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I recently traveled in March 2023 and wanted to show you that it’s possible to travel almost entirely “free” thanks to the wonderful world of credit cards.
My itinerary was as follows: Montreal – Doha – Singapore – Tapei (Taiwan) – Hong Kong – Montreal
I had all the following points and benefits at my disposal. Also, suggestions for credit cards and promotions that can help you accumulate (or obtain) them are listed:
The idea behind this itinerary was to be able to do almost everything in business class. The plan was respected except for the 2-hour flight from TPE to HKG, as only economy class was available.
The itinerary is divided into 3 different bookings in order to optimize the use of points.
It was easier than I thought, even though we no longer had access to Priority Pass (Plaza Premium lounges have since joined Priority Pass again).
Here are the details of all the salons I visited, and how I went about it:
I prioritize Hilton hotels, because I have Hilton Honors Diamond Status. So, upgrades are possible and, above all, I get a free breakfast. In Canada, you can get Hilton Honors Gold status (which also offers complimentary breakfast) with the Platinum Card®. This is one of its many advantages.
Here’s a summary of how to get almost free nights with the points and benefits I listed at the beginning of this article.
For my two nights in Doha, I stayed at the Embassy Suite by Hilton.
Once I arrived in Singapore, I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn for 5 nights.
For my stay in Taipei, I chose the Hilton Taipei Sinban where I stayed for 4 nights.
Then, once in Hong Kong, I split my stay over two establishments to pay as little as possible out of pocket using points.
The first night was booked at Le Méridien Hong Kong.
After that, I had some money left over from my Scotia chequing account bonus. So I chose to spend the second night at the Hilton Garden Inn Hong Kong Mongkoko.
In the end, I spent a grand total of $441.96 for this magnificent round-the-world trip, mainly in business class. Almost all of this amount happens to be the taxes and fees I had to pay to book my award tickets.
It’s important to remember to be creative in crafting our itinerary and to deconstruct it, as I did, to maximize the use of points. We can also see that for an almost free trip, it often takes a combination of different points and even a combination of their use on the same booking!
Read on for more testimonials from members of the Milesopedia community:
Savings this way:
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