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I must admit, first and foremost, that this title is in some ways a misnomer: While I can teach you how to get a free ocean view king suite at the Ritz in St. Thomas and fly there for free, you certainly will not get off the island without spending anything – the food at the Ritz is priced for the type of clientele who actually can afford rooms that normally run you $1,000/night, so you should plan your indulging accordingly.

The other ~ fun and flirty ~ disclaimer I want to make from the jump is that credit card hacking is not a strategy to employ if you (a) have a lot of credit card debt or (b) have a low credit score – I hate to discriminate, but if you feel like you’re still getting your rudimentary financial ducks in a row (i.e., paying off credit card debt and repairing your credit score), I’d recommend shelving this strategy for now and revisiting it after you’ve gotten back to baseline (and if you’d like to read more about my strategies for high-interest debt payoff, you can check out this post).

Now that we’ve got our basics out of the way, read this post keeping one more thing in mind…

You can employ this strategy to any trip – many of the takeaways are widely applicable and can be used regardless of whether you’re duplicating this vacation or another one.

That said, traveling during the COVID-19 pandemic worked in our favor since base prices were lower. You’ll reap this same benefit if you choose to travel in early 2021; beyond that, I’m not sure. We joked while we were there that – points or no points – this was probably the sweet spot for being able to afford a place where even their low occupancy COVID pricing still reached nearly $1,000/night.

I include a few notes about referrals within this post; please be sure to read them closely as I’ll always be honest with you about whether your best bet is the referral or to apply directly.

Today, I’ll show you how to duplicate a trip we went on in December 2020: 

4 days and 3 nights at the Ritz Carlton, a 5-star resort, in St. Thomas, USVI.

Had we paid in doll-hairs for this swanky getaway, it would’ve set us back:

• Ocean View King Suite for our stay: $979/night ($2,937 total)

• Roundtrip flights on American Airlines from DFW to STT: $325/each, which was a steal because #COVID ($650 total)

• Because of our points strategy, we saved: $3,587 total

• …but because it’s still the freaking Ritz and that shit ain’t all-inclusive, we ended up spending about $900 while we were there on a $300 catamaran cruise [the Maho Bay tour on the Ritz’s boat, the Lady Lynsey; WELL worth the price] and $600 on food and drinks for two 

Since we got the room and flights for free, we were pretty liberal with our food and drinks – fat tips, expensive entrees, etc. – I think we probably could’ve shaved that food budget in half if we made our own drinks, bought more groceries, and didn’t order room service.

I will say, though, part of the benefit of taking a really fancy trip on points is that you feel a lot better about balling out on $16 piña coladas.

Let’s start with the room. 

Staying at the Ritz with Marriott Bonvoy points

Theoretically, you’re probably traveling with another person. Whether that’s a boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife, or a friend, it’s useful to get this human onboard with your travel hacking mentality: Cue a referral party, table for 2.  

Thomas and I both applied for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card ($95 annual fee) during the 100,000-point sign-up bonus. That’s 200,000 right away, and you and your travel partner can easily enact the exact same thing.  

We both spent about $5,000 on the card to earn the signup bonuses, which resulted in another ~5,000 points each, which got us up to 210,000 (you can transfer your points to another Bonvoy member, so Thomas transferred his to me so we could bank them in my account because I have Gold Elite status – more on that in a minute).

To transfer your points, all you have to do is call Bonvoy. They always answer quickly and you merely have to give them the name and member number of the person you’re sending your points to, and they appear almost immediately – we’ve done this twice now, and it’s always seamless (downloading the Bonvoy app makes this process even smoother). 

I referred a few readers on Money with Katie which got us up to 270,000 points (20,000 points per referral), and we redeemed 255,000 points (85,000 per night) for the Ritz. This is something anyone can do: refer friends, family, post your link on Facebook to all the 40-year-olds you know who still use Facebook… the options are endless.

Keep in mind that I redeemed my points for the cheapest room available, which was a “resort view king.”

Quick note on my Bonvoy referral: If you apply through my link, you’ll receive three free night credits for 35,000-point nights. Obviously, that won’t work for the Ritz, where you’re looking at 85,000 points per night. If you’d like to go to the Ritz or another property with a super-high nightly rate, I’d recommend applying through a regular 100,000-point application. However, if you plan to enact this strategy for a resort where the price is 35,000 points per night or fewer (which is actually quite easy to find; our resort in Aruba was 35,000 points per night), you’re better off using this referral link because 35,000 * 3 = 105,000 points of value.

If you’re interested in applying for the “three free nights in a 35,000-point nightly rate,” you can do so below. If you want to know more about the Bonvoy card in general, I’m linking my O.G. post about it here.

Learn more about the Bonvoy card

*The above link will take you to the referral offer, which is three free nights valued at 35,000 points each, after spending $1,000 in three months.

Getting upgraded

Because I have the American Express Platinum card, we get automatic Gold Elite status at Marriott hotels. This is super lucrative for occasions like these where upgrades are valuable and the better rooms cost substantially more – not so much at your neighborhood Courtyard Marriott.  

When we were checking in, the receptionist thanked us for our loyalty (because of our Gold Elite status) and I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I’m just a merciless credit card applicant stacking statuses and points like it’s my day job.

Because of our status, she upgraded us from the cheapest room that we booked with points to the aforementioned ocean view suite with the low, low price tag of $979/night.

While this isn’t a necessary part of your strategy (and it’s possible to get upgraded by just asking, if you’re lucky or shameless about slipping the front desk man or woman a $20 bill), I employ the Platinum card as a larger part of my travel hacking strategy and I think it’s more than worth the annual fee if you want to get metaphoric Rich Person Doors® opened for you while you travel at steep discounts on points (jump-cut to a montage of me double-fisting complimentary mimosas in the business class lounge surrounded by confused middle-aged men in suits on expense accounts). 

If the $550 annual fee is a showstopper for you, I’d recommend checking out this post next about how we’ve used the AmEx Platinum travel portal for insane ongoing benefits and this post about negotiating annual fees (which sounds scary but is actually pretty simple).

Learn more about the Platinum card

*The above is my affiliate link; it’ll route you to my card partner, Milevalue, where you can follow the prompts to get your own Platinum card. I know it’s a wonky path, but using this link gives me a small kickback for your application if you feel so inclined.

Redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points for flights on American Airlines

When it comes to the travel rewards game, Chase Ultimate Rewards points are arguably the most valuable currency you have. They’re flexible, easy-ish to earn, and generally very valuable.  

Because none of the travel portals allow you to transfer directly to American Airlines (bastards!), we had to book American flights directly in the Ultimate Rewards portal (when you’re flying from Dallas internationally, usually American is the option that makes the most sense).

If you happen to live in a place that has a lot of United Airlines flights, I bet you’ll get a better value transferring your Chase points to United and redeeming directly on their site (but obviously check both the Ultimate Rewards portal and United’s site first). Need help with a transfer? You can follow a step-by-step for transferring points out of your Chase portal here (the linked article is specific to Hyatt, but the process is mostly the same).

I read on TripAdvisor that during “normal” times, flights to the USVI run you $575+ per roundtrip. I guess we can thank the pandemic for prices closer to $325/person (silver linings, I suppose).  

Note that the USVI does require a negative COVID test to visit; we took rapid tests at a local Urgent Care. My health insurance covered mine completely, but the out-of-pocket cost was $160 at the location we visited so that’s something to keep in mind and plan for if you don’t have healthcare.  

Because I don’t mess with American Airlines credit cards (I don’t find their sign-up bonuses to be lucrative enough to justify adding them to my arsenal yet), I was poking around the Ultimate Rewards portal looking at flights. I noticed that I could get a roundtrip from DFW to STT for 25,000 points each, which felt like a pretty damn good deal for airfare.

I redeemed 50,000 points of my own for our flights (Thomas and I go back and forth; he redeemed 75,000 of his Chase points for our last trip to Hyatt Zilara), which covered the full cost of our would-have-been $650 airfare.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are pretty straightforward, and I’ve written about them extensively in the past if you’d like to dig deeper (I’m still waiting for Chase to crown me Chief Millennial Fan Girl and issue a sponsorship deal, but no such luck yet).

This post will help you understand your options when transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to high-value partners (versus accidentally blowing them on shitty redemption values or transferring them to low-value partners), in case you’re interested.

We both have the Chase Sapphire Preferred card ($95 annual fee), and I applied during a measly 50,000-point bonus period a few years ago. Thomas applied during a 60,000-point period on my referral (earning me 15,000 points) a few years later.

Right now, the bonus is 60,000 points, which is pretty damn valuable despite the fact that in the summer of 2021 it had inexplicably crawled up to a bonkers 100,000-point bonus before Chase got wise and tightened the purse strings).

The Sapphire Preferred is a no-brainer for anyone even remotely interested in travel hacking, but I’d discourage transferring Chase points to Bonvoy because Bonvoy points simply aren’t as valuable. Usually, the transfer is 1:1, which means you’d be devaluing your Chase point by making it a Bonvoy point (the post linked above about transfer partners should clear up confusion there).

Learn more about the Sapphire card

*The above is my affiliate link; it’ll route you to my card partner, Milevalue, where you can follow the prompts to get your own Platinum card. I know it’s a wonky path, but using this link gives me a small kickback for your application if you feel so inclined.

In summary

Depending on (a) when you’re traveling and (b) where you’re flying from, you can pretty easily duplicate this trip by pairing two Marriott Bonvoy Boundless cards and having at least one Chase Sapphire card.

Of course, if you’re employing this strategy with a friend, I’d recommend you both get both cards so you can decide who banks the Bonvoy points and redeems them and then pay for your flights independently (you can’t transfer Chase points back and forth unless you’re married, sadly).

If you feel so generously inclined, I would sincerely appreciate if you’d apply for the first card by using my referral links in this article so Points Mamí Katie can rack up more and test out more trip strategies.

If you’re feeling a little Scroogier about it and aren’t quite sure about me yet, no matter – I’d still love for you to try it out (just remember the note above about the Bonvoy referral; if you’re trying to duplicate this trip exactly and redeem for an 85,000-point room, the referral link isn’t your best bet since it gets you three free 35,000-point nights instead).

Once you get the first card, don’t forget to send YOUR referral link to your travel partner so you get the referral bonus, which will be worth an additional 15,000 or 20,000 points alone (same referral rules apply; if you need them to get another 100,000 points so you can combine, I wouldn’t send them a referral since the referral offer differs from the regular – if you’re going to do six nights at a 35,000-point property, though, you’re in business to use and send referral links).

If you were to duplicate our exact trip, you’d reap about $3,500 in value, and beyond that, I’d recommend budgeting about $400 per person for food and drinks while you’re on the island and another $120 each for the taxi to and from the airport (you can probably find something cheaper, but the roads are a little crazy so you probably want to find someone reliable or go through the hotel).

While it’s not completely free like the all-inclusive Hyatt Zilara in Cancun (my original post about how to go there for free is linked here), you’re essentially going to spend about $500 each for a $5,000 vacation – and you could potentially spend a lot less on food and drink if you planned groceries and such accordingly (but where’s the fun in that?!). 

Other posts to check out if you’re into traveling for free

I wrote a pretty beefy guide to my travel hacking strategy that still rings true. If you want to zoom out a little from this particular trip and read more about how I’ve stacked the cards I’ve chosen and why, you can check out the broader strategy.  

I’ve also amended the guide for couples who want to play the referral game with one another (which I alluded to in this post) to generate $7,000+ in travel value, and that’s linked here. Nothing like a good exercise in the logistics of scamming a credit card company to bring you and your loved one closer together!

Editor’s Note: Opinions expressed here are mine alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included in the post.