Well, there's one secret some of us know about. Of course there are a number of ways as has been mentioned. Some folks with more disposable income due to higher salaries, lower cost of living, being on the lookout for a deal and timing vacations around finding a deal, second job or side hustle just for vacations etc. We live in FL and have Premier Passport APs. We also own DVC, bought in before the pricing went nuts and have 1300 points to play with. We are fortunate enough to be able to afford the $700 per night room, good salaries, no kids and mortgage is paid off. We would never in a million years pay real money for that. Nothing wrong with those who do. You do you.
Now, that doesn't mean we wouldn't stay at a resort that costs that much or way more. We can and do. We simply don't pay out of pocket for such expenses. I'm not going to use a Disney vacation as an example due to the fact we have DVC and are a 3 hour drive away. So, with that said, here is the vacation we have planned for next month.
First class RT flight on Emirates to Dubai, stop over and then Dubai to the Maldives. If I had to pay real money (which I would not) this flight would cost $51,548 for the two of us. That's insane and I do wonder who has over $25K per person for a flight, but I digress. We are "paying" with 300,000 Alaska Air miles each and $235.44 in taxes and fees total.
We have 4 nights at the all inclusive Al Maha Desert Resort and Spa. This is a Marriott property and the cost of a Bedouin suite is $1230 per night! Again, that's just crazy. We are "paying" 60,000 Marriott points per night and zero $. Meals are included and so are two activities per day.
Then we have 3 nights in the Maldives at the Conrad Rangali resort in an over-water bungalow. This is a Hilton property. The 30 minute sea plane to get to their island is a little over $500 per person! Again, that's just nuts. We are charging that amount to the room and receive a statement credit because we each have a Hilton card that has an annual $250 statement credit per year. We prepaid $250 each last year and the balance will be charged next month so our sea plane flights will be covered. The over-water bungalows are $1700 per night. We are "paying" with 190,000 Hilton points and one of the nights is being "paid" with a weekend night certificate that is a perk of the credit card and zero $. Food is expensive there but we have Diamond status with Hilton thanks to the credit card and breakfast, afternoon tea, snack and happy hour are all included with the status.
This is all possible to travel hacking and credit card churning. That's the secret many of us use. If someone were to have suggested to me before I discovered how to travel hack that I take a one week vacation that costs over $60,000 but only need to pay less than $500, I would have laughed. Seven years later and here I am killin' it. Go figure. We have a wonderful group of folks here on the DIS that help people accomplish their vacation goals using this method. Everyone is super friendly and helpful. It doesn't matter how modest or insanely ambitious your travel goals might be, the group will jump in to help you navigate the best way to make it happen. Come say Hi over on this thread
https://www.disboards.com/threads/i...v2-0-see-first-page-for-addl-details.3729982/
Just read the first few posts to get an idea what it's all about and then jump right in.