Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach on Points + Hilton Credits!

We just pulled off a travel move that still makes us laugh: a luxury stay at Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach that was booked on Hilton points, covered by stacked Hilton resort credits, and somehow ended with us up $38 thanks to a perfectly timed Amex offer. If you’ve ever wondered whether points and miles are actually worth the effort, we walk through the real math, the real cards, and the real checkout moment where Raya hands over a stack of credit cards and asks the front desk to split the bill across all of them. 

Along the way, we rewind to our annual Oceanside getaway, the trip we protect on our calendar because it has almost no itinerary. Beach, pool, good food, and a reset. This year includes a surprise birthday dinner for Dwayne with friends he hasn’t seen in more than 20 years, plus little details that made it feel special, like a custom menu and a table that just kept growing as more people arrived. 

We also get practical about family travel logistics: when a “standard room” starts feeling too small for five people, how we think about suites, and why an ocean view matters when one of us is working during the trip. We share our experience at The Seabird, how we handled a disappointing initial room assignment, and the polite ask that got us into a true oceanfront suite. Expect plenty of California details too, from the Monarch Beach club shuttle to June gloom weather timing, plus our favorite eats and one meal that went off the rails. 

If you want more strategies like this for affordable luxury travel, subscribe, share this with a points-obsessed friend, and leave us a quick review so more families can find the show. What’s the next hotel you’d love to book entirely on points?

Transcript

Welcome And Travel Style

SPEAKER_00 0:00

In today's episode, we are sharing our first ever stay at a Waldorf Astoria booked on points. So listen in. Hi, I'm Raya.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

And I'm Dwayne.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five podcast, where we share how we travel as a family of five around the world.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

We will also share how we use points and miles to travel as affordably as possible and sometimes even completely free.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

So if you're wanting to travel more with your family, but you're not sure how, we'd love for you to listen in.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

So welcome to our podcast where we hope you learn a thing or two to get you closer to your next trip.

Oceanside Tradition And Listener Run-In

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Hello, friends.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Thanks for tuning in.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

We are freshly back from our annual getaway to Oceanside, and we won't go into all the details about the seabird or anything where we stayed, but we stayed at a new hotel also, and we're going to chat about that today.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Yes. Very nice. Very nice little day.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

It was our first Waldorf Astoria, which was exciting.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

My first experience with a Waldorf Astoria was in the movie Coming to America.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Hopefully that doesn't show my age, but like just by watching that movie, that's the first place you heard about it.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

I think of coming to America.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Oh well, I do not. That's not the hotel he stays at in Home Alone, right? That's a different one.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

You know what's funny is I was also thinking that too, but I'm pretty sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

No, it turns out that is the plaza in New York in Home Alone, too. Looked it up. So, anyways, our first, our first Waldorf Astoria, but not our last for the year. So also exciting. But some background on this trip is every year we try to do a getaway to Oceanside. We love to stay at the Seabird. It is one of my favorite hotels. We've talked about it ad nauseum on this podcast. Matter of fact, some of you probably have stayed there because of us at this point. And I know that because Mona, if you're listening, hello. And it was great to meet you coming off the elevator. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Really a pleasure to meet people that listen to us. Yeah. I mean, there's there's not a lot of you out there, so we appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

That's not true. Um, I mean, we do appreciate it, but there's there's a good amount of you. But what's so funny to me is the few times that we have been like recognized, we'll say out and about, uh, three out of the four times have been in a hyatt.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

And coming out of an elevator.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

And two of those times were coming out of the elevator, which is so funny to me. Um, and I just think super random. So we did meet Mona and her family getting off the elevator at the seabird, and they were there because we had they had heard us talk about it, and I think they enjoyed themselves. And so, hello.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

Yes, I mean it's one of our favorite places.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

It is, it continues every year we go, and every year I'm I'm still not disappointed. So it's nice with as much as we travel to have a trip where there's no itinerary. So we just show up, we go to the beach, we go to the pool, we eat good food, and that's pretty much it. This trip, actually, I was still working full time. So during the day, I was in the hotel room and Dwayne had the kids out and about beach, pool. They went to like an arcade mini golf place one day. So that was new for

Planning A Birthday Surprise Dinner

SPEAKER_00 3:49

me. Um, but I just didn't have enough PTO to take the time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

And that you did have something on the itinerary.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_02 3:59

Monday night dinner.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I planned a surprise dinner for Dwayne's birthday. And the this whole trip, I reached out to both hotels in advance and I said, you know, we're celebrating my husband's birthday. Like, and they each have like something special in the room, like a little cake or some whiskey or whatever. Um, and so that was kind of since his birthday was the week that we were there, um, the the premise for the trip, even though we do try to go every year. But yes, I did reach out to one of Dwayne's good friends who lives in San Diego. We've talked about her on this podcast before because she is the executive chef at a restaurant called Wolf in the Woods, which is in Mission Hills, San Diego. And it is fine dining and it is delicious. If you're ever in that area and you're a foodie, would highly recommend it.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

And so her and Dwayne grew up together in Japan, and they have a good amount of friends from high school in Japan that live in the San Diego or LA area. So I just reached out to her a couple months ago and I was like, I would really love to do a surprise like dinner for Dwayne's birthday with you know everyone that lives nearby, but I don't know any of them. The only one that we ever connect with is her. So she it was my idea, but she was fully the exec executor of this idea, and everything came together so well because of her. So I really take almost no credit because she had so many people attend this dinner. I think we ended up having 12 or 13 total.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Yeah, I mean, there was first of all, it was probably the best surprise of my life, probably the best birthday.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

I kind of had an idea because Raya gave away, not gave away, but there was some that it was like the this is what happened. The day after I had texted her my idea, Dwayne just randomly comes in the room and is like, and mind you, we go to California every year, okay? Never has he really said, like, oh, I want to meet up with so and so, or I'm gonna reach out to so and so. And it's like literally the day after I text her about this that he comes in the room and he's like, I think I'm gonna text blah, blah, blah, and blah, blah, blah, and see if they want to meet up when we're in California. And I was so caught off guard by that that I was just staring at him like, could you not? Like, could you just not this one time? Because they were gonna come to the dinner.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

Yeah, so that was one clue.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

And then while we were in California, we were driving from one hotel to the next monarch to the seabird.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

My phone was hooked up to our van.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

Yes, for the GPS navigating.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

She needed to go somewhere. Anyway, I saw that my friend was calling her on her phone. And Rhea like frantically tried to decline it. Decline it. But I saw, but I acted like I didn't see it. And in my head, I'm like, why is she calling her and not me? So there were clues.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Because I think he was like, I didn't even know that she had her number. Like, what is going on? But the funniest part is I purposely did not save her number in my phone in the event that she would send me a text and Dwayne would see it pop up. Like instead of seeing her name, he would just see, you know, the 619, whatever area code. And I didn't think he'd think anything of that. So I purposely didn't have her number saved for that reason. But when she called freaking Apple, it says maybe, and then the name.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

And oh, so anyway, I saw it, but I acted like I didn't.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

So then I just texted her and I, and she's never called me before, it's always been text. She was going to the Japanese store and she wanted to know what snacks our kids liked because she was getting them goodie bags. So nice for it was very kind. But then I text, I'm texting her from the car, like, I'm pretty sure Dwayne just saw you call, like, but I can't ask him, so I guess we'll find out tonight.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

But yes, Monday night dinner, we walked into Wildland, which is in Carlsbad, which is in Carlsbad, right down the street from Oceanside. I mean, a really, really great restaurant.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Yeah, we ate there last year and it was delicious.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

And it was recommended by my friend, who's the chef chef. Um, but yeah, I mean, it it was great, it was very thoughtful, and I was surprised that you know, a lot of people showed up.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

A lot of people, yeah. Tell about the menu.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Oh, and we get there and they, you know, everyone got a menu, and at the top of the menu, it you know, it said happy birthday Dwayne. So I mean, she reached out and they made a special menu. Um not a special menu for me, but they printed your name. Printed, yes, printed out a special menu, and I mean it was great. And I mean, I hadn't seen some of these people in over 20 years.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Yeah, and it was great, and so we get there, and there's just a few people there originally, and so we're just chatting, and then more people kept arriving.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

Yeah, at one point my friend was like, Yeah, two more people are coming. I was like, I don't even know two more people. But I mean, it was it was fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Yeah, Dwayne just kept going, Oh my god, oh my god, it was great, it was really fun surprise for me, and I had been so excited for this. And like, you know, when you pull off a surprise, it's like when it finally happens, you're like, Oh my god, I'm so glad I can talk about this because I've been holding it in for so long. Even the kids didn't know, the kids had no idea, and God bless our kids. They sat at the end of this table for hours.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

Well, they were probably over, they were like, What is going on here?

SPEAKER_00 9:26

You know, and in the video that I took of Dwayne walking in, and again, it was just a few people at that point, it wasn't even everyone. Our middle son is just caught on camera going unexpected.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Yeah, I mean, it was such a great time. First of all, I think we were there at like seven. Yeah. Um, the restaurant closed at nine. And at one point, I mean, we didn't even know. At one point, my my buddy's like, dude, we're the only ones in here. And I looked, I turned around to look at the restaurant, and everyone is gone. And it was 10. And it was 10 o'clock, and I mean, they were like waiting for us to leave. Our server left. We felt so bad.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

Yeah, we were like, Oh, we gotta go. We were like, Oh, we gotta get out of here.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

Yeah, uh, but I mean, we probably would have stayed for at least another hour if they would have stayed open, but yeah, so shout out to the wild land, shout out to Chef for helping you. It was and shout out to you. I mean, it was it was one of the best birth birthdays ever, if not the best.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Yeah, it was a good time. I was really glad we were able to pull that off. And I was also glad it was at the beginning of the trip because then I could just relax and not stress about it. Yeah, did you wonder why I was like so particular about the kids' clothes?

SPEAKER_02 10:42

Well, I mean, yes, I mean that was another clue. Yeah, he's like, Oh, she was making the kids get a nice outfit.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

And to be fair, like when our 12-year-old brought me his quote unquote nice dinner outfit, it was basketball shorts and a t-shirt.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

So, and then another clue was every time we go to Oceanside or San Diego, we always go to my friend's restaurant. Yeah, so before we left, I was like, Oh, let me, you know, reach out and make a reservation with her. And she's like, Oh, you know what? No, let's not do it this time.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

We're gonna use up our chase credits, which we didn't end up doing as a side note. Still got it.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

And after she said that, I realized something's fishy here.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Because I love going to that.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Because we go there every time we're in that area.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

I love it. So, anyways, yes, it was anyway, fun time.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Yeah, it's a great time.

Waldorf Monarch Beach On Points

SPEAKER_00 11:31

So, here's how the trip shook out. So, we did six nights at the seabird, and prior to going to the seabird, we did one night at the Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach. I wanted you to try to get two. Yes, I tried to get two nights, but the the night before the night we stayed was sold out on points. So with it's a Hilton property, and with Hilton, there just needs to be standard award availability in order to to book it and pay a decent price. I could have paid like 800,000 Hilton points if I wanted to book that night, but I didn't. So one night it was. Yeah. And we got, I mean, we were there for almost a full 24 hours because we checked in a little early and we did a late checkout because I had some work meetings that I had to do.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

So yes, and I mean, when you go to a hotel of this stature, you expect great service. And I mean, we got it.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Yes, everywhere we went, they were acknowledging his birthday, which I did.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Yeah, I mean, our server at the pool was our server the first night we got there. You know, he was like, he even brought me a free drink. It's like here, happy birthday, thank you. You know, then the next day we were just walking by the pool, and he's like, Hey, Mr. Sinox team, blah blah blah, you know, happy birthday again. Hope you're enjoying your stay. And you know, just little little things like that goes a long way.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Yeah. And they you can tell that they communicate behind the scenes about different guests too. So um, okay, so we check in, we you know, we we just had a standard room. I think they did up, they, you know, they they call it like an upgrade where they give you like a better view or whatever. We had a nice view of the the pool and the grounds, and that was great. I will say I think we're getting to the point where a standard room is just a little too small for the five of us.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

Oh, it's definitely too small.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Our kids did end up all sleeping in one queen bed by their choice. We tried to get them to like, you know, who wants to sleep with mom, who wants to sleep with dad, but nope, they want to all sleep in the same bed together. So fine. I try I tried to get our daughter to sleep in a pack and play, which she can still fit in a pack and play technically, but she's like, absolutely not. Like, I'm not doing that.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

So, and I guess we could have brought an air mattress or something, but oh god, we I'll never do that again.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Oh, that's probably not true.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

I just I hate dealing with an air mattress, I just hate it.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Why?

SPEAKER_02 14:03

Just logging it everywhere, blowing it up, deflating it, setting it up at the next hotel, deflating it.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

Well, I knew we weren't gonna need it at the seabird because we had a suite, so I used a suite upgrade award.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

So I I didn't want to do it for just I'm definitely not a fan of an air mattress. I'd rather just ask for a roll away or something.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

Well, I don't think a rollaway would have fit though in that room.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

We'll make it fit.

unknown 14:27

Fuck.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Okay. So, anyways, we did squeeze into one regular room, but uh it was tight at this point. Whereas, you know, when the kids were a little younger, it was completely fine. So I think we're just getting, you know, to that point where our kids are a little bit older. The food on property, we went to the pool the you know, right after check-in. Food on property was delicious.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

So good. The best mozzarella sticks I've ever had in my life.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

I know, which is such a weird statement. Such a weird they were so good.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

I mean, I I took the first bite of them. First of all, they were like curly. Yeah. Mozzarella sticks. And I thought, mm, this is fancy. You know, first bite, I was like, I was like, oh my god, these are the best mozzarella sticks I've ever had. And then you tried them.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Yeah, they were very, they were very good. All the food was delicious. It's worth noting though, everything here is very expensive, very expensive. And the thing is, it's really frustrating when it's expensive and it's not that good. But in this case, it was expensive, but it was very good. So we had some snacks at the pool, then we went to dinner, and we also had breakfast on property the next morning, and the kids had a few snacks before we checked out since we did do a late checkout. The reason that we ate on property exclusively is because I had a buttload of Hilton credits to use.

Turning Hilton Credits Into Free Food

SPEAKER_00 15:52

So I went in knowing, okay, we have roughly let's call it $850 of Hilton credits to use up in this one nice day. So challenge accepted. The credit, let me tell you the breakdown of where the credits came from. Uh, we have six business platinum cards. I have three, Dwayne has three. Each of those has a $50 quarterly Hilton credit. So that alone is $300 in credits. We each have a Hilton Aspire card that has a $200 Hilton resort credit, excuse me, semi-annually. So two of those, so that's $400. So now we're at $700, right? $300 plus $400. Then we each have a Hilton business card that we just opened earlier this year. That has a $60 quarterly Hilton credit each. So another $120. And I had a Hilton gift card, like from the days of your, but when you could buy actually buy Hilton gift cards, which you can't anymore, for $50 that I also scrounged up. And honestly, the fact that I was even able to find it is a bit of a miracle because it's easily been two years since I purchased it. I purchased it using a credit on a card that I had back then. And then they also gave us a $50 food and beverage credit when we checked in. I think that was because I have Hilton Diamond status from holding the Aspire card. So, all in all, we had $920 in credits to spend.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

Yes. So we splurged.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

So we did. Snacks at the pool, dinner. Our 12-year-old, he loves to get a steak. And almost always we tell him, No, you cannot order the steak because it's always so expensive.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

That's the most expensive thing thing on the menu.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

So he's looking, Dwayne and I are talked at the pool, and I'm like, I'm gonna let him get the steak. And we're like, yes, we're in agreement. So then we get to the restaurant.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

We get to dinner, and he's looking at the menu. He's like, the only thing I want is $75. And of course, it's the steak. Yeah. And he repeated that like five times.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

And we're just like kind of ignoring him. Like, uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Because we already knew we were gonna get him the steak. So we don't even ask him what he wants. Like, so the server comes, we get appetizers because we're splurging. Yeah, we get appetizers, we get drinks. Um, then he comes back and say, You guys are ready. Or he asked, We're ready, we said yes. So then we proceeded to order. So everyone puts in their order, and then it comes, you know, my son's turn, and we ordered for him.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Well, because Dwayne had said, I'm gonna do the steak. Oh, yeah, and then Dwayne had said he's also gonna do the steak.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Yes, yes, yes, yes, that's what happened.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

And then the look on his face was his head whipped around so fast, like, what is going on here? And then after the server left, he was like, I'm sorry, what is happening? Help me understand why I can get a $75 steak. I don't even think we told him about the credits, quite honestly. I just was like, Yeah, we just figured we'd let you. And so I had a lobster roll and truffle fries and a glass of wine. That is an elite dinner right there. It was very good.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

I had the steak, a glass of whiskey.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

We ordered, we let the kids get dessert.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

Calamari. Our two youngest kids ate the calamari.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

Yeah.

unknown 19:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

It was a great time.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

The food was delicious. Breakfast the next morning, same thing. Um, really, you know, basics, but good.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

Yeah, I had a croissant breakfast sandwich. Super good. And then huge.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

And then I went down to the front desk with my 10 credit cards plus my Hilton gift card. And I said, I would just like to apologize in in advance for what I'm about to ask you to do. I go, but I would like to pay our bill using multiple forms of tender. And the guy just laughed and he goes, Oh, yeah, no problem. I can do that. He goes, I go, okay, I have 10 credit cards. He goes, No problem. I go, I also have a Hilton gift card. He's like, no problem. I'm like, okay, so we just went through each card one by one. 50 on this one, 50 on this one, down the list. 200 on this one, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then here's the best part. So, like a day or two later, we're just moseying about our lives. And I get an email that I used in Amex offer. And the Amex offer was $40 off $200 or more at a Waldorf Astoria or a I think, or Hilton Resort. I don't remember exactly. So technically, not only did we have a completely free stay, but we profited about $38 because we had our entire bill came to $922. And again, remember, we had $920 in credit. So we paid about $2 out of pocket for this stay. That included the valet parking, all the food, all the drinks, all the whatever. And then we got an additional $40 credit on top of the $200 resort credit that that card that that credit was on. So we made $38 on this stay, which is funny to me.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

Really funny. I mean, to get paid to stay there is I was just giddy. But overall, would definitely recommend this place. We're definitely gonna go back.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

Yes, I think that this would be a great add-on to our normal oceanside trip. It's about 25 minutes between the two properties. Um, so not far at all. Marnark, Monarch Beach is a little farther north than Oceanside, so it's a little closer to LA. It's in Dana Point, actually, is where it is, so not far at

Beach Club Details And June Gloom

SPEAKER_00 21:35

all. Um you should tell about the beach club though, because so Dwayne took the kids to the beach club while while I was working. I wasn't there.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

Yeah, so they have a beach club and they have a free shuttle. Um, a little trolley, they call it. It's like just a you know limo golf cart, if you will. Um they yeah, they drive through the golf course at this property to get to the beach. Um Really, really nice area. But we were there before it opened. Um, well, the restaurant, anyway, the the actual club, but there were volleyball courts, cornhole. Uh, when we got there, there was a group of ladies doing yoga. Um, the beach is probably the only negative I have about this property. I mean, it wasn't the nicest beach, but it still is a beach.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

Because there was just like debris and a lot of seaweed and like in the water too. Like you can see it in the waves. That's how much interesting.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Yeah. Was the were the waves big or no? Uh I mean, it it was what early mornings. I mean, they were it looked like it was kind of almost in an a little bit of an inlet and protected when I looked at the picture. But was that the case? Or um no.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

Oh no, it it looked like I can see why you thought that, but no. Oh um, the waves were okay, they weren't oceanside waves, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

So there's like a restaurant there that you can order.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

There's a restaurant, it's the actual like club. Yeah. Um, there's indoor seating, a lot of outdoor seating.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

Um do they have like beach chairs and stuff they'll set up?

SPEAKER_02 23:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Beach chairs, umbrellas. There was a guy at there was a guy out there setting up for a few people that were there already. Uh like I said, volleyball, cornhole.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

So towels, everything you need. Towels, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah.

unknown 23:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Dwayne sent me a few videos and I was like, oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 23:27

Shuttle runs like every 15 minutes to and from the hotel.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

How long was the shuttle ride?

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Four minutes, five minutes. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

I mean, it can't be that far because you can see the ocean from the property.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

Not far at all. And again, you're driving through the golf course. So, like, we had to wait for you know some people to hit their shot.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Yeah, I could see this being a great like couple's getaway property, but it also seemed perfectly family-friendly. We saw a lot of kids there when we were there. The other thing to remember about California, and I've said this on every every episode we ever talk about, but California in June is not quite summer yet. They have what's called June gloom, and it is just gloomier, especially in the mornings. Usually in the afternoon, that like ozone layer burns off and it'll be more sunny, but it's also not super warm. It's like 70, maybe. I think it was the upper 60s, early lower 70s when we were there. Next year, I'm gonna try to plan it so that we can go back like right before the kids go back to school, which would be like mid-July. And hopefully it'll be a little bit warmer because our kids were cold.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

Yeah, it was it was chilly. Yeah. I almost bought a sweatshirt, but I had to buy our two youngest ones sweatshirts. Yeah. Two each, I think.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Yeah. Yeah, they were cold. So I know that when we go to Scotland in a few weeks, they will be cold, also. So I gotta get them some layers for that. Um, but all in all, would totally recommend Monarch Beach. I think we will definitely go back. It's a really great place if you're, you know, nearby to use up your Hilton credits too. I mean, like the fact that we didn't really pay anything for that stay, so booked on points, and then, you know, all of our food was free, I thought was really fantastic. And if you could time it so that you are maybe in between the quarters, you could get even more value out of it. Um, I did reach out beforehand and they don't take any sort of prepayment, so you can't do that. Um, there are some Hilton properties where you can prepay your bill, you know, a certain amount of time in advance. And that that could be another way that you could get like, you know, maybe some Q1 credits in and then go in Q2 or whatever. You get what I'm saying. But this property didn't do that, so that was a little bit of a bummer, but I still felt good about the almost $1,000 in credits that we were able to utilize. And again, I I do want to also clarify that these are credits on cards with hefty annual fees. So recouping and using these credits is a way to recoup some of that annual fee back and ultimately help us decide if it makes sense to keep the the keep paying the annual fees going forward. So I do keep track of all that in a handy dandy little spreadsheet. So yeah.

Seabird Suite Swap For Ocean Views

SPEAKER_00 26:21

Um, anything to say about the seabird? It's great.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

I mean, it's great. It's great.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

So we we did again six nights at the seabird. I used a sweet upgrade award. I booked before the devaluation went into effect, but it didn't look like the devaluation hit the seabird too hard. I think I think I paid 29,000 points a night, and I think maybe now it's 30,000 points a night. So nothing crazy different. But I will say originally they gave us a partial ocean view suite, and I did request uh to be moved to an ocean front suite. I did. Yeah, Dwayne did. I was I'll just briefly share the story because it's gonna sound ridiculous. And if you are listening to this and rolling your eyes, I agree with you. I agree. But we checked into the suite and it was just a little disappointing considering the suite that we had last year, which was oceanfront and like stunning. Like, like I gasped when I walked in and saw the view.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

And this, like the view from my 200 square foot patio.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

Yeah, last year. Yeah, the view from my bed in this suite was the parking lot. So it was partial ocean view, like from the balcony, looking a specific way, but I mean, was there anything wrong with the room?

SPEAKER_02 27:43

No, no, nothing. I mean, it was a a suite, a two bathroom, two full bathroom suite, two full bathroom suite. So when I go down to ask for another room, the girl was like, Well, we do have an ocean view suite available, but it's a downgrade. So when she told me that, I was like, I don't know if I want to downgrade. But come to find out the downgrade of it was that it went from a two-bath suite to a one and a half bath suite.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

So, anyway, long story short, we did end up moving to that suite, and in no shape or form was it a downgrade.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

No, it was incredible. I mean, it was directly oceanfront, windows, like ocean views from everywhere. Yeah, it was phenomenal. It did only have one and a half bathrooms, but honestly, the two toilets is really what you need with kids, at least for us. Like they don't shower every day right now, at least the little two don't. That's disgusting. So it's not when they're kids. And so, you know, have like them showering in our bathroom is not a big deal. But like having a place for them to brush their teeth and stuff that's like not in our bathroom, that is helpful. So, yeah, one and a half baths, absolutely fine. The other thing is, I again was working this entire week, and all I wanted to do was look at the ocean while I was working. Like that was all I wanted. And there was no way for me to do that in the original suite that we had. So I did do that in our other suite, in our upgraded suite, though. I will say the only downside is we were on the fourth floor. It was the suite, the ocean front suite was room 403, and there was some street noise because you're right above the stop sign.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

Yeah, there's like a three-way stop right beneath us, basically. And I mean, you heard every car accelerate, you heard every motorcycle, like yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

So I would bring some earplugs if you're you know gonna be in that sort of situation. Um, but it didn't take away from the gloriousness of the view for me.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

So yeah, I mean, I Raya liked the suite we had last year better because of the patio being so big. I mean, it was great, don't get me wrong. But I also enjoyed this one and I thought it was equally the same because the the patio we had, it wasn't it just wrapped around like the whole room. I I I can't describe it, but this year or last year?

SPEAKER_00 30:28

This year. Oh yeah, it wasn't as deep, but it was lengthy. Yes, yeah, like you could walk along the patio all the way along the side of the building and look into our bathroom, which was interesting.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

It was huge, it was big, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

But yes, all in all, love the seabird. I do think that just being able to look at the ocean makes me so happy. And you know what? You might be a person that doesn't care about that sort of thing and you want to be out and about all day, and that's great. Like, whatever. Everyone gets to travel however they want to travel. But for me, being able to wake up, drink my coffee, look at something beautiful is what makes me happy. So, and we don't have it, we don't ever make plans for this trip. It was, I mean, we couldn't really make plans anyways because I was working, but it's just beach and pool. That's it. Go and then go eat good dinners.

Best Bites And One Bad Steak

SPEAKER_00 31:19

The taco stand we like, wild land we like, Stella Jean's ice cream, and Carl's Bad. We really like that place. We found a new Japanese restaurant that's walkable from the seabird called Sunshine Kitchen. That was very good. We had some good Japanese food there. That was recommended to me by my friend. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 31:44

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

And what else do we eat?

SPEAKER_02 31:48

We had a flying pig.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

We started off so great. Um, best mac and cheese I've ever had. And I'm not a fan of mac and cheese. Like I'll eat it, but you know, it's not my favorite. But this place had the best.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

It was very good.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

Very good.

SPEAKER_00 32:06

Um, and also had good uh fried chicken. Fried chicken, yeah. But then like there are I had mussels, and Dwayne got a steak, and like the mussels were very fishy, and the steak was like raw.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

Yeah, the steak was raw. So raw that I didn't eat it, and the server noticed.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:27

And they were like, you know, is there something wrong? And I was like, oh no, no. Um and then she said, Do you want me to refire it? And I was like, No, no, no. I go, we are not those people.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

Well, yeah, like, nope, everything's great. Everything's great. We're yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:41

And so so then the server comes back with the manager, and she's like, Yeah, I brought the manager to talk about things you don't want to talk about. And I thought, Oh, that's pretty funny. And the manager's like, Is there something wrong? And I was like, No, there's nothing wrong. She goes, Is it unundercooked? And I was like, a little bit, and she's like, Oh, where we fire it. And I was like, nope, nope.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

Yep, we're not doing any of that. We're not doing any of that. Nope, we're gonna work for it and be on our way.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

Took the steak back, and then the manager came back and was like, you know what? I took the steak off the bill, and I was like, You do not have to do that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

But they did it, they did, and I mean I was glad they did because it was fifty dollars, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

And it was like, it was I asked for it medium, yeah. It was rare, it was rare, like cold and so like so like I just ate the like outer part, but it was like and the muscles too.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

I didn't say a word about the mussels and what we just paid for them and whatever, but I didn't eat, I only ate a few, and I was afraid to eat more because I didn't want to get sick, you know. It like I love seafood, but it shouldn't taste super fishy. Even Dwayne tried it and was like, oh no, like no. But the sauce that came in was really sauce was delicious, so and then they brought out these beignets with raspberry sauce because they felt bad as an apology, and those were also so good, so it was like really like two ends of the spectrum.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

Yeah, so I think they were just they were definitely off with the steak. Even the manager was like, We're really good at our steaks. I really apologize for this.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Yeah. So I don't know. Maybe we would try it again, but but I mean, if you try it, definitely get the mac and cheese. Yeah, it was really good, so good. Um, I don't know. Anything else to add?

SPEAKER_02 34:22

Um, no, I mean I think that's it.

SPEAKER_00 34:24

What was the name of the arcade that you took the kids to?

SPEAKER_02 34:26

Boomers. Boomers. It was um putt-putt, batting cages, bumper boats, go-karts, arcade. No, it was a good time. Uh, but you know, whenever you go there, you spend a lot of money.

SPEAKER_03 34:42

Yeah, I just have like a couple of years.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

We had to buy, we had to buy two hours of unlimited play because if you just bought one ride, I mean it it it made the most sense.

SPEAKER_03 34:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

And then I had to buy separate um cards for that arcade, which also adds up. But I mean, to get the kids out of the hotel, have them, you know, use some of their energy up.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

Yeah, yeah. They do get totally worth it. They get a little bored of the beach pool rotation, which I mean, I don't really blame them, but they also have a great time. Like they'll go and play in the sand for hours and then they'll be like, I hate the beach.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

And it's like, and then I don't think we'll go the next day and they'll do the same thing. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

So it's like, I don't think I don't know that you know what that means, but okay. Um, I just thought of one other thing, and then we'll we'll end

Bilt Rent Day Points And Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_00 35:34

it here. But uh for your dinner, a few things conspired to make it a good points earning opportunity. And that is that uh I have the built card now that I recently applied for, and I had recently activated a points accelerator, which means that the card earns 3x on all your spend, up to $5,000. And you can activate the accelerators up to five times a year, calendar year. And every time you activate one, it costs $200 in built cash. So and when you spend the $500, you you are kind of earning roughly that amount. So it's it's almost self-sustaining. And the dinner happened to be on June 1st, which was rent day. So I already knew that I was gonna pay for the dinner. I just wasn't 100% sure which card I was gonna use. I thought maybe I'd use the Amex Gold card, which earns 4X on dining, or my Capital One Saver, which earns 3X on dining. But then when I realized it was on June 1st, which is rent day, built also has another accelerator that's like 2x on your first $500 in spend, I think. So up to a thousand extra bonus points. So I used the built card to pay for the dinner, and I earned us about 4,000 points.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

Yes, and all my friends were so grateful that you took care of the bill, and I thought it was awesome. Because I mean, we we had a great time.

SPEAKER_00 37:07

Yeah, yeah. It was yeah, it was a good time, it was fun.

SPEAKER_02 37:11

Um glad to reconnect with friends I haven't seen in so long.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

Yeah, and you ended up meeting up with one of them again. We had dinner a few more times. Yeah, actually, you know, one other restaurant we forgot to mention is Blade 1936. That's an Italian restaurant, also walkable from the seabird. We've eaten there before, and it's good food, really like pizzas, pastas. Yeah, good, good atmosphere.

SPEAKER_02 37:34

Yeah, and our server was great.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

Yeah, um, okay, I think that does it for this episode. Um, if you have any questions, as always, send me a DM on Instagram and we will catch you on the next episode.

SPEAKER_02 37:45

Well, shout out to Mona again. Thank you for listening.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 37:48

Have a good one.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

We appreciate you. Bye.