This year, Milla and I will not be preparing Thanksgiving dinner. Instead we will make reservations at some restaurant in Phoenix, a warm destination neither of us have ever seen. As a bonus, Harper plans to fly in from Santa Barbara to join us for a couple of nights. As a mama, I can report I am absolutely thrilled.
Last week, I made the decision to get plane tickets* and started poking around at the best water park resorts. It wasn’t long before I happened upon a place that had a nice balance of luxury and water slides. Since it is a Hilton property, I had a glance at my Hilton Honors points balance: 217,000. Not too shabby but not what I need for five nights (they give elite members one night free if you book four) at The Biltmore. That number is 320,000.
Since the financial goal of this vacation is to only pay for food, airport parking, and museum entry fees, I really had to think on my feet. It has been 90 days since I had applied for an Amex Delta card so I decided to apply for the Amex Hilton card. Thankfully, I was approved in seconds. The rules: I need to spend $1000 to receive 100,000 points. This is the equivalent of a night an a half of lodging.
So here’s the plan. I will spend the next month putting all possible bills (HOA, Xcel, State Farm (home and life insurance), dining out, groceries, clothing, miscellany) on this new card. By my budgetary calculations, that puts me at $1070. It’s a bit of a pain to go in and change the autopay, but not when you consider the upside.
By October 1st, my new Hilton points total will be 317,000.
By getting the Hilton Amex, I am already bumped up to gold status so the value of each dollar spent on the card increases to 8x, which means I earn 8 points for every $1 of eligible expenses I put on the card. So I’m going to hang with this card a little longer to get maximum points for this vacation.
As I mentioned, I need 320,000 points to get the five-for-four night deal so—by my calculations—if I make all my aforementioned payments for October on the Hilton Amex, I’ll be able to pay with points ($1070 x 8 points = 8560)
So you see why I will not be carving a bird this year. It’s simply too tempting to get out of Dodge when the cold weather hits and when we’ll all be craving a change of scenery…and temperature.
If you are interested not cooking Thanksgiving dinner, in Hilton Honors, or in applying for the no-fee Hilton Amex, please click on the highlighted portions of this text.
*The plane tickets were $0 as I have loads of travel certificates for agreeing to take a later flight. Lots of drama, but ultimately worth it.