A few weeks ago, Mr. Deals and I headed out West to go skiing at Beaver Creek (related blog post). We absolutely love the mountains and the skiing is just so much better out West than the Northeast (although this year was an anomaly!). We loved the concept that we could fly direct on American Airlines from JFK to Eagle airport (only 30 mins from Beaver Creek and Vail) using British Airways points and stay slope-side at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek. Of course, we have points in both programs to give us a “free” vacation, right?! On the points and miles side we spent 40,000 British Airways points and 88,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points. This was a great usage of BA points as it only cost 20,000 points roundtrip and that same flight would have required 25,000 miles on America. And for Hyatt points, we booked the room a year ago so we were able to lock in the 22,000 points a night which now requires 30,000 points a night. For a 4 night vacation to fly on the best possible flight and the stay at the best possible location, I thought that was fairly reasonable.
The cash we spent, on the other hand, was not as reasonable! We were so excited for our “free” vacation out West that we hardly took into consideration the cost of everything else. And boy did it add up quickly.
- Shuttle from Eagle Airport to the Park Hyatt (or anywhere in Beaver Creek Village): $51 one-way per passenger. Total cost = $204
- Lift tickets: $159/person/day, but since we bought a three day ticket it brought the cost down to $149/person/day. But, we purchased them at Hyatt and had them billed to our room. We then used Hyatt gift card purchased at 12.5% off to pay our Hyatt bill. Total cost = $782
- Parking at JFK Airport: Parked offsite with the best possible rate I could find. Total cost = $59.00
So without any food and really the bear minimum of enjoying a three day ski trip cost $1,045. For food we went pretty low key and hit up the happy hour specials at a few select restaurants. The Dusty Boot was our favorite as they offered a light size meal and beer for $7. Lunch at the top of the mountain was another $20-$30 a day and breakfast consisted of the bars we brought from home plus a banana! At a quick guess I’d say we spent another $200 on food over the course of four dinners, three lunches, and three breakfasts. Although if we were home we’d spend money on food, takeout, maybe dinner out one night so I am not going to take the food cost into consideration, although we definitely spent more than if we were home.
While I enjoyed every minute of the three days of skiing, this is just a reminder to take all the other costs into consideration to ensure it fits your budget. Although the points and miles brought this trip down from a $3,800 trip to a $1,000 trip. At $3,800 we absolutely would have either not gone or done the trip completely different and less luxurious.
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Did your lift ticket price include ski rental? If not, there are plenty of options for purchasing your lift tickets in advance and not paying $149-159/day. This past year, we paid $315 for 3-days ($105/day) and last year, we paid $198 for 2-days ($99/day). The window rate is a huge rip-off unless you planned the trip less than a week in advance, there are plenty of options out there for reduced-price lift tickets.
@adam s – when did you go? I know that ticket prices differ during the ski season. How did you get $105/day?
Please come to ski in Northern Utah next time…the lift tickets are cheaper. I’ve never skied in Colorado so perhaps the price may be worth it for the experience?! I’m biased towards Utah skiing because I live in Salt Lake City 🙂
@sandy – I love skiing in Utah as well! Have been to the canyons twice and my husband to the other mountains nearby many times. Prices are way better so I think we will stick to Utah next time!
Haha, I almost made the same mistake. Had 6 nights booked at Westin Snowmass for 10K SPG points/nt for 6 nights, SW flights w/2 companion passes to DEN with 3 to 4 hour drive each way. Wife talked me out of it.
We went to Barbados instead. Used SW w/2 companions to get to FLL, hired town car RT from FLL to MIA for $184 thanks to Cap One points for erasing, 20K avios points x 4 MIA to BGI. Had to pay bags each way but used Ritz Carlton Airline incidentals fees reimb $200, also took advantage of great Lounge Club visit at BGI, thank Ink Bold. We stayed 7 nights at the Radisson only paid 1 night for $150 on beautiful Carlisle Bay using the Club Carlson 2 for 1 for the other 6. Ate cereal in the room for breakfast, fish sandwiches for lunch next to the hotel for $4 each then ate out nice at night. Oh, and we rented a jeep for 6 days for about $500 that we will use Cap One points on.
I love the slopes and the great deal I got on the Westin but in the end we got a much better deal in Barbados for a family vacation. If you like airplanes you can tour the Concorde museum, I really enjoyed that. The wife was right on this one. I think we spend b/w 1,000 to 1,500 for a family of 4, my kids are 18 & 15.
@rick – so glad you enjoyed your trip! I went to Barbados a few years ago and absolutely loved it!
Beaver Creek is my favorite resort in colorado. Lift tickets are outrageous but worth it if you are only skiing a couple days. That hyatt is incredible (ritz carlton is solid too). Everything is incredibly jacked up in price. I went a couple weeks ago for a day trip and payed like $7 for a gatorade and $14 for a small bowl of chili. Be prepared to be price gouged even if your room and airfare are free!
@paul – my husband paid $3 for a banana at the lodge!
My husband always asks me ” why all these bargains, deals,coupons etc. end up costing me money?”
My answer because without them it would cost you much more!