Planning for a Foreign Trip. Need Help for using with Points

[aditya1497]

Hi all,

It's my first wedding anniversary coming in March 2026, so me and my life are looking to plan an international trip in South East Asia. I have the Axis Atlas which is roughly 15k points. My mom has the Amex Plat Travel with roughly 50k points and dad has got the BIZ Black recently. My wife just got her HDFC Mariott Bonvoy and we have not used the 1 free night yet. I am looking to maximise all my points to get the most out of this trip.

Need Suggestions for places I can go and how can I make the most of these points??

 

[phildunphy]

The points are too less to cover the entire trip but u can comfortably do thailand (2 cities max), vietnam (hanoi or da nang) or singapore with this.

Axis Atlas convert to accor and 1 night free mariott base category <15k would be tough to find in singapore, 50k mariott points is solid for 2 nights in singapore or thailand.
Bali u can't do unless u have like 50k Accor points atleast.

Biz Black you haven't specified points but thats smartbuy anwyay 1:1, else krisflyer spontaneous escape at 30% discount would give 2 economy or business class tickets to singapore, Hanoi

 

[Kabir_1112]

Not sure if you would consider Sri Lanka, but it is beautiful and also worth visiting. I do believe for some countries the price starts to increase from March and early bookings will help. Philippines is also a new country to explore.

 

[BK7]

Hi all,

It's my first wedding anniversary coming in March 2026, so me and my life are looking to plan an international trip in South East Asia. I have the Axis Atlas which is roughly 15k points. My mom has the Amex Plat Travel with roughly 50k points and dad has got the BIZ Black recently. My wife just got her HDFC Mariott Bonvoy and we have not used the 1 free night yet. I am looking to maximise all my points to get the most out of this trip.

Need Suggestions for places I can go and how can I make the most of these points??

How many days are you planning for the trip? Looks like the points might not be enough.

Destinations: Bali, Vietnam, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Maldives.
Thailand is also a good option if you're planning to explore the islands only.

1st Option for Fights + Hotel : Axis Bank and Amex both have a common airline partner which is Singapore Airlines (KrisFlyer).
You need around 40,000 points for one person’s round trip in Economy (Sweetspot varies)
If you transfer 15,000 Axis Bank Edge Miles to KrisFlyer, you get 30,000 miles. Then, use 20,000 Amex Platinum travel reward points, which will give you 10,000 miles.
So, total 40,000 miles for one person’s round trip. For the second person, you have to buy a regular ticket.

https://www.singaporeair.com/krisflyer/miles/miles-calculator?calculator=redeemMiles

The remaining 30,000 points (which are not enough for fancy hotels) can be used for Marriott stays, plus you get 1 free night from HDFC.

2nd Option only Hotels : Book your flight with cash and convert all your points to Accor or Marriott hotels instead.

Smart tip : See if you can apply for Krisflyer SBI card Apex for 10000 miles, if you book flights through Krisflyer.

 

[hysteriadoc]

Sasti Revenue Tickets & Super Sale Offer Tickets give best value compared to Miles Redemption. The olny advantage of Miles Redemption is that you wont get surge prices. But again, availability is always an issue. Above it, you have to pay taxes as well. Always try to - 1. Earn points by which you can buy revenue tickets (always cheaper than miles), 2 - Try searching/researching for portals which show cheap revenue ticket searches like skyscanner, google flights, cheapflights. 3. - Always search for return tickets and that too with a return gap of 5-6 days.

I had one beautiful Super sale Revenue Ticket booking in Sep 2025. Air Arabia from Nag to Shj 2A+2C costed only Rs. 50K return airfare with Rs. 4K additional for Baggage & Rs. 2K additional for Ok to board. In all it costed Rs. 56K.

I will give you another throwaway price for Bom to Sin 2A+2C dates 3 Feb 2026 to 8 Feb 2026 as follows for 2 Airlines - Air India (64648/-) & Singapore Airlines (67610/-):

 

[sachbs]

Hi all,

It's my first wedding anniversary coming in March 2026, so me and my life are looking to plan an international trip in South East Asia. I have the Axis Atlas which is roughly 15k points. My mom has the Amex Plat Travel with roughly 50k points and dad has got the BIZ Black recently. My wife just got her HDFC Mariott Bonvoy and we have not used the 1 free night yet. I am looking to maximise all my points to get the most out of this trip.

Need Suggestions for places I can go and how can I make the most of these points??

Marriott and Accor are your best bets with 15k Axis points and 50k Amex points.
Book flights using Biz Black smartbuy to earn using reward multiplier. That can come in handy for future/any other hotel bookings during the trip.

Locations: As others have already pointed out, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Bali, Sri Lanka are the best bets. These places have some good resorts that can come within your points requirement.

What also matters is if you're going with just your wife or your parents as well. I am assuming you're going just with your wife, as it will not be feasible to book 2 rooms with the points you have. The 50k MR points with your mother's card cannot be used easily by you. You need to first transfer her points to Marriott and then you can transfer it to your account.

I would recommend converting your 15k atlas EM to ITC green points. You'll get 30k Green points, which can further be converted to 45k Marriott Points. It will take about couple of weeks for this process. Combine this with 50k MB points and 15k points from HDFC MB, you can easily spend 5 nights at any of the locations mentioned above. Marriott gives you the fifth night free if you book 4 consecutive nights with them. Make sure to book the free night in your wife's name, and the remaining bookings in your name.

If you are falling short of points, you can also purchase 10k Amex MR points for INR 4k. You can do this once every year, so if you do it in the next two months, you get an extra 20k points for 8k. So you'll have a total of 95k + 20k = 115k MB points, plus 15k points in terms of the free night stay. This can get you some great stay options across SE Asia. I would personally recommend Sri Lanka as I went there for my honeymoon, and there are a couple of great Marriott properties - Sheraton Kosgoda Resort, and Courtyard Colombo. This can be covered in your range as well. DM me if you need any further inputs.