Budget Family Trip to Puerto Rico: How We Used Points

How We Are Taking a Family Trip to Puerto Rico Using Points and Miles

If you’ve ever dreamed of sipping coconut water on a tropical beach without blowing your budget, let me tell you: it’s absolutely possible—and we are doing it! Our family of five is preparing for a trip to Puerto Rico…and the best part? Flights and hotels are (mostly) covered by points and miles.

Here’s how we are making it happen—and how you can too.

Why Puerto Rico?

Puerto Rico checked all the boxes: tropical, family-friendly, rich in culture, and easy to get to from the east coast. We were craving warmth, ocean air, and a new adventure without the long-haul international travel. Puerto Rico delivered on all fronts.

Flights: (Mostly) Covered by Points

We are flying round-trip from the mainland U.S. to San Juan on Southwest Airlines using Rapid Rewards points. We don’t love connecting flights unless absolutely necessary so we are flying out of Baltimore for a non-stop flight. For us, it’s about the same distance as JFK, which we do regularly for international flights, so it was easy to consider Baltimore to fly out of. It was difficult to find a time slot that worked around our schedules-mainly school events and work. I was looking at Southwest mostly because we had flight credits from a canceled Atlanta trip in February. I also refuse to pay insanely high point prices, so it became a bit tricky to find dates that worked point-wise with our schedules. But I did it. Here’s what we ended up paying:

• Total points used: 55,000 Rapid Rewards points
• Credits: $404.15 in Southwest flight credits
• Out-of-pocket cost: $87.17 per person for the remainder/$435.85 total

Hotels: Paid with Points

We are breaking up the trip and hotel hopping because of our flight schedule-but I’m totally fine with that! We will get to use points to cover it all completely.

We will be staying at the Hyatt Regency Grand Reserve Puerto Rico, a beautiful beachfront resort that looks like paradise!

• Total points used: 60,000 World of Hyatt points for 3 nights
• Room type: Standard room with two queen beds and a rollaway (perfect for our family of five)

This property is a Category 5 and we transferred Chase Ultimate Rewards points (using the Chase Ink Business Preferred) to Hyatt.

For the other 2 nights we chose to stay close to the airport for easy access and to eliminate having long drives late in the evening or early in the morning.

We will be staying a night at the Hyatt Place San Juan, which has a nice pool area for the kids and a night at the Embassy Suites by Hilton San Juan Hotel & Casino, both very close to the airport.

Hyatt Place San Juan:

• Total points used: 12,000 World of Hyatt points for 1 night
• Room type: Standard room with two queen beds and a sofa bed

Embassy Suites by Hilton San Juan Hotel & Casino:

• Total points used: 65,000 Hilton Honors points for 1 night
• Room type: Standard room with 2 double beds suite with sofa bed

What I love about Embassy Suites-the rooms! I love that it is standard for the rooms to have a separate bedroom along with the sofa bed. It makes staying there as a family of five very doable. We were able to use Hilton Honors points through the Hilton Honors Aspire Card.

Rental Car: Paid with Points

A rental car is a must if you want to see more of the island beyond San Juan. I booked our rental car using our Capital One Venture X Business travel credit and the rest in miles. Here’s the breakdown for our rental car:

• Credits: $300 annual travel credit from our Venture X business card
• Venture Miles: 5,808 Venture Miles paid for the $58.08 remainder

My opinion: I really love the Capital One Venture X and Capital One Venture X Business cards from Capital One. They earn 2 points per $ spent so you don’t really have to think about spending categories and whether it’s the best card to use. And with the $300 travel credit and 10,000 point anniversary bonus that each offers, it more than pays for the annual fee.

So in total, we’re paying only $435.85 for five people to go to Puerto Rico. I’d call this a win! Every trip may not be completely paid for with points and miles-and that’s okay! You do what works for you, and that’s most important.

I can’t wait to share about our adventures in Puerto Rico with you! If you’ve been to Puerto Rico and have any tips, must-do activities or restaurant recommendations, let me know! We have left a lot of room in our trip for add-ons and like to keep a flexible schedule.

The world is waiting-go explore it ✈️

Lauren