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Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Earning points and miles<\/a> is the best way to fly more for less. It\u2019s the way I\u2019ve been able to stay on the road for so long \u2014 and I\u2019ve seen what a difference it\u2019s made for my readers too. <\/p>\n I write a lot about the best credit cards<\/a> to get depending on your travel goals, but I\u2019ve talked less about how<\/em> to use those points. <\/p>\n Today, I want to change that because I keep getting emails from people talking about how it takes too many points to book a flight. When I follow up, it is because they are booking through the credit card’s travel portal and that’s something you should rarely, if ever, do!<\/p>\n Travel rewards cards offer two main ways to use the points that you earn to book trips: <\/p>\n For those who are new to earning and using points and miles, there\u2019s a lot of confusion about which is the better option. Travel credit cards position their portals as the best option for using your points. But, in reality, they rarely ever are.<\/p>\n So let’s talk about why this is. <\/p>\n The main difference is that these travel portals are connected to your credit card. This allows you to use your points and miles when booking. You can also choose to pay partially with points and partially with cash. <\/p>\n Using travel portals is basically like using your points as cash back. You get a fixed value per point and you will also earn points\/miles on your booking. <\/p>\n Credit card companies position their portals as the best way to use points. They want<\/em> you to use the portals and stay within their ecosystem so that they can make money off of you.<\/p>\n To keep you on their site, they offer incentives that you can only get when using their portal. These incentives include the following:<\/p>\n Travel portals are easy and convenient. However, using them is usually not the best value for your points. What you get in simplicity and convenience you lose in the fixed redemption value that usually isn’t the best. On the flip side, you can transfer points from your account directly to the place where you want to book (such as an airline or hotel). While transferring your points to travel partners is a bit more work, you can get much more value out of your hard-earned points this way. <\/p>\n Only certain cards earn you transferable points though. For example, airline- and hotel-specific cards (such as the Delta SkyMiles\u00ae Gold American Express Card<\/a> or the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy\u00ae American Express\u00ae Card<\/a>) only earn you points that can be used at that airline or hotel. They\u2019re less valuable because they\u2019re less flexible. Transferable points are valuable (and what you should aim to get), because they\u2019re so flexible. <\/p>\n Here are a few types of transferable currencies and some cards that earn them:<\/p>\n Here’s a link to a list of my favorite card offers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Each transferable currency has different travel partners (many overlap). Here are some of Chase\u2019s travel partners, listed at the Chase TravelSM<\/sup> site: <\/p>\n While the actual value you can get varies greatly based on the flight or hotel, a good benchmark is The Points Guy\u2019s monthly valuation chart<\/a>, which values most transferable currencies at over 2 cents per point when used as transferable points. That\u2019s double what you\u2019ll get on travel portals, and often you can get much more. <\/p>\n That\u2019s because when transferring your points, you can also take advantage of transfer bonuses offered by credit cards and flash deals (such as Air France-KLM Flying Blue promo awards, which are monthly deals on award flights). These can be incredible deals, up to a 50% discount! <\/p>\n While finding award availability directly with airlines can seem overwhelming, the good news is that tools like Point.me (an award flight search tool)<\/a> make it easier than ever. (Get 4 months free on the Standard plan with code NOMADICMATT4<\/em><\/a>. <\/strong>)<\/p>\n Generally speaking, I always transfer my points. Doing so provides the best value and booking direct ensures that there is no third-party involved should there be an issue with my flight. Moreover, it takes a lot fewer points for a redemption this way. Let me tell you why in the next section. For example, a business class flight from New York to Paris in peak season is 88,000 points on United each way (both Chase Ultimate Rewards and Bilt Rewards transfer to United). Those flights usually cost about $2,400 (though they can get as high as $5,000). If you had the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Bilt Rewards Card and booked through their respective portals, you would need 192,000 points (each point is worth 1.25 cents in either of these portals). That’s over double what you’d need when transferring your points to United booking directly. <\/p>\n Since most flight redemptions for economy start at 20,000 points (when transferring directly to airlines), you need to find a flight that’s less than $250 for it to be worth it to use the portal. This is when using the Chase cards or the Bilt card, which offer you more than 1 cent per point when booking via their portals. For American Express or Capital One cards, you only get 1 cent per point\/mile. That means you’d need to find a flight for $200 or less for it to make sense to use their portals.<\/p>\n For hotels and rental cars, it’s a little less black and white because you don’t always have transfer partners. <\/p>\n For example, I am booking hotels via the Chase Travel portal on an upcoming trip to Barcelona because there are no rooms bookable with points available. (You can only transfer points from credit cards to chains like Hyatt or Marriott.) Since hotels are $300 and up per night, I\u2019m just using my points to save me money by booking with a non-chain hotel. I wouldn’t be able to book with points otherwise. This is the exception to the rule.<\/p>\n Here are some other cases in which using the portal is your best option:<\/p>\n About that last item: always consider your travel goals and determine whether the ease and convenience of using the portal is worth it to you. Using your points, regardless of how, is better than letting them sit around! Never stockpile your points. They get devalued all the time. So use them rather than lose them! <\/p>\n Travel portals can be an enticing way to use your points. They\u2019re convenient, and banks give you incentives to use them. If you\u2019re new to points and miles and just want a simple way to cash in your earnings, they are definitely an option. However, you can usually get much better value out of your points by transferring them directly to airlines or hotels. The fewer points you use per trip, the more points you have for more travel (or more points to fly\/stay in luxury). <\/p>\n But the great thing is that you don\u2019t have to choose either the portal or transferring to partners. You can mix and match depending on the best option at the time. So do a quick comparison and use points to book your next trip! Download my free guide to points and miles and learn how to use points and miles for free travel! It's how all the pros travel so much! In this guide, I'll show you:<\/p>\r\n\n
\n <\/p>\nThe Low-Down on Travel Portals<\/h3>\n
![\"screenshot](\"https:\/\/media.nomadicmatt.com\/2024\/amextravelportal.png\")
\nTravel portals are online travel agencies (OTAs) offered by banks as part of the benefits of holding one of their rewards cards. They work exactly like other OTAs, such as Expedia or Kayak, where you can book flights, hotels, and rental cars by searching for availability via their search engine. <\/p>\n\n
\n <\/p>\nThe Low-Down on Transfer Partners<\/h3>\n
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\n <\/p>\nComparing Partners vs Portals: Which One Is Best for You? <\/h3>\n
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\nUnless there is a super cheap flight or room (less than $150 USD), I always transfer points to travel partners, especially when booking business-class flights or nicer hotel rooms. You just get more bang for your buck. <\/p>\n\n
\n <\/p>\n\r\nStop paying full price for travel!<\/h5>\r\n
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