I have been a Taylor Swift fan for so long as Taylor Swift has been on the scene, and over time, I have been fortunate sufficient to see her dwell 13 instances — and as all Swifties know, 13 is a vital quantity.
However final 12 months when tickets went on sale for the Eras Tour, my luck ran out, and I used to be one of many numerous many left ticketless after the November Ticketmaster debacle, regardless of having the fitting card to entry a presale.
Evidently, there have been just a few teardrops on my guitar on the time, however my crew determined to carry out till the tour began to see if resale costs would drop main as much as the times earlier than a present — or perhaps even hours, if it got here right down to it — earlier than shelling out hundred of {dollars} for secondhand tickets.
Because the tour kicked off on March 17 in Arizona, I observed that resale ticket costs did drop earlier than a present — and swifties across the nation have famous that Ticketmaster was releasing a handful of tickets the day earlier than some exhibits.
However I dwell in New York Metropolis, and my every day Stubhub verify was beginning to go away me nervous, as even the worst tickets with restricted or obstructed views within the highest sections of MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey had been priced at (or properly over) $1,000 every earlier than taxes and charges. Dare I attempt to transfer to a bit simply barely nearer to the stage and I would as properly have thought of shopping for a used automotive as a substitute.
This is the factor: I like music, I like live shows and I love Taylor Swift. In truth, it was seeing Taylor on the Houston Livestock Present and Rodeo in 2009 that drove me to take my very own musical ambitions to the subsequent stage, impressed me to start out writing my very own songs and served because the spark to maneuver to Nashville for faculty to check songwriting. “Fearless” was an album that modified the trajectory of my life, “Pink” performed nonstop in my faculty years and “Evermore” is the album I take heed to on each flight throughout takeoff.
Lacking the live performance was not an choice — so I made a decision it was time to get inventive. I used to be afraid I would not be capable of get the tickets I needed in New York or miss it altogether by holding out too lengthy, so it was time to see how far my hard-earned factors and miles may take me to justify paying money for secondhand tickets on-line.
My first intestine intuition was to make a visit out of the live performance by going someplace enjoyable or new, however with the caveat that I may solely justify it by paying nominal charges for flights and a lodge. I additionally made it a purpose to attend a present on the entrance half of the tour in case one thing got here up that stopped me, my fiancé and my finest good friend from going, so there would nonetheless be time to regroup and go elsewhere, if essential.
This is the way it went.
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Tapping out of Tampa
My authentic thought was to go to Tampa to take pleasure in some heat climate and doubtlessly get some solar earlier than the present.
I discovered tickets in my price range for the Saturday night time present on April fifteenth that weren’t superb seats however higher than what I might present in NYC. I instantly appeared for motels I may ebook with factors and, shockingly, discovered award nights for Friday and Saturday on the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay for 15,000 factors per night time. I may ebook this room by transferring 30,000 Chase Rewards factors from my Chase Sapphire Most well-liked Card.
The money price for those self same nights averaged out at $980, in accordance with the Hyatt web site, for a complete of a whopping $2,279.13. By reserving with factors as a substitute of money, my World of Hyatt redemption would have been valued at an unimaginable 6.52 cents per level, for a lodge nearly a ten-minute drive from the live performance. That was properly over TPG’s worth of 1.7 cents per level.
Subsequent, I began pricing flights — and that is the place this plan fell aside. Being an American Airways loyalist, I began with flights from a number of NYC airports to Tampa Worldwide Airport (TPA) and located one-way choices for 12,500 factors plus $5.60 in taxes and charges. Rating!
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But it surely was the return flight on Sunday, April 16, that made me notice Tampa wasn’t my finest guess. The most affordable flight on American was 49,500 miles, or $389 for a route that included a flight to Dallas with an in a single day layover. No thanks.
Subsequent, I checked different airways, all to no avail. The most affordable one-way Delta flight was 35,000 factors. United’s was 34,400. Even the most cost effective Spirit flight was $374 — and that did not even embody a carry-on bag.
It was time to return to the drafting board.
A+ choices in A-City
Scratching my head and looking out on the tour schedule, it hit me that to ebook this whole journey with factors and miles, I wanted to search for a metropolis with an enormous airport and many motels.
That is once I noticed Atlanta dates — and all of it clicked. Atlanta is a megacity with an array of neighborhoods and suburbs, so I figured there needed to be a handful of motels I may ebook with factors. And, with Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide (ATL) being the world’s busiest, plus a hub for Delta, certainly there was a technique to get all of it booked on factors and miles.
I used to be proper.
My first step was trying to find tickets, which was exceptionally difficult as a result of I wanted the unlucky amount of three. However for the primary time since November, when the tickets initially went on sale, my luck modified: I discovered three tickets in our price range, not within the nosebleeds however — gasp — within the Delta Sky360 Membership part, for the present on Sunday, April 30. It took every part in me to not click on “purchase now”; first, I wanted to substantiate flight and lodge choices.
I began with motels to ensure there was a spot to sleep. Once more, I began with Hyatt, hoping for a 15,000-point-per-night choice. I used to be in luck and located rooms out there on the Hyatt Centric Midtown Atlanta for 12,000 factors an evening and on the Thompson Buckhead for 40,000 factors per night time in a King Suite or 20,000 factors per night time for the standard King. The truth was that each of those rooms had been nice offers, however would not be sufficient area or beds for a pair plus a good friend.
So I moved on to Marriott — and I hit the jackpot. With Marriott, I discovered loads of motels with award availability beginning at 35,000 factors per night time (and in addition a number of unavailable notices, too). In the end, realizing we needed to be in Midtown, not too removed from the live performance however near nightlife for the Saturday night time earlier than the Sunday live performance, I used to be in a position to snag a room on the Twelve Midtown, Autograph Assortment in a one-bedroom suite with a pull-out sofa, a kitchen and balcony for 45,000 factors per night time. The full for the keep got here to 90,000 factors plus $10 in taxes and charges.
In money, the identical room was $504 an evening for $1,009, save taxes and charges. Because of this my reserving equaled out to 1.12 cents per level and nonetheless above TPG’s 0.8 cent worth for Marriott Bonvoy factors, and in a location we needed with loads of area to share. And, since I had greater than sufficient factors in my Bonvoy account to ebook, I did not need to cope with transferring.
And final however not least, I needed to ebook flights — and as soon as once more, I scored. For twenty-four,500 Delta miles plus $11.20, I used to be in a position to ebook round-trip flights to and from New York-LaGuardia (LGA), my closest airport, at instances that allowed us to get to Atlanta early for a day of enjoyable that Saturday and sufficient to sleep in and get better earlier than the return flight on Monday.
In truth, we may’ve saved just a few thousand extra factors by reserving a Primary-level ticket, however we opted to ebook Essential so we may all choose our seats and sit collectively.
With journey plans confirmed, I jumped again to seize the tickets — and simply a short time later, we had been all set.
I forgot one thing vital …
If, like me, you find yourself buying tickets on StubHub, don’t forget to click on into the location by Rakuten, the procuring portal that permits you to earn American Categorical Membership Rewards or money again on purchases. I remembered when it was too late, however proper now Rakuten affords as much as 3% again (or 3 Amex factors per greenback spent) on StubHub purchases. And new members can snag a one-time bonus of $30 by becoming a member of by this hyperlink and spending $30 by the location within the first 90 days.
This may additional assist offset the worth of a visit for a live performance.
And for what it is price, my expertise shopping for secondhand tickets on Stubhub was completely superb. I made my buy and was alerted that my tickets could be delivered electronically 48 hours earlier than the present. That did make me nervous, however fortunately for my anxiousness, the tickets had been transferred to my Ticketmaster account from the unique proprietor a couple of day later.
However simply to be secure, I paid for the tickets with my American Categorical for additional safety in case one thing did go incorrect with the secondhand buy.
BOTTOM LINE
I am often an individual who hordes my factors and miles for one thing actually particular — like a luxurious lodge keep or business-class seats for a visit to Japan. However on the finish of the day, I like that my factors and miles are there once I want them for one thing sudden. Was I anticipating to spend 90,000 Marriott factors on a lodge and 24,500 Delta miles for a flight? No. However am I glad I did? You higher imagine it!
Now, as a substitute of paying an arm and a leg for horrible seats in my hometown, I am getting a enjoyable weekend journey with associates, seeing a live performance I used to be afraid I might miss in nice seats and was reminded of the significance of all the time checking your choices for leaping into reserving one thing.
Choose my redemptions all you need. As Taylor says, “The haters gunna, hate, hate, hate, hate , hate” … however “I am simply gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake” the night time away in Atlanta.
And folks nonetheless trying to find tickets — dangle in there! See the place your factors and miles may take you and, if all else fails, preserve checking for tickets till actually the final minute.
