A while ago, the Frequent Miler team considered a team challenge where we would each try to do a mini-vacation entirely with American Express Platinum Card® “coupons.” For example, we could use the card’s airline incidental fee credit to travel, use the hotel credits for lodging and in-hotel dining, use Uber Eats credits for food or local transport, etc. Since that conversation, Amex has doubled down on its coupon strategy with its refreshed American Express Platinum Cards®, and many more cards have become thoroughly couponized, including (but not limited to) United Airlines cards, Citi’s Strata Elite℠ card, and Chase’s Sapphire Reserve® Card.
It occurred to me that Chase’s Sapphire Reserve® Card is particularly well-suited to this type of challenge since it offers general travel credits, hotel credits, dining credits, and event credits (via StubHub). So, for my own amusement, I made a game of it. Could I design a great getaway that’s almost entirely funded by Chase’s coupons? Could I keep the net out-of-pocket costs under $100? To make it even harder (and with a nod to Stephen Pepper’s 100K Vacay trip), I decided to plan a trip for two to Chicago, using only a single card’s coupons. To be clear, I probably won’t actually do this trip (mainly because the dates I found won’t work for me), but I tried to make it as realistic as possible by finding real-world prices for all of the components…
Relevant Coupons
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card offers the following credits (AKA “coupons”) that can be used to build a mini-vacation:
- Travel credit: $300 per membership year
- The Edit (Hotels) credit: $250 per six months (Jan-Jun, Jul-Dec)
- Lyft in-app credit: $10 per month
- Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables credit: $150 per six months (Jan-Jun, Jul-Dec)
- DoorDash Restaurant credit: $5 per month
- DoorDash Non-Restaurant credit: $10 twice per month
- Stubhub credit: $150 per six months (Jan-Jun, Jul-Dec)
Two-night Chicago getaway for two
Transportation to/from Chicago
I happen to live very close to the Ann Arbor Amtrak station, so Amtrak is an excellent choice for me to get to Chicago. On the dates I’m looking at, I could travel round-trip for as low as $70 per person, or $140 total.
By paying with my Sapphire Reserve card, the $140 would be rebated with the $300 per membership year Travel credit. I would have $160 remaining.
Out-of-pocket cost for transportation, after rebate: $0
Lodging
Chase’s $250 The Edit credit requires a two-night stay. The best deal I could find for a qualifying hotel in Chicago is the Loews Chicago Hotel, which costs $437 all-in from December 16th to 18th.
By paying the $437 with my Sapphire Reserve card, I would get $250 back due to The Edit credit, and another $160 back due to the remaining balance on my $300 Travel credit. I would still be out $27 for the two nights, so it wouldn’t be 100% free after rebate.
Out-of-pocket cost for lodging, after rebates: $27
Entertainment
While in Chicago, I’d want to see a show or a sporting event. The Sapphire Reserve card’s $150 StubHub credit is perfect for that! Here are a couple of options that I think would be popular:
Chicago Bulls
Here’s an option where you could get two tickets for free after rebate. The total comes to $138.
The Phantom of the Opera
For two people, this one would exceed the $150 StubHub credit by $90. I think that chances are good, though, that StubHub prices will drop as the date approaches and ticketholders become desperate to sell.
Other Options
On the dates of interest, I also found music, comedy shows, and other theatrical performances that were available for under $100 per person.
Overall, for this exercise, let’s assume that I would spend $90 per person ($180 total) at StubHub.
Out of pocket cost for entertainment, after the StubHub rebate: $30
Dining
Tuesday lunch at the Loews Hotel
Thanks to booking through The Edit, we’ll receive a $100 property credit at the hotel. We’ll try to use about $40 of this credit for lunch. Hopefully, they’ll give us an early check-in!
Tuesday dinner at avec West Loop
On the first night of the trip (Tuesday), I’ll take advantage of the $150 Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables credit by dining at avec West Loop. I chose this restaurant because it is a qualifying Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables restaurant, and it offers half off all bottles of wine every Tuesday.
Based on the menu found online (above), we could order the following to share:
- Grilled broccoli $21
- Wild Mexican prawns $26
- Rotisserie chicken Shawarma $42
- $70 bottle of wine half-off $35
- Total: $124 + 20% tip = $148.80 (round up to $150)
- Out-of-pocket total after the Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables rebate: $0
Wednesday breakfast at ETA Restaurant at the Loews Hotel
Breakfast is included in our stay thanks to booking through Chase’s The Edit.
Wednesday lunch at S2 Express Grill Downtown?
This one is a bit of a stretch, but bear with me as I explain… After searching StubHub for shows available during the dates I’d be in Chicago, I received a targeted offer from Capital One Shopping for 18% back at StubHub:
With the above deal, if I were to spend $170 or more on Stubhub, I would receive at least $30 back in Capital One Shopping rewards. I could then, in turn, redeem those rewards for a Groupon gift card:
And then, I could redeem the Groupon gift card for $40 worth of food & drinks at S2 Grill:
It happens that the closest eligible S2 Grill to the Loews Hotel is the S2 Express Grill Downtown, which gets an impressive 4.9 average review score on Google.
The reason this particular meal solution is suspect for the purpose of this game is that it often takes 60 to 90 days for rewards from Capital One Shopping to become redeemable. I don’t think it’s very realistic to assume that one would buy their StubHub tickets that far in advance in order to use the shopping rewards on the same trip. Still, it’s a cool way to get a $40 lunch out of a $180 StubHub purchase, for which $150 would be rebated by Chase!
Wednesday snack
Let’s use our $5 DoorDash discount to get a small snack for free or nearly free by selecting pick-up rather than delivery…
How about a Chicago dog from Devil Dawgs for $2.51 all-in?
Or, how about a specialty cupcake from Molly’s Cupcakes for free?
If my wife (my assumed travel companion for this game) doesn’t want to share the specialty cupcake with me, we can opt for two classic cupcakes for $2.35 instead.
Wednesday Dinner
Thanks to booking through The Edit, we’ll receive a $100 property credit at the hotel. We will have already used about $40 of this credit on Tuesday for lunch. Now we’ll try to spend no more than $80 for dinner, so we’ll only go $20 over the credit amount.
Thursday Breakfast
Our Amtrak ride home is too early to eat breakfast in the restaurant, so we’ll ask at the hotel about our options. In the past, we’ve had luck with hotels offering to assemble early morning to-go breakfasts for us in similar situations where breakfast was included in our room rate.
Lyft to the station
Up until now, I’ve assumed that we would have walked to everything around downtown Chicago. On our final morning, we’ll get a Lyft ride back to Union Station to catch our Amtrak ride. I don’t know exactly what it will cost or how far our Sapphire Reserve monthly $10-off-Lyft will get us. For the sake of this exercise, let’s assume that the ride will cost $10 after the $10 off discount is applied.
Total amount spent, after rebates
- Amtrak: $0
- Loews Hotel: $27
- Entertainment via StubHub: $30 (estimate)
- Meals:
- Breakfasts: $0
- Dinners: $20
- Lunches & snack: $3
- Rideshare: $10
- Total: $90
Credit card coupon book travel game strategies and variations
Here are some variations of the game to consider:
- Pick a different card: The game isn’t limited to the Chase Sapphire Reserve® card. How about designing a trip around the American Express Platinum Card®, the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card, the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, or even a premium airline or hotel card?
- Single-person trip or one card per person: You don’t have to cover two people with one card. Assuming a single person or assuming each person has their own card would make the task much easier.
- Mixed-card trip: Why not design a trip that uses two different cards? If I had used both a Chase Sapphire Reserve® and an American Express Platinum Card®, I may have been able to extend the trip to three nights, include a one-way flight, include more food (Resy, Uber Eats) & local transportation, and have done a little bit of Christmas shopping at Saks and Lululemon.
And, here are a couple of strategies to consider:
- Span dates strategically. Many card coupons are based on calendar date ranges. For example, Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables credits are based on six-month periods: January to June, and July to December. If you plan a trip that spans Dec 31 to Jan 1 or June 30 to July 1, then you could use this coupon twice in a single trip. You could then also use monthly coupons twice as well.
- Plan ahead. Some coupons, such as The Edit (Hotels) and StubHub, are available every six months, but could be used for future travel. In other words, the credits activate based on when you make the purchase, not when you stay in a hotel or attend an event or performance. If I had started planning this December trip in June, I could have booked two nights of the December trip in June, and two more nights anytime from July to December. Similarly, I could have booked two separate shows through StubHub.
Example of spanning dates and planning ahead: It should be possible to plan a 4-day trip for, for example, June 29th to July 3rd. In December, you could book two of the hotel nights, and then book the other two in January when The Edit credit resets. Similarly, you could book a show through StubHub in December and again in January. Or, for shows or events with general admission, book one person in December and the other in January (if planning a two-person trip). During the trip, you would be able to use your Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables credit, Lyft credit, and DoorDash credit twice: once in June and again in July.
Your turn
Do you have ideas for how to turn credit card coupons into a great getaway? Please comment below!
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
I loved this article and think it would make a wonderful series! Thanks for all the fantastic knowledge you and the team share with your readers. You are my number one, most trusted source for information in this space.
How are you getting out of paying sales tax on the meal at avec West Loop? Tax on restaurant meals in Chicago is 11.75%, so you’re out another $14.57 (I guess minus the $1.20 you had left in the credit).
I feel like this is the start of the next FM team challenge: plan the most epic trip by using all of the credits on the Chase Sapphire Reserve, AMEX Platinum, Citi Strata Elite, and Capital One Venture X (let’s assume Capital One likes Greg for this challenge). 🙂
Yeah, I hate to be negative, but spending time in Chicago and watching a second rate match-up in a nosebleed section is not why I am in this game. Are there any international options that I could be excited when it comes to Edit? Something perhaps close to free or at least 50% off. Especially if my wife and I also have the cards that could add up to 4 nights.
The dining options are at least nice.
Do you want to be spoon fed? If you’re in the game, then develop your skills and figure it out for yourself. What an entitled attitude. Are you a Millennial?
The Platinum card would have some similarities, except the entertainment would be watching Paramount+ (with commercials) on TV, but you could have fresh LLL undies and socks from Saks. $100 in Resy credit, $100 hotel credit for meals, $300 for 2 nights at THC. And 2 cheap roundtrips on United, thanks to the travel bank. And travel in December so you have $35 in Uber credit. Just a few other minor details to work out…
That was fun! Thanks for that write up.
This was an excellent article. Really make one think “what if?” Wow.