Welcoming 2021

Starting off a year year is a great time to set travel goals. After the dumpster fire of 2020 we have a lot of pent up excitement to start traveling again once the pandemic gets under control. Our expectation is that the second half of 2021 is when things will start opening up and we are making our plans around that, though we are definitely making refundable plans to keep our flexibility in case things change.

Current Statuses

Most of our status from 2020 was extended, though my wife still re-qualified for Marriott Titanium with exactly 75 qualifying night last year. While she would have maintained her titanium status no matter what last year, Marriott gave out quite a few bonus qualifying nights. Coupled with some stays we had pre-pandemic and a couple short stays this summer and fall she had just enough nights to reach 75 nights which qualified her for 5 suite night awards. These are awards we can apply to stays to get priority for upgrades to suites, though they are not confirmed and seem to be of dubious use most of the time from what I read. We’ll see!

In addition, Titanium status allows my wife to get free Silver status on United which is good mostly for preferred seating assignments, priority baggage delivery, and a free bag for her and another person on the itinerary. When I book United flights for the four of us, I get 2 free bags and with her 2 free bags we get 4 free checked bags. It’s not huge but it helps when we travel.

I entered 2020 with the goal of building up my Hyatt status to compliment my wife’s Marriott status. I quickly was able to amass qualifying nights through some stays pre-pandemic and during the summer/fall, but mostly through bonus nights earned through credit card spend and other Hyatt bonus offers through the year. I ended the year with 72 qualifying nights. My staying more than 70 nights I also got an extra suite night upgrade certificates which I place enormous value on. Unlike with Marriott, the Hyatt suite night upgrade is guaranteed at booking time, so no waiting until a week or a few days before checking to know if you get the upgrade or not. Additionally, each certificate is an upgrade for your entire stay (up to 7 nights) while for Marriott you need one certificate per night you stay.

Additionally I also have IHG Platinum Elite status through a credit card I have. I keep the card because for the $49 annual fee I get a free night in an IHG hotel up to 40,000 points. This can come in useful when you just need a place to sleep for a night. And with dynamic pricing, you can stay in some nicer hotels during low seasons. Have my eye on a weekend staycation in the Intercontinental in Boston…. That said, we don’t stay in IHG properties a lot and the status doesn’t provide much in the way of perks so it’s not a big part of our planning process.

I had plans to attempt to earn JetBlue Mosaic status last year, but with the pandemic I didn’t fly very much so that didn’t happen.

Trip Planning for 2021

Our trip plans are going to be determined by the pandemic. Our expectations is that by the summer things will open up enough to attempt some domestic travel and by the end of the year we’ll be able to plan some international travel.

We had originally planned for a ski trip to Vail in February, but have had to cancel that due to travel restrictions and the fact I missed a deadline for buying the ski passes. Since only pass holders can ski in Vail and I missed the deadline we wouldn’t have been able to ski anyways. I normally would have bought the passes earlier, but held off due to the uncertainty with travel restrictions. In the end it’s a good thing because using the pass locally wouldn’t have been feasible since all the resorts associated with the pass are out of state and would require us to test/quarantine in order to go there. We’ll push this trip to 2022!

The boys will be going to their sleep away camp again this summer. The plan is currently for them to go for 7 weeks instead of the pandemic-shortened 5 week session they had last year. They can’t wait for it! While they are at camp, my wife and I are planning a west coast trip to celebrate our 22nd anniversary (because we missed 20 and 21 so why not!). We’re looking to start in Santa Barbara before heading south to Huntington Beach and the San Diego area. We’ve made some tentative bookings at Hyatt hotels. We’ll likely work during this trip since we both work remotely anyways, though we’ll plan to take long weekends to see the sights as well.

After camp, the boys are talking about going up to Bar Harbor like we did last year. If I plan ahead we can try to stay a little longer and take in more of the sights and climb some more mountains! It worked really well last year as a way to decompress from camp and I expect it will this year as well.

The fall will be full of soccer activities so we won’t have a lot of time to get away. We’re always looking for an excuse to travel for a tournament, though! I’m also hoping to go on a family golf trip in November with my dad, though those plans are still in quite a bit of flux.

At the end of next year we’re looking to make another trip to Dubai. We has so much fun there in 2018 we wanted to go back in 2020 but COVID-19 restrictions made that impractical. Our hope is that by 2021 things will be opened up. We’re making some preliminary hotel bookings as placeholders.

Looking at the different hotels and suite upgrades we may be able to get is exciting. The potential to stay in multi-thousand-dollar a night suites for just a few points gets our juices flowing.

2021 Status Goals

Given that 8 days into 2021 I already prequalified for Hyatt Globalist status, I’m definitely going to be spending a lot of time in Hyatt properties this year (and next). I’ve found a lot of value in the program based on our needs. From guaranteed breakfast for all the family to guaranteed suite upgrades it remove much of the ambiguity of the Marriott program benefits that have driven me nuts in the past.

The points are also extremely valuable and relatively easy for us to earn since Chase Ultimate Rewards can be transferred to Hyatt. I’m easily getting 2 cents or more per point with Hyatt vs three quarters of a cent per point with Marriott most of the time. We will continue to try to earn as many Ultimate Rewards points as we can this year.

While our primary focus in on Hyatt stays, Marriott has a lot more hotels so some places simply won’t have Hyatt hotels or ones that fit our needs. We expect we’ll stay at least a few nights in Marriott hotels this year, but we won’t be re-qualifying with the required 75 nights for titanium status again this year. I expect we’ll get close to 50 qualifying nights, though. If Marriott has lucrative bonus offers we might look to try to get to 75, but it won’t be a priority.

As for airline status, my wife will retain her United Silver status due to her Titanium status. I will not be planning to go for JetBlue status this year as I don’t believe I’ll be flying enough for that. I’ll concentrate my flying on JetBlue and United this year as they offer the most flights to the destinations I frequent from Boston.

Conclusion

Overall it is expected to be a lighter-than-usual travel year, but we have some fun trips in the works. Of course things could change due to the pandemic and we are keeping our options open while trying to stay optimistic.