So, I decided it is about time to get some ideas out there for you all to "chaw" on...some food for thought on how you might want to get started collecting those points and making your travel dreams come true.
Here's what we did.
1) We purchased 3 different Sheraton vacation plans. This definitely isn't for everyone, but we have three kids and we love to travel in resort style, plus have the ability to pass down an annual vacation to each one of our kids. We love our vacation ownership through Starwood and we have a ton of Starwood points to use all over the world at Starwood hotels.
The key is to use your points wisely. If the amount of the room is $150 but requires 20,000 points, you should really consider whether just to pay for that night's hotel stay. BUT, if the hotel room regularly costs $300-$400 per night and it requires 20,000 redeemable points, then that truly may be worth it to redeem those points for the stay. A lot of travel requires a common sense approach like this. Save your points for those places that it is truly worth redeeming them.
2) We play the credit card game. This required us to do some research along the way. There are a lot of cards out there these days that offer great benefits, such as 0 interest and 0 transfer fees when you want to transfer a balance from a card that is charging 22% annual interest. Makes sense in a lot of cases if you know you can pay off your balance in the time frame that the 0 interest expires. In a lot of cases, this 0% interest is good for 15-18 months after the transfer. That's a great deal! The key to our success is that we do not take out credit without a plan to pay off the debt prior to ANY interest charges applying. This takes real discipline, but you have to stay committed to this approach. Debt is the worst and you don't want to start down that path. Do not live beyond your means or go into a situation where you take on debt and have no idea how you will pay it off before incurring any interest charges. The only time you should do this is when you have a mortgage or a car loan....at least that is my opinion. (I'm a big Dave Ramsey fan!)
That being said, we've played the credit card game (not something Dave would ever endorse), where we have gotten a Chase travel rewards card offering a ton of points after a certain amount of purchases within a specified period of time.
Great deals are now being offered for cards that offer travel rewards/points, such as Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card or Chase Saphire Reserve card.
The only issue with Chase Sapphire Reserve card is that there is a $450 annual fee, but you get $300 worth of credit for travel. Plus, when you travel, you eat for free at the Priority Club, drinks and food are free. In addition, when you use the ultra rewards points, you achieve 15 times the points in return. AND, you are TSA approved, which is an $80 value per traveler in itself!
I can also tell you that we have often not stayed with one card for very long. After redeeming the points as much as possible from one card, we move onto the next deal and redeem more points. Often, the cards are cancelled and other ones are obtained. Sometimes, it's one card for each of us that may rotate and the points keep piling up. I would definitely, as I said before, not go down this path unless we had excellent credit to begin with as it does impact your credit score. Caution must be exercised! Depending on your travel goals, you don't have to go to these extremes to get free travel, but we DO love our travel and there is nothing better than being able to do so at no cost for flights, hotels, cruises, etc. I've even flown first class to Hawaii....free because of all the points we've accumulated. That was awesome!!!
In my next blog, I'll share some of the best travelling we've done for practically nothing and share some great insights on some great destinations. See you soon travel gurus!
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