Travel hacking credit cards are hands down some of the most valuable types of credit cards ever to exist. Things such as free airport lounge access, free hotel upgrades, free business class flight tickets, free travel insurance, and even free car insurance are just a few commonly added benefits of what makes these travel credit cards so useful. Now, whether you only take one trip per year or you’re someone who flies out almost every single month, there are a ton of good travel credit card offers that are here right now, but they might be around for a while.
Best Travel Hacking Credit Cards (Ranked)
These best travel cards have the highest earning rates, benefits, welcome bonuses, and the most valuable points currencies. They don’t charge foreign transaction fees and come with many of the best travel protections. If you know what you’re doing with these cards, you can travel more, with better benefits, and even for free.
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card: Best feature: Travel rewards.
Best Feature: Travel rewards.
Credit Needed: Excellent, Good 670-850 Good to Excellent
Annual Fee: $95
The Full Review:
Believe it or not, the first credit card on this list is going to be the Chase Sapphire Preferred. This is actually one of the best, with low annual fees and a great starter travel credit card.
Highlights:
- The Chase Sapphire Preferred, you’ll earn a 5X total points on any airfare or travel purchase through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Program and 2X points on any other travel purchases.
- Now with this card, you can also find that you get 3X points back on dining, including delivery services and takeout. You’ll also get 3X points on online grocery store purchases.
- Now, although this card is considered to be a very great card for frequent travelers, it is still amongst one of the best well-rounded card for any individual too.
- A few additional benefits from the Chase Sapphire Preferred include an annual $50 hotel credit, a no foreign transaction fee, and also you’re provided with great travel and purchase coverage.
Why this is one of the best travel credit cards:
Now, this travel credit card here is number one because I know that most people who get into the credit card game are going to start with the Chase Trifecta. This card here is going to pair up well with most people set up. If any of you guys have gotten into the best credit card for travel game, you’ll know that the Chase Freedom Unlimited or the Chase Freedom Flex are some of the most valuable cards that everyone should be carrying.
In addition to that, the Chase Sapphire Preferred allows you to get into travel credit cards without having to commit to a huge annual fee. Now, this also opens a door for you to still go towards the American Express route, where you have access to the Platinum card, or it allows you to go to the Chase Sapphire Reserve route. Now, keep in mind, ladies and gents, that with this card, there are certain exceptions that you need to know about. First of all, one of the major rules that will affect just a lot of people is called the 524 rule with Chase.
The top features:
Now, there are certain exceptions to this rule. For example, if you apply for some business credit cards, it actually does not count towards the 524 rule. This means that If you apply for three business cards and you apply for three personal cards, you wouldn’t be six over 24. You would actually still be three over 24, meaning that you still have two more slots for personal credit cards.
So, if you already hold the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you cannot get approved for a welcome bonus on either one of those cards in the last 48 months. Also, if you are a fan of both the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Reserve, you’re going to have to pick one because you cannot hold both cards at the same time.
A lot of people also assume if you start with the Chase Sapphire Preferred and you want the Chase Sapphire Reserve, the best thing to do is to product change or upgrade your best travel credit card to that. If you do that, you’re not going to be eligible for that new cardholder bonus, which is actually something that you really want to be careful about because when you sign up for a new card, when you get the welcome bonus, that is exactly when you’d find yourself getting a huge incentive.
Now, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is going to give you a welcome bonus offer of 60,000 bonus points if you spend $4,000 within the first three months of account opening. So 60,000 points one-to-one is about $600 cash back. When redeemed through the Chase Ultimate Travel Portal, you’re getting a 25% boost, so that $60,000 is going to be worth $750 in travel.
Another card to consider:
To get approved for this card, I highly recommend that you have a score of at least 700, but data points have shown that people with a score lower than that are getting approved in the 680 range. If you guys are just getting started or you find that this card is very viable for your situation, this is what I recommend you to do.
Get the Chase Sapphire Preferred, wait about two years before the product changes to the no annual fee Chase Sapphire card or the product changes to the Chase Freedom card, and then apply separately for the Chase Sapphire Reserve if you are determined and dedicated within the Chase ecosystem. I also want to make note that it is often much better to find a way to apply for the best travel rewards credit card and get the welcome bonus because if you change, usually you will not get a welcome bonus there.
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: Best feature: Travel rewards.
Credit Needed: Excellent 740-850 Excellent
Annual Fee: $395
The Full Review:
The second travelling credit card on this list might come as a surprise because it’s not an issuer that I normally consider a top-dog contender, but boy, have they stepped it up for this year so far. Now, this year, the Capital One lineup of cards will be more specifically within their Venture set. Why have I gone ahead and added the Capital One Venture lineup to the list of some of the best travel miles credit cards for this year? Well, let me go through it.
Capital One works off of the Visa network, meaning it’s accepted almost everywhere, even including Costco, which I’ve been doing a lot more shopping at since I moved into this new home. And I realized, man, that having a lot of my Amex cards as my primary driver makes it a little bit of an issue when I’m shopping at places such as Costco.
You also get car rental insurance, an extended warranty, and, last but not least, you get a very solid welcome bonus that a lot of people often neglect. So, ladies and gents, even on your screen, you’ll notice that within the Venture lineup, you have a ton of great choices. So if you’re someone who doesn’t have the best credit, or if you’re someone who doesn’t want to pay a huge annual fee, or you’re someone who doesn’t travel a lot, or you are someone who travels a lot, I mean, they got about four different great variety of options for you.
To give you an idea of what I am going for, I’m looking more towards the Capital One Venture or even the Venture X because of the revamp and the benefits that they’ve added. This is more geared towards Venture X, but I do know that a lot of people are more conservative these days on that higher annual fee, especially when you have a lot more travel credit card deals. So, the Venture One card is going to give you some of the least benefits, while the Capital One Venture X is going to provide you with things such as unlimited 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
Highlights:
- The Capital One Venture One also has no annual fee, but it’s going to give you 20,000 bonus miles as a welcome bonus incentive, where you can earn an unlimited 1.25 miles per dollar on every purchase.
- Now, the Venture and the Venture X are going to also give you a $100 credit for global entry or TSA pre-check.
- the Capital One Venture card is going to cost you a $95 annual fee, while the Venture X is going to be $395.
- Keep in mind that the Venture X is actually pretty comparable right now to some of the higher tier luxury travel credit cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve and also the American Express Platinum, but it comes to you at a fraction of the annual fee cost.
- Through the first year benefits of even the Capital One Venture X card, I mean, 75,000 bonus miles, $300 Capital One travel credit, 10,000 miles anniversary bonus, and then also if you need TSA pre-check or global entry and you get $100 credit to that too, you can find yourself getting pretty decent ROI just in the first year of card ownership.
Why this is one of the best travel credit cards:
These credit cards with the best travel rewards are solid, but I need to mention that there are, like everything, some disadvantages as well. And you have to note that with this card, even though you’re earning two miles per dollar, each mile is worth about one penny. But if you redeem your miles for cashback, you’re cutting the value in half, where you’re getting about 0.5 cents per mile. Now, between the Capital One Venture cards, it depends on which one you’re going for.
The top features:
So the key with either one of these four cards within the Capital One Venture lineup is that in order to get maximum redemption or find a lot of value holding these cards, you need to put in a little bit of work to see what transfer partners are giving you the most amount of ROI back. The Capital One setup is also good for anyone who’s late game into credit cards, someone who’s a bit more seasoned, you’ve been in this space for the last five to 10 years, and you’ve never touched Capital One.
Another card to consider:
This is a viable open door card, meaning that if you’ve exhausted all your options with Amex, Chase and all the other contenders, Capital One is definitely going to be an area where you can spend some more money, accrue those points and then get even more value.
BILT MasterCard: Best feature: Travel rewards.
Annual Fee: $0
The Full Review:
The third credit card on this list, this one here, is a no-annual-fee option. It serves not only as a great all-around credit card and what I claimed to be one of the best credit cards of 2024, but it’s also what I consider to be one of the best travel credit cards with no annual fees.
Highlights:
- This is because you get 2x on travel, 3x on dining. It has amazing transfer partners, like amazing, amazing, super amazing.
- When I say amazing or certain words more than once, just know that it is really good.
- Now, normally, this is a card that is super well known where if you pay rent, you can actually use this credit card for travel reward without having to pay a transaction fee.
- On top of the benefit of paying rent without a fee, you also get car rental insurance, cell phone protection insurance. Personally for me, those are two huge partners that I maximize a lot.
Why this is one of the best travel credit cards:
So, in order to get approved for this card, I’d highly recommend you guys have at least a 680 credit score. It’s also worth noting that if you’re someone who does the occasional credit card travel or you’re not married to the idea that you want to travel every single year, every single month, this card here is still that go-to card where you can find a bit more value in that travel category.
The top features:
You can get your cash back and transfer it to a lot of the partners when you do decide; okay, I want to pick up travelling a bit more and find it’s easier than you think it would be. No annual fee, no commitment. This is a solid card. And if you’re also someone who pays apartment rent, this is a no-brainer here.
American Express Platinum Card: Best feature: Flexible cash back rewards.
Annual Fee: $695
The Full Review:
The Amex platinum is going to give you a five X back on flights booked directly with airlines or through the American Express travel portal, five X back on hotels prepaid on that same travel portal, and then one X back on everything else. The fee that you pay every year is going to be $695. But it is actually fairly easy to recoup a lot of that value, especially within that first year of card ownership.
So, Amex Platinum is going to give you five X back on flights booked directly with airlines or through the American Express travel portal, five X back on hotels prepaid on that same travel portal, and one X back on everything else.
Highlights:
- That fee that you pay every single year is going to be $695. But I will mention it is actually fairly easy to recoup a lot of that value, especially within that first year of card ownership.
- So before the pandemic, the general welcome bonus offer for this card was sitting at around 60,000 points.
- Now, if you were personally targeted for an increased offer, you could see anywhere from 75,000 to even 100,000 points.
Why this is one of the best travel credit cards:
Ladies and gents, some solid welcome bonus offers exist right now. Before, you would have to spend all this cash within a three-month period, but even now, they allow you to pay it within a six-month period. And you’re getting almost double what the current welcome bonus was just a few years back. Now, the insane part about this card is that you’re getting about $1,250 worth of cash.
If you can find the highest welcome bonus of at least 125,000 MR points, they’ll also give you even more benefits than that. So, you utilize all of the current credits on the personal platinum card. In that case, I’ve calculated it to be over $1,500, which is double the price of the current annual fee, not even including that welcome bonus offer.
By doing more math and adding up those credits, you’ll find that in the first year, you’re getting a cash value of $2,750 just by holding one of these cards. Not only that, but some things are harder to quantify with American Express, such as having access to the American Express travel booking portal or even the fine hotel and resorts website. One of the neat little perks of this is that you get a room upgrade upon arrival.
The Top Features:
You get a 4 p.m. checkout, which is so, so nice. And on top of that, you can get additional spa or food credits completely for free. American Express is known to have the best customer support service. I can attest to that. I’ve lost items, had things stolen, and had false purchases placed on my account, and American Express takes care of it very, very well.
Expanding outside of that, I’ve also gotten special event invitations that you guys would all get if you were a card member for this product. You also get things such as automatic Marriott Bomboy gold elite status and Hilton honours gold status; this can also open up a whole other world called status match hacking, where you can also find yourself going to casinos or resorts and getting something like this.
This is a Caesars Diamond Rewards card. And I can tell you I don’t gamble, and I’ve never stayed. I am trying to remember staying at a Caesar’s Reward. Just know that I haven’t visited enough for me even to remember the last time I stayed at one, but I got one of these cards, and that’s actually by fully utilizing the benefit of this card right here.
Now, the American Express platinum card is clearly not meant for anyone who is a beginner. So, if you’re trying to get into the credit card game, you don’t travel. This is not a card meant for you. But if you’re someone who travels, you do appreciate lounge access, and you appreciate having a little bit of prestige in that wallet, then this is a card that I highly recommend you pick up. Now, to get approved for this card, I recommend that you have a credit score of at least 720.
I think anything less than that is going to be a little bit hard to actually get approved. The biggest downside to this card is definitely the high annual fee. You also have to realize that in order to get all that value, you need to spend at certain places or go out of your way to set reminders to make sure that you do get your ROI back.
The annual fee is pretty crazy because it was at $550 before, and then on July 1st, they decided to bump it up. It has brought me outsized value, even in comparison to that annual fee. And especially if you’re someone who travels, I would say even just a few times per year, if you know how to maximize the benefits of this, you can really make sense of what it offers.
Co-branded Credit Card
The Full Review:
This is going to be within the co-branded card lineup. A co-branded credit card is a credit card that works alongside another company to build a bit more card loyalty. An example of this is the World of Hayek card. They actually collaborated with Chase to come out with this card, where if you have it, you get a bit more benefits by staying at their property.
Now, for anyone new to the points and miles travel game, I recommend that instead of staying at a new property every single time, try to remain loyal to one. I know that Marriott has some of the biggest footprints all across the US, but I have loved the Hayek lineup. So, one of the first few co-branded cards that I got was a World of Hayek credit card, and it has been truly amazing. The benefits of this card are simple.
Highlights:
- It’s just the fact that if you get a card like this, you’ll pay a low annual fee. This is $95 a year, but it also gives me benefits, a welcome bonus.
- Now some of those hotel nights could be worth $200 or even more depending on where I stay and what type of season it is.
- But if I’m paying $95 and I’m getting a $200 room, you’ll notice benefit is still right there.
Why this is one of the best travel credit cards:
Aside from the Hayek lineup, you’ll actually have a few choices. Now, instead of airline cards, I stick more primarily with hotel cards because it’s easier to justify that annual fee.
Marriott
The Full Review:
Marriott has worked alongside not just Chase but also American Express. So you’re going to have a wide variety of different cards that you can apply for. One of the credit cards that I got a few years back was the Marriott Bonvoy business credit card with American Express.
Highlights:
- It’s $125 annual fee, very straightforward. You get 75,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. You can use that towards a future hotel stay.
- Or if you wanted to, you can go towards the Chase lineup of what their cards offer. And they have the Bonvoy Bountiful, they have the Bonvoy Bold, and they also have the Bonvoy Boundless.
- Depending on which card you want to get, one of them is going to have a higher annual fee of $250, which is the Bonvoy Bountiful card.
- Or you’re going to be seeing that the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card is going to give you a $95 annual fee.
Why this is one of the best travel credit cards:
Now, depending on your travel habits as an individual, you should pick which credit card, depending on the loyalty of the hotel brand you decide to go with. Even though you should aim to build loyalty, having more than one of these credit cards doesn’t hurt you at all. If I’m just holding a world-class credit card, I can always book a hotel room, too.
And if a friend wants to stay somewhere and use up that free credit, that right there gives value to someone that I care about as well. On top of that, we also have the Hilton lineup of cards, including the Hilton Honors American Express card, the Hilton Honors Surpass card, and the infamous Hilton Honors Aspire card. Out of all these three, my favorite definitely is the Hilton Aspire card.
And that’s because one of the dream destinations that almost everyone has on their bucket list is the Bora Bora area. It’s where you got those cute little huts sitting in the middle of the ocean. You can stay there at a huge discounted price or even for free if you are a Hilton Honors Aspire cardholder. That card also carries a $450 annual fee, but you’re also going to be getting 150,000 Hilton Honors bonus points after you spend $4,000 in purchases on the card in the first three months of card ownership.
IHG Credit Cards
You’ll also find that IHG has a lineup of cards: the IHG Rewards Premier, the IHG Rewards Traveler, and the IHG Rewards Premier business credit card. Now, hotel points work differently than regular credit card points, acting more one-to-one.
You’ll notice that if you have 2 million Marriott Bonvoy points, those 2 million points are not going to be worth $20,000, something crazy in cash. They would be worth less than that because Marriott inflates the value of their hotel points, making it seem like they’re worth a lot more.
With 140,000 IHG points, I would be impressed if you could get even more than three free nights. But keep in mind that if you can find good discounts, partnerships, or promotions at a specific time, you could essentially extend the value of those 140,000 points, which would initially be much less.
