Planning My First Ever Spa Vacation on a Budget

I am planning to take a three-day, two-night spa vacation with my significant other in the Wisconsin Dells over Christmas. My spa of choice is the Sundara Inn & Spa, which is located about 70 miles away from my house. I've been researching this spa for over a year now and have learned several things: 1) Sundara has wonderful pools, facilities, rooms and services, 2) Sundara has wonderful food, and 3) Sundara is expensive. The cost of staying at and enjoying the Sundara is $200-$300/night. Additional spa services run $75-$300 or more. Finally, while most of the food at Sundara is not overly expensive, a satisfying dinner of New York strip can cost as much as $42.

The expected cost of this vacation would be about $1,030, including $500 for a 2-night stay, roughly $300 for 2 massages, $60 for 4 lunches, $120 for 4 dinners and $50 for gas. With tipping, the price of this vacation would easily be $1,130. To lower costs, I plan to reserve the rooms when they are at their lowest off-season rate of $150/night, bringing my total to $300. The food costs will be lowered by enjoying Sundara's complimentary breakfast buffet and eating at local restaurants, many of which offer the same food as Sundara for a third of the cost. If we bring our own wine and chocolates and drive over to the spa, our costs will be cut down even further. The only items that will be difficult to reduce in terms of cost are the spa services; however, I will be looking for any fall/winter spa service discounts that the Sundara occasionally offers.

Given these budgeting measures, the expected $1,130 price tag of this spa vacation is now reduced to about $800, tipping included. To reduce the price even further, I have been participating in several rewards programs through my credit card and MyPoints. Every $80 of my credit card reward money can be converted to $100 in SpaFinder gift cards, which are redeemable at Sundara. I have almost $160 in credit card rewards accumulated. I also plan to use the points I've accumulated through the MyPoints program to purchase one more SpaFinder card; at the rate I am going, I should be able to purchase a $100 SpaFinder gift card by the time December arrives. This reduces my vacation costs by another $300, leaving me with a final cost of $500. This final cost is equivalent to a price reduction of over 55% compared with I would be paying at full value and without gift cards.