How I Travel For Free Using Credit Card Points

Before I became a travel blogger, I used credit card points to fund all of my travels. I signed up for pretty much every travel card there was, using the points to backpack Europe several times over and jaunt off to music festivals around the globe. I didn’t have the excess income to pay for all the flights I wanted, so points got me where I needed to go. I became a bit of an expert when it came to the travel credit card game, a self-proclaimed Points Queen. With the right card in hand, you can travel for free or at least highly discounted!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Chase and ShopStyle. As always, all opinions are my own.

Get a Travel Rewards Credit Card With a Large Sign-Up Bonus

When you sign up for a travel rewards card, there usually is a large point bonus once you hit the minimum spend within a certain period of time. My favorite travel rewards card is the Chase Sapphire Preferred®, for reasons which I’ll get into more below. When you sign up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred®, you get 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening – that’s worth $750 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards! I used my sign-up bonus to go to Europe for a whole summer after graduating from college. As a new grad, every penny saved really counted, so not having to pay for my flight over made a huge difference in keeping to my backpacking budget.

Don’t have the Chase Sapphire Preferred® yet? You can sign up here to grab that 60,000 point bonus I mentioned!

Maximize the Points You Can Earn

There are a lot of reasons I’ve kept my Chase Sapphire Preferred® for nearly 8 years now. First off, you get 2X points on travel and dining and 1X points on all other purchases with your card, which can really add up fast. With my travel blogging lifestyle, I obviously spend a lot on travel and dining out, so those double points make a huge difference. Those points are redeemable for things like plane tickets, hotel stays, and cruises. You can either transfer them to a partner for 1-to-1 points, like United or Southwest, which are both options, or use your points in the Chase Ultimate Rewards booking portal. In order to maximize the points you earn, you’ll want to put every charge that is in the travel or dining category on your Chase Sapphire Preferred® to always get those 2X points.

Get More Points with the Refer-A-Friend Initiative

Beyond spending on your card, you can earn up 75,000 points a year with Chase Sapphire Preferred® by referring your friends with their Refer-A-Friend Initiative. For every friend that applies and gets approved for the card, you’ll receive 15,000 bonus points, up to 75,000 points a year for 5 friends. I’ve signed up lots of friends over the years I’ve had my card, and they’ve all used their sign-up bonuses to go on grand trips, so it’s really a win-win!

More Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

• While I do sometimes redeem for hotel stays, I find the biggest value is usually in redeeming for international flights!
• Use the card for every travel and dining purchase to maximize the 2X points. If you split your spending with other cards, you can make this card only for those category purchases so you’re missing out on bonus points.
• This is a great card to use abroad while traveling, as you pay no foreign transaction fees!
• Use the card while booking your flights and travel (especially rental cars) to use its travel protection benefits, like trip cancellation insurance, lost luggage reimbursement, and more.
• Try to keep your balance paid off monthly so that you’re not paying interest on the card and maximize the value you’re getting out of the card.

What’s your favorite travel hack? Let me know in the comments below! And make sure to sign up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® card so you can start traveling on points too!

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