I'm excited to share my incredible luxurious vacation to Mauritius, made possible through strategic use of credit card points and miles. Firstly, a brief bit about me, I'm a 25 year old Software Engineer who loves to travel (have started travelling recently and visited around 10 countries lately including US, Canada, Singapore and Bali). Sadly, since I'm single, it was a solo-trip with the upside being I could save a bunch of points for my upcoming luxurious vacation to Europe 😛.
Credit Cards Used:
I have used the following credit cards to make my vacation happen,
1. Axis Magnus
2. Axis Vistara Infinite
3. HDFC Infinia
4. Axis Atlas
Flights:
I'm from Hyderabad and an economy ticket from Hyderabad-Mauritius on Air Vistara required 52,000 CV points + 10k INR in taxes(If you're from Bombay, its just 44,000 CV points + 8k INR YEAY!). I have Club Vistara Gold membership that I got through Axis Vistara Infinite Card which gives access to the Adani East Wing lounge (the actual business class lounge that no card gets access to, even the PP sorry. Also, please don't miss the complimentary SPA). I have used two of my one-class upgrade vouchers that I got through gold membership to upgrade to premium economy. The staff at check-in counters offered a business class upgrade on the Mumbai-Mauritius leg for 30k INR (as I was now in premium economy) which I accepted without a second thought. I paid this through my Axis Atlas card which gives me 10% return (for payments at Airlines/Hotels) through edge miles. The 7 hour journey was purely magical. (Attached some pictures for you 😛)
On my return flight from Mauritius to Hyderabad, the check-in staff offered me a business class upgrade for 40k INR (as my current ticket was in economy) which I again accepted and paid through my Axis Atlas card which gave 10% return but 4.14% went for forex markup as it was an international transaction 🙁
In my 3hr layover at Mumbai before I board my final leg to Hyderabad, I had access to the Adani lounge which only First/Business class passengers have access to, using Vistara gold membership. For both of my transits in Mumbai, I have used the Axis meet and greet services (that I got through Axis Magnus) which worked like magic. I got done with check-in, security and immigration lightening fast.
All in all, I paid the price of an economy ticket (80k INR) for a business class return ticket to Mauritius. I could’ve gotten the return ticket in Economy (Premium economy one-way) for only 10k INR, but I made an impulsive spend to upgrade to Business class and I have no regrets whatsoever as I could comfortably afford it and it was a magical experience flying on the A321 Neo business class.
Hotels:
Coming to hotels, I had around 2.3L points lying in my Accor account and there were only 2 properties of Accor in Mauritius, namely Sofitel L Imperial Resort and SO Sofitel resort. Both of them were super premium luxury private beach resorts whose cash price goes for around 30k per night. I opted for Sofitel L Imperial resort even though it was more expensive as I found it more beautiful and luxurious than the other one. I stayed for 3 nights in this resort burning 51K Accor points which translates to ~92k INR.
For 2 nights, I stayed in JW Marriott Mauritius resort which goes for around 40k INR per night. I booked my stay at JW Marriott through Infinia’s smart buy portal which gave me 32% return in points. Since there is a monthly capping of 15k accelerated points per month, I had to split my booking into 2 different months. For the remaining 2 days, I stayed in Airbnb which I paid through my Axis Atlas card which gave me 10% return through edge miles.
I have used the concierge services of HDFC Infinia and Axis Magnus for Itinerary planning. I finalised my itinerary after consulting travel experts from both the companies.
Final thoughts:
All in all, I saved around 1.5L INR through my points and miles. I could have made my entire stay free through Accor points but I decided to save them up for my upcoming trips to Europe and US. If you’re willing to look at more pictures of my Business class journey and stay at luxury resorts, you can follow me on Instagram __itzzyahnitt__(Yahnit Sirineni) for more stories.
I'm currently planning two trips, one to Europe with family (Flights entirely and hotels partially paid through points) and the other one to US solo in Business class. Watch out for more content from me! Thanks for reading.
Credit Cards Used:
I have used the following credit cards to make my vacation happen,
1. Axis Magnus
2. Axis Vistara Infinite
3. HDFC Infinia
4. Axis Atlas
Flights:
I'm from Hyderabad and an economy ticket from Hyderabad-Mauritius on Air Vistara required 52,000 CV points + 10k INR in taxes(If you're from Bombay, its just 44,000 CV points + 8k INR YEAY!). I have Club Vistara Gold membership that I got through Axis Vistara Infinite Card which gives access to the Adani East Wing lounge (the actual business class lounge that no card gets access to, even the PP sorry. Also, please don't miss the complimentary SPA). I have used two of my one-class upgrade vouchers that I got through gold membership to upgrade to premium economy. The staff at check-in counters offered a business class upgrade on the Mumbai-Mauritius leg for 30k INR (as I was now in premium economy) which I accepted without a second thought. I paid this through my Axis Atlas card which gives me 10% return (for payments at Airlines/Hotels) through edge miles. The 7 hour journey was purely magical. (Attached some pictures for you 😛)
On my return flight from Mauritius to Hyderabad, the check-in staff offered me a business class upgrade for 40k INR (as my current ticket was in economy) which I again accepted and paid through my Axis Atlas card which gave 10% return but 4.14% went for forex markup as it was an international transaction 🙁
In my 3hr layover at Mumbai before I board my final leg to Hyderabad, I had access to the Adani lounge which only First/Business class passengers have access to, using Vistara gold membership. For both of my transits in Mumbai, I have used the Axis meet and greet services (that I got through Axis Magnus) which worked like magic. I got done with check-in, security and immigration lightening fast.
All in all, I paid the price of an economy ticket (80k INR) for a business class return ticket to Mauritius. I could’ve gotten the return ticket in Economy (Premium economy one-way) for only 10k INR, but I made an impulsive spend to upgrade to Business class and I have no regrets whatsoever as I could comfortably afford it and it was a magical experience flying on the A321 Neo business class.
Hotels:
Coming to hotels, I had around 2.3L points lying in my Accor account and there were only 2 properties of Accor in Mauritius, namely Sofitel L Imperial Resort and SO Sofitel resort. Both of them were super premium luxury private beach resorts whose cash price goes for around 30k per night. I opted for Sofitel L Imperial resort even though it was more expensive as I found it more beautiful and luxurious than the other one. I stayed for 3 nights in this resort burning 51K Accor points which translates to ~92k INR.
For 2 nights, I stayed in JW Marriott Mauritius resort which goes for around 40k INR per night. I booked my stay at JW Marriott through Infinia’s smart buy portal which gave me 32% return in points. Since there is a monthly capping of 15k accelerated points per month, I had to split my booking into 2 different months. For the remaining 2 days, I stayed in Airbnb which I paid through my Axis Atlas card which gave me 10% return through edge miles.
I have used the concierge services of HDFC Infinia and Axis Magnus for Itinerary planning. I finalised my itinerary after consulting travel experts from both the companies.
Final thoughts:
All in all, I saved around 1.5L INR through my points and miles. I could have made my entire stay free through Accor points but I decided to save them up for my upcoming trips to Europe and US. If you’re willing to look at more pictures of my Business class journey and stay at luxury resorts, you can follow me on Instagram __itzzyahnitt__(Yahnit Sirineni) for more stories.
I'm currently planning two trips, one to Europe with family (Flights entirely and hotels partially paid through points) and the other one to US solo in Business class. Watch out for more content from me! Thanks for reading.
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