Luxury on a Budget: Kauai

January 6, 2025

Kimberly Snyder-Griggs

Blog,Budget Travel Hacks,Credit Card Points & Miles,Luxury on a Budget,Uncategorized

Kauai is… truly stunning. Easily one of the most gorgeous places I’ve ever been. And on the whole, this is also one of the nicest trips I’ve ever been on. Like an ocean-room view in a 5-star resort in one of the most expensive spots in North America, nice.

But… it was actually pretty cheap.

Those who know me know that I am much more likely to stay at an Airbnb on the cheap side of town, and try to split it with a couple friends, so I can afford to stay longer and travel more. And honestly, that technique did serve me very well when I was single! I traveled all over the world with friends, and on a very frugal budget. I’ve couch surfed, dog sat, and flown thousands upon thousands of miles in economy, and loved every minute.

However, I’m married and traveling for two now, so when I picked out Kauai for my first Anniversary, I knew it had to be a little bit more special.

Enter: Credit Card Points & Miles

Here is the exact cost breakdown of everything we spent for 6 days and 6 nights for two on the beautiful island of Kauai, Hawaii. (And some photos because I’m still obsessed.)

For $2,000 and 148,000 points we stayed six nights in, again, paradise.

For our activities and excursions, we took a sunset dinner boat ride around the Na’Pali coast, and a one-hour small plane ride around the entire island. We paid park admission to one state park, Waimea Canyon (which really did look very similar to the Grand Canyon!), and otherwise did a lot of swimming and lounging. Could we have saved by cutting down on these activities? Of course, but again I was going for that special Anniversary trip effect.

And it was special. A complete dream.

New to credit card points and miles? Or just skeptical? That’s completely normal. Here’s a little more breakdown on how I came into 148,000 points, and my strategy for making it repeatable so I can do this again next year.

Technically, 148,000 points would have the “cash value” of $1,480.

However, it can be worth a lot more than that depending on how it’s used. For example, staying at the Grand Hyatt in Kauai, pictured above, in an ocean-room view would have cost me about $1,250 per night in off season, but in points it cost 25,000 points per night.

If I had cashed in those 25,000 points, it would have been “worth” $250, but because I used those points on a room worth $1,250, I got 5x the return versus people who get cash back from their credit card miles and points.

How much did I spend extra to get that card? $95. The Hyatt card costs $95/year, and I put all of my normal spending on the card for about 3 months to hit the sign-up bonus. So I stayed at a 5-star resort on Kauai for $95?

Heck yes and I’ll do it again.

Southwest points are even better. If you get 135,000 points/miles in Southwest in a calendar year, you’ll be awarded a Companion Pass, meaning you get a free +1 on any flights you take on Southwest for the entire rest of that calendar, plus the entire following calendar year. Yes—TWO YEARS of BOGO flights!!