Next year (2018) I’m going to try dabbling in travel hacking. I’m pretty good with money, but somehow there’s never quite enough for my travel ambitions!
I have a new job with a whopping 33 days (!!) holiday allowance. So I’ve been looking into ways to make my travel budget go a little further.
Since I’m doing a ton of research at the moment, I thought it might be helpful to share what I find.
It’s worth mentioning that I’m living in the UK at the moment, which means some things I share may only apply here.
What is Travel Hacking?
Travel hacking is basically playing the system with the different ways to earn rewards points. Points can then be turned into air miles and free hotel stays.
You learn how to get the maximum points possible for different schemes by spending the least amount of money. And you learn how to then redeem those points at the best possible rate.
You can redeem points for whole flights, use them to upgrade and fly Business Class, get free nights in hotels, and gain free access to swanky airport lounges. Sounds pretty good to me.
How to earn points
Airline reward schemes
Most airlines have a rewards scheme which enables you to earn air miles as you fly.
I’ve earned a fair few points this way in the past and clocked up over 100,000 Avios points.
Earning points in return for flights isn’t the best way to earn points if you want to start dabbling in travel hacking, because you have to fork out a small fortune to take the flights in the first place.
However, you do need to be signed up for a few airline schemes in order to redeem points you collect elsewhere – so sign up for any you fly with.
Earn while you spend
An easy way to start dabbling in travel hacking is to earn points for your everyday spending – and it can add up quite nicely.
In the UK, you can convert Tesco Clubcard points into Avios points. Then you can redeem Avios points for flights and hotels. So you can earn points for your weekly grocery shopping and petrol for your car.
You can also sign up for a points earning credit card. Some credit cards allow you to earn points for every pound/dollar you spend, which can then be transferred to certain airline reward schemes.
If you go down the credit card route you’ll need to make sure that you pay off the card each month, otherwise you’ll outweigh the benefits by paying interest and fees.
Credit card sign-up bonuses
This is by far the fastest way to earn a lot of points. But you need to be a little careful. It can be more than just dabbling in travel hacking.
You’ll need a good credit rating in order to get a credit card in the first place. And then you’ll need to pay off the balance in full each month, to ensure you don’t incur charges.
You can earn points by signing up for a credit card and spending enough money to get the points bonus. After that, you can cancel the card. You’ll then need to repeat the process with different cards. You can get additional bonuses for referring friends too.
As I said, though, you need to be careful as too many credit checks can harm your credit rating. If you’re going to need an important loan in the near future (e.g. a mortgage) it’s not a good idea to apply for a lot of credit cards.
There are a few credit cards with good sign-up bonuses at the moment – I’ve recently signed up for the Amex Preferred Rewards Gold card which gives you a 20,000 sign up bonus (enough for a return flight from London to Europe) when you spend £2,000 in the first 3 months. You can also get an extra 2,000 points if someone refers you. I’ll write more about the card and benefits soon, but if you need a referral just email me and I’m happy to refer you so you get the extra points.
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