Sign Up Bonuses on Travel Rewards Credit Cards
This is the best way to earn large quantities of miles and points quickly. The sign up bonuses of airline, hotel and credit card reward travel is often worth around $800 of travel credit and sometimes even more. Premium cards tend to have even higher sign up bonuses, but they are typically geared toward higher spenders, and have larger annual fees.
To maximize credit card sign up bonuses, you’ll want to make sure to pay your statement balance off each month. Travelers will also want to cancel certain cards after the first year or two (as they often don’t continue to offer enough value after the sign up bonus). I sometimes often wait until the annual fee hits on the second year of a card, then I call the 800 number on the back of the card and cancel it. Credit card companies refund the annual fee within 30 days of it appearing on your credit card statement, after you cancel their cards.
Try to Always Earn More than 1 Mile or Point per Dollar Spent
Different cards reward different behaviors. Some offer additional points and miles for restaurant spending, grocery stores, gas and utility bills. Sometimes there is certain overlap on bonuses. It’s a good idea to have a few travel rewards cards in your wallet to use on different purchasing categories.
For example, the Alaska Airlines card offers 2 times miles at gas stations. The Chase Sapphire Reserve card offers 3 times points per $1 dollar spent at restaurants. The Delta Platinum American Express offers 2 times Delta Skymiles at both grocery stores and restaurants. But why take 2 miles when you can get 3 points? An exception may be if you are trying to hit Delta medallion status, or have your eye on a certain Delta flight you want to redeem Skymiles for.
Dining for Miles Quickly Amplifies Points and Allows Double Dipping
Airlines like American Airlines and major hotel brands like Hilton partner with restaurants through a third party provider to offer bonus miles and points. You can enter up to 10 credit cards through the platform and earn bonus miles, at no extra charge. There are a wide variety of restaurants, cafes and even some local US shops that participate in these programs.
For example, diners start out earning 3 Airline Airline miles per dollar spent for their first 11 visits. After 11 visits, the airline upgrades your status to VIP and you start earning 5 American Airlines miles per dollar spent for the current and following calendar year.
If you dine out frequently, you’ll find that many great places participate. We often decide where to eat based on who participates. A kicker is earning 8 times points and miles by double dipping by using the Chase Sapphire Reserve combined with the dining for miles program at participating restaurants – 5 times AA miles per dollar spent plus 3 times Chase points that can be transferred to airlines like United, JetBlue and British Airways (sometimes with transfer bonuses which I’ll discuss more in a bit).
Maximize Redemptions
Sometimes you can get hundreds of dollars of value by redeeming just 5,000 points. This was the case during a recent stay in Antwerp by cashing in 5,000 Hyatt points per night for a stay in a suite that would have cost well over $300 per night. I discuss this in further depth in this article on Excellent Hotel Points Redemptions in Europe.
Some travel rewards programs offer better value for points than others. While Hyatt offers the best value for points, you do not receive as many Hyatt points as a sign up bonus compared to IHG, Marriott, Hilton and other programs.
Post Covid, Hilton especially diluted the value of its points program. So I would recommend signing up for an IHG Rewards card over Hilton Honors. Multiple IHG and Marriott Bonvoy cards also offer a complimentary annual stay, which can more than offset the annual fee to retain the card past a year or two.
Transfer Points
Chase, Capital One and some other major banks have travel platforms and portals. You can book hotels directly through their travel platforms, including small independent hotels, alongside large brands. Sometimes you can even book apartments with points, which can offer the best value for family and groups of friends.
Sometimes the best value is not booking travel directly through the platform. Exceptions can include a great independent hotel that can offer a great experience for your money. You can transfer credit card points to partners and often receive even more value.
For example, British Airways recently offered a 30% bonus when you transferred Chase points to British Airways Avios. I transferred 20,000 Chase points and received 26,000 British Airways Avios. In September I booked a direct flight from Tampa International Airport to London Gatwick on British Airways for 30,000 Avios.
But you should also exercise caution with transfer bonuses. IHG Hotels recently offered a 70% bonus to transfer Chase points to IHG points. But IHG rewards points are not nearly as valuable as Hyatt points for example. Transferring Chase points to Hyatt points is one of the best values on the Chase travel portal.
Check the travel portals frequently as bonus offers come and go. Also, remember that you cannot transfer points or miles back to Chase from an airline or hotel.
Recap
Points and miles offer travelers an opportunity to venture further with their money. Amplify miles by availing of transfer portal bonuses and programs like dining for miles. Another great way to save and have an overall better experience is to travel outside the busiest times. Read these travel hacks, which dives deeper into a variety of ways to save money and travel well.
By Alex Kallimanis
