affordableafadventures@gmail.com I first heard about using credit cards for travel right before my husband proposed to me. After the proposal, I knew it was the perfect time to try out these travel rewards I was reading about with all of our wedding expenses that would come up. It seemed like a win-win situation. We were already going to have to pay for these things, so why not get rewards at the same time? I got my first card shortly after the proposal and charged my first big purchase, my wedding dress, to the card.
We decided we wanted to go to Portugal for our honeymoon. I had been to Lisbon briefly during college, so we thought it would be fun to go back and explore Portugal a bit more. Our trip was not without its snafus, but we still had a great time exploring Portugal and paid for a large portion of the trip with points. As in, all of our hotels were free!
Accommodation
My first travel card was the Chase Sapphire Preferred. After meeting the minimum spend requirement (MSR) on the card, I got 60k chase points that I could use to offset travel costs or transfer to travel partners. In addition, I was able to refer my husband to the card. Most travel cards offer a referral bonus in the form of points when you refer someone to a card and they have a successful application. I referred Andrew and received an extra 15k points. He applied at the time of a higher offer for the points bonus and got a total of 80k points after reaching the MSR. So after opening 2 cards, we had a little over 150k chase points.
While you can simply cash in your points to cover certain expenses, this often does not get you the best bang for your points. Each chase point is valued at 1 cent per point when redeemed as a statement credit. However, chase also offers you the option of transferring your points to other travel programs such as airlines and hotels. One of the best areas of outsized value is transferring your chase points to the World of Hyatt rewards program. You can often book a luxurious hotel using points that would normally be crazy expensive in cash.
Hyatt Regency Lisbon
Our first hotel was the newly built Hyatt Regency Lisbon. At only 12k points per night, this hotel was a steal on points. We stayed 4 nights, for a total of 48k points. We really liked this hotel and the location. It is located on the river bank in the Belem area of Lisbon. Some people may not like not being right in the action of the historical center, but it was only a short uber/tram ride to the city center. There is a convenient tram stop located right in front of the hotel. I liked the quiet and there were some fabulous restaurants nearby on the river. I had emailed the hotel before arrival about our honeymoon and we were welcomed into our room with a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries which was a nice touch.
Hotel Infante Sagres
We loved this hotel! It is part of a hotel collection called the Small Luxury Hotels of the World. Unfortunately, this program is no longer a part of Hyatt. Hotels in this program often offer extras/benefits when you stay. We got complimentary breakfast included in our stay, which you usually don’t get at Hyatts unless you have status. It was a truly luxurious experience and had so much old money charm. I had also emailed this hotel ahead of time about our honeymoon and they left us a bottle of port and a box of truffles in our room. We paid 17k points per night for 2 nights at this hotel.
Hotel Santiago de Alfama
We had one more night in Lisbon before our flight out, and I had my heart set on staying in the historic Alfama district. This hotel was booked through the chase portal using points to cover the purchase. It wasn’t the best value, but it did save us from paying cash and it was in a great location. We had a great view out our window, but the room was super small. I thought it might be a bit bigger given the cost, but it was probably a byproduct of staying in the historic district which is more space constrained. The hotel left us a beautiful chocolate cake to eat in our room upon our arrival. Unfortunately, we only ate half before dinner and it was gone when we came back…It was a beautiful hotel and great location, but I do not think I would stay again.
Flights
We bought our economy flights in cash on TAP Portugal so we did not really fly in style for our honeymoon. At least they were direct. If we had more time between the engagement and honeymoon, I would have tried to get enough points to cover our flights.
Activities
We loved our food tour we did with Culinary Backstreets
We also had a great time doing a day trip to Sintra.