
Travel credit cards, better known as travel reward cards, are mediums through which one can make travel and generic purchases. Once a few reward miles or points are collected, they can be redeemed for rewards such as hotel stays and flight tickets. Furthermore, if one travels often, these travel credit cards can be employed as a financial tool and put to great use. Read further to know more about these cards.
What are the different types of credit card travel points?
There are three main types of credit card reward points, and one must know the difference between them and their redemption options to reduce travel costs.
- Airline miles
Airline miles can be redeemed for cabin upgrades and flight tickets. Furthermore, they can also be used for sporting events and concerts. Usually, these airline miles can be earned by getting co-branded airline credit cards specific to one’s favorite airline. Moreover, one can also transfer flexible travel credit card points or hotel points into the airline’s frequent flyer programs. Hence, one must keep in mind that travel credit cards and airline miles are a way to get free flight tickets and cut travel costs. - Hotel points
Typically hotel points can be redeemed for stays, room upgrades, food and beverage, and even spa services at specific resorts and hotels. In most cases, hotel points are typically offered by co-branded hotel credit cards. These cards are specific to certain hotels or hotel chains; hence the points collected can only be used at a few handpicked hotels or hotel chains. - Flexible travel points
Most reward redemption options are offered with flexible travel points. These flexible travel points are usually offered by general travel credit cards, whose various programs have a travel portal through which one can easily employ the collected reward points to buy cruise tickets, flight tickets, hotel stays, vacation packages, and car rentals. In addition, most of these cards also allow one to transfer their points to hotel partners and airlines, giving the customers an increased number of options to choose from.
How to redeem travel credit card points and cut travel costs?
Mostly, travel credit cards offer multiple ways to redeem the points acquired for travel. However, the value of the points will be based on how they are redeemed. So, here are some of the redemption options and their advantages.
- Travel statement credit
When one redeems their points as a travel statement credit, they can book and pay for the traveling expenses with the credit card. This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to offset the cost of a trip that has been put on the travel credit card. So, the cardholder must log into their account and request to redeem the acquired points as a statement credit, or they can also choose a specific eligible purchase to be deleted from the statement in exchange for a certain amount of reward points. However, one must know that different programs have a different point redeeming rules for a statement credit. - Reward programs’ travel portal
In most cases, travel credit cards allow the user to earn flexible travel points/credits. Furthermore, they also offer a special travel portal through which the collected points can be redeemed. This can be done by logging into the account online, visiting the travel portal, and shopping for the upcoming trip. While choosing, the user may come across various options followed by the number of points required to book the service – flight tickets, hotel stays, or vacation packages. - Transfer to an outside loyalty program
While using the travel credit card, one might notice that the cards offer a long list of transfer partners, through which the reward points can be transferred into the loyalty programs of multiple hotels and airlines. Then, the points can then be redeemed as allowed by the chosen program. This option is incredibly popular among rewards experts due to its potential for high-value redemptions.
How to reduce travel costs with travel credit card points?
As travel credit card points can effectively help cut down travel costs, here are some additional ways through which one can increase the number of points. Some of the options include:
- Find the best travel credit card with the highest welcome bonus
Most travel credit cards offer points for every dollar spent, which may add up over time. However, one of the most convenient ways to collect points or miles is by earning the highest welcome bonus. In some cases, these can be as high as 50,000 points, which can easily translate to about $500 that can be availed for free travel. - Meet the minimum spending requirement
One of the best ways to reduce travel costs is to meet the minimum spending requirement as quickly as possible. This can be done by reviewing one’s monthly spending and moving some of the transactions to the credit card. These can include monthly subscriptions, groceries, gas, online purchases, and gym memberships. - Choose the redemption option before the points
One must always plan to get maximum value from the rewards. This can begin as early as deciding what to get with the rewards to help choose the right credit card for everyday purchases and reach the goal quickly.
While redeeming points is fun, one must always consider their wants and needs to make an informed decision.
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Retire in peace and in style
Read moreIs your retirement around the corner? Have you chosen the retirement community for yourself? Well, if not, then what are you waiting for? Retirement means a lot of time that you can give to yourself and do the things that you love and spend the rest of your life in peace. Here is the list of perfect retirement communities, divided on a regional basis so that you can choose your area of preference easily.
Arizona
Monte Vista Village Resort
Monte Vista Village Resort is one of the best retirement communities in Mesa, Arizona. It has some refreshing pools and splendid golf courses for the golf lovers and not forgetting the magnificent tennis courts for the lovers of this racquet-sport. It is spread over 80 acres of land.Sunrise RV Resort
Situated in the warmth and opulence of a desert region, Sunrise RV Resort welcomes recreation lovers with magnificent lakes for fishing and boating, swimming pools, tennis courts and untamed natural beauty of the Sonoran Desert.California
Palm Springs Oasis Resort
The Palm Springs Oasis Resort is situated in the Coachella Valley. From there, you will get a perfect view of the San Jacinto and the Santa Rosa Mountain ranges. The resort provides its guest retirees with a golf course, spa, two beautiful swimming pools and a tennis court.Florida
Four Lakes Golf Club
The specialty of the Four Lakes Golf Club among other retirement communities is that it has a waterfront, a premium golf course and exclusive cypress wetlands. It gives you the chance to confront the picturesque beauty of 500 scenic areas. It is situated near Disney and Orlando.The Meadows and Arbors at CountryWood
Awarded as the Community of the Year by MHI, The Meadows and Arbors at CountryWood proves that it has got something different from the other retirement communities. The houses exhibit the traditional colonial form of architecture. It is located at about 20 miles or even less than that from Tampa. Your stay at this retirement community is sure to be nostalgic.Illinois
Willow Lake Estates
The Willow Lake Estates is situated on the Fox River. The retirees can enjoy the experience of a private stocked lake with a boat dock. It is a very spacious clubhouse that is located in the Chicago metro area. With a radius of 6 miles, you will get many restaurants that provide mouth-watering food.New Jersey
Anderson Creek Club
The Anderson Creek Club is spread over 1,700 acres of land. It is a perfect choice for those who are seeking retirement communities in the lap of nature. The Anderson Creek Club is only 90 miles away from the beach and a few hours journey will take you to the mountains.South Carolina
Hampton Lake
This is one of the most friendly retirement communities that you will ever come across. It has a private freshwater lake that is spread over an area of 182 acres where you can go boating and fishing. -
5 tips for buying a great gaming laptop
Read moreGaming is king. Gaming is a profession. There are thousands of video games out there in the market. With the video game industry booming like never before, gaming can be a valuable form of relaxation for all gaming users. These days you find PC fanboys advocating high-end PC rigs to be able to play the latest games with the most gorgeous of graphics at decent FPS (first person shooter) rates.
But can you play high-end games on a laptop? Well, yes you can. You need to know a couple know-hows and technical things before you go out shopping for that portable gaming rig. Pick one right and it might outperform your ordinary PC. Plus, the prices coupled with portability; nothing beats that.
Here are 5 tips and things to look out for when choosing to buy a gaming laptop.
Get sufficient storage: Go for SSD drives in your gaming laptop rig. Good SSDs come in a 256GB size along with hard drives offering up to 1TB space. This is sufficient storage if you’re planning to save videos, multiple games, and do much more with your laptop besides just gaming. It’s good to be able to use your laptop for all round everyday use and getting good storage is the first step.
Aim for a wide screen size: 15-inch screens are pure gold. They don’t add much to the pounds and they are still easy to carry. You could try buying 17-inch laptops but the weight may make it difficult to tote them around with you all the time. Make sure the screen size offers a resolution of 1080p which is optimal for most games. Some screens offer resolutions up to 4k but those are like high end gaming rigs like Alienware.
Look for memory: In order to multitask and run various programs in the background such as instant messaging, Skype, email and so on, your laptop needs to have sufficient RAM. If you’re the sort of person who loves recording and texting at the same time as gaming, get at least 8GB RAM. If you opt for 16GB, then you can rest assured it’s got great memory for running various applications. Additionally, you can use video editing software and use the rig for rendering videos too which also consume quite a bit of RAM.
Get a killer processor: The processor is one of the main components of your gaming rig. AMD and Nvidia GPUs are stellar graphics processors in the market. The GPU units matter more than the CPU processors. Get a quad core AMD processor if possible since they support high end gaming. The better the graphics processor, the better the image and visuals will look on screen. The detail will also improve along with the higher resolutions. Definitely something to take into consideration before you end up buying a gaming laptop. Do your research.