While we were planning a week long trip to Singapore this June, we got quotes from websites, vacation planners, tour operators etc. All of them were broadly in the range of 60-70k/person (i.e. 120-140k for a couple) and despite that they neither cover all the places we wanted to visit nor the entire cost. What it meant was our end-to-end trip would easily cost us ~150-170k.
It was then I decided to explore the power of credit card points and voila! Our Singapore trip in the end cost us just 94k i.e 47k/ person all inclusive, including visa and insurance charges.
Here the major items where I saved lots of money:
Flight Tickets: Redeemed my Citibank Premiermiles points on MMT for flight tickets. End result – Return ticket for 2 which would have cost 46k on Singapore Airlines, we ended up paying just 4Rs. (It’s not a typo, just Rs. 4). So straight saving of 46000.
Hotels: We decided to stay in 2 hotels during our stay (Hotel Nostalgia and Yotel Singapore). Here too, I used my Yes Bank credit card points to book Hotel Nostalgia for 2 nights. Typical room cost is ~7400/night, but I paid just 119 for 2 nights (Again its not a typo, 119 for 2 nights for a boutique hotel in Singapore). Savings of ~14500.
For remaining days, I used MMT clubbed with Citibank offer where I saved ~8000 on the other 4 nights.
Thus in all, using my credit card points and offers I straightaway saved ~70000 on flights and hotel bookings.
How do have so much points on cards? Simple! Put all expenses on credit card, be it utility bills, insurance premiums (life + medical), groceries, house rent, payment to dhoodhwala etc, just about everything on credit card.
Again, it’s not that I earned all these points in one year, these points have been accumulated over the last 2-3 years.
Will write more about the credit cards (Citibank Premiermiles and Yes Bank credit card) I use, plus other savings that I did on Singapore vacation in upcoming posts.
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booking with points is also one kind of spending , isn’t it?
may be thats reserve booking.