Southwest Road Trip 2021: Trip costs and points we used
In July 2021, we set out on a month long road trip from our home in the Chicago suburbs to California and back. Check out my Google map below to see our route, our favorite attractions, and how much we paid at each stop! Click the brackets in the top right corner of the map to see it larger.
Total lodging and transportation costs
On this trip, we used a total of:
- 59,000 Hyatt points
- 18,000 IHG Points
- 2 IHG Free Night Certificates
- 8,000 Choice points
- 17,500 Marriott points
We paid:
- $884 for 5 nights at an Airbnb
- $15 resort fee at one hotel
- $90 total for 5 nights of camping
That brings our totals to 102,500 points, 2 free night certificates and $989 for a month-long trip. We also stayed with family for 3 nights.
We paid $664 for gas for the trip.
Hyatt Place gave us the best value across the US. We loved that the rooms had 2 queen beds and a sofa bed, as well as a decent breakfast included. Interested in earning Hyatt points? You can earn a big chunk by opening a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, which allows you to transfer points to Hyatt.
credit card
welcome offer:
60,000 points
Go> Earn 60,000 Ultimate Rewards® points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.
Annual Fee:
$95
Another option for earning Hyatt points is the Hyatt credit card.
credit card
welcome offer:
30,000 points
Earn 30,000 Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. Plus, up to 30,000 More Bonus Points by earning 2 Bonus Points total per $1 spent in the first 6 months from account opening on purchases that normally earn 1 Bonus Point, on up to $15,000 spent.
Annual Fee:
$95
I also like the IHG Premier card, especially when it has a great bonus!
Current Bonus:
140,000 points
Earn 140,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee:
$99
Airbnb Income
Meanwhile, we were renting our house on Airbnb. We were paid out $4,095 after fees and rented our home for a total of 23 days. Check out my full write up on How to Airbnb Your House here.
After paying our cleaners and other monthly expenses (mortgage, property taxes, utilities), we were left with a profit of $2,200.
After subtracting our gas + lodging costs, that still left us with $547 to spend on food and activities!
We had other expenses throughout the month as well, like our health insurance and life insurance premiums which total about $820 per month.
Drop any questions about our trip (and how we got the points for it) below!
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[…] our road trip to California and back, we stayed at 10 different Hyatt Place properties and came to love them! They typically sleep 6 (2 queen beds + sofa bed) and have a great free […]
Thanks for sharing your family with us. I noticed that you had Four Corners on the map, but your route didn’t go there. Just curious. Is this on your To Do list? Or did the route need to be adjusted? Thanks!
Oh you’re right! So we went though Tuba City up to 4 corners and then to Albuquerque. The route was created just using the places we slept and missed a side trips we took.