Summer vacation is here, and this year, instead of spending your hard-earned cash on the inflated prices that come with summer travel, there are clever ways to use travel rewards so you pay less for your next trip.
According to Kayak — a popular online travel agency — the cost of summer travel is down this year, but their summer travel study also shows the average US domestic airfare is still a whopping $455. While that is 13% lower than last summer, taking that summer trip certainly isn’t cheap, so offsetting costs by redeeming points and miles for airfare and hotel stays is the way to go.
Here are a few tips for earning and redeeming travel rewards points and miles for your summer vacation. You’ll learn the best travel credit cards to earn with, how to efficiently redeem your rewards and tips for finding award flights and hotel stays.
To use travel rewards for free travel, you need to earn them first. If you need a boost to get your travel rewards account where you want it to be, consider adding a new credit card to your wallet.
Many of the best travel credit cards come with welcome bonuses that will help you rack up travel rewards quickly. Right now, there are a handful of credit cards offer bonuses that are worth $1,000 or more in travel if you can meet the applicable minimum spending requirement.
For example, the popular Chase Sapphire Preferred® Cardis a good option to consider adding to your wallet. Currently, you can earn $300 Chase Travel℠ Credit, plus 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first three months.
Frequent flyer website The Points Guy values Chase Ultimate Rewards® points at 2.05 cents apiece, meaning those 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points are worth $1,200 or more when redeemed for maximum value by leveraging Chase’s various transfer partners.
Alternatively, if you’re looking for a card with premium travel perks, The Platinum Card® from American Express could be a good option despite its $695 annual fee (see rates and fees). This card offers a welcome bonus of 80,000 American Express Membership Rewards® points after spending $8,000 within the first six months of account opening.
If you were to redeem those points for maximum value, you could get $1,600 or more in value toward your next vacation by transferring to the program’s hotel and airline partners. Plus, the card includes airport lounge access, monthly Uber Cash credits and more.
By accumulating rewards quickly via a welcome bonus, you can top up your accounts and use them toward free travel as you plan your well-deserved summer vacation. Check out our article on the best credit card welcome bonuses for more inspiration.
However, it’s not just any travel rewards you should aim to earn. Specifically, it can help to focus on earning flexible rewards. After all, flexible rewards — like Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Capital One miles — are more versatile than if you were to earn rewards in a single airline or hotel loyalty program.
The benefit of flexible rewards is the fact that they can be redeemed with any number of airline and hotel partners. Each of the flexible currencies has its own portfolio of airline and hotel transfer partners. These cards also let members redeem through their own travel portals at a fixed value.
For example, you can redeem Amex Membership Rewards points through the American Express Travel portal, but they can also be transferred to Amex’s airline and hotel partners. The credit card issuer has 20 airline and hotel transfer partners, including Delta SkyMiles, British Airways Executive Club, JetBlue TrueBlue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors and others.
Transferring points to an airline or hotel transfer partner means you can take advantage of different “sweet spot” redemptions within each partner program. For example, you can transfer Amex, Bilt, Chase and Capital One points to British Airways Executive Club to book short-haul American and Alaska flights for under 10,000 points each way.
If you’re struggling to earn enough rewards for your next trip, you can also get your spouse involved in earning toward that summer vacation.
You have two options for doing this. The first is by adding your partner as an authorized user on your rewards credit card. This lets them charge purchases to your credit card account, helping you earn rewards in the process.
Alternatively, your spouse can earn their own credit card welcome bonuses. This could be a great opportunity for your household to earn more points quickly to redeem for that summer getaway. Plus, this lets the two of you double up on some of the best welcome offers as you can each open your own accounts and earn the bonus.
If you decide to each open your own travel rewards credit cards, you may be able to combine points across your respective accounts. For example, with Citi ThankYou Rewards, you can share points with another member who has a Citi ThankYou card for free. You can share up to 100,000 Citi ThankYou points with other members per year. Likewise, Chase lets you transfer Ultimate Rewards pointsbetween accounts in the same household.
Check to see if your preferred program allows you to share points with another member, and pay special attention to any applicable terms and conditions that may restrict your rewards movement.
If you want to maximize your travel rewards, then flexibility with your travel dates, your destination and even the type of trip you take is key.
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