06/10/2026
Miles and points time!
For Brisbane, we stayed 2 nights at the Hyatt Regency Brisbane. We used a free night certificate earned from staying at 5 different Hyatt brands and transferred 12,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt for the second night. The hotel was fine, but not what I expect from a Hyatt Regency.
The hotel was next to Queen Street Mall, which was interesting. One night we were walking back to the hotel and passed an open air Wendy's where a group of teenagers was having a full blown food fight that almost hit us. Sydney felt polished and refined. Brisbane felt a little more punk rock.
From Brisbane, we flew to Hamilton Island. We didn't use any miles for our flights within Australia, but booked them with our American Express Platinum card to earn 5 points per dollar. We also didn't use points for our hotel. Since we don't have a hotel card that earns better rewards, we used our Chase Sapphire Preferred to earn 2 points per dollar. We chose the Reef View Hotel because breakfast was included and figured that would save some money. Unfortunately, the breakfast was one of the most disappointing parts of the stay.
The views from our room were incredible, and Hamilton Island itself was beautiful. If we ever return, we'd skip the hotel and rent a holiday house or apartment instead. Thankfully, the unique birds, koalas, wallabies, and access to the Great Barrier Reef more than made up for the breakfast.
