Redeeming Credit Card Travel Points: What You Need to Know
Key Takeaways
- A good redemption value for credit card travel points is typically around 1 cent per point.
- Credit card travel points can be redeemed in a variety of ways including for travel, merchandise, gift cards, statement credits and cash back.
- Redeeming points for travel or transferring points to a loyalty program partner will typically get you the most value.
Learning about credit card rewards programs and how to redeem your credit card points is a great way to turn your daily spending into cash back or free travel. If you learn the tricks to getting the best value for your credit card travel points, you can easily save on future purchases. The best way to redeem your rewards will depend on the type of credit card travel point you’re redeeming — airline miles, hotel points or flexible travel points.
- Airline miles: Airline miles can be redeemed for flights, cabin upgrades and experiences like concerts or sporting events. You’ll typically have to redeem your miles with that airline or one of the airline loyalty program’s airline partners. Airline miles are an excellent way to get free flights with your card.
See our picks for the top airline credit cards. - Hotel points: Hotel points can typically be redeemed for free nights, room upgrades, food and drink and spa services at specific hotels and resorts. Most hotel points can also be transferred to the hotel loyalty program’s partner airlines.
See our picks for the top hotel credit cards. - Flexible travel points: Flexible travel points offer you the most redemption options. Programs with flexible travel points typically have a travel portal. You can easily use your points for things like car rentals, cruises, flights, hotel stays and vacation packages. Most of these credit cards also allow you to transfer your points to airline and hotel partners, which gives you even more choices.
See all of our top travel credit cards.
How to redeem credit card points
Most travel credit cards offer a variety of ways for you to redeem your points or miles for travel. The value of your points will vary based on how you redeem them. Here are your main redemption options:
Redeem as a travel statement credit
Different programs have different rules around redeeming rewards for a statement credit, so the exact steps for redeeming will depend on the program. In general, you’ll:
- Book and pay for your travel with your credit card.
- Log in to your account and make a request to redeem your points as a statement credit.
- Or, choose a specific eligible purchase to be deleted from your statement in exchange for a certain number of points.
Redeem through the rewards program’s travel portal
Redeeming points through a rewards program travel portal is very similar to booking a trip through a regular travel portal. To redeem points, you should:
- Log in to your online account.
- Visit the travel portal and start shopping for the trip you want to take.
- For each option, you’ll see the number of points required to book the flight, hotel stay or package.
- Choose the option that works best for you — to maximize your points, look for options that fit your travel plans and require the least number of points.
Transfer to an outside loyalty program
Many travel credit cards offer a long list of transfer partners. You can transfer your points into the various airline and hotel loyalty programs, then redeem the points or miles as allowed by that program. To transfer points, you’ll:
- Log in to your online account.
- Select your eligible card.
- Choose your transfer airline or hotel partner.
- Enter your airline or hotel loyalty member number if applicable.
- Enter how many points you want to transfer.
- Review the details and submit.
Redemption options by rewards program
Each credit card, hotel loyalty program and frequent flyer program offers an array of ways you can redeem your points or miles. Here are the redemption options for some major credit cards and programs:
- Get a flight, hotel, car rental, vacation package or cruise through the Membership Rewards portal using Pay With Points.
- Transfer to 20-plus hotel and airline transfer partners.
- Redeem for statement credits with the Use Points for Purchases program.
- Use points on Amazon.com.
- Redeem for gift cards or buy merchandise.
- Donate points to charity.
- Book travel on the Capital One Travel portal.
- Transfer to 15-plus partner loyalty programs.
- Redeem points for travel statement credits, cash back, gift cards or merchandise.
- Use points for PayPal or Amazon.com purchases.
- Use points for Capital One experiences.
- Through the Ultimate Rewards travel portal for a value of 1 to 1.5 cents per point.
- Transfer to 10-plus hotel and airline program partners.
- Redeem for cash back, gift cards or merchandise at a value of 1 cent per point to cover travel purchases.
- Pay with points on Amazon.com and PayPal.
- Book travel using ThankYou points at the Travel & Experiences portal.
- Transfer to 15-plus airline partners.
- Get a statement credit or use Pay With Points to cancel the cost of a recent purchase.
- Redeem points for cash back, gift cards or shopping.
- Donate points to charity.
- Use points for free nights at hotels within the Hilton Portfolio.
- Use points to book experiences, rental cars, Lyft rides and more.
- Pool Points with family and friends for a group trip.
- Transfer to 25-plus Hilton Honors airline partners’ frequent flyer programs.
- Shop with points on everyday purchases like Amazon.com.
- Redeem your points for car rentals with Alamo, National and Enterprise.
- Redeem for free nights or stays in Hyatt hotels and resorts or participating Mr & Mrs Smith properties.
- Redeem for room upgrades on paid nights.
- Redeem for dining, spa experiences and other hotel amenities.
- Transfer to 20-plus airline partners.
- Book reward nights at IHG Hotels & Resorts properties.
- Transfer to 40-plus partner airlines.
- Redeem for IHG events and experiences.
- Use your points for gift cards and merchandise.
- Donate your points.
- Redeem for free nights or upgrades at Marriott hotels and resorts worldwide.
- Use points during your stay for food, beverages, spa experiences, travel packages and more.
- Transfer to 40 airline partners.
- Use points for gift cards and shopping.
- Redeem miles for flights on American Airlines, oneworld airlines and partner airlines.
- Get upgrades on American, British Airways, Iberia and Qantas flights.
- Book cars, hotels and vacations.
- Buy Admirals Club® membership.
- Book travel on Delta or 25-plus partner airlines.
- Upgrade your seat on a flight.
- Redeem miles for a checked bag.
- Get a Delta Sky Club membership.
- Get a Delta gift card.
- Book travel through Delta Vacations.
- Gift, transfer or donate miles.
- Redeem for Southwest flights and international flights operated by other airlines.
- Book hotel stays and rental cars.
- Redeem for experiences like cruises, spa visits, outdoor activities and more.
- Redeem for gift cards and merchandise.
- Redeem for flights on United and airline partners.
- Upgrade to a premium cabin.
- Book hotel stays, rental cars and cruises.
- Redeem for merchandise or gift cards.
What is the best way to redeem credit card points?
How to maximize credit card travel points
1. Sign up for a credit card with a sign-up bonus
If you’re new to the rewards game, get a head start by taking advantage of sign-up bonuses. These bonuses typically offer new cardholders a cache of points or miles for opening a card and spending a certain amount in a specific period.
A sign-up bonus may be worth hundreds of dollars in travel. According to a recent LendingTree survey, the average sign-up bonus on a new points or miles credit card is 51,027 points, while the median is 45,000. If you’re wondering how to get free airline tickets with a credit card, this is one of the top tricks.
2. Decide how you want to redeem points in advance
Planning ahead is key to getting maximum value from your rewards. If you start by deciding with a goal in mind, it’s much easier to choose a credit card that’ll allow you to reach that goal. If you choose the wrong card, you may not be able to redeem your points for the reward you want, or you may be forced to choose a less valuable redemption option to reach your goal.
For example, if you’re looking to use credit card points to finance your next flight, you’ll want to get a travel card that’ll get you the best value when it’s time to make the purchase.
3. Learn the ins and outs of your rewards program
If you ask any rewards expert how they travel free with credit card miles, they’ll tell you to learn the nuances of your rewards program. Here are questions to keep in mind when you’re reading the terms and conditions:
- How do you redeem travel points with the program? See which redemption options offer excellent value, good value and poor value.As a general rule, flights and hotel stays tend to offer good value, while gift cards and merchandise are notorious for poor value — still, values do vary by program.
- Are there any blackout dates or other restrictions on when or how you can redeem rewards? If so, see what the restrictions are and how they work. Your rewards won’t do you much good if you can’t use them for the dates you want to travel.
- How hard is it to find award seat availability? You might want to try shopping around for award travel before you’re ready to book, so you can get used to the way the process works.
- Who are the transfer partners, and what are the rules for transferring your points or miles? See how long a transfer takes and what the transfer ratio is. You should also see if there’s a transfer bonus, which can increase the value of your points even more.You’ll want to look for a transfer ratio of at least 1:1, so your points don’t become less valuable in the transfer.
4. Know the average value of your rewards program’s points/miles
You should get familiar with the value of a rewards program’s points or miles. This’ll give you an idea of how far you can stretch a program’s points, and will also tell you if a particular redemption is above or below average in value.
Start by taking a look at our valuations of the currency (points or miles) of major rewards programs:
Loyalty program | Average point/mile value |
---|---|
American Express Membership Rewards | $0.02 |
Chase Ultimate Rewards® | $0.02 |
Citi ThankYou® Rewards | $0.018 |
American Airlines AAdvantage | $0.018 |
World of Hyatt | $0.017 |
Southwest Rapid Rewards | $0.014 |
United MileagePlus | $0.013 |
Delta SkyMiles | $0.011 |
Marriott Bonvoy | $0.009 |
Hilton Honors | $0.005 |
IHG Rewards Club | $0.005 |
5. Find the sweet spots in your rewards program
Every rewards program has its “sweet spots” — redemption options that offer a particularly good value. Experts who frequently travel free with credit card miles always keep these deals in mind when planning award travel.
So how do you find these sweet spots? Start by checking the program’s award chart, which lists the different redemptions and how much they cost in points or miles.
Example
At the time of writing, United Airlines offered a great flight deal from the United States to Denmark for around 42,000 miles.
It’s also a good idea to keep an eye out for special deals. Many programs will run award specials where you can get a bargain redemption for a lower “price” than normal. You may get emails or other messages from your credit card company alerting you to deals.
6. Do the math before you redeem
Quickly calculate the value of a redemption to see if you’re getting a good deal. In general, you’ll want to aim for redemption values of at least 1 cent per mile.
How to calculate the value of my points
Cash price* ÷ Number of points needed for redemption = Points value
*Check to see if taxes and fees are included in your award
To do the calculation, you’ll need to know the cash value of the item you’re getting, whether it’s a flight, a gift card or a hotel stay. If you’re getting a gift card with a face value, it’s easy. Otherwise, you might have to do a little legwork to find the cash value — for example, researching the cash price (minus taxes and fees) of the flight you want to get with your miles or looking up the price of a hotel stay.
Example
$500* ÷ 30,000 = 1.7 cents. So the redemption value for the plane ticket would be 1.7 cents per mile. This is a good redemption value — go ahead and book it.
7. Be as flexible as possible
When searching for flights online, have you noticed that when you check the “flexible dates” box, you can sometimes get a much better value just by leaving a day earlier or extending your stay by a day? The same principle applies with award travel. You can often make your points and miles go further simply by being flexible.
For example, a Marriott award stay can cost twice as much in peak season versus off-peak season. So consider planning your vacation a month earlier or later to take advantage of off-peak pricing, or fly midweek and check prices for flying into different airports.
While searching out the best values can be fun and lucrative, you’ll also need to consider your wants and needs. By taking the trip you really want to take when you want to take it, even if it doesn’t give you maximum value for your points, it may still be the right choice for you.
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