How to use Points & Miles to Travel & Experience

Casa Del Mar, Mykonos

An Introduction to Travel Hacking

Travel hacking simply means using points and miles to make travel accessible and affordable. Whether you’re interested in traveling to experiencing food, wine, and culture all over the world, or to be able to travel as a family, utilizing points and miles can make travel nearly free. The “points” refer to credit card and hotel brand points. Miles refers to airline miles. The beauty is that they work together and can transfer between each other to maximize value to allow you to buy flights and hotel stays.

Now, some people understandably have reservations about credit cards, usually for two reasons. One, that credit cards end up costing you a lot of money if you don’t pay off your balance each month. This is very much true, so it’s important to only spend what you can pay off each month. Two, that opening credit cards hurts your credit score. This is actually a little bit of a misconception. Yes, the credit check that happens when you apply for a credit card does cause a small ding initially, but beyond a couple of months and over the long-term having a credit card(s) actually improves your score significantly because it increases your credit limit, which decreases your credit utilization each month Additionally, consistently paying off a credit card each month raises your score significantly. I always tell people there are only three real “requirements” for being able to travel hack are:

• A good credit score

• Most of the travel credit cards require a credit score of 700 or above. 

• Average monthly spend of $1000 or more to meet minimum spends for signup bonuses

• OR having a big purchase or multiple big purchases coming up, like a wedding, home project, etc.

• Transitioning all or most of your daily spend on food, utilities, clothes, etc, will help you meet your sign-up bonus and then continue to earn points to continue to travel. 

• Pay off your card(s) on time!

• As with anything, paying off what you spend is very important. These cards can be so valuable when used correctly, but not paying off you card each month will cost you interest that diminishes the value of the point you’ll earn.

Four Seasons Madrid

Now that we have those ground rules, let’s talk about the fun stuff - points and miles. Points are earned through signing up for and using certain Chase, AMEX, Capital One, Citi, or Bilt Credit Cards. My free cheat sheet, here, has my top recommend travel credit cards that allow you to earn points and miles. There are two sources of points from these cards - sign up bonuses and earning points from your normal spend. 

• Sign-up Bonus

• Each of these major travel credit cards have point sign up bonuses when you meet the minimum spend within the first few months of opening the card.Each card is a little different, but on average, you can earn the sign up bonus by spending by $3,000 in the first 3 months of opening the card. To see a summary of the cards and their signup bonuses, download my free cheat sheet. 

• Everyday Spend 

• Every dollar you put on any of these recommended cards earns you points for that program - Chase points, AMEX points, etc. Each card also has bonus categories to maximize the amount of points you earn for each purchase you put on your card. For example, the Chase Saphire Preferred card earns 3x points on restaurant spend. 

Once you earn these points you can redeem them and maximize their value for flights and hotels through a few different methods.

• Portals

• The major credit card companies have portals where you can take the point you earned and redeem them for flights, hotels, rental car bookings, or statement credit. 

• Co-branded cards to earn Airline Miles or Hotel Points directly 

• Certain credit cards allow you to earn airline miles or hotel brand points directly. For example, Marriot, Hilton, Delta, and American Airlines commonly have cobranded cards. 

• Transfer Partners 

• The BEST way to maximize your points. 

• The Chase, AMEX, Citi, Capital One, Citi, Bilt points you earn through the credit cards can be transferred to other airline and hotel partners to book hotel stays and flights. Each credit card program has different partners, and I have a free cheat sheet you can download here with the full list of partners. For example, Chase points transfer to Hyatt points, and allowed us to book 2 nights at the Paris Park Hyatt for 65,000 points and $0, where it would have been $1200 a night if we had paid cash for it. For more on how we booked this and the rest of our honeymoon, check out post.