We’re going to do something slightly different for this week’s Saturday Selection. I’ve been on vacation for the last ten days or so and have been blessedly disciplined about keeping away from my points and miles feed, so I really have no idea what interesting little tidbits to highlight from the last week on the interwebs.
However, my vacation consisted of spending time between two places that I immensely enjoy: Barcelona and the French Riviera. While I was poking around for the latest and greatest happenings in each location, I found an increasing amount of US and European-based criticism for each location as being over-touristed, overpriced and a shell of what they used to be back in their “more authentic” days.
That reminded me of a post that I wrote almost two-and-a-half years ago based on similar sentiments regarding the Maldives; sentiments which have only deepened since. After reading it, I found it the post to be just as relevant to me now…and I hope it is to other folks out there as well.
Enjoy!
~~~Original Post Follows~~~
Greg and Nick wrote two great posts earlier this week about which credit cards are currently in their wallet and why they have them there. That was followed by an in-depth discussion on Frequent Miler On The Air digging into the best cards for various spending categories and comparing them to what they have and use. Interestingly enough, the cards in each of their wallets differed significantly and both of them were willing to accept suboptimal value based on their individual situations and spending goals. In essence, even for pros like Greg and Nick, the “best” credit cards vary from person to person and are situational, regardless of the broadly-held opinions of the points and miles community.
This got me thinking more generally about how we earn and burn points and miles for travel and what factors influence our decision-making. Mark over at Miles to Memories wrote a couple of interesting posts that (somewhat hilariously) ruffled quite a few feathers. First off, he described why Hyatt Globalist wasn’t worth it for him…and from some of the reactions, you’d have thought he was insulting someone’s mother. Then he posited that Alila Ventana Big Sur was becoming the “next Maldives,” in terms of being a somewhat overhyped “gotta have it” destination whose demand is created by influencers and groupthink.
As you may or may not know, Greg the Frequent Miler LOVES the Ventana, so it took a while to calm him down. But I find it really interesting that The Maldives has become a pejorative shorthand in some circles for overpriced, undervalued and IG-driven travel. Is that true? Is there such a thing as an “overrated” destination?
Even more importantly, how do we go about thinking through the best ways to tailor our points and miles adventures to what we truly enjoy as opposed to feeling pressured to visit specific destinations that we see in travel guides and/or points and miles blogs?
Thinking through it, there’s a few things over the years that I’ve had to learn the hard way – and keep having to relearn – in order to make sure that this game stays fun and rewarding.
1) There’s two ways to look at value: Cost-Per-Point and Enjoyment-Per-Point – and it’s not always the same thing
One of the first questions in my interview with the Frequent Miler team was, “what has been your best value point or miles redemption?” I responded by asking, “are we talking about cents-per-point (CPP) or enjoyment-per-point?”
While I’m not going to put my best CPP redemption on the interwebs (you can ask me about it in person sometime ) and it was an insane monetary value, I don’t know that it would even make it into the top 5 of my most enjoyable redemptions. For many of us, it can be extremely easy to get so caught up in chasing the gaudiest CPP redemptions that we lose sight of the biggest gift of points and miles: it allows us to have experiences in the world that might otherwise be out-of-reach…and the “point” is to enjoy it!
For years, my favorite points redemption in the State of Hawai’i was the Westin Hapuna Beach, formerly the only beachfront property in Hawai’i bookable with a Marriott 35K cert (that’s long since ended). Hapuna Beach is actually bookended by two Marriott properties, the other being the excellent and much more expensive Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. They are often both great value redemptions, but I actually prefer the Westin…although that’s a subject for another time.
I once met a guy who was staying at the Mauna Kea while my wife and I were staying at the Hapuna Beach. We chatted for a bit and he told me “you know, I actually wanted to stay at the Westin, but I couldn’t bear the thought of using my 50K certs on a 35K property.” He was so focused on maximizing two expiring free night certificates that he chose a property he liked less in order to get better value…and enjoyed 1/3 of his yearly vacation less because it. I’ve certainly done the same thing over the years, if not quite so obviously, and it’s something that I try to keep in mind now.
2) Don’t let FOMO kill the joy of earning OR burning
In a famous-ish speech from the ever-so-kitschy original Dune, Kyle Mclaughlin/Muad’dib reminds himself, and us, that “fear is the mind-killer.” For those of us in the points-and-miles community, I’d amend that to “fear of missing out is the mind-killer.” We live, earn and burn in a world of missed opportunities, inconsistently applied elite status benefits, dynamic pricing and hard-to-find redemptions. Things live and die – and there are always more chances.
I’ve met many people over the years staying in a marvelous property in a fantastic destination that are pissed off for a good chunk of their stay because the front desk played games with a suite upgrade. I can get so wrapped up in wringing out every last dollar of category bonuses, trying to score the absolute “best” flight award and getting the exact room I want, that I can sometimes miss out on the thrill of victory at the fact that I’m getting thousands of dollars of travel and rewards annually for pennies on the dollar.
Just because there’s a first class cabin doesn’t mean that business isn’t still a whale of a good time.
3) Tourist attractions can be…attractive
I had a lot of punk rock friends in college. For them, a hard requirement of being able to enjoy a band was that only 50 people (ideally less) knew about it. I had earnestly hilarious conversations with folks who would sadly tell me that one of their favorite bands “sold out” by playing bigger venues and selling more albums. The music hadn’t changed, but once the audience got bigger, it killed the joy of the experience.
For some us, it’s easy to “punk rock” our travel. Before I go further, let me say that overtourism is real. Venice or Amsterdam in the middle of the Summer can be absolutely overwhelming for even the most crusty and crowd-tolerant…let alone local residents. I’m completely behind moving travel to shoulder or off-seasons, staying with local folks and finding more remote and less-visited parts of the world to enjoy as parts of a larger strategy to lighten the load of our travel footprint.
That said, there’s also a tendency for some of us to avoid the most iconic experiences in the well-trodden corners of the planet simply because they are “touristy.”
Many urban areas have the “big tower:” Paris’ Eiffel, Tokyo’s SkyTree, Auckland’s SkyTower, etc. I know many folks who avoid them like the plague because they are, almost uniformly, over-priced and full of tourists (like me). But they can be magical as well. Some of my fondest memories from travelling to these cities over the years involve the towers: watching Bastille Day fireworks from the Eiffel Tower while sipping snuck-in beer with my nephew; having dinner in the SkyTower with my wife on our honeymoon in NZ (where we briefly and terrifyingly thought a bungee jumper going past our window was trying to end it all).
For years, one of the richest (and no longer possible) experiences of a first time in Seattle was to make dinner reservations in the Space Needle’s revolving restaurant an hour before sunset and slowly watch the sun dip over the Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains as lights of the city came on.
My point is not that everyone has to go up the SkyTree while in Tokyo or even that some popular tourist attractions are not worth it for some people. It’s just that many places in the world are justifiably popular and it would be a shame to never experience any of them simply because everyone else wants to as well.
4) Understand and embrace your travel style
I think that this is the main point that Mark was trying to make in his article and something that I’ve had to learn the hard way over the years.
When I was younger I couldn’t understand how anyone would choose to spend the money and time to pass away a whole week at a beach resort. Overpriced and boring! Now, I do it at least once a year and look forward to it immensely as a way to rest and recharge. I used to try and pack in 3+ museums in a day in what would invariably be a death march of antiquities, architecture and art. Now, we limit it to one and take a break if we’re there for more than two hours…and I enjoy, remember and appreciate what I see much more.
There are so many must-see’s, suggested itineraries, hidden gems and perfect award redemptions in the world, and probably none of them appeal to all of us. Some of my closest friends love LA. It’s not my thing, I’m much happier further south in San Diego. I never get tired of Japan. For my wife? Meh. There’s a real freedom in understanding how you like to travel and embracing it without feeling like you “have” to fit any destination, site or redemption in. Again, the “point” is to enjoy this stuff!
So, is the Maldives really overrated?
Ok, so back to what got me thinking about all of this to begin with. Is the Maldives just a beach that takes two days to get to and a small mortgage to afford? Is it a myth created by influencers and social media to make everyone who goes to Florida feel bad about life?
Is the Maldives overrated? No.
Is it for everyone? No as well…just like any other place in the world.
I absolutely loved our time in the Maldives and plan to go back. I was buzzed by a whale shark, snorkeled with manta rays and got to watch sharks circle below our overwater bungalow from a float pool. The sunsets are glorious.
We also immensely enjoyed our time exploring the capital, Malé, a slice of South Asian Manhattan almost unbelievably packed onto a 2 sq km island. It’s electric and filled with kind people. For me, it’s a fascinating and unique place.
Would I take a family to the Maldives? Probably not. Would I go there if I only had one week of vacation? Probably not. If I wasn’t a fan of water activity and beach vacations, I think it might be a version of hell. Although Greg and Nick had a great time, they weren’t exactly gung-ho about making the effort to return.
The summary of all of this Saturday rambling is to say that there is no such thing as one-size-fits-all when it comes to points and miles. This is true whether we’re talking about the ideal credit card strategies to earn our points and miles or the redemptions that we choose to spend them on.
And that’s part of the fun.
This is a collaborative, yet very personal game we play and tailoring what’s out there to our own likes and dislikes is part of the challenge…and the reward.
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So a person who can’t swim like me should just stay home?
Staying at local islands in Maldives for $50 a day was a brilliant experience. I wanted nothing to do with 800$ plane transfers pp. No alcohol but God forbid getting to meet the locals. Shock horror.
I wish more (ie some) bloggers and podcasters would at least acknowledge that the Maldives attempted to ban all Israelis from the country, only to rescind that after they realized how much tourism that would cost them.
As an avid snorkeler and diver, I am beyond excited to go on our first trip. Warmer water and greater sea life variety than Hawaii. Tahiti is great but primarily a summer destination (when we can’t go). February-April is really when we are looking to get out of winter weather. And from what I’ve read PH has extraordinary reefs (check out a recent blog on the PADI website), and, critically, a top-flight dive center, which is so important from a safety and an enjoyment perspective.
Yes there other awesome dive destinations, but I am not enthused about liveaboards — I don’t want to dive quite that often — which cuts out a lot.
So, for us, I don’t think it’s overrated at all.
Who’s doing the rating?
I’m in the crowd that says the Maldives is overrated, but having never been there, I just look at the hidden charges and say no thanks. That doesn’t mean I’m not interested in the area, the Seychelles, Mauritius, and Reunion all look similar and a far better value.
Best time to visit Amsterdam is shoulder seasons, particularly late March-June. Keukenhof is a total tourist creation that even the Dutch love and is well worth a visit or two – completely stunning, despite the artificality of it. It is a real marketplace as well, with new tulip varieties on display and for sale. For those who go in June, Hollandse Nieuwe, – New Dutch Herring, usually starts in mid-June and is a street food not to be missed, except by Nick.
https://keukenhof.nl/en/
Tim,
Love the article and you expressed what I was trying to explain to Nick and some
others on analysis post a few months back. CPP vs EPP is better put then I could explain. lately my wife and I have been using the wrong cards because we closed a bunch to kind of reset our AF budget. Our travel style has changed too and while I beat myself up sometimes because I’m not earning a new bonus or spending in the right category because I don’t have X card anymore. I realized that I’m still having fun and I can still get huge returns but at the end of the day I want my EPP to be high. It wasn’t always that high with high CPP.
Shoot me an email with your top CPP! I’d love to hear it haha.
Love this sentiment, and I try to teach it to my colleagues as well. I encourage everyone to have a “Thrive list” (a version of the bucket list, but the point being to do it now instead of putting it off until right before you kick the bucket).
It sounds cheesy, but having a list of places that really bring you a sense of wonder can prevent FOMO and provide focus in a points world of ever-dropping deals and award dumps that have to be snatched up right away. Is that deal on your thrive list? If so, go for it without regrets! If not, save your points for what you truly value. Overhyped or not, go where you really want to go.
The Maldives look lovely, but being captive to a resort on an atoll sounds awful to me. But find me award availability on Canadian North to Baffin Island to see polar bears? That’s a win for me. Optimized for enjoyment.
Whether Maldives is overrated or not depends on what you’re looking for. Is there a difference between overrated and overhyped? Maybe there are things you can’t find in combination elsewhere, such as an extremely expensive short seaplane ride to get to a resort; spending your time among people exactly like you; doing things you could do just as easily in the Caribbean, Mexico or Hawaii; and remaining quite immune from experiencing any local culture. The fact that apart from the tourist islands it’s a despotic Islamic state is a bonus.
I agree though that Malé is a fascinating town to visit; and would add that the nearby island of Huhumalé is intriguing as a manmade residential island built to be a haven from the rising waters of global warming; and Himmafushi Island has a really cool, laid-back 60-years-ago-type beach vibe, where you can imagine you’re a beach bum from another era.
So I guess I’d say it has its pros and cons, like lots of places, but is overhyped. Keep the thought pieces coming.
I would add that we should be really, really happy that we don’t all travel the same way. There are only so many awards, so it is fantastic when we don’t compete. I have never considered the Maldives. I did once try to surprise P2 by booking tickets to French Polynesia for our anniversary. But after some back and forth, we both agreed “we are not over the water bungalow people.” Online I have seen a lot of comments trashing Air New Zealand business class. Nick even said on one episode that “it’s a long way to go in a bad business class.” But we just got back from our second roundtrip flying ANZ in recent years (booked through VS); we have enjoyed every flight, and I am glad for the lack of competition on these awards.
Luckily there are so many interesting and unique things on this earth to see (and maybe in our lifetimes, off of it) that we can each find the sights and experiences that we enjoy and leave us with a sense of wonder.
I have friends who regard hotels as nothing more than a place to rest your head at the end of a day, while I thoroughly enjoy being surrounded by the architecture and history of older properties. But take me to a resort and I can only lounge about at a pool or on a beach for an hour or two before I want to find some activity to do even if it’s just walking up and down the stairs. I never had much interest in cruises until Nick’s pieces on them and like him have found them to be thoroughly enjoyable as a family traveler.
This article never gets old Tim – thanks for bringing it up again!
Tim, like what you said, a person needs to be in touch with oneself and understand the types of experiences one really enjoys. Then, the person needs to ask whether the particular experience they’re considering is one of those types. Nick has previously suggested that a person try things outside of those types for the chance to surprise oneself. That’s fine but one must acknowledge that it’s probabilistic.
Correct me if I’m wrong but the Maldive experience is someone being at a resort and being 1) in the water, 2) in one’s over-water bungalow, 3) in the chow hall, or 4) engaged in a resort activity. For some, that’s great. For others, that’s not. For some, that’s great . . . but, as YoniPDX notes, Tahiti is a heck of a lot closer.
Within my wife’s/my type of travels, the vast majority of our experiences are absolutely great and we consider ourselves blessed. One particular destination within our “type,” which was of great anticipation, ended up being particularly underwhelming. So, even within one’s type, a person will not bat 1.000. And, perhaps that is reason enough to do as Nick suggests and give something outside one’s box a try.
Maldives isn’t just about resorts. I went to a local island and loved it. I should write about it some time – there’s not much info on the net.
Maldives two years later is still not on my bucketlist- but Tahiti is growing on me – I Ilke that the flight is only slightly longer than Hawai’i for US (PDX) and the Time zone IIRC is on -1 or -2 of Hawai’i .
The Maldives IIRC is 11 or 12 time zones difference we did (ZA) which is +10 from PNW (but still 22-25 hours – we did a red-eye SFO-ZRH and then another red-eye ZRH-JNB (we slept well enough on the flights to hit the ground running (we woke up 4AM ZA time and crashed around 8PM). We flew BA First JNB-LHR-SEA – which was a treat (as well as an epic cpp redemption.
Our trips to , ZA and NZ are probably my most memorable for a host of different reasons. I guess the Maldives just doesn’t have the same draw,
Growing up in Atlanta in the 80s we didn’t do Hawai’i but we would do Destin, FL several times a year – this is before it was very well known (when everyone went to PCB) -then living in the Philippines from my teens in to my.20s for five years
– Boracay (previously) and so many pristine, raw beautiful beaches.
With amazing Scuba and snorkeling. We honeymooned on a tiny Island about a 45 min boat ride from PP Palawan.
It was so small it only took.10-12 min to walk all the way around. But outside our Bure (thatched hut) in 6–12′ deep reef waters that just 50′ from the shore was some of the most amazing reef snorkeling I have ever done. With giant clams 2.5-3′ across and the fish and coral.was epic and a memory I cherish to this day.
The touristy things can be fun an memorable with kids – I remember the St Louis Arch, visiting the top of the Statue of Liberty (and seeing Star Wars on the big screen on the same trip).
I struggle with staying at amzing luxurious hotels when your headed to a city like London, Paris, Sydney, Singapore, NYC, Tokyo- where you actually planing on spending most of your day away from the hotel and doing touristy things.
We are staying at a bunch of hotels in Europe with Executive lounges (and access)- but between tours and touring – we will rarely be around for happy hour.
It’s kind of.like Airport lounges when travelling for vacation you want the keast amount of time transiting – unless your traveling in Singapore suites, EK First, Eithad the – the Residence, etc.
I couldn’t have told you what part of the world Tahiti was in until I got into points & miles – might as well have thought it was the Maldives. Like you the Maldives aren’t that appealing to me because of the effort involved while Tahiti has jumped up on my must-see list because it seems quite accessible (while still being “lesser” travelled for those of us in the US since it actually requires a passport – unlike Hawaii).
Sounds good to me! All destinations are not for all people.
I’m going to the Maldives for the first time next year. Partially because what people have said and posted but also because I like the thought of going to some where “foreign”. I like the thought of being on a small island in the middle of “nowhere”. I’m looking forward to travel in Qatar and Singapore airlines.
All these things I would not have even known about unless some one posted about them. I’m not going because of FOMO but because it has piqued my interest.
Is the Maldives overrated? Yes, at least somewhat.