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Cleared for Takeoff: Using points and miles to book Emirates business class and an overwater villa in the Maldives
Katie Genter is a digital nomad who has traveled full time since June 2017. She writes and edits stories about points and miles, and loyalty programs, often letting her personal experiences color these stories.
July 13, 2021 • 15 min read
The cards we feature here are from partners who compensate us when you are approved through our site, and this may impact how or where these products appear. We don't cover all available credit cards, but our analysis, reviews, and opinions are entirely from our editorial team. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
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By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
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Quick summary
A reader sought advice on booking a Maldives trip for three using points and miles, focusing on business-class flights and an overwater villa stay.
The article outlines strategies for booking Emirates business class from New York to Male using transferable points, with a positioning flight from Detroit.
For hotels, the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island is recommended due to standard room reward availability in water villas and the ability to use elite perks like the fifth night free.
The guide details how to combine points, certificates and credits to maximize value and reduce out-of-pocket costs.
What to consider
Some offers mentioned in the article are no longer available.
Securing five consecutive nights in a standard overwater villa at the Conrad Maldives is only possible during shoulder season, such as in May.
Significant transfer fees apply at many Maldives resorts, with the Conrad Maldives charging $526 plus 12% taxes and fees per adult for round-trip transfers.
What you'll miss from the article
Step-by-step instructions for searching and booking award flights and hotel stays in the Maldives using points, including maximizing elite benefits and managing limited availability.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Cleared for Takeoff is a weekly series showing readers like you the best ways to book adventures using points and miles. If you’d like tips on booking your own trip using miles, please email us with your preferred itinerary and current mileage balance.
A trip to the Maldives is at the top of many travelers' wish lists. So for today’s Cleared for Takeoff story, I'll look into TPG reader Oz Noori’s request for help planning a trip to the Maldives for himself and his two daughters:
Hi! I’ve been saving up points to take my two daughters (18 and 23) to the Maldives. I think I have the hotel almost established but not sure on flights.
Hotel-wise, I want to stay in an overwater villa. I’m Hilton Diamond with the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card. I want to use the 5th night free option, and it might make sense to buy the remaining points if necessary. I also have two Hilton complimentary night certificates as I haven’t used any during the pandemic.
For flights, I want to fly lie flat business or first both ways from Detroit (DTW). I’m not sure how to find the best availability on a good airline that isn't outrageous.
I’m flexible on dates. I was looking at winter or next spring but almost anytime I can make work is good. This has been a dream for a long time! I’d love any help you could provide!
The information for the Hilton Aspire has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Oz noted he has the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Hilton Aspire Amex, American Express® Gold Card, Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, a Southwest card and a Disney card. And he said he still has annual credits on several of his cards, including the Chase Sapphire Reserve's $300 annual travel credit, the Hilton Aspire's airline fee credit and the Hilton Aspire's up-to-$250 Hilton resort statement credit. So, these credits are fair game for use on his Maldives trip.
Plus, he has two Hilton free night certificates he wants to use on this trip. Since he isn't looking to travel until this winter or next spring, he can still earn more points and miles if needed.
Emirates business class. (Photo by Samantha Rosen/The Points Guy)
Oz wants to fly in business or first class on a high-quality airline with his two daughters. There are many ways to get to the Maldives on points and miles. If he had lots of American Airlines miles, I'd recommend flying Qatar Airlines and its Qsuite product. But since Oz has 387,600 Chase Ultimate Rewards points and 77,500 Amex Membership Rewards points, flying Emirates from New York or Chicago is a compelling option.
Emirates business class is a great product and on the A380, you'll have access to the famous bar area. Although aircraft types on a route can and do change, I recommend booking an award on an Emirates A380 out of New York City.
Oz can then use Delta miles to position himself and his two daughters from Detroit to New York City. And, assuming he books their Delta positioning flights on one reservation, they'll each get their first checked bag free as a benefit of his Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express Card.
To do so, go to the "Spend Miles" page on Emirates' website and click on "Book Emirates" in the "Classic Rewards" section. Doing so will take you to the "Book a flight" page. Go ahead and log in before starting a search.
(Screenshot courtesy of emirates.com)
Select "Book Classic Rewards Flight," enter your flight details and click "Search."
(Screenshot courtesy of emirates.com)
If you see cash rates, switch the "Redeem Skywards Miles" toggle above the results to the on position. Doing so gave me a grid of rates since I'd selected a flexible dates search. Click on the result in the grid that you want and then click "See flights."
(Screenshot courtesy of emirates.com)
On the next page, you'll see prices for each of the flights you could book. If you don't yet have enough points to book, you won't be able to progress past this page.
(Screenshot courtesy of emirates.com)
Three round-trip business-class awards from New York-JFK to Male (MLE) would cost Oz at least 510,000 miles plus $1,582. I recommend that he use his Chase Sapphire Reserve when paying the taxes and fees, as doing so would get him and his daughters travel protections on their trip.
He could transfer 387,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points and 77,000 Amex Membership Rewards points to Emirates to accrue 464,000 Emirates Skywards miles. However, he'd still be 46,000 miles short.
One perk of Emirates Skywards is that you can transfer points from all five major transferable currencies. As such, it's easy to earn Emirates Skywards miles.
If you need more Emirates miles, you could add a new Amex Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards card to your wallet. After all, once you reach the minimum spending requirements to earn the bonus, you can transfer your points to Emirates at a 1:1 ratio. In particular, here are some cards to consider (and their current bonuses):
The Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $6,000 on purchases on your new card in your first six months of card membership.
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
Citi Premier® Card: Earn 60,000 bonus Citi ThankYou points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening (see rates and fees).
Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card: Earn 100,000 bonus Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first three months after account opening.
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 120,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Platinum Card within the first three months of card membership.
Oz only needs 46,000 more miles for his award. So he could apply for any of these cards and have enough rewards once he earns the bonus. Alternatively, he could add one of the cobranded Emirates credit cards to his wallet.
Standard room reward for 95,000 points per night in a sunrise water villa or beach villa (availability for the sunrise water villa is limited until May).
Standard room reward for 120,000 or 150,000 points per night in a king reef villa with pool (but award availability is sparse; I only found standard awards on three nights across the next year while writing this article).
Overwater premium room rewards start around 988,000 points per night.
The SAii Lagoon Maldives. (Photo by Samantha Rosen/The Points Guy)
This leaves the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, which offers a sunrise water villa as a standard room reward on some dates. Based on Oz's request, I assume he plans for himself and his two daughters to share one villa. Hilton will let you book the villa for three adults, but I expect Oz and his daughters may only have a king bed and a small couch. So, Oz and his daughters should consider whether they feel comfortable with the sleeping situation before booking.
Of course, Oz may snag an upgrade as a Hilton Diamond elite to a larger villa. But an upgrade isn't guaranteed and may not come through in a popular destination like the Maldives.
Assuming they decide to book the water villa, they could use Oz's two Hilton free night certificates to stay two extra nights. But I recommend they try one room type for their five-night stay and another room type for a two-night stay. After all, the beach villas have some extra amenities and space. And especially for this trip, I think Oz and his daughters may appreciate the beach villa's daybed that can be curtained off into an alcove (as this would give them more space and privacy while sharing the villa).
I'd book two nights in the water villa and five nights in the beach villa if I were in Oz's shoes. However, I suspect that Oz and his daughters will choose the opposite since an overwater villa was a primary request for their stay.
In either case, you'll need to find standard reward availability for your desired room types when using free night certificates or to get a fifth night free. You can use Hilton's calendar search to check availability by selecting "Use flexible dates" when searching.
(Screenshot courtesy of hilton.com)
Unfortunately, you can't search for only the beach villa or only the sunrise water villa when using the calendar tool. So, although you can see which dates have standard rewards, you won't know until clicking through whether a beach villa, water villa or both are available.
(Screenshot courtesy of hilton.com)
After doing a few searches and clicking through a lot of results, it seems Oz and his daughters will need to travel in the shoulder season of May if they want to stay in the water villa for five nights. I found standard reward availability in a water villa for a five-night stay on May 15-20.
(Screenshot courtesy of hilton.com)
Click on "More prices available" to check prices and book with points. For this stay, you'd get over 1 cent per Hilton point. The five-night stay would cost $5,912.74, including taxes and fees (but not including transfer fees) or 380,000 points (after the fifth night free that's given to Hilton elites on standard reward stays of five nights or longer). So, Oz would get a redemption rate of 1.56 cents per Hilton point, which is much higher than TPG's valuation of Hilton points at 0.6 cents per point.
(Screenshot courtesy of hilton.com)
Once you sign in, you can book your award. You'll see a points and money slider that will allow you to use a mixture of points and cash to book your award. So, you can book your award even if you don't have enough Hilton points. But, if you want to use the fifth night free perk, you'll need to pay entirely with points.
(Screenshot courtesy of hilton.com)
I also found standard reward availability for a beach villa on May 25-27. But Oz will need to call Hilton Honors to use his two Hilton free night certificates for these nights.
If you have Hilton Honors elite status and find standard reward nights for your dates, you'll need 380,000 Hilton Honors points for a five-night stay at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island. Oz currently has 312,000 Hilton Honors points, but he'll soon earn an additional 130,000 Hilton points thanks to a welcome bonus on his new Hilton Honors credit card.
Points and miles can significantly decrease the cost of a dream Maldives trip. And credit card perks can reduce your out-of-pocket costs. For example, suppose Oz and his daughters charge on-site expenses like dining and activities to their room. In that case, they can use the Hilton Aspire's up-to-$250 Hilton resort statement credit and the Chase Sapphire Reserve's $300 annual travel credit to offset some of these expenses.
But, on top of dining expenses and activities, there are also expensive hotel and resort transfer fees in the Maldives. In particular, the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island charges $526 plus 12% taxes and fees per person age 12 and older for a return transfer from Male. Oz and his daughters should account for this high cost when preparing for their dream trip.
If you have a destination in mind and need help figuring out your points strategy, send us an email to be featured in the next installment of Cleared for Takeoff.
Comments
By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
