8 Ways To Earn Free Flights and Hotel Nights With Your Credit Card This Summer
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Written by
Jeanine Skowronski
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Edited by
Levi Leidy
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Reviewed by
Jasmin Baron
If you’re looking to travel for free this summer, consider a credit card as your ticket. Top rewards credit cards come with perks and features that, when used correctly, can cover your next flight or hotel stay. Use these spending and rewards redemption strategies to vacation for free this season.
Check Out: Best Credit Card Summer Travel Perks You Probably Don’t Know About
Discover: Ways To Elevate Your Summer Travel Adventures
Leverage a Welcome Bonus
Welcome bonuses let you earn extra rewards when you spend a specified amount within your first few months of card ownership.
They’re often quite lucrative, equivalent to hundreds of dollars or, on hotel and airline credit cards, multiple free nights or domestic flights, respectively.
Just avoid overspending solely to receive a welcome bonus, and be sure to read the fine print carefully.
“Understand how much you have to spend and by when, then make a plan to meet this. Otherwise, you risk carrying credit card debt without actually getting the award,” said Lindsey Danis, author of “(Out) On the Road: How Queer Travel is Different and Why it Matters.”
Earn Rewards on Necessary Spending
You can rRack up rewards for flights or hotel stays by strategically charging nondiscretionary and pre-planned expenses to a high-earning rewards credit card in your go-to spending category.
“I always put every single purchase on my card, even small stuff like coffee,” said Andrew Lokenauth, money expert and owner of Be Fluent in Finance. “Those little purchases add up fast.”
Practice responsible card use by paying all balances on time and in full. Otherwise, those free flights or hotel stays won’t truly come free. You’ll pay for them in interest.
Pay Yourself Back
Remember, even cash-back credit cards can finance a flight or hotel stay, given that you can often redeem these rewards as a statement credit or deposit them directly into your checking account.
In other words, you can charge a flight or hotel stay to the credit card or a linked debit card and then pay yourself back by converting rewards to cash.
Pool Your Points
If you’re short on points for a free flight or hotel stay, there are a few strategies that can help you maximize rewards and get closer to that redemption goal. For instance, you can often:
- Combine points from multiple cards from the same issuer
- Accept points from a cardholder in the same household
- Transfer rewards to partnering airline and hotel loyalty programs
Keep in mind that your pooling options vary by card and issuer, and avoid making an uninformed decision.
“Points usually transfer one way only,” Lokenauth said. “I learned this the hard way after moving points to an airline, then finding a better deal elsewhere. Those points were stuck.”
Know Your Transfer Partners
Some rewards simply go further than others, and you can achieve or get closer to a free flight or hotel stay by understanding which transfers offer the most mileage.
“Leveraging airline and hotel alliances can broaden options and potentially provide better value for points across different networks,” said Len Covello, chief technology officer of loyalty tech company Engage People.
Book Smart
Many reward programs have travel portals that award extra points when you use your card to book through them. These portals often feature extra discounts or promotions. For instance, you could net a complimentary hotel night to extend your stay.
You can also earn rewards for hotel stays by booking through the brand’s loyalty platform or app, using its co-branded credit card. Some chains or properties offer extra incentives for direct booking.
“[I] did this in March and earned triple points on my stay,” said Lokenauth. “The portal sometimes has better rates, too.”
Cash In Those Extra Benefits
Top-tier hotel credit cards often award you a free night each year after your cardholder anniversary. You can also sometimes qualify for an extra free night if you spend a certain amount on the card in a calendar year.
Some airline credit cards, on the other hand, offer companion passes that let a plus one fly free if you meet certain benchmarks. Usually, those benchmarks entail spending or flying a set amount in a calendar year, though a few cards award companion certificates after you pay the annual fee.
Pick the Right Plastic
Premium credit card perks typically come at a high annual fee, though, so be sure you travel or spend enough to fully recoup your benefits before applying for or renewing a card.
“Choose the program that makes sense for you in the long term,” Danis said. “The one you’ll use the most is a must-have. So that may be an airline co-branded credit card with an airline that serves your city and has great coverage … or a card with flexible rewards you get to decide how to use.”
