2025 Year In Review
- Garrett Falcone
- Dec 30, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 7
2025 was a big year for us as we welcomed our first child. Going into 2025, I knew the second half would have very limited travel, but with some work projects winding down the first half also wasn't that busy. I actually ended up traveling fewer miles in 2025 than I did in 2020 when COVID shut down the entire world for most of the year.
I thought I would for sure lose United 1K status this year, but I learned that once every 5 years you can request a status extension due to life circumstances including having a baby. I simply reached out to United customer care and they sent me a link to upload a copy of the birth certificate. Within 24 hours I had my status extended to 2027 which is great because I didn't even qualify for Gold status this year.
On the hotel front, I will be sad to be losing Hyatt Globalist status, the only hotel program that I think is actually valuable. I did make sure to get in all of my points advance bookings for 2026 through the concierge though. I'll be losing Marriott Platinum but I'm not going to be losing much sleep over that as it's pretty much worthless. I try to avoid Marriott anyway as much as possible given their massive devaluations have made the Bonboy program incredibly weak compared to Hyatt or even Hilton in my opinion.
There were some big credit card landscape changes this year including the massive fee increase on Chase Sapphire Reserve and AMEX Platinum. However, the introduction of American Airlines as a transfer partner of Citi was the one that interested me the most. I avoid American Airlines like the plague, but you can get some incredible points redemptions through their program especially with partner awards - I'm definitely expecting a devaluation coming.
Looking ahead to 2026, we already have the baby's first couple of international trips planned as we will try to squeeze in as much as we can before he starts walking! Generally, children under 2 years old fly free, but I'm just starting to find that's not exactly the case with award redemptions - something I'll report on as I learn more in the coming year.
Contents
2025 flights courtesy of MyFlightRadar24
Munich
St. Peter's Church - Munich 2025
Just after the new year, I had a work trip to Germany and France, but my connecting flight in Munich ended up getting delayed by 12 hours, so I found myself with a whole day in Munich. I've been through the airport many times, but never actually in the city. I made the most of the flight delay by walking around much of the city center which still had may Christmas decorations up and having a delicious meal at Wirsthaus Eder.
Park City
Grand Hyatt Deer Valley - Park City, Utah 2025
In February, I was in Salt Lake City for work and so we stayed the weekend to ski in Park City. I was able to use 58,000 Hyatt points, a free night certificate, and a suite upgrade at the newly opened Grand Hyatt Deer Valley. The Grand Suite we were upgraded to was the largest room I've ever stayed in with massive living room, dining room, kitchenette, and wraparound balcony.
Anguilla
Zemi Beach House - Anguilla 2025
With our first child expected in a few months, we took a babymoon beach trip to Aguilla where I was able to use the free night that comes with the Hilton Honors Aspire card plus 330,000 Hilton points to stay at Zemi Beach House for 4 nights. This hotel was my favorite beach resort I've ever stayed at (not that I've stayed at a ton).
With American Airlines having the strongest Caribbean network, as much as I try to avoid American, they are almost the only option to get to that region. Fortunately, this year Citi became a partner with American Airlines which now allows you to transfer Citi points to American Airlines. We were able to get our flight back in economy to Chicago for only 10,000 American Miles.
Sint Maarten
Grand Case - Sint Maarten 2025
Sint Maarten is just a 10 minute flight from Anguilla and much more connected to the mainland US, so we spent 2 nights at the JW Marriott St. Maarten Beach Resort & Spa for 162,500 Marriott points before heading home. For a beach vacation, we liked Anguilla much better, but Sint Maarten definitely was more built up and had more to do. The island is also split between the Dutch side and the French side which are actually quite different despite it being the same island.
Seattle
Pike Place Market - Seattle 2021
In May we squeezed in a trip to Seattle to visit some friends since we figure it would be a while before we could get back out there once the baby came and were able to get roundtrip economy flights on United for 27,500 miles. We made sure to visit all of my favorite spots Din Tai Fung, Dough Zone, and Seattle Fish Guys.
Bar Harbor, Maine
Top of North Bubble - Acadia National Park 2025
We were grounded for a few months once the baby was born, but we wanted to make sure to get him traveling early especially while he's still small and relatively easy to handle on a plane. We flew into Portland, Maine and after using my Hilton free night certificate at the Canopy Portland Waterfront we drove up to Bar Harbor where we stayed a few days. We spent time in Acadia National Park looking at the changing leaves and eating as much lobster as we could handle.
We booked this trip fairly last minute and the hotel options were very limited, so we stayed in an Airbnb. Our outbound flight was 18,000 United miles in economy and the inbound was 43,700 in first. I wouldn't normally spend that many miles for a 2 hour flight, but the economy option was not much cheaper plus I figured first class would be worth it in case we had any issues traveling with the baby.
In Summary
For anyone looking for a relaxing beach vacation, I would put Anguilla on the top of your list
American Airlines is now a transfer partner with Citi
You can contact United Airlines to extend status once every 5 years due to major life events
Ultra premium credit cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve and AMEX Platinum are getting harder to justify in my opinion - they are just becoming large coupon books.
Total Points Redemptions by Program
World of Hyatt: 58,000 at cash value of $4,918 (8.5 cents/point)
American Airlines: 10,000 at cash value of $348 (3.5 cents/point)
Flying Blue: 18,500 at cash value of $422 (2.3 cents/point)
Hilton Honors: 330,000 at cash value of $4,630 (1.4 cents/point)
United Airlines: 89,200 at cash value of $986 (1.1 cents/point)
Marriott Bonvoy: 162,000 at cash value of $1,575 (1.0 cents/point)
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