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This is exactly why we’re always earning points and miles, even when we don’t have a specific plan for them.

Spain has been on my short list for a while now. I’ve had it tucked away as a “someday” trip, but wasn’t sure when we’d make it happen. Then I saw a sale on award flights to Madrid pop up (found through Thrifty Traveler), and I booked a Spain trip on points and miles real fast!

I spent an entire afternoon figuring out all of the pieces, and by the end of the day we had a whole trip booked for less than $900 out of pocket (just the flight taxes). For a trip with a cash value over $10,000. Insane!

Let me walk you through exactly how I booked it.

Related: My step-by-step process for finding award flights

Flights: Fresno to Madrid

This flight sale was with American Airlines or Alaska Airlines. I had a good stash of American miles from opening co-branded cards and Citi cards, whose points transfer to American.

I booked us from FAT to MAD for 126,000 miles plus $33.60 in taxes. One thing to love about American is that award flights often cost the same whether they’re from smaller or larger airports. We typically drive from Clovis to Los Angeles or San Francisco, then fly from one of those major cities because they have better deals. But when booking with American, the prices are often similar. I also love that the taxes are so low!

The cash value of this flight was over $4,000. No, thank you!

Hotel #1: Hyatt Regency Madrid Residences

We are spending the first two nights in Madrid. As with most other European cities, hotel rooms often sleep only two people. As I was searching, I found a Hyatt Regency called Madrid Residences, which is actually a collection of 22 small apartments and can accommodate up to 4 people per room.

I booked two rooms for two nights each at the Hyatt Regency Madrid Residences using 100,000 Hyatt points. I transferred 50,000 Ultimate Rewards® from my Chase account to my Hyatt account book one room, then did the same with my husband’s Chase and Hyatt accounts to book the other room.

Note: after October 1st, 2026, points transfer from Chase to Hyatt at a 5:4 ratio unless you have a premium Chase card.

Cash value for this stay is $1,500.

Related: All About Hyatt Hotels

Hotel #2: Los Amigos Beach Club, Malaga

So this part of our stay was a gift. My parents used their Hilton Grand Vacations timeshare points to book us a three-bedroom suite for four nights at Los Amigos Beach Club in Malaga on the Southern coast of Spain. The cash value is $650 (so nothing too crazy for four nights), but since it wasn’t paid for with our own points, I’m not including it in our total for the trip.

Hotel #3: Hotel Indigo Madrid Gran Via

After that, we’ll head back to Madrid for two more nights before flying home. We once again ran into the problem of needing rooms that sleep three people. I saw that there were a lot of IHG hotels in the area, and we both had some IHG points, so I started emailing hotels and asking if they allowed a rollaway. I found one that did!

So, we booked two rooms for two nights each at the Hotel Indigo Madrid Gran Via using a total of 150,000 IHG points — 75,000 per room.

Once again, I booked one room through my account and one through my husband’s. We each had around 60,000 IHG points in our accounts from opening IHG credit cards. We needed a handful of additional points, and luckily there was a 70% transfer bonus from Chase to IHG.

I transferred the points needed, which included the additional points from the transfer bonus, and then booked the rooms.

The cash value was a little over $1,000.

Related: Why You Should Have Hotel Cards

Flights: Madrid Back to Fresno

The return flights are where things got a little more interesting, because I had to get creative to make the points work for our family. I didn’t have enough American miles left to book all six of us, but I did have enough for four. I also knew American is part of the Oneworld Alliance, meaning flights could potentially be booked with other Oneworld partners.

So I started searching around and found the same flights available through British Airways, and British is a transfer partner for all the major banks, so I had plenty of other points available. The points price and taxes were significantly higher, which wasn’t ideal, but I had to make it work with the points I had.

Here’s how it worked out. I transferred my remaining Citi points to American and booked four of us home through American Airlines for 84,000 miles plus $212 in taxes.

Then I transferred points from American Express Membership Rewards® to British Airways and booked the other two people for 86,000 Avios plus $611 in taxes.

Remember, same exact flights, just booked two different ways.

Combined, the return cash value was $3,800. Even though the British Airways booking made our out of pocket higher than I would have liked, I’d say we still did pretty dang well overall!

Related: How to Tell If You’re Getting a Good Deal for Your Points

The Final Tally

Here’s the full breakdown:

• Flights FAT to MAD: 126,000 AA miles + $33.60 (cash value $4,209)
• Hyatt Regency Madrid Residences, 2 rooms x 2 nights: 100,000 Hyatt points (cash value $1,500)
• Los Amigos Beach Club, Malaga, 4 nights: gifted via family timeshare points (cash value $650, not counted in total)
• Hotel Indigo Madrid Gran Via, 2 rooms x 2 nights: 150,000 IHG points (cash value $1,000)
• Flights MAD to FAT: 84,000 AA miles + $212 (4 travelers) and 86,000 Avios + $611 (2 travelers) (combined cash value $3,800)

Total cash value: $10,509

Total out of pocket: $856.60 — just the flight taxes

Not too shabby!!!

Wrapping Up

Being able to book a $10,000+ trip for under $900 still feels a little unreal to me, even after all these years of doing this. And it’s exactly why we’re always earning points, even when we don’t have a specific trip picked out yet. Points give you options and make it easy to jump on amazing deals you find.