On Saturday, we head to the airport for a long-awaited vacation. Okay, maybe not long-awaited, but it has been almost a month since we were out of town and seven weeks since we flew home from the Philippines. We love to travel and have gradually learned how to use travel rewards to save money, improve our travel experience, and earn rewards for future travel by being more intentional about how we pay for travel we would enjoy either way.
We are by no means spending the time to maximize all travel reward potential in our travel experiences. Instead, we slowly incorporated basic methods to enjoy travel rewards over time. Financial independence sources like ChooseFI offer remarkable travel rewards hacks, like taking a free trip to Disney World, that inspired us to adopt some simple travel hacks. That said, we recognize that these resources can make the learning curve for travel rewards seem overwhelming. It does not have to be that way. You can start small and experience some easy savings without dedicating hours to searching for deals.
Start with a Travel Rewards Credit Card
A travel rewards card is the perfect way to initiate your travel rewards journey. The top travel rewards cards do not lock you into loyalty to a particular airline, hotel chain, cruise line, car rental company, or anything else. The flexibility of the top cards make them a good deal for anyone looking to travel at least once a year. The best travel rewards cards offer 2x, 5x, or 10x points when spending money on travel, pay your fee for TSA Precheck/Global Entry or Clear, provide lounge access, offer annual travel credits, and more.
But how do you choose a card in a market saturated with banks offering their newest card with another sign-on spending bonus? The right card for me may not be the right card for you, so there are still a couple factors to consider.
First, look at what the card offers to determine whether the card’s offerings make sense for how you travel and where you travel. Think about the “how” because if you almost exclusively fly to global cities and never purchase a rental car, a card that gives 10x points on rental cars but only 2x points on flights may not be your best choice. Instead, a card with great airport lounge access and a monthly Uber credit may work better for your travel style. Conversely, if you prefer road trips, lounge access will not help you much, and a travel rewards card that offers 3x on dining out may be more helpful.
Considering where you travel from is how I advise folks to choose between the major travel rewards cards when they cannot make up their mind. I have the Capital One Venture X card, a card that is terrific for the Washington, DC area thanks to the huge Capital One presence here. Dulles International Airport (IAD), the DC-area airport with more international flights, is one of three airports that has a Capital One Lounge for cardholders, and it also has multiple Priority Pass lounges closer to the international gates for anyone taking an international flight. Reagan National Airport (DCA), the airport closer to DC that offers more domestic flights, is opening one of the first two Capital Landing restaurant experiences for Capital One card holders. For someone based in Washington, DC, this card just makes sense to eat for free in our local airports.
As great as the Capital One Venture X card is for someone based in Washington, DC, it would be terrible for someone based in Los Angeles. There are no Priority Pass food options (lounges or restaurants) at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), and the airport does not have a Capital One lounge. While the fee is much greater, I would probably spend the money to acquire the Platinum Card from American Express because Los Angeles has a Centurion Lounge for cardholders.
Other wonderful travel rewards cards include both the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve, offering different perks and different annual fees to allow you to choose which card makes sense for your travel priorities and willingness to spend on a credit card. For less frequent travel, both Capital One and American Express offer cards with lower annual fees, the Capital One Venture card and American Express Gold card, respectively. These can be better choices for frugal travelers, but look into the details before deciding. The Capital One Venture X card carries a $395 annual fee but provides a $300 travel credit and 10,000 annual point reward (valued at $100) that automatically counteracts the annual fee, assuming you spend at least $300 each year on travel.
To make your decision, write down a bit about how you travel and your travel priorities. This should include your method of travel (road trips, flights, trains, etc.), your home airport(s) if flying, your intended destinations (national or international, cities, or places that require rental cars), and anything you want out of a travel rewards card (lounge access, travel credits, transportation credits, dining credits, etc.) to get an idea before you compare cards. Once you have an idea about what you value most, compare the following cards to see which works best for your situation:
American Express Gold Card
Capital One Venture Card
Capital One Venture X Card
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
Chase Sapphire Reserve Card
The Platinum Card from American Express
Are there other cards out there? Yes, but comparing these six will give you an idea of what the best cards on the market can offer you. When you compare them, you will likely find that one or two best fit how you travel and where you travel most frequently. Applying for the card that fits your needs will help you start your travel rewards journey.
Take Travel Rewards to the Next Level through Loyalty Programs
If you have no loyalty to an airline, hotel, or anything else, just get a travel rewards card to start and see how the year goes. Get an idea about what you use the most, what airlines you choose from your local airport, what kinds of hotels or lodging you choose, how much you use perks like Uber credits or car rentals, and more. Just get to know your travel style and what you value most.
After that first year, you may notice that you chose a particular method of travel, airline, hotel, or car rental company more frequently than others. Or you may have noticed a pattern, like how convenient an Uber credit was to explore the cities at your destination of choice. These are patterns that can inform your loyalty choices.
I traveled without subscribing to any loyalty program for years because I worried about how this would limit my choices regarding where I travel, how I travel, and whether I could get somewhere by spending less money. In reality, there are times I purchase with my loyalty program where I could save money by going with another company, but I definitely save money overall while also having a more comfortable travel experience.
For airline loyalty, I have United Premier Silver status, which basically just means I fly a lot and choose United for most of my flights. (That’s right, not even all! Last year, I booked two round trips on airlines other than United but was still able to maintain my status.) Keeping this status provides a lot of perks including boarding early and never having to worry about the anarchy surrounding overhead bin space, the option to select preferred seats, free upgrades (I flew in the front row of a plane for the first time last year!) for myself and travel companions, two free 70-pound checked bags on international flights (never used that one, but it is nice to have an extra free checked bag to again avoid overhead bin anarchy), and more. In general, I do not get upgraded to first class, but my average upgrade is sitting in the bulkhead row with enviable legroom.
Yes, it is actually difficult for me to reach the pocket in front of the bulkhead seats without getting up from my seat. My legs often cannot reach the wall, depending on the plane configuration.
Having United Silver Premier also gives me Star Alliance Silver access on international airlines, leading to skipping many lines by filtering through premier lines and even looser baggage restrictions. There are times that these statuses have saved time to the point that I wonder if I would have made flights without them.
Hotel loyalty offers a similar ease to travel as airline loyalty, but the benefit structure is a little different. Patrick uses a Hilton Honors Business Card, providing us Hilton Honors Gold status. Hotel perks often stem from having credit cards associated with the hotel. While you can also get airline rewards from a credit card, I find the perks from just flying a lot to be better than those offered by the credit cards associated with the airlines. This may be different for your unique travel priorities, but travel frequency is generally enough to let you fly in comfort.
For hotels, the rewards credit card makes a huge difference. After landing in Manila at 6:00 a.m. after flying for a full 24 hours, the Hilton concierge shepherded us to the Hilton Executive Lounge where we enjoyed a delicious and free breakfast in comfortable chairs rather than waiting in a line or hotel lobby to check into our room. We ate and relaxed while waiting to get our room key. After a full day of travel, a bit of relaxation at the end of the journey was delightful.
But the comfort and cost of the executive lounges at hotels may not be enough to justify the cost of a hotel credit card. I like smooth travel experiences but not enough to pay for them independently. So what makes it worth it?
On Saturday, we fly to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We have a free night at a Hilton property to use before June, so we decided to use this free night to extend our vacation before we board a Royal Caribbean cruise on Sunday. We opted to stay at the Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach for the free beach access to truly get into vacation mode early. The Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach costs $825 for the night we are staying, excluding the resort fee and taxes. We are paying $0.
The Hilton loyalty program is relatively new to us. We decided to go with it because we like their all inclusive properties in the Caribbean as well as the ubiquitousness of the brand, making it easy for us to stick with their hotels. Again, we do not use Hilton or even hotels for our lodging at every location. But if you are going to stay at a certain hotel chain twice in one year for at least five nights, getting a credit card to get you into a loyalty program is likely worth it.
Are Travel Rewards Worth It?
Simply, yes. I do not get a rewards credit card unless the rewards clearly offset the card’s annual fee. This is without me calculating the value of a free meal in the Capital One Lounge at Dulles, which clearly adds additional value. The fee is already taken care of with the travel credit and annual points reward.
My approach for loyalty programs is similar. That one night at the Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach more than offsets the annual fee of the card. If you may want to stay at an expensive property at any point throughout the year, just plan to use your free day at that property to offset the card fee. Additionally, gaining free days through programs like getting the fifth night free easily makes these cards worth it to any traveler who stays in one place for five or more nights at least occasionally.
Airline loyalty is a bit different. If you do not fly enough to get airline loyalty, then you may not need it yet. However, once you are taking enough flights (around 12 flights/year is the tipping point) to make it worthwhile, deciding to stay loyal to an airline makes sense to enjoy a wealth of perks and stress-free travel.
Over time, points from rewards credit cards lead to more free hotels, flights, rental cars, upgrades, and more. Having these perks is delightful since you already made sure you broke even when selecting a credit card in the first place.
You can absolutely go well beyond this point to determine how to best spend rewards points and miles to get the most luxurious trip possible with the lowest number of points possible. There are countless blogs that discuss how to maximize these points and miles (The Points Guy, Going, All the Hacks, ChooseFI, and many other blogs can offer suggestions to maximize points!), but the threshold for making travel rewards valuable is much lower than spending hours to determine how to take a free flight to Bali to stay at an all inclusive resort for a week for only $200. You can take advantage of travel rewards just by getting a travel rewards card to improve your experiences and then branching out to loyalty programs when you feel they fit your travel habits.
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