the Jebba Journal: Fourth Edition

A trip report using exclusively Chase Ultimate Reward Points + a hotel review

Intro

Now that we’ve covered the basics of points and credit cards I’m going to share about one of my trips, booked with points of course. This wasn’t a fancy trip flying first class to the Maldives, but a great example of how to use points for low-key domestic travel. Everyone will have different goals utilizing points, whether it’s a once-in-a-lifetime luxury experience, a standard vacation, a road trip, or anything in between, my goal is to show you how it’s possible.

Recently a friend asked which cards I currently have and why I chose the higher-end American Express Platinum card over the high-end Chase Sapphire Reserve. I’m planning to talk more about my choices, how they have evolved over the past few years, and how my setup works for me.

**Just a heads up, the elevated Chase Sapphire Preferred online offer of 80,000 points I brought up last Edition is due to end very soon (like within a week). There is no timeline on the 90,000 offer for opening up the card in person, but that is likely to end relatively soon.**

If you want to review my first three newsletters, click the link below to go to my homepage! If you have found my newsletter helpful and want more individualized, tailored advice, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Trip Report Using Only Chase Points

Back in July 2022, I planned a spontaneous visit to the greater San Diego area to visit a friend, Ely. Being the points rich, cash poor person that I am, I wanted to use points for as many things as possible. I also wanted to find the perfect balance between cheap-as-hell and enjoyable. I convinced our other friend, Max, to join so we can turn up the trip from a 10 to an 11.

Ely was living about an hour outside of downtown San Diego and was busy during the weekdays, but free at night and all weekend. He was also roughly equidistant to both Ontario Airport and San Diego Airport, which gave me more options for flights considering I can easily fly out of San Francisco or Oakland.

I compared both United and Southwest, who fly from San Francisco/Oakland airports to San Diego/Ontario airports and are also both transfer partners with Chase UR points. I found that flying United from San Francisco to San Diego on Thursday morning was pretty cheap compared to Friday. This also fit into the “cheap but enjoyable” motif I was going for. By going Thursday, I could spend an extra day in downtown San Diego having fun at the beach and embracing my inner “Vacation Jeffrey.” (Pic for reference)

I booked my Thursday morning flight to San Diego Airport using only 9,200 United points that I transferred over from Chase. This ticket was considered a “saver fare" as the cash price was around $130. This gave my ticket a value of about 1.4 cents/point, which isn’t too bad! Realistically, you won’t always find this flight at this price point. Looking now at flights, the average price is around 12,000 - 15,000 points, with some options at 9,000 points for flights early in the morning and later at night.

Next on my to-do list was finding a hotel for Thursday night so Max and I could hang around downtown while Ely was busy. I knew that the Hyatt Andaz in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego had good reviews and could be booked Thursday night for only 15,000 points (it has now gone up slightly in price).

The beautiful thing about booking a Hyatt is that they don’t charge you any taxes or fees when you book with Hyatt points. The cash price of the hotel was something absurd like $400, not including the city taxes and the $30 “destination fee.” So instead of paying $450ish for one night (something I would never actually do), I got to enjoy this awesome hotel for only 15,000 Chase points transferred directly to my Hyatt account.

Pics of the Hyatt Andaz Gaslamp, taken from TripAdvisor

I technically got an insane value of 3.0 cents/point on this room but I don’t actually take this calculation at face value. Would I ever pay $450/night for this hotel? At this point in my life, no fucking way. So to me isn’t really fair to say “I got 3.0 cents/point” if I’m not willing to pay the cash price for the room.

However, had I used those same 15,000 points on the Chase travel portal, it would have covered only $187.5 towards a hotel room. I’m sure there are several hotels I could have booked for $190/night, but they wouldn’t be as nice or as comfortable as the Andaz. All in all, I’d say I still got an amazing value by transferring to Hyatt in this case, more so than using the travel portal.

I didn’t need to book any other nights since Max and I would be staying with Ely just outside of San Diego on Friday and Saturday. On Thursday, I enjoyed a day of drinking, going to the San Diego Museum of Art to get some culture, getting fish tacos and sitting on the beach in the company of an old friend, then meeting up with Ely and Max for a night of walking around the Gaslamp, more drinking, and playing pop-a-shot at an arcade bar. Max and Ely also spent the night in the hotel with me so no one had to drive after a night out.

Some art I enjoyed + selfies at the beach and golf course

Friday, Max and I went to Coronado to sit on the beach until Ely was free and then we spent the rest of our weekend golfing, playing with Ely’s dog Rizzo, playing poker, and just generally enjoying our time together.

For my flight home, I found a very cheap Southwest flight leaving Ontario Airport on Sunday morning and returning to Oakland. It was only like $85, but I paid the points price instead; 6,800 points, transferred from Chase to Southwest. Thankfully, I had a loving partner who was willing to drop me off at SFO and pick me up at Oakland Airport. Had I needed to return to SFO, it would have been about 15,000 United points. Not terrible, but more than double what I paid on Southwest.

Overall I paid right around 31,000 points for two flights and one night in a very nice hotel. Most importantly I was able to spend some time with very close friends over an extended weekend. Trips like this remind me why I love having points because they can make a weekend trip much more attainable and comfortable.

Let’s say you want to do a similar trip with your significant other or friend, but don’t have the luxury of crashing with a friend for free (or don’t want to). Even though the Hyatt Andaz now costs on average 20,000 points per night instead of 15,000, it isn’t your only option. There are several other Hyatts in the area that still cost 15,000/night, like the Manchester Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency Mission Bay, and the Hyatt Regency La Jolla. You could also put those 15,000 points to use on the Chase portal to help cover any other hotel you’d like that isn’t a Hyatt.

To be conservative with the pricing of flights, let’s say it costs 12,000 points per person each way on average, and not 9,200 and 6,800 like mine did. Your total cost for two people for flights and the hotel is 93,000 (12,000 x 4 for flights + 15,000 x 3 for the hotel). This increases to about 108,000 if you book the Andaz at the new higher points price. Booking well in advance and having flexibility of dates will bode well for finding flights in 12,000 points or less range, especially on Southwest.

Let’s not kid ourselves, 93,000 to 108,000 points is pretty significant. It’s basically everything you’d earn from the sign-up bonus (and then some) from the elevated Chase Sapphire Preferred offer. But it sure as hell beats paying the cash price of $1,500+ for the same trip without points.

Vacation Jeffrey, Reporting Live From: the Andaz San Diego (aka my hotel review)

Welcome to my new segment called “Vacation Jeffrey, Reporting Live From…”!

Part of what I plan to do is describe my personal experience at the hotels I’ve stayed in, flights I’ve taken, and airport lounges I’ve forced my way into. I want people to get a real perspective of these places, without feeling like they are being sold something. Too often I see blogs post about a an amazing hotel or how this card gets you lounge access, without mentioning the average experience an everyday person would have. I don’t have photos from this hotel stay but will try to include any I may have in future reviews.

If you don’t know much about Hyatt Hotels, similarly to every other hotel conglomerate, they have their own “brands” within the organization. Each brand is supposed to have its own focus like modern luxury, business-friendly, extended stay, etc. The Andaz brand is supposed to be a higher-end boutique feel that “acts as social anchors in their communities” (Hyatt’s words, not mine).

So far, I have stayed at the Andaz in London, Napa, San Diego, Amsterdam, and Prague, and will be staying at the Andaz in New York City this September. I have enjoyed every property and would say that the brand is definitely upscale with a focus on unique artwork and embracing the vibe of the city in which it is located. It certainly isn’t cookie-cutter and every property has its own flair.

To be honest, I didn’t spend much time in the room when I stayed the one in San Diego proper (see activities shared above). My base-level room had two double beds and we comfortably fit three people. There was definitely enough space, but it was interior-facing so we didn’t get much natural light and it didn’t help that the bathroom had black subway tile lining the walls. The one benefit of an interior-facing room was avoiding issues with street noise, which I read can be a problem at night in this area of town.

The rooftop pool/patio area was awesome, albeit a bit small. The drinks and food from the bar were standard fare for a hotel of this caliber and the views of downtown provided a wonderful environment. I can imagine there would be a need to fight over lounge chairs by the pool when it gets crowded, but it wasn’t difficult for me on a Thursday afternoon.

The hotel is in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego. If you aren’t familiar with this neighborhood, my impression is that of a young party scene juxtaposed with social inequality. Just a few blocks from the hotel and the myriad of restaurants and bars were several encampments of people living in tents on the street. This doesn’t feel different than most major West Coast cities at this point.

I did find it odd that there was a letter in the room when I arrived stating the hotel is aware of this fact and that they were, and I’m paraphrasing from memory, “working with the city on how to best support the community”. To me, this felt like they were saying “We know a lot of our guests don’t like seeing people who are homeless. This is also hurting our bottom line, so we are hoping to move them anywhere but here.”

I never felt unsafe while I was there, including walking alone during the day- although I am a 6’1 man who works daily with people who are living on the street. I understand other people may feel differently and thought the surrounding scene of the hotel is worth mentioning.

I personally wouldn’t leave anything visible in my car there (because you shouldn’t do that an-y-where) or leave anything in the trunk of a rental car, which are huge targets for car break-ins. Speaking of parking, the hotel did charge $50/night for valet parking, which is insane but I didn’t see much street parking that wasn’t metered, so they know you don’t have many options.

Would I recommend the hotel? At the current average price of 20,000 points, I’d say we are approaching borderline not worth it, but it still depends on your circumstance. Are you swimming in Chase and/or Hyatt points? Do you want a place near nightlife, Petco Park (the home of the San Diego Padres baseball team), and good brunch spots? Then hell yeah stay here. Do you want a family-friendly hotel where your main goal is to relax by the pool? Maybe check out one of the other Hyatts in San Diego.

The next time I vacation in San Diego, I am going to try and check out one of the other Hyatts or the Hotel del Coronado, a Hilton hotel right on the beach. I just opened a Hilton credit card that has a sign-up bonus of 150,000 Hilton points (worth about $600-$900) and a Free Night Certificate that can be used at any Hilton hotel. Those points and the Free Night Certificate will get me at least two nights at the Hotel del Coronado, not bad for a card with an annual fee of only $95.

Outro

So what do you think of the newsletters so far? Any suggestions? More reviews or card recommendations? Examples of using other points currencies, like Amex/Capital One/Citi?

Please also let me know where you want to go using points and I may use it as a case study of how to plan travel with points!