Credit Cards Saved Me $15,000 Travel Expenses in 2024

Whether going to South Carolina to watch my favorite football team (Manchester United), or flying 15+ hours in Turkish Airlines business class, or spending 5-nights in New York City Times Square celebrating New Year’s eve, credit card points subsidized most (if not all) my travel costs in 2024.

I got $15,000 in travel value, spending close to a million points (~945K).

In this blog post, I will list out all my redemptions with their cash value, points spent instead, taxes and fees paid, and finally, CPPs.

Instead, if you are wondering how I accumulated these points, stay tuned for my next post where I go through my 2024 points accumulation across 3+ credit card ecosystems.

For now, let’s look into all my 2024 redemptions.

5-Nights in New York City Times Square ($6,000)

Cash Price = $6,074

Booked Through = Hilton Honors

Points Used (Hilton) = 140K

Points Used (Membership Rewards) = 84K (transferred at 1:2.6)

Taxes and Fees Paid = $0

CPP (MR) = 2.8

Total CPP (Hilton) = 1.69

One of our best redemption in 2024 was celebrating New Years from Times Square, watching the ball drop and eating some of the best street food.

Our hotel, Hilton Tempo, was right in the middle of Times Square, surrounded by some of the most popular NYC tourist attractions. We truly experienced how it’s like living in a city “that never sleeps”.

This was one of the most unique redemptions. Hilton points are typically valued at just over 0.5 cents/point. However, given cash prices were off the charts during the Holiday season in New York, we scored a somewhat crazy 1.69 cents per Hilton points.

Turkish Airlines Business DAC - ATL ($3,000)

Cash Price = $3,000

Booked Through = Turkish Miles&Smiles

Points Used (Capital One Miles) = 90K

Taxes and Fees Paid = $445

Total CPP (Capital One Miles) = 2.84

Moving from hotel to flight redemptions - flying 15+ hours in business was a truly fantastic experience. Well, for my wife at least.

On her way back from Dhaka to Atlanta, I booked her a last-minute business class ticket with 90K Turkish Miles&Smiles points.

Even though she had a great experience, her long haul segment (Istanbul to Atlanta) had a Boeing 777 instead of the usual Airbus A350. In this route, Turkish Airlines’ best business class products are Boeing 787 and Airbus A350.

In her Boeing 777, she had a 2-2-2 layout. Luckily, the seat next to her was empty, so it was close enough to a 1-2-1.

Sheraton Marriott South Carolina ($1,200)

Cash Price = $1,229

Booked Through = Marriott Bonvoy

Points Used (Marriott Bonvoy) = 2 Free Night Certificates (each worth 50K points)

Taxes and Fees Paid = $0

Total CPP (Marriott Bonvoy) = 1.23

Back to hotel redemptions, we stayed 2 nights in Sheraton Marriott in Columbia, South Carolina. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me, watching my childhood favorite team, Manchester United, play Liverpool.

Columbia is a very small college town. The game brought in many out-of-towners, so most hotels near the stadium were completely booked out. Naturally, the cost went up to around $600/night.

Usually when cash prices are higher than usual, point redemptions soar. This wasn’t an exception. With only 2 50K certificates we booked 2-nights that would have otherwise cost close to $1,300.

To my surprise, the Manchester United squad stayed in another Marriott hotel next door, so I was able to take some photos of their team bus. It was surreal!

Manchester United - Liverpool Tickets ($700)

Cash Price = $706

Booked Through = Capital One Entertainment

Points Used (Capital One Miles) = 88K

Taxes and Fees Paid = $0

Total CPP (Capital One Miles) = 0.80

You heard about the hotel stay, but how did I book the game tickets?

Capital One Entertainment.

With some higher than usual expenses coming up, I was finding it difficult to justify spending $700 on game tickets. That’s when I thought of Capital One Entertainment.

Usually, you won’t get better than 0.80 CPP through their portal, but it was still better than spending $700 on tickets. Here’s an example of a time when, even for someone like me who’s always looking for high CPP redemptions, real life kicks in.

At that time, I valued saving $700 more than spending my 88K Capital One Miles at a lower value.

Marriott Renaissance Nashville ($900)

Cash Price = $879

Booked Through = Marriott Bonvoy

Points Used (Marriott Bonvoy) = 3 Free Night Certifications (each worth 50K points)

Taxes and Fees Paid = $0

Total CPP (Marriott Bonvoy) = 0.52

Last year we wanted to see the 4th of July fireworks from Nashville, Tennessee. Turns out, that was the best fireworks we have ever experienced, and that’s after seeing both 4th of July and New Years celebrations in San Francisco and Toronto. It was beautiful!

We stayed at Marriott Renaissance, one of the luxurious hotels we stayed in. It was a 2-minutes walk from Broadway, one of the go-to attractions for anyone visiting Nashville for the first time.

Nashville was one of our hardest redemptions. All downtown hotels had horrible point redemptions. Opportunities were limited.

That’s why I decided to use my free night certificates instead of maximizing my points value.

It was a great time and we look forward to returning to Nashville sometime this year.

IHG Indigo Chattanooga ($158)

Cash Price = $158

Booked Through = IHG One Rewards

Points Used (IHG) = 28,000

Taxes and Fees Paid = $0

Total CPP (IHG) = 0.56

On the way back from Nashville to Atlanta, we made a pit stop at Chattanooga. We stayed at an IHG Indigo.

Our Platinum Elite status, to my surprise, gave us free breakfast and a room upgrade.

It was a pleasant city, with some good river and mountain views, decent food and one great cafe!

2X Air Canada Business TOR - ATL ($1,600)

Cash Price = $1,547

Booked Through = Air Canada Aeroplan

Points Used (Membership Rewards) = 62,800

Taxes and Fees Paid = $188

Total CPP (Membership Rewards) = 2.2 CPP

Okay, now a few quick-fire “no frill” redemption stories from 2024.

My wife had to fly between Atlanta and Toronto a few times for visa reasons. Given she was traveling alone with multiple checked baggage, we decided to book business class.

Atlanta to Toronto flights are crazy expensive! I have no idea why. That’s why you see such a high CPP.

Air Canada Economy ATL - TOR ($550)

Cash Price = $562

Booked Through = Air Canada Aeroplan

Points Used (Membership Rewards) = 13,200

Taxes and Fees Paid = $60

Total CPP (Membership Rewards) = 3.80

Even higher CPP for economy flights booked last-minute. We had only a week’s notice before booking her flight to Toronto.

I was prepared to pay cash, until I searched Air Canada, and the low points value was very tempting. I typically don’t book economy tickets on points. I have been privileged enough to pay for economy tickets out of pocket.

However, 13K for business class was too good of a deal to pass on!

4-Nights in Crowne Plaza Dhaka ($560)

Cash Price = $567

Booked Through = IHG One Rewards

Points Used (IHG) = 51K

Taxes and Fees Paid = $0

Total CPP (Capital One Miles) = 1.11

Finally, our first redemption of 2024 was a 4-night hotel stay in Crowne Plaza in Dhaka.

Similar to our Chattanooga stay, our IHG Platinum Elite status gave us a higher floor room upgrade and 35% off food and beverage at the hotel.

It was a great stay!

IHG points are valued around 0.5 to 0.6 cents-per-point, so getting 1.11 was quite remarkable.

Summary

To bring it all together, here were my 2024 redemption cash values:

5 Nights in New York City for $6,000

Turkish Airlines Business Class for $3,000

2 Nights in Sheraton Marriott for $1,200

Manchester United - Liverpool 2 tickets for $700

3 Nights in Marriott Renaissance Nashville for $900

1 Night in IHG Indigo Chattanooga for $158

2 Air Canada Business flights for $1,600

1 Air Canada Economy flight for $550

4 Nights in Crown Plaza Dhaka for $560

Combined, instead of paying around $15,000 in cash for our travel in 2024, I paid close to a million credit card points and a few hundred dollars in taxes and fees.

If you want to do the same, check out my recommended credit cards here.