After leaving the Phoenix heat, we headed south to Tombstone to delve into a little history of the Wild West.
$7.13 Lunch for Two in Tombstone
Before checking in, we drove south to Tombstone and made a stop at the legendary OK Corral. Even here, we refused to pay out-of-pocket for our meals. I used the $25 monthly dining credit from my Amex Bonvoy Brilliant card to cover our lunch at The Oriental (the saloon owned by Wyatt Earp himself), turning a necessary travel expense into another almost free win thanks to the strategic use of credit card benefits.
We also went to Big Nose Kate’s Saloon and got to see a reenactment of the Gunfight at the OK Corral and got to take pictures with the Earp brothers and Doc Holiday! And of course I had to get a picture with the bad guys too…🤭
Then we headed to Boothill Graveyard where Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton were buried after being killed at the OK Corral.
After a day in “the town that would not die” we headed north to the El Conquistador Tucson. Tucked right into the Pusch Ridge foothills, this 50-acre resort is a great example on how to leverage elite status to create a luxury experience without the retail price tag.
The Stay: El Conquistador Tucson
At check in, they upgraded us to a junior suite due to my Hilton Diamond status from my Hilton Aspire credit card. Instead of paying a standard room rate, we utilized the first of two semi-annual $200 Hilton Aspire resort credits to offset the cost of our $174 room. Because the credit is so generous, it didn’t just cover the stay—it left us with a $26 surplus to put toward our food and drinks. When you combine that with our $30 daily food and beverage credit (another perk of Hilton Diamond status), we were able to enjoy $55 worth of dinner at Epazote, entirely on the house. Ironically our total hotel bill including dinner came out to $199.51 which was entirely covered by the $200 Hilton resort credit!
Note: $15 of the food and beverage credit was absorbed into the $55 bill so it only shows up as $40.39.
It was a lovely property and we thoroughly enjoyed our time here 100% on AMEX’s dime!
We finished our stay with morning coffee and scones on the balcony looking up at the Santa Catalina Mountains.
