Family Travel with Points and Miles
While the hotel planning was happening in parallel with choosing our flights, we didn't solidify booking any hotels until the flights were booked. South Beach Hotel Due to availability and the number of points we had available, we decided we wanted to split our trip between South Beach and Miami proper. It would also give… Continue reading Miami 2022: Hotel Planning
Towards the end of 2021 I had a lot of free night certificates from both Hyatt and Marriott. While the Marriott ones got extended to mid-2022, the Hyatt ones were set to expire on or before the end of February 2022. Since we had already qualified for our Hyatt and Marriott status for 2022, it… Continue reading Quick Trip: January 2022
Tampa Hotel We knew we wanted a beach hotel in Tampa. We had looked at going to Tampa before and knew the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach was our likely destination. The hotel is very close to the beach and the rooms looked promising from the pictures and descriptions. The cash rate was about $320/night and… Continue reading Tampa 2021: Hotels
Since we were planning our flights only a few weeks before travel, and most of New England also had the same school vacation, demand and prices were high on tickets. The boys had soccer on both weekends so we’d need to fly out either Sunday night or Monday morning and return on Friday night or… Continue reading Tampa 2021 – Flight Planning
At the time we were making these plans, Marriott was having a sort of "sale" on points bookings. Marriott will normally have different points prices on a property with low, standard, and high season rates based on their category. For a category 5 property it'll be either 30,000, 35,000, or 40,000 points per night based… Continue reading Miami 2021 – Hotel Planning
We would have three different hotels to plan. Our first night would be a quick one night stay in Fort Lauderdale. Then we would have a seven night stay in Fort Myers and finally a nine night stay in Orlando. Fort Lauderdale We just needed a single night stay. We were looking for someplace convenient,… Continue reading Florida 2020 – Hotel Planning
Tomatico was fortunate that his fall soccer season wasn’t canceled like his spring season. While his teams had to play with slightly different rules and had to wear a mask while playing, at least they were able to hold the seasons and we were all thankful for that distraction. For one of his teams he… Continue reading Quick Trip: Portsmouth New Hampshire – October 2020
After our first COVID-era trip to Boston a few weeks earlier and with the boys still away at summer camp, my wife and I looked a little for other mini-staycations. At the time, COVID restrictions between New England states were strict with many requiring a 14-day quarantine. New Hampshire had a quarantine rule, but you… Continue reading Quick Trip: Portsmouth New Hampshire – July 2020
NOTE -> This trip occurred pre-COVID-19 and feels like 100 years ago I had placeholder reservations in all three cities, but I wasn’t happy with any of my selections. I felt I could do better and I continued to try to find a solution I was more comfortable with. I had been going back and… Continue reading Spain 2020: Hotel Planning (Continued)
NOTE -> This trip occurred pre-COVID-19 and feels like 100 years ago I almost always book refundable rates for hotels because our plans are always changing and I'm always looking for the best deals. For this trip, the hotels were more challenging (and changing) than most trips and I utilized the refundable rates to our… Continue reading Spain 2020: Hotel Planning
Tomatico Travels 
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