How I Saved $2,554 on a 5-Star Hotel Stay With a Travel Rewards Card

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When you want to take a special vacation, a five-star hotel can be well worth it. This category of hotel tends to have much fancier rooms than what you'd find elsewhere, a higher level of service, and impressive amenities, like fine dining and spa services.

As you'd expect, luxury hotels normally don't come cheap. Depending on where you're traveling, you could be looking at room rates of $500 to $1,000 per night, well outside of most people's budget.

I love finding ways to get these kinds of luxury travel experiences for less. My wife and I recently stayed at a five-star hotel, and thanks to my Hilton credit card, we were able to save $2,554. Here's how.

Free nights and a complimentary upgrade

We wanted to book a four-night hotel stay for a long weekend. Rooms at the hotel we wanted to visit in the south of France started at 526 euros ($572) per night or 90,000 Hilton Honors points.

Thanks to my Hilton card, I had a free night award that I had been saving for exactly this type of expensive stay. Lots of hotel credit cards have this kind of benefit, and it's extremely valuable if you use it at a luxury property. I also had 168,000 Hilton points I'd earned using my card, which left me 102,000 points short of what I needed for the remaining three nights.

Luckily, Hilton lets you buy points, and it frequently runs promotions where you can get a bonus on what you buy. I purchased 102,000 points for $510. That brought me to 270,000 points, which I used for a three-night stay. Then, I added another night by calling in to redeem my free night award. In total, I got four nights for just the $510 I spent on points.

Another common hotel card perk is complimentary elite status. Since my Hilton card has complimentary Diamond status, I was upgraded from a standard room to a much larger room with a hot tub. This room would've normally cost 583 euros ($634) per night.

Savings: $2,026 (the room would've cost $2,536 for four nights, and I only paid $510 for the points I needed)

Free breakfast for two

Elite status with a hotel can include quite a few perks. With Hilton, Gold and Diamond guests get either a daily food and beverage credit or continental breakfast, depending on the hotel and region.

At the hotel we visited, breakfast cost 38 euros ($41) per person. It was a quality breakfast, and you could have it brought to your room, which I prefer over dragging myself to a restaurant first thing in the morning. I would've definitely paid for this out of pocket if it wasn't included.

Because I have Diamond status through my Hilton card, we got breakfast for free. That saved us 76 euros ($82) per day on our four-day stay.

Savings: $328

A $200 spending credit

We spent a lot of time and money at the hotel. We visited the restaurant, got room service a couple times, and reserved a spot at the hotel's private beach area (so much more enjoyable than a regular visit to the beach).

My Hilton card also includes statement credits toward Hilton Resort purchases. Now, I'll be honest, I didn't even realize this was going to apply. I wasn't sure if the hotel was considered a Hilton Resort. It ended up being a pleasant surprise when I checked my credit card bill later and saw that I got $200 back.

Savings: $200

A five-star stay for a lot less

Travel rewards cards can help you save on just about any type of trip. But they're especially useful for booking luxury travel, such as high-end hotel stays and business-class airfare.

If you're interested in saving on hotel stays, a hotel card could be a good addition to your wallet. Many of the major hotel chains, including Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, and Marriott, have their own credit card lineups.

If you have a hotel chain you like, check out its credit cards to see which one looks like the best fit for your travel habits. If you're open about which hotel you visit, you could look at card options from multiple hotels.

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