This is the final post in a mini series about the Anatomy of my trip to LA the other two post can be viewed here and here. This final post details how ignoring opportunities for free points can cost you in the long run. I was flying myself and my daughter to Los Angeles thanks to my acquisition of the Southwest companion pass which for me is valid through 12/31/13. The hotel was being paid for with my free night stay bonus given as a perk for the $75 annual renewal fee for the Chase Hyatt Visa and the remaining two nights were paid with points I acquired through various means and my use of Vanilla reloads to pay my mortgage and acquire additional Ultimate Rewards points. The only thing remaining was transportation once we arrived at the destination.
Several years ago before my interest in points travel blossomed I went to LA with some friends. We had revenue seats on Virgin America, a bungalow rented in West Hollywood (from Craigslist) when I stupidly asked one of my travel companions if we could forgo a car rental for public transportation, taxis and walking. She gave me the over the glasses look (although no glasses were involved) and bluntly stated "nobody walks in LA, ever" OK, point taken, we rented a Jeep. Fast forward 5 years and those words came ringing back to me. I had acquired 1250 Hertz points by doing whatever thing I had to do in order to acquire them for free. Those points were now worth 2 free rental days for this trip. I really don't rent cars much but I knew at the time I acquired the points someday I might need them. What I didn't know and I preach about in several of these posts is that you should never hold onto points, because the game changes at a moments notice as I describe here. Hertz decided to devalue their points and if I did not use these on my trip to LA they would be worth only a 1 day rental rather than 2 beginning Oct 1, 2013. I wasn't going to have any of that so I called Hertz to reserve the car. Turned out my trip dates hit one of their blackout periods making those 1250 points usable for only a 1 day rental. Nope, wasn't having any of that, I acquired enough for a 2 day rental and that is what I planned to get (I have another trip planned prior to the Oct 1 deadline and they have been booked for the 2 full days there).
Now its 48hrs before departure and I don't have a car, when I figured up my expenses even for the smallest car and using all my travel point tricks, renting a car from LAX was still too expensive, plus the hotel had a $35 a day charge to park in their lot and I wasn't even going to use the car at all two of the three days of my trip. Fighting the urge from the words ringing in my head about nobody walking in LA, I proceed without transportation. In any other large city like New York or Chicago such a move would be applauded. We arrive at LAX and without fail my daughter asks the question that makes me cringe "How are we getting to the hotel?" First I go to the taxi stand, they want $50 to West Hollywood, a 45 minute trip, nope, too much, not paying that, then we check out Super Shuttle, $18 per person but we had to wait 20 minutes for the bus to fill plus the time spent dropping off other shuttle riders at their respective hotel, nope, not doing that. Finally, I tell my daughter "we'll Uber" read my post here. I had $45 in Uber credits (by taking advantage of free offers) and it was time to try the service read my review here. I pulled out my cell phone, checked into the app and within 5 minutes (that includes my time typing in the requested information) a black sedan and driver wearing a suit pulled up, put our bags in the car and off we went. No money changed hands, no tip (it's included as part of the tip) and within 45 stress free minutes I was sipping wine in the hotel lobby. Before I got to my room I had my receipt. I was charged $18 total after my credits were used, totally worth it.
The next morning I had to meet a tour in Santa Monica, only 9 miles away. The taxi at the hotel wanted $45 for the trip, nope, need another option,the front desk manager said there was a bus a block away and off we went. For a grand total of $3 we caught our tour in Santa Monica and when it was time to head back another $3 later we were at the hotel. The Hyatt Andaz is very centrally located for those who don't mind walking a few blocks (my daughter and I don't) so when it was time for dinner we walked to any number of good restaurants nearby. Day 2: we had plans to shop on Melrose Avenue and take the bus to Studio City where we would spend the day (she was filming for a Disney game show). Yup, another $3 total each way (about 5 miles) and we were everywhere we needed to be. Now we are two days into this trip and out $30 in transportation costs (mind you not even the price for 1 night Hyatt would have charged just to park the car in the lot). The third day we would be flying home and I had planned to pay full price for another black sedan from Uber (since we saved so much already) when a family member met us for breakfast and offered us a ride to the airport. All in I paid $150 for two for airfare, 3 nights and transportation. When I initially wrote my post my total expenses for the trip were at $288. I expected it to go down because I had booked the hotel for 1 night as a paid revenue stay but later bought $120 worth of Hyatt points to top off my account therefore reducing my revenue stay to the price paid to purchase points rather than the nightly rate I booked which topped $200. The points purchase and creative transportation means significantly reduced expenses. So, yes when you're offered free points/credits take the time to acquire them because sometimes things will happen where they will work in your favor.
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