What is travel hacking?

Imagine taking a trip where the largest expenses are completely covered. A free hotel stay? Airfare for as low as $5.60? It all starts with understanding travel hacking. So what is travel hacking? In short, it’s using points and miles to pay for travel expenses.

How do you start travel hacking?

It can be daunting when thinking about starting to travel hack. The simplest thing to do is evaluate your existing credit cards and your ability to travel hack with what you’re doing currently.

If you already have our favorite travel hacking starter card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you’ve got a head start. You’ll want a card that can transfer to travel partners in order to maximize your travel hacking redemptions. If you only have cash back cards, you’re going to want to open a credit card that allows you to transfer to travel partners.

Create loyalty accounts with all the major providers. For airlines that would be American, Delta, Southwest, and United to start with. For hotels, you’ll want Hyatt, Hilton, and Marriott at a minimum.

How do you earn points and miles?

There are a variety of ways to earn points and miles for travel. The fastest way is through a credit card sign-up bonus, which can earn you tens of thousands or sometimes hundred of thousands of points and miles.

Don’t want to open up a new credit card? The good news is that you can still travel hack through ways like maximizing your existing categories, using shopping portals, linking programs, and more.

To really maximize your redemptions, you likely will need to open a new credit card at some point, especially if you don’t have a prime travel hacking card.

Is it hard to travel hack?

The good news is it’s not hard to travel hack. If you have a credit card that you’ve been paying off in full for years, you’re doing the primary thing needed to accrue points and miles.

The more challenging part can be searching for redemptions and actually using your points. Once you’ve mastered travel portals, it becomes much simpler.

This seems like it will take forever to earn points.

Yes and no. If you don’t open cards frequently for sign-up bonuses, it can take a while to earn enough points for a massive redemption. But through strategic spending and using existing resources like shopping portals, you can earn a free trip faster than you think.

Summary

There is no right or wrong way to travel hack. If you have a credit card and strong financial habits, you’re halfway there. There is a way to make travel hacking fit for you, your spending, and your travel habits.