A weekend in Nashville for less than $25
We recently returned from a long weekend in Nashville. We flew nonstop from Phoenix to Nashville on Southwest and stayed at the Kimpton Aertson Hotel. The total cost for two round-trip flights and three hotel nights came to a total of $22.40! Here’s how we did it.
Check out the current best card offers HERE.
We booked the flights with Southwest points and we earned a companion pass earlier this year. We paid for just the taxes on the flight for $22.40. Southwest sent me an email offer at the end of last year for their Rapid Rewards credit card. The offer was to apply for the card and if approved I would earn 30,000 points PLUS a companion pass for a calendar year. I would just need to spend $3,000 on the credit card in 3 months. Normally to earn a companion pass you have to earn 125,000 qualifying points in a calendar year, so this was a great deal. I signed up, completed the qualified spending of $3,000 in the first 3 months and received my companion pass and points. If you don’t know what a companion pass is, you can read more on that here.
Here is the current offer.
Nashville
We stayed at the Kimpton Aertson with IHG points & annual free nights and paid nothing. We actually received a $10 credit per night to use on food and beverage. My husband and I both have the IHG credit card which is a Holiday Inn branded card but there are several other hotel brands under the IHG brand. The annual free night is good for a IHG hotel up to a 40,000 point value. Since we both have the card, we each receive an annual free night, However in full disclosure, we do pay a small annual fee for these cards. This is why you need to make sure that the hotel value is far more than the cost of the annual fee. At the time of our stay, the nightly rate was around $300 and our annual fee is $89. We booked the 3rd night with 30,000 points.
You can plan a similar vacation by using the same techniques as we did. For hotel points, you can apply for the IHG card here. The current offer is 140,000 bonus points after meeting the spending requirement! This may be the best offer that I have seen for this card! If you currently do not have a Southwest card and would like one, you can learn how to apply here. The current offer is 40,000 points after meeting the spending requirement, which is pretty low. The offer changes frequently.
Although they are not offering the companion pass as a welcome bonus anymore, you can fly one or multiple flights with 40,000 points, depending on when you book the flights and where you want to go. Remember you can get one card for yourself and one card for your travel partner. Then you can double your points and maximize your free nights! Have you used any of these methods to save money on vacations? Let me know in the comments.
Please note that some of the links above my be affiliate links at no cost to you. By signing up for credit cards through my links, I may earn a small commission. All of the content above is the opinion of my own and not of any airlines, hotel chain, or credit cards.
