Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel

How We've Earned 1 MILLION POINTS Already in 2024 (Without spending $1 Million Dollars)

• Raya & Duane

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Thanks for finding our podcast! We are a family of 5 who does most of our travel using credit card points and miles and we share how we leverage credit card offers to earn a ton of points/miles so we can afford travel as a larger family.

Follow us on Instagram @TravelPartyof5

Link: The Travel Freely app we use to keep track of all our cards (IT'S COMPLETELY FREE!)

Best Cards - September 2024 (incl the Hilton and IHG cards we reference in this episode!)

In this episode, we dive deep into how we earned over 1 million points in just nine months without spending anywhere near 1 million dollars. If you’ve ever wondered how to earn points for travel while sticking to your regular budget, this episode is for you. 

We’ll walk you through the exact cards we opened to earn over 1 million points. We believe that knowing how to earn points for travel doesn’t need to be complicated, and with our straightforward advice, you’ll be on your way to your next vacation in no time.

One of the key takeaways is that earning 1 million points is achievable, even without massive spending. We emphasize the importance of opening the right cards at the right time and how to align your points strategy with your travel goals. If you’ve been thinking about a trip to Hawaii, for example, we’ll show you how to earn points for travel that can make those dreams a reality. We discuss how having a specific trip in mind helps you focus your efforts on earning the points you need for flights, hotels, and more.

This episode also covers how we keep track of the cards we open, and how using tools like Travel Freely makes the process easier. It’s not just about earning 1 million points — it’s about doing it in a way that fits into your everyday life.

We’ll also share tips for planning future trips. For example, we’ve got our eyes on Japan and Yellowstone, and we’re already thinking ahead to earning points for 2026. Planning early and focusing on cards that offer free nights and perks can make a huge difference, especially for family travel. By sharing our experiences, we hope to show you how to earn points for travel in a way that works for you, too.

If you're new to earning points and miles, this episode is packed with information on how to start, and if you're already on the journey, you’ll pick up some new strategies for growing your points stash. With a calm, straightforward approach, we break down everything you need to know without any overwhelming jargon.

Listen in to discover how we earned over 1 million points and how you can apply these tips to your own travel plans. Whether you’re a family of five or just starting your points journey, there’s something here for everyone.

Find us on Instagram at @TravelPartyofFive for more tips, and don’t forget to leave a review if you enjoy the podcast. Thanks for listening!

Speaker 1:

In today's episode, we are sharing exactly how we've earned over 1 million points in the last nine months without spending anywhere close to a million dollars. Hi, I'm Rhea.

Speaker 2:

And I'm Dwayne.

Speaker 1:

And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five podcast, where we share how we travel as a family of five around the world.

Speaker 2:

We will also share how we use points and miles to travel as affordably as possible and sometimes even completely free.

Speaker 1:

So if you're wanting to travel more with your family but you not sure how, we'd love for you to listen in so welcome to our podcast, where we hope you learn a thing or two to get you closer to your next trip.

Speaker 2:

Hello, welcome back, hi friends. Hello, so glad to catch you here.

Speaker 1:

Hello, welcome back, hi friends.

Speaker 2:

Hello, so glad to catch you here.

Speaker 1:

Stop it.

Speaker 2:

This is going to be a quick and short and sweet episode A quick and Quick and.

Speaker 1:

So when this episode airs, we will be enjoying our time in Kauai.

Speaker 2:

Hopefully yes hopefully.

Speaker 1:

I mean but I don't bring that bad juju around me. I just realized that we have now officially earned over a million points so far this year alone, and so I thought we would briefly share, like, what cards we've opened so far and talk a little bit about what cards are on our radar to open next, because for a Points and Miles podcast, we don't actually spend a ton of time talking about specific cards, and so I thought that could be like really helpful actually, and my hope is that, by sharing the cards that we've opened and explaining our thought process, it'll help you to start thinking about trips you could take and show you like one way to approach this hobby, because I think like one of the hardest things about doing points and miles is knowing how to redeem the points, and I think if you go into it with a plan for redeeming them, it just makes it so much easier, you know.

Speaker 2:

Yes, always got to have a plan.

Speaker 1:

Well, some people will say, oh, just earn all the flexible points you can and then you can decide how to use them and like, yes, that's fine and good and works for some people, but I think it can also be super overwhelming and lead to people hoarding their points and never using them, which, as a side note, is bad, because your points lose value over time and that's why we earn them and burn them.

Speaker 2:

I had a co-worker ask me how we keep track of you know, what we spend and the points we get.

Speaker 1:

And I told him we just do one card at a time yes, and we use the Travel Freely app too, which I can link in the show notes, because it's, in my opinion, the best app out there to keep track of all your cards.

Speaker 2:

I love it.

Speaker 1:

It's super. Dwayne's never opened it, not one time in his life.

Speaker 2:

I love it though.

Speaker 1:

It's super easy, though, and it allows me to see both my name and your name, and then I can look at personal cards or business cards or both for each of us, and so it's fantastic. I will link it in the show notes, because if you are doing points and miles, you should have this app and if you don't, you should get it.

Speaker 2:

Sorry, does it alert you when we spend on it?

Speaker 1:

it doesn't alert me when we spend, but it alerts me when an annual fee is coming up. It alerts me when a bonus deadline is coming up. If I haven't gone in and marked that, we've, like, reached it already, that's very helpful.

Speaker 1:

Super helpful. Yeah, yep, okay.

Speaker 1:

So going back to what I was saying is, basically, I just think that the better way to do this, when you're starting out, is to have a specific trip in mind, and then that's your starting point. So, for example, if you wanted to go to like Hawaii, first you would pick an island, then you'd search how to fly there from wherever you live, and if it were me, I would be looking for direct flights. And then, once you know what major airlines fly there directly, you can start to figure out how to earn points to book flights on those airlines. And then, same for hotels. You would look up, like, where you want to stay on whatever island you've chosen, and then figure out how to earn points to stay at that hotel. As a side note, a tip here that a website that I like to use to look for points options in a certain area is called Aways, so Aways, a-w-a-y-z, and basically you can just type in where you want to go and it will show you what points options are available to you during your dates in that area.

Speaker 2:

Another app I love.

Speaker 1:

Bless your heart and soul. Okay, so let's talk about. I'm going to go quickly through the cards that we have opened so far this year. I'll start with all the cards Dwayne opened. He put his blood, sweat and tears into all these applications.

Speaker 2:

It's tough, but someone's got to do it.

Speaker 1:

Basically, that means he opened up his email and saw you've been approved for a credit card. Okay, so those cards are in order. The Chase Inc. Business Unlimited. The Chase Inc. Business Preferred. The City Advantage Business World Elite MasterCard. And. The Barclays Advantage Aviator Red World Elite MasterCard man. Why do they name these cards like such long names?

Speaker 2:

I didn't even catch the last one.

Speaker 1:

It's a Barclays Advantage card Basically the City Advantage and the Barclays Advantage card Basically the City Advantage and the Barclays Advantage were purposely to earn American Airlines miles for our flights to Japan on Japan Airlines.

Speaker 2:

I don't even know if I've seen that card. Do I have that card?

Speaker 1:

Probably not, it's probably on my desk.

Speaker 1:

And then the Chase United Business card was the most recent card that you've opened, and that was when I opened for you in a panic, when I thought we were going to go to Yellowstone next summer and I was like, oh my gosh, we need to book flights and we don't have points to book these flights.

Speaker 1:

And so I, panic, opened this for you, and now we're not going to go to Yellowstone until 2026, I think so it's fine, we'll just keep those points for something else or use them when we go. And then, so that's like I I think those are all know, some of those are personal. Yeah, so that's a mix of business and personal. And then for me, in order, starting like beginning of the year, I've opened an Amex business gold, a Chase Inc business cash, a Chase Inc business preferred and an Amex business platinum, platinum card. So between those, what nine cards I think we have earned? Let me give you the grand total one million forty five thousand points, and it's a lot of points it's worth noting that that doesn't even factor in our referral points.

Speaker 1:

So, like every time we open a chase Inc, either you referred me or I referred you, which at the time was another 40,000 points each card, so it's really well over a million. Sadly, the referral is now down to 20,000 points per referral, but it is super doable to earn millions of points without opening or, I'm sorry, without spending millions of dollars, and I think that's like a misconception people have.

Speaker 2:

But you do have to spend some money. I mean it's not, I mean you do yeah you do, but I mean our.

Speaker 1:

our goal is to not spend more than we would normally spend.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

It's just instead of using our debit card, we're using credit cards and we're changing the card we use every time.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so let's kind of talk about maybe some cards that are coming next. At this point, we have all the points that we need to book our 2025 travel. So I would say the majority of the cards that we've opened thus far this year were points used for next year, and so the only thing that we really have left is to book our Japan flights. But we have the points. I just can't book them yet because the availability is not open yet. As a side note, I am going to do an episode on how we booked our Japan trip. I just want it to be fully booked before I do that, and so we're and we're still like a few weeks out from being able to do that. Um, the only thing we don't have booked for 2025 is a trip for just the two of us, and I am not sure when or where that will be.

Speaker 2:

I wouldn't be mad if we went back to the Grand Cayman.

Speaker 1:

I mean, I know, but we're probably not going to need more points beyond that. So I'm thinking about 2026 travel. So like, where do we want to go and what cards will help us get there? And I know that probably sounds insane to some people because it's still 2024. But, similar to the way that you would save up money to book a trip, we need to save up the points, especially because there's five of us going on the majority of these trips. So we have to earn the points and that just takes time.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I do know at the end of next year we'll be going for two Southwest Companion passes, and so I'm going to aim to do that with business cards as much as I can. But we do have to be aware of our 524 status, just in case we need to open up a personal card as well. And as a reminder, the 524 rule is a chase rule that basically states that they will not approve you for any credit cards if you have opened up five or more credit cards in the last 24 months. Personal, personal credit cards yes, thank you. So currently I am 424 and Dwayne is 324. And I am opening up a personal Hyatt card in the next month or two. That's like our plan to get globalist, or that's part of our plan to get globalist status with Hyatt. So I will be at 524 for a couple months, but then we'll drop back down to 424 in December. And, yeah, duane is 324.

Speaker 1:

And so, as far as next cards go, hilton is high on my radar. So two weeks ago we did an episode on where to stay in Phoenix on points, and one of the hotels that we talked about was the Waldorf Astoria Arizona Biltmore Hotel, which is like a historic hotel here in Phoenix. Since we did that episode, I have actually stayed at that property because I had a work conference there and it lived up to the hype Like it was a beautiful property, a beautiful room. To the hype, like it was a beautiful property, a beautiful room, incredible service. And, as a side note, when we were waiting to go to dinner one night, green Day pulled up and was staying there Green Day, okay. So if it's good enough for Green Day, it's good enough for me.

Speaker 1:

So let's talk about Hilton cards. Hilton also has, like beyond that property, hilton has a ton of properties that are on my bucket list, including one that could be our trip for next year, which is the Hilton um, the Waldorf Astoria, los Cabos, pedregal, I think it's what it's called. So it's basically a Waldorf Astoria in Cabo. Cabo is is not a far flight for us, and if we could get like three or four nights there, like, sign me up. One trip that we're potentially thinking about for 2026 is Belize.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

Or and Honduras.

Speaker 1:

Yes, so I need to I was just going to say.

Speaker 2:

We've heard good things about them. I mean those places, they wouldn't have been on my list if I, if I didn't hear those things.

Speaker 1:

To be honest with you, yeah, yeah, like one, maybe, if I don't know, maybe a few months ago, six months ago, we heard about honduras from like three different people yeah, within weird.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it was really weird so I need to do more research to see if it's feasible to do both belize and honduras at the same time. I mean, I'm sure it is feasible, but everything that I've found thus far is from people who were there on a cruise and did each of those as like a cruise stop, and that's not how we would want to do it. So I need to look into that more. But I used that Away's website and so I know that in Belize there is both a Marriott and a Hilton that look incredible, like stunning, and I also know that in Roatan, which is where we would likely stay in Honduras, there is a Kempton which is IHG. That I've also heard great things about.

Speaker 1:

What I need to figure out is can we travel from Belize to Honduras or vice versa and like how does that work? That's what I need to understand. So, based on that, I think that Duane's next card is likely going to be a Hilton card, specifically the Hilton Honors, american Express Aspire card. So it's a personal card, which is why Duane would open first and not me. You get a free night upon opening the card card, plus one every year on your card anniversary, and then a second free night if you spend 30K on the card, which I don't know if we would do that second part.

Speaker 2:

but that's a lot.

Speaker 1:

That's a lot, but this is likely a card that I would also open once I'm under 524. And then we would each have two, like we would each have a free night. So that would give us two free nights plus whatever the current signup bonus is, which 150, 175,000 points maybe each, so like, let's say it's 150. So then we would have 300,000 Hilton points plus two free night certificates, and so I think that could probably get us six nights somewhere.

Speaker 1:

But I mean at least four. Well, we would need to. If we use it in belize, we would need two rooms for the five of us. So it would. We would probably give us three nights there. Between all that, um, and the cards also give us diamond status, which is Hilton's highest level of status, and gives free breakfast. So that would also be a big money saver.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

We will probably also do a Chase Inc business unlimited, because there is an elevated offer right now on that for 90,000 points with $6,000 in spend and we are just consistently opening up Hyatt cards. So that would be. That's probably another one in the near future. And then the other card that I think will open is going to be another IHG card, partly in prep for a Yellowstone trip summer of 2026. There's a Holiday Inn I think we'll stay at, but also in case we go to Honduras and we stay at the Kempton Roton. So here's the thing that I've kind of come to realize about these hotel branded cards specifically Is the ones that offer a free night certificate every year are super valuable, but it takes time to build those up and we've only been doing this like hobby, seriously for about two-ish years, maybe a little longer.

Speaker 2:

Yes, very new to the game.

Speaker 1:

And so I really and I really wasn't focused on those cards before. So now my plan for like the next year or two is just to consistently open these hotel branded cards that offer free nights, focusing on again Hilton and Marriott and then maybe IHG, because especially with Hilton and Marriott, those free nights can be super valuable, like you can use a Marriott free night cert to stay at like a Ritz Carlton. If it's the right cert. They have different ones. So I think that's going to be our focus for now is getting more hotel branded cards so that we've built up. You know, hey, this year we'll have a total of four free nights we can use at a hilton. You know, just from holding the cards, like that's my goal, if we can get there. Just going to take some time, yep. So if you're newer to the hobby, I would think about that in your strategy, as you're, you know, starting to open cards yeah um, okay, if you have any questions, find us on instagram at travel party of five.

Speaker 2:

Hope that this was a little bit helpful yes, if not, reach out to us, and by us I mean rio if you hated it, let me know.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, um, we are always really grateful for reviews on the podcast. It helps more people find us. It helps it be more visible and recommended to more people. So if you do enjoy the podcast and you haven't done so already, we would so appreciate a rating or review. And I think our next episode is going to be part one of our Kauai trip. So super excited and that's what you can look forward to next week.

Speaker 2:

Yes, thank you guys for listening.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, we appreciate you so much. We'll talk to you soon.

Speaker 2:

Have a good one.

Speaker 1:

Bye you.