How to Select Your Next Travel Reward Credit Card
Here are 4 common strategies when it comes to travel with points and miles and deciding what credit cards to apply for to redeem free travel! The strategy that you focus on may determine which credit card you apply for next! I personally incorporate all of these award travel strategies, but when you first start out, you may want to narrow in on just one strategy!
1: Get a few awesome travel reward credit cards that earn flexible miles that you plan to keep long term.
Master their point program, find the program’s “sweet spots” (aka ways that you can earn and redeem your points in that program for optimum value) and build from there! If you go with this strategy, I highly recommend learning and mastering the Chase Ultimate Rewards program with a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, a Chase Freedom Flex® and a Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card. With this combination you will only be paying one $95 annual fee between the three cards, you can pool all of the points earned from the cards together, and you will maximize a lot of your everyday spend.
2: Set a vacation goal and work backwards!
What airline miles do you need to get there? What points do you need for hotels? Earn the sign up bonuses that will get you there!
3: Apply for credit cards with current elevated offers and puzzle them into your award travel strategy!
Check out our Card Concierge for a list of our favorite offers!
4: Use the FREE TravelMore App to get personalized credit card recommendations!
The Card Concierge in the app helps you choose a credit card!
What are some beginner friendly travel reward credit cards?
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Most travel rewards experts recommend THE EXACT SAME CREDIT CARD for beginners! If you aren’t sure where to start, I recommend trusting the experts and applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred!
I love Chase Ultimate Rewards® points and that you can book almost any kind of travel through Chase Travel℠ or by transferring your points to other travel partners to get even more value, like Hyatt, Southwest, United and more!
Learn How to Apply
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Another popular beginner friendly credit card is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. It is very easy to use to redeem free travel. Venture Miles are flexible because you can redeem the miles for anything that codes as “travel” on your credit card statement. You can also transfer miles to other travel partners to get more value as well.
Learn How to Apply
Do you want to get started traveling for nearly free?
- Be sure to download our free TravelMore app that will teach you everything you need to know to get started with award travel!