A Surprising Experience at Scottsdale, AZ
This is the fifth installment of a Travel Series I decided to start with the intent to share information about places we’ve been to and ways to minimize expenses using travel hacking strategies. Traveling can get expensive but if you’re flexible, plan in advance, and do a little bit of research, you’ll be surprised by how affordable it can be.
If you’re interested in this series, feel free to check out these posts:
Southwest Offers
Recently, an opportunity came up when I received a notification of a limited time offer from Southwest. I started to look at all the destinations out of Denver and after checking dates and prices, we landed on Albuquerque, NM. This would be a short four (4) day trip leaving on Thursday evening and returning on Sunday.
We started checking the weather and things to do. After a couple of google searches, we began to feel a little bit hesitant about this destination.
One of my co-workers heard me talking about the trip and asked if we had considered Scottsdale, AZ. My answer was a quick NO.
I went back to check airline tickets and it turned out flights to Phoenix were cheaper than Albuquerque.
Normally, I would book our stay prior to paying for airline tickets but with Southwest, you want to make sure you lock wanna-get-away prices as soon as humanly possible.
With airline tickets secured, the next thing was to look for a hotel or Airbnb.
We were interested in using points so we quickly discarded Airbnb.
There are a lot of options for hotels and resorts in Scottsdale. The same co-worker who suggested this destination also recommended a couple of hotels in the area but all her suggestions were golf/spa type resorts. Needless to say, the cost per night would not be cheap.
We quickly steered to the Chase UR travel portal and decided to stay at a hotel that offered a very competitive rate, had excellent reviews and included breakfast for the family. This wasn’t our first time staying at this hotel brand so that also helped with our decision.
The flight to Phoenix was late in the evening. Our kids did really; however, our oldest did not feel very well to the point we debated taking him to the ER. After releasing a lot of fluids out of his system (you know what I mean) he started to feel a lot better. So did we 🙂 .
We went ahead and picked our van and headed to the hotel. By the way, our rental was a steal. If you have not yet used Costco, I strongly suggest considering it as an option. Their discounts have made it a no brainer for us so we use it almost exclusively for all our car rental needs.
The First Hotel
The hotel was fairly close to the airport. Thankfully it was a quick 10-minute drive.
We arrive at this property around 1:00 am, were greeted with hot cookies and a quick check-in
When we got to the room it felt really hot. The thermostat was showing 75 degrees but believe me, it was hotter than that. We attempted lowering the temperature to 68 degrees but the unit never started. I gave it a couple of minutes but ultimately decided to call the front desk.
The person on the phone said that ACs were set up to stay at 75 degrees and couldn’t go lower than that (this was the first WTF). We were told to wait for a few minutes for the unit to kick in. We waited and the damn thing never started.
I called the front desk again and requested a new room but was told the whole place was booked. The best thing they could do was to bring portable fans to our room. The second WTF.
A few minutes passed and a maintenance guy (not the one on the phone) shows up with two portable fans for each room.
I called again and complained about our situation. I informed our host that we would be changing hotels and requesting a full refund. He said that a full refund would not be possible and that we would at least be charged for a one (1) night stay. The third WTF.
I kept thinking about our situation and remembered that we used my Chase Saphire Reserve for this booking. I decided to call customer service to complain about our experience. At the time of the call, it was already 2:00 am in the morning.
Chase Saphire Reserve Rocks
The customer service representative was shocked. She said she would help us change hotels and also get full reimbursement from that horrible one (1) night stay.
The call lasted over an hour but we were happy with the outcome.
- Full reimbursement for our stay ~ 35,000 points.
- Secured a two (2) night stay at a resort in Paradise Valley in Scottsdale for 34,692 points.
The Second Hotel
The customer representative over the phone was surprised by our decision to move to a resort of the same brand as hotel #1; however, hotel #2 appeared to be a much-improved upgrade. My wife was a little nervous but we decided to give this brand a second chance. This time it would not disappoint.
So How Much Did We Spend?
Here’s a quick summary of our expenses.
| Category | Cost |
| Airline | $271 |
| Rental car | $265 |
| Entertainment | $106 |
| Gas | $58 |
| Hotel (fees) | $86 |
| Restaurants | $202 |
| Total | $988 |
Airline Tickets
Southwest points have been good to us. We did the math to calculate the exchange rate but upon checking the point redemption ratio we realized it was below our minimum of 1.5 (Ticket price/southwest points/1000 <1.5). As a result, we decided to pay out of pocket using my wife’s Southwest premier credit card.
When it was all set and done the total cost for airline tickets was ~$68 per person or ~$272 for a family of four (4).
Hotel
You already know the story of our hotel(s) so the extra cost was a resort fee charged per night. I know that some of you might find our hotel a little bit pricey at 17,346 points per night but after that first night, we were ready to indulge ourselves with a better place to stay.
As I said before this hotel was awesome. Very well located in proximity to old town Scottsdale and many of the places we wanted to visit. The kids also had a lot of fun being able to enjoy the outdoor pools.
In summary, we will definitely consider staying at this property whenever we’re back in Scottsdale.
Car Rental
A rental car is a must in Arizona. We debated using public transportation and/or Uber/Lyft but when we started to look at all the things we wanted to do, renting a car made more sense. The Costco travel portal came to the rescue and they had an incredible offer on vans.
We used my Chase Saphire Reserve to make sure we got 3X for every dollar spent. An additional benefit included coverage for collision and theft (collision damage waiver or CDW). As always, we declined additional insurance.
Restaurant
We did a great job on this category having breakfast a couple of days at our hotel and having a couple of meals while exploring the city.
Things To Do
When we started to plan our trip we thought the list would be a short one. The opposite was true.
After some minor prioritization we settled on the following:
Now, on to our favorite part … pictures!
Final Thoughts
Consider getting the Chase Saphire Reserve. The customer service is second to none. I was impressed by their ability to get our points back and to secure a great hotel for a reasonable price.
If you currently have Southwest points, do the math and estimate the exchange ratio. Personally, if it is below 1.5x we’re likely to pay out-of-pocket. If higher, using points would result in bigger savings.
This trip was a great getaway; however, it was too short. The Grand Canyon was on our list but we decided to stop at Sedona instead of making the long drive. We will be back for sure.
Until next time …JJ