My Europe Trip: Using Fewer Miles, Saving on Hotels, Cards I Used
I recently concluded a 15-night trip to 4 cities across Europe, and here are some ways I saved on my flights, hotels, and expenditure for my holiday.
Cities visited
During this trip, I spent 3 nights in Munich, 4 nights in London, 4 nights in Paris, and finally 4 nights in Amsterdam. This took place from 24th February to 11th March 2025.
Flights
I took Business Class via Singapore Airlines and booked it through EVA Air. The return flight would have cost 207,000 miles per person if I booked via KrisFlyer, but only cost me 160,000 per person using EVA Air’s Infinity MileageLand. You can refer to this article for promos to get EVA Air miles quickly.
The flights were ambitiously booked just a month before the trip started, and the dates were almost perfect — due to flight availability, I only managed to spend 3 nights in Munich even though I was trying to allocate 4 nights per city.
We flew to Munich and came back from Amsterdam, and taxes were about S$185 per person which should be similar to booking through Singapore Airlines. By calling up EVA Air’s customer support, we were also able to add a stopover flight from Munich to London. While this was “free” and did not cost us additional miles, we had to pay extra S$200 of taxes per person.
This wasn’t a bad price to pay since this additional flight was also in Business Class, though take note that Business Class for domestic flights within Europe are basically Economy Class with the middle seat blocked out. Nonetheless, it still came with decent service, pretty good food and drinks, and Economy Class seats weren’t terrible given the short flight-time between cities.
With Munich → London settled, we still had to settle London → Paris and Paris → Amsterdam, and we booked a budget airline (Vueling) and Eurostar train respectively.
| Origin | Destination | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore | Munich | Singapore Airlines flight |
| Munich | London | Lufthansa flight** (disrupted) |
| London | Paris | Vueling flight |
| Paris | Amsterdam | Eurostar Train** (disrupted) |
| Amsterdam | Singapore | Singapore Airlines flight |
The best-laid plans of mice, men and especially Seth often go awry of course, and we ran into both an airport strike and a World War II bomb. I will leave this to the travelouge I will get out eventually (stay subscribed for that).
Hotels
I wanted to spend exactly 4 nights per city but due to flight availability, I was only able to spend 3 nights at Munich. Citi Prestige cardholders would probably know why I was aiming for 4 nights in each city — we get a healthy rebate in the form of having the 4th night free (before taxes) when we book through Citi Prestige concierge.
While you can’t do back-to-back stays within the same city (i.e. booking 8 nights in London does not get you 2 nights free), you can certainly do multiple 4-night stays at different cities for 1 night free each and that’s what I did.
| Hotel | Cost | Rebate | Effective Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westin Grand Munich | S$614.75 | S$0 | S$614.75 |
| London Marriott Hotel Kensington | S$1,177.06 | S$236.23 | S$940.83 |
| Courtyard Paris Porte de Versailles | S$1,164.26 | S$259.46 | S$904.80 |
| W Amsterdam | S$1,738.39 | S$375.39 | S$1,363.00 |
| Total | S$4,694.46 | S$871.08 | S$3,823.38 |
After rebates, the total spend was S$3,823.38 which is an average nightly cost of about S$254.89.
Food in European cities was pretty pricey, predictably, so it helped that my first two hotels had lounges. This helped with dinner in the evenings plus some wine and drinks. In Paris and Amsterdam, unfortunately, I regretted picking hotels without lounge access. Dinner for two is at least 30 to 40 euros and up (and even pricier in London), so if the cost differential between a hotel with lounge and one without isn’t big, I would advise springing for the lounge.
With my Platinum Elite status with Marriott, I got free breakfast at each of these hotels and also complimentary lounge access with the first two hotels that had lounges. That meant we only had to spend on lunch during the times we had lounge access, making food expenses a lot more manageable.
Speaking of hotel status, I’m happy that all 15 nights were doubled for the sake of tier re-qualification — I’m now 30 nights for 2025 and just need 20 more to retain my status until early 2027. The hotel tier game isn’t for everyone, but if you wanted to try climbing it, double night promos are perhaps the time to do so.
Spending Cards
The cards I used for spending was a little less thought out. I didn’t know exactly how much I was going to spend the whole trip (I still don’t, actually), and it didn’t help that my trip straddled February and March 2025. Citi Prestige’s foreign spend promo would have been my preferred choice, but that ended with February so I needed a new card to use towards the final days of the month and in March.
I switched to a combination of UOB Visa Signature and Mari Credit Card from March onwards. Still trying to put together all my expenses from my various card statements, so stay subscribed if you want to know the grand total I’ve spent over my holiday, and perhaps even a travelouge if I can find the patience to put together some two weeks’ worth of video content.
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Seth Wee was a licensed financial adviser representative from 2009 to 2025, with over 16 years of experience in Singapore’s financial advisory industry.
He started Sethisfy.com in 2019 to share practical insights on credit cards, banking products, and miles strategies, helping readers identify financial products that deliver the best value. Seth has been featured in CNA, Channel 8, Today, and a host of other publications. In 2025, he was also part of a panel at CPF’s Ready For Life festival.
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