy plus on this flight was $238, but after the credit, it came to only $139. Now we have economy plus exit row seats.

Kahului (OGG) to Honolulu (HNL)

This flight is on a Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 717-200. It cost absolutely nothing (no miles or dollars) because of a perk known as the United Excursionist Perk. This perk lets you add a free one-way segment, beginning and ending in the same region, to travelers on round-trip itineraries between two different regions as defined by the United award chart. The travel must end in the same region where it originates.

In this case, our trip begins and ends in the North America region. In addition, the origin and destination of the one-way segment is within a single region, Hawaii. Hence, we get to see a second island and don’t have to pay for the inter-island flight!

Honolulu (HNL) to Chicago (ORD)

Leg 1: Honolulu to Kahului on a Boeing 717-200

United has a non-stop flight from Honolulu to Chicago, but they wanted 43,000 miles per ticket. Instead, we’re going to fly back to Maui and then on to Chicago for only 22,500 miles a ticket. It was worth saving 41,000 total miles to take a quick flight back to Maui and then fly non-stop from there.

Leg 2: Kahului to Chicago on a Boeing 777-200

This is a long red-eye flight, so getting seats in economy plus was my top priority. Hopefully we can get at least a little sleep so we’re not completely wrecked when we land at 5:00 a.m the next day. For these seats, I was able to get them reimbursed entirely by using the annual airline credit perk on two different credit cards. I paid for one seat using my American Express Hilton Honors Aspire card and the other seat using my American Express Gold card. With these card benefits, the cost of upgrading to economy plus was $0 instead of $203. Our seats, once again, are in an economy plus exit row to take advantage of the extra leg room.

The cost of the tickets prior to buying economy plus seats would’ve cost almost $2,500.

All in all, our flights cost 135,000 miles plus $161 in taxes, fees and non-reimbursed seat upgrades. That’s a savings of $2,813!

Note: Since I wrote this article, I changed our Chicago to Maui segment in order to get back 45,000 United miles. United charged me $150 to do this and it dropped the total miles used for airfare to 90,000 (from 135,000). The value of the redemption is now 2.76 cents per point ($2,488 / 90,000 miles), up from 1.84. For more details on what I did and why, see how a flight change put 45,000 miles back in my United account.

Hotel

Grand Wailea Maui

When I first had the idea to celebrate our anniversary in Hawaii, I knew that we’d stay at the Grand Wailea Maui, a Waldorf Astoria resort. It’s a beautiful hotel and even though I had no Hilton Honors points at the time, they are notoriously easy to earn. Within a mere nine months, I already had enough points for a 5-night stay, mostly from the welcome bonuses on two new Hilton Honors credit cards (one for me, one for Annie). However, earning Hilton Honors points isn’t just about credit card bonuses and everyday spending. Over the past two years, I’ve earned over 160,000 points from online surveys, 60,000 points from Hilton promotions and 54,000 from hotel stays.

Grand Wailea
Photo courtesy of the Grand Wailea Resort

The Grand Wailea is a 5-star resort and prices can range from $600 to over $1,000 per night. For award night redemptions, they charge 95,000 Hilton Honors points a night. As a cardholder of the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire card, I get automatic Hilton Honors Diamond status. One of the perks of having Diamond status is getting the 5th night free when redeeming points for four nights. So for 380,000 points (95,000 x 4), we get a 5 night stay. In addition, another perk of the being a cardholder is an annual free weekend night certificate to use at any Hilton property. Using the award certificate allowed me to add a 6th night to our stay. If I had paid for a standard room for 6 nights, it would’ve cost $5,426. Instead we get it for absolutely nothing!

From a valuation standpoint, this redemption, excluding the free night, is worth 1.18 cents per Hilton Honors point ($4,516 / 380,000 points). This is about two times the commonly held value of a Hilton Honors point, which is 0.5 to 0.6 cents per point.

Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach

In Honolulu, we decided to stay at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa because the Hilton Waikiki Beach was sold out. The Hyatt Regency is actually closer to the beach anyways and still right in the heart of the city. Normally, it would go for $856 for the two nights, but I used points to get it for free. Hyatt is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, so I transferred 35,000 Chase points to Hyatt to bring my Hyatt balance to 40,000 points. I then booked the hotel for 40,000 Hyatt points. In total, I saved $855!

The value of this redemption is 2.14 cents per Hyatt point ($855 / 40,000 Hyatt points). The commonly held value of Hyatt points is 1.7 cents per point, so I did well again.

Rental Car

A car is pretty much a necessity on Maui if you want to be able to get around to various parts of the island. From the very beginning, I planned to rent a car from Hertz because one can earn Hertz points by taking surveys on E-rewards.com. When you take enough surveys, you can transfer the survey points earned to various partners, including Hertz. There are no similar programs available for the other major rental car companies, so it was Hertz or bust! I was able to amass enough points for a free weekly rental. Those points were earned entirely through survey taking which means I didn’t spend anything to earn the free rental.

To rent a convertible for a week would normally cost $680. Instead I used 7,500 Hertz points to get a free weekly rental. This made it so the only money I would pay would be to cover certain taxes and fees. This came to $89 for a total savings of $591.

Maui Redemption Table

Retail CostOur CostMiles/Points UsedPoints Source
2 one way tickets from Chicago (ORD) to Maui (OGG)$1,244 per person ($2,488 total)$11 taxes and fees ($22 total)131,000 United miles and 4,000 Chase UR points- United Explorer Card
- Miles from flying, dining and shopping portals
- Opinion Miles Club surveys
- Points from Chase credit cards
Flight change to lower mileage cost flight (ORD to OGG)$150$150(45,000) United miles refundedN/A
Economy Plus seat selection ORD to OGG$283$139N/A- Amex Hilton Aspire card
6 nights at the Grand Wailea Maui$904 per night ($5,426 total)$0380,000 Hilton Honors points and 1 free weekend night certificate- Hilton Honors Aspire Card
- Hilton Honors Card
- E-rewards surveys
- Guest Opinion Rewards surveys
- Hilton hotel stays
2 one way tickets from Maui (OGG) to Honolulu (HNL)Included in flight information aboveIncluded in flight information aboveUnited Excursionist perkIncluded in flight information above
2 one way tickets from Honolulu (HNL) to Chicago (ORD)Included in flight information aboveIncluded in flight information aboveIncluded in flight information aboveIncluded in flight information above
Economy Plus seat selection HNL to ORD$203$0N/A- Amex Hilton Aspire card
- Amex Gold card
2 nights at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa$428 per night ($856 total)$035,000 Chase UR points and 5,000 Hyatt points- Chase credit cards
1 week car rental$680$897,500 Hertz Gold Plus points- E-rewards surveys
Total$10,086$400- 86,000 United miles
- 39,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points
- 380,000 Hilton Honors points night
- 5,000 Hyatt points
- 7,500 Hertz Gold Plus points		- $9,686 in total savings
- 96% off retail cost

Bottom Line

Using points and miles allowed us to take a dream vacation celebrating our wedding anniversary for pennies on the dollar. A trip that would’ve cost just under $10,000 will only cost me $250! Annie and I are so excited to go on this trip and I’ll have lots more once we get back. Look for flight and hotel reviews, as well as posts about things to do in Maui and Oahu. Aloha!

Trip Report Index

  1. Introduction and Planning
  2. Using Points and Miles to get to Hawaii
  3. How a Flight Change Put 45,000 Miles Back in My United Account
  4. Postponing Hawaii Due to a Pandemic
  5. Flight from Chicago to Maui
  6. Grand Wailea Maui, A Waldorf Astoria Resort
  7. Activities in Maui
  8. Flight from Kahului to Honolulu
  9. Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort And Spa
  10. Activities in Honolulu
  11. Flight from Honolulu to Chicago

Maui and Oahu: 5th Wedding Anniversary Planning

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Maui Beach
Dreaming of walking in the sand along the beaches of Maui!

The first goal I set on my points journey was to take my wife, Annie, on a 5th anniversary vacation to Maui. I wanted to accumulate enough points to get free airfare, hotel and car rental, not including taxes and fees. Applying for new credit and making purchases on the right cards are how I’m going to make this a reality.

Airfare

Annie and I have been American AAdvantage® members for a while and have some miles saved up that we could redeem. Although flying American to Hawaii is an option, there are no direct flights from Chicago to Maui. Also round trip airfare awards in coach can cost around 72,500 miles. If you pay cash for flights, they can be quite expensive – a test search in August shows American at over $1,200 and United at over $1,300 round trip from Chicago to Maui.

A little research shows that we can fly other airlines for far fewer miles. However, to be able to redeem an award ticket on a different airline, we need transferable points.

I decided on the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card to begin earning transferable points. Read “How Did I Choose My First Credit Card?” to see why this card was the right decision for me. I applied for the card on 4/5/18 and due to some large expected expenses, I met the minimum spending requirement very easily. I also added Annie as an authorized user for 5,000 extra bonus points. And finally, I referred her for a Chase Sapphire Preferred Card as well. The referral got me 10,000 bonus points and once she hits her minimum spending requirement, she’ll bank another 50,000 bonus points. In total, we’ll have at least 123,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards® points after all the bonuses and points earned through spending.

On top of that, I decided to pair the Sapphire Preferred with the Chase Freedom Card. The Freedom card’s welcome bonus is 15,000 points after meeting the minimum spending requirement. It also earns 5% cash back in rotating quarterly categories. Those points can be transferred to my Chase Sapphire Ultimate Rewards points to provide even more value.

In October of 2018, I also decided to apply for the United Explorer Card and earned the 50,000 point welcome bonus. Now I have more than the 90,000 miles required to fly Annie and I to Hawaii in coach.

The plan is to use either Chase Ultimate Rewards points or United miles to pay for our airfare to Hawaii. Below are some options:

  • United Airlines – round trip flights are 45,000 miles in economy; 190,000 miles in business
  • Singapore Air – round trip flights via United are 40,000 miles in economy; 60,000 miles in business
  • Korean Air – round trip flights via Delta are 25,000 miles in economy; 45,000 miles in business (unfortunately as of 8/25/18, Korean Air is no longer an Chase UR partner)

All of these options far surpass the redemption reward options on American Airlines. At this point, my sights are set on Singapore Air business class flights for 60,000 miles. Compare that with flying coach on American for 72,500! With Chase UR points, I can transfer them to Singapore Air and then redeem those miles on United, which is one of their Star Alliance partners.

Hotel

Grand Wailea
Photo courtesy of the Grand Wailea

We know we want to stay at the Grand Wailea, A Waldorf Astoria Resort, which is part of the Hilton family of hotels. Rates can run from $500 a night for a terrace view room, to $1,000+ for suites. Point redemptions for a standard room at the hotel are 95,000 points per night. If we want to stay for a week, we’re going to need 665,000 points! However, there are two easy ways to reduce the total number of points needed.

  1. Elite Status: with Silver or higher status, you get 1 free night when you redeem 4 nights
  2. Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card: a perk of this card is 1 free weekend night each year

With elite status and the Aspire card, we can stay for 7 nights while only redeeming 5 nights worth of points. To achieve this goal, I need a Hilton branded credit card to accumulate the necessary points. Hilton has an exclusive partnership with American Express and offers several card options.

You can read my review of these cards here, but I went with the Hilton Honors Aspire Card. While this is the top-level card and carries a $450 annual fee, the perks more than pay for the fee. The perks that we’ll use at the Grand Wailea are:

  1. The annual free night (value around $500)
  2. The possibility of an upgrade; we’ll book the lowest level room but can get space-available room upgrades including suites (value unknown)
  3. $250 Hilton resort credit, which we’ll use for food, spa, activities, etc. (value $250)
  4. $100 property credit at Waldorf Astoria (value $100)

This card has other perks not related to our stay at the Grand Wailea, which I intend to use, like the $250 airline fee credit. With all of these perks, it’s easy to see why the Aspire card is so valuable.

Car Rental

Initially, I was so focused on airfare and hotel that I completely forgot that we’d need a rental car on Maui. Having a car on Maui is a must and the costs can really add up. A full size car for a week can cost between $250 and $450 and a fun convertible could go for between $900 and $1,200 per week! This is where taking surveys comes into play. Hertz is a rewards partner in the E-rewards program, and I can take enough surveys to get a free convertible. A weekly specialty car rental at Hertz costs 4,400 points at the standard reward rate and 8,800 at the AnyDay rate (not subject to blackout periods).

Progress (updated monthly)

*As of January 2020, with the trip now booked, I’m going to stop tracking my progress on a monthly basis.

GoalAirfare (120,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points)Hotel (500,000 Hilton Honors points)Car Rental (7,500 Hertz Gold Plus points)
Jan 2020176,171 points238,945 points293 points
Dec 2019203,846 points610,719 points7,793 points
Nov 2019200,431 points598,848 points7,793 points
Oct 2019190,155 points560,327 points6,693 points
Sept 2019186,654 points556,983 points5,593 points
Aug 2019183,563 points535,323 points5,593 points
July 2019181,776 points514,194 points4,493 points
June 2019177,630 points498,681 points3,393 points
May 2019171,288 points488,829 points3,393 points
Apr 2019199,556 points461,036 points3,393 points
Mar 2019182,591 points455,515 points1,193 points
Feb 2019175,397 points437,555 points1,193 points
Jan 2019170,551 points428,572 points1,193 points
Dec 2018167,128 points396,689 points6 points
Nov 2018166,750 points320,146 points6 points
Oct 2018166,210 points313,382 points5 points
Sept 2018162,073 points282,339 points5 points
Aug 2018134,646 points268,772 points5 points
July 2018131,553 points156,487 points5 points
June 201873,619 points24,310 points5 points
May 201871,348 points10,310 points0 points
Apr 20180 points9,000 points0 points

January 2020 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: -27,775 = 11,225 everyday spending – 4,000 transfer to United – 35,000 transfer to Hyatt
  • Hilton Honors points gained: -371,774 = 381 everyday spending + 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Scott + 845 from Guest Opinion Rewards – 380,000 hotel redemption
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: -7,500 = -7,500 car rental redemption

December 2019 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 3,415 = 3,415 everyday spending
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 11,871 = 8,084 everyday spending + 2,956 Amex spending bonus + 760 from Guest Opinion Rewards + 71 Lyft rides
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 0 = 0

November 2019 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 10,276 = 10,227 everyday spending + 49 from Chase shopping portal
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 38,521 = 8,641 everyday spending + 2,044 Amex spending bonus + 26,580 from hotel stays (4 nights) + 976 from Guest Opinion Rewards + 280 Lyft rides
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 1,100 = 1,100 from E-rewards redemption for Annie

October 2019 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 3,491 = 3,491 everyday spending
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 3,344 = 2,484 everyday spending + 860 from Guest Opinion Rewards
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 1,100 = 1,100 from E-rewards redemption for Scott

September 2019 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 3,091 = 3,091 everyday spending
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 21,660 = 6,785 everyday spending + 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Scott + 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Annie + 875 from Guest Opinion Rewards
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 0 = 0

August 2019 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 1,787 = 1,787 everyday spending
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 21,129 = 705 everyday spending + 19,724 from hotel stays (4 nights) + 700 from Guest Opinion Rewards
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 1,100 = 1,100 from E-rewards redemption for Annie

July 2019 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 4,146 = 4,109 everyday spending + 37 from Chase shopping portal
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 15,513 = 523 everyday spending + 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Scott + 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Annie + 990 from Guest Opinion Rewards
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 1,100 = 1,100 from E-rewards redemption for Scott

June 2019 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 6,342 = 6,342 everyday spending
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 9,852 = 2,484 everyday spending + 2,000 from 2019 unlimited bonus + 5,190 from Guest Opinion Rewards + 178 Lyft rides
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 0 = 0

May 2019 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: -28,268 = 4,733 everyday spending – 1 Amazon purchase – 33,000 points redeemed
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 27,793 = 8,329 everyday spending + 2,634 from hotel stay (1 night) + 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Scott + 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Annie + 2,830 from Guest Opinion Rewards
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 0 = 0

April 2019 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 18,918 = 15,000 Chase Freedom Unlimited sign-up bonus + 4,425 everyday spending
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 5,521 = 4,046 everyday spending + 1,475 from Guest Opinion Rewards
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 2,200 = 1,100 from E-rewards redemption for Scott + 1,100 from E-rewards redemption for Annie

March 2019 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 4,554 = 4,554 everyday spending
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 17,960 = 2,740 everyday spending + 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Scott + 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Annie + 1,220 from Guest Opinion Rewards
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 0 = 0

February 2019 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 4,846 = 4,686 everyday spending + 160 from Chase shopping portal
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 8,983 = 7,728 everyday spending + 1,255 from Guest Opinion Rewards
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 0 = 0

January 2019 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 3,423 = 3,423 everyday spending
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 31,883 = 8,497 everyday spending + 6,826 from hotel stay (1 night) + 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Scott + 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Annie + 2,620 from Guest Opinion Rewards
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 1,187 = 1,100 from E-rewards redemption for Scott + 87 from car rental

December 2018 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 378 = 378 everyday spending
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 76,543 = 14,783 everyday spending + 40,000 Amex spending bonus + 10,000 points purchase + 10,000 points purchase bonus promotion + 1,760 from Guest Opinion Rewards
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 0

November 2018 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 510 = 510 everyday spending
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 6,764 = 6,409 everyday spending + 355 from Guest Opinion Rewards
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 1 = 1 from registration bonus

October 2018 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 4,137 = 4,137 everyday spending
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 31,043 = 13,827 everyday spending + 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Scott + 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Annie + 3,015 from Guest Opinion Rewards +  201 from dining rewards network
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 0

September 2018 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 27,427 = 15,000 Chase Freedom sign-up bonus + 12,427 everyday spending
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 13,567 = 10,052 everyday spending + 3,515 from Guest Opinion Rewards
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 0

August 2018 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 3,093 = 3,093 everyday spending
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 112,285 = 75,000 Hilton Card sign-up bonus + 13,947 everyday spending + 6,903 from hotel stay (1 night) + 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Scott + 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Annie + 2,435 from Guest Opinion Rewards
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 0

July 2018 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 57,934 = 55,748 transfer from Annie + 2,186 everyday spending
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 132,177 = 100,000 Aspire Card sign-up bonus + 19,059 everyday spending + 12,792 from hotel stay (1 night) + 213 from dining rewards network + 113 from Hilton shopping portal
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 0

June 2018 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 2,271 = 2,271 everyday spending
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 14,000 = 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Scott + 7,000 from E-rewards redemption for Annie
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 5 = 5 from registration bonus

May 2018 Details:

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards points gained: 71,348 = 50,000 CSP sign-up bonus + 5,000 authorized user bonus + 10,000 referral bonus + 6,348 everyday spending
  • Hilton Honors points gained: 1,310 = 310 from dining rewards network + 1,000 dining rewards network bonus for first dine
  • Hertz Gold Plus points gained: 0

Trip Report Index

  1. Introduction and Planning
  2. Using Points and Miles to get to Hawaii
  3. How a Flight Change Put 45,000 Miles Back in My United Account
  4. Postponing Hawaii Due to a Pandemic
  5. Flight from Chicago to Maui
  6. Grand Wailea Maui, A Waldorf Astoria Resort
  7. Activities in Maui
  8. Flight from Kahului to Honolulu
  9. Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort And Spa
  10. Activities in Honolulu
  11. Flight from Honolulu to Chicago