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How I booked a Five Star hotel in Zanzibar on points

You don’t really realize lifes riches until you are told you are rich. 

After returning back from Africa just hours ago I want to touch upon one of life’s riches, which is the travel hacking points world.

Traveling on points is best experienced in the USA as we have access to a variety of resources and various entities to earn points to be redeemed for flights and hotels; but the buck doesn’t stop there. 

Now one thing I never considered was that I am rich, however when the “average” living wage in Africa is $150-200.00 and other countries around the world than I guess I can grasp what this means a bit more. I also realize how blessed and grateful I am.

However, there’s things in life that make you rich and its not just money. Sadly, many Americans are obsessed with the next new car, a bigger house, more this and more that and we are constantly being bombarded with emails to buy something. 

Consumerism is at an all time high, yet so many Americans are in massive debt and cannot afford their next payments, so when someone in Africa calls me rich, this really hit me. 

I realize I may be rich to someone in another country, but don’t truly feel rich in money. Why is that you ask? I find that am rich in love from friends, family and those who genuinely understand this term. When you lose a loved one, in this case my mother, you realize, all the money in the world cannot possibly bring that person back. Food for thought, right?

The term rich has now taken on a whole new meaning, especially after returning from this (what I don’t take for granted) luxurious stay at the Hyatt Place Zanzibar.

You may be asking how I did it? Well, I am still amazed at how I did it and I am still reveling (in my head) in the comfortable bed, luxurious bathtub, constant care and adornment from the staff at the Hyatt Park Zanzibar.

Then stop and ask yourself are you rich in love, family and friendship? Those to me are truly lifes riches.

Now that I got your attention let’s get back to the reason I’m writing this article.

 I truly felt rich for five days while being treated like a queen at a five-star hotel in Zanzibar,Tanzania. I am here to tell you how you can live this rich life too!

How it all started? Well, yes the dreaded word of ‘credit card hacking’ and on points starts here.

So, let’s get to the nitty gritty and please understand this ‘hobby,’ or sport is not for everyone. If you are good at managing money and paying bills, then listen up. Oh and it doesn’t hurt to have a decent credit score. 

I want to be transparent in writing this that I do not work a corporate job, that I once did. 

I am not spending massive amounts of money like some people earning points. I actually am quite the budget traveler and live quite frugally when not traveling and whilst traveling do the same. 

I started my travel business to keep those in mind who cannot afford the luxury safaris. I also wanted an outlet as I am often solo traveling and realized I really wanted company on my adventures, so why not meet new amazing humans and friends along the way and experience the adventure of a life time together.

I don’t know about you, but I love to get the most for my money, don’t you? Take a dollar and stretch it right?

I was very lucky when I found out the Park Hyatt Zanzibar had rooms available, for my dates. I had opened one particular credit card, for a large purchase that my family had to make.  I earned 100,000 points from this purchase by meeting what is called the MS (minimum spend).  You must spend the amount on the credit card within 3 months of receiving the card (so you have 3 months to spend XYZ, for example $3000.00) and once you hit the $3,000 in those 3 months, you earn the points. You will not earn the points if you go past that three month time frame.

When you quality for a credit card, there are points attached to it, in this case 100,000 points were the reward, but in order to do that you have to spend a certain amount of money, as noted above.

 This particular case it was a large spend, so days prior to the purchase being made I received my card. I instantly received (within a few days) the 100,000 points, which is also equivalent to a cash price, if you want to use the cash you can, but in my case I always go for the points.

For me points means travel, hotels and more. I had these 100,000 points and as I was seeking the cash prices for hotels for my last 5 days of relaxation after my safari trip, for my business I figured you know what, go big or go home. So I went big. I first checked that the hotel had available nights for points. You can either pay cash or use points (or points+ cash).

I used a total of about 120,000 points for my stay, this September 2024. 

Had I paid cash for the room it would have been $2,680.00. I know you are wide eyed seeing this amount and so was I. How did I get to this cash price you ask? Well, the average nightly rate for my time at the Park Hyatt would have been $536 per night. 

Instead of putting a charge on my credit card I knew I would regret  I went into my chase account and transferred the points over to my Hyatt hotel account. The points transferred immediately and I booked the hotel room I wanted for the points for 6 days and 5 nights. 

The card I recommend and use on a daily basis is my Chase sapphire preferred credit card. You will also need a Hyatt account to do this particular exchange. The CSP is the credit card that I highly recommend, if you are looking to get your first travel card. Why you ask? Well, before I learned this travel hacking sport I literally thought this must be a joke. How can I pay my daily grocery bills, lights bills and any other bills or expenses and earn points for doing so? 

Well, the photos above explain it all. Now, understand this particular purchase was a one off, but I have been doing this points game for nearly four years now and I continue to learn.  I use credit cards for every purchase and open credit cards, when I feel fit. Some people are opening them weekly, but I am very strategic on how I do this.

 Please note if you use my affiliate link above I do receive a small bonus of points and would appreciate your support as this helps me teach others and helps me to not only visit my family but offsets the cost of running solo adventure tours around the globe.

Hope you learned something and happy travel hacking. Stay tuned for how I booked my flights to Africa on points.