I’m a huge fan of travel rewards cards. I’ve been using them for years, I’ve had over a dozen of them, and they usually help me save over $5,000 a year on travel expenses.
Travel cards are more complicated to use than cash back cards, so you might not be sure how to get the most out of them or which card to pick. If you’d like to start saving on travel or you want to get better at using travel cards, here are the most important lessons I’ve learned from mine.
1. It pays to earn transferable rewards
Some travel cards have rewards that are tied to one loyalty program. For example, if you get a United Airlines card, it will earn miles you can use through United’s MileagePlus program. This limits how you can use your rewards.
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I prefer travel credit cards that earn transferable rewards, and these are what I recommend if you’re getting your first travel card. With these cards, you can transfer your rewards to the loyalty programs of any airline or hotel partnered with the card issuer. These give you far more ways to book travel with your rewards.
American Express, Chase, Capital One, and Citi all have cards with transferable rewards. To give you an example of why this is important, transferable rewards have allowed me to book trips with a long list of travel providers, including:
- United Airlines
- Avianca
- Air France
- KLM
- Iberia
- Hyatt
2. Keep an eye out for new card options
The travel card market changes often. So far this year, several cards have had larger welcome offers for a limited time, and Wells Fargo launched a new travel card. One of my keys to saving with travel cards has been staying on top of what’s available. I’ve opened new cards when I’ve seen that there’s a big limited-time bonus or that a new card has launched with valuable benefits.
To be fair, I have an advantage here. Since I write about credit cards, it’s easy for me to keep up with new card offers and bonuses. But it doesn’t take long to check out the best travel card offers and see what’s currently available. Consider doing this every six months to a year to see if you find a new card you like.
3. Know when to close or downgrade a card
My biggest mistake with travel cards has been hanging onto cards for too long when I wasn’t getting as much out of them. In some cases, I paid annual fees when a card only had one or two benefits I occasionally used.
If you have a travel card you like, then by all means, keep it. There’s no reason to change a winning formula. But maybe a card issuer makes some negative changes to a card you have. Or perhaps you get a new travel card that makes your old one redundant.
There’s no reason to pay an annual fee when you’re not getting your money’s worth from the card. In this situation, you could close your account. Another option is to downgrade it to a card with no annual fee.
4. Your tastes in travel cards may change
For several years, I didn’t see the point of hotel credit cards. Why get a card with benefits that only work at one hotel chain? Why even stay at hotels, for that matter, when you can book an Airbnb?
As often happens in life, tastes change. I realized that hotels can be a nice place to stay on vacation. Housekeeping handles the cleaning. You can order room service if you feel like a relaxing meal without going out. And after a ton of nightmare Airbnb experiences, I appreciate the level of quality that high-end hotels offer.
I’ve also realized that if there’s a hotel chain you stay with at least once or twice a year, a hotel card can be valuable. Many of them offer annual free night certificates and elite status, so they can save you money and improve your experience during every stay.
5. Don’t overcomplicate it
It’s easy to get information overload with travel credit cards. There are many travel rewards programs, and with some of them, there are dozens of ways to use your points. Blog posts frequently talk about high-value redemptions that are difficult to pull off.
There have been times when I’ve gotten lost in the weeds while trying to use my travel rewards. When that happens, I make it a point to simplify the process. What do I want to book? What’s the most convenient way to do that with my travel points?
I don’t care whether I’m getting $0.015 per point or $0.05 per point. I’m not going to take a longer flight just so I can get more value for my rewards, use some credit one of my travel cards has, or try a fancy new business-class product. Ultimately, my goal is to save money on the travel I want.
Those are my top five lessons after lots of time and experience using travel cards. Even though these credit cards have a bit more of a learning curve than cash back cards, they can also help you save on amazing travel bookings.
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