Earning the Companion Pass Pt. 2: Making the Points Make Sense

So we're coming up on the end of 2022 and I'm looking at how to keep my Companion Pass for 2023. I have used my Southwest Credit Card for nearly all purchases this year, registered for a couple of the Promotions that Southwest runs on their site (like this one pictured below): 

And I am still about 48,313 points shy of earning the Companion Pass for next year:

What's a girl to do?

I'm not gonna lie, I've had a very difficult time this year finding hotel stays that will either give me enough points for the money spent, or make sense to stay in for the trip (location-wise, budget-wise, or quality-wise). I've booked approximately 3 hotels out of the 9 hotel stays I've done this year on the Southwest website to earn points off of... and even still those only got me maybe 1,000 points here, or 2,000 points there (not much to speak of). I've got 3 trips left on the calendar for the rest of the year, and 2 of them already have hotels booked (both done through the hotel's website directly, for budget purposes). I decided to try and go all-out if I could, for that last trip I've got on the calendar... Ireland. 

So I did the math... I typically earn roughly 5,000 points per month through regular credit card spending (don't be totally fooled... I don't actually spend this much money per month on my own... I've been putting some of my husband's major purchases on my card too, which he pays me back for immediately), which puts me at about 25,000 points I can anticipate earning through credit card points from August through December. This leaves me with a points deficit of 23,313 to earn before Dec 31 to keep the Companion Pass. 

Enter: tactful hotel booking. I'll be booking several different hotels all over Ireland since we're going to be visiting multiple cities, but to keep things simple I'll go over just one of the deals I've found to show you how to make the points make sense. 

Ok so I searched on the Southwest website under the hotels section for a 2-night stay in Dublin. I found the Wynn's Hotel, which was offering 10,000 points for this stay (which is about 18.5 points per dollar spent... a very decent rate). This hotel was priced at $540.86 after tax. (Bonus: bfast is included!)

I looked up online and found the exact same hotel (same dates/same room) on Priceline for $470.03. 

Yes, the hotel is about $70.83 more to book through the Southwest website, but let me show you why this makes sense. Keep reading...

So for the extra $70.83... I'm getting 10,000 Southwest points (which DO count towards the Companion Pass). What will 10,000 points get me? That will pay for an entire roundtrip flight! I found this one from Atlanta to Orlando (which we visit often) for just under 10,000 points:

What's this worth in cash? Well, here's the exact same flight, shown in dollars:

Yes, you're seeing that right... that's $166.96! Now let's factor in the Companion Pass, which allows my husband to fly for free with me every single time I fly... we'd be spending $333.92 if we were both taking this flight spending regular ol' cash money. 

But we both now get that flight for free.

Yes, for spending just $70.83 more booking this hotel on the Southwest site vs Priceline, we got a value of $166.96 (x2 with the Companion Pass) = $333.92!

Now... fast forward a little bit... I was able to find 2 more hotel stays in addition to this one (one worth 8,000 points for 2 nights, and another worth 9,000 points for 2 nights) giving me a total of 27,000 points for 3 hotel stays on this trip, which is enough to earn the Companion Pass for 2023.

(**disclaimer, I spent a grand total of about $150 more for these 3 hotel stays booking them on the Southwest website vs Priceline. But I'm earning enough points to score about 3 roundtrip flights valued at roughly $166.96 each... or about $500 total worth of flights. MORE than worth it!)

One more small disclaimer: hotels booked on the Southwest website are paid up-front. So just be prepared to see that charge show up immediately when you book instead of showing up when you complete the hotel stay.

Happy Earning!