5 Things WE WISH WE KNEW...
when we first starting traveling with points & miles.
Mary Ellen and Jo
4/30/20252 min read
In life we learn by doing. Here are some things we've experienced in the world of award travel, learning along the way, that will help you as you get more and more into this wonderful hobby, traveling with points and miles.
Transferable points are the way to go when you're starting out. While you can get credit cards for specific hotels or airlines, those points/miles aren't nearly as flexible as the ones earned by bank cards with a long list of transfer partners. These transferable points give you so many great options and don't pigeon hole you into one currency. Here's a great card for starting out that gives you many options for how to use your points.
Don't get "Shiny New Card Syndrome." Sometimes a flashy new welcome offer comes up, and it's hard to resist signing up for a new card. PAUSE. Make sure it's the right next card for you. Does it align with your travel goals? It can be great to capitalize on an elevated offer, but don't let it get you into trouble opening too many cards too quickly that don't help you with your goals. It could cause you to not be eligible for an even better opportunity in the future because you have too many new accounts.
Be Organized. Whether you're a spreadsheet master, or love a good organizational app for your phone like CardPointers+, find something that works for you! CardPointers+ is great because it will help you know which card to use at each store to maximize your earnings. It will also auto add bank offers to your cards so you never miss a deal!
Stacking provides incredible points earning opportunities! The sooner you get on board with this, the sooner you'll be making dream vacations a reality! Simply earning 2x points back on all purchases is okay...but what if you can earn 12x points? Or 15x points? When you do your online shopping, make sure to click through one of the many shopping portals available. Many of these portals allow you to put a browser extension on your computer/phone so you never miss available opportunities. You can STACK whatever cash/points offered by the portal with credit card offers attached to your individual cards (again, hello CardPointers+ for helping with that). Some of our favorite shopping portals are the American Airlines Shopping Portal, Southwest Shopping, and Rakuten.
Annual Fees can be WORTH IT! We know it's scary to get a credit card with an annual fee, especially if you're used to $0 annual fee cards, but generally the value from the cards FAR exceed the cost of the annual fee. For example, one of our favorite cards has a $325 annual fee. However, if you use ALL the benefits of the card, it's worth a minimum of $424, making it a $99 money-maker. That's without even considering the points earned from the welcome offer, everyday spending and money-saving offers that can be accessed with the card. To learn more about this specific card, listen to Episode 29 and Episode 49 of Wonderland On Points where we give you a full deep dive of its value. And you can check out more details and/or apply for the card here.
For MORE things We Wish We Knew when we started traveling with points and miles, check out Episode 106, a midweek mini devoted to sharing lots of things we've learned along the way!