Points to honeymoon

Points to honeymoon

How I pieced together flights + St. Regis + Pullman Tokyo for our Japan honeymoon using credit card points

Thought I’d share a redemption story I recently put together for our Japan honeymoon. I tried stacking milestone bonuses, transfer promos and some decent redemptions across programs.

Cards used

\- SBI Air India

\- Amex Platinum

\- HDFC Infinia

\- HSBC Premier (fiancé)

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\## Flights – Air India miles + upgrade

I hit the ₹20L spend milestone on the SBI Air India card, which gives 1L Maharaja bonus miles.

Points earned from the ₹20L spend:

\- \~80k miles from regular earn (4 miles / ₹100)

\- 1L milestone bonus

Total earned: \~1.8L Air India miles

Later Air India ran a 50% transfer bonus promo, which added \~1L extra miles.

For flights I booked:

2 return tickets to Tokyo from Delhi in Premium Economy for ₹2.04L total

Then used 1.32L Maharaja miles to upgrade both tickets to Business class (both directions).22/23k in taxes.

Cash price for those flights in Business was about ₹4.5L.

Value generated from miles

Upgrade value =

₹4.5L − ₹2.04L = ₹2.46L

Points used = 1.32L miles

Value per Air India mile

₹2.46L / 1.32L ≈ ₹1.86 per mile

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\## Amex 10X points from ticket purchase

I paid the ₹2.04L ticket using Amex Platinum during the 10X rewards promo.

Earning rate:

25 MR per ₹100

Points earned:

₹2,04,000 → \~51,000 MR points

I already had \~43k MR, so total became:

\~94k MR

Transferred to Marriott Bonvoy 80k pts as i already had 20k pts from stays earlier. (1:1).

Later these points were part of the St. Regis booking.

Effective value realised through the Marriott redemption:

\~₹0.92 per point

Value generated

94k MR × ₹0.92 ≈ ₹86,000

Value from the 51k MR earned from the ticket purchase alone:

≈ ₹46,900

Return on ₹2.04L spend

≈ 23% reward value

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\## St. Regis stay using Marriott Bonvoy

Combined points from:

\- Amex MR transfer

\- Older Marriott points

\- 100k Bonvoy transferred to fiancé bonvoy as she already had 1.31L pts from her corporate stays.

\- Fiancé’s \~1.3L pts

Total pool: \~2.31L Bonvoy

I then purchased 44k Bonvoy during the 40% bonus sale (\~₹36–37k).

Total used: \~2.74L Bonvoy

Booked:

5 nights at St. Regis (5th night free)

Cash value of stay:

\~₹2.52L

Value per Bonvoy point

₹2.52L / 2.74L ≈ ₹0.92 per point

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\## Tokyo stay – Pullman using Accor points

For our Tokyo stay we booked Pullman Tokyo using Accor ALL points.

Converted points:

\- 72k HSBC Premier → 72k Accor (1:1) (fiances pts)

\- 50k HDFC Infinia → 25k Accor

Total: \~96k Accor points-approximatley Rs 2.14/2.15 value now per 1rs.

Used:

96k Accor points + ₹45k cash

Cash price of the Pullman Tokyo stay was about:

\~₹2.52L

Value covered by points:

₹2.52L − ₹45k ≈ ₹2.07L

Value per Accor point

₹2.07L / 96k ≈ ₹2.15 per point

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\## Overall trip value

Flights (business class): \~₹4.5L

St. Regis stay: \~₹2.52L

Pullman Tokyo stay: \~₹2.52L

Total trip value ≈ ₹9.54L for main bookings.

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\## Actual cash paid

Flights: ₹2.04L

Bonvoy points purchase: \~₹37k

Accor cash portion: \~₹45k

Misc taxes / small travel expenses: \~₹29k

Total out-of-pocket ≈ ₹3.15L

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\## Final numbers

Trip value: \~₹9.54L

Cash paid: \~₹3.15L

Spend → value ratio

₹9.54L / ₹3.15L ≈ 3.03×

So roughly ₹1 spent → ₹3 in travel value.

Overall pretty happy with how this stack worked out, especially the Air India upgrade redemption, Amex 10X earn, Marriott 5th night free, and the Accor redemption at Pullman Tokyo.

Curious if anyone here would have optimized any part of this differently?