Research Information for your trip!
Unit Four: Expert Research and Self-Reflection
Unit Overview
Information in the market is endless. We are not creating anything new here, the information is easy to find, but how do you know what you are looking for? You don't, at least not yet. This unit will help you find the information you need to make your specific trip materialize without getting lost in the endless resources and avoiding some negative ways to earn points.
- Read Chapter 14 and 15 in the Family Travel on Points eBook.
- Explore resources about credit card signup bonus points/meeting spending requirements.
- Examine the connection between reward programs and explore popular resources.
- Avoid "newbie" mistakes.
- Determine which cards to keep and which to close after earning the sign-up bonus.
- Examine ways you can apply this in your life and revise travel plan(Self-Reflection)
"Travel Hacking" Basics
What is "travel hacking" ?
In travel, hacking means finding alternative ways to pay for travel versus paying full retail cash price. This video by the Credit Shifu Show talks about 13 ways you can earn points to get a potential million points.
The first 10 ways are typical for a travel point earning strategist. Once you get comfortable with earning points, you may start to venture into different areas of point earning. However, like all things, people look for almost illegal ways to manipulate the system. It is good to know about these and how to avoid them. I don't recommend things like manufactured spending or any quick points schemes similar to money laundering. You will find an unlimited amount of blogs and videos online that talk about these. Your goal is to travel often for as long as possible, so keep your name and social security clean and avoid these get rich quick schemes.
The first 10 ways are typical for a travel point earning strategist. Once you get comfortable with earning points, you may start to venture into different areas of point earning. However, like all things, people look for almost illegal ways to manipulate the system. It is good to know about these and how to avoid them. I don't recommend things like manufactured spending or any quick points schemes similar to money laundering. You will find an unlimited amount of blogs and videos online that talk about these. Your goal is to travel often for as long as possible, so keep your name and social security clean and avoid these get rich quick schemes.
- Sign up bonuses (Yes)
- Authorized user cards (Yes)
- Shopping portals for points or cash back (Yes)
- Always use the right card for the right purchase and max out bonus categories (Yes)
- Dining Programs and offer to pay the check for others (Yes)
- Pay rent, mortgage, car payments, or bills with Plastiq.com (Yes)
- Get reimbursed for business trips (Yes)
- Business Spending: Earn points for your own business (Yes)
- Refer family and friends (Yes)
- Re-selling products online (Maybe)
- Churning (Not recommended)- Many bloggers talk about churning.
- Manufactured Spending ( Not recommended) - Many bloggers talk about gift cards.
- Buying Cryptocurrency trading such as Bitcoin ( Not recommended)
Miles and Points External Resources
The following articles are from popular blogs, websites, and other credit card travel experts. To begin your expert research, you have to put a little work into finding what has worked for others in the past and how you can learn from their experiences. Keep in mind that credit card bonus offers and terms change all the time, so you cannot rely on the same information for a long time.
In my experience, I have created trips for myself that were available at that moment that I can no longer duplicate with the same amount of points. Sometimes airlines raise the point values, re-categorize hotel point values, merge with another program, or a credit card may stop a particular promotion. On the other hand, another phenomenal credit card may come out that blows away the competition. However, not to worry, there is always an expert out there figuring out what will work for you now.
In my experience, I have created trips for myself that were available at that moment that I can no longer duplicate with the same amount of points. Sometimes airlines raise the point values, re-categorize hotel point values, merge with another program, or a credit card may stop a particular promotion. On the other hand, another phenomenal credit card may come out that blows away the competition. However, not to worry, there is always an expert out there figuring out what will work for you now.
Let's Get Started!
The following list is some of my favorite and reputable travel blogs. Each website has their own niche. Explore one or all of them to find the information you need to update your travel plan. You can also search on the web for more websites, but keep in mind they are not all created equal and some may stir you in questionable directions.
OneMileAtATime.com
This blog is a great resource for anyone as a beginner. Pay special attention to:
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Click on the following link to access the guide.
Beginners Guide To Miles & Points:
What's The Point?
Beginners Guide To Miles & Points:
What's The Point?
ThePointsGuy.com
If you love luxury travel as a single or couple, this website may tailor to your needs. Brian, known as the points guy is an expert on the topic of points itself, but specializes on elite style upgrades to sophisticated destinations. Want to go to the Grammy's on points, this should be one of your resources. While this website does have family travel, the best articles from the website are about point redemption for the most luxurious single or couple travel.
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Types of Points and Miles
Not all travel credit cards are created equally. Some credit cards offer fixed rewards specific to a hotel or airline. In some situations these cards can be beneficial, but keep in mind there are other options. Some cards offer cash back or a statement credit reimbursing your travel. Choosing the best card is up to you and your lifestyle. Explore the various cards in the market and align the benefits with your travel plan. I will cover some basic cards. OneMileAtATime.com has a detailed list. Click here for the complete list.
For example, the American Express Hilton Honors only earns points exclusively for the Hilton hotel brand. If you use this hotel brand often, it may be beneficial to have this card in your wallet. Benefits include free Gold Status perks which offer free breakfast for two, upgraded rooms, and added points for hotel stays.
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Another example is the Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Credit Card only earns for flights through Southwest Airlines. However, this card has a terrific perk for couples and families. If you earn at least 110K points in one calendar year, you earn a companion pass from the time you earn the points through the end of the calendar year. These points are always good to have in your travel bucket. Even if you fly to Europe, you can find cheaper flights from the East Coast and you can use SW points to get there.
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Flexible/Transferable Points for Airline and Hotel Transfer Partners
Why do travel hackers love flexible points? The answer is that is offers a combination of rewards. The following information graph from the WellTraveledMile.com may be complicated to look at, but it shows you how beneficial flexible rewards can be. In the overall picture there are four major airline alliances. This means that is you have one of the four rewards programs listed in the center of the diagram such as the Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest points, or Thank you Citi points - you can transfer the points you earn from one credit card to a variety of airlines partners.
The same applies for hotel reward programs. The same four credit cards offer flexible points to use towards many major hotel brands. This is why travel hackers love flexible points.
Travel Plan Instructional Video Part I
Travel Plan Instructions Part I Audio Transcript |
Credit Card Strategy Excel Spreadsheet |
Travel Plan Instructional Video Part II
Travel Plan Instructions Part II Audio Transcript |
Self-Reflection
Congratulations for making it this far!
Take a moment to self-reflect and absorb all the information learned before finalizing your travel plan in the next unit. Do you feel like changing your destination? If so, this is a good opportunity to change it. Just need to take a breathe? Go for it! Take a moment to really think about where you want to go and make the impossible possible. |
Before moving on to the next unit, you should have...
- Read assigned chapters in Family Travel on Points.
- Explored the resources in the unit to find the best match for your trip.
- Makes notes in your journal about your thoughts at this point in the course.
- Updated your travel plan with credit card research and credit cared strategy.