We just got back from a fun trip to New York City — and the best part? We booked both our flights and hotel entirely on points!

Getting To NYC

We used American Airlines miles to book one way direct flights from Phoenix to JFK. For our flights home, we booked an American Airlines flight via Alaska Airlines! We used Alaska miles and booked our American Airlines flight on Alaska Airline’s website. Airline Alliance for the win!

We took a Lyft XL from JFK to our hotel and it was a little over $100. Lyft was significantly cheaper than Uber, plus I earned 5x points on Lyft by paying with my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. In addition to that, I earned an additional 2x Bilt points just by linking my free Bilt account to Lyft. (You don’t need the Bilt credit card to do this).

Thompson Central Park

We booked four nights at the Thompson Central Park with Hyatt poitns! Instead of paying $3,700 for our stay, we paid 116,000 Hyatt points and $0 instead! A standard night at the Thompson Central Park goes for 21,000 - 29,000 Hyatt points per night! It is SO EASY to earn points for Hyatt! See here for a list of credit cards that earn points for Hyatt!

Here’s your friendly reminder: 100k points ≠ $1,000. That’s why points and miles are so powerful compared to plain old cash back. With the right strategy, your points can stretch way beyond their “sticker value”—and that’s what keeps me (and so many of you!) hooked!

The Thompson’s location was perfect for us - walkable to so many things like Central Park, Rockefeller Center and Time Square and an easy hope on the subway for everything else. This property felt very upscale and nice - the biggest con was that the rooms are double beds and not queen beds, which made for a tighter squeeze.

NYC Day 1

Breakfast: We started our morning with breakfast at the Thompson’s Parker’s restaurant, complimentary with Hyatt Globalist status. The food was great but service was slow—we sat down at 9:15 and didn’t leave until 11:15. They forgot my son’s order that delayed us 30 minutes (though they made up for it with a sweet apology note and dessert later that night 🥹).

After that morning, we switched to room service for the rest of the trip, also complimentary with Globalist status. The menu was smaller but much faster! Without Globalist status (or a Guest of Honor booking), I don’t think breakfast here is worth the $40–$50 per person price tag. But with it, you save a ton—especially traveling with a family.

MJ: The Musical: We got matinee tickets to see MJ: The Musical and if you like Michael Jackson music and music videos, you’ll love this musical!

Joe’s Pizza: For dinner, we stopped at Joe’s Pizza right in the heart of Times Square (1435 Broadway at 42nd Street), making it an easy stop for a classic New York slice! It was busy, but worth the wait. We loved it!

SUMMIT One Vanderbilt: We made reservations for Summit One Vanderbilt 90 minutes before sunset. The views, the mirrored floors and the NYC sunset were amazing!

Grand Central Station: Grand Central Station is right next to SUMMIT One Vanderbilt so we explored a bit and got Magnolia bakery banana pudding before heading back to our hotel for the evening!

NYC Day 2

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island: We took the ferry first thing in the morning to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. (We got ferry tickets here.) We stayed for a little under an hour at the Statue of Liberty and then again at Ellis Island. You could easily spend a lot more time at both Liberty and Ellis Island but we went at our kid’s pace and wanted to preserve their energy for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.

Los Tacos No 1: We grabbed lunch at Los Tacos No 1 at their location in the Financial District and it lived up to the hype! The carne asada quesadilla was our favorite! Highly recommend!

9/11 Memorial and Museum: We spent the afternoon at the 9/11 Museum and it was so well done! If you’re going with kids, I recommend watching the “Boatlift” 12 minute video and walking through the kids artwork expedition first.

Rockefeller Center: After resting in our hotel for a bit, we went back out and visited FAO Schwarz and the American Girl Doll Store. We didn’t buy anything at either store but still thought it was fun to walk through! We stopped for dinner at one of the Halal Guys food trucks and loved it!

Wicked The Musical: We got tickets to see Wicked in the evening. This was so fun taking the kids and I think seeing the movie first made it easier for them to understand and more enjoyable for them! We loved it!

NYC Day 3

Central Park: We started our morning with a walk through central park. My youngest especially loved playing at the playgrounds and climbing on boulders!

Chinatown Food Tour: We booked a Chinatown food tour with Ultimate Food Tours and loved the experience! My boys’ favorite “Chinese food” is Panda Express 😆 I taught English in China for 6 months during my college years, so I’ve been dying to show them what “real” Chinese food is and this tour didn’t disappoint! We stopped at 5 different restaurants and they were places we NEVER would have found or chosen on our own! These restaurants were not fancy, and many looked like hole in the wall restaurants but the food was all SO GOOD. If Chinatown is not your thing, they also do other food tours in the city! You can check out the food tours on their website -> here and be sure to use “letstraveltalk10” for 10 percent off your tour! (I was hosted on this tour, but as always, all opinions are my own.)

Mama’s TOO Pizza: After resting in our hotel for a bit, it was time for more food! 😆 We took the subway to West Village for Mama’s TOO pizza. I’m still dreaming about the bruschetta pizza! It was SO. GOOD.

Brooklyn Bridge: That evening, we walked the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset. Seeing the skyline light up as the sun went down was breathtaking! We also spent time in DUMBO taking in those classic bridge + skyline views before calling it a night! (We walked from the Manhatten to Brooklyn, and then took the subway back to our hotel from Brooklyn.

NYC Day 4

Liberty Bagels: The next morning, I went for a run in Central Park and stopped at Liberty Bagels before heading back to our hotel. We tried the rainbow bagel with strawberry cream cheese and the everything bagel with chive cream cheese. Both were SO GOOD!

JFK Airport: We took a Lyft to the airport in the early afternoon to catch our flight home! We timed our trip over Labor Day weekend but the kids still missed one day of school, so they caught up on missed work at the airport. I still can’t believe the experiences we get to have thanks to credit card points and miles!

Some Little Things

Subway with kids: Kids below 44 inches are free. Everyone else can tap in with a credit card. We used Google Maps to navigate and got the hang of it really quickly!

Food Strategy With Kids: I keep a big list of recommendations, but ultimately we mostly decide where to eat based on location and energy levels. Sometimes you follow the plan and sometimes you grab what’s nearby. Flexibility is key.

Safety: We stayed in touristy areas and always felt safe.

How many days in NYC? We thought four nights was perfect, though there’s still so much we didn’t get to do. NYC is one of those places you’ll never run out of things to do and see!

Wrapping Up

This was my kids’ first trip to New York City, and it was so fun it see it through their eyes. We loved it so much that I’m already planning a Christmas 2026 trip - Rockefeller Center, the Rockettes, holiday windows, ice skating - it’s happening!

Mockup of A Beginner's Guide to Travel Hacking Freebie

FREE Beginner’s Guide to Points and Miles

Want to travel for free?! ✈️ Grab a FREE Beginner's Guide to Travel Hacking and learn how to redeem FREE TRAVEL this year! CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD.

When you apply for a credit card using my affiliate links I earn a commission. I always appreciate it when you support free content by using my affiliate links.

Our 4 Night NYC Itinerary - Booked with Points!