How we did a $7500 trip to Bora Bora for $1300

I’ve alluded to the fact that we used frequent flyer miles and hotel points to get free flights and free nights during our round the world trip, but I’ve never gone into detail about how we accomplished that.  I figured our recent trip to Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora deserved a post explaining how we use miles and points to travel frequently, at a fraction of the cost.

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The Short and Long of It

(prices are in USD, and the amount shown is the total for 2 people)

So, as most people who know us know, we travel the way we do because of credit cards.  Lots of them.  And no, we do not rack up huge bills, buying unnecessary things.  We only buy what we would normally buy, and we pay our balance in full every month.  All the cards we use overseas do not have foreign transaction fees.  This method also only works if you have good credit, and pay your balance every month.

The easiest way for us to get to Tahiti, was to fly with Air New Zealand.  They are in the Star Alliance, with United, meaning we could use United miles to book flights on Air New Zealand.  At the time, I only had 8,000 United miles in my account, but needed 90,000 to book the flights.  Chase Ultimate Rewards is a travel partner of many different airlines, meaning it is possible to transfer them from Chase to the airline of your choice.  So, I transferred 30,000 points from my Chase Sapphire preferred and 52,000 points from my Chase Ink account to my United frequent flier account.  We had to pay $333.40 in fees.  United recently changed their rules, but when I booked flight, they allowed a stopover on a round trip award ticket.  So, we spent a day in Auckland, New Zealand at no additional cost, before heading to Tahiti.

We both have the IHG credit card, which is great because we stay at these properties a lot.  When we first got the cards, we received 70,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months.  The card also gives us each one free night certificate in any IHG hotel annually.  I can’t say it’s truly a free night, because there is a $49 annual fee.  However, when it’s used to stay in a $1,000/night room, it is more than worth it.  IHG also runs a lot of promotions, allowing us to rack up a fair number of points with relative ease.  And when we pay for IHG rooms or dinner at these hotels, we get 5 points/$.

Card holders automatically gain platinum status, and somehow Paul has managed to attain spire elite status, which is even higher than platinum.  Having status with IHG means we get free upgrades when they are available.  It’s not something we can ever count on, or expect, but it’s a nice perk when it does happen.  And we were upgraded at each of the hotels we stayed at during this trip.

Each hotel only releases a few rooms that can be booked with points or certificates each day.  And since everyone wants to use their points in places like  Bora Bora, these rooms book out fast.  I began booking the Bora Bora rooms a year ago, when they first became available.  When I reserved them, they were 50,000 points/night, but they have since increased to 60,000 points.

Item	Miles/airline (total for 2)	Actual amount paid	Value including upgrade	Which credit cards helped
Flight ADL—> AKL (stopover) —>PPT —>ADL	90000 miles (United)	333.40	2192.00	Chase sapphire preferred                   Chase Ink
MOZ—>BOB—>PPT	Paid 🙁 BUT used $250 airline credit with Citi Prestige	609.31	859.31	Citi Prestige
Crown Plaza Auckland 1/26	25,000 (IHG)	0	255.06	IHG
IC Tahiti 1/27	n/a cause I’m an idiot	305.60	422.90	paid night, but got points using IHG card
IC Moorea 1/28	40,000 (IHG)	0	545.41	IHG
IC Moorea 1/29	40,000 (IHG)	0	545.41	IHG
IC Le Moana 1/30	Free anniversary night	49 (annual  fee)	662.08	IHG
IC Le Moana 1/31	50,000 (IHG)	0	1036.33	IHG
IC Le Moana 2/1	Free anniversary night	49 (annual fee)	1036.33	IHG
Total		1346.31	7554.83

Obviously we had to pay for things like food, and transportation on the islands, but we minimized costs by taking buses and free shuttles when available.  For instance, the Intercontinental Bora Bora Le Moana charges $60/per person each way for boat transfer from the airport to the hotel.  That’s $240 just for transport on one island!  Instead, we took the free Air Tahiti boat from the airport to Vaitape, then a $5/pp shuttle to the hotel.

On the return trip, we took a $20 taxi to the boat, then the free shuttle to the airport.  We did that $240 transfer for $30, and it probably only took us 15minutes longer than the other guests.  We also cut costs by only buying dinner.  We brought enough food with us to have breakfast, lunch and snacks each day in our rooms.  Our suitcases were filled with oatmeal, instant coffee, canned tuna, instant noodles, couscous, and granola bars.  Honestly, we don’t eat enough for breakfast and lunch to justify paying $80 a day for each meal, which is what the resorts charge.

We also bought alcohol at duty free, so we didn’t spend quite as much at the bar.  We really only went for happy hour, when cocktails were 1/2 price.   But, another perk of having status with IHG, is they often give us vouchers for free drinks.  So, we got to enjoy free G&Ts in Auckland, Mai Tais in Moorea, and beers in Bora Bora.

It has never been a goal of mine to have this blog be focused on credit cards, or the ins and outs of frequent flyer programs.  There are enough blogs out there explaining that stuff.  I prefer to focus on the character of a place, and sometimes, to share my feelings and anxieties.  However, I felt like I should explain how we are able to travel so frequently.  Whenever I told anyone that we were going to Bora Bora, I had the need to qualify it with a statement like, “but we’re not really paying that much for it…..we’re using a bunch of free nights,” then, I’d launch into a convoluted, incomprehensible explanation.  Perhaps I’ve been feeling guilty that we have been lucky enough to travel so much.  Or perhaps I just wish to show others that it’s not that hard.  At any rate, I wanted to demonstrate exactly how we made this trip happen on miles and points.  Hopefully it has been helpful to some.