How a Groupon hotel deal and Southwest points saved us over $1,400 on a trip to Cancun
- When a group of friends told me they were planning a beach vacation, I knew I would need to find a way to cut costs to make it affordable.
- After finding a Groupon deal for an all-inclusive resort, I decided to use points from my Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card to help cover the cost of our flights.
- By putting most of my family's expenses on the card, I earned enough points to book one round-trip flight to Cancun, and one one-way flight. My husband and I paid for the remaining one-way, which cost $300.
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When I approached my frugal husband about possibly joining some friends of mine on a couples trip to Cancun, I knew I needed to come prepared with just how much this trip would cost us.
A quick search for airfare and accommodations indicated the trip could cost anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 - an expense we could not take on without going into debt or compromising our savings. But I also knew there were ways to cut costs and make this trip affordable by using credit card points.
After finding a half-price deal for an all-inclusive resort, I crunched the numbers and realized my credit card points could also cover the majority of our airfare, bringing our total cost for a three-night stay in Cancun to about $1,000. With this, I was able to convince my budget-conscious husband that we could afford this getaway, and the trip is now booked for April.
Here is how we made this trip affordable for us and how credit cards points helped cover the cost of our flights.
We're focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won't be worth it if you're paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it's important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.
Waiting for the best deal
My friends and I started discussing the trip months before booking it. Initially we started our search for accommodations on Airbnb. After looking at several different options that were mostly out of our price range, we knew we had a good deal when we spotted a Groupon for an all-inclusive resort at about half the usual price. After taxes and fees, I paid $657 for a four-day/three-night stay at Omni Cancun Hotel & Villas that would have cost us $1,200 without the Groupon deal.
My husband was still apprehensive about how much airfare would cost us. After we bought the Groupon in September, I turned my attention to finding a way to pay for how to get there.
Using credit card purchases strategically to earn more points
I signed up for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit card in 2015 as a way to earn points for travel, which has always been, well, a priority for me. With the card, I earn 2 points for every dollar I spend on Southwest flights and 1 point for every dollar I spend elsewhere.
My husband and I didn't have much experience using credit cards prior to getting this one, and knew we wanted to be cognizant of how we were using it, so we decided to only use it for groceries and to pay it off in full every month. The rewards have covered at least one flight a year since I got the card.
A round-trip flight to Cancun from where we live in Kansas City, Missouri costs about $600 per person, putting our airfare costs at roughly $1,200 for both of us. I needed to cut this in half to make it affordable for us, so I looked into my Southwest Rapid Rewards points to see if I could cover one or both of our flights.
When I first looked into flights in August 2019, I had about 16,000 points, which would cover a single one-way flight. To increase my points, I decided to put more purchases on my Southwest Priority card, including household items, new clothing for our two kids, a large vet expense, car maintenance and repairs, and a new water heater to the tune of $700 when ours broke in October.
These were all purchases we were either already planning to make or intended to tap into our emergency fund savings for, but by putting them on my credit card, I was able to earn points for them. My husband and I still paid the credit card off in full every month, and with the additional transactions plus our groceries, I was able to earn about 7,000 points in three months, putting my total points around 23,000 by November - almost enough to cover one round-trip flight.
Using referrals to earn even more points
While putting more purchases on our Southwest card helped us earn more points, I knew we wouldn't be able to spend enough money (and earn enough points) to cover both flights in full, which would take roughly 65,000 points. So I looked into other options for earning more points.
One way to earn more points is through credit card referrals. Chase awards 10,000 points to cardholders who refer someone else to also sign up for a Southwest Rapid Rewards card (up to 50,000 points per year). After obnoxiously quizzing my friends about what credit cards they have, I found a friend who didn't already have a Southwest card and was interested in getting one. Once this person had applied and was approved, I got an extra 10,000 points, bringing my total to 33,000 points, enough to cover one round-trip flight with some points left over.
To boost our points even more, my husband and I decided to use our credit card for all of our holiday purchases in addition to our usual grocery expenses. This brought my Southwest rapid rewards total to 36,400 points by mid-January 2020 - enough to cover one round-trip flight and half of the other.
After paying January's credit card bill, we earned an additional 2,000 points, and booked our flights in February. My Rapid Rewards points covered one round-trip flight and another one-way flight, but we did pay for one returning flight, which was $300. Though points covered most of the airfare, we ended up paying about $180 in taxes and fees, bringing our total cost for flights to $480.
From out of our price range to affordable
With our Groupon for the resort, and credit card points covering most of our airfare costs, we've put about $1,100 toward this trip. We're expecting to pay for some miscellaneous costs like transportation to and from the airport and food on travel days, but this is still a much more manageable cost for us now that we've saved more than $1,400 between the hotel deal and the award flights we booked with Southwest points.
By using our credit card strategically, we were able to acquire airline points to make this trip affordable and turn the dream of a beach couples getaway into a reality.
Click here to learn more about the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority card »
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