If you recently decided to get a travel credit card, your next step should make the list clear about the cards that best suit your spending and budget needs.
There are many options in the market and it can be difficult to provide you with the greatest value based on habits. To help you make the best choice, follow these four easy steps.
Decide between common or general travel reward cards
First, you need to consider the type of travel card you need and the type of reward you want to earn. There are two main categories: Co-Travel Credit Card and General Travel Reward Credit Card.
A common travel credit card belongs to a specific airline or hotel and often comes with a specific brand of travel benefits. For airline cards, this means privileges like free check bags, priority boarding and on-flight discounts. Hotel cards may include annual hotel credit or automatic hotel elite status.
Since shared cards can help you get rewards on a specific travel plan, they are best for frequent travelers loyal to a particular brand, such as United Airlines or Marriott.
General Travel Rewards Credit Cards allow you to earn rewards in a credit card reward program with a variety of redemption options. With the general travel card, you may be able to transfer rewards to loyalty programs of multiple airlines and hotels, or use them to book an issuer’s travel portal. You may also be able to redeem your rewards to obtain statement credit, gift cards and select items.
For those who want to be flexible in the reward without being associated with a specific airline or hotel brand, a general travel credit card is usually better.
Related: How (and Why) You Should Earn Transferable Credit Card Points
Find a valuable welcome quote
Next, you need to identify a card with a large number of but achievable offers. Sometimes this can prove your ownership of the card lasts for years.
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Have your ability to meet the minimum expenditure requirements for a specific offer. For example, after spending $5,000 from your account in the first three months, after you spend $5,000 to purchase $5,000, the welcome offer on the popular Chase SapphirePreferred® card is 60,000 bonus points.
For some people, spending $5,000 in three months is feasible, but if you are considering buying a card, make sure you can reach the spending level.
Reward cards with higher welcome offers usually come with higher minimum spending requirements. You also need to pay attention to the history of the card offering and have the potential to take advantage of any boosted welcome offers on the cards you are interested in.
Related: The best welcome offer this month
Maximize bonus categories
If you find a card with a nice welcome bonus, make sure it has reward categories that benefit your spending habits so you can make use of them as much as you can.
If you spend a lot of money on a given category (such as restaurants, groceries, or travel), find a card that is more than a dollar or mile per dollar when you spend in these places.
Foreseeable, most travel cards also offer rewards when traveling, for example, Dr. Marriott Card offers rewards at Marriott Hotels, or when you book a trip through Chase Travel℠.
Welcome offers and reward categories will greatly affect how you reward, so choose wisely.
Related: 10 easiest credit card welcome bonuses
Proof of annual fee
Finally, we recommend considering only cards with stipends, which will have an impact and will have the benefit of helping you prove that the annual fee is reasonable (if there is one card) and that you can get value from the next time you book your trip.
For example, premium products such as American Express’s PlatinumCard® offer a lot of luxury privileges. Amex Platinum has a wide variety of benefits and statement credits, mainly to offset its $695 annual fee (see Fees and Fees), but if you can’t take advantage of these allowances and find yourself paying nearly $700, then you don’t take advantage of this card, and the card isn’t worth it.
There are a lot of cards without an annual fee, which is a good place to start. That said, the annual fee on most cards is reasonable, and if you use the card and its privileges wisely, it may be far beyond the offset.
Related: Complete Guide to Credit Cards Annual Fee
Bottom line
With so many cards, we know it’s hard to find the right card for you, especially if you’re a newbie familiar with points and miles. Our advice is if you are a free agent, if you are loyal to a specific brand, use a general travel reward card, or a specific airline or hotel card.
Related: Credit Cards Helping to Encourage My Luxury Travel
For Amex Platinum rates and fees, click here.
