Family Success Story: Rome, Florence, & Venice

Thanks to @hannwoods9 for sharing her redemption to Venice, Rome, and Florence.

Hi! My name is Hannah and I am a married mom of 2 girls who are 5 and 3. I was a dabbler in points and miles before kids, and used a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and the Chase Travel portal to fund 10 nights in Ireland for a baby moon back in 2017. I definitely only knew basics and using the portals, and after I had kids I switched to a now defunct Barclays travel card that basically was a travel cash back eraser. It got me some OK redemptions but nothing amazing.

During the pandemic I had 2 small kids and knew we wanted to travel more. I started researching and came across Katie’s instagram and a few others. I loved how helpful and practical Katie was, and how her content did not just concentrate on business class redemption. For our family, getting four people somewhere in any capacity is a win for us.

My husband and I opened the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card when they had 100,000 bonuses (I referred him for extra points, too) in the fall of 2021 and we went from there. In 2022, I used points for some weekend getaways and flights. But our first big points and miles trip was a 4 night trip to the Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta in November 2022. I knew for 2023 I wanted to go bigger.

In February and March of 2023, we took our 2 kids to Italy to visit where I had studied abroad in college. My in laws came with us and we had a wonderful 10 night trip to Rome, Florence and Venice in Italy.

Using the bonuses from 2 American Airlines Barclays cards we got 4 flights to Rome from Charlotte and 4 flights from Venice to Charlotte. We were able to utilize the off peak AA pricing which makes economy flights to Europe 22,500 points each way per person.

TOTAL FOR 4 TICKETS: 180,000 AA miles

Using Chase points we transferred points to World of Hyatt to book 3 nights at the Tribune in Rome. We got a bigger room to sleep 4 people and paid 21,000 points a night. We loved the hotel and the location near the Borghese Gardens was perfect for us due to the playground for our kids.

TOTAL FOR 3 NIGHTS IN ROME: 63,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards® (transferred to Hyatt)

Editor’s Note: This is the pricing for an off-peak night in a suite.

During the Chase Airbnb pay yourself back promo, I booked a darling Airbnb in the heart of Florence for 4 nights which slept all 6 of us. It was 79,143 points.

TOTAL FOR 4 NIGHTS IN FLORENCE: 79,142 Chase Ultimate Rewards

Our last hotel we actually loved called the Saturnia in Venice was in the heart of the city. We booked a great $200 per night cash rate for the four person hotel with breakfast included though the Chase Travel portal. My in laws paid only $100 a night for their two person room. It was an excellent hotel with wonderful service in a great location. We chose not to stay at the Hyatt on Murano due to the age of our children. We felt a more central location would work better for us and we were right. The cash price was worth it and we earned extra points booking through the portal.

Overall we had an amazing trip and our redemption’s were all great. We splurged on great tours of the Vatican, the Colosseum and the Uffizi since we saved so much in other areas. The food was amazing and our kids loved it. Even with the logistical challenges (a double stroller in Venice is not for the faint of heart!) we would do it again and hopefully will be back to Europe with kids. We are going on many points and miles trips this coming year as well.

Cards Hannah Used