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Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel
Let us pull back the curtain and show you how you can maximize money you're already spending to earn enough credit card points and miles to travel with your family for nearly free.
We've used credit card points and miles to take our family of 5 on trips to places like Costa Rica, San Diego, Disneyland, Oceanside, NYC, Washington DC, Hawaii, and next year we have already booked Paris, Spain and Japan!
Using credit card points and miles (often called travel hacking) doesn't have to be overwhelming or take a ton of time, and we can show you how.
Can you earn a lot of points and miles without opening up multiple credit cards? Only if you have a really high amount of spend each month. For people with larger families, opening new cards is the easiest and fastest way to earn enough points and miles to take a couple of really low cost (but not low budget) family vacations every year!
If you want to learn ways to help you and your family travel more affordably using credit card points, this show is for you.
Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel
Andaz San Diego: Our first Globalist Stay!
In this episode, we’re diving into our recent stay at the Andaz San Diego. If you’ve been eyeing this Hyatt property or planning a trip to San Diego, we’ve got you covered.
We’ll tell you everything about our experience at the Andaz San Diego, from the upgraded suite we got with our Globalist status to the rooftop pool and prime location in the Gaslamp Quarter. While this is a great spot for couples or adults, we’ll share why we wouldn’t bring our kids here and what makes it such a fun destination for a weekend getaway.
We also talk about how we used Hyatt points to book the stay, why we chose this hotel over others, and the perks we took advantage of—like a free $107 breakfast and late checkout. On top of that, we’ll share how we saved points by choosing this property over a more expensive option and even used our Southwest Companion Pass for flights.
One of the highlights of our trip was dinner at Wolf in the Woods, one of San Diego’s best restaurants, where Duane's high school friend is the head chef. We’ll share what we ordered, our favorite dishes, and why this meal alone was worth the trip.
In this episode, we also give updates on our points and miles strategies—like why I’m stuck in Amex pop-up jail and how we’re diving into Hilton points for future trips. If you’re interested in maximizing your travel rewards or want to learn more about staying at the Andaz San Diego, this episode is for you.
We’d love for you to leave a review and email us a screenshot at travelpartyof5@gmail.com to enter our $50 gift card giveaway. Your support means so much, and it helps others find the podcast too.
So, if you’re curious about the Andaz San Diego, need tips for using points and miles, or just love travel stories, tune in! We’re excited to share all the details and hope it inspires your next adventure.
In today's episode we will be sharing all the details of our recent weekend trip to the Andaz in San Diego, so if that hotel or area has been on your list, this episode is for you. Listen in Hi, I'm Raya.
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're not sure how, we'd love for you to listen in.
Speaker 2:So welcome to our podcast, where we hope you learn a thing or two to get you closer to your next trip.
Speaker 1:Hi friends, welcome back to Travel Party of Five podcast.
Speaker 2:Welcome back. Thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 1:So we are going to be mainly talking about the Andaz in San Diego today. We stayed there last weekend for one night, but before we do that, a couple of things I wanted to chat about. So first of all, we've been denied for a couple of cards recently and I thought we could talk about that and also talk about what cards we opened instead.
Speaker 2:Basically, We've been denied or you've been denied.
Speaker 1:Well, we have been denied, but I am the one doing all the applying. So, first of all, we are I don't know if we talked about this on a previous episode, but we've been attempting to dive into the Hilton card atmosphere, if you will, because there are a lot of really luxurious Hilton properties that we want to stay at and we think that our annual kind of couples getaway is a really good use for those points at certain Hilton's around the world. And so, excuse me, and so Dwayne Dwayne and air quotes applied for the Amex Hilton aspire card maybe a month ago or so and was approved, and so we're currently working on the minimum spend for that card. I think we have maybe $1,000 left and it's a $6,000 minimum spend, so we're getting pretty close. That card does have a $550 annual fee, but it comes with a free night at any Hilton in the world each year and you get it the first year you open the card. So let's see, we you opened the card. Actually it was opened on september 22nd, so it's been a little over two months actually, and we just got the free night. As a data point, we just got it like yesterday. So it did take around maybe nine weeks to from card opening.
Speaker 1:To get the free night, you don't have to meet the minimum spend to get the free night, you just get the free night. You don't have to meet the minimum spend to get the free night, you just get the free night for having the card. There is also a point, a signup bonus, and I believe the signup bonus is 175,000 Hilton points, which sounds like a lot but realistically. Realistically that's maybe three nights at an average Hilton or like one and a half at a fancy Hilton. So it's not a ton for Hilton. What's the annual fee for this card? It's $550. So it's the highest annual fee Hilton card you can have. But again, that free night that you get every year is super valuable. There's also you also get a bunch of Hilton um resort credits like $400 worth um for the year. So it's $200 in the first half of the year and $200 in the second half.
Speaker 2:Um, and there's a bunch of other um perks too, and does this card give me a certain Hilton?
Speaker 1:status it does. It gives you diamond status, which is the highest one. So, like if we were to go to a Hilton, I would book it in your name because you have the higher status than I do, and we would get free breakfast with I'm going to say free breakfast breakfast loosely, I think it's like a continental breakfast, but we would get that with your status. And we have a whole episode about hilton statuses. Um, if you scroll back, maybe six months. So if you're curious, um, so duane got that card and the intention was for me to also get that card. Okay, I went to apply a week or so ago.
Speaker 2:For you to get, for me to get the referral bonus right.
Speaker 1:Yes, I had Dwayne refer me to this card. However, when I went to apply, I got the dreaded Amex pop-up, which basically says you can apply for this card but you're not eligible to earn the bonus, and so at that point you can choose to like not proceed with your application, which is what I did, because I don't want the card without the bonus. The weird thing is, I tried like several different offers. I tried a public offer instead of using Dwayne's referral, and it all gave me the same thing. So what this is called Amex pop-up jail, and essentially what it means is American Express has decided you are not a like profitable customer for them.
Speaker 2:And let me just add Amex pop-up jails nothing like real jail, oh my God.
Speaker 1:Well, you would know, I have no idea. But so like there's a lot of theories as to how to get out of pop-up jail and the main theory is to spend on your existing Amex cards. But the weird thing is I am in pop-up jail for Amex personal cards, except I don't have any personal cards with American Express. So I don't know how to get out of it because I don't have any personal cards that I can spend on. And I also don't know why I would be in Amex pop-up jail because I don't think I've ever had an American Express personal card. I have an Amex business gold and an Amex business platinum and I those are both business.
Speaker 1:And then, after I got the pop up for like three different personal Amex cards, I applied for the Hilton business card, which is also an Amex, and I got approved, which led me to my conclusion that I am only in pop-up jail for the personal cards. But again, I don't know why or how to get out of it because I don't have a personal card I can spend on. So I think we just have to wait time, time maybe. Um, so that's a little frustrating though, because that kind of really ruined my my plan A for our couples trip next year, which was to each have a free night to be able to use Plus Points. Go ahead.
Speaker 2:I was going to say and thank you for tuning in to the Ondas episode. Hopefully this was helpful to you.
Speaker 1:I don't think you need to be that close to the microphone because look at the audio. Wow, we're going to talk about the Ondials, but we have a few things. This is our card update segment. Remember Card updates, because I think this is helpful for people to think like, or to hear how we're thinking about the strategy, so that you know they can also think through their strategy for whatever their travel goals are. We have all of our trips booked for next year, except for our couples trip, and so that is what I'm thinking about right now.
Speaker 2:Anyways, I personally would love to go to the Ritz in the Cayman.
Speaker 1:Islands oh, that's not on our list, it's not on our travel plans. The Ritz we haven't talked about that. That's a Marriott.
Speaker 2:Oh, I thought that was a Hilton. No, oh, never mind, we're not going there. Oh, I thought that was Hilton. No, oh, never mind.
Speaker 1:We're not going there, okay. So Dwayne also got denied for a card, and his was a Chase Inc business card. The reason for denial, I think, was basically too many cards opened, which is correct. We've opened quite a few inks, and so we could have called and asked them to reconsider, but I just decided it made more sense to just let it, let the application expire, and I will probably try for one more chase ink before the year is over. That will put us both at one or at both at seven cards for the year, which I think is plenty. So we'll see if I can get approved.
Speaker 1:I just dropped down to 424, literally today, today's December 1st, that we're recording this. This will air tomorrow, december 2nd, and as of today I am 424. So I'm probably going to give it a week or two and then apply for one more chasing to wrap out the year. However, if you do get denied for a chase card, you can do what's called a recon call, where you can call chase and basically ask them to reconsider your application. Sometimes they'll ask you some questions. If it's a business card, they're going to ask you about your business. If it's a personal card, they're just likely going to ask you about maybe some questionable things that they've seen on your credit report, and then you'll either be approved or denied. After the fact, we did that once for a Southwest card for Duane and it was pretty easy right.
Speaker 2:Super easy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so anyways, that is our card updates. So once we finish out the minimum spend on Dwayne's Aspire card, we're going to be working on the minimum spend for my Hilton business card, which also has an elevated offer and will earn me 175,000 points, which is good. That elevated offer, I believe, goes through January 8th. So if you are thinking of getting into the Hilton atmosphere, I would recommend applying for one of those cards now, because I believe they're all elevated until January 8. The bummer is that that business card doesn't come with a free night anymore, and it used to, so, oh well, okay.
Speaker 1:Second item, before we get into the on DAWs is we are doing another $50 gift card giveaway raffle, and the way to enter is super easy. You can simply go to either iTunes or Spotify or wherever you listen, leave us a review and then email us a screenshot of that review to enter. Our email is travel party of five at gmailcom. It is the number five. So t r a v e l p a r t y o f the number five at gmailcom, and we will decide a winner in three weeks, right before Christmas, and we will send you a gift card of your choice. Last time the winner, I think it was like a Fandango type gift card that they wanted, and so that's what we did. We greatly, greatly appreciate all of you who listen, and the more reviews our podcast has, the more listeners and more often we pop up up in search results. So the reviews are super, super important and we really, really appreciate yes, we appreciate that for sure.
Speaker 2:So shout out to who was it that one last time? Jeff you maybe? Yes?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, he was really, really nice, his like. He sent some really helpful emails too, which was great. Um, so, yeah, leave us a review, email us a screenshot and you'll be entered to win. It's super easy and, if I had to guess, your chances are probably pretty good.
Speaker 2:So, um, okay, let's talk about the on dolls make sure you let them know they you only send out legal gift cards, not illegal ones dwayne's making fun of me, because last time I said I will buy you a gift card to wherever you want, as long as it's legal.
Speaker 1:That still remains true.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Okay, Okay, let's talk about the Ondas. So we were originally. Do you want to talk about what our original plan was for this quick weekend trip?
Speaker 2:We were going to stay at the Ondas in Scottsdale, arizona. We were going to stay at the Ondas in Scottsdale Arizona, but we decided to. Well, you decided to book a night in the Ondas, san Diego, which I think is a better idea. We did this because you recently hit globalist status, which we'll talk about in the next episode. Yeah, yeah. So we went to San Diego. We flew one Saturday morning around 11 ish, got there around 11 ish, lifted to the hotel which is in downtown San Diego. Was it in the gas lab? Yes, sir, yeah. So, yeah, a very happening part of downtown San Diego. I love San Diego. I don't know if I've said that before.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we really wanted to try out the globalist status and we were originally going to stay at the Ondas in Scottsdale, like Dwayne said. However, the stay there was like 25,000 points a night or something, and this one was only 17,000 points a night. Yeah, so we saved 8,000 points. Actually, what we did was we used those 8,000 points towards the flight, because I use points to book our flight on Southwest. We dusted off our companion pass for one last hoorah before it expires at the end of the year, and so Dwayne flew as my companion on Southwest. It's such a short flight 45 minutes, I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, once you're up in there, you're, you're landing.
Speaker 1:They didn't even do drink service on one of the flights, because, yeah they didn't do anything yeah, so um the hotel, let's talk about the hotel itself yeah, hotel, like I said, downtown san diego.
Speaker 2:Um walked in. It was cool. They had some cool paintings on the wall. Lobby was pretty small. I feel like all downtown boutique hotels like that are fairly.
Speaker 1:Well, the Ondas is also like it's like a pretty kitschy brand, so it's like more like artsy, modern type art and stuff. Yeah, so Lobby is pretty cool. This was the first Ondas we've stayed at, actually, so I did check that off of my brand explorer hyatt thing yeah, so we get there, we check in he um he did upgrade us, yeah, he indicated that we were globalist yeah and thanked us for that, then upgraded us to a king bed suite I think it was called yeah um which they didn't have any suites um overlooking the city.
Speaker 2:So we got a suite that just overlooked the what?
Speaker 1:it basically overlooked other rooms, like you couldn't even call it a courtyard, and at first I was kind of like, oh, that kind of stinks. But then I realized, like they even give you earplugs in the room because there there's a little note that says the gas lamp never sleeps, and so my understanding is it's fairly loud. But because we had an interior room that didn't face the street, we didn't hear any noise at all and I didn't even have to use the earplugs, and I I'm a really light sleeper, like I would have used the earplugs if it had been loud. So it was kind of bummer that there was no view, but we got a good night's sleep.
Speaker 1:So yeah part of the other reason that I wanted to go to San Diego was Dwayane's really good friend from high school in Japan is now the head chef at one of the best restaurants in San Diego. Like was voted best restaurant, I think 2023 and 2024.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's only been open since 2021.
Speaker 1:It's only been open like I think two or three years, yeah, and so we ate there over the summer with the kids and it's like a fine dining restaurant. I we've talked about it before on an episode. Um, I would say like it's not great to bring your kids, but we did just for that one time, um, and I really wanted to go back there, so that was kind of the other reason for the trip to San Diego versus staying here in Scottsdale. So we didn't eat at the hotel other than breakfast the next day. But we did get free breakfast at the hotel with globalist status, the breakfast for the two of us. Let me just I took a picture of the receipt. It was $107 and that was two meals and some coffees, basically two coffees, that's it like specialty coffees, like a cappuccino.
Speaker 1:It was that much yes, and I mean that included the tip.
Speaker 2:But yes, 107 dollars oh yeah, and which they take care of.
Speaker 1:The tip for you as well yes, they comp the whole breakfast, including including tip, which is great.
Speaker 2:So now that I think about it, we should just tip super fat next time.
Speaker 1:I think it was included. It was included. They included it like 18%. Yeah, so the other couple things to note about the hotel and then we can maybe talk about the restaurant we went to a little bit. The hotel has a rooftop pool, which is really nice and like a whole rooftop bar area.
Speaker 2:It's nice, but the pool is very small. There was no hot tub or jacuzzi. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And not a ton of seating around the pool either. I was going to say there's probably.
Speaker 2:Well, they had. There's what, two cabanas that I'm sure you can rent, which came with like four seats, but then, other than that, there was maybe 15 to 20 more I wouldn't bring my kids here and, in short, I would not bring my kids to this hotel.
Speaker 1:This is a an adult hotel, in my opinion. Um, they have a really small fitness center. Uh, the rooftop is really nice. We were there both for breakfast and at night.
Speaker 2:Great views of the city.
Speaker 1:Yes, very nice views of the city. It wasn't crowded. We were there the weekend before Thanksgiving so that could have played into it, but it was not crowded at all. I think when we were eating breakfast there was maybe three other tables.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And same thing. We went up to the bar to have a drink after we finished dinner and there was also only maybe five other people up there.
Speaker 2:I mean, mind you, it was what 8.30 maybe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it wasn't very late it wasn't very late so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's the Ondas. I think again we would stay there if it were just us again. I did appreciate that we didn't really need a car. It's maybe 10 minutes from the airport and then where we wanted to go, the restaurant which is in Mission Hills, was another 10 minute lift, so you didn't need a car. If we had had a car we could have parked for free, because that's another globalist perk on awards days. But we didn't want to bother renting a car and we definitely didn't need one. We were able to walk around the gas lamp. We had lunch at some little Cuban restaurant which was decent. I think it was called Havana 1920 or something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And we stumbled across a little like farmer's market street fair type thing, yeah, that we wandered through and so lots of energy in the gas lamp and while sitting on the patio of this restaurant, I saw oh yeah, my tattoos tattoo artist's wife walking down the street.
Speaker 2:Mind you, she's a tattoo artist wasn't maui, but now is located on the big island, hawaii. So yeah, I mean, if you've listened to the podcast before, I tend to run into random people that I know and this trip there's no exception yeah, happened again we were just sitting there and he's like oh wait, that's so-and-so's wife, hold on.
Speaker 1:And I was like oh, here we go again. Happens every time, so strange.
Speaker 2:So anyways, um oh well, mind you, let me, or let me just talk about the room again. So if we were to go back with the kids, the room was plenty of big. Oh, the suite, yeah, plenty big to for us for all five of us to stay.
Speaker 1:Yes, there was a pullout, so it was a king bed you know, yeah, separated by what?
Speaker 1:a half wall it was a half wall, yeah and then there's two tvs, cows that pulled out into a bed oh, you know, the other thing we did is we got late checkout. So we flew in around 11 or 12 is when our flight landed on Saturday and our flight didn't leave until maybe three or four on Sunday, and so we requested a late checkout and we got a checkout until two, which is another globalist perk. I think you can get until four if they have availability. We only needed until two and we basically had breakfast at the hotel, went for a little walk around, stopped at a bakery and then went back to the hotel and watched football for a couple hours before we went to the airport. So the late checkout came in really handy so that we didn't have to feel rushed, and that was great.
Speaker 2:And we checked in early. I don't know if that is a globalist thing?
Speaker 1:It's not.
Speaker 2:It's just availability.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so all in all, great stay. Would stay there again if it were just us. I'm excited for the next year and the suite upgrades that we will use, because I think it's really going to give us more room when we do travel with the kids. So, yep, I would definitely consider the andaz if you are heading to san diego yes, prime location yep, um, let's talk about the restaurant wolf in the woods wolf in the woods.
Speaker 2:Such a great restaurant. It it is fine dining, but it's like what is it?
Speaker 1:tapas it's tapas, so it's a bunch of small yes, so they basically recommend that you get a few, and then you can always order more, and that's what we have done both times. My favorite thing on the menu is the appetizer. It's the smoked French trout roe, like this dip of a mascarpone cheese, red onion, shaved boiled egg and capers that you mix all together and then it comes with these little toasts and you put some of that mixture on the toast and then you top it with the smoked French trout roe and then they have little pickles that you can also eat it with, and that with a ice cold glass of white wine, like a Sancerre or something like that or a Sauv Blanc, is just so good.
Speaker 2:I'm looking at mine, what was my favorite? It's the seared prime beef tataki. Yeah, that's what it was. It's just seared meat where it's raw in the middle, served chilled and, like this, sauce and onions.
Speaker 1:The sauce was like a sesame soy saucy type. So good Shout out to.
Speaker 2:Chef.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Doing big things out there.
Speaker 1:They also had this. Everything was just so good. They had this really good dessert that was like panna cotta yes, it was a panna cotta that had like like cherry sweetened cherries and I mean it tasted like a thanksgiving dessert. I'm looking up the menu so I can tell you vanilla bean, panna cotta, sugar to dark cherry, orange zest, bizcochito cookie crumble and pistachio dust. It was 10 out of 10. Highly recommend. Also the sweet corn soup. You should get 10 out of 10.
Speaker 1:What else did we like? Oh, last time you, our kids, had the burgers when they went last time 10 out of 10. They really liked those. Our oldest asked for a second one time. 10 out of 10. They really liked those. Our oldest asked for a second one. You liked the carne adobada, which is the braised pork shoulder in a red hatch chili sauce.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and if you do decide to check out wolf in the woods, make sure you make a reservation at least a week out, because we tried to make a reservation and they were full, so I had to reach out to to my friend and see both times we've had to do that because we didn't prepare us in there yeah, so if you don't have the hookup, so we appreciate that oh, yes, greatly.
Speaker 1:If you don't have the hookup you need to make, I would say two weeks in advance is probably safe. So they have heater, they have a patio and they have heaters. It's not a huge restaurant. The other thing that's so cute is it's like in the middle of a neighborhood, like there's just houses all around and then there's this little restaurant.
Speaker 2:Beautiful houses, yeah, fancy neighborhood.
Speaker 1:And I mean, if I'm being honest, like eating at this restaurant was part of the reason that I wanted to go back to San Diego instead of staying doing a staycation here. So I've been thinking about that French trout row for six months. So, anyways, highly recommend Wolf in the Woods. If you're looking for fine dining in San Diego, definitely check it out. Don't forget to leave a review. Send us a screenshot to our email travelpartyoffiveatgmailcom. We will enter you in the raffle to win the $50 gift card. We appreciate you so much. Anything else?
Speaker 2:No, we appreciate you and good luck with the raffle.
Speaker 1:Yep Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and we will catch you next week.
Speaker 2:Bye, have a good one.