2017 Points Review

I hope everyone had a warm and fulfilling holiday.  I just noticed that many of the television shows and newspapers were doing their "Year in Review" segments and I thought I should recap what my points earning efforts attained for me in 2017.

While I purposely didn't go on a major trip because of my upcoming sojourn to Africa, I did manage to squeeze in quite a bit of airline and hotel awards for my efforts.  2017 began with my booking two roundtrip tickets to South Africa for myself and a travel companion valued at $3,600.  March, provided an opportunity to stay at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, thanks to my annual IHG free night award; approximate value, $350.  April, had me on an overnight stay at the Plaza in NYC  (read here) - thanks to the now defunct Fairmont rewards Visa card; value -$750.  In August, I spent two free nights in Pittsburgh: one at the Hyatt Place North Side, close enough to the stadium to walk to a Pirates' baseball game and the other at the Fairmont - value: $390 total.

My daughter must have sensed I had a boat load of points just sitting waiting to book so in September it came as no surprize when she declared she wanted to go on a humanitarian trip to Africa in the Summer of 2018 and could I help her with acquiring a ticket.  One roundtrip ticket later, I had her booked on United for less than $100 in taxes and fees for an award valued at $1,950.  In November,  I booked a future trip to Costa Rica to include a week at the luxurious Hyatt Andaz Papagayo along with roundtrip flights for two on Southwest valued at $2,250. Peppered throughout the year the majority of the hotels I'll be staying at on my upcoming trip to Africa were booked paying entirely with my points stockpile.  I estimate those nights to be worth about $1150. Only 3 nights on the entire trip remain unbooked since we wanted the flexibility to be without a schedule and for those stays we will be frequenting Air B&B's.

All in all for what I would call an off year I managed to secure about $10,540 worth of award nights and airfare.  Hardly any of this I would have been able to afford outright.  I ended 2017 by applying for the American Express Premier Gold card and have my $100 Southwest gift card for future travel as part one of a three part travel credit (read here).  And I couldn't help myself so I applied for one last credit card yesterday: the Citi American Airlines  Platinum MasterCard.  That card will earn me 60,000 American Airlines reward points for a trip I have my eye on for 2018 (more on that in a future post).

And for you doubters and naysayers I checked my credit score yesterday, it fluctuated between 804 and 807, down from 812 because I applied for the American Express card.  It will go down to 799 in January because of the credit checks for the two new card applications, then back up into the low 800s for February.  

I hope by reading this post you can see the value in what I do to travel the world in a way I never would deem possible.  Yes, there is effort and discipline involved, but in the end when I review what I earned in 2017 why would one not make the most of what these credit card sign up bonuses could potentially offer?