In addition,
some airlines and hotels offer a mileage or points bonus just for signing up or completing your first survey within a given period of time.
Many
airlines and hotels offer discounted redemptions at different times of the year or even shave down the cost for members that hold certain types of credit cards.
If someone reads a comment like the one I've highlighted (or a similar one elsewhere) and gets the idea that points can be worth 21 cents each, then there's a chance that they'll end up over valuing a currency and therefore overpaying in one of the many «sales» that
airlines and hotels offer on their points.
In addition to the points and miles credit cards many
airlines and hotels offer their own co-branded card; be sure to select the card that matches up with your travel goals.
Many co-branded credit cards for
airlines and hotels offer automatic status upgrades in their respective loyalty programs.
In doing so, I realized that
each airline and hotel offered dozens of different promotions and offers that I didn't know about before.
Not exact matches
Hotel and vacation rentals are higher - margin businesses than selling flights, as
airline commissions have shriveled
and carriers try to drive more traffic to their own websites, where they also
offer co-branded credit cards
and vacation packages.
In addition to a shiny card, the club hosts networking events in cities around the globe
and offers deals from
airlines and hotels like Virgin Atlantic
and St. Regis.
The US version of the card has no foreign transaction fees
and earns 5x points on flights booked directly with the
airline and prepaid
hotels booked through Amex Travel, on top of a welcome
offer of 60,000 points when you spend $ 5,000 in the first three months.
Out of these, four allow you to collect
airline miles, which you can redeem for airfare
and other
airline rewards, three are cobranded
hotel cards that
offer hotel nights in exchange for your points
and 21 are general rewards cards that
offer a wide variety of redemption options.
No longer able to rely simply on price as a point of difference, Expedia
and rival Booking Holdings, which owns Priceline, are fighting back by
offering events
and activities beyond
hotel and airline reservations
and spending lavishly to market directly to consumers.
Cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Starwood Preferred Guest,
and the Platinum Card from American Express each
offer more flexibility than most
airline or
hotel branded cards.
Besides credit cards that
offer points
and cash back credit cards, there are co-branded credit cards that give you extra points
and other perks for purchasing products
offered by the retailer,
airline or the
hotel that sponsors your credit card.
More from our travel issue: To take on the competition, online travel bookers like Expedia
and Priceline are
offering events
and activities beyond
hotel and airline reservations,
and they're spending big to market themselves to consumers, Ad Age's Adrianne Pasquarelli reports.
The suite of partners is a little more restrictive than those
offered by Chase
and American Express
and has a higher proportion of
Hotel partners vs
Airlines.
Currently Pressreader is the only company that
offers this to libraries,
hotels and airlines.
The two companies will be
offering almost 500,000 books to various
hotels and airlines for their loyalty rewards programs.
Today, a number of
hotel credit cards
and airline credit cards are
offering lucrative opportunities to earn.
The suite of partners is a little more restrictive than those
offered by Chase
and American Express
and has a higher proportion of
Hotel partners vs
Airlines.
Airlines,
hotels and cruise lines usually
offer discounts for making reservations well in advance or for booking at the last minute.
The Citi ® Hilton HHonors ™ Reserve Card
offers 10x points for spending at Hilton Portfolio
hotels, 5x for
airline and rental car purchases
and 3x on all other purchases.
Airlines and hotels often send out emails to their loyalty program members promoting sales on miles
and points that
offer 40 %, 50 %,
and even 100 % bonus miles on top of the usual amount.
An analysis of over 200 credit cards from the nation's top banks revealed that
hotel branded
offers actually outperform
airline and cash back credit cards in several key categories.
The Chase Sapphire credit card, on the other hand, earns users Ultimate Rewards (UR) points, which are more valuable
and offer greater flexibility, because they can be transferred to other
airlines and hotels.
In fact, frequent travelers may carry an
airline card, a
hotel card
and one or more general travel rewards cards, to realize the unique benefits
offered by each.
The welcome bonus
offer stands tall at 60,000 points
and airline and hotel bookings earn a sizeable 5x rewards rate when purchased through American Express Travel.
General travel credit cards, which allow you to use your points on any travel purchase regardless of the
airline,
hotel, rental car company, etc., generally
offer between 1 %
and 2 % in travel points, which works the same as a cash back rewards card.
For example, an
airline credit card will often give you a free checked bag
and priority boarding, while a
hotel credit card user will receive elite status that can
offer room upgrades, late checkouts
and even free breakfast.
Airline loyalty cards allow cardholders to check one piece of luggage for free
and priority boarding while
hotel loyalty cards might
offer a free night each year.
Co-branded cards that
offer travel perks
and miles redemption through specific
airlines or
hotels
In addition, the programs that
offer transfers to
airline miles
and hotel points can be great for award travel enthusiasts who really know how to get the most value from different frequent flyer programs.
The fact that it has no annual fee, pays a little more than the one mile per dollar than many other cards
offer,
and offers the ability to redeem miles on any
airline or
hotel purchase really makes it stand out among rewards card
Credit cards also
offer rewards programs which give you perks such as
airline miles, discounted
hotel and rental car rates,
and even cash back on -LSB-...]
You can do that by obtaining «points»
and «miles»
offered by
airline and hotel loyalty programs
and certain credit cards.
Chase Sapphire Preferred ® Card gives you 1:1 point transfer to leading
airline and hotel loyalty programs at full value, so your points
offer much more travel value than the points you earn with many other programs.
In many instances,
hotels and airlines offer discounts for bundling.
The Membership Rewards Program from Amex also
offers the option to transfer points to certain
airlines and hotels.
Or you can transfer the Chase Ultimate Rewards points to the Chase Sapphire Preferred, (no longer
offered) Chase Ink Bold, or Chase Ink Plus cards
and from there to certain
airline or
hotel partners such as Hyatt, Southwest, British Airways, or United
Airlines.
The types of credit cards that are most likely to
offer sign - up bonuses worth 50,000 bonus miles are
airline rewards cards,
hotel rewards,
and credit cards designed to provide travelers with extra value when they use the card.
Credit card signup bonuses entice customers by
offering a lot of cash back,
airline miles,
and hotel points early on.
While technically not a cash back card, the Venture card
offers 2 % back as a statement credit good for
airline travel,
hotels,
and car rentals.
The best cash back credit cards
offer cash back in several popular categories such as travel,
airlines,
hotels, grocery, gas, restaurants
and everyday spending, among others.
Furthermore, the Ink Business Preferred ℠ Credit Card
offers its users the ability to transfer points to its nine
airline and four
hotel travel partners.
This fee is most often found on travel credit cards that
offer benefits like airport lounge access, premium rewards earning,
and complimentary
airline or
hotel elite status.
Unlike most
airline and hotel credit cards, this cruise - line credit card does not
offer much in the way of loyalty benefits, or anything... Read More
The Best Travel Rewards Credit Cards — Offering those who travel often great
hotel deals, car rental
offers,
airline perks, rewards points,
and more.
The following are purchases not included in this
offer: car rentals,
hotel reservations, American
Airlines Vacations packages, purchase of elite status boost or renewal, duty - free purchases,
and AA Cargo products
and services.
Cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Starwood Preferred Guest,
and the Platinum Card from American Express each
offer more flexibility than most
airline or
hotel branded cards.
You'll be able to transfer your 1.5 x points from the Freedom Unlimited to a premium rewards card like the Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred, which each
offer 1:1 transfers with
airline and hotel partners.
Rather, they
offer points
and miles that are worth a fixed amount toward travel reservations, or they can
offer points that can be transferred to miles with several different
airlines,
and even
hotels, allowing more flexibility when redeeming rewards for travel.