hey everyone! we are strongly considering Olema house for our wedding next year after touring recently and loving it. there are a few bits and pieces on here about the venue but would love to hear any more recent thoughts on how weddings have gone.

in particular I’m worried about two things. 1) relatively high room rate and forcing family/friends to splurge and 2) weather in the area! my memories of Point Reyes are that it’s almost always foggy and cold here especially in the evenings especially. would love any datapoints from folks who had their weddings here on the extent weather was a risk!

thanks so much - this community rocks.

Sharing a bit of award travel success for a 2-week trip I took with P2 to Portugal this June!

TL;DR. Spent almost 300k points for a fantastic luxury-ish vacation with my fiancée and got upwards of $6000 of value. This was one of our favorite trips ever and, though we could have probably worked harder to get astronomic CPP at every step, we have no regrets about how everything shook out.

Flights: JFK-OPO and LIS-EWR

Outbound (JFK-OPO, Delta via Flying Blue) Main cabin, not basic economy | Points used: 21k/person (42k total) | Cash paid: $32.50/person ($65 total)

Return (LIS-EWR, Air France via CDG, booked through Virgin Atlantic) Main cabin | Points used: 12k/person (24k total) | Cash paid: $240/person ($480 total)

Round trip cash rate would have been around $1000 for main cabin economy. The Virgin Atlantic redemption stung a bit on fees but low points required made it easier to swallow. All points transferred from Amex.

Porto: Boeira Garden Hotel (2 nights)

Cash rate: $400 | Amex Hilton Honors credit: $300 | Out of pocket: $100 | Points used: 0

This hotel overdelivered and was an unexpected favorite of the trip. As Hilton Gold via Amex, they were super generous with us: free port tasting, free port tonics at the bar, a great breakfast, 12PM check-in and 4PM check-out. Highly recommend despite being a bit outside Porto's city center.

We also checked out Vinha Boutique Hotel (2 Michelin Key, Mr & Mrs Smith) for their spa, and were happy we didn't spend the extra $500 to stay there instead of Boeira.

Northern Portugal Countryside (Ponte de Lima area): Terra Rosa (3 nights)

Cash rate: $600 | Points used: 50,000 Hyatt | cpp: 1.20

Poor cpp, but don't let that dictate your life. This was a fantastic little hotel; we were one of only a handful of guests, surrounded by lush vineyards, olive and orange trees, and rolling hills. It was a great hub for exploring Northern Portugal (e.g., Braga, Guimaraes, Peneda-Geres, Viana de Castelo, and wine country).

Douro Valley: Octant Douro (2 nights)

Cash rate: $850 | Chase The Edit credit: $250 | Remaining: $600 | Points used: 36,000 Chase | cpp: 1.67 excluding credits, 2.36 including.

Octant lived up to the hype: beautiful in every way, fantastic breakfast, and the best spa of the trip. Dinner was a bit disappointing and pricier than expected, but otherwise a clear highlight. Lots of Americans here compared to the other two.

Algarve: Masana Algarve, Destination by Hyatt (4 nights)

Cash rate: $1,600 | Points used: 100,000 Hyatt (25k/night) | cpp: 1.60

A medium cpp outcome, but the Algarve was tough to find better redemptions in, and this was our best bet. Mostly great: fantastic beachside location, beautiful landscaping, large rooms (we got upgraded to a 2BR that almost felt like too much). One downside was way more kids than we expected, which made the pool and breakfast less relaxing. It's a newer property, so they're eager to please, especially on the dining side.

Lisbon: Corinthia Lisbon (3 nights)

Cash rate: $950 | Chase The Edit credit: $250 | Remaining: $700 | Points used: 35,000 Chase | cpp: 2.00 excluding credits, 2.71 including.

We got the rare 2.0 cpp redemption rate here, though I believe current bookings are closer to 1.7 cpp. Either way, 12k points/night for a 5-star in a major European city is hard to beat on paper.

That said, after a string of more boutique-y stays, this one felt extremely corporate despite the 5-star rating. The hard product was solid (lobby smelled amazing, fresh florals everywhere, room was nice), but we weren't upgraded, a huge conference was happening at the same time, and breakfast was just okay for a hotel of this caliber. Good value, less memorable experience.

Overall Numbers

• Total cash value of vacation: $6,400
• Total cash paid out of pocket: $645
• Total points deployed: 287,000
• Average cpp across all points: 1.73 if you exclude value of credits, 2.00 if you include.

We had a fantastic time and have no regrets on how we spent the points. Happy to answer any questions!

Redemption	Cash Value	Points Used	cpp (excl. credits)	cpp (incl. credits)
Flights (combined)	$2,000	66,000	2.21	2.21
Boeira Garden, Porto	$400	0	—	—
Terra Rosa	$600	50,000	1.20	1.20
Octant Douro	$850	36,000	1.67	2.36
Masana Algarve	$1,600	100,000	1.60	1.60
Corinthia Lisbon	$950	35,000	2.00	2.71
Overall	$6,400	287,000	1.73	2.00

AI disclosure: Used Claude to help clean up my thinking and make my math easier to follow.