Whether your kid does travel baseball, competition cheer & dance, lacrosse, competitive gymnastics, soccer, alllll the things, here are 10 Strategies Every Travel Sports Family Needs to Know to Help Mitigate Travel Expenses:

If you're an auditory learner, here's a link to Epsiode 165 of the Wonderland On Points Podcast where we cover the tips below. The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you like to listen to pods. Also note, this article includes links that allow us to earn a commission.

1) First, you should really consider having a travel credit card (or several) that use transferable points currencies. The Chase Sapphire Preferred, Amex Gold, Capital One Venture X, and Citi Strata Elite are all great options because you can use their points for a variety of airline and hotel chains. With travel sports, you don't get to choose where you're traveling because it's based on where the next tournament is, so you need flexibility. These credit cards allow you to TRANSFER your points to a variety of hotel chains, OR cash them in through the bank's travel portal. While we don't love using travel portals when we have supreme flexibility, it can be HUGE when you have to stay at a certain hotel for a competition.

If you know a few of your tournaments always happen in the same place yearly, figure out which hotel chains are there and then match up which cards transfer to that chain. For example, Chase transfers to Hyatt, IHG and Marriott while Amex Membership Rewards transfer to Choice, Hilton, and Marriott. Each bank has their own set of transfer partners, so line up which ones work best for your frequently traveled destinations.

And before you panic about getting a new credit card, know this: opening credit cards strategically, over time, does not hurt your credit score, in fact, it can help! As long as you're paying on time and in full. And please, please only use credit cards like debit cards. Only charge what you can pay off each month. Paying interest does not help anyone (except the banks).

USE those expensive sports registration fees...the $1,000 you have to pay for tournament fees, gear, practice fields, etc...to meet a new credit card welcome offer! Reach out to us at wonderlandonpoints@gmail.com if you have questions or feel free to ask in our Facebook Group.

2) Create a free Bilt account. Bilt is a neighborhood rewards program. You can earn points on things like your rent, soon your mortgage, eating at restaurants, using Lyft. These points can be transferred to Hilton, Accor, Hyatt, Harriott, and IHG hotels, in addition to airlines like Southwest. As we've mentioned, you don't always get to choose what hotels are available where your teams are playing, so having yet another flexible points currency is key.

3) Download the Upside app. You are driving all over this beautiful country, you NEED to be getting cash back on your gas. It's a super easy way to earn cash back at the pump that you can in turn use to buy food when on the road for tournaments. Use referral code KV4QC to get started.KV4QC KV4QC

4) Speaking of gas, create a Fuel Rewards account with Shell so you can also be earning American Airlines miles. Even if you don't fly to competitions or games, at least you'll be earning miles for your next vacation!

5) Have to stay in a room block? Pay with a card that gives you max point earning, maybe the Capital One Venture X for 2x miles or pay with a visa gift card that you earned 5x points on when you purchased it. Even better, be working towards a welcome offer. If points are not an option and you have to shell out cash, at least be earning your next chosen vacation while you're doing it!

6) Earn and use Free Night Certificates wisely. Many of the hotel branded cards give you a free night on your anniversary, and sometimes those are for the lower tier, budget hotels...which are usually what you're staying at for sports tournaments...your Holiday Inn Expresses, Hyatt Places, etc. With Hyatt, these free night awards are based on the hotel category, not a dynamic pricing structure. If something is going on in town and the cash price is sky high for an event, use the FNC and you can avoid the big surcharge.

7) Download the Fetch app. Fetch is a receipt scanning app. You can scan your physical receipts OR your emails and online accounts for digital receipts. Then, you cash in your receipts for gift cards. This is great for offsetting dining expenses when traveling, Fetch has gift card options like Chili's, Chipotle, Cracker Barrel, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, all kinds of good stuff. They also have hotels.com, airbnb, Shell gas, Southwest, Delta. SO many options for helping you offset travel expenses. And it's a completely FREE app. Enter Referral Code 43M2YE or WJVADR to get a points boost right from the start!

8) Some hotels offer a discounted rate for the 2nd room booked. We love Hyatt hotels for many reasons, this is one of them. Call the hotel before you book and ask if they have a deal like this available for families.

9) Take advantage of shopping portals (Rakuten is our favorite, the cash back you earn can come in the form of Bilt points which can then be used for hotels or flights) and credit card offers when buying gear to paying cash for hotels. Whether making gear purchases at Dick's Sporting goods, buying cleats through Nike, etc. Wait for days that offer 10% back or more. At the very least get SOMETHING extra back off of those purchases. Get started by creating a FREE Rakuten account and be sure to spend at least $50 in the first 90 days to earn bonus cash back (see website for details).

10) Subscribe to the Wonderland On Points Podcast, available on all major podcasting platforms, and join our Facebook group to keep learning more about how you can maximize points and miles to minimize expenses while allowing your kids to live their all-star sports dreams!

Wonderland On Points

Your travel podcast for budget friendly travel tips