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Pride on points: How to use points and miles to celebrate Pride in 6 US cities this year
Rachel Craft is a travel writer at TPG. She's excited about introducing more people to the world of points & miles and helping fellow travel newbies make the most of their points.
April 30, 2025 • 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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Quick summary
Pride Month offers numerous opportunities to celebrate in major U.S. cities, with many events still bookable using points and miles.
Award flight and hotel availability remains for destinations like New Orleans, Washington, DC, Denver, San Francisco, Chicago and New York City, often with minimal taxes and fees.
Comparing cash prices to points redemptions is crucial, as value varies significantly between properties and dates, especially during peak Pride weekends.
Booking through travel portals can sometimes provide better value than redeeming points directly with hotels or airlines.
What to consider
Some award rates provide less value than TPG's April 2025 valuations, so check both cash and points options before booking.
Hotel stays booked through third-party portals typically do not earn loyalty points or elite status benefits.
Certain offers mentioned in the article are no longer available.
What you'll miss from the article
Detailed city-by-city guidance on maximizing points and miles for last-minute Pride travel, including specific redemption values and booking strategies.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
June is officially Pride month, and it’s not too late to make travel plans to celebrate Pride in major cities nationwide (or book an LGBTQIA+ cruise). Hotel rates and airfare may be higher as your travel dates approach, but you can save money using points and miles. We found an array of flight and hotel options that can still be booked with points at a good value — and on most flights from the U.S., you'll only pay about $12 in taxes and fees round-trip.
Pride is a wonderful celebration of equality, freedom and sacrifice, and any of these events would make for a fun weekend getaway.
What better place to show your pride than on the colorful streets of the Big Easy? This year’s New Orleans Pride includes drag brunches, ghost tours, live music, a formal gala and a parade through the French Quarter. It’s not too late to plan a weekend getaway to join the festivities.
Airfare to New Orleans
When searching for flights, Google Flights is a good starting point. It will show you cash prices only, but since cash rates often correspond to award fares (since many major U.S. airlines use dynamic pricing), it can help point you toward the cheapest airlines for your desired route. Then you can click over to an airline’s website to search award flights in more detail.
For example, if you’re on the East Coast, JetBlue has nonstop award fares from Boston to New Orleans the weekend of June 13-15 starting at 10,400 TrueBlue points each way. Both Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards points transfer to JetBlue at a 1:1 ratio.
JETBLUE
Southwest Airlines has one-way flights from Denver for as low as 12,500 Rapid Rewards points. You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Rapid Rewards.
SOUTHWEST
Hotels in New Orleans
If you want to stay near all the action of the French Quarter, you could book the Hyatt Centric French Quarter New Orleans for only 12,000 World of Hyatt points or $198 per night. This comes out to 1.65 cents per point, close to TPG’s April 2025 valuation of 1.7 cents for Hyatt points.
The New Orleans Marriott is also centrally located in the French Quarter. During Pride weekend, rates start at 32,800 Bonvoy points or $169 per night. This comes out to a value of 0.5 cents per point, which isn’t ideal considering TPG values Marriott points at 0.7 cents each. In this case, we’d recommend booking with cash or checking your credit card’s travel portal to see if you can get a better deal.
For instance, the New Orleans Marriott is available for the same dates on Capital One Travel for $162 per night plus taxes and fees. Since you can pay with your Capital One miles at a fixed rate of 1 cent per mile, a two-night stay would cost you only 32,395 miles instead of the 65,600 Bonvoy points you would need if you booked through Marriott.
CAPITAL ONE
Booking through Capital One Travel at 1 cent per mile still gives you well below TPG’s valuation of 1.85 cents each for Capital One miles, but if you’re looking to celebrate Pride for free, this route will save you points and miles compared to booking directly with the hotel. Plus, you can save 5% with this trick.
If you’re willing to pay cash, you may be better off booking through the portal and earning 5 miles per dollar (if you hold the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card) or 10 miles per dollar (if you hold the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card). Just remember that hotel stays booked through travel portals or other third-party sites typically won’t earn hotel points or qualify for any elite status benefits you may have.
Washington, D.C.'s Pride is one of the most colorful events in the U.S. This year will be even bigger, as the city is marking the 50th anniversary of its Pride celebrations and hosting WorldPride 2025. With nearly 1 out of 10 residents in Washington identifying with the LGBTQIA+ community, it is sure to be an amazing event.
If you’re interested in joining Capital Pride in person, there are many ways to book a last-minute trip while maximizing your points and miles.
Airfare to Washington, DC
If you’re looking to fly into Washington, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) is probably your best option. It’s connected to the city by Metro and a quick $2-$4 one-way ride to Union Station. Washington is a very walkable city, making this a great way to cut down on costs by not renting a car, especially for a weekend excursion.
Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) are also options in the vicinity, but these are farther away and require a ride-hailing service, taxi, train or rental car.
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan has award fares from Seattle to DCA throughout Pride starting at 12,500 miles each way. Alaska is a transfer partner of Bilt Rewards and, since Alaska merged with Hawaiian Airlines last year, you can now transfer HawaiianMiles — and thus Amex Membership Rewards points — to Alaska Mileage Plan.
ALASKA AIRLINES
For travelers on the East Coast, American Airlines has plentiful availability from Atlanta to BWI for just 6,000 AAdvantage miles each way.
AMERICAN AIRLINES
Hotels in Washington, DC
Washington has many hotel options you can book with points. Since it’s such a walkable city with a great Metro system, you can be minutes away from all the action even if you decide not to stay close to the city center.
Hilton has a wide assortment of properties within a few miles of the main festivities. The map view can help you get an idea of hotel locations and how many Hilton Honors points you’ll need per night.
HILTON
Hyatt has several properties in the area ranging from 12,000 to 20,000 World of Hyatt points per night.
HELEN H. RICHARDSON/MEDIANEWS GROUP/THE DENVER POST/GETTY IMAGES
The Mile High City's Pride festivities date back to 1974. This year's events include a festival, 5K and parade against the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains.
Airfare to Denver
To fly into Denver International Airport (DEN), Southwest award flights from Los Angeles start at 8,500 Rapid Rewards points plus $5.60 each way.
SOUTHWEST
From the East Coast, United Airlines offers flights from Atlanta starting at 15,000 MileagePlus miles one-way the weekend of Pride, or 13,900 miles for United credit card holders.
UNITED
Hotels in Denver
If you’re hoping to stay near the Pride festivities, Hyatt has five properties in downtown Denver. Four of them are Category 3 or 4, meaning they’ll set you back 15,000 or 18,000 points per night on peak dates — or, if you have a World of Hyatt Credit Card (see rates and fees), you could use your annual Category 1-4 free night certificate. There’s also the Thompson Denver, a boutique Category 5 hotel, where rooms go for 23,000 points or $407 per night the weekend of Pride.
San Francisco is known for being one of the most LGBTQIA+-friendly destinations in the U.S. and for having one of the country’s best Pride parades. This year's parade will take place on the last weekend of June, with various events in the week leading up to it, including the inaugural Threads of Pride fashion show.
JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES
Airfare to San Francisco
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and nearby Oakland International Airport (OAK) are great options for flying in for Pride, though flights to SFO tend to be cheaper. Thanks to Bay Area Rapid Transit, or BART, it’s easy to get from either airport to the heart of downtown. BART fares cost $11-$13 from SFO or OAK to the downtown Montgomery station.
You can book nonstop American Airlines flights from various East Coast cities, including Charlotte and Philadelphia, with 17,500 Alaska Mileage Plan miles and $19 each way.
ALASKA AIRLINES
You could also fly Delta Air Lines from Atlanta to SFO starting at 13,500 SkyMiles (or Amex Membership Rewards points) one-way in basic economy.
DELTA
Hotels in San Francisco
You’ll find a variety of points hotels in downtown San Francisco near the Pride festivities, but the award rates during Pride weekend aren’t ideal.
For instance, you can book Marriott’s Courtyard San Francisco Downtown/Van Ness Ave. for 54,500 Bonvoy points per night. Since cash rates start at $194 per night, this comes out to 0.36 cents per point — roughly half of TPG's April 2025 valuation. Similarly, the Hilton San Francisco Union Square costs $180 or 56,000 Hilton Honors points for a standard room reward, giving you an uninspiring 0.32 cents per point.
Since cash rates are so low that weekend and you won’t get much value from your points, we recommend booking with cash or paying with points through a credit card travel portal.
For example, the Hilton San Francisco Union Square is bookable through Chase Travel℠ for $350 plus taxes and fees for two nights. If you hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees), you can pay with Chase Ultimate Rewards points at a rate of 1.25 cents per point, so this stay would cost around 27,947 points plus $82 — far fewer than the 112,000 points required if you booked through Hilton. If you hold the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and fees), your Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1.5 cents each on the Chase Travel portal, so you would only need around 23,334 points.
Chicago’s Pride festival is one of the biggest in the country. This year's celebration will include a Youth Pride Space for teens, a Proud Pet Parade, the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus and much more. The 54th annual Chicago Pride Parade will march a week later, on June 29.
Airfare to Chicago
Chicago is home to two major airports: O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and Midway International Airport (MDW). O’Hare is a big hub, with flights from nearly all major international and domestic airlines. Midway is Southwest’s gateway to Chicago (though it also serves O’Hare) and has limited service from other airlines, like Allegiant Air and Delta Air Lines.
Delta is offering low award fares to Chicago from some of its hubs during Pride Fest weekend. For example, you can fly nonstop from Seattle to ORD for as little as 8,000 SkyMiles one-way or from Minneapolis-St. Paul to ORD for 11,500 SkyMiles one-way, plus minimal taxes and fees.
DELTA
American has some good options from the Southeast, like Atlanta to ORD for 9,500 AAdvantage miles one-way and Miami to ORD for 10,000 miles one-way.
AMERICAN AIRLINES
Hotels in Chicago
Most points hotel chains have a ton of options in downtown Chicago, also known as the Loop. But if you want to stay around Northalsted, where most of the Pride events will be held, here are a few hotels worth considering.
Hyatt’s Hotel Lincoln, a Category 3 property, is just south of Northalsted and steps away from the Lincoln Park Zoo. The weekend of June 22-23 is classified as “peak” per Hyatt’s award chart, so award stays cost 15,000 World of Hyatt points per night (or you could use a Category 1-4 free night award). With cash rates starting at $386 plus taxes that weekend, you'll get a value of over 2.6 cents per point — an excellent use of Hyatt points or transferable credit card points.
HYATT
There’s also the Best Western Plus Hawthorne Terrace Hotel in the heart of Northalsted. Rooms will set you back 70,000 Best Western Rewards points or $462 per night, which comes out to 0.66 cents per point — right on par with TPG’s April 2025 valuations. Best Western Rewards doesn’t have any major credit card transfer partners, but this could be a good option if you have a stash of Best Western points.
New York City Pride is back this year with a host of events, from a parade and street fair to the Gay & Sober Cruise and Youth Pride. Here are some ways you can use points and miles to celebrate in the Big Apple.
Airfare to New York City
With three major airports — John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and LaGuardia Airport (LGA) — New York City gives you plenty of options. From the airport, you can take advantage of New York City’s extensive network of trains, subways and buses to get to Manhattan without renting a car.
Delta is offering award flights from Boston to LGA from 8,000 SkyMiles the weekend of Pride.
DELTA
American has fares from Miami to JFK starting at 8,500 AAdvantage miles each way.
AMERICAN AIRLINES
Hotels in New York City
NYC Pride has partnered with various local hotels to provide discounted rates. Some of these can be booked with points as well, but they're not necessarily a great value. For instance, the Moxy NYC Downtown (a Marriott Bonvoy property) and the Hilton Garden Inn New York/Tribeca will give you a value of around 0.3 cents per point the weekend of Pride, so it could make more sense to pay with cash or book through a credit card portal.
On the other hand, the Holiday Inn Express New York City - Chelsea is available for 65,000 IHG One Rewards points plus $25 in taxes and fees per night during Pride. With cash rates hovering around $335, you'll get a solid value of 0.52 per IHG point. IHG One Rewards is a transfer partner of both Chase Ultimate Rewards and Bilt Rewards.
Pride month is almost here, but it’s not too late to join the fun by booking a weekend trip — points and miles are a great way to save on last-minute travel plans. With so many cities having Pride events, you have countless options. Just remember to check cash prices and travel portals before you book to make sure you’re getting the most value possible from your points.
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.
