With pandemic fear subsiding, it’s time to start booking vacations — finally! Before you start packing and dreaming of pina coladas on the beach, be careful and check thoroughly to make the most of your precious points.

Here is how I saved over 176,000 points on a 5-night stay in Miami:

I decided to look immediately at Christmas dates before the rates start going crazy.

1. I first went to my favorite card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and checked December 20-25 in Miami Beach
2. The Confidante Miami Beach, a Hyatt hotel, has rates starting at $665 a night plus taxes and fees. Points for these nights on Chase would total 251,191 – which is a great deal for a stay that if paying cash would run $3,768 or normally 376,800 points on most any other card.
3. Then I went to Hyatt’s website and checked the same hotel, the same dates — the rate started at $639 a night plus taxes and fees. But get this: points on the Hyatt website totaled only 75,000, compared to the 251,191 on Chase!

I know what you’re thinking! Get a Hyatt card, right? Nope – here is why I love Chase: because Chase partners with Hyatt and charges no fees to transfer, all I did was transfer 75,000 points from my Chase account to my Hyatt account and booked the room for 75,000 points which is 176,191 less than I could have booked on Chase’s website. Ta da!

— Teri