Travel to Hawaii for (Almost) Free: A Beginner’s Guide to Credit Card Points
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Let’s use points and miles to get to Hawaii!
Travel to Hawaii with credit card points and miles to help you offset the cost of your trip. Instead of needing to travel extensively to rack up points and miles towards a free trip, you can use credit card sign-up bonuses and rewards points to help you reach your travel goals faster.
Once you get the hang of it, it’s a simple concept, but there is some strategy involved to get the free (or nearly free) trip of your dreams.
Want to stay in Hawai’i for (almost) free?
Download our free guide that walks you step by step through our strategy to earn points and book our favorite Hawaii hotels for free.
Take Advantage of Credit Card Sign-Up Bonuses
The cornerstone of using points & miles is taking advantage of sign-up bonuses that credit card companies offer. With these bonuses, they’ll give you a set number of points when you reach a minimum spending amount.
For example, a credit card company might offer 60,000 points after you spend $4,000 in the first three months.
These sign-up bonuses are gold. They are where your vacation dreams come to life, as some of our favorite hotel stays in Hawaii can be had for as little as 25,000 points per night. That’s right, two free nights just like that. But we’re not done yet. There is so much more you can do.
We share what is in our wallet in the Learn More button below. These credit cards enable us to get free nights in Hawaii. Keep reading for how to make it possible.
Hi! I’m Erica,
Co-founder of The Hawaii Vacation Guide. I’ve lived on Maui and Oahu and travel the islands regularly with my husband Jordan and our kids, Henry and Edith. From planning unforgettable island-hopping adventures to paddling out on my SUP during whale season, I know what it takes to craft the perfect Hawaii vacation.
Meet the Minimum Spend Requirements
Once you’ve signed up for your chosen credit card, it’s time to make sure you qualify for the bonus! We like to sign up for a new credit card when we know that we can meet it with our regular spending (with groceries and other bills), or we sign up for a new card when we know we have a big purchase to make (like a new couch!).
We don’t want to sign up for a new card when we aren’t sure we can meet the minimum spend requirements to get the bonus. We also don’t want to increase our spending to receive the signing bonus. Being strategic with your timing is crucial.
Accelerate Your Points
Getting a card with a sign-up bonus and meeting the minimum spend is a significant first step that can earn you a couple of free nights at a luxury hotel in Hawaii. But there are ways that you can accelerate earning points to enjoy 5+ nights free at one of Hawaii’s best resorts.
Here are some strategies to help you rack up those points so you can sip mai tais poolside sooner:
1. Wait for the Highest Sign-Up Bonus
Not all welcome offers are created equal. At various times throughout the year, credit card companies may offer a higher sign-up bonus. These sign-up bonuses can be an extra 20k+ points. For example, a sign-up bonus might typically be 60,000 points, but during a higher sign-up bonus period, it might be increased to 80,000 points.
We just signed up for a card that offered us 100,000 bonus sign-up points. An extra bump could be enough to get you an additional free night or two.
2. Use Both Business and Personal Cards
Business credit cards can come with even more lucrative sign-up bonuses. After adopting the two-player strategy, our points really took off once we started adding business cards to our wallets.
While you might not run a big business, you might still be eligible for a business credit card. If you have a side business that generates income throughout the year, that may qualify you for a business card. So tutoring, dog sitting, freelancing, or selling things on eBay could be considered a business to a credit card company. See our How to Qualify for a Business Credit Card for details.
Start with the Right Card
Once you have the basics down and you’re ready to start earning some serious points to fund your Hawaii vacation dreams, you can just pick a card and you’ll be on your way, right?
Not quite. Not all credit cards are created equal when it comes to using points. While we get into specifics in our ultimate guide to points and miles, some points are considered more valuable than others. In general, we recommend that people start with a credit card program that uses transferable points. We share our wallet here and in the button below.
The points you earn here can be transferred to a travel partner, so you have flexibility when using them. You can book a hotel, a flight, or even a vacation rental.
What About Annual Fees?
You’ll probably notice that most of the cards that offer great travel rewards and perks also come with an annual fee. The fee can range from as little as $75 to as much as $695. Some credit card companies offer to waive the fee for the first year, but others do not.
When determining whether a credit card is worth the fee, we consider the benefits we receive. If the benefits (points included) are worth the cost of the card, we get it! We discuss credit card myths to help put you (us too) at ease.
For Hawaii, the travel perks and travel booking portals pay for the value of the cards’ annual fees. For example, a late checkout, complimentary breakfast, or resort credit at 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay on Kauai is a worthwhile justification for a yearly fee for us.
How long does it take to earn enough points to get your dream Hawaii vacation?
Now that you have the basics down, you want to know how long it will be until you’re sipping mai tais beachside. It depends on how long your vacation is and how much you want to offset your cost with points.
If you want to get a few nights free at a luxury resort, you might be able to do that in as little as a few months! For a more extended trip (10 days or more, involving multiple islands), you may need to plan more carefully and start accumulating points well in advance, ideally a year before departure.
Keep Track of Everything, Easily
When you have one card to keep track of things, it is easy. You know when you need to meet the minimum spend, when they’ll charge you an annual fee, and when your payments are due.
But when you start opening multiple cards, things get a little more complicated. And you don’t want to miss out on meeting your minimum spend or miss a payment due date. For this, we use the free app by Travel Freely.
Now that you know the basics of traveling to Hawaii with credit card points, explore our favorite travel cards. Look for those bonus sign-up offers!
How to Travel to Hawaii with Credit Card Points
We have so many resources to help you travel to Hawaii with points! Check out these articles for more details to help with your planning!
- Hyatt Hotels in Hawaii & How to Book Free Nights
- Hyatt vs Marriott Rewards in Hawaii
- Where to Stay in Hawaii with Points: 31 Top Hotels
- The Best Credit Cards for Hawaii Travel: updated annually!
- How to Avoid Resort Fees in Hawaii: strategy #1 is using points!
- Why are Hotels in Hawaii So Expensive? clever ways to save
- How to Qualify for a Business Credit Card
The Hawai’i Vacation Guide has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. The Hawai’i Vacation Guide and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Read about our affiliate policies here.
