The two of us at Perfect Little Planet love being able to take a vacation and love even more when we get a little break on the $$$ (who doesn’t?). One of the ways we do this is by using credit card points! We wanted to create this post to share with you our favorite travel rewards credit cards that we will be using this year.
We are not the type who open credit card accounts just for the signing bonuses and then never use them again. These are our everyday cards! We are very selective about the cards we choose to keep in our wallets, we take advantage of the rewards programs, we are smart about what purchases we use them on and most importantly, we keep in good standing and pay them off completely each month! Always pay off your credit cards, friends!
Whew, finally! Drum roll please…(who needs a drumroll after that long intro)
Our favorite travel rewards credit cards are:
- Capital One Venture card
- Chase Sapphire Reserve card
- Wells Fargo Propel American Express card*
*Technically not a travel rewards card, but it practically is.
Capital One Venture card
This is my everyday, go-to card. Here’s why:
2x the Points on Every Purchase
It doesn’t matter what the purchase is. You always get double points. It’s really as easy as that. ‘Nuff said.
Statement Credit Redemption
By far, my favorite feature is the Statement Credit option to redeem points. All you do is use your credit card for your travel and travel-related purchases. Once those purchases are posted in your account, you can select which purchases you’d like to use your points on and you get reimbursed for those!
I’ve credited my account for flights, baggage fees, public transit fares, rideshares, you name it. This is the best way to use the points on the card. It’s the most bang-for-your-buck way to use the points. It’s just really nice to not have to access a clunky site beforehand to book travel using points like a lot of other credit card companies make you do. You just use your card like normal, then reimburse yourself using points so it’s like you never paid for it at all. It’s brilliant.
Eno
Eno is Capital One’s AI robot to monitor your card. I actually didn’t know the system had a name until I saw an ad a few months ago. 🙂 Most often I hear from Eno via text, phone alert, and/or email asking me about suspicious charges. Then I click a button to say “All is good, I bought that” or “No, sound the alarms and cancel this card!” (not actually verbatim). Eno does other stuff too, but I appreciate the alerts the most because it’s real-time monitoring.
Other Notable Perks That We Love
- No foreign transaction fees
- $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck
- Generous sign + spend bonus (see more about this at the bottom of this post)
These are the highlights of the card for me. There are a lot more perks that I didn’t talk about. Learn more about the card here.
If you want to show us a little extra love, use our referral link to apply for your card. It gives us a little bonus which helps support our blog and channel and you still get an awesome card. This post is by no means sponsored and really do recommend this card regardless of whether you use our referral link or not.
Next!
Chase Sapphire Reserve
If you have ever Googled “best travel credit card,” the Chase Sapphire Reserve card has almost definitely come up in your search. The Reserve has a high annual fee, but it also comes with really amazing perks. These are our favorites:
$300 Travel Credit
You get an automatic $300 travel statement credit every year. The rules are simple: spend $300 on travel-related purchases on your Reserve card and they immediately credit your account that much. It doesn’t have to be all at once, either. You can spend $100 on a flight, $80 on a car rental, $120 on a hotel, and got it. You don’t have to request it, either. It automatically posts the same day the purchases are made. Voila!
Priority Pass – Airport Lounge Access
The Priority Pass lounge pass gives you access to 1,300+ lounges worldwide and even some airport dining vouchers – depending upon the airport. The Chase Sapphire Reserve card has Brian’s name on it, which means the Priority Pass is also in his name, but he gets guests (yes, multiple – up to 7 in most lounges) in with him, so it works out for myself and Kai. To be fully open and honest, as Priority Pass users, we have gotten turned away at some lounges because they are full of Priority Pass card holders (only in domestic airports), but that said, it’s still been more than worth it and made up for the fee of the credit card by eating meals in lounges rather than buying them in the airport. We’ve found this perk to be most valuable in international airports, so if you’re a globetrotter, this is the BEST.
Point Redemption
When you redeem your points through Chase Ultimate Rewards, your points get 50% more value. That means if you have 100,000 points ($1,000 value)—when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards, your 100,000 points actually translate to 150,000 points—$1,500 in value.
Other Notable Perks That We Love
- DoorDash perks: $60/year in statement credit for 2020 and 2021, plus complimentary Dashpass for 1 year. Same thing as the travel credit where they immediately credit your account after you make the purchase. Basically you get $60 in free food each year.
- Lyft perks: 10x points on Lyft rides and complimentary year of Lyft Pink.
- 3x points on travel and dining worldwide
- Global Entry and TSA PreCheck fee credit up to $100 every 4 years
- Lost luggage reimbursement
- No foreign transaction fees
There’s no referral bonus for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, because it basically sells itself. Learn more about the Reserve card here.
Wells Fargo Propel American Express
This is our newest card—we got it mid-2019. We’ve had it for awhile now and as of recently, it’s been used most often! Whether you live in the suburbs or the city, it gives you the most points on some of those basic living needs like food and transportation. Here are our favorite features:
$0 Annual Fee
By far the biggest perk is that the card has an annual fee of $0. None. Zip. Zilch. You will never be charged for using this card and racking up those points.
3x the Points on a Ton of Stuff
3x the points on restaurants (eat out, dine-in, take-away), gas stations, rideshares, transit (public transit, highway tolls, parking fees and garages, etc.), flights, hotels, homestays (like Airbnb), car rentals, and popular streaming services (Apple Music®, Hulu, Netflix, Pandora®, Sirius XM, and Spotify).
Cell Phone Protection
Pay your monthly cell phone bill with the American Express Propel card and you—the cardholder—are automatically covered for up to $600 ($1,200/year) for damage or theft of your phone. You just pay a $25 deductible. It doesn’t cover all the phones, but this is certainly a nice perk for the cardholder. It’s a little peace of mind.
Other Notable Perks That We Love
- No foreign transaction fees
- Good sign + spend bonus
Learn more about the Wells Fargo American Express Propel card.
Sign + Spend Bonuses
Most cards lure you with these bonuses, where you sign up for the new card and you need to spend a certain amount within a certain time frame to earn lots of points. We do take advantage of these offers, but we never open cards solely because of these offers. One trick we use is to open a new account when we know we’ll have a big purchase coming up that can help us meet the spend requirement without worry. For example, one of the accounts that we opened was right before we moved to a new state. We knew we’d have a bunch of moving expenses that would help us easily meet the spend requirement for the bonus points.
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