If you’ve signed up to get your credit card bonus points, congratulations! Don’t forget to meet the minimum spend of $5k within the first three months of the account opening. For some, that minimum spend may be trivial. For others, it can be a barrier to opening a new credit card. We get it. One way to meet this spend is by buying gift cards to places you know you’ll shop at (i.e. $500 Costco shop card, $500 Home Depot gift cards, $100 Trader Joe’s gift cards, small biz gift cards you know you’ll use, etc.). Money that you know you’ll be spending anyway — and fronting it in advance. Certain cards have bonuses such as 5x points for office supplies. We’ve made trips to Staples to buy Visa gift cards during free promotions and then used it for future expenses. Another way is by asking your close family member or friend if they have any large expenses you could help them pay with your credit card — and then they can write you a check or pay you back in cash. We’ve done both. Get creative and savvy with solutions!
If you’re here in Part 2 wanting to learn more (whether or not you’ve signed up for a card!), we’re so glad you’re here. Here are some of our favorite places and ways to stretch points for maximum value and extraordinary experiences.
Stretching your credit card points
So let’s say you’re looking to spend 100,000 Chase points + 150,000 AmEx points.
Economical travel to maximize quantity
To maximize the quantity of your points, go for economical travel. For instance,
West Coast to Hawaii Flights
Here are sample bookable flights as of this posting today (4/12/25).
West Coast (LAX) to Hawaii (HNL): 15,000 one way — Aeroplan (United Airlines)
West Coast to East Coast Flights
West Coast (LAX) to East Coast (9,200) points on Jet Blue
Best case economical flights: it pays off.
If optimized properly for domestic flights, 250,000 points can cover 10 or more round-trip domestic flights.
Aspirational travel to maximize quality
This is how we use our points to make them more worthwhile to us. If you’re planning a memorable first-class honeymoon trip, get ready to unload all your bonus points! Here are a few of our actual flights and hotel redemptions within the past year (’24-’25):
| Destination | Airline ✈️ or Hotel 🛏️ | Class | Points | Cash Value (approximate) |
| Paris | ✈️ Delta | Business Class (Delta One Suites) | *38,500 Amex or Chase – one way 77,000 Amex or Chase – round trip | $10,000+ round-trip |
| 🛏️ Park Hyatt Paris | 40,000 Chase / night | $1,750 / night | ||
| 🛏️ Hyatt Regency Paris | 15,000 Chase / night | $350 / night | ||
| Tokyo | ✈️ Japan Airlines | Business | 75,000 Amex one way 150,000 Amex round trip | $7,000+ round-trip |
| 🛏️ Hyatt House Shibuya | 15,000 Chase / night | $400 / night | ||
| 🛏️ Hyatt Place Kyoto | 9,000 Chase / night | $100 / night | ||
| 🛏️ Park Hyatt Kyoto | 40,000 Chase / night | $1,500 / night |
*Cost was 50,000 Virgin Atlantic points one way. Utilized Chase/AmEx 30% bonus points transfer to Virgin Atlantic (50,000 / 1.3 = 38,461 Amex or Chase points). One AmEx Platinum bonus optimized with transfer bonuses could cover 2 full round-trip business class flights to Paris (77,000 x 2 = 154,000 points), which is a $20k+ value.
Flights I’m looking at for our future travels
I’m always looking at the next possible trips we could take. Sharing below the flights that I’m currently considering — bookable with selected dates. Coming up next is a Part 3 to this series on HOW to search and book these types of flights.
| Route from West Coast | Airline | Transfer Partner | Points (one way flight) | Class |
| ICN (Seoul, Korea) | Asiana Airline | Air Canada Aeroplan | 75,000 Chase or Amex | Business |
| TPE (Taipei, Taiwan) | Starlux Airlines | Alaska Airlines | 75,000 Amex | Business |
| PPT (Bora Bora) | Air Taihiti Nui | Alaska Airlines | 60,000 Amex | Business |
| HKG (Hong Kong) | Cathay Pacific | Asia Miles | 84,000 Amex | Business |
| 125,000 Amex | First | |||
| Paris | Air France | Air France Flying Blue | 60,000 Amex or Chase | Business |
| Munich (MUC) | Lufthansa | Air Canada Aeroplan | 100,000 Amex or Chase | First |
| Tokyo / Osaka | ANA | Virgin Atlantic | 52,500 Amex or Chase | Business |
| 72,500 Amex or Chase | First |
We would maximize our points by taking advantage of transfer bonuses (e.g. Chase or Amex would routinely offer 20% bonus for Air Canada, so it would only cost 62,500 points transferred with 20% bonus for the LAX to ICN flight. Virgin Atlantic (30-40% bonuses) and Asia Miles routinely offer transfer bonuses throughout the year.
This is what it looks like when I’m looking at what’s available:
Our family-favorite hotel redemptions
We travel during the off-peak season to get the best redemptions. Here are some of our favorite family-friendly hotel redemptions and points rate:
| Hotel | Points |
|---|---|
| Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach | 25,000 |
| Seabird Resort and Spa Oceanside / Mission Pacific | 25,000 |
| Park Hyatt Carlsbad | 25,000 |
| Andaz Maui | 35,000 |
| Grand Hyatt Kauai | 35,000 |
| Hyatt Regency Maui | 25,000 |
| Grand Hyatt Indians Wells Resort & Villa Palm Springs | 20,000 |
| Hyatt Regency Long Beach | 15,000 |
Referral Links
If you’re here for a straightforward referral link, here you go! Chase 100,000 bonus points and AmEx 150,000 bonus points.
For most of us that don’t want to go through the information overload and the myriad of credit card systems, these 2 cards are an easy gateway to the world of points and provide many different options to travel.