The Venture X card keeps getting better with new lounges and features. Read up on the latest changes and updates.

Enough already. If I wanted to spend my weekends using Excel spreadsheets I’d become an accountant. I don’t want any more credit cards that require me to keep detailed books and tabs on my “benefits”, just to justify the annual fee.

I just want an awesome credit card that rewards my spending handsomely, and gives me easy wins I can justify carrying the card for, from day one and every day after that.

No more math, no more making me sign up for things I don’t really want or need, but feel like I need, just to get better value out of my credit card. Just make it great, right?

Capital One has given us the premium rewards credit card we all deserve, which pretty much does just that — and more. If you’re on the fence, here’s all the details.

Capital One Venture X

The Capital One Venture X is about to turn two, but already, it really is the credit card we deserve. The annual fee is $395, but each year you get $400 in card value right away — and each year thereafter too.

If you do it right, you get so much more. There’s no proverbially clipping through silly coupons via the offers portion of your online account every weekend, just to justify the card.

For a limited time, the welcome bonus and benefits are extra incredible! The TL;DR version is that this new Capital One card is…

• Big Earning: Up To 10X Points Per Dollar.
• Easy Rewards: Simple Credits And Perks, Including Exciting Lounge Access.
• Revolutionary: New Travel Protections And Help You Might Actually Use!
• Perks For Family: Benefits For Users Without Fees.

Venture X: The Initial Rewards

Ok, so first off, there’s currently 75,000 points on the table as a welcome bonus. That’s amazing. But as to the long term viability of this card, there’s a lot more to it.

Each year, Capital One Venture X offers a simple $300 travel credit, which covers $300 of any travel purchase made on Capital One Travel, even if the overall amount is more. This can include flights, cruises, car rentals.

On top of this, you also get 10,000 points, annually, which is enough to erase up to a $100 purchase on your account, or you can simply use as 10,000 miles with the Capital One airline or hotel transfer partner of your choosing, like Emirates or British Airways.

A year later, this card is even better.

Capital One Venture X includes generous airport lounge access, not just for Capital One Lounges including the recently opened Washington Dulles Lounge, but also with Priority Pass and some Plaza Premium.

It’s a phenomenal way to transform the airport experience in most airports around the world. You’ve got a space to relax, and yeah, probably to grab a drink and toast, too!

Since the launch of the Venture X Card, Capital One has also added more 1:1 points transfer partners, Virgin Red — better known as the umbrella program for the likes of Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Hotels is one. Virgin Red gives access to things like Voyages. You can convert Capital One Miles into miles with so many airlines.

This means, among others, you can transfer your Venture Miles to Virgin or Virgin Atlantic with ease. Virgin is one of the best opportunity to book premium and upgrade to business class, or use miles on partners like ANA. Here’s all the transfer partners for Capital One…

• Aeromexico Club Premier
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• Avianca LifeMiles
• British Airways Executive Club
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Choice Privileges
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• Finnair Plus
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• TAP Air Portugal Miles & Go
• Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
• Virgin Red (Virgin Atlantic)
• Wyndham Rewards

75,000 Points Is Phenomenal!

As noted, Capital One is offering a generous 75,000 point card welcome bonus after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months of holding the card. All approvals will be able to take advantage of the annual $300 Capital One Travel credit.

There’s also now a Capital One Venture X Business card with a whopping 150,000 point welcome bonus too.

There’s most of your annual fee back right away, plus 75,000 transferrable points, so then it’s all about what the card can do for you and why it matters. Answer: quite a lot. Some things, 10X Miles at a time!

More Capital One Venture X Perks

Capital One has historically partnered with brands like Turo, and Venture X members received a huge 10X points per dollar spent on Turo rentals. A $1,000 rental would earn 10,000 miles, which could be transferred to airlines, or used as cash back.

Capital One also announced a variety of new memberships and credits.

As part of the unveil, a new “Premier Collection” of hotels has been introduced. A new membership to PRIOR, a trip planning service valued at $149 a year is also included with the $395 a year card fee.

There’s an additional $220 value on Cultivist, which gets free museum access. The complimentary six months to ‘The Cultivist’ allows free access to over 100 museums, including the Guggenheim and Musee D’Orsay.

New “Premier” Collection Of Hotel Perks

As part of this year’s unveils, a new “Premier Collection” of hotels has also been introduced.

At these hand selected properties, Capital One Venture X members who book through Capital One Travel will receive a $100 hotel credit, breakfast for two and other features on all stays is now a fixture of the program. Any standard Venture cardholders don’t receive access to this curated new collection, which adds value to the “X” factor card.

Tons Of Value

Those new things alone are worth up to $540 — not bad for a $395 a year card. Plus, add up $100 in credit for dining or hotel services on each stay, and that can stack up — fast! You’re not even factoring in the value of lounge access, or the $300 travel credit.

Getting Approved For A Capital One Venture X Card?

So far, all reports suggest that it’s much easier to get this incredible new card than it’s been to get many other Capital One cards historically. It didn’t use to be that way.

Even people with more than one new Capital One Card in the last six months are being approved, as are people who already have two or more card total Capital One cards.

If you’ve got excellent credit and don’t mind adding a new inquiry, that seems to do the trick for applications, based on the data points we’ve seen. This is an exciting update, and most people are being approved with credit lines north of $20,000, since the minimum line is $10k!

Yep, the Capital One Venture X is a Visa Infinite Card, which means there are great little cardmember extras on top of the specific benefits offered by Capital One.

Venture X: The Card Perks

What separates Capital One’s Venture X from the Venture Card? Massive earning, airport lounge access and a $300 annual travel credit, among others. The travel delay protections are also phenomenal.

A big difference with this Venture X card versus others, is that the included travel protections are things you actually want to use, rather than just things like collision coverage or trip delay insurance, which you really don’t want to need to use.

Points Earning

Capital One Venture X will earn 10X on hotels and car rentals through Capital One Travel and 5X on airfare via the same. For everything else, it’s 2X everywhere. There’s a lot more to this than just points earning though, as you’ll soon see.

Since Capital One Venture Miles can be redeemed at 1 cent per point of value toward travel, this effectively makes for a minimum of 2% cash back on all of your purchases, since the card earns at least 2X.

On hotel purchases through Capital One Travel, you’re earning 10% back, which is big.

For what it’s worth, Capital One has also offered increased earning rates throughout the years on bespoke partners, with offers like 5X on UberEats, so it’s always possible to earn more on non travel spend with the card, via these opportunities.

Travel Protections: No Hassle Cancellation, Price Drop & Freeze

Capital One is taking a different approach to the “use our travel site” game than Amex or Chase, so far. And yes, they all want you to use their travel booking sites very much.

Instead of just creating a decent travel booking site and offering more points for using it, Capital One bought travel tech company ‘Hopper’, so that it can offer a world class travel booking site, and new and unique benefits for cardmembers who do use it, in addition to the extra points.

Basically, there is real reason to use it, beyond points. One of those? Hassle free, no reason cancellation options on all airline tickets.

The two most blockbuster of these Capital One moves is the new price prediction tool, which dishes out partial refunds to cardmembers when it’s wrong, and the ability to purchase “no reason” cancellation for a small fee.

Capital One’s new price prediction tool gives cardmembers a refund on the difference in price, if the flight booking engine tells someone to book a flight and then the flight price goes down.

There are also bespoke features like price lock, which lets you freeze a good flight deal for up to 14 days to lock in a good price, and features like no hassle cancellations for a full refund.

If you book a flight and no longer can, or want to travel for any reason, you get money back, minus the fee paid for the cancellation protection or terms of the deal. It’s kinda like travel insurance, but actually much better.

GSTP would argue that Capital One Travel offers one of the most consumer friendly air travel booking experience of any travel website, thanks to these customer centric price drop and lock features. Who wouldn’t want a price tracker and predictor that gives money back? It’s far better than what airlines offer their own customers.

Trip Delay & Other Protections Too

As you can see, there are lots of features that are really handy to use regularly within the travel protection space. But as one might hope, there’s plenty of coverage for the things you don’t want to use, like…

• Primary Rental Car Collision Waiver: This counts as up to $75,000 toward collision or damage as the primary cover for rentals.
• Trip Delay Coverage: Up to $500 per person for necessary items and hotels during trip delays. Super handy, as airlines continue to cut customer service policies!
• Lost Luggage Protection: If your bag fails to turn up, and the ticket was paid for using your Capital One Venture X Card, you can claim up to $3,000 for your lost items.
• Mobile Phone Protection: By paying your mobile phone bill with your card, you can claim up to $800, up to two times per 12 months, for lost, damaged and other phone issues.

Here’s a link to all the benefit fine print from Capital One, for reading another time.

Access To Card Perks For Your Family, And Other Users Too

One of the annoying features of many premium credit cards is paying for extra users like spouses, children or trusted friends to have access to the key cardmember perks.

Capital One will not charge any fees for supplementary cards, and things like lounge access to the new Capital One Lounges will be open both to the primary cardholder and also any authorized users. So yep, if you get a card, family or friends can benefit without paying more for their cards. Unless of course they want their own bonus.

Cardholders are also welcome to bring two guests into the Capital One Lounges per visit, free of charge — and any guests after that would be charged at $45 per visit — a discount on the standard walk in price of $65 per visit for non-cardholders.

FYI the Capital One Venture X card also offers PriorityPass access.

In other words, a parent could sign up for the card and order authorized user cards for all the kids and everyone would be able to use the benefits of the lounges when they travel, without any fees.

Top Tier Hertz Status Too!

Hertz Presidents Circle is the best elite status offered by the dynamic car rental company and it comes with your Venture X Card. This is particularly exciting, given that Hertz just signed a deal for 100,000 Tesla’s.

As rental car shortages continue to create havoc, having elite status gives you a better chance of your rental car actually being there when you turn up, and even perhaps a nicer one, too!

Venture X: Why This Card Is A No Brainer

This card is a no brainer for a few reasons. It’s actually harder to think of an argument why not to get the card, than it is to drum up reasons to add the card to any portfolio.

The fact that you can combine your Venture Miles from the Capital One Venture X, with any other Capital One Venture Mile earning balances is pretty cool too! Here’s why this card makes sense, for just about everyone who actually travels at least a couple times a year…

• Access to 15 1:1 Transfer Partners: transfer points into airline miles with top loyalty programs, with a minimum of 2 miles earned per dollar spent on these partners.
• $400 of Value Toward $395 Annual Fee Every Year: Most credit card require you to do a bit more work before you break even on your annual fee. With this card, you’re getting 10,000 points worth at least $100 and $300 travel credit each year.
• Lounge & Guest Travel Benefits Too: Being able to get authorized user accounts for trusted family and friends allows perks to be shared with ease, and without annoying fees. Plus, the new Capital One Lounges are seriously nice.
• 10X Earning On Hotels And Car Rentals: As hotel loyalty programs become less rewarding, booking any hotel you want and earning 10X points, or the equivalent of 10% cash back is phenomenal.

This card is valuable purely on the basis of flight price drop protection, so when you add in rapidly expanding lounge access, crazy earning rates and this limited time VRBO and Airbnb credit, this is one of the best offers we’ve ever seen.

Capital One Venture X applications are live, and you can apply here.

The post Capital One Venture X Review: Perfect Premium Travel Card? appeared first on God Save The Points.

One of the best ways to get people to care about points for the first time is to simply show them the good stuff. Book that hotel room, flight or travel experience that makes them realize it’s not just hoopla and let them enjoy it to the max.

This was booked with points…for real? Yeah.

Yet when it comes to sharing experiences with points, things aren’t quite so seamless. Many companies either charge a significant fee to transfer points to another account, only let the individual account holder redeem the points or make it really difficult to move points.

There are a bunch of perceived logical reasons for this, but a trend is emerging where the sharing of points is actually encouraged.

Why Banks, Airlines And Hotels Protect Points

Travel points are aspirational, but ultimately they are a cash alternative and have real implications. At every airline, bank or hotel issuing points, they’re treated like a major currency and large teams of people people spend considerable time ensuring that they are flowing in and out the door in an optimal way and that fraud is minimized.

A bank would react quickly if you were to claim fraud on a $1,000 purchase, and so too would a travel brand or credit card company if you were to claim fraud on a 100,000 point transaction.

And fraud or mismanagement can be pretty “vague”, when you consider someone’s kids using their points without authorization, or business owners squabbling over how to divvy all the points earned on their corporate accounts.

To many airlines, banks and hotels, it’s easier to just slap a lot of red tape on who can redeem points or transfer points than to deal with the millions of situations outside of their immediate control, which can result in dissatisfaction and loss. That’s pretty easy to do and it’s accomplished a few different ways.

• By automatically making the account holder the named guest on the reservation.
• By requiring any people you wish to share points with to be added to a named list.
• By limiting online functionality to require call ins for any sharing transaction.

That may, or may not be the right way to go and lately, people are finally wondering if the latter is actually simpler for everyone thanks to technology.

Opening Up Points Sharing For All

In the US, Marriott has become a world leader at allowing points to be shared socially. Any two people with Marriott Bonvoy accounts can login online, and with some basic detail, can freely share points with any other person. In the UK, fintech startup Yonder is setting the trend, with open points sharing for all.

As long as accounts are properly secured, which thanks to things like 2FA (two factor authentication) is fairly straightforward and de-risked, it feels better to err on the side of ease and joy for members than bureaucratic processes.

It’s also a lot cheaper for the business to create an online functionality to than to perpetually operate a call center to handle transfer requests. Plus, who wants to pick up the phone and listen to jazz music these days?

Points Sharing Allows Incredible Member Experiences

We all have people who we value and love in some way. Being able to create travel joy and create emotional and aspirational experiences for others is such a fun way to turn points from something mundane to meaningful.

Tell your friends who don’t have enough points to upgrade their honeymoon flights that “you got them”, you just need their account number and they’ll be whisked over in an instant. Let your sister book that better hotel on her much needed vacation all by sharing your points.

The joyous reasons and possibilities are endless and when they’re made easy, they’re a whole lot more fun.

I somewhat recently leant a friend 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points just before they added online points sharing. I had to call in and it was all fine, but it was an “effort” to make it happen. I had to carve time to call, wait, explain and all that stuff.

When that friend built their points balance back up, they couldn’t believe how easy it was to send me 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points back online. It actually prompted a “how awesome is this” discussion about other ways we’d share points with friends.

The post Should We Be Able To Share Points With Anyone, No Restrictions? appeared first on God Save The Points.

If you haven’t had to cancel a trip, or at the very least change a flight, what’s your secret? Travel is as wonderful as ever and in many ways more appreciated than ever now, but it doesn’t always go to plan these days.

For some people, it’s no longer in the plans at all, but things like new phones, home decor, offsetting the cost of a special meal, or sneakers certainly are.

After a decade of virtually every credit card moving to offer incredible travel rewards to keep up with the mega trend of airline miles and hotel points, the pandemic makes the “what do I do with my credit card points” thing a bit more complicated.

Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be complicated. The trick to earning credit card rewards during a pandemic is to earn with cards that present a double threat: a card which can convert points into airline miles or hotel points, but also offers lucrative cash back, too.

That way, you’re covered for whatever you want your rewards to unlock.

Double Threat Credit Cards

Double threat credit cards don’t lock you into a one size fits all approach to spending your rewards. If you want cash back, you can have it. If instead you want airline miles or hotel points which can unlock aspirational value, you can have them too.

Airline miles and hotel points are wonderful when availability presents itself in the perfect cabin or room, on the perfect day, but for many people those two things lining up together are fanciful.

Cash back only cards leave out the potential for aspirational value, such as first class seats or five star suites, but miles only cards leave the ease of use of “just gimme cash” off the table as well. One card offering both is the ultimate “win”.

Best In Class Double Threat Cards

Cash back is supposed to be easy, and transfer to airlines or hotels should be too. But for “best in class” double threat cards, those two things alone aren’t good enough. You also need…

• Strong points earning rates
• Strong points and cash back redemption rates

For the best earn rates on your spending, the strongest value points transfer options and dependable value when converting points into cash back, two cards really stand out: the Capital One Venture X, and Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Each card offers the potential to earn up to either 10X points or 10% cash back on select travel purchases, easy to digest 1:1 airline and hotel transfer partners, as well as clear guidance on how much points are worth, if used for cash back.

Capital One Venture X

Capital One Venture X carries a $395 annual fee, but more than $400 in annual travel perks which are easy to use, such as a $300 travel flexible credit for Capital One Travel, and 10,000 bonus points. Right now, there’s also a 75,000 point welcome bonus.

The card offers an incredible 10X points or 10% cash back on hotels and cars booked through Capital One Travel, and 5X on flights through Capital One Travel. That’s right, you can choose whether to use your points with airlines and hotels, or as cash back to cover some, or all of any purchase.

The Capital One Travel platform also offers price drop protection, which gives a partial refund if flight prices drop after the search engine suggested booking!

A fantastic feature of this card is that all spend earns at least 2X points or 2% cash back which makes it a fantastic choice for non-bonus categories found in daily spending.

1:1 Transfer Partners

Capital One now offers 15 airline and hotel transfer partners, where 1 Venture Mile equals at least 1 mile with these airline partners. This means a 100,000 point bonus could be converted into 100,000 miles with a variety of airlines.

But since it’s a double threat card, the points can be converted to cash back in a tap.

1 Cent Per Point Towards Travel

If you can’t find availability to redeem points through an airline or hotel program, you can always just pay for a flight or hotel and use your cash back to cover some, or all of the purchase.

The same way Capital One Venture Miles can be converted into airline miles, they can also be converted into cash with purchase eraser. The new 100,000 point bonus would represent $1000 towards travel and can be used all together, or bit by bit.

If you had a $3,000 Airbnb stay and wanted to make it a $2,000 purchase, you could use 100,000 points to erase $1000 off. It’s not an optimal value, but it’s there.

Read the full review of the Capital One Venture X.

Chase Sapphire Reserve

This card is fantastic for many of the same reasons as the Capital One Venture X, but the card carries a higher $550 annual fee, which requires a bit more work each year to justify keeping.

With that said, it can be totally worth it, and with new airport spaces such as the Sapphire Terrace at Austin International Airport opening, good things appear on the way.

Chase now offers 10X points earning for hotel and car rental purchases made at Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel, as well as 5X on flights. In that sense, the two cards are very similar. The card currently only offers a 60,000 point welcome, but that can change for the better, and often does!

1:1 Travel Transfer Partners

Chase also has an impressive stable of 1:1 transfer partners, where points can be converted into miles with a variety of top airlines, including Emirates, United, Virgin Atlantic and more.

They can also be converted into hotel points 1:1 with the World of Hyatt program, which is a significant win for cardholders to unlock great value.

Better Than 1 Cent Per Point On Travel & Mystery Categories

A key feature of the Chase Sapphire Reserve which makes up for other features where the Capital One Venture X clearly has a leg up, is that Chase offers better value toward cash back, when used on select categories.

With Capital One Venture X, you get 1 cent per point of value on travel, but with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you get 1.5 cents per point of value.

This means 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points are worth $1,500 when used toward travel, rather than $1,000, like Capital One. Making matters even more unique, Chase rotates a variety of categories in, which also benefit from the higher cash back rate, often including dining or home improvements.

So yeah, if you had a $150 grocery bill, you could wipe it off your card account with 10,000 points when dining is part of the enhanced ‘Pay Yourself Back’ offers. Charity donations also currently could for the 50% bonus. Nice touch!

Double Threat Rewards Credit Cards: The Key To Earn & Burn

People who said they’d never use Chase, Amex, Citi or Capital One Points for cash back before the pandemic, have since used points for cash back. Much has changed, and it always feels good to unlock fun things with points.

By earning with incredibly rewarding cards with the largest multipliers, you’re always getting a top return on your buck, but with these double threat cards you’re also able to use rewards to fit any evolving needs.

If you’re looking to stay on top of the points game during a pandemic, now you know.

The post The Best Credit Card Rewards Strategy Right Now appeared first on God Save The Points.

Like a bad cup of coffee, points devaluations from your favorite airline, hotel, credit card or coffee chain leave a bad taste in your mouth.

You go to the trouble of staying loyal to an airline or hotel, even when it’s not easy, or dive deep into personal finance to figure out which card gives you the most points on each type of purchase, all to have your special plans foiled by a loyalty program which blindsides you in the middle of the night, taking away your dream trip with no notice.

It sucks, full stop. But a better use of time would be to stop creating long term points strategies which are likely to devalue, and instead focus on the wins that points bring, and will long continue to. It’s a lot less disheartening, and far less blogger dramatic.

The TL;DR Version

If I ran an airline, I wouldn’t want my loyal customers joining the loyalty program of another airline, because that program is better at offering my flights than I am. Yet for years, that’s exactly what the juiciest parts of the points and miles world have been. Using points from one airline for better values on another.

As airlines work smarter, and dive deeper into their multi billion dollar loyalty programs, which in most cases are worth far more than the airlines themselves, these types of ‘ripe’ values to redeem points are increasingly numbered or restricted.

It’s great to make hay while the sun shines, and maximize sweet spots that exist today, but long term, focusing on sustainable values will cause far less disappointment, and still provides values which can be more than worthwhile the hassles of playing the game.

The Boom Of Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs were once simple ideas meant to reward loyal behavior, or to keep blinders on the best customers and keep people from going to competitors. They still are, but they’re so much more. They went from being 2U, to U2.

Points weren’t really attached to your credit card and everything you do in as meaningful, or as mass-marketed of a way. They existed, you could earn them, but few realized their most valuable potentials.

But once your fave travel brand figured out just how valuable loyalty could be – like loyalty programs being 3x more valuable than an airline or hotel itself – the game went from a simple tool to keep the best customers loyal, to a money spinner designed to create extra brand stickiness, even with people who’ve never actually flown their airline, or stayed in one of their hotels. Or never will!

Fun facts: if you have an airline or hotel branded credit card, they get money from every swipe you make, so it doesn’t really matter whether you stay or fly, though it helps. Even if you don’t, if you transfer your credit card points to an airline or hotel, they get paid by the credit card company.

As points became a part of every day life, from buying a latte to paying your taxes, and blogs like this one popped up, showing literally millions of people how to make better use of their points, a game of cat and mouse began. It’s still going, big time.

Airlines and hotels continue to look at widening the gulf between what people redeeming their points actually cost the business, and what they earned from the points people earned, and used to redeem. It’s a simple game of profit, and yes, points have costs, even when you transfer them from a credit card to an airline or hotel, the airline or hotel gets paid, well.

But the fun part of loyalty, is that if you remove all the ‘sweet spots’ the game is over, and a program goes from worth billions to worth zero. If there’s no way for customers to win, there’s no point in participating right?

Where Airline ‘Loyalty’ Is Headed

In the excess and corporate ‘why not’ mentalities of the 80’s and 90’s, some really odd airline and hotel partnerships sprung up, probably after a long night after international travel on an expense account. Hey, we’ve all been there.

This created odd alliances, and ways to use points from one airline, on random other airlines. But the game for now, and going forward, is about total control of the best journey for a brand’s customers. Obviously, for an airline or hotel, you want the best customer journey to be an experience with your loyalty program, not some random other offering better.

Enter: devaluations, or seismic shifts in loyalty. Many more to come…

In recent years, I’ve cataloged at least 10 changes where an airline either removed the ability for people with points from any other airline to redeem first or business class seats, or restricted or prioritized them for their own members.

• Singapore Airlines mostly blocks other loyalty programs from booking long haul first or business class seats at all.
• Qantas now largely restricts first class availability to its own loyalty program.
• Emirates has cut off access to first class for virtually all partners, minus Aeroplan.
• Lufthansa only makes first class seats bookable to members of other airline loyalty programs from 15 days out, which is impossible for most travelers.

That’s just a few small examples. Sure, this is just the opinion and data points of one person, but I’d counter this notion with – can you provide 10 data points of airlines adding obscure transfer partners at great rates, in the time these disappeared?

If you don’t see the direction things are moving, you haven’t been paying attention. Airlines are actively looking to weed out situations where another loyalty program offers better value for their own flights than they do.

For airlines which aren’t officially partners, there’s less pressure to decouple those values, but it’s ever present nonetheless.

The Virgin changes to Delta flights using points were a perfect example. Virgin Points were a much better way to book Delta flights than Delta SkyMiles. That shouldn’t make sense, but it did, and Delta, as a 49% owner in Virgin Atlantic was keen to make that change.

Focus On Best Paths to What You Need

For now, take advantage of every super value loyalty program opportunity that exists today, and don’t look back.

But longer term, so as to avoid constantly cancelling credit cards or shifting loyalty programs on a yearly basis, try to focus on the best sustainable routes to things which will save you money, miles or upgrade your travels.

And also, perhaps most importantly, try to focus on the flexible currencies banks offer from your spending, which allow you to move points into loyalty programs at will, rather than being stuck with one program.

Yes, if an airline or hotel goes too far in devaluing their program, all they accomplish is driving customers from getting their airline or hotel credit card, to getting something safer and perhaps more rewarding, like an Amex Gold Card, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Capital One Venture, Citi Premier or something along those lines.

These cards allow you to earn points which can be moved to a variety of loyalty programs, while sitting safely in the ‘bank’, rather than stuck in one program, subject to devaluation.

I’ve remained a die hard Chase Sapphire Reserve fan, specifically because I can get 1.5 cents of value (100,000 points equals $1500, etc) on virtually any paid travel purchase I want, regardless of dates or availability. If it’s bookable with cash, it’s bookable with my points to cover all, or some of the purchase. The same now applies for Airbnb.

But airlines aren’t stupid, devalue too much and people stop playing. That would mean banks not paying them for points transfers (because no one transfers points there any longer) and that would be bad for business.

Find Incremental Wins And Upgrades

Which airline offers the most reasonable value to use miles for the flight you want, or fairest path to upgrade from Premium Economy to Business Class, or the best rates for their own flights from one region of the world to the region you want to reach?

Does your airline offer a companion ticket or upgrade if you get their credit card? That may not mean booking a $10,000 flight for 100,000 points and “winning”, but paying a $95 annual fee and saving $500 a year or more is still meaningful and worthwhile.

We all love a super sweet spot where epic value exists, but there are only so many left, and they’re disappearing. Again, it’s fantastic to “burn” points on these mega values, like using Japan Airlines Miles to book Emirates First Class – yes, you can do that – but many of these opportunities will disappear.

Devaluations are far less likely, particularly during the pandemic, for things which don’t involve partners. Value from miles on one airline to use on flights with the same airline are hopefully going to actually improve, as airlines look to fill seats. In other words, you may actually see loyalty programs become more generous in the next couple years, but only for people who are using their own loyalty program.

Going back to the Delta and Virgin Atlantic example, they’re a perfect example. Virgin recently dropped a restriction of which type of premium economy ticket you needed to book to upgrade to Upper Class, and Delta has gone heavy into SkyMiles ‘Flash Deals’, where you can save a considerable number of miles on Delta flights, but only if you use Delta miles.

It’s perfectly fair to lament the loss of amazing opportunities to use points, but being surprised by them lacks foresight and context. Book some amazing opportunities in the short term, and start playing sustainable long term games to benefit the most from your points in ways which won’t leave you frustrated, or holding the bag.

The post Stop Being Surprised By Points Devaluations And Learn To Avoid Them appeared first on God Save The Points.

With the new year comes a decision for many credit card enthusiasts, as to which cards will retain spots in their wallet.

I personally like to do a little inventory to determine how much value and use I have gotten from each of my cards, since many of them have annual fees. 

Chase Sapphire Reserve has been the travel rewards card that I have had in my wallet the longest. But with Amex Platinum continuing to add more benefits and more Centurion lounges, and with the launch of the Capital One Venture X, I decided to take a more granular look at my usage and the value I got back last year from my CSR.

At a $550 annual fee, I decided to really crunch the numbers, and one benefit in particular stood out to me as something that no other card offers – and it’s a benefit that I use weekly and get a ton of value out of… Instacart.

It surprised me when I realized that my favorite and most used benefit on one of the top travel rewards cards was a grocery delivery service. And it’s one of the main reasons why I have decided to renew my Chase Sapphire Reserve in 2023.

Why I love Instacart+

I signed up for the one-year free Instacart+ membership (which costs $99 per year) with my Chase Sapphire Reserve when the benefit launched back in June 2022. I live in a smaller city in Florida where Walmart+, Amazon Fresh and Shipt are not really options for me. On the other hand, Instacart+ offers delivery and pickup for me at a variety of retailers in my town: Publix, Fresh Market, Aldi, Sprouts, ABC Fine Wine and Spirits, Petco and many more.  

So far, I have placed 35 Instacart orders, I have saved 50 hours of shopping at stores (according to my Instacart stats year-end-review recap), and I have saved $120 in fees.

I personally was one of those people who loved going to the grocery store. I enjoyed strolling the aisles for the best deals, picking out the freshest produce, chit chatting with friends I ran into, etc. But I have to say, you can’t put a price tag on convenience and on saving time – especially in this day and age! – and Instacart+ has saved me so much time and hassle over the past 6 months.

The app experience is easy and seamless, delivery and pickup have always been a breeze, and I have never had an issue with the quality of the fresh produce, meat, bakery items or cheese that I have ordered.

There is nothing better than having neatly packaged, fresh groceries delivered right to your door, or pulling into a pickup spot and having your car quickly loaded up for you. It sure beats running around the store to grab what you need, waiting in lines, loading the car yourself, and then making your way home. 

I am clearly a big Instacart fangirl, and I love all of the perks that come with this CSR benefit. Instacart+ membership includes the following: Unlimited free delivery on orders $35+, 5% back on pickup orders, a free family account and more.

To make my Instacart+ membership work that much harder for me, I typically pick up my order to get the 5% back. While having your groceries delivered is super convenient, saving 5% on my order and not having to tip the delivery driver makes this my go-to option.

I simply schedule my order for pickup within the timeframe that I know that I will be running errands near where the store is. Then I pull up, get my car loaded for me, and off I go. I have been in and out with my order in as little as 3 minutes, but it has never taken me longer than 10 minutes.

Chase Cards That Offer Instacart Perks

Not only does Chase offer complimentary Instacart+ memberships (worth $99 per year) for numerous cardholders, but they’re now also offering Instacart statement credits on a monthly or quarterly basis depending on which card you have:

Chase Sapphire Reserve: 

• Cardholders receive 1 year of complimentary Instacart+ (must be activated by July 31, 2024). 
• $15 in monthly statement credits (through July 2024). 

Chase Sapphire Preferred: 

• Cardholders receive 6 months of complimentary Instacart+ (must be activated by July 31, 2024). 
• $15 in quarterly statement credits (through July 2024).  

Chase Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited and Freedom Student card

• Cardholders receive 3 months of complimentary Instacart+ (must be activated by July 31, 2024). 
• $10 in quarterly statement credits (through July 2024).  

To enroll for Instacart+, eligible Chase cardholders simply need to sign up via the promotional link by July 31, 2024. If you already have an Instacart+ membership, you can still enroll at the promotional link, and then enter your Sapphire or Freedom account number to link your Instacart account to your Chase card and receive the above benefits.

Final Verdict

You can’t put a price on ease and convenience in this day and age, and Chase’s Instacart benefit has become my favorite and most used benefit out of all of my credit cards! Plus, it’s always nice when card issuers add unique perks like this, without taking anything else away.

If you haven’t already signed up for Chase’s free Instacart+ membership, then give it a try, as you’re also missing out on monthly/quarterly Instacart statement credits that can help you offset your annual fee. Check out the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card.

The post Instacart+ Is The Surprising Reason I’m Renewing My Chase Sapphire Reserve appeared first on God Save The Points.

I cover “everything” in travel on a daily basis. In a world of copycat moves, “what’s next”, or “what’s new”, is always a passion. And while there are many things to like about the Capital One Venture X Card, there’s an “X factor” to me, that really sets this card apart from so many others.

It’s not lounge access, though the card’s got it, nor the amazing points earning of up to 10X, $300 travel credit or any of the other countless travel credits, but a simply piece of confidence. 

This card, and other cards with access to Capital One Travel offer confidence inspiring booking features, brought along by hopper. It’s like insurance, without the painful claims process or eye gouging fees or ridiculous excuses. Sound interesting? It is. 

A Real Reason To Book With Capital One Travel

Most major rewards credit cards have a website where you can book travel. There are some good perks too. A common thread is often more points. Chase, Amex and others all offer more points if you book through them, than elsewhere. 

So when Capital One entered the game, they were faced with a choice: copy, or innovate. They chose the latter, bringing features like “cancel for any reason”, where a non-refundable airline ticket is able to be cancelled for a small fee at booking. 

Another stunner: price drop protection. If Capital One Travel suggests to “buy now”, and the price later drops, you receive the difference in price, up to $50 automatically.

I can’t tell you how many readers have gotten in touch to shout about what a difference it’s been, being able to book things knowing they can cancel without the pains of insurance, and how many have been surprised or delighted to find $50 back with the price guarantee. These alone go a long way in justifying the $395 annual fee.

The point is, sometimes people considering credit cards get bogged down in “all” the benefits, when it’s really a couple of specific benefits which can make all the difference. To me, this is the “x-factor” of this card. 

And finally, there’s price match guarantees, with an easy claims process. According to Capital One, the travel service proactively monitors and matches rates found on other top sites and matches. If for some reason the price is lower elsewhere, you simply call customer service.

With our price match guarantee, if you find a better price for a flight, hotel or rental car on another site within 24 hours of booking, we’ll refund you the difference.

Capital One Travel

There Are Some Limitations

This is one of those things that sounds too good to be true, but isn’t quite. It’s real and it works, there are just some small limitations. 

In some cases, only partial refunds are available with the “cancel or any reason” flight product. Considering how cheap it is to add the option, and how you’d get nothing back at all otherwise, it’s still remarkable. 

Second, the price drop protection is capped at $50 for flights. This may not cover the full difference in fare, but the artificial intelligence is constantly learning, and the way it is structured — Capital One has every incentive not to be wrong. With other sites, you have nothing, so the $50 is just a big plus.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to learn how to hunt great fare deals!

How To Use These Capital One Features

Using these features is easy and that’s the whole beauty of it. There’s no calling an insurance company to create a policy, or needing to read through red tape to find a justified reason to cancel or change. 

Any eligible Cardmembers can simply register for online access and then login to CapitalOneTravel.com to take advantage of these services. Don’t forget that Capital One Travel offers 10X points on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel too, in addition to 5X on flights.

The post The Travel “X-Factor” Of The Capital One Venture X Rewards Card appeared first on God Save The Points.

As we discussed previously, Bilt Rewards like to “surprise and delight” every month on Rent day. This month Bilt Rewards is offering a no-strings-attached opportunity to receive United MileagePlus® Premier® status through a challenge. This means that just by being a Bilt Rewards member, you can get a Star Alliance Status Match for a few months with the opportunity to extend the status.

Complimentary United MileagePlus® Premier® Silver or Gold status

To receive your complimentary Star Alliance (United MileagePlus) status, you must be a Bilt Rewards Member, which is possible by signing up for a free Bilt Rewards Account. This should not be confused with signing up for the credit card, which is a separate optional process that allows you to earn more Bilt Rewards points on purchases and (free) monthly rent payments.

Star Alliance Status Match

For those deeply involved in the Bilt Rewards eco-system, those with Bilt Silver, Gold, and Platinum Tier (based on yearly points earned) will be eligible for Gold Status. Everyone else, including Bilt Blue Tier Members, are eligible for United Premier Silver Status.

This perk (status match) is a bit juicer for those who have earned many Bilt Tier Points, which is accomplished by getting The Bilt Mastercard, mind you, a card with no annual fee and no fee for earning points on your monthly rent payment.

Star Alliance Silver – United Premier® Silver

There is still quite a bit of value in United Premier® Silver which still includes Premier Access and (rare but possible) complimentary upgrades, a complimentary checked bag up to 70 lbs, and preferred seating for yourself and a companion when seats are available at booking. Complimentary Economy Plus seating for yourself and a companion is possible when seats are available at check-in.

Things get a bit more interesting with Gold Status, which includes Star Alliance Gold status, two checked bags, and better access to Economy Plus seating.

Must Unlock Status By November 1st

This offer is only valid through November 1st, and you unlock the complimentary status for 120 days just by being a Bilt Member. You can extend your Premier status through January 2024 by completing the requirements during your Challenge Period.

Bilt Rewards Rent Day

This is probably a good time to remind everyone about Bilt Rewards Rent Day. This is not a one-time thing; this is a bonus every month on the 1st. Even if it is not your rent day, it’s the new Bilt Rent (bonus) Day.

On the first of every month, you will get double points, as noted in the app. Of course, Bilt reminds you that this is in addition to getting 1x points (with no fee) on your rent payments.

The current bonus categories for Bilt Rent Day are:

• 6x points on dining
• 4x points on travel
• 2x points on spend (excluding rent)

There is a limit of 10,000 bonus points each Rent Day, but the simplicity of the bonus with a repeat each month makes it super easy to participate. This is truly a “surprise and delight” that you can expect every month, and who knows, perhaps Bilt will include some additional surprises on a month-to-month basis.

There are a bunch of other rent day perks, and you can find more information about them on the APP or the Bilt Rewards website under the “Rent Day” section.

Pay Rent Seamlessly – Get Points

Use Bilt to earn points on rent with the no-annual-fee Bilt Mastercard^®. Earn 1x on Rent (up to 50,000 points annually), 2x on travel, 3x on dining, and 1x on all other spend with the card.

But the cool thing is that even if your building is not a Bilt Alliance Property, you can pay any landlord that uses an online payment portal. Bilt will give you a unique routing and account number, which you can use in the landlord portal to “instantly” pay your rent.

For those hesitant to have Bilt mail a check (another option for non-Bilt Alliance Properties), this solves that problem. I have tested it, and the payment is processed just as your building would process any other ACH (Automated Clearing House) network payment. In addition, if your landlord gives perks for using their portal (mine does), you will also be able to get those same perks.

Now there is absolutely no reason NOT to pay your rent with Bilt, though you reap the full benefit (points) by getting the Bilt Mastercard. In addition, as we saw with this recent promotion, earning Bilt Tier Points opened up a higher status for the United Status Match Promotion.

Bilt Has A Very Strong Value Prop

With numerous transfer partners, a great app, and unique surprise and delight perks such as “Rent Day,” plus a baseline earning of 2x points for travel and 3x points for dining, it is hard to find much fault with the Bilt Mastercard. Perhaps, the lack of a sign-up bonus (SUB) is disappointing. But Bilt has recently introduced a new referral program where you earn 2,500 Bilt Points for every new card member you refer and a 10,000 point bonus for every five members.

Bilt – Uncapped referral Bonus

The best part? This referral bonus is virtually “uncapped,” where you can earn up to 2,025,000 points. Yeah, I agree; a SUB would be nice, but having no annual fee and the ability to earn (free) points while paying rent is also pretty awesome.

The post [Act Fast] Star Alliance Status Match With No Strings + Seamless Points For Rent appeared first on God Save The Points.

You’ve probably seen lots of bloggers telling you that you shouldn’t E-V-E-R use your credit card points at the fixed rates that credit card companies offer when you redeem them directly for travel or cash back.

Instead, they’d say that you should transfer your points to an airline or hotel to get the most benefit, or “cents per point” of value. That’s fairly sage advice in most cases, but in others it’s utterly useless. Sorry.

I just booked round trip business class from Europe to Los Angeles, on almost any date I wanted, for 87,000 points and $0, yes Z-E-R-O in cash, by using my credit card points towards travel, directly with Chase Ultimate Rewards. No transfers, no waiting for any points seats to open up — even though I used points. I’ll explain.

Chase Sapphire Reserve For The Win

When people talk about rewards cards, much often gets lost in the numerous details. This benefit, that benefit, all the maybe’s. Today, we’re focusing on one thing, and that is the power of using Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to book great flight deals.

When you do, not only may you save points versus transfers to an airline program, but you are also able to earn points and elite status credit back, because it’s as if you are paying cash.

You also don’t have to find dates when points inventory is available, since any date where the cash fare is available, is available using the Chase Ultimate Rewards Points.

When an airline, or group of airlines files an attractive fare, booking with Chase Points is often too good to pass up. If i’d booked these same flights — subject to usual points availability of course — I would’ve paid over 135,000 points and over $1000 in fees.

Instead, I paid 87,000 points with my Chase Sapphire Reserve Card, and will earn almost 20,000 miles back from the airline I’m flying with. In this instance, British Airways. I’ll also earn over 350 tier points, which is a quarter of the way to British Airways Gold status.

How It Works Using Points For Cash Tickets

Good fares can be filed anywhere, for travel anywhere. For travel originating from the US, they can be somewhat fleeting, often only lasting a few days. You need to follow deals closely. But for air travel out of Europe, good fares can really stick around.

They can even allow departures from a wide variety of cities, to an even broader set of destinations. It could be options like five cities in Asia, or most of the continental US.

A couple of months ago, British Airways and American had a $1300 USD fare for travel from either Dublin or Budapest to the West Coast. I could pretty much pick and choose between LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, Seattle and plenty more.

Once I found dates where that price was available, I logged into my Chase Ultimate Rewards account, and searched for the flights I had in mind. It’s worth noting that not all flights you see on Google Flights will appear in Chase Ultimate Rewards, but it’s not often there’s much difference.

I completed the booking and had the option to use all cash, all points, or a combo of the two. Any portion you pay in cash earns back 5X points on the purchase, which ties the best in class return on points of any card.

If you don’t have enough points for the entire purchase, you can simply apply as many as you have, at the rate of 1.5 cents per point. At that rate, 100,000 Chase UR Points would cover $1500 of hotels, or airfare.

How Do You Earn Point Back On Chase Flight Bookings?

Because the airline gets paid as if its cash, you earn full miles or points from the airline or chosen airline loyalty program — and elite status credit too. Chase is just taking my points, and then paying the airline or “travel agency” as usual.

This is a huge shift from typical points bookings made through airline frequent flyer programs, where with one exception — Virgin Atlantic — you don’t earn anything when you redeem your points for a flight.

Making Use Of Great Deals

For people based in the US, this particular deal wasn’t necessarily a slam dunk, but the logic behind using Chase Points to cover great flight deals on any airline certainly is.

There are flash fares for $1500 in business class from the US to Asia, Europe, South America and beyond, which would offer the chance to use 100,000 points and $0 in cash, while still earning points in return.

The points you can earn back, in addition to elite status credit can be amazing. Plus, there’s no points redemption on earth offering better rates for the route than that. A sub 100,000 point redemption with no fees would be unheard of anyway, but earning things in return is next level.

But back to this particular style of deal originating Europe, even if you don’t live in Europe, it can make sense to use these deals to your advantage. If you travel to… let’s say… Paris, a few times a year.

You could simply use miles or a cheap one way ticket to get there. You’d then use one of these great deals to get back to the US, and then use the return portion for your next scheduled trip back to Europe, to get you there.

In other words, if fares are 2X expensive originating the US, and you’ll be going to Europe at least 2X, make these deals work for you.

Chase Points For Flight Deals

To keep it simple, there are times where cash fares are so good, it can make more sense to book the cash fare using your Chase Points, than trying to move points to a frequent flyer program and search for space.

The more you pay attention to flight deals, the more opportunity you have to decide on whether to pay with some points, all cash, or all points. Don’t forget that the Chase Sapphire Reserve offers 5X points on flights booked through Chase Travel.

The post How I Booked Europe To LA In Business Class For 87,000 Points And $0 Round Trip appeared first on God Save The Points.

Dining can represent a significant portion of monthly spending, particularly if you care about what you’re chomping down on. Food is life, right? In the UK, sadly, dining hasn’t been a very rewarding experience from the credit card rewards side. Maybe you earn a point per pound spent, but that’s about it.

I’m here to say that dining in the UK can, and should be a more rewarding experience, with a new card challenging the status quo. But first, a little backstory.

I’m an American living in London, and I’ve seen rewards on both sides of the pond. In the US, some cards offer up to 4X or 5X points on all purchases that class as dining, yet in the UK, 1X has been the benchmark for “best” rewards. WTF!

With a curiosity for the next generation of rewards, I signed up for the Yonder Card, hoping it could deliver on its promise of a more rewarding dining experience. After earning 5X points at some of my favorite restaurants and using points at exceptional rates to take some money off my bill, I’m sold.

Here’s why I think Yonder is the best UK card for dining, and why it’s not my thoughts that matter, but the actual rewards numbers and perks.

Up To 5X Points On Dining

If I spend £100 and earn 500 points, i’m happy. That sure beats spending £100 and earning 100 points. On that metric alone, Yonder is heating up a market that’s been dormant for too long.

It’s not a perfect science — only a couple handfuls of (for now) rotating London restaurants earn at these higher 3-5X points rates each month — but the curation and quality makes it easy to drive me into exciting new cocktail dens and restaurants of all price points.

How Do Points Earnings Stack Up?

The common thread is always delicious. Yonder Card is also making points earned far richer than other competitors offering airline miles, by offering higher rewards values, when points are redeemed at one of these curated monthly partners.

This may sound complicated to non points nerds — sorry! — but it’s incredibly easy and fool proof. Words can be boring, so I took these screen captures help to share a bit more of the actual user experience I’ve been impressed by. Hit the button!

Here above, you can see one of this month’s 9 options, Bancone. Pasta just hits different this time of year. As you can see, you just show up like any other person and dine.

When you pay with your Yonder Card, you earn 5X points at these selected partners. After you pay, if you have points and want to use them, you get to use them at the rates described. A little pop up appears in your app where you can swipe away some, or all of the bill — depending how much you spent.

I like Yonder as a card to earn rewards for more daily or weekly joy in between my travels. It’s been worth moving some spend over to this card to benefit not only when going away, but at home too.

Yonder Treats

One fun, and unexpected benefit of carrying the card has been “Yonder Treats”, where the fintech firm offers surprise and delight benefits each month. Many of which help to far outweigh the monthly £15 fee (after the first three months free as a welcome).

There’s currently £10 monthly free credit to try sustainable city bike company ‘HumanForest’, but there’s also been pop up offers, like Yonder Lunches, where the company covered £10 of lunch for 350 points, out of the blue. That’s high cents per point value — for real.

No Foreign Transaction Fees Abroad

Food and travel are like pizza and tomato sauce. Aside from the significantly increased dining reward potential at “home”, being able to earn rewards for dining abroad, sans the stupid foreign transaction fees many other cards charge, is delightful.

If you fly to Rome for some Cacio e Pepe on a whim, or New York for a steak, you’ll be able to earn rewards on those meals without pesky fees for spending abroad. The app actually tells you how much money it saved you when you get home.

Yonder Card: Current Best For Dining Rewards?

If you live in, or around London, it’s hard to make an argument for a better rewards card for dining in the UK right now. 5X points is unheard of, and redeeming points at circa 2.5 pence per point is simply outstanding. It beats most airline or hotel redemption opportunities with other cards. 

For those outside of London, earning 1X on all purchases while enjoying attractive travel insurance and no foreign transaction fees is appealing, but it’s less conclusively a winner. Basically, for Londoner’s, or anyone who regularly dines in or around London, this is the current best in class dining card by any reasonable metric.

Representative example: Approval subject to eligibility. Representative APR: 59.3% APR (variable), Purchase rate: 23.94% APR (variable),

Monthly fee: £15 a month, Assumed credit limit: £1200

Impact on your credit rating: You’ll need to make your minimum monthly payment on time, or it can impact your credit rating. Only borrow what you can afford to pay back.

Yonder Card

There’s a current welcome offer of 3 months free, plus £50 to spend at partners.

The post Yonder: Best UK Credit Card For Dining? appeared first on God Save The Points.

Sometimes transferring to partners and finding award availability can be a huge pain. I also probably don’t even have to mention the fact that hotel prices these days are high, and hotel award availability can be very challenging.

You have heard us discuss the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and the extreme value one can get from collecting the Chase Currency Ultimate Rewards Points. But, one benefit that is not discussed as often is the “Pay Yourself Back” feature that sometimes has promotions for specific categories.

Considering that most of the universe has the low-fee Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, this is a great benefit to remember when you have exhausted other potential miles&points hotel booking options.

“Pay Yourself Back” on Airbnb Until December 31, 2022

That’s right, through 12/31/22, you can choose to use your Ultimate Rewards Points to “Pay Yourself Back” with 25% more point value. This would be a value that is equivalent to booking travel via the Chase Travel Portal.

Chase has extended the bonus and the ability to use your Ultimate Rewards Points for Airbnb from the original expiry date of September 30, 2022.

For the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you would get 1.25 cents per point, while the Chase Sapphire Reserve would allow you to pay yourself back at a rate of 1.50 cents per point.

The easy math is that a $1000 Airbnb purchase would cost a Chase Sapphire Preferred Cardholder 80,000 Points and a Reserve Cardholder 66,666 points.

Why Is This A Better Option Than A Hotel Points Redemption?

Setting aside the fact that you would need to find the availability for the exact room category on the exact dates, multiple rooms can be a drag when you are redeeming for a group or family.

Redeeming a room at a hotel or resort is no big deal when you only have one or two people staying in the accommodation, but the moment you have more people, that often means having to redeem multiple rooms.

Airbnb now offers a huge variety of accommodations, including luxe, castles, historical homes, beachfront, and ski-in/out multi-bedroom options. These options solve the multi-room family or group trip.

Boat Rentals and Experiences

How about staying on a boat? While the boat will remain docked, you can often rent one that is moments from the action. One example might be renting a boat close to the action in Miami South Beach. Sure, the yacht stays docked, but it’s a pretty great idea when multiple rooms in South Beach are super expensive. You can also pay an additional fee for a ride with a licensed captain.

Another thing to not overlook are Airbnb Experiences. Even if you do not need to rent an Airbnb, you might be interested in purchasing experiences during your holiday. This is a great way to get a discount on some neat vacay experiences.

How Do I Pay Myself Back?

The beauty and simplicity of Chase “Pay Yourself Back” is that you only have to make the Airbnb purchase using your Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve Card. Once the charge settles (posts) to your account, you can choose the “Pay Yourself Back” option on the Chase Ultimate Rewards Page.

The only warning is that you need the charge to post by December 31, 2022. Of course, you could be booking something on Airbnb well into 2023. It might be a good idea to try to complete any transactions a few days prior to the end of 2022 since you would not want a charge to post after December 31st.

Even if your hotel rewards loyalty program “hunt’ has been unsuccessful, there are still a number of great opportunities on Airbnb using your Ultimate Rewards Points.

The post Chase Extends Airbnb “Pay Yourself Back” Points Offer appeared first on God Save The Points.