Our Best Redemption
Over the years I’ve had some pretty incredible flights and hotel stays using points and miles but nothing compares with our trip last year to The Maldives. For those who don’t know, The Maldives is a small nation in the Indian Ocean comprised of hundreds of islands only accessible by boat or seaplane. They are known for having some of the most incredible resorts with overwater villas and incredible service.
I’ve always wanted to check out the St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort and I had a large balance of Marriott Bonvoy points from various credit card sign up bonuses as well as too many paid stays from work trips. With all those trips away from home for work it was time to let my wife enjoy all the points I had racked up.
When booking trips I usually book flights one way at a time and then figure out which at hotel we’re going to stay. Business and first class flights are typically much harder to find whereas most hotels have more inventory and no blackout dates. At the time Marriott’s most expensive properties topped out at 100,000 points per night but in March of 2022 they changed their pricing and introduced dynamic pricing where the number of points required would fluctuate based on demand and time of year as well as increased the maximum number of points needed to 150,000. So, I wanted to get this property booked before those changes took effect. I was able to find 5 nights at the St. Regis Maldives for 100,000 points per night with the fifth night free which Marriott offers on award stays. This meant that we only paid 400,000 points for those 5 nights. Thanks to my Titanium status with them I was able to get upgraded into an overwater villa. With a cash rate of $1,800 per night, or $9,000 for our stay I couldn’t have been happier to redeem 400,000 points. The only way to get to the resort is by seaplane transfer which is a mandatory $745 per person roundtrip. That is quite steep but considering I didn’t have to actually pay for the room I didn’t mind too much. The views on the 45 minute ride were also simply stunning.
Our Overwater Villa at the St. Regis Maldives
Next I had to actually get us to The Maldives which turned out to be somewhat straightforward. The tiny island nation is located pretty much on the other side of the world from where we live on the east coast of the US so I knew we were going to have to most likely connect in the Middle East. That meant flying either Emirates, Etihad, or Qatar. The year before we flew the amazing Qatar Q Suites business class on a trip to London with my family. Yes, flying to Qatar on the way to England is quite out of the way but it was an incredible experience. I was able to find business class award space on Qatar for 70,000 miles per person and best of all it was on one itinerary from our home in Charleston. Because American Airlines and Qatar are partners, I was able to use American Airlines miles for the flights. Better yet, Qatar had just started leasing Boeing 777s from Cathay Pacific with first class and were flying them between Doha and Male, the capital of The Maldives. So for only 15,000 miles more, I upgraded each of us on that 5 hour flight.
Qatar Q Suites Business Class
On the return I knew I had to book us on our long flight home in Emirates first class. Emirates First is one of the holy grails of award travel which offers a completely private suite in the air along with two showers for their first class passengers. It was one product I had never experienced so I got to searching. Luckily, a few weeks after booking the St Regis and our Qatar flights, I found two seats in first class for both the flight from Male to Dubai as well as the flight from Dubai back to the United States. I was beyond thrilled. The entire flight cost just 136,250 Emirates Skywards miles that I transferred over from American Express. We even got a three night stopover in Dubai as we had never visited.
Emirates First Class
We had also just recently found out we were pregnant with our first child so this trip turned into a little babymoon as well! This was one of the most incredible trips we have ever taken and will be one that we never forget. Without points and miles there would be no way that we could afford something as extravagant as this.
If we would have paid cash for this trip it would have cost over $55,515!
All these business and first class flights for just 446,500 points!
This was a trip of a lifetime which wouldn’t have been possible without credit card points and airline miles. I can’t wait to do something similar in the future. All I need to figure out is where to go next!
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