How To Prepare For Post COVID Travel Credit Card Rewards

Many vacationers are worried about the impact of COVID-19 on the future of tourism. While the Coronavirus lockdown has limited travel for the time being, there are several post COVID travel deals to watch out for. Post COVID travel plans and trends suggest that the tourism industry has the ability to recover. Read on to learn more about the airline, hotel, and cruise travel predictions in a post Coronavirus world.

Are you Hesitant to commit to value travel plans in 2020? This is a great time to start gathering the tools that take some time to build up and store for future travel in 2021 and beyond!

It takes some time to build up points and miles (reward points) and now is a great time to assess what type of future travel is important to you. When you apply for a travel credit card it takes some time to get approved, receive your card, work on using it for your minimum spend, hit the minimum spend, and then receive for bonus points/miles approximately eight weeks later. That process from start to finish can be three to four months.

At no cost to you, we recommend you join all the loyalty programs out there that you may use. If you love Hilton or Hyatt hotels, join their programs. This is one of the best ways to maximize hotel points and rewards. Love to fly Delta or JetBlue? Sign up. When you join a loyalty program you get offers and additional perks throughout the year that may benefit you. Here are some fundamental terms to understand before you start.

Points & Miles

In plain terms they are currency with value. They are program-specific or bank issued. The COVID inflicted lockdown has greatly limited the potential uses of your travel miles for the moment. Luckily, there is no reason to stop saving. Continue optimizing your plan and earning additional points from home. Often, just using airline credit cards for eCommerce and daily purchases can earn you a significant number of points. Instead of accumulating points, ask your card issuer if they provide credits, free night certificates, and benefits that are redeemable post-Coronavirus.

Minimum Spend

It is the amount of money, once you are approved for your post covid credit card, that you have to spend on that particular credit card before you qualify for the bonus you are to receive. On most credit cards that period will be 90 days. The amount of time can vary, but that is currently the industry standard. The important thing to remember is that the clock is ticking once you are approved, not when you receive the card in the mail. You also do not want to cut it too close to day 90 because you may miss the cutoff so plan on only 80 days to play it safe. The amount you have to charge can range from $1000-5000 depending on the card offer. Also make sure you don’t make any returns on the card in that period because then the amount spent will be backed out of your total.

Sign Up Bonus

This is one of the easiest ways to save money on your next vacation. Consider using this strategy as a cruise travel hack to reduce expenses before you set sail. You receive this once you hit your minimum spend. It goes into your account approximately 60 days later. Sometimes it can be sooner. You cannot use them until you see them in your loyalty account.

Award Availability

This is when you start the process to use your points/miles on airlines and hotels. It can be challenging at times because there are only a certain amount of seats on a flight or hotel rooms allocated per night for this purpose. Avoiding high demand times of the year and certain days of the week (Fridays and Sundays) may help tremendously. Booking WAY in advance also gives you an edge. Some allow you to book a year in advance. This should be the first thing you do before making arrangements for the rest of your trip. Points/miles vary per redemption so look to use the lowest amount so you have more for future travel. Try to be flexible in where you want to go. Some destinations can be very costly and can wipe out your balances. To maximize your savings even further, be sure to pay close attention to added ancillary travel fees and consider how you can avoid them.

Repayment Habits

To maximize your travel credit card rewards, it is imperative to review your repayment habits. First off, you should always pay your travel credit card balance in full. Of course, you should always pay on time to avoid forfeiting your travel rewards. At the same time, avoid using your travel rewards card for inherently risky transactions like balance transfers or cash advances. Furthermore, constantly pay close attention to changes in your travel rewards program.

Award Redemption

That is what happens when you actually use your points/miles for post covid travel rewards. You are then ready to go! Your balance is then reduced in your account and hopefully you will have enough for future travel. Don’t be lured to upgrade your experience with a better class of service like Business Class or First Class. I would rather fly three times in Coach then once in Business Class.

But which type of credit card do you want? An airline card, hotel card, another type of card? Why a credit card versus using cash or a debit card? There are many reasons to go with the credit card. If you use it the right way, you earn reward points, you have built in protections on some of your purchases, some cards offer you airport lounge access, and many more perks. With so many cards to choose from, where do you start? There is no one perfect card for you. It all depends on your travel goals and spending habits. Some cards give generous bonuses when used for everyday dining, shopping and gas.

Some of the credit cards worth looking at currently are the following:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred.
• AMEX Everyday.
• Capital One Venture.

These have good travel protection, good value on miles, low annual fees. Signing up for the best travel cards can help you greatly reduce costs on your next solo travel trip or family vacation.

If there is an airline you plan on using most of the time I would think about their card. If you live near a hub city of an airline like Atlanta for Delta, Delta Skymiles AMEX is a good choice. In most cases you and your family will be able to check your luggage free of charge and that alone will offset the annual fee you may have with that card. In order to receive the benefit you will need to charge the flight with that particular card. If your flight is free you will have some taxes to pay for, and use that card.

Additional Hubs To Consider:

Alaska Airlines: Seattle, Anchorage, Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, San Diego, and San Jose
American Airlines: Dallas, Charlotte, Los Angeles, Miami, NYC, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Washington, D.C.
Delta: Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St Paul, NYC, Salt Lake City, Seattle/Tacoma, Austin, Cincinnati, Nashville, Raleigh/Durham, San Jose
United: Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco, Washington, D.C.
Frontier: Denver, Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Orlando, Philadelphia, Raleigh/Durham, Trenton
JetBlue: Boston, Orlando, Ft Lauderdale, Long Beach, NY, San Juan
Spirit: Atlantic City, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Ft Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Orlando

Each of these airlines have their own cards.

Before you start this process we recommend that you get your free credit report to review. You want to make sure that you will get approved for the credit cards of your choice and want no surprises. Once a year you can go to annualcreditreport.com or call 877-322-8228 to see if everything is fine in terms of your payment history. Address any issues you may uncover or have totally forgotten about. They pull your information from Equifax, Experian or TransUnion. It will be very hard to get approved for anything if you have a credit score of under 625. 700 or higher puts you in the driver’s seat. You will NOT get your credit score from these reports but you will have a great idea if you have any issues to address from this report. You may not know that you owe a company from the past with an outstanding balance of $50 that you never paid for some reason. This information can go back seven years. This exercise will also help you identify potential identity theft.

Once you get your first card, do not apply for additional post covid travel credit cards right away. We recommend spreading out each card by at least three or four months. Wait until you have achieved the minimum spend amount and are ready for the next one AND have the means to handle another concentrated period of 90 days with a minimum dollar amount. It will be a red flag for them if you cluster a few applications at the same time anyway. They can see where else you have applied. There is absolutely nothing wrong with working with one card! You do not want to spend more than you can afford in the end.

Another surprising statistic- Your credit score will go DOWN if you have multiple credit cards AND you close some of them. Available credit is a good thing for a credit score. Crazy! If you want to get rid of a card that has an annual fee, call them up and ask to be downgraded to one of their other cards that don’t have a fee. There is also a slight chance they will offer to waive your annual fee for another year. Nothing wrong with that! Be sure to consider all the available credit score travel hacking tips to lower your next vacation costs.

If you are the person who has many credit cards, look at Award Wallet as a way to organize it all. It will keep track of your balances, notify you when balances change and keep track of when you are approaching expiration on reward points. Do not let any expire! If you are getting close to an expiration date, call the program up and see how you extend it. Sometimes it is as easy as using your credit card if it has been left dormant and has not been used in awhile.

Solid credit rewards planning is crucial to have the ultimate value travel experience. If you follow these concepts there is no reason to pay for flights or hotel rooms. Don’t splurge and remember to use the reward points cautiously and they will last into multiple travel opportunities. All you are doing are using your credit cards to pay for things you normally spend on. Have large payments like car insurance or car payments? Buying a big screen TV or a computer anyway? Use your card and hit your minimum spend easily.

Why Should You Get A Travel Card?

Before you apply, you may be wondering why you should get a travel credit card. With these cards, you can earn extra miles or points on all your travel related purchases. Eventually, you can use all your accumulated points for free flights, hotel rooms, or other transportation expenses. In fact, you may also be able to enjoy premium lounge access and free baggage expenses. This way, you can save money on  the Las Vegas Strip, or wherever else you may be traveling. Surely, consider why you should get a travel rewards credit card.

DISCLAIMER: None of these strategies are good for people who cannot pay in full and on time each month. It defeats the purpose to pay finance charges which offsets any benefits you will be receiving. Late fees will kill you as well. Use credit responsibly and make it work for your post covid travel dreams!