Glamping in AutoCamp Yosemite for 37K AMEX Points

In Fall 2025, we got our first taste of "glamping" near the beautiful Yosemite National Park in California. Instead of paying $537 for 1-night, we used 37,000 American Express points and spent nothing out-of-pocket.

Not only that, but our Hilton Gold status waived destination fess ($35/day) and gave us free granola, coffee and tea in the clubhouse. On top of that, we used our Hilton Surpass $50 quarterly credits to get $100 worth of pizza, pasta, paninis and ramen.

Before we dive into the details, here's how the blog is structured:

Trip Basics (hotel perks, room type, credit card credits, etc)

Redemption (points currency, CPP, transfer partners, credit cards used, etc)

Credit Card Strategies (easiest ways for you to replicate our trip for minimal cost)

Trip Highlights (best food, activities, locations, etc)

Now, let's get started.

Basics - AutoCamp Yosemite Hilton

We booked the trip last-minute, so our in-park options for accommodation was very limited. We knew we want to experience camping, but I didn't want my wife's first camping experience to be "totally out in the wild".

Hence, AutoCamp provided a good balance between being outdoors while being clean and comfortable.

Our Yosemite trip was an extension of our San Francisco trip (more on this in a separate blog post), so we decided to keep it short, and spent one day only in Yosemite. We weren't planning to do any long hikes, so we figured that'd be enough.

Because we booked with points and hold Hilton Gold status, we received significant perks:

Waived resort fees ($35/day)

Free granola, coffee, tea in the morning

Free firewoods (otherwise $20 per firewood)

Between myself and my wife, we hold two American Express Hilton Surpass cards, so we each get $50 quarterly credits to use during our Hilton stays. We took full advantage!

There wasn't an on-site restaurant, but the clubhouse was open 24/7, and there was always someone willing to make you something from the location's extensive menu. Most of it was frozen food that only needed re-heating. However, to our surprise, they tasted really good!

Our first night we had a cheese pizza and pesto chicken sandwich for dinner. As if that wasn't enough, around midnight we made our short walk from our airstream to the clubhouse to get some late-night Ramen. For breakfast, we spent the remaining credit on another sandwich, pesto pasta, and bought some snacks for our drive back to San Francisco.

All in all, we loved our stay! I would highly recommend AutoCamp Yosemite for anyone wanting to experience "glamping" near Yosemite National Park.

Redemption - 37K AMEX MR Points

We transferred 37,500 Membership Rewards points from American Express to Hilton for the stay, that would have otherwise cost us approximately $537.

American Express transfers 1:2 to Hilton, so 37.5K MR points because 75K Hilton Honors points. If we were lucky enough to take advantage of AMEX's transfer bonus of 1:2.6 or even 1:2.8, it would have cost us only 28K or 26K MR points respectively.

Regardless, we were happy with our 1.43 CPP redemption. The free food and firewoods were cherries on top.

I acquired most of the 37K MR points through everyday spending on my American Express Gold and American Express Blue Business Plus cards. This is one of those rare cases where the trip wasn't supplemented by sign-up-bonuses.

Strategies - American Express & Hilton Credit Cards

If you want to replicate the same trip, there are a few points earning strategies that you can adopt.

The first one is through credit card spending. The second one is through new card sign-up bonuses. Let's start with credit card spend.

Through Everyday Spending (Slow Approach)

To book hotels through Hilton, you can Hilton Honors points that can be directly earned through Hilton credit cards or transferred from MR-earning American Express cards.

Here's one possible Hilton card wallet setup:

6X on Dining through Hilton Surpass

6X on Groceries through Hilton Surpass

6X on Gas through Hilton Surpass

4X on Online Retail through Hilton Surpass

3X on Everything Else

This is the most straightforward setup that lets you earn Hilton points quickly with only one card.

If you are averaging 5X across all purchases, you need to spend $15,000 to earn 75K Hilton Honor points. If you want to earn points quicker, check out the next American Express wallet setup.

Instead of using Hilton cards, if you use a 2-card AMEX setup, you can earn points significantly quicker.

8X on Dining through AMEX Gold

8X on Groceries through AMEX Gold

8X on Gas through AMEX Business Gold

4X on Everything Else through AMEX Blue Business Plus

If you are averaging 6.5X across all purchases, in this setup you need to spend $11,000 to earn approximately 37K MR points that can be turned into 75K Hilton points at 1:2 transfer ratio.

American Express runs multiple 30% or 40% bonuses throughout the year. If you can time your transfer, you will need as little as 28K or 26K MR points.

Through Sign-up-bonuses (Fast Approach)

By signing up for the Hilton Surpass card or American Express Gold card, you can accumulate double the amount of points through one-third of the above spending.

To be more specific:

Hilton Surpass - Earn 155,000 Hilton Honors points after spending $3K in 6 months

AMEX Gold - Earn 100,000 MR points (converted to 200K Hilton Honors points) after spending $6K in 6 months.

Just by signing up for one of these cards and hitting the minimum spending requirement, you can earn enough points to stay 2 nights in AutoCamp Yosemite.

If you are short in time, I would recommend this approach over the slower everyday spending one.

Trip Highlights - Tunnel View, Yosemite Valley View, El Capitan

We spent only one day inside the park, so we tried to pack as much as possible into one day.

Instead of spending the day on one long hike, we decided to rent a bike and check out as many viewpoints as possible. Turns out, that was a great decision!

We parked our car near the visitor center, and rented our bikes from a local bike store. It was around $40/day/person. So, between the two of us, it cost $80. The bikes were great, but needed some getting used to. Instead of having handlebar brakes, it had a reverse paddling mechanism which took some learning.

However, if you are in the valley, I would highly recommend biking through the valley rather than driving. You will save time and get very close to all the viewpoints, giving you an entirely different perspective.

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to visit Glacier Points or Olmstead Point, but between our car and bike, we managed to visit all 3 of - Tunnel View, El Capital Meadow and Yosemite Valley View.

Photos don't do justice - you need to be there to absorb the true beauty of such magnificent nature.

Closing Thoughts

All in all, we absolutely loved our Yosemite trip!

It was all the more sweeter given our out-of-pocket hotel cost was literally $0. Instead of paying $537 for one night, we spent 37.5K AMEX MR points resulting in cents-per-point (CPP) of 1.43.

If you are planning to do the same, check out the recommended American Express cards and Hilton cards.