Family Trip Calculator
Pick a destination, your family size, and how many nights. The calculator shows the cheapest points path (flights + hotel), the cash equivalent, and the two cards that earn it fastest.15 destinations covered.
How families use this tool
Most parents don't want a points education — they want to know how many points to take this trip and what to earn to get there. The point of this calculator is to answer both questions in one screen, honestly.
The two card recommendations per destination are the cards whose points actually transfer to the relevant airline + hotel program for that trip. They aren't the cards with the biggest commissions — they're the ones that work. Recommendations skew toward Chase Sapphire Preferred, Capital One Venture X, Bilt, and Hyatt because those are the family-friendly cards with the right transfer partners. Premium cards (Sapphire Reserve, Amex Platinum) are usually overkill for a family with one big trip a year — the welcome bonus on the mid-tier cards is enough to cover most family of 4 trips outright.
If you want a fuller plan (more than one trip, multiple cards in your wallet, ongoing benefit tracking), the iOS app does the heavy lifting at zero cost. This calculator is the one-trip honest answer.
FAQ
How accurate are these point estimates?
Numbers reflect saver / off-peak award pricing from public award charts as of May 2026, for an economy round-trip per traveler and a typical family-friendly mid-range property in the destination. Real bookings vary with date, availability, and award-chart updates. The calculator is meant to be directional — good enough to plan around, not a quote.
Why isn't my home airport in the calculation?
Most airline programs charge in zones, not pairs — so a round-trip to Cancun from Chicago, New York, or Atlanta is the same award price. The calculator uses zone-typical saver rates. Some hubs are cheaper than others (e.g. Hawaii from West Coast is cheapest on Alaska Mileage Plan); destination notes call those out.
What about lap infants?
Kids under 2 typically fly free on domestic itineraries and pay ~10% of the revenue fare internationally — not points. The calculator doesn't count them as travelers. Kids 2–11 are counted as full passengers (most airlines charge full adult fare from age 2).
How do I actually book these awards?
Each program has its own award search — Southwest at southwest.com, Hyatt at world.hyatt.com, AAdvantage at aa.com, etc. The recommended cards each earn points that transfer to those programs (usually instantly). Earn the cards' welcome bonuses with normal household spend, then transfer the points to the program right before you book.
Why are some destinations more expensive in points than the cash price suggests?
Award charts and cash prices don't move together. Las Vegas is the textbook example — cheap cash flights make point redemptions a bad-value most of the year. The cents-per-point readout on every result is the honest answer: anything under ~1.5¢/point is usually better paid for in cash.
Do you make money if I apply for one of the recommended cards?
Yes — applying through the Apply button on this page may earn PointsCraft a referral commission, at no cost to you. Cards are recommended based on whether their points actually transfer to the relevant program for the trip; commission is never the reason a card appears in a recommendation. We don't show a card if we wouldn't recommend it to a family with no affiliate dollars attached.