Are you interested in traveling on points (aka travel hacking) but don't know where to start? I will review my strategies on picking the best points programs for me to help you avoid making the same mistakes I made. Keep reading for tips and tricks on how to pick the best points programs for you.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, which means I’ll receive a small commission if you purchase or enroll through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.
Best Points Programs for Airlines:
When choosing the best points programs for airlines, I did not initially choose the best program for me. In researching programs, I only focused on popularity (and a healthy introductory points program on the airline's credit card) but did not research the airline's footprint in my local airport.
To start my travel hacking journey, I started flying with Delta Airlines because I saw that they had an introductory offer via their American Express SkyMiles Gold Card which provided 70k bonus miles after hitting a spend goal in the first few months of owning the card. I did some research on The Points Guy and overall the card seemed like a good fit. What I did not think to research was whether or not I could get direct flights across the country through Delta at my local airport.
When deciding to sign up for a card, or beginning loyalty with an airline, consider checking flight schedules via tools like FlightsFrom.com to see if the airline provides direct flights from your airport. Direct flights save a lot of time and hassle while traveling.
Why I Fly American:
After doing more research, I settled on American Airlines which provides the most flights out of my local airport. I was able to get a bonus points offer through the American Airlines AAdvantage Aviator Red Mastercard that I can now use for streamlined travel out of my home airport. Looking for direct flights is a great place to start when shopping for airline loyalty programs, this will support the best fit in the long term. Other research items could include on-time flight statistics, lost baggage instances, etc. There are innumerable options for co-branded airline credit cards - if you can pay off your card every month, co-branded cards are a great option to earn miles or points on everyday purchases.
My two favorite perks from the AAdvantage Aviator Red Mastercard are that I get one free checked bag per flight, and preferred boarding - which has kept me from ever having issues finding overhead bin space. My favorite AAdvantage perks are that I get talk/ text integration through T-Mobile and I have my World of Hyatt and American Airlines loyalty programs linked which doubles my benefit when flying and booking hotels. Great segue to our next topic!
Hotel Points Programs:
One of the best points programs that I can recommend is the World of Hyatt program. As I mentioned above, the American Airlines and Hyatt partnership is a great benefit. Further, I'm a frequent traveler in NYC, and my favorite NYC hotel is part of the Hyatt family. Additionally, I have personally never had a bad experience staying at a Hyatt hotel. I do consider reviews through the Hyatt app before booking, but I consistently find Hyatt hotels to be the best value for money with clean and comfortable accommodations.
Find a hotel program that aligns with your frequent travel needs. If you consistently stay at the same hotel, consider enrolling in this program. If you are starting from scratch, consider World of Hyatt a (top 5-rated loyalty program at the time of this article's publication).
Hyatt Pricing Structure:
Hyatt has all-inclusive, low-cost, and high-end options which will provide options for all travelers. Hyatt structures their hotels into categories, you can see the categories within the Hyatt app.
The Hyatt points redemption chart is outlined below*. This chart also outlines the minimum dollar amount that would make a points redemption a good deal, read on for more detail on this in the next segment.
Am I Getting the Most from My Hyatt Points?
Understanding when a free redemption is a good deal has been a game-changer for me. NerdWallet evaluates a World of Hyatt point at 2.3 cents per point*. Let's walk through an example to calculate if a free night redemption is a good deal:
I am currently wishing I was at Disney World so let's use the Hyatt Place Orlando/ Lake Buena Vista as our example. This is a Category 2 hotel. Looking at Two Queen Beds for January 9th-10th (a couple of weeks away from when I'm checking it) it would be $148 per night for the "Members Advanced Purchase" rate and 8,000 for a Standard Room Free Night. In this example, $148 divided by 8,000 brings the total to 1.8 cents per point. If I have the room in my budget, I would pay cash for this stay, and save my points for a time when I either do not have room in the budget and need to travel or will save up my points for another stay that is closer to the point valuation.
When evaluating if a free night stay is a good deal, take the cost of the room (including any resort fees) and divide this cost by the number of points. If the cent evaluation is at 2.3 cents* or above, it's a good deal to book this room on points!
*valid at the time of publishing, pricing evaluation and points structure may vary.
Let's Get Moving! How Can I Earn Hyatt Points More Quickly?
It's possible to be successful in earning points through the World of Hyatt Program alone. However, A key tool that I used to speed up the amount of Hyatt points that I earned was signing up for the World of Hyatt Credit Card. I received bonus points when onboarding on top of the perks of the card:
- Automatic Discoverist status
- 1 free night at a Category 1-4 hotel per year
- a second free night if you spend more than $15k per year
- 2 points per dollar on various everyday categories (dining, airline tickets directly from the airline, gym memberships, local transit and commuting)
- 4 points per dollar on Hyatt stays
- 5 nights towards your next status tier
- 2 additional qualifying nights towards next tier for every $5k spent on your card
- And more!
Fantastic First Travel Card with Best Points Program Integrated
Last but not least, let's review a travel program that greatly improved my momentum: Chase Ultimate Rewards! I signed up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card to gain access to this program, and received a healthy sign-on bonus (you might be sensing a theme here, we love a sign-on bonus!!).
Best Points Programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards and Chase Sapphire Preferred
The Chase Ultimate Rewards program is extremely comprehensive, and deserves it's own full article. For the sake of brevity, I'll outline my top 3 favorite perks of my Chase Sapphire Preferred:
- 1:1 point redemption with travel partners - Southwest, JetBlue, Hyatt, Marriott and more!!
- Booking travel through the Ultimate Rewards Platform - this provides 5 points per $1 spent, and also can allow you to book using points even when this is not available directly with the travel partner.
- Limited-time incentives: I've gotten free DoorDash and Instacart premium memberships through this credit card.
This card has so many features that it's really important to read through the full offerings when signing up. This program provides so much flexibility, that anyone can find a benefit that works for them.
Elaborating on point 2 above, this provides another layer of flexibility: I've had instances where I've gone to book directly with Hyatt and they did not have rooms available. The Chase Ultimate Rewards travel platform allowed me to book at the same hotel for the same night using Chase points instead of Hyatt points.
HACK: Check Chase Ultimate Rewards travel platform to book on points even when there is not availability to book using points directly with the managing travel partner.
I highly recommend this program for beginners, it is a great place to start in your travel hacking journey.