It’s time to plan your holiday travel. That may mean cashing in the travel rewards you’ve accumulated on credit cards — or it may mean starting to use a travel rewards credit card. Chances are you spend money on some necessities, and when you do, tailoring the rewards you receive to your travel needs could end up financially benefiting you and your family even more than a rewards credit card might. Keep in mind, of course, that increasing your spending just to earn rewards doesn’t make sense, and it would be worse if you had to pay interest on your balances.
When you have controlled spending that you can afford, and you pay your credit card bill in full and on time every month, you can offset your costs of travel by earning rewards. Using the travel rewards credit card that best matches your travel needs for the spending you would be doing anyway could save you hundreds or thousands of dollars over the course of a lifetime. For example, some cards offer free flights and hotels while others can soften the blow of foreign transaction fees.
Listed below are the best travel rewards credit cards available today. If you’ve got a card you think deserves to be on this list, let us know and we’ll add it.
Editor’s choice
Chase Sapphire® Preferred Card. The Chase Sapphire® Preferred Card offers a bonus if you spend at least $3,000 on the card in the first three months. That reward comes in the form of 50,000 bonus points, which can be redeemed for $625 in travel, because when you convert points for flights, they’re worth 20% more. Additionally, you can earn double rewards on travel and dining purchases. The Chase Sapphire® Preferred Card carries no annual fee for the first year, $95 thereafter. There are no blackout dates or restrictions of any kind when using your rewards points.
For more about the Chase Sapphire® Preferred Card 50,000 bonus points limited time offer, visit my Chase Sapphire® Preferred Card Earn 50,000 bonus points review.
Miles by Discover® Card. The Miles by Discover® Card offers the opportunity to earn 12,000 bonus miles during the first year you own the card. The card provides 1,000 miles for each month you make at least one purchase. You can earn double miles on your first $3,000 in combined travel and restaurant purchases each year and one mile on all other purchases. Unlike many travel rewards credit cards, the Miles by Discover® Card carries no annual fee for the life of the card and has an introductory offer of 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for up to six months.
Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express. The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express continues to be one of the best travel rewards credit cards you can find. 25,000 bonus Starpoints can be yours in two easy steps. First, you earn 10,000 bonus points after making your first purchase, then 15,000 more bonus points can be earned if you spend $5,000 on your new card in the first six months, which is enough for a six night stay at a category 1 or 2 hotel.
With this card you can earn up to 5 Starpoints at hotels and resorts participating in the Starwood Preferred Guest program. When redeeming your points you can select from over 1,000 hotels and resorts in nearly 100 countries and for flights on more than 350 airlines, all with no blackout dates*. The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express carries no annual fee for the first year, $65 thereafter.
American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card. The American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card offers 15,000 bonus points when you spend at least $1,000 in the first three months. You can earn membership points three times as fast when you book airfare using this card and twice as fast when you purchase gas or groceries. The American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card carries no annual fee for the first year, $175 thereafter.
PenFed Premium Travel Rewards American Express® Card. The PenFed Travel Rewards American Express® Card is like no other in terms of rewards, offering consumers 5 points for every dollar spent on airfare. If you spend at least $650 within the first three months of card ownership, you’ll receive 20,000 bonus points, enough for a round trip ticket. One reward point will be earned on all other purchases. The PenFed Premium Travel Rewards American Express® Card does not have an annual fee and there is an introductory APR of 4.99% on balance transfers for 24 months on transfers made through December 31, 2011. That comes with a relatively low 3% balance transfer fee with a minimum of $10 and a maximum of $250. You must be a PenFed member to be approved for this card but if you are not associated with the military or red cross, a $20 donation will do the trick.
Capital One® Venture? Rewards Credit Card. You earn 10,000 bonus miles on your Capital One® Venture? Rewards Credit Card after you spend $1,000 in the first three months of owning your card. You can earn double miles on every purchase, making this card one of the best travel rewards credit cards available today. The Capital One® Venture? Rewards Credit Card carries no annual fee for the first year, $59 thereafter, and Capital One is the only issuer that does not charge foreign transaction fees for any of their cards. This means if you spend money on international purchases, you won’t receive the typical 1% to 3% fee.
Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by American Express. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of American Express, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express. This site may be compensated through American Express Affiliate Program.
Photo: Kossy@FINEDAYS
Updated February 6, 2012 and originally published May 4, 2011. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the RSS feed or receive daily emails. Follow @flexo on Twitter and visit our Facebook page for more updates.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Not including the bonus miles, if you spend less than $30k per year the Starwood card is 1.25 points per dollar and is furthermore an American Express. Wouldn’t you be better off with a 1.5% cash back card?
A 1.5% cash back Visa or Mastercard, I mean.
You only get 1 point per dollar spent if you’re ignoring any bonuses. The 1.25 points/dollar only factors in when you transfer 20,000 points to an airline. As for whether or not a cash back card is better, depends on how you value a star point, doesn’t it?
I use my SPG AmEx like a religion, and I get some excellent values from it. My wife and I are staying at a beach property in Thailand that is going for $340/night during Xmas week. We’re paying 2800 points + $45 each night. Taking taxes into account (17% on the cash portion) we’re getting a value of over $0.10/point.
In fact, during this trip, we’re staying at several properties on C&P award rates. Our value/point ranges from a low of $0.039/point to the high that I mentioned above. Given that we’re staying at some of the nicest hotels and resorts in the cities we’ll be visiting, I’d much, much rather take the points.
Flexo, I have the SPG AmEx card and became gold for my $30k in spend last year. I don’t earn points on normal purchases any faster — the only extra points you get are for purchases made at the hotel.
Flexo,
One other thing… you should mention that the SPG program has a Cash & Points option available for redemption as well. Cat 1 C&P awards start at 1200 points + $25. These types of rewards generally give the most bang for the buck. One should note, however, that there are relatively few Cat 1&2 hotels in the USA. More common are the Cat 3&4 hotels, which are 2800pts/$45 and 4000pts/$60 respectively.
Excellent article. But, if you’re talking about The Best Travel Rewards Credit Cards, why not consider the other common credit card issuers as Best Travel Rewards Credit cards. IMHO, they include: Citibank-AA Advantage credit cards gives 20,000-35,000miles for applying, but has a $750 spending requirement within 3months approval, and an annual fee of either $60-85. The Chase United Mileage Plus credit card and Chase Continental credit cards (both have $85 annual fees; 1st year waived) gives at least 20,000 miles to 30,000 mileage, depending on card (not including a rare incident in April 2010 when they offered 50,000 for MileagePlus customers). Either way, consumerisms must evaluate on their own what’s worth it to them. But, I’ve found most people do not believe in paying an annual fee for a credit card that does not give them cash back or benefits that are more than the annual fee + 1% cash/points back (which they can get with a no-fee card). YMMV.
IMHO, sign-up bonuses aren’t enough to make a card “great”. I think the real intent of the article is to convey what cards are best for ongoing spending. WRT sign-up bonuses, these cards can be worth getting just for the bonus and dumping. It’s what I’m doing with the Chase United 50k bonus.
We have the Starwood card and earned quite a few points but actually cashed them out for gift cards. I did want to use them for a trip but it’s not going to happen anytime soon so the gift cards are for us now. I’ll probably cancel it when the fee kicks in again this year.
Travel reward credit cards are really very helpful, specially once you are planning you vacations. The above mentioned list of credit cards along with a small description, gives a fair idea about these cards. One can choose the right one for him.
Good article. I have a Visa World points card through B of A that I get 1 pt per dollar I spend regardless of what its on. I cash them out every Christmas for gift cards. I’m sick of B of A, though, so I’ll probably cancel the card at the end of this year.