As a seasoned traveller and former travel agent, I have always considered myself very savvy in terms of saving money while traveling. I thought I knew all the tips and tricks of the trade. Boy was I wrong! When planning my Sabbatical, I realized what a novice I was in the world of Travel Hacking and how many points I had been missing out on all these years. But over the course of the last year, I began travel hacking and earned 500,000+ points which is enough to save me at least $10,000 and counting in travel for my trip while still cutting back on my overall spending to save for my adventure. Not a bad start for a novice if I do say so myself. I wanted to share what I have learned to help you gain a free trip or make a dent in the costs of your Sabbatical. This is Part 1 of at least 6 parts in this series.
What is Travel Hacking?
Travel Hacking is the art of collecting points and miles that can be used in exchange for free flights, hotel rooms, tours, activities, etc. Travel hacking is really about getting as many points as possible and then getting the best redemption value for those points. The idea behind it is to try to travel for free or as close to it as possible. I mean who wouldn’t want to do that??
What is the difference between points and miles??
Typically airlines will have you earn and redeem miles while hotel chains will have you earn and redeem points.
How do you collect points:
We will discuss this at length in more detail in parts 3 and 4 of this series but the simplest ways that points are earned is through credit card bonuses obtained when you get a new credit card and through every day spending on credit cards. But there are many more options that we will discuss later on.
Step 1 – Do your Research
I found the best thing to do was learn from the experts. I began following several blogs dedicated to points and travel hacking. My favorite is The Points Guy website since I like his style of writing and he is a true expert in his field. He provides up to date information on the latest credit card bonuses and will list the reasons why you should or shouldn’t get that particular credit card. I also like his Reader Mistake Stories which highlights readers mistakes so you can learn from them. You may also want to consider joining his Facebook group called the TPG Lounge which is a great forum for people to ask questions about the best credit card to use for a specific purchase or how to best redeem their points, etc. If you don’t know something, ask! There are plenty of people out there that would love to help you out! This forum is very friendly and people seem to really enjoy helping each other out.
In addition, I also read a book called the Ultimate Guide to Travel Hacking by Matt Kepnes. He is a well known travel blogger called Nomadic Matt that also wrote the book How to Travel the World for $50/day. This was another great way for me to gain an overview of tips and tricks to cut down on my expenses while traveling.
Step 2 – Come up with a Goal:
Don’t just accumulate points for no reason. It’s great to collect Hilton points but what if your dream trip is to Myanmar and there isn’t a single Hilton in the country? Figure out the next trip you want to take and plan accordingly. Do you want to take a family trip to Hawaii? Then you might realize you need 4 airline tickets and that will be the bulk of your cost. If you know you will be flying American then get an American Airlines credit card for the big sign up bonus. And focus gaining your points through them. Or maybe you want to focus getting points for a fancy hotel room. Then do some research and figure out the hotel you want to stay in and get a cobranded credit card for that hotel. Or maybe your goal is to get status, so that you can enjoy all the perks that airlines and hotels offer like being the first to board or getting free breakfast or internet at a hotel.
Step 3: Sign up for reward programs. This part is quick and easy. It only takes about 5 minutes to create an account and it is free to sign up so there is no reason that you shouldn’t. While watching tv one night, I just went and created accounts for any of the major airlines or hotels that I knew I would be using during my trip. This way once I start booking flights and hotels then I won’t miss out on any points along the way. Make sure to keep track of all your username and passwords.
Step 4: Track your Points
It will help you with your strategy to know how many points you have and how many you need for your goal. You may also want to make note if there are any other partner airlines or hotel chains to transfer points from. Personally, I just created an Excel document for the information. It can be very easy to let points or miles expire so most require some sort of activity within the last year so you want to have a column to track expiration date as well. You can easily keep points and miles from expiring by making a small purchase.
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