Our 3 Best Luxury Hotels on Points (Family Travel Edition)

Hotels do not have to be the expensive part of family travel.

This year, our family lived in hotels around the world and paid cash for almost none of them.

Out of all those stays, three luxury hotels were so good, they changed how long we could travel and where we could go.

I’m Adelaide from TalkBox.Mom, where we help families to start talking in a foreign language the same day you start our program.

And I’m talking about hotels because you know we want you to travel and use your language.

Today I’m breaking down our top three hotel redemptions of the year, the ones that made extended family travel realistic.

If hotel costs are the reason your family can’t imagine extended travel or using your language abroad, this video will change how you think about what’s realistic.

Hyatt Regency Mexico City

Coming in at number three, we went to a city that is very surprising to most first time travelers from the United States.

They’re surprised at how modern it is, how nice it is.

Probably not at how good the food is, that should be expected, but it’s very European.

In Mexico City, we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Mexico City. It had a beautiful full lobby with huge ceilings, nice seating in the middle to eat. It was absolutely gorgeous.

The rooms were a good size. We had two suites that were connected for us and our two youngest kids.

The rooms had beautiful showers and nice beds.

My husband and I had a king bed. We actually ended up getting five rooms at the hotel, which I’ll tell you about in a second.

Because we use our hotel points and we traveled to Hyatts a lot, we also had lounge access.

The lounge was on a top floor and it included breakfast that was so delicious.

And we could also come in the evening for drinks and appetizers.

The hotel had the most amazing fitness center I have ever seen. It was like a not-so-mini-lifetime fitness inside of the hotel.

They had tons of machines and free weights.

It was in this giant L shape that went and spilled into a spa where they had dry and wet saunas with the locker rooms.

There was also a pool that I took my 7-year-old swimming in, and he had an absolute blast.

The pool was so big and there was a wonderful view as well as tennis courts.

The hotel was located near the National Museum of Anthropology,  and I hope I’m saying this right, Chapultepec Park and Lake.

My father-in-law kept saying it and it sounded great when he said it ’cause he’s from Mexico City.

We flew in from San Cristobal with one of our TalkBox.Mom team members, where we were making friends and practicing Spanish for three weeks.

Then when we got to Mexico City, we flew her two adult children out on points for Thanksgiving because that sounded very fun.

My father-in-law drove in with his wife to stay for two nights.

We arranged a shuttle to go north to the archeological site of Teotihuacán – I can actually say that one – where we climbed the pyramids, which was very fun. And I acted as a semi-okay tour guide, because I have been there I think four or five times.

We ate our Thanksgiving dinner in a wonderful restaurant that’s actually inside a giant cave.

It’s so beautiful and there’s lots of candles going, and the food was absolutely excellent.

Back in Mexico City, we ate the most delicious tacos. We also went to the National Archeological Museum where you can see the massive Aztec sunstone or the calendar stone, also the hip ball game that they played, and Mayan ruins as well.

We also rode paddle boats around the lake as my husband went and dropped off film from our kids’ cameras from when they were taking photos at the pyramids.

We went to the beautiful performing arts theater, and we went to the plaza in the center to see the Metropolitan Cathedral and the National Palace.

We didn’t have time to go to Templo Mayor Museum again, which I really do love, but we did blow bubbles in front of the cathedral, and of course we used our Spanish.

So how much should it cost to stay in Mexico City for four rooms for three nights and one room for two nights, totaling 14 nights?

If we had paid cash, it would’ve cost $7,070.

I would have never done that.

Instead, we used 15,000 points per night and we paid $0.

Andaz London Liverpool Street

Coming in at number two is a city featured in more movies than I can count and a country part of my family left in the early 1600s.

I’m talking about England, specifically London.

We stayed at the Andaz London Liverpool Street Hotel.

This hotel was very hip and stylish. It was very fun to be in. The rooms were smaller because it is London.

We had two rooms here just for our family of five.

The rooms were not connected, but they were next door to each other.

We had our oldest boys in one room and our youngest son on a rollaway in our room.

The closet in our room was quite big, and the bathrooms were really beautiful.

For breakfast, we walked through a maze to get to the hotel breakfast.

We could have just walked outside and it was one over. Didn’t realize that till the end.

But the breakfast was so delicious.

You could order single plates or go to the buffet and everything was included because we booked it on points and we travel so much with Hyatt doing that.

We got to try lots of different English breakfasts,  some far worse than others. So  it was nice that we didn’t pay for that.

The hotel was really close to the underground and a flea market the kids really liked.

In fact, the very first day we went to this flea market, my oldest son bought a leather jacket that was so used that I asked the vendor if he pulled it off of somebody who had fallen off their motorcycle.

And he said that was quite possible.

Because he bought that jacket, my younger son got a free cane at the flea market.

He already had the top hat from Madrid, Spain, where we flew in from, so this just really completed his look.

Then we went to the Harry Potter sets at the Warner Brothers Studios, which was the reason for our trip. My husband gave our kids a reading challenge, and if they finished it, they could go to the Harry Potter Studios.

It was extremely motivating and now our most unwilling reader likes to read books on his own, so it was totally worth it.

When we checked in, we were told to say that it was the kids’ birthdays because they all had just had birthdays within a month.

Because of that, they got to  open the doors to the Great Hall.

It was so amazing to walk in there and see the  sets that we have seen in movies.

We even got to see the set of the potions class, which looks so amazing.

We could see the dorms with all the beds and even the book that comes out. We saw  Dumbledore’s  office. It was so amazing.

But I’m kind of naughty and I started to notice that people were being very dramatic about being there, and I thought  it might be kind of fun to start trolling people.

So when we were in line outside the Dursleys house, I said to my kid, “Oh, is this where Harry Potter lived with the Weasleys who owned  him?”  And the lady in front of us in line, her shoulders went up and she was getting very annoyed.

And then my son said, “ Mom, stop trolling people,” and she started to laugh and I was like, “This could be really fun.”

So when we saw Tom Riddle, I was like, “Wow, I can’t believe we’re seeing Voldemort’s dad, this is so cool.”

I had so many good lines and so many good looks were given to me. It was totally worth it. I had a blast.

As karma would have it down in London,  I was shoved by a guard, not that guard, this guard. Look at this scoundrel.

We also saw the crown jewels and historic weapons.

We  went to the tower Bridge,  we went to the National Gallery, which is free.

So nice, 30 minutes without any guilt of not staying long enough.

We went in, saw the impressionists  like Van Gogh, including his sunflower painting, the chair with his pipe and some Monets, like two girls in a boat

And a painting my mom has a replica of in her dining room by Millet, which took us for forever to find. And when we texted it to her, she replied back, “Fun.”

We walked around Trafalgar Square, visited Paddington Station, we went to Baker Street 221B for Sherlock Holmes, a vintage store where Leo got another outfit.

But how could we not? It’s so cute.

We did a tour of the House of Parliament and went to Westminster Abbey, where I later went to an organ recital on my own, which was so peaceful.

We saw a big Ben, of course, walked down to Buckingham Palace and had tea across the street at the Ruben’s Hotel.  

We finished off our trip at the British Museum to see the Rosetta Stone and famous Roman and Greek statues.

How much did it cost to stay on this trip?

Well, we got one suite and one standard twin room for four nights for a total of eight nights.

The suite would’ve cost $900 a night and the twin $485  for a total of $5,540.

And we paid nothing just 27,000 points per night, plus a suite upgrade certificate.

These rooms per night were more expensive than Mexico City, which is why I’m ranking them number two.

We would not have gone to London without this deal.

After Michelle on the TalkBox.Mom team told me about the rat in her budget hotel,  I knew I needed a room with AC and windows that shut.

Grand Hyatt Taipei

Coming in at number one is somewhere I would have never gone on my own.

We only went because my boys were really interested in going to Asia, and this is where we got the best tickets on points.

We went to Taiwan and we stayed at the Grand Hyatt Taipei,  and it was number one.

It had the most gorgeous fountain in the largest lobby with these beautiful balconies in this beautiful bright red.

The rooms were so spacious. We had two connecting suites and another suite for my parents.

So in each room, there was a couch area with a TV and a table that opened into another room where the beds were that opened to another room with a closet that opened into a bathroom, and that was mirrored also in our room. And then of course, again, for my parents.

The breakfast was the most amazing breakfast I have ever had at a hotel. It was a buffet inside a buffet inside of a buffet with amazing choices.

Like a ramen bar and a dumpling bar, and  different types of eggs and different meats. And it was so good. And even the waitress lectured my dad on drinking soda.

He had these tiny little coke zeroes that he was drinking and he was trying to get to two or three to add up to just one normal Coke, and  she asked me if he drank that much at home.

Because he drank more, I said, “No, he doesn’t drink that much at home.” She was very relieved.

In Taiwan, we went to the Longshan Temple for the Lunar New Year.

It was ornate and colorful with really nice people who showed us their traditions, which was so cool to be included in on.

We went to traditional street markets during the day and also at night.

We rode the elevator up to the top of Taipei 101. We also went to the National Palace Museum.  I got to use my Chinese because I bumped into someone and they looked very upset and then I said, excuse me, in Chinese.

And they were delighted with me. So I really turned that one around.

We did a day trip to, hopefully I’m saying this right, Chongwen Village, where we did a weird haunted house that my dad wanted to do which was very surprising that he wanted to do that.

Then we climbed up the hill to the very top. We looked at the beautiful view.

We went shopping where Leo got the cutest lunar New Year outfit. We enjoyed the lanterns that were lit as we walked back down. We also saw the waterfall and the ocean nearby. We got to enjoy a lunar New year celebration at the hotel.

We went to a flea market for the kids to buy coins, and I got some really cool dragon book holders.

We visited more temples  and we ate the most amazing duck. 

We went to the forest by Taipei Zoo and rode the glass bottom Gondolas.

We also hung New Year wishes in the trees by a temple there.

It was lots of hiking and amazing food.

My kids had so much fun wishing everybody, “xīn nián kuài lè!” and getting a big response out of them that they could say that in Chinese.

But on Lunar New Year, we didn’t get our spot in the lounge to eat, and so the hotel came to us and took us to the most amazing dinner that they gave us on the house.

It was the most incredible dinner buffet I have ever been to where they had meats that they were cooking, they had different ramens.

They had all the seafood you could think of, they would build sushi for you.

It was absolutely fantastic.

So how much did this all cost?

We got three suites for eight nights for a total of 24 nights.

If we paid cash, it would’ve cost $10,800.

Now, this is not the most money that we saved, but it’s number one because it was the nicest out of the three hotels.

Largest rooms, and best foods. I would absolutely go back and stay again on points.