Travel Hacking: Beginners Guide

What is Travel Hacking? 

It is the art of collecting points or miles for flights, hotel rooms, car rentals, and more.  You collect these points by signing up for credit cards, charging things to them, and stashing your points until you are ready to travel. 

Have You Ever Traveled on Points? 

I don't mean the occasional night for free but have you taken a trip where you pay for your airfare and hotel for your entire family on points?  You can travel first class or business internationally and not worry about the high cost of a trip.  Most people do not know this is possible and it's possible without having high monthly expenses.  I have used points for our hotel stays for many years but recently started doing more with points.  Do you want to learn how to travel on points too? This page will teach you the basics. 

Where to start? 

First, you need to figure out what card (Amex, Capital One, Chase) is right for you and what type of card.  I started with the Chase Sapphire Reserve as my first card because we travel internationally about once a year and the annual fee is worth it for us due to the benefits.  If you are curious why I chose this card, here are my reasons:

• Lounge Access with Priority Pass

• 1 Year complimentary Instacart+ plus a $15 a month statement Credit

• $300 Annual Travel Credit (credited automatically on your first travel)

• Earn 10x points on Chase Dining

• 10x on car rentals through Chase Travel

• Free Lyft Pink All Access membership this gives us a small discount when we use Lyft

• Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver 

• No Foreign Transaction Fees

• Earn a monthly $5 DoorDash credit

• Travel Accident Insurance - super helpful when there is a problem

• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck every 4 years - I use this perk!

• One of my favorite perks is a 1:1 Point Transfer to other brands like Marriott, United, Hyatt, and many more.

• You can find a comprehensive list here: https://ultimaterewardspoints.chase.com/card-benefits/landing?AI=963428239 

• Earn 50,000 bonus points with Chase Sapphire Reserve. Learn more.

If you do not want the high annual fee, you may want to start with the Chase Sapphire Preferred which has a much lower annual fee. 

Why am I signing up for this card and others? 

It is all about the bonus offers that you receive.  When you first sign up you get a bonus offer.  That bonus offer will typically pay for a few days of hotel or for round-trip flights for two people, sometimes it will pay for both flight and hotel.  Here's a look at Chase's Current offer which is 50,000 points.  I have seen this as high as 100,000 points so it may be worth waiting for.  There typically is a spend associated with the bonus offer and you have to make that spend in the first 90 days.  That bonus offer is worth the annual fee.  

Here's an example of what 100,000 points can get you:  United Airlines  - US flight can be as low as 25,000 points per person for a round trip and Hyatt has offers as low as 8,000 points per night.  

• So you could go to Boston or Chicago from Florida and have two free flights, four free nights, and still have points left over.  

• You could also save up your points and fly internationally for completely free with hotels included.

Once you earn your first bonus points, you want to refer your friends and your travel partner (if you have one).  By referring your travel partner,  you will get the referral bonus plus they will get the sign-up bonus.  Now you will have twice the amount of points to work with.  If you are married, Chase will allow you to merge these points making the points easier to use.  Now if you refer them and you both sign up you may have upwards of 200,000 points depending on the bonus at the time of sign up. 

Do you have more than one card? 

Yes, I also have the Chase Ink which I use for my business expenses.  This card had a generous starting bonus of 100,000 points.  I can join my business points with my personal points which makes it to where we now have upwards of 300,000 points to work with when you add up my bonus + my second player + my business credit card. 

What is your goal with getting multiple cards? 

My goal is to get the most out of my expenses that I can.  I do this by getting new cards that offer sign-on bonuses.  I am currently working on Chase credit cards because they allow up to 5 cards in 24 months.  I find Chase to be the most flexible because Chase allows me to transfer points to so many partners and offers bonuses to transfer from time to time. 

When we traveled to Portland Maine, we had a 30% more points offer when we transferred to Marriot and this allowed us to use fewer points to stay at the hotel we liked. 

Why am I telling you about this travel hack? 

I think everyone should benefit from travel hacking.  If you find my content useful - please use this link to sign up for a Chase card here or at any of the above links.