The bum is on vacation in Bali: here's how I used points to not spend a fortune and have a 5-star trip
Finally vacation!!! Those who read TFC often see me flying around the world, but those are tour de force [...]
Qatar Airways
Oneworld
Indonesia
Marriott
Recommended by TFC
Finally vacation!!! Those who read TFC often see me flying around the world, but those are work tours de force, This year I am at 108 flights, totaling 423 hours spent in the air and 282k km traveled, I am not crazy to keep these numbers, but I use App in the Air which is free and not only records my activities, helps me in my travels, but also allows me to "play" with friends and see who travels the most, where and to meet at airports.
If you want to get in touch download the App and add THEFLIGHTCLUB to your contacts and you can see how you rank with your friends and globally.
The business flight with Qatar
We arrived in Bali two days ago and ours will be a vacation at 80% paid for with points. We departed from Milan with Qatar in business class, two tickets (Marika's and Bete's) paid for with points and my cash, I could have saved, but I would not have accumulated qualifying points useful for status (other than avios for award flights), so in all, we spent 320k avios and just over €3,050 for three tickets to Indonesia, so about the same economic outlay as three economy tickets.
My choice to pay stems from the need to accumulate Tier points in my BA Executive Club card. Through this ticket I accumulate more than 1/3 of the points needed to renew the Gold level, 560 out of 1500, and over 17 thousand avios points.
It was to be an itinerary entirely in QSuite, but the gods of Qatar have decided to change our plans By changing our planes.
The hotels
We will stay 14 days on the island and hop from hotel to hotel., in total we will visit 5 hotels and of course I aimed for Hilton and Marriott where to use the points and accumulate qualifying points and nights.
Unlike award flights, when you stay using points you get points and the nights you stay count toward status renewal. Of course some people might turn their noses up at so much travel, but we don't mind and it's nice to see new places.
We chose the top that the two chains have to offer: W Hotel Bali, The Ritz Carlton Bali, Madapa The Ritz Carlton Reserve Ubud, Conrad Bali and Hilton Bali.
We could also have opted for "low-cost" solutions and focused on the entry-level insignia on the island com Aloft, Garden Inn and Moxy, but I opted for interesting establishments to review for TFC readers, in short I sacrificed myself for you.
W Bali
This is the facility where we will spend the most nights, having booked with points we chose to do 5 nights and the reason is well known to those who read TFC: if you book with points the 5th night is free.
The 5 nights cost us 205,600 points, or a little more than 40k points per night for a facility that in the basic room has an average cost of about €300 per night.
I also requested A guaranteed upgrade through the use of 5 SNAs, but unfortunately the morning before check-in I received negative results.
Little bad because it got even better for us. Upon arrival we were moved from the basic room booked with points to a Private Villa with pool, in a nutshell a room that cost more than twice as much and really made our stay special (from which I am writing this article) .
The Ritz Carlton Bali
After the W we will move for two nights to The Ritz Carlton Bali. Not only is RC one of the most luxurious signings in the Marriott portfolio along with the St. Regis, but it is one of the most beautiful facilities on the entire island (to read the reviews).
In this case it will be a paid cash stay, now and then the points must also be accumulated to spend them.
Conrad Bali
This is a facility that I also wanted to visit the first time we were in Indonesia, but we had not been able to book it at a humane price. This time, however, we succeeded. Sure during lockdowno the rooms were being sold at 40$ per night, but we are no longer in that dark period.
Conrad is one of the top insignia of the Hilton family and here in Bali it is, arguably, the largest hotel on the entire island. This stay is also paid for in cash because the sub-€200 per night rate was much cheaper than using points.
Madapa, The Ritz Carlton Reserve Ubud
This will be the treat of the whole vacation, two nights in one of the most exclusive hotels that belongs to the collection "Reserve" consisting of only 6 hotels worldwide, Four are in Asia and two in the Caribbean.
Until recently it was not possible to book with points, but now it is and anizchè to pay the approximately 1800€ per night I preferred to use points, 98k points per night almost what the most expensive facilities in the Maldives cost, but we are talking about a very unique hotel, a true sanctuary. Not having enough points in my account I transferred from Memberbership Rewards to Marriott and booked.
Hilton Bali
The last stay will be in the least "special" hotel of all, but it will only be for one night before going home, so that's just fine.
In conclusion
Two weeks of working vacation or working vacation, but trying to spend as little as possible by staying and traveling as best as possible.
Our private villa at W Hotel Bali
We could have done everything with points and/or spent less than half the points, the beauty of this world is that each user can build his or her own ideal vacation. Just think that in Bali there is one of the cheapest hilton in the world, at the Garden Inn you can stay by spending 5 thousand points per night, so thanks to the 5th night free we could have done 14 days using even just 60k Hilton Honors points, but it certainly would not have been the same vacation.
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