Best Award Travel Cards
If you're reading this, you're on the Travel on Point(s) blog and chances are you like to travel. Whether you are a beginner at traveling on points, or a seasoned veteran, the best award travel cards make our travels better as we can use points & miles to cover most of our travel costs. We see exotic places, fly in luxury, travel to far-flung parts of the world we never imagined possible and then we do it all over again. But how do we know what are the best award travel cards? Let us explain the process to narrow them down and give you our ToP 5 tips to pick your next card correctly.
Focus On Transferrable Currencies First
If you've been in award travel longer than a few days, you have likely heard the term “transferrable currency.” It's not just a catchphrase that you can ignore. In fact, it is the cornerstone of all the best award travel cards. To gain maximum value from sign-up bonuses, you want to focus on transferrable currency cards first. Do not fall into the trap of signing up for a hotel or airline credit card first. Stay the course and select transferrable currency cards as often as possible. For more on this topic, read:
SEE ToP RECOMMENDED AWARD TRAVEL CARDS
Maximize 5/24 When Picking the Best Award Travel Cards
We call it “the most important rule in award travel” and it is true. Other than remembering to never carry a balance, the overarching rule is the 5/24 Rule. Once you understand this rule, and that all personal cards from any bank count, it's imperative to remember your 5/24 count while picking the best award travel cards. We encourage folks to start with a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve® (we compare the two to help you pick here) and then add a Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card for those that are business eligible. Making these moves sets you up for success and maximizes your 5/24 spots. Once you're over 5/24, check out our last tip below and diversify with one or more of our ToP Recommended Award Travel Cards.
SEE ToP RECOMMENDED AWARD TRAVEL CARDS
Don't Fear Annual Fees
At our core, we all want a really good deal. After all, we are award travelers looking for the best award travel cards to travel the world as cheaply as possible. But that does not mean we should fear annual fees or, gasp, consider not opening a card due to an annual fee. Remember, in the first year, almost any card's sign up bonus or welcome offer is worth more than the annual fee. For many of our ToP award cards, the welcome offer is worth 15-25 times the cost of the annual fee. Open the card, earn the welcome offer, travel the world for nearly free and see how the card's benefits suit you.
If the card's annual fee is worth it to you in year two, keep the card. Otherwise, you can politely request a retention offer to keep the card open. If no offer is made, or it still is not worth it to you, you can close the card within 30 days of the annual fee being charged for a full refund for most banks. Here is the annual fee refund rules for each bank.
Also, downgrading to a no fee card may be an option depending on the bank and their application rules. We are always here to help in the ToP Facebook Group when that time comes though, as navigating it all can seem overwhelming at times.
Don't Sweat Card Category Bonuses
Even if you apply for transferrable currency cards first, you remember your 5/24 count and maximize it, and you don't fear annual fees, you can still get caught in the weeds when picking your next card. Too often, we hear folks ask “I need a new card. What is the best card for gas?” The same is true for dining, hotels, airlines, general travel, shipping, etc.
While details matter, these details probably don't. You will always get better value from spending on new card with a welcome offer than you will from any card with any category bonus. Read that again. We don't like absolutes in ToP, but this one is true. Focus on opening the best award travel cards and the rest of it will sort itself. Plus, you can mostly ignore what card earns 3x on shipping and which one earns 4x on dining, but only while in the United States.
Diversify, Diversify, Diversify
The next tip for getting the best award travel cards is to diversify your card portfolio. Once you have maximized 5/24, a whole new world awaits. You have so many other banks to choose from, which offer tons of transfer partner options between them all. The idea is to find transferrable currency cards from all the banks, and diversify all transferrable currencies that fit your travel needs. Diversification leads to the ability to transfer points and miles to most major airlines in the world, take advantage of various transfer bonuses and much more. You really can never have too many points & miles currencies in your stash at any given time. Plus, the best award travel cards usually have different perks and benefits that you can use during your travels.
SEE ToP RECOMMENDED AWARD TRAVEL CARDS
Best Award Travel Cards: ToP Thoughts
There you have it, our ToP 5 tips for selecting the best award travel cards each and every time. Follow these tips and you should be able to pick a card, or currency, that works best for you whenever you are ready for the next one. You really can't go wrong with any of these options.
What's your next award travel card? Let us know over in the Facebook group.
