Points for travel to Disney & elsewhere........

[happy2012]

Besides Disney Chase Visa, Do you have a credit card, that you LOVE that gets you exceptional travel/hotel points? If so which one is it & why do you love it?

 

[pklein09]

We had Amex Gold Rewards and we now have Amex Platinum (DH is doing a LOT of travel this year, and it made sense to get it). I can convert my points to gift cards (bought 2 dishwashers from Home Depot this way). If we make travel arrangements through Amex travel, I can use my points like cash (10,000 points = $100.00). I charge everything to Amex over the course of the month, and because it's a charge card, it gets paid off at the end of the month. The rewards cards give you extra points for gas, groceries, and travel. It works for us and I don't mind paying the membership fees. Oh, I think you can convert your points to other reward programs, i.e. frequent flier, hotels, etc., but I've never done this.

 

[monarchsfan16]

I have the Hilton Honors Surpass American Express. 12 points per dollar at all Hilton properties, 6 points per dollar at grocery stores, gas stations and restaurants, and 3 points per dollar everywhere else. I've been blown away by how quickly the points add up and unless there's some special promotion, I only use it at Hilton properties and the 6 points per dollar locations. All other expenses go on my Southwest visa, which is the other travel rewards card I have that I love. I've gotten MANY free flights and hotel nights (Hilton) at this point.

 

[Marionnette]

Besides Disney Chase Visa, Do you have a credit card, that you LOVE that gets you exceptional travel/hotel points? If so which one is it & why do you love it?

I think that it really depends on what your travel goals are and whether you have any brand loyalty when it comes to rental cars, hotels and airlines.

I love the Chase "trifecta" of Ultimate Rewards credit cards (Sapphire, Freedom and Ink) because UR points are so flexible when it comes to using them and you don't have to be loyal to any particular hotel chain or airline.

Another favorite among the points-for-travel bloggers is the Barclay Arrival card. I don't have this one but I have read good things about it and had considered applying for it in the past.

This subject comes up at least once per month on the Budget Board, so you might want to do a search for more opinions. One thing that is almost universally agreed upon is that the Disney Visa is not a very good card for earning travel rewards.

 

[amyy]

We will be staying at the Dolphin using points from my Starwoods American Express and have flown to Disney "free" using points from my Southwest card. I don't know if I will keep using the Starwoods because the deal really was on the initial sign up. I read a lot that using Disney Visa is not the way to go. A coworker doesn't like to shop around for the "best" card and just kept using her Disney Visa for a few years. They went to Disney with $3,000 in points on her card!!!

 

[bjscheel]

We love the Southwest Chase Visa. At the beginning, we signed up for two cards at 50,000 bonus points each. (One in each of our names. In hindsight, I should have tried harder to get two in one name so we could go for companion status that first year. I tried for a business card in DH's name but was declined and didn't pursue it.) We closed DH's card so we could concentrate on earning points in just one account. DH charges a majority of his business expenses on the card so we earn 3000 or more points a month on purchases. A couple of years later I got another one with 50,000 bonus points, and upgraded one for some more bonus points they were offering. Between those bonus points, points for purchases, anniversary points, and points from e-Rewards, we have flown for free for 4 years in a row now (4 round trip tickets each time). The last time I got bonus points, we managed to qualify for companion status, so this year DH's ticket didn't cost me any points. I have enough already to fly again next year, but I'd like to save them for the following year. I don't plan on applying for any more cards, so we won't be able to continue flying on points every year, but probably every other year.

It's been well worth the annual fees for us. A typical set of 4 round trip flights for us runs about $800-1000, so we've gotten $3-4000 of free flights. Not to mention the added bonus that if your flights go down, you can get points added back to your account to be used at any time, rather than a credit that has to be used in a short time (which we would never get done). That is awesome.

 

[dhardawa]

I have the Capital One Venture card. I get 2% on everything in travel rewards. I can't stand ones that do different percentages on different classes of purchase. This is a flat 2%.