Jessica Quindlen: [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Sound Cents podcast. I'm Jessica Quindlen. Today, we're discussing all things travel rewards. As the weather gets nicer, we start traveling more, I wanted to dive in how we can take advantage of rewards and saving some money. I have with us, Laura Straub, our Community Education Lead.
Hello, Laura.
Laura Straub: Hey.
Jessica Quindlen: And Emma Protsik, our Financial Coaching Supervisor. Hello, Emma.
Emma Protsik: Hi, Jess.
Jessica Quindlen: All right, Laura, let's dive in. What are travel rewards programs and how do they work?
Laura Straub: Yeah, they're tied oftentimes through our credit cards, so they’re credit card incentives. The more you charge onto your card, the more points or miles you get, and they all work slightly differently.
You do need to pay attention to what card you have and what you're earning and how much you're getting. Usually, it's based on a percentage of the amount that you're charging to the card, whether it's three percent, five percent, et cetera for points and rewards. And then you can turn those into miles for flying or a lot of other things that we'll talk through as well.
They're pretty nice way to kind of give us some incentive to using our credit cards [00:01:00] wisely.
Jessica Quindlen: That's great. Emma, what types of travel rewards are even available?
Emma Protsik: Well, we have a lot of options that we can pick from as far as the travel reward credit cards go. Some of them will be with specific hospitality companies, so a hotel chain, you can get some credit cards through them. You can even do it through specific airlines, so if you do have one you really like, then that might be a good option for you.
But there are travel credit cards that are just through different banks. So it’s definitely important to be doing the research, and choose what makes the most sense for you.
But as far as the actual rewards that we get, there are lots of different options for that as well. It can look like miles, right? So, flight miles, or just straight cash back.
Another benefit with these travel cards is the discounts it brings. That's something Laura actually taught me with the travel credit cards, but just different discounts through partner organizations that they might work with.
You can get advanced ticketing. Airport lounges are another super cool thing that you can get access to if you're one of the card holders, but there are lots of free upgrades like [00:02:00] paying for TSA PreCheck. I know another reward that my card gives me back is a $50 hotel credit. When it realizes I bought a hotel that just gives me $50.
Jessica Quindlen: Oh, that's fantastic. So you mentioned miles. I know points is another thing. How do these differ? Or are they just the same word used differently?
Laura Straub: A little bit of both. They used to be very much like you got miles or you got points, but now a lot of the time they're kind of merged, if you will, where points are for typically non-airline type things.
Whether it's, like you said, a hotel charge or car rental charges, those aren't miles, right? So you have to have points to use them, but oftentimes you can use your miles to purchase those as well now. It's nice that they've loosened the grounds, if you will, for points versus miles.
So you can use them interchangeably a lot now depending on your card. But miles are miles that you're flying. If [00:03:00] it's only for miles, it's how long you're flying. So here in Colorado, if you're flying to Utah, it's not very many miles, where if you're flying to New York, that's quite a bit more that you would have to stock up on in order to have like that flight completely free.
Jessica Quindlen: Oh, okay. That's good to know. I never knew that. What are some effective strategies for accumulating points or miles?
Emma Protsik: If you do not have a travel card yet, do a little bit of digging because a lot of them will have some pretty good introductory offers. It might look like spending a certain amount of money within a set period of time and you get extra points, so that could be one way to really build them up. But if you already have the card or after you use those first points really, it's just putting a lot on the credit card.
So, the more money that you're spending, the more points that you should get back. But I want to add this caveat, of course, with credit cards. Our behaviors around them are very important, so the name of the game with credit cards is being able to pay them off in full.
There is most likely not a point system [00:04:00] that would make high interest debt that a credit card carries (if you do need to keep those balances) worth it. So be mindful of that. Don't just try to get as many points as possible because you know you have some trips coming up. Make sure you're establishing those good habits with that credit card and paying it down in full.
Laura Straub: Yeah. And with that if you've had your card for a while, they'll often give you refer a friend program too, that you can then get some miles and rewards that way which is another great way to accumulate some points after you've held the card for a while.
Also, if it's not a tied to a specific airline or something like that, you can actually use your card to buy travel expenses, whether it's through Costco travel or a travel agent or something. And then you put it on your card and then you can redeem your points and miles for that purchase, as long as it's showing that it's a travel expense.
That way you're using the points that you do purchase to then credit your account. So that can help a little bit with [00:05:00] accumulating them.
Emma Protsik: Another way to get those points accumulating faster is a lot of these credit cards will have certain deals. So if you shop at this website, we'll give you 10% back as far as those rewards go.
So again, be mindful. Don't fall for any of those things that's going to make you spend more money that you weren't planning on but get used to the credit card. Really just dive into what those rewards look like. There are lots of cool tips you can find. Social media has taught me so many good ways to use my travel credit card. Things I would have never thought about.
Jessica Quindlen: So, we have credit cards, and we've talked a lot about how they can maximize rewards. Are there any other sort of travel rewards that aren't credit cards?
Emma Protsik: I think that would be if you sign up for a reward system, right? Like through a specific hotel, and you can get some pretty cool things with that. Also, I think if you enter in their reward system if you go there and they might bump up your room.
Jessica Quindlen: Right.
Emma Protsik: I think I've heard people do before. So there are definitely ways to go about it, get some points and maximize what you're [00:06:00] spending without that credit card.
Jessica Quindlen: Well, it sounds like there's a difference between, I know I love this airline, I know I love this hotel, so I'm going to kind of have all my love there. Versus I have this quote, generic travel card because I'm flexible. I just, okay. How can travelers find the best value when they're redeeming rewards?
Emma Protsik: As far as finding the best deal with redeeming those rewards, again do some research. A lot of these credit cards will have a travel system built in, so you can book directly through them. That might not be the most cost-effective option, so you can even transfer over to partner sites.
So again, they'll work with other organizations to be able to do that. You can even work with travel agents, Laura was telling me a little bit about too, and still be able to use that credit card, and get those points back as long as they're showing up as travel.
Laura Straub: Yeah. And really just like you said earlier, Emma, getting to know your card. So, what does yours offer? Does it offer travel protection so you don't have to pay extra for your airline if you get a sickness and can't go? Does it cover that insurance piece to it? Or does it [00:07:00] cover the car insurance if you book a rental car? Oftentimes many of our travel cards will cover those expenses for us so we don't have to add it in when we're getting that rental car. When they ask for that insurance we can say, “Nope, we don't need it. Our credit card has it for us.” So, it just saves you a little bit in that way, as well as just other type of little savings throughout that you wouldn't really think about.
So that way you can make sure you're getting that best value too with your card just by knowing which card does what.
Jessica Quindlen: That's great. What are some resources that travelers can use to stay informed about trends and opportunities and sort of all things travel?
Laura Straub: We've said it before, but social media, honestly. Especially because there are so many influencers who get paid to do that and to show you how to use these rewards. So yeah, follow them, see what they're doing. They give really good tips on how to redeem things.
And then again, just researching what card works best for you. [00:08:00] So are you a foodie? Do you like to go out to eat all the time? Getting a card that gives you more cash back for food then that's a better deal for you than like one with travel per se. If you don't really go anywhere, you just like food, right? So really finding the one that works best for you and what you enjoy purchasing can help you in the long run as well.
Jessica Quindlen: What I think too, even if you want to travel more but you don't travel a lot, you may get a card that has higher for food so that you can take that one trip a year.
Laura Straub: Mm hmm, yeah.
Jessica Quindlen: So, it's like you're still sort of working the system.
Laura Straub: Exactly.
Jessica Quindlen: But you don't get a card that only rewards travel when you're like, I can only do that sometimes.
Laura Straub: Exactly. Yes. Find the card that works best for you. And that way, you can then look for those opportunities that are better for you.
Jessica Quindlen: Awesome. Well, that brings us to the end of our show. Emma, Laura, thanks so much for being here. It was great having you.
Laura Straub: Thanks for having us.
Emma Protsik: Thank you.
Jessica Quindlen: Thank you for listening to Sound Cents from Ent Credit Union. Be sure to follow our podcast as well as rate and review us. I'm Jessica Quindlen. I will see you next week, same time, same place.
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