When traveling, my top priority is usually experiencing luxury for less. Back in my younger days ( cough cough.... pre-pandemic) the hotel room wasn't the most important aspect of the trip; Afterall, the room was only for sleeping. I had standards. I wouldn't stay in a 1 star sketchy motel but I never really focused on the hotel as a part of the experience, only a necessary component of a vacation - cause who really wants to be homeless while on vacation. As I am getting older, I find that I am enjoying more of a balanced vacation - finding balance between relaxation and action. I'm starting to see a good resort as a destination and I've recently really started to crave luxury. I think one the good things about the pandemic is that it taught me how to slow down but it opened the door to seeing luxury resorts as the destination for sure.
Somewhere along the line, I've complied a list of luxury resorts to go be bougie at and first on the list was the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach in California. I selected the resort for me and a friend to celebrate our birthdays "Mom-Cation Style". Paying thousands of dollars to stay at a resort is a foreign concept to me so I turned to an old bag of tricks, travel hacking to make our stay possible.
I stopped blogging about travel hacking years ago but I never stopped travel hacking; in fact, I've learned a few new tricks... I've gotten in a groove focusing more on bigger vacations than smaller redemptions. One of the tricks I've learned over the years is how to buy points to save big on hotel stays. That's right; travel hacking without credit cards and points earning - it's opened up a whole new level of travel hacking.
Using this method of buying points, I was able to stay at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach for 70% off! yes, you read that right. I saved a whopping $1214.88 on our hotel stay. Let me show you how.
One night in a typical room runs $814 plus taxes and fees. Two nights totaled $1934.88. Wow! Y'all know I'm not paying that right..... Keep reading to find out what I did pay and to learn the rules for this helpful trick!
Rule #1: Always change the payment type to points to see what the points redemptions are on the room. This is not the first time I've done this but this is one of my biggest savings so when I saw the nightly rate, first thing I did was check out the points value. I want to point out that the room type changed when I changed the payment type. Losing a partial ocean view was a small exchange for the savings I accomplished. Two nights will cost 40,000 points at this resort.
Rule #2: Check the value of points. Hotel chains often run sales where they give you a percentage off of your purchased points. At this particular time, Hyatt was running a promotion similar to this. This increased the value of points making redemptions of this magnitude possible. At the time of booking, the 40,000 points needed to book two nights only costs $720. You can see, even without the promotion paying $960 for 40,000 points would have still netted a huge savings off the $1934.88 cash price.
Rule #3: When it costs less to buy points than it costs to book with cash, always buy the points! A lot of times, paying with points saves on extra fees like resort fees as well. You won't earn points on a points redemptions stay but you will still earn towards status at major hotel brands.
Just like that Voila! I saved $1214.88 or 70% with this method. Of course all this is subject to dates, pricing, sales etc... but I buy points 40% of the time while I earn and save towards a big redemption. It is the most useful and easiest travel hacking tool I have. And to think, this was a trip with a friend so I only had to pay half of the $720. A luxury hotel stay for $360, I count that as a win!!
The Resort: Definitely worth the $1934 they are charging for two nights but why pay that when you can grab a friend, be strategic and pay $360.00! This experience was truly a steal! I highly recommend this resort to anyone looking for a relaxing beach front resort. Service was stellar; they remembered our name in the main restaurant, Water Table, and the resort was situated perfect to enjoy the beach and nearby Pacific City. I also cannot fail to mention the amazing spa where I had the BEST massage I've ever had. Click the link to check out the highlights of this trip on Tik Tok.
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