The view as I write this post
Greetings from room room 322 of the Crowne Plaza in Hampton VA! The Deal Kids are snuggled up with Scooby Doo, Deal Dad is at the gym, and I’m taking a moment to share with you the details of our Memorial Day weekend and how we got to the beach for three days and a grand total of $76.
Our itinerary in brief: depart Saturday morning (10am, which was a mistake as we hit traffic), arrive Saturday 2PM. Lunch by the Marina, then a long afternoon of beach time followed by a family movie and a great night’s sleep.
Sunday: The Virginia Air and Space museum (walking distance from our hotel), long lunch in downtown Hampton, then more beach time, followed by ANOTHER family movie and a greater night’s sleep!
Monday: Sleep in, “room service” (courtesy of 7-11), then the Nauticus Museum in Norfolk, long lunch, then home.
I’ll share the details of the museums in another post, but here I’ll explain our hotel deal as it can be repeated!
The trick I’m using today is the Priority Club Pointbreak. To review, Pointbreaks are hotel deals that come out every two months or so from IHG (which owns Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, and Intercontinental). Pointbreaks are the best redemption option out there as last minute availability goes down from 10-30,000 points a night to a jaw-dropping 5,000 points per night.
I used this promotion in April to buy 60,000 Priority Club points and attain Platinum Status. I then went to the Pointbreak List and booked this hotel (it’s not on there right now, but a nearby one in Norfolk is). At the purchase price of the promotion above, this room is costing us $38/night!
Even better, since the promotion granted us Platinum Status, we got two free breakfasts, two free appetizers, and some snacks in the room, all for free!
Deal Girl gets some beach time
Big Hat tip to TDM reader Allie who suggested Buckroe Beach, which was a 10 minute drive from the hotel. My expectations were low as it is a Chesapeake Bay beach and not the Atlantic, but we enjoyed it so much we returned again yesterday and ditched the traffic entirely!
To be fair, we have spent a bit more than $76. There’s a tank of gas ($40) and food ($150 for three days, including two splurge seafood meals with adult refreshments). But all of our museum admissions were free because of my “secret weapon”. Details in a future post!
Decisions, Decisions!
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