Are you dreaming of the rolling hills of Tuscany, the bustling streets of Rome, or the picturesque canals of Venice? Italy is a destination that captures the hearts of travelers worldwide, offering a rich tapestry of history, culture, and cuisine. While planning such a trip might seem daunting, leveraging credit card points can make it more accessible and affordable than you might think! In this guide, I will show you how to book a trip to Italy using credit card points.
Like most people a trip to Italy was on my travel wishlist for a while. I knew I wanted to make this trip happen, but I had to find a way to make it somewhat affordable and fit with my work schedule.
Since I was working with the school schedule (shoutout to my fellow teachers!), I only had 9 days in total for this trip. I knew I needed to squeeze as much as I could into a one week trip! When planning this trip, I knew I wanted to try to fit in two cities but I wasn’t sure which two.
One day I came across a TikTok from The Travel Mom Squad that showed how to stay at this beautiful hotel on Lake Como using credit card points. I was absolutely blown away that a beautiful bucket list destination could be attainable for myself. I knew that I would plan my trip around staying at this 5 star hotel and its availability.
The credit card we used
In order to make this trip happen, my husband and I each signed up the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card. After doing a bit of research, I learned that I could transfer my Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to the World of Hyatt program to stay in hotels for free. Learn how to do this here!
At the time, Chase was having a promotion that if you signed up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Credit Card and spent $4K in 3 months you could earn 100,000 Ultimate Rewards Points. This was back in 2021 and I so hope that they run this promotion again soon! So, my husband and I both signed up for the credit card and hit the minimum spend to earn the sign up bonus of 100K points. First, my husband signed up and we put both of our combined monthly expenses on his card. Then, he referred me to the card (and he earned points for this!) and then I got the card and we did this process again. If you would like more information about how to book free hotels with credit card points click here!
Once we each earned our sign up bonuses we had 200K Ultimate Reward points to use on our hotels. I searched the World of Hyatt website to see which hotels were available in Rome and Lake Como since those were the two destinations that we picked. Since this was one of our first trips that I booked using credit card points I hadn’t quite mastered how to book flights with credit card points yet. But, as I did more research and learned more about credit card points I eventually figured this out. Read about how to book a flight with credit card points here.
Flights
Back in 2022, I hadn’t travel hacked any flights yet, so our flights from NYC to Rome were booked with cash for $700 round trip in economy over the Easter holiday. We knew that we would be paying for all of our hotels with points, which balanced out this cash price for us. We chose to fly into Rome as it was the most affordable option for our dates, and it seemed like the best place to start for our first time in Italy.
If I was to book this trip again, this is how I would book it using credit card points. I would transfer my points from Citi, Amex, or Chase to AirFrance to book this flight!! One way trip to Italy for only $83? Yes please! Learn more about how to transfer your points to book flights here
Rome
For our hotel in Rome, I had found a hotel that we could stay at on Hyatt points. I transferred my Chase Ultimate Reward points to Hyatt and we stayed at the JDV Tribune Hotel. We redeemed 15K points a night for 3 nights. This hotel is currently charging $485 to stay for a night in April. This turned out to be a great value for our credit card points! The location was about a 30 minute walk from the heart of Rome and a short taxi ride.
Menaggio
After three warm and busy days of walking around the city, we were headed to our next stop: Lake Como! We took the high speed “Italia Rail” train from Rome to Milan and then to Como. Once we got to Como, we walked about a mile to find the ferry. We took the ferry from Como to Menaggio which ended up being an hour and a half ferry ride, but we didn’t mind because we were able to take in these beautiful views!
We finally arrived to the beautiful Grand Hotel Victoria after a long travel day and we couldn’t have been more excited to be here. I had been dreaming about this bucket list stay for months! We redeemed 25K points a night to stay here for 3 nights. This hotel currently charges almost $900 a night to stay here in the Spring!
This hotel is a part of the Small Luxury Hotel Collection which is a partner of World of Hyatt. This was an unbelievable value for our credit card points and by far the nicest hotel we have have ever stayed at! I mean look at this view! Read about my favorite credit card that I used to accumulate Chase Ultimate Reward points for this stay here.
Finding Availability
This hotel has become so popular that it is VERY difficult to find availability no matter what time of year. One of my favorite tools for checking hotel award availability is maxmypoint.com This website is a lifesaver! It tracks hotel award availability for popular and difficult to book hotels. You can even set alerts to your phone to let you know when hotel availability becomes available!
Our stay at the Grand Hotel Victoria Concept and Spa was unbelievable. To this day this is our favorite hotel that we have ever been to. It was a once in a lifetime experience that we will never forget all thanks to credit card points!
After an unforgettable 6 days in Italy, it was finally time to head back home. We were so sad to leave, but we know we will be back! While out trip wasn’t completely free, it was WAY more affordable without the cost of hotel stays. I hope this post was helpful in learning how to book your trip to Italy using credit card points. Leave a comment and share how you will book a trip to Italy with credit card points!
