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For the past six or seven years, I've been learning how to maximize travel rewards programs and travel for FREE. I'd consider myself proficient at this - I still feel like I have plenty to learn! I want to be clear that not all my travel is free, however, I have gotten my share of free hotel rooms, flights, and activities using these hacks. When I initially started writing this post, it was long. I polled you all on Instagram stories and it was clear you wanted me to split this up.
I've divided it into two parts:
- Part One: Credit Cards - my credit cards, pros + cons
- Part Two: Hotel + Airline Rewards Programs AND additional resources
I hope this will be a useful resource that you can refer back to so you can also travel for free. Make sure to pin and/or bookmark it for easy access 🙂
Hotel Reward Programs
There are a TON of hotel reward programs out there. They are free to join, don't impact your credit score and will help you score points that can be used towards reward nights and other perks. There are four big chains that I find worth setting up rewards accounts for: Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott & IHG. There are certainly other programs (for higher end properties and budget friendly chains). The only motel program I'm a part of is Best Western. Best Western has some great options, especially for road trips in the United States.
Here are my top hotel reward programs:
Last year, I really started focusing in Hyatt properties. They are typically the best points value. Chase does a 1:1 points transfer to Hyatt so I was able to fully cover my hotels in Paris and New York City last year. This would have cost me over $10,000, if I'd paid out of pocket. I might do a separate post on specifically how I did this. Let me know if you're interested! They also have additional perks, like the brand explorer award. You'll receive a free night (category 1-4) for every five unique brands you experience. I recently earned one after staying at the Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, and Dream last year. The free night is good for a full year after earning it!
Airline Reward Programs
There are a number of airlines that offer rewards programs. The largest US domestic airlines are Alaska, American, Delta & United. Airline rewards programs are frequently changing so I recommend committing to one but also making sure you use miles/points. They tend to be less valuable over time, as rules and restrictions change.
Here are the airline programs I'm a part of:
One of the areas that I feel like I could do better is staying loyal to one or two airlines. I'm still at the point where I choose convenience and cost over stacking rewards with one airline. You're definitely more likely to get upgrades, if you commit to one airline. From my perspective, I care more about status with a hotel chain because you spend more time in hotels. I tend to transfer my credit card points to hotel partners and I feel like you often get more bang for your buck.
One thing to consider is using points to upgrade your class on a flight. Sometimes you can get a guaranteed upgrade, sometimes you can't. When we flew to Europe last summer, I used points to attempt to get an upgrade on both flights. Joe and I flew United and the upgrade was 20K points/person/flight. For Business, we'd also have to pay an additional fee -- I believe it was $400/person/flight. We opted in for Business and Premium Plus upgrade requests for both flights. On our flight from SFO -> CDG, we sadly did not get an upgrade. They do take your points upfront, however, they return they return them, if you don't receive the upgrade. On our flight home (LHR -> SFO), we got the Premium Plus upgrade. It honestly made a huge difference in our comfort on the journey home. Also, I was able to use some of the leftover points for a roundtrip flight to Chicago later in the year.
Resources
I follow a few blogs that have taught me a lot about saving money on travel, finding the best deals and great travel hacks. The best resource I can point you to is The Points Guy. This is a excellent place to learn about credit card perks, hotels, rewards programs & so much more. Another great tool for comparing credit cards (for travel perks) is Nerd Wallet.
Next up: Travelzoo. This is a newer tool that I started using at the end of 2023. Travelzoo sends weekly emails with wild deals around the world. We stayed in Pismo Beach, with my in laws, in November. We paid $199 for a ocean view king on a Saturday night with a complimentary bottle of wine, free breakfast, wifi and parking. Sadly, they recently started charging a membership fee to use Travelzoo. I believe it's $40/year (existing members get 2024 access for free). I think it would be worth it, but only if you end up booking at least one of the deals.
Finally, I use Instagram a lot for planning trips. My go to approach is saving off restaurants, hotels, and activities that I find through people I follow. I have different label categories on Google Maps. Whenever I see someone share a fun spot, I check out the geotag and save it on Google Maps. I often already have several places ready to check out when I start planning a trip.
