February 10, 2025 • 25 mins
With spring break approaching, today’s episode focuses on last-minute travel destinations within the U.S. that can be booked using points. We share insights on family-friendly locations, tips for booking on points, and emphasize the importance of using travel rewards before they lose value.
• Discussing the growing trend of last-minute spring break travel
• Highlighting family-friendly destinations like Panama City Beach and Clearwater
• Exploring Washington, D.C. as a free and fun travel option
• Recommendations for enjoyable stays in San Diego and Hawaii
• Advising on how to effectively search and book last-minute trips
• Emphasizing the value of utilizing points for travel experiences
• Encouraging families to set out on spontaneous trips and make lasting memories
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you've been putting off booking a spring
break trip and think it's toolate, think again.
In today's episode we'resharing some last-minute spring
break destinations that haveavailability on points for the
month of March or April, andthey're all within the US, so no
passport required.
Listen in.
Hi, I'm Raya.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
And.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I'm Dwayne, and we are your hosts of the Travel
Party of Five podcast, where weshare how we travel as a family
of five around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
We will also share how we use points and miles to
travel as affordably as possibleand sometimes even completely
free.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
So if you're wanting to travel more with your family
but you're not sure how, we'dlove for you to listen in.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
So welcome to our podcast, where we hope you learn
a thing or two to get youcloser to your next trip hello,
(01:14):
welcome back.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Thanks for tuning in, welcome back to travel party of
five podcast.
So today's episode we werethinking that maybe some of you
are not like us and do not haveyour trips booked a full year in
advance.
I've been seeing a lot of postson Facebook, especially in
various groups around, lookingfor last minute spring break
destinations, and so I I kind ofthought like of places where we
(01:37):
would want to go on springbreak.
I looked up hotels that weeither are on our bucket list or
that we've previously stayed at, and I made a list of ones that
have some points availabilitythat you can book if you have
points.
So I thought we would justshare a few of those today and
maybe give you some last minutetrip ideas, either for this
(01:57):
spring break or, who knows, inthe future.
We're also going to share atthe end how we like if none of
the destinations that we listsound fun, I'm going to show you
how I would think throughbooking a last minute trip and
some tools that I would use.
How's that sound to you?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Sounds great and helpful.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Um, okay, so why don't we talk about I think I
also let me preface I was aimingfor more warm climate places on
this trip.
I feel like that is generallywhat people want For spring
break.
For spring break yeah, you know, it's coming off the end of
winter, especially if you livein a colder climate and you want
to get away somewhere warm.
The first place I thinkeveryone thinks about is Florida
(02:42):
.
Yes, so I looked up a fewproperties kind of in the
Orlando area and they werebooked.
But there's a couple of otherproperties that maybe might not
be on your radar but that couldbe just as fun.
Um, so the first one is Hyattplace, Panama city beach.
This is in the panhandle ofFlorida.
It's pretty close to Destin,which is a really beautiful
(03:06):
beach, and they haveavailability on points, and this
particular hotel is right onthe beach.
It is a high up place.
So, again, temper yourexpectations.
Not the fanciest, yeah, but itwould be a great hotel for
families.
We've never stayed there, butit's definitely high on my list
because my sister lives inTallahassee, which is nearby,
(03:31):
and the other Florida hotel thathas availability again, I was
looking for roughly five nightsmid-March We've actually stayed
at Maybe you want to talk about.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
It's the Hyatt Regency Clearwater.
Very nice hotel, great location, right across the street from
the beach, beautiful beaches.
Uh, they had a very big pool aswell.
Oh, was it big it was.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
it was an average, I remember great hotel for
families for sure we actuallystayed there before we got into
points and Miles, so we paidcash to stay there and at the
time we just had two kids, ourtwo boys.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, we were there, for we went to Disney World.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
We went to Orlando for my sister's college
graduation.
I previously lived in Orlando,if anyone doesn't know.
I graduated from UCF, goKnights, and my sister also
graduated from UCF, and so wewent for her college graduation
and we did a day at Disney andwe also did a night in
Clearwater.
So Clearwater is going to be onthe West coast of Florida,
(04:35):
north of Tampa, and it has someof the most beautiful beaches in
the world.
They are like white sandbeaches.
The water is warm and fairlycalm because you're right on the
Gulf of Mexico, so you're noton the Atlantic side, and it's
just.
It was a really fun hotel forkids.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
My favorite part of that trip was driving around the
Scientology headquarters andlooking for Scientologists.
I thought that was great.
Yes, I was looking for TomCruise.
And what's the Heather or noRemini, oh Leah Remini.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, she's not a Scientologist anymore.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
But I was hoping she was out there doing like some
filming Protesting.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yes, scientology does have a big like campus.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
It's like their headquarters.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah, in Clearwater and you can drive around it.
If I remember correctly, itlooked fairly empty, which is
hilarious.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And the people walking around seemed like they
were robots.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
I don't know, but Clearwater is a really fun,
family-friendly little town andagain, the beaches are beautiful
.
You can't beat it.
You could fly into eitherOrlando or Orlando or Tampa to
stay there, and again, they hadavailability middle of March.
I just think that it's.
It's not a property people talkabout a lot and so it's not as
(06:00):
popular as like a Hyatt Regency,Grand Cypress or something
which is pretty popular and isin Orlando.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, but you can't go wrong.
Hyatt Regency, clearwater.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, really beautiful.
Okay, our next destination isalso on the East Coast.
We also have used points tostay here, and it is Washington
DC.
We also have used points tostay here, and it is Washington
DC.
I think that DC is anincredibly underrated
destination for families,because a lot of the museums and
(06:34):
activities that you're going towant to do are completely free.
Yeah, so, in addition tobooking your hotel for free on
points, you can do a lot ofmuseums also completely free.
So really, your only expensethen is food and maybe parking
If you um are driving in.
(06:55):
We did not have a car there, sowe actually just use the Metro
to get around, which wascompletely fine, worked great
and also it was fairlyinexpensive.
Also, if you're going to go inthe spring, like March-ish, that
is cherry blossom time, so youmight get lucky and be able to
(07:16):
see the cherry blossoms bloom,which would be really beautiful.
There's lots of hotels therethat have availability, but a
few that I checked are theThompson, the Grand Hyatt, which
is where we stayed.
There's actually a metro stopdirectly in the hotel, so you
don't even need to go outside.
Also, the Hyatt Place,washington DC White House had
(07:38):
availability, and there's abunch of other properties there
too.
For Hyatt there's also aWaldorf or a Conrad, which are
both Hilton properties if youhave Hilton points, and those
are definitely more on thehigher luxury end.
But they did have standard roomrates available.
So if you had Hilton free nightcertificates, you could use
(07:59):
those there.
During that time.
We really liked Washington DC.
We were there for three nightsin the fall of 2023.
We went to visit my sister whoat the time was living in
Harrisonburg, virginia.
She used to work at JMU and Imean we really enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, I mean it's definitely great for families.
A lot of history there, so manyplaces to go and visit.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, we had some good meals.
You can book a White House tour, also for free.
You have to book through yoursenator, and I know that sounds
weird, but they generally allhave a White House tour form on
their website and that's how youwould do that, and then they
kind of let you know rightbeforehand if you've been
approved or not and like whatday and time your tour is, so
(08:45):
you can do that.
But, yeah, we really liked itwhen we went there.
It was an interesting mix oflike I guess I'm going to call
them like politicians, right,like we saw several politicians
eat while we were eating, comingin with like security but also
families, and so it was a.
It was an interesting mix of of, um, people, um, okay, now
(09:11):
we're gonna travel from the eastcoast to the west coast and
we're gonna say san diego, it'sone of our favorite destinations
, primarily because we can drivethere, but it's also really
beautiful and fun.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
So beautiful 65 degrees year round.
It's also really beautiful andfun.
So beautiful, 65 degrees yearround, it's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
It may not be as warm as you're expecting in March,
like Florida, will definitely bewarmer, so keep that in mind.
Also, the Pacific ocean is muchcolder than the Atlantic, so
also keep that in mind.
Um, there were a few hotels inSan Diego that still had
availability for mid March, umthe Hyatt Regency La Jolla,
which we've stayed at, and alsothe Park Hyatt Aviara, which
(09:49):
we've also stayed at, which isone of my favorite properties.
The Aviara is fantastic forfamilies.
We have a whole episode aboutit.
You can go back and listen.
It's from summer of last year.
They do turn down service,which I love, but they also have
a really great pool and allthat fun stuff.
It's really close to Legoland,so you could do Legoland for a
(10:11):
day.
You could drive over toOceanside and hang out for the
day.
Some of our other favoritehotels are the Seabird in
Oceanside.
We've stayed there severaltimes that actually did not have
availability or I would haverecommended it.
Um, but you, you cannot gowrong with the park Hyatt Aviara
and if you want to spend a fewless points again, the Hyatt
(10:32):
Regency La Jolla is a.
It's a still a really goodhotel.
It has, um, like fire pits andstuff.
It's probably still cool enoughat night to have a fire.
They do have a pool.
It's not a fancy pool but itgets the job done and it's in a
really good location.
You can easily drive to see theseals in La Jolla.
La Jolla in general is I reallyenjoy it.
(10:53):
There's like a Philz Coffee anda shopping plaza right behind
the hotel, so like a one-minutedrive.
They have a kava there.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
We've minute drive.
They have a kava there.
We've stayed there severaltimes.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Bunch of japanese restaurants, yeah, which is my
favorite.
So you can't like, you won't bedisappointed if you book there
and, you know, spend your timein san diego anywhere in san
diego.
There's, there's a hit yes, um,the other hotel that you could
do if you have hilton points isthe Hotel del Coronado is a
Hilton that is on CoronadoIsland.
We've never stayed there but itis on my list and they did have
(11:29):
standard room availabilityagain where you could use free
night certificates or book onpoints.
The other thing that's notnecessarily San Diego but is
kind of in the same area as theHyatt Regency Huntington Beach.
That's a couple of hours north,more towards LA.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
It's like right in the middle.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah, but they also had availability.
We've also stayed there.
We have a podcast episode onthat if you want to go back and
listen.
And that is also a really nicehotel for families.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yes, Huge property, multiple pools, right across the
street from the beach yep, lotsof things to do in the hotel.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
They have like a pizza place and an ice cream
shop, a bar, a little arcadepriorities yes, a small arcade.
Um, starbucks, yes.
So, again, really good propertyfor families and walkable to
like the downtown huntingtonbeach area too.
So that is it for like thesuper West coast.
(12:27):
Um, texas was another place onmy list.
Texas is never high on my listof like places to visit within
the U?
S, but there is a Hyattproperty that I think is really
good for families.
That's in the I'm pretty sureit's the San Antonio area.
(12:49):
It's called Hyatt Regency LostPines.
This is a hotel with so manyamenities that you could just go
there and stay there for fiveor six days and never leave and
have plenty to do.
So they have pools, they havelike all kinds of games that you
can play, they have a lazyriver and texas is fairly warm
in march.
So, and they did haveavailability.
(13:09):
Again on points for middle ofmarch.
Um, another location on thewest coast.
You want to talk about this one.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
We've stayed here so many times you're talking about
the grand hyatt, scottsdale.
Yeah, oh, perfect place forfamilies.
They have a great pool comeswith a water slide, a little
beach area that has sand, alittle splash pad in the middle,
um, they have a climbing rockwall, ping pong, a little
(13:40):
playground.
This is all at the pool.
Uh, we've been there wherethere has been um painter that
would come out and like paintt-shirts for your kids.
Oh, yeah, um, they also havelike a candy necklace or a candy
bar.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yes, that was during the summer, and they it was some
kind of month-long event wherethey had different events every
day.
So again, this is the GrandHyatt Scottsdale, formerly known
as the—.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Hyatt Regency, scottsdale.
So, they just renovated to makeit a grand.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
March.
Talk about coming here in March.
We live here, so it's not asexciting for us.
But if you don't live here,like what else is in March here,
oh Lord, spring training ishere in March.
So if you're a baseball fanlots of spring training games
around the valley.
It's a very popular time tovisit here because it's some of
(14:39):
our best weather it's not cold,not too hot right before the the
summer hits yes, and againspring training.
So scottsdale area, there's lotsof bars and shopping and and
all that.
Um, when is the phoenix open?
Is that also in march?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
the waste management is this weekend, oh okay, next
weekend oh, I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Yes, but yeah, spring training.
So if you're a baseball fan,it's a popular time and the
hotel is really beautiful.
They just finished renovatingit, so again now, like Dwayne
mentioned, it's a Grand Hyatt.
Excuse me, we've been goingthere every summer for probably
the last six or seven years.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
And our kids look forward to it every year.
It's fun.
So we definitely recommend that.
And they have availability onpoints again for mid-March,
which I was surprised by becauseagain it's a really popular
time to stay here.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
I mean, it's a huge property.
They have so many rooms.
That's probably why, yeah, andit's in a great location.
It's in bougie, scottsdale,where it's next to a bunch of
restaurants, the Fashion SquareMall.
It's not walkable.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Not walkable?
No, it's not walkable, so youwould need a car likely, or take
an Uber if you don't have a lotof plans, yeah, short.
Uber ride but it is close to alot of things.
Keeping with our West Coasttheme, I think if you're on the
West Coast, this is a viablespring break option.
If you're on the East Coast, itmakes it harder.
But Hawaii, you know, is aquick five to six hour flight
(16:13):
from the West Coast, dependingwhere you are.
And I checked the Hyatt RegencyMaui, which is our favorite
island and property on Hawaiithat we've been to, and they had
availability on points formiddle of March, which is our
favorite island and property onHawaii that we've been to, and
they had availability on pointsfor middle of March, which,
again, I was surprised by.
That's the time of year wherewe went in 2023.
I would still 100% recommend it.
(16:35):
We haven't been back since thefires, but Maui is just so
beautiful.
So again, maui Grand Hyatti,hyatt Regency Maui has
availability on points in March.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Go ahead.
I was going to say on the eastcoast you can go to Puerto Rico.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yes, puerto Rico, I think, is often overlooked.
You don't need a passport to gothere.
It's a US territory and thereis again a Hyatt there.
It's the Hyatt Regency GrandReserve.
Puerto Rico we have not been,but it looks stunning.
I've read a lot of good reviewsabout it and they have
availability on points for March.
(17:12):
If you're looking for atropical island feel but you
don't want to go far and youdon't want to go to Florida,
then consider Puerto Rico.
You still don't need a passportand most people speak English
there.
I've been to Puerto Rico once.
It was a long time ago and Iwas actually there for work,
which is a whole other story, soI didn't get to do anything fun
(17:34):
, but it was real.
I remember it was reallybeautiful flying over on the
plane.
Okay, so I feel like we'vegiven a good roundup of popular
and maybe some not so populardestinations, but if none of the
destinations that we talkedabout sound interesting or fun,
or maybe you've done them all,maybe you're like been there,
done that.
(17:54):
Here's how, like a fewdifferent ways that I would
approach finding a last minutespring break destination.
So there's a couple ofdifferent, like award search
tools that you can use to findeither hotels or flights.
Oh and again, going back toflights for all the places that
we mentioned, I mean Southwestflies to all of them.
(18:14):
If you have companion passes,then that's probably the route
that's going to make the mostsense.
If you don't, then I the waythat I would start is I would do
um, well, actually I would dowhat we're about to do, which is
points.
Yeah, dot com has a free likesearch tool where you can search
from one destination to anotherand get like the cheapest
(18:37):
points flights, basically.
Seatsarrow is another one.
I actually we pay for thepremium version of that.
I find that better because youcan look a year out, whereas if
you pay, if you use the freeversion of Seedsarrow, you're
limited to a certain timeframeand because we booked so far out
, we need that.
(18:58):
But pointsyeahcom is a prettygood tool for free and you can
do it one of two ways, so youcan look for a specific like
this city to this city, kind ofa thing.
Or what I think is more fun isthey have a tool called the
daydream explorer and you canbasically just put in the US to
the US, meaning like I want tostay within the US, but I'm open
(19:22):
to wherever.
Or you could put in your cityto wherever in the US and type
in the dates that you want to goand it will give you all kinds
of flights and their pointsvalue to give you some
additional ideas, and it'll tellyou like 25,000 points, you
know, to book this route orwhatever for flights For a new
destination or any of the onesthat we talked about today.
(19:43):
That is a good recommendation.
You can also start on GoogleFlights, and the way that I do
that is, I would start on GoogleFlights, I would look to see if
there's any airlines that offernonstop flights, because that
would be a priority for me,especially traveling with kids
and then I would go to thoseairlines specifically and figure
out okay, what points do I havethat can transfer to one of
(20:06):
these airlines that has anonstop flight?
If there is no nonstop flight,then I go to a minimum of one
stop, like we're not taking morethan one layover on a trip,
right?
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Right.
So too much of a headache withit's a pain.
Family of five yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
So, and then, as far as hotels go, like searching for
hotels in certain destinations,so aways is a tool you can use
for this.
I really like this tool,actually, with one exception you
are limited to, I think, fivefree searches, and so when
you're going to look on a ways Iwould already have your
(20:48):
location that you want to go tolike narrow down.
Because I didn't realize thisand I was using it and then they
were like, oh no, you'vereached your maximum number of
searches.
So then I thought, okay, maybeI'll upgrade to the premium
version, but the premium versionis also not unlimited searches,
it still has a limit.
And so I thought, well, I'm notdoing that, like I'm not, it
(21:11):
just seems silly.
Yes, so I really like the tooland if you don't know, a ways is
basically like you can put inokay, I want to visit, you know,
scottsdale, arizona, and itwill tell you what hotels are
available to book with points,and it will it will pull Hilton,
it will pull Hyatt, it willpull Marriott, it will pull
whatever you want it to pull, soyou can get a good idea of like
(21:33):
what, what hotels have pointsoptions available during your
dates.
So it's very specific and veryhelpful, but again, you're
limited on the number ofsearches you can do, so I would
not use that until you'vealready narrowed down where you
want to go.
The other one that you can useis Max, my Point, but for this
(21:55):
you have to have a specificproperty in mind.
So you would put in, forexample, the Hyatt Regency,
puerto Rico, you would searchfor that, and then you can look
at their calendar for the monthof February or March or April or
whatever, and it will tell youwhat nights have points rooms
availability, and then whatnights have cash.
And it will even tell you, like, if there's only a suite
(22:16):
available, you'll be able totell, because it'll be a high
number of points.
And so that's super helpful Ifyou know the property you want
to stay at and you're justtrying to figure out the dates,
especially because with Hyatt inparticular, it's kind of a pain
in the butt to findavailability because they have
their like award calendar.
But it doesn't mean there'savailability, it just means if
(22:38):
there is availability on thisdate, this is what it will cost
you to get a standard room.
And so, max, my point is saying, like, oh, there are points
rooms available, you know, onthese, whatever days.
You also can set up an alert Ifyou have the free version, which
is what I have.
You can only set up one alertat a time.
(23:00):
So we have an alert, forexample, for one of our Hyatts
in Japan.
We have one night that we needto book that doesn't have
availability because the flightthat we ended up getting back
was a day later than the day Iwanted it to be.
So that's what we have set upfor now, but, again, you can
(23:23):
only set up one alert at a timeif you have the free account.
So that's kind of how I wouldstart searching for a last
minute destination is.
I would use some of those tools, again keeping in mind the
limitations of a ways.
And again, if none of theplaces that we suggested today
sound fun, start with pointsyeahcom.
Use their daydream explorer.
(23:44):
Explorer, put in your homeairport and search to you know
wherever.
Maybe you have a passport andyou want to go outside the US.
That would be fantastic too.
It can help you find, like, thecheapest points flights
available.
I think that's a really funtool.
So I hope, if spring breakvacations are on your list, but
(24:04):
you haven't planned anything yet.
I hope that this was helpful.
And if you're sitting on pointsand you're just afraid to use
them, don't be because pointslose their value every single
day that they sit in youraccount.
Earn and burn that is the motto.
Airlines and hotels areconstantly doing devaluations.
Flying Blue just did one,marriott just did one, meaning
(24:28):
that it now costs more points tobook than it did a week ago.
So that's an example of pointsbeing devalued, like that's what
we mean when we say that.
And so if you are sitting on abuttload of points, you should
book a trip, and I hope that youtake this as your sign to do it
.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Yes, you got to use them.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Yep, if you have any questions, as always, find us on
Instagram at travel party offive.
I answer all questions sent tome over there and if you have
gotten any value out of thispodcast whatsoever, we ask that
you, number one, leave us arating or review wherever you
listen, and, number two, shareit with a friend.
(25:07):
We would greatly appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Yes, we appreciate you.
Thanks for listening.
Thank you, bye.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Catch you on the next one have a good one.
Bye.
If you've been putting off booking a spring
break trip and think it's toolate, think again.
In today's episode we'resharing some last-minute spring
break destinations that haveavailability on points for the
month of March or April, andthey're all within the US, so no
passport required.
Listen in.
Hi, I'm Raya.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
And.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I'm Dwayne, and we are your hosts of the Travel
Party of Five podcast, where weshare how we travel as a family
of five around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
We will also share how we use points and miles to
travel as affordably as possibleand sometimes even completely
free.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
So if you're wanting to travel more with your family
but you're not sure how, we'dlove for you to listen in.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
So welcome to our podcast, where we hope you learn
a thing or two to get youcloser to your next trip hello,
(01:14):
welcome back.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Thanks for tuning in, welcome back to travel party of
five podcast.
So today's episode we werethinking that maybe some of you
are not like us and do not haveyour trips booked a full year in
advance.
I've been seeing a lot of postson Facebook, especially in
various groups around, lookingfor last minute spring break
destinations, and so I I kind ofthought like of places where we
(01:37):
would want to go on springbreak.
I looked up hotels that weeither are on our bucket list or
that we've previously stayed at, and I made a list of ones that
have some points availabilitythat you can book if you have
points.
So I thought we would justshare a few of those today and
maybe give you some last minutetrip ideas, either for this
(01:57):
spring break or, who knows, inthe future.
We're also going to share atthe end how we like if none of
the destinations that we listsound fun, I'm going to show you
how I would think throughbooking a last minute trip and
some tools that I would use.
How's that sound to you?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Sounds great and helpful.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Um, okay, so why don't we talk about I think I
also let me preface I was aimingfor more warm climate places on
this trip.
I feel like that is generallywhat people want For spring
break.
For spring break yeah, you know, it's coming off the end of
winter, especially if you livein a colder climate and you want
to get away somewhere warm.
The first place I thinkeveryone thinks about is Florida
(02:42):
.
Yes, so I looked up a fewproperties kind of in the
Orlando area and they werebooked.
But there's a couple of otherproperties that maybe might not
be on your radar but that couldbe just as fun.
Um, so the first one is Hyattplace, Panama city beach.
This is in the panhandle ofFlorida.
It's pretty close to Destin,which is a really beautiful
(03:06):
beach, and they haveavailability on points, and this
particular hotel is right onthe beach.
It is a high up place.
So, again, temper yourexpectations.
Not the fanciest, yeah, but itwould be a great hotel for
families.
We've never stayed there, butit's definitely high on my list
because my sister lives inTallahassee, which is nearby,
(03:31):
and the other Florida hotel thathas availability again, I was
looking for roughly five nightsmid-March We've actually stayed
at Maybe you want to talk about.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
It's the Hyatt Regency Clearwater.
Very nice hotel, great location, right across the street from
the beach, beautiful beaches.
Uh, they had a very big pool aswell.
Oh, was it big it was.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
it was an average, I remember great hotel for
families for sure we actuallystayed there before we got into
points and Miles, so we paidcash to stay there and at the
time we just had two kids, ourtwo boys.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, we were there, for we went to Disney World.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
We went to Orlando for my sister's college
graduation.
I previously lived in Orlando,if anyone doesn't know.
I graduated from UCF, goKnights, and my sister also
graduated from UCF, and so wewent for her college graduation
and we did a day at Disney andwe also did a night in
Clearwater.
So Clearwater is going to be onthe West coast of Florida,
(04:35):
north of Tampa, and it has someof the most beautiful beaches in
the world.
They are like white sandbeaches.
The water is warm and fairlycalm because you're right on the
Gulf of Mexico, so you're noton the Atlantic side, and it's
just.
It was a really fun hotel forkids.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
My favorite part of that trip was driving around the
Scientology headquarters andlooking for Scientologists.
I thought that was great.
Yes, I was looking for TomCruise.
And what's the Heather or noRemini, oh Leah Remini.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, she's not a Scientologist anymore.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
But I was hoping she was out there doing like some
filming Protesting.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yes, scientology does have a big like campus.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
It's like their headquarters.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah, in Clearwater and you can drive around it.
If I remember correctly, itlooked fairly empty, which is
hilarious.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And the people walking around seemed like they
were robots.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
I don't know, but Clearwater is a really fun,
family-friendly little town andagain, the beaches are beautiful
.
You can't beat it.
You could fly into eitherOrlando or Orlando or Tampa to
stay there, and again, they hadavailability middle of March.
I just think that it's.
It's not a property people talkabout a lot and so it's not as
(06:00):
popular as like a Hyatt Regency,Grand Cypress or something
which is pretty popular and isin Orlando.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, but you can't go wrong.
Hyatt Regency, clearwater.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, really beautiful.
Okay, our next destination isalso on the East Coast.
We also have used points tostay here, and it is Washington
DC.
We also have used points tostay here, and it is Washington
DC.
I think that DC is anincredibly underrated
destination for families,because a lot of the museums and
(06:34):
activities that you're going towant to do are completely free.
Yeah, so, in addition tobooking your hotel for free on
points, you can do a lot ofmuseums also completely free.
So really, your only expensethen is food and maybe parking
If you um are driving in.
(06:55):
We did not have a car there, sowe actually just use the Metro
to get around, which wascompletely fine, worked great
and also it was fairlyinexpensive.
Also, if you're going to go inthe spring, like March-ish, that
is cherry blossom time, so youmight get lucky and be able to
(07:16):
see the cherry blossoms bloom,which would be really beautiful.
There's lots of hotels therethat have availability, but a
few that I checked are theThompson, the Grand Hyatt, which
is where we stayed.
There's actually a metro stopdirectly in the hotel, so you
don't even need to go outside.
Also, the Hyatt Place,washington DC White House had
(07:38):
availability, and there's abunch of other properties there
too.
For Hyatt there's also aWaldorf or a Conrad, which are
both Hilton properties if youhave Hilton points, and those
are definitely more on thehigher luxury end.
But they did have standard roomrates available.
So if you had Hilton free nightcertificates, you could use
(07:59):
those there.
During that time.
We really liked Washington DC.
We were there for three nightsin the fall of 2023.
We went to visit my sister whoat the time was living in
Harrisonburg, virginia.
She used to work at JMU and Imean we really enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, I mean it's definitely great for families.
A lot of history there, so manyplaces to go and visit.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, we had some good meals.
You can book a White House tour, also for free.
You have to book through yoursenator, and I know that sounds
weird, but they generally allhave a White House tour form on
their website and that's how youwould do that, and then they
kind of let you know rightbeforehand if you've been
approved or not and like whatday and time your tour is, so
(08:45):
you can do that.
But, yeah, we really liked itwhen we went there.
It was an interesting mix oflike I guess I'm going to call
them like politicians, right,like we saw several politicians
eat while we were eating, comingin with like security but also
families, and so it was a.
It was an interesting mix of of, um, people, um, okay, now
(09:11):
we're gonna travel from the eastcoast to the west coast and
we're gonna say san diego, it'sone of our favorite destinations
, primarily because we can drivethere, but it's also really
beautiful and fun.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
So beautiful 65 degrees year round.
It's also really beautiful andfun.
So beautiful, 65 degrees yearround, it's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
It may not be as warm as you're expecting in March,
like Florida, will definitely bewarmer, so keep that in mind.
Also, the Pacific ocean is muchcolder than the Atlantic, so
also keep that in mind.
Um, there were a few hotels inSan Diego that still had
availability for mid March, umthe Hyatt Regency La Jolla,
which we've stayed at, and alsothe Park Hyatt Aviara, which
(09:49):
we've also stayed at, which isone of my favorite properties.
The Aviara is fantastic forfamilies.
We have a whole episode aboutit.
You can go back and listen.
It's from summer of last year.
They do turn down service,which I love, but they also have
a really great pool and allthat fun stuff.
It's really close to Legoland,so you could do Legoland for a
(10:11):
day.
You could drive over toOceanside and hang out for the
day.
Some of our other favoritehotels are the Seabird in
Oceanside.
We've stayed there severaltimes that actually did not have
availability or I would haverecommended it.
Um, but you, you cannot gowrong with the park Hyatt Aviara
and if you want to spend a fewless points again, the Hyatt
(10:32):
Regency La Jolla is a.
It's a still a really goodhotel.
It has, um, like fire pits andstuff.
It's probably still cool enoughat night to have a fire.
They do have a pool.
It's not a fancy pool but itgets the job done and it's in a
really good location.
You can easily drive to see theseals in La Jolla.
La Jolla in general is I reallyenjoy it.
(10:53):
There's like a Philz Coffee anda shopping plaza right behind
the hotel, so like a one-minutedrive.
They have a kava there.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
We've minute drive.
They have a kava there.
We've stayed there severaltimes.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Bunch of japanese restaurants, yeah, which is my
favorite.
So you can't like, you won't bedisappointed if you book there
and, you know, spend your timein san diego anywhere in san
diego.
There's, there's a hit yes, um,the other hotel that you could
do if you have hilton points isthe Hotel del Coronado is a
Hilton that is on CoronadoIsland.
We've never stayed there but itis on my list and they did have
(11:29):
standard room availabilityagain where you could use free
night certificates or book onpoints.
The other thing that's notnecessarily San Diego but is
kind of in the same area as theHyatt Regency Huntington Beach.
That's a couple of hours north,more towards LA.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
It's like right in the middle.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah, but they also had availability.
We've also stayed there.
We have a podcast episode onthat if you want to go back and
listen.
And that is also a really nicehotel for families.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yes, Huge property, multiple pools, right across the
street from the beach yep, lotsof things to do in the hotel.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
They have like a pizza place and an ice cream
shop, a bar, a little arcadepriorities yes, a small arcade.
Um, starbucks, yes.
So, again, really good propertyfor families and walkable to
like the downtown huntingtonbeach area too.
So that is it for like thesuper West coast.
(12:27):
Um, texas was another place onmy list.
Texas is never high on my listof like places to visit within
the U?
S, but there is a Hyattproperty that I think is really
good for families.
That's in the I'm pretty sureit's the San Antonio area.
(12:49):
It's called Hyatt Regency LostPines.
This is a hotel with so manyamenities that you could just go
there and stay there for fiveor six days and never leave and
have plenty to do.
So they have pools, they havelike all kinds of games that you
can play, they have a lazyriver and texas is fairly warm
in march.
So, and they did haveavailability.
(13:09):
Again on points for middle ofmarch.
Um, another location on thewest coast.
You want to talk about this one.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
We've stayed here so many times you're talking about
the grand hyatt, scottsdale.
Yeah, oh, perfect place forfamilies.
They have a great pool comeswith a water slide, a little
beach area that has sand, alittle splash pad in the middle,
um, they have a climbing rockwall, ping pong, a little
(13:40):
playground.
This is all at the pool.
Uh, we've been there wherethere has been um painter that
would come out and like paintt-shirts for your kids.
Oh, yeah, um, they also havelike a candy necklace or a candy
bar.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yes, that was during the summer, and they it was some
kind of month-long event wherethey had different events every
day.
So again, this is the GrandHyatt Scottsdale, formerly known
as the—.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Hyatt Regency, scottsdale.
So, they just renovated to makeit a grand.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
March.
Talk about coming here in March.
We live here, so it's not asexciting for us.
But if you don't live here,like what else is in March here,
oh Lord, spring training ishere in March.
So if you're a baseball fanlots of spring training games
around the valley.
It's a very popular time tovisit here because it's some of
(14:39):
our best weather it's not cold,not too hot right before the the
summer hits yes, and againspring training.
So scottsdale area, there's lotsof bars and shopping and and
all that.
Um, when is the phoenix open?
Is that also in march?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
the waste management is this weekend, oh okay, next
weekend oh, I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Yes, but yeah, spring training.
So if you're a baseball fan,it's a popular time and the
hotel is really beautiful.
They just finished renovatingit, so again now, like Dwayne
mentioned, it's a Grand Hyatt.
Excuse me, we've been goingthere every summer for probably
the last six or seven years.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
And our kids look forward to it every year.
It's fun.
So we definitely recommend that.
And they have availability onpoints again for mid-March,
which I was surprised by becauseagain it's a really popular
time to stay here.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
I mean, it's a huge property.
They have so many rooms.
That's probably why, yeah, andit's in a great location.
It's in bougie, scottsdale,where it's next to a bunch of
restaurants, the Fashion SquareMall.
It's not walkable.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Not walkable?
No, it's not walkable, so youwould need a car likely, or take
an Uber if you don't have a lotof plans, yeah, short.
Uber ride but it is close to alot of things.
Keeping with our West Coasttheme, I think if you're on the
West Coast, this is a viablespring break option.
If you're on the East Coast, itmakes it harder.
But Hawaii, you know, is aquick five to six hour flight
(16:13):
from the West Coast, dependingwhere you are.
And I checked the Hyatt RegencyMaui, which is our favorite
island and property on Hawaiithat we've been to, and they had
availability on points formiddle of March, which is our
favorite island and property onHawaii that we've been to, and
they had availability on pointsfor middle of March, which,
again, I was surprised by.
That's the time of year wherewe went in 2023.
I would still 100% recommend it.
(16:35):
We haven't been back since thefires, but Maui is just so
beautiful.
So again, maui Grand Hyatti,hyatt Regency Maui has
availability on points in March.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Go ahead.
I was going to say on the eastcoast you can go to Puerto Rico.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yes, puerto Rico, I think, is often overlooked.
You don't need a passport to gothere.
It's a US territory and thereis again a Hyatt there.
It's the Hyatt Regency GrandReserve.
Puerto Rico we have not been,but it looks stunning.
I've read a lot of good reviewsabout it and they have
availability on points for March.
(17:12):
If you're looking for atropical island feel but you
don't want to go far and youdon't want to go to Florida,
then consider Puerto Rico.
You still don't need a passportand most people speak English
there.
I've been to Puerto Rico once.
It was a long time ago and Iwas actually there for work,
which is a whole other story, soI didn't get to do anything fun
(17:34):
, but it was real.
I remember it was reallybeautiful flying over on the
plane.
Okay, so I feel like we'vegiven a good roundup of popular
and maybe some not so populardestinations, but if none of the
destinations that we talkedabout sound interesting or fun,
or maybe you've done them all,maybe you're like been there,
done that.
(17:54):
Here's how, like a fewdifferent ways that I would
approach finding a last minutespring break destination.
So there's a couple ofdifferent, like award search
tools that you can use to findeither hotels or flights.
Oh and again, going back toflights for all the places that
we mentioned, I mean Southwestflies to all of them.
(18:14):
If you have companion passes,then that's probably the route
that's going to make the mostsense.
If you don't, then I the waythat I would start is I would do
um, well, actually I would dowhat we're about to do, which is
points.
Yeah, dot com has a free likesearch tool where you can search
from one destination to anotherand get like the cheapest
(18:37):
points flights, basically.
Seatsarrow is another one.
I actually we pay for thepremium version of that.
I find that better because youcan look a year out, whereas if
you pay, if you use the freeversion of Seedsarrow, you're
limited to a certain timeframeand because we booked so far out
, we need that.
(18:58):
But pointsyeahcom is a prettygood tool for free and you can
do it one of two ways, so youcan look for a specific like
this city to this city, kind ofa thing.
Or what I think is more fun isthey have a tool called the
daydream explorer and you canbasically just put in the US to
the US, meaning like I want tostay within the US, but I'm open
(19:22):
to wherever.
Or you could put in your cityto wherever in the US and type
in the dates that you want to goand it will give you all kinds
of flights and their pointsvalue to give you some
additional ideas, and it'll tellyou like 25,000 points, you
know, to book this route orwhatever for flights For a new
destination or any of the onesthat we talked about today.
(19:43):
That is a good recommendation.
You can also start on GoogleFlights, and the way that I do
that is, I would start on GoogleFlights, I would look to see if
there's any airlines that offernonstop flights, because that
would be a priority for me,especially traveling with kids
and then I would go to thoseairlines specifically and figure
out okay, what points do I havethat can transfer to one of
(20:06):
these airlines that has anonstop flight?
If there is no nonstop flight,then I go to a minimum of one
stop, like we're not taking morethan one layover on a trip,
right?
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Right.
So too much of a headache withit's a pain.
Family of five yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
So, and then, as far as hotels go, like searching for
hotels in certain destinations,so aways is a tool you can use
for this.
I really like this tool,actually, with one exception you
are limited to, I think, fivefree searches, and so when
you're going to look on a ways Iwould already have your
(20:48):
location that you want to go tolike narrow down.
Because I didn't realize thisand I was using it and then they
were like, oh no, you'vereached your maximum number of
searches.
So then I thought, okay, maybeI'll upgrade to the premium
version, but the premium versionis also not unlimited searches,
it still has a limit.
And so I thought, well, I'm notdoing that, like I'm not, it
(21:11):
just seems silly.
Yes, so I really like the tooland if you don't know, a ways is
basically like you can put inokay, I want to visit, you know,
scottsdale, arizona, and itwill tell you what hotels are
available to book with points,and it will it will pull Hilton,
it will pull Hyatt, it willpull Marriott, it will pull
whatever you want it to pull, soyou can get a good idea of like
(21:33):
what, what hotels have pointsoptions available during your
dates.
So it's very specific and veryhelpful, but again, you're
limited on the number ofsearches you can do, so I would
not use that until you'vealready narrowed down where you
want to go.
The other one that you can useis Max, my Point, but for this
(21:55):
you have to have a specificproperty in mind.
So you would put in, forexample, the Hyatt Regency,
puerto Rico, you would searchfor that, and then you can look
at their calendar for the monthof February or March or April or
whatever, and it will tell youwhat nights have points rooms
availability, and then whatnights have cash.
And it will even tell you, like, if there's only a suite
(22:16):
available, you'll be able totell, because it'll be a high
number of points.
And so that's super helpful Ifyou know the property you want
to stay at and you're justtrying to figure out the dates,
especially because with Hyatt inparticular, it's kind of a pain
in the butt to findavailability because they have
their like award calendar.
But it doesn't mean there'savailability, it just means if
(22:38):
there is availability on thisdate, this is what it will cost
you to get a standard room.
And so, max, my point is saying, like, oh, there are points
rooms available, you know, onthese, whatever days.
You also can set up an alert Ifyou have the free version, which
is what I have.
You can only set up one alertat a time.
(23:00):
So we have an alert, forexample, for one of our Hyatts
in Japan.
We have one night that we needto book that doesn't have
availability because the flightthat we ended up getting back
was a day later than the day Iwanted it to be.
So that's what we have set upfor now, but, again, you can
(23:23):
only set up one alert at a timeif you have the free account.
So that's kind of how I wouldstart searching for a last
minute destination is.
I would use some of those tools, again keeping in mind the
limitations of a ways.
And again, if none of theplaces that we suggested today
sound fun, start with pointsyeahcom.
Use their daydream explorer.
(23:44):
Explorer, put in your homeairport and search to you know
wherever.
Maybe you have a passport andyou want to go outside the US.
That would be fantastic too.
It can help you find, like, thecheapest points flights
available.
I think that's a really funtool.
So I hope, if spring breakvacations are on your list, but
(24:04):
you haven't planned anything yet.
I hope that this was helpful.
And if you're sitting on pointsand you're just afraid to use
them, don't be because pointslose their value every single
day that they sit in youraccount.
Earn and burn that is the motto.
Airlines and hotels areconstantly doing devaluations.
Flying Blue just did one,marriott just did one, meaning
(24:28):
that it now costs more points tobook than it did a week ago.
So that's an example of pointsbeing devalued, like that's what
we mean when we say that.
And so if you are sitting on abuttload of points, you should
book a trip, and I hope that youtake this as your sign to do it
.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Yes, you got to use them.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Yep, if you have any questions, as always, find us on
Instagram at travel party offive.
I answer all questions sent tome over there and if you have
gotten any value out of thispodcast whatsoever, we ask that
you, number one, leave us arating or review wherever you
listen, and, number two, shareit with a friend.
(25:07):
We would greatly appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Yes, we appreciate you.
Thanks for listening.
Thank you, bye.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Catch you on the next one have a good one.
Bye.
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