Sharing a travel hacking trip report and cost breakdown from this weekend, for those interested.
Trip report and type: Super romantic, ultra-aspirational points redemption over a long weekend (3nts) in Los Cabos, Mexico
Travel group: Myself and husband, 44. We rarely travel without our kids, only having done so four times in 25 years.
No pre-departure COVID testing is required for Mexico. For my peace of mind, I administered BinaxNOW at home COVID tests (Walgreens 2/$24) the day before departure. This helped me feel more secure that it would be unlikely that they would test positive while in Mexico and that we would have to quarantine there. But with the Omicron variant, we did consider rescheduling, not out of fear of the virus itself, but of being subjected to government mandated quarantining in Mexico.
I always buy trip medical insurance through ************.com and did this for our travel party ($59 total). $250,000 primary medical insurance pp and $1M med evac, + more coverage.
Flights
I booked flights on Southwest using points/companion pass.
Points: 12,948+13,695= 26,643
Taxes: ($79.61+$34.61)x2=$228.44
We had a 2hour connection in Houston and were planning on having multiple lounge and restaurant options between Centurion lounges and the CSR restaurant benefit. Travel hack fail: I realized while enroute that we were headed to Houston Hobby HOU, not IAH, where all the good options are. So hash browns at Chic Fil A it was!
Transportation. We used insideloscabos for roundtrip private airport transportation for $133. Everywhere else we used Uber. $21.05 for 5 uber rides, insanely cheap. Total transportation cost=
$154
Accommodations. So here’s the aspirational part of the trip. We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal, which is apparently a bucket-list type resort destination. For a standard room, it costs 120k Hilton points each night. We booked 2 nights with points and one night with a FNC between our two Hilton accounts.
Availability can be hard to find, but we were flexible and saw three nights pop up in January over a weekend and snatched them. I later switched one points night to a FNC when the certificate became available.
There aren’t really even words to describe how amazing this stay was. This resort is carved into the cliffside at the tip of the Baja, where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez. Your journey begins as you are driven through a 1,000 footlong tunnel carved straight through the mountainside.
You’re greeted immediately by your personal concierge with welcome margaritas or hibiscus water, offered a tour, then swept over to a personalized check-in. We have Diamond status with Hilton due to the Aspire card and between that and noting in advance we were celebrating our anniversary and looking for some romance, we were upgraded from their standard pacific view room (already amazing) to an OCEAN VIEW DELUXE TERRACE PLUNGE POOL KING room. A 360 degree tour of the room can be found
here
Upon arriving to the room, they had a welcome gift of a 200ml bottle of Clase Azul tequila in a handpainted bottle especially made for the Waldorf Astoria.
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They also provide a woven beach bag and cosmetics bag as gifts. Each afternoon, they send up chips, salsa and guacamole, along with a bucket of Coronitas.
Our concierge sent us a bottle of Prosecco for our anniversary, which was so thoughtful.
We were feeling incredibly spoiled already on this first day. The room itself is 850+ square feet, with a hacienda feel. Romance is taken to the next level with a fireplace, a soaking tub for two and open rain shower. On the terrace you have your own heated plunge pool (standard in all rooms throughout the resort). With taxes/fees, this room books for $2495/nt (the standard room for $2068).
That night we enjoyed fireworks provided by the resort (the resort was hosting a special event, so we got to enjoy the fireworks as well), followed by dinner at El Farallon. We’ve had several dinners here before, but it doesn’t get old. Waves crash below as you watch fish jump and in the winter, whales spout. El Farallon serves a four course meal and the service is impeccable. This time, I opted for the vegetarian courses along with my flounder, and it was excellent. This is a signature, memorable experience. The menu changes daily and consists mainly of fresh seafood. Again, service really showed and they knew (concierge) we were celebrating our anniversary, and provided a dessert tamale in addition to their standard churro dessert.
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Breakfast
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With Diamond status, we received complimentary continental breakfast, which as resumed as a buffet. This breakfast takes a lot of flack on Flyertalk, because there is a $9 upgrade if you opt for the egg station. Our servers were so kind each morning and were very clear about what was included in complimentary breakfast, including Mexican specialties, only excluding the egg station. I found the breakfast to be wonderful, from charcuterie to roasted vegetables, soups, tamales, an ever changing offering of quesadillas, fruit, Mexican pastries, yogurt, cereal, etc. I guess if you are looking for a typical American style breakfast, you’ll be disappointed. My opinion is that you should try to enjoy the local flair as much as possible- and I am a picky, picky eater, so I know that’s not easily done for many. Between complimentary breakfast and the afternoon amenity of chips/guac, we never felt the need for lunch or other snacks. The room is also set up with a mini-fridge stocked with juices, soda and water, and cashews and apples in our room were restocked daily.
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Spa
We were torn on whether to keep our spa reservation because it is pricey, but ultimate decided to keep it and we are so glad we did. They recommend arriving 45 minutes early to enjoy their facilities, which includes a sensory circuit if you will, consisting of a sauna, steam room and ice room, and hot tub. I cannot say enough about the service. Again, you couldn’t go 5 feet with someone offering to guide or assist you.
We enjoyed the couples massage room. I adored the 50 min hot stone massage, while my husband enjoyed a deep tissue massage. My massage was seriously good, with perfect pressure and I really enjoyed the alternating cold and hot stones, said to be good for breaking down inflammation.
Following the spa, we were escorted to the spa’s private pool area. If you weren’t staying at the resort, you could make a pretty full day out of the spa, between the sensory circuit, treatment, relaxation area and pool. You can’t take but a few steps without a light snack or refreshment.
The one thing I would change about the spa setup, and we’ve experienced the same elsewhere, is that the sensory circuit is separate for men and women. I would have enjoyed experiencing this with my partner.
Also, upon checking out the spa prices were different (17% higher when factoring additional tax/service charge) than the menu which had been sent by our concierge. When I showed her the menu provided, she mentioned they raised their prices in November (though I was sent the menu just days prior), and she quickly adjusted the price. This was the only minor service blip the entire trip and they were quick to rectify it.
Total resort cost, charged to our Aspires:
Spa services= $510.90 including gratuity and 16% tax
Dining & gratuities= $240.08
We used two Hilton Aspire cards during our stay, each one has a $250 resort credit per card member year.
Out of pocket cost= 750.98-$500 Aspire credits=
$251
(Less value of points earned $228) = Total Out of Pocket cost
$23
Retail value of our upgraded room= $7485
Points used= 240k points, 1 FNC
Redemption value= 2.1 cpp
Amex Hilton Aspire breakdown
| Redemption value | |
| $250 airline incidental credit | $250 travel funds with Southwest | |
| $250 resort credit | $ 250 | |
| Diamond status | | |
~ complimentary breakfast | $30/day | |
~ room upgrade | $427/day | |
| Annual free night certificate | $ 2,068 | |
| Points earning | $ 228 | |
| | |
| Total value this trip | $ 4,167 | |
| Aspire Annual Fee | $ 450 | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| Points earned | P1 | P2 |
| Base points | 5,175 | 1,159 |
| 100% Diamond bonus | 5,175 | 1,159 |
| 2022 Points promotion | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| Myway preference | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| Aspire card 14x | 7,252 | 1,624 |
Points subtotal | 21,102 | 7,442 |
| | |
Total points earned this stay | 28,544 | |
Value at .008 | $ 228 | |
Dining experiences.
We made reservations in advance, almost all through opentable. In Cabo, everyone we encountered wore at least one, often two masks, diligently. We didn’t observe any spacing restrictions at tables.
Casa Martin, Cabo San Lucas just outside city-center
This restaurant has a beautifully eclectic courtyard, which you enter by stepping through an old hacienda style door. This meal was ridiculously delicious. I ate vegetarian again and we shared a country salad to start. OMG, this salad had lightly grilled romaine lettuce, which sounds awful, but is so, so, so tasty. I’m going to try doing that at home this week. It gave it a roasty kind of char that was so delicious. I had a meal called Vegan- again, unbelievable. The hubby had the catch of the day, seabass. Everything was out of this world. The courtyard setting was very picturesque and we enjoyed live music by a Cuban singer, but mostly an American gentleman. Outstanding entertainment. Total= $67
Bar Esquina, Cabo San Lucas a few streets off the marina
Again, such a cute setting. Very moody, only lit by candlelight. Outdoors meets indoors as it’s really a pergola setting surrounded by high shrubs and curtains, giving the feeling of being indoors, yet you are completely outside. Listen people- we had an avocado flatbread I am still thinking about and plan to try to make this week. It was a flatbread with tomatillo baked over it, no cheese. Then it was topped with thinly sliced tomatillos, kalamata olives, avocado and cilantro. We also split the catch of the day and roasted vegetables. The live music here was also so, so good. Total= $75
Outings
Humpback whale boat tour- Cabo Trek, 2.5 hours.
On a previous trip to Cabo, we did a whale watching tour and while we loved seeing these amazing creatures, we felt like they were stalked by irresponsible boats. This time around I tried to look for a responsible boating operation. We selected Cabo Trek, who according to their website they are “the first ecotourism company in Mexico to obtain the official recognition of “Responsible Whale Watching Operator” assigned by the World Cetacean Alliance”. They have a marine biologist on every tour, and we felt very educated about humpback whales after our adventure. According to their website “Our RABEN (Mexican whale rescue network) certified captains are experts in anticipating the next best whale watching spot and maintain a safe and responsible distance from the whales.” We enjoyed a tour of Land’s End’s famous arch, lovers and divorce beaches, a sea lion colony and then out to the Pacific to see some whales. We saw many whales, often in groups of 2-3, as the whales come here to give birth and mate. The marine biologist said this made every humpback whale a Mexican citizen, lol. We saw mostly tail dives, but weren’t lucky enough to see any breaches this trip. We even saw a pod of dolphins- so magical.
The group size was 13, which I think was a bit much with COVID. I’d definitely recommend sitting up front at the bow if you can. It was a warm, sunny day and sea. We loved this tour and I’d book it again, though perhaps private if our group size was right. Total cost w/gratuity=
$212
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Talavera shopping
I am including this as an outing because we found an adorable Talavera pottery shop called Cobalto and treated ourselves to a beautiful keepsake by Javier Servin, as well as Talavera ornaments for our lils as souvenirs. Doing a bit of research on Talavera has inspired me to look into a future trip to Puebla, Mexico and piggy-back that with Mexico City and San Miguel Allende, two cultural locations I have been hoping to get to.
Departure. US requires a negative covid test for re-entry within 1 day of departure. We pre-ordered eMed’s BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag At-home Test 6 pack and brought them with us. Easy proctored testing from our resort with results within 15 minutes.
I just saw when logging into my order that they upload a prescription for each user, as well as a receipt with CPT and diagnosis codes. I am going to attempt to submit this to my health insurance and will report back on the success/failure. Total cost= $28/each=
$56
We were able to use the kiosks for SW at the airport, and then just had our COVID docs checked at the gate. No one ever asked to see our Mexico required health questionnaire QR code, as they had on a visit last year.
We enjoyed the VIP Lounge in Terminal 2 as we departed SJD utilizing Priority Pass through CSR. Again, very relaxing and but the food was not very good and our particular server was almost non-existent, though we saw most other servers being very attentive. The airport was chaotic and the airport food lines were insane, so we were glad to have this option.
Total trip cost=
$874 cash, not including souvenirs
240k Hilton points
1 Hilton FNC
27k Southwest RR points
Retail cost= ~$10,000
Final thoughts- If you made it this far, you are a champ, and I bet you can’t believe I still have final thoughts. I guess my big takeaway is that we are so, so fortunate to be able to take a trip like this. The romantic couples time was something I didn’t even know we were missing, and I am so glad we got to experience this resort together. I really don’t know how we’ll find something equivalent in the future for a short trip, but I know we need to travel together solo, at least every few years, now that the kids aren't tiny anymore. Thanks so much to everyone who contributes to this board- we would have never had an experience like this if it wasn’t for you.
