Award Travel Needs A Hard Reset
It's time for a reset. Over the last few months, all the talk in the award travel world is about this credit or that credit. How do I save $10 here or $7 there? What works in my tiny little town in Middle of Nowhere, Iowa? We've had the Paze craze, the procrastinators that haven't used FHR/THC credits, StubHub credits, the Dunkin' credits, Lyft credits, and on, and on, and on. Is all of this exciting? Sure. Do these incremental wins matter? Yes, as they help offset annual fees. But do they matter that much? Are they so important that it is all everyone is thinking about, talking about and obsessing over? 100% no. We're all guilty of missing the forest for the trees sometimes. Now is one of those times. Award travel needs a hard reset.
The Trees
So what are the “trees” that we're focusing on? All of the credits and incentives that are popping up left and right. The couponification of credit cards (yes, I made up that word, and I think we should make it an official word) is exhausting. It is a major reason Sarah and I are aggressively paring down our credit cards list in 2026. (Be sure to follow along on our monthly updates.) It's become so burdensome that we have a full benefits tracker checklist for the Chase Sapphire Reserve (download the checklist here) and Amex Platinum (grab the checklist here). We remind folks each month and quarter what is expiring.
Lately, it was the 10X earnings when checking out with Paze, then the $10 off a $10 purchase via Paze, up to 10 times per eligible card. Scroll social media, and you'd think these credits are THE reason we all do what we do. We're seeing 25+ posts per day, every single day in our Facebook group asking about what works, what doesn't work, requesting tech support, etc. We understand that these things help offset annual fees, but that isn't why we do what we do. We're simply too focused on the trees, rather than the forest around us.
The Forest
The forest, you say? What is that? The forest in this example is THE reason we focus on award travel. It is our “why.” Do you know the 4 cheapest programs to/from Europe and what each costs? What about the best time to book Singapore, Japan Airlines or Qatar Airways award flights? Do you understand the inherent value of your points and miles? Heck, do you understand how to correctly search an award flight? No, not searching with an aggregator. Can you sit down and efficiently and succinctly run an award search from A to B and, once completed, know that you searched every possibility with your points and miles? The answer for most folks is probably “no.” That is what is being missed in the current environment of award travel.
Instead of learning how to book a $4,000 flight for 42,000 points, and quickly recouping thousands of dollars in value, we tend to focus on this $10 credit or that $7 free cup of coffee. Rather than exploring the ins and outs of a hotel program other than Hyatt—like Accor or Preferred Hotels—we get hung up on where we can buy a $50 gift card to a restaurant that we may never actually go to (and/or may not actually like).
Don't get me wrong. I, too, want to recoup some all of my annual fees by using credits. I fully understand that desire. However, putting the $7, $10, $25, $50, heck even the $150 wins over learning how to book saver awards each and every time I want to fly is the tail wagging the dog, is missing the forest for the trees, and is every other “you're missing the point” metaphor you can think of in life.
Award Travel Needs A Hard Reset: ToP Thoughts
To say award travel needs a hard reset seems harsh—that is not intended. The entire Travel on Point(s) team is in the Facebook group 17 hours per day, 365 days a year, to teach you about award travel. Our mission is to be kind, helpful and make you the best award traveler you can be. Think of this as a corrective letter. “I see what you're doing, and I want you to focus on this instead.” No, we don't want you to lose track of offsetting annual fees with credits. But don't lose sight of the big picture. Rather than spending your limited bandwidth on $10 credits, fly your family of five to Hawaii for points and $5.60 each instead. That is the true win. And after enjoying your nearly-free vacation, you'll appreciate the forest. After all, travel is why we're here. And we all need that reminder from time to time.
