How I booked a $21,200 Maldives trip for $1,686

I’ve been rolling out my Maldives trip report series and thought I’d share how I actually paid for it using points and miles. As you can tell from the title of this post, it wasn’t all “free.” Even with the hotel and airfare booked using points and miles, there were other costs. The Waldorf Astoria Maldives boat transfer for one, was $862 (Note: The hotel is dropping the fee by $100, starting January 1). 

At the resort, the cheapest meal I had was a $57 lunch and the most expensive charge was a $441 jet ski excursion. I knew what I was in for, so I budgeted an average $500 per day for this trip (including the boat transfer cost). With the $250 resort credit from my Hilton Aspire Card, I was able to stick to that budget.

Without points, this trip would have clocked in around $21,200. Below is a break-down of exactly how I booked this trip using points and miles.

• Etihad Business Class Lounge Dulles (IAD)
• Review Etihad Business Class Washington to Abu Dhabi
• Etihad Business Class Lounge Abu Dhabi Review
• Waldorf Astoria Maldives Review
• Etihad Business Class Review: A320 Abu Dhabi to Male
• Waldorf Astoria Maldives Beach Villa
• Waldorf Astoria Maldives Overwater Villa Review

Maldives Airfare using miles

Airfare was the easiest part of booking this trip. I used 140,000 AAdvantage miles and  $174.85 round-trip to fly Etihad business class from Sacramento to Male. It was almost 16 hours of flying across four segments in each direction:

• SMF – DFW (American Airlines first class)
• DFW – IAD (American Airlines first class)
• IAD –  AUH (Etihad business class)
• AUH – MLE (Etihad business class)

Etihad no longer operates flights between San Francisco and Abu Dhabi anymore and there was no award space out of LAX. So while this route wasn’t particularly speedy, it was first/business class all the way so who am I to complain? Besides, Etihad award space is bookable on AA.com. Not having to talk to a phone agent to book an award flight is always a plus in my book.

Paid in cash, the same fare would have cost $12,853. But there’s no universe in which I’d shell out almost $13k on a round-trip flight, so a more realistic comparison would be the typical $1,600 fare on this route. This itinerary would have been hell in economy class and not just because Etihad’s economy class product is terrible. The multiple segments and long layovers would have left me totally exhausted.

Award taxes and fees

I charged the $174.85 in taxes and fees to my Citi Prestige Card for the 5x bonus.

Waldorf Astoria Maldives using points

I redeemed the free night from my Hilton Honors Aspire Card and 250,000 Hilton points to book the Waldorf Astoria Maldives. At the time, the resort was going for over $1800 per night. Taxes included, a 3-night stay at this resort would have cost $6,615.36.

I did charge a total of  $1,769.52 to my room, including the boat transfer fee. This earned me over 65,702 Hilton points thanks to promotional bonuses and earnings from my Hilton Aspire Card:

• Base points: 15,213 Hilton Honors points.
• Diamond elite bonus: 15,213 Hilton Honors points. 
• Power Up promo: 15,213 Hilton Honors points. 
• MyWay bonus: 1,000 Hilton Honors points.
• Hilton Aspire Card bonus: 19,063 Hilton Honors points.

If it hadn’t been for points, I would have probably settled for the Westin Maldives, which was going for around $500 per night at the time. The total for three nights came to around $2,200 and I would have gotten the fourth night free for booking with my Citi Prestige Card. 

Incidentals

Between the $862.40 boat transfer between the airport and hotel, food and activities, the total cost came up to $1,769.52. The $250 Hilton resort credit from the Hilton Aspire Card helped offset a substantial chunk. 

The credit posted just two days after the charge did. 

Total trip cost

In total, my trip to the Maldives cost $1,686 out of pocket, plus 140,000 AAdvantage miles, 240,000 Hilton points and a free night award: 

• $1,482.56 hotel charges (after the $250 Hilton Aspire resort credit).
• $174.85 taxes and fees for my AAdvantage award flight.
• $28.59 facial at the Etihad business class lounge.

Without points and miles, this trip would have cost upwards of $21,200.92. Clearly I wouldn’t have paid that amount. But even if I had opted for cheaper hotels and economy class airfare, the trip would have easily set me back at least $4,300.

Final thoughts

There are definitely cheaper ways to travel to the Maldives, even if you’re using points and miles. The Waldorf Astoria Maldives is pricey from all aspects. Everything from the points required for the room to the cost off food, activities and boat transfer is high.

I wanted to try this resort out because it was brand new and no other bloggers had reviewed it. So I knew I could generate a lot of traffic writing about it. It helps that I can write off my expenses. If you’re not a blogger, you will find better value at other resorts bookable with points.

There are plenty of cheaper ways to travel to the Maldives on points, stay at an incredible resort and really enjoy yourself at a fraction of what I paid. In an upcoming post, I’ll share some options for how this can be done.

[jetpack_subscription_form title=“Subscribe via email for more points, miles and free travel”]