How One Family Leveraged Plumbing Expenses to Fund a Dream Trip to Italy

When Maria L. experienced unexpected homeowner expenses, she turned her financial pain into points gain. The medical professional from California was hit with a plumbing bill of $30,000 and used this “not very welcome news” to plan a trip for her family of three to Italy on points.

Here’s how she did it.

The trip: Italy in February 2025 for two adults and one child
Flights: Los Angeles (LAX) to Milan (MXP) in business class; Turin (TRN) to LAX with a five-day stopover in Paris (CDG)
Points spent: 333,625 on roundtrip business class flights plus 159,000 points to cover seven nights of hotels
Money saved: $20,000 *estimated

Referring, earning, then earning some more

Maria and her husband, a lawyer, both own their practices. While she already had several business cards, she used her access as a P2 — a “player two” or second-earning member of the household in points lexicon — to refer him to a new card; he would earn the sign-up bonus, and she, in turn, would get referral points. She started by referring him to a new Chase Ink Business Preferred card, which would bank him a 120,000-point bonus after spending $8,000 in three months and earn her 20,000 points of her own. 

She then found a targeted offer for American Express’ Business Platinum Card of 250,000 points for a $20,000 spend. The Business Platinum Card earns 1.5 points for every dollar on purchases over $5,000, so Maria’s total for opening the card and putting a large portion of her bill on it was 280,000 Membership Rewards. 

Then she signed up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, which offered 75,000 Ultimate Rewards for a $6,000 spend. Once all their plumbing bills were paid, Maria and her husband had racked up a cumulative 280,000 Membership Rewards points in their American Express account, and more than 215,000 Ultimate Rewards points with Chase.

Planning a trip to Italy on points

With around 500,000 points to play with, Maria’s next big decision was where to go on a family vacation: She was waffling between Italy and Japan when she found better points deals on Air France flights from LA to Milan than Tokyo. For 50,000 miles each for her and her husband and 37,000 miles for her nine-year-old daughter, the trio could fly business class from LAX to Milan, totaling 137,000 miles for three flights one way. 

To do this, she transferred 12,000 Ultimate Rewards points from Chase during a 25% transfer bonus, which gave her 15,000 Flying Blue points, then another 125,000 Membership Rewards from her American Express account to her Air France account. 

For the trip back, Laplant initially had booked a one-way flight with no stopover from Milan to LAX in Air France’s business class; however, she ended up calling the airline and changing their flights from Turin to LAX with a stopover at Charles de Gaulle Airport that gave them an added five days in Paris.

“This added on a little to the miles: 71,500 each for me and my husband and 53,625 for my daughter, all in business class, which we transferred from American Express,” she explains. “Not the best redemption, maybe, but it was worth it for us!”

How she saved $20,000 by using points

At the end of the trip, Maria estimates she saved $20,000 by using points for all her major expenses on the family’s two-week trip to Italy. 

“I could have planned a very budget trip using cash only and spent much less than that — or I could have booked a budget trip using points and used fewer points than I did,” she says. “However, this was worth it for us, being a family of three, not in our 20s, staying in hostels anymore, and we wanted to travel very comfortably. It was definitely worth it for us, and we will have wonderful memories of this trip forever!”

For hotels, the family used a mix of miles and cash, staying mostly at Hyatt properties and cashing in “Guest of Honor” (GOH) perks gifted to them that included room upgrades, club access, free breakfast, and late checkout. In Milan, they stayed at Hyatt Milan Centric for two nights for a total of 35,000 points, and in Paris, the Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile, using 84,000 points for four nights in a club-level room. 

“In Paris, we had already booked a club access room, but GOH gave us an upgraded room with a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower,” Maria says. “The breakfast and club access saved us hundreds of dollars.”

In Turin, there were no Hyatts, so Maria used American Express Travel to book two nights at the Opera 35 Boutique Hotel: one with 40,000 Membership Rewards points and the other paid for in cash.

Leveraging vacation spend for future trips

From Turin, the family traveled to Breuil-Cervinia to ski. While she didn’t use points to cover this part of her trip, Maria says it checked off a major item on her bucket list — and she used the spend for their three nights at La Cresta Chalet and two days of lift tickets to earn another sign-up bonus, banking points for a future vacation.

“Breuil-Cervinia connects with Zermatt on the Swiss side, and you can buy ski lift tickets for both resorts on either side,” she shares. “And skiing in Europe is actually much cheaper than skiing in most U.S. resorts nowadays.”

Laplant also used Rakuten when possible to book experiences like a day trip to Lake Como, a bakery class in Paris, and a small group tour of the Louvre Museum. Rakuten, an online marketplace that offers users cash back through all eligible purchases, allows members to link their American Express Membership Rewards account to accrue points instead of dollars. For everything Laplant booked out of pocket through Rakuten, she earned double: both the points on the credit card used and the Membership Rewards to be deposited in her American Express account by Rakuten separately.

“This was our first big vacation using points. It was definitely a learning experience. I had some great deals and not-so-great deals,” she says. “I would have never even imagined booking a business class international flight if it wasn’t for points! I can’t say it was easy, but I enjoyed the process.”