I've been back for a bit from my whirlwind Utah trip, will do a run down as it may be helpful to others. This will be a long post, so if no interest just pass by. Much of the trip was covered by points.
Flights-Southwest (the schedule changes have been rough, none of the flights were the same ones I originally booked and ultimately we didn't end up on the flights that we had rebooked either)
Flew into Las Vegas - 12,015 RR points and $11.20 for taxes for me and my companion [Cash price $180]
Flew out of Salt Lake City - 12,101 and $11.20 for taxes [$190]
Rental car through Avis, paid cash using my CSP for the insurance. I hope rental prices decrease over the next couple months, otherwise this could be cost prohibitive for many, given my use of points this was the major cash expense of the trip. I gave up my costco membership last February during COVID and did price check through them, but it wasn't any cheaper than going through Avis. There was a hiccup with picking up the car, the rental counter at the Mirage was suppose to be open, but there was a sign on the desk that it was closed. Avis said it was suppose to be open, we ended up having to go to New York New York to pick up the car instead and wasted about an hour, but did get a car. It appeared they had plenty of rental cars, I did prepay for the rental but that didn't matter when it came down to things.
Trip was a driving tour of the Magnificent 5-Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, and Canyonland National Parks. Hotels on our way-
Las Vegas-Mirage paid with Hyatt points (20,000). Of note you can pay several MGM resorts using Hyatt points but you still get charged the resort fee despite this being a points booking. [I didn't write down the cash price but it would have had to be >250 for me to use the hyatt points]
Springdale Utah/Zion-Cliffrose Springdale Curio Collection Hilton x 3 nights-138,000 & $281 [$1,572.85]
I have been holding on to my hilton points for a good redemption from a SUB from a couple years ago and this was an awesome redemption. I think the main thing to keep in mind with hilton is being able to book early to get the best redemption given the dynamic pricing. This is a great place to stay in Zion, less than 10 minute walk into the park. Rooms recently updated, although noted poor workmanship in some of the finishes. Set up like a motel with door to the outside. Nice balcony and pool. With my gold status room service breakfast up to $30 was included, although we didn't use this until the last morning because we were up early to get to the park prior to room service being available, on the last day found out we could preorder for pick up so something to keep in mind if you are staying there.
Bryce-Best Western Ruby's Inn x 1 night this was a cash stay, not many options and I don't have many BW points. The room was fine, again not many options and you aren't going there for a luxury resort stay.
Moab/Arches/Canyonlands-Hyatt Moab x 3 nights 32,000 hyatt points [$666]
Hyatt is my top hotel brand, I can get a great value for my redemption and this also did not disappoint. less than 45 minutes from Canyonlands entrance and less than 10 minutes from Arches entrance. Nice pool, new hotel, free laundry (2 washers and 2 dryers). Typical Hyatt place breakfast.
I had booked Springhill Suites Salt Lake City Airport for our final night with a free night cert that was going to expire (booked before the most recent extension). Ended up showing up to the hotel and they wanted $25 for an early check in fee, this was an hour prior to check in. Didn't matter that I have status with Marriott. It all worked out as our flights were changed and we ended up flying out that evening instead. Marriott falls to one of my least favorite brands. I plan to cancel my current cards. 35k certs are becoming so hard to use. Would consider churning the chase variety if I could get a good SUB as it may be worth it.
The trip was awesome. We did a ton of hikes, one of the most memorable was the narrows in zion we got about an half an hour from the end of the bottom up hike. That took most of the day. Another highlight was a sunrise hike to delicate arch in arches. We did the scenic drive in Canyonland and did some of the off road portion with an additional hike that was amazing as well. All the parks were busy, we lucked out that Zion had the shuttle ticket system, which thanks to my disney planning I was prepared for and I got all the shuttle ticket reservations that I wanted. Just a few days prior to our trip they stopped the need for shuttle tickets, but honored those who already had tickets with front of the line access to the shuttles. This saved us almost an hour each morning that we didn't have to wait in a que for the shuttle. We waited about 45 minutes in a que for a shuttle when we returned from the Narrows hike, it was so busy.
Highly recommend experiencing these parks. Took a lot of planning but was so worth it!
