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Everybody would love to use their credit cards to earn a free summer vacation, but it’s rarely that simple. Before you apply for a travel rewards credit card, there are several things that you need to understand, including.
What is a travel credit card?
A travel credit card is one whose rewards are best redeemed for travel reservations. Many credit cards offer rewards that can be redeemed in many ways, including for travel reservations. A true travel rewards card will offer the most value when its points or miles are used for travel reservations, as opposed to other options such as cash back, gift cards or merchandise. A travel rewards credit card is also more likely to offer travel-specific benefits such as travel insurance or priority service and other perks when using the card’s co-branded partner.
How do travel credit cards work?
Travel rewards cards offer points or miles that can be redeemed for travel reservations. These rewards primarily come in two ways. First, these cards may offer new applicants a sign-up bonus, typically after meeting a minimum amount of spending in a certain amount of time. For example, an airline credit card might offer new accounts 50,000 frequent flyer miles after spending $3,000 within three months of account opening. Also, a travel rewards card will offer rewards for spending, often including a bonus for purchases from the airline or hotel partner, or for purchases from certain categories of merchants.
Once your account gains enough rewards, you may redeem them for award travel reservations. These might be awards made directly with hotel or airline partners, reservations booked through a designated travel agent or statement credits that reimburse you for travel reservations you’ve already booked.
Placing a value on your travel rewards points or miles
The most difficult part of evaluating a travel credit card can be estimating the value of the rewards that you’ll earn. For example, many travel rewards cards offer frequent flyer miles or hotel points, but the value of these rewards can vary. Furthermore, airlines and hotels are free to change the value of their points and miles at any time, and often with no advance notice. On the other hand, some programs have a very clear value for each point redeemed, with several simply offering one cent in value per point or mile
We used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, AARP, and Total System Services (a credit card processing company), among others, to inform our spending assumptions. We created two spending profiles for our two categories—for more details, read about our full methodology.
Check out Forbes list of the Best Credit Cards that will help you reach your financial goals: