Many credit cards provide rewards on travel-related purchases, making it important to understand how each issuer defines “travel.” Some cards include airfare and hotel rooms under this umbrella while others exclude them altogether.
Answers depend on merchant codes, which allow card issuers to determine whether a purchase qualifies for rewards. Below is a table identifying what purchases qualify as travel for some major card issuers.
Airline tickets
Travel credit cards provide many perks, such as complimentary checked bags, TSA Pre(r), lounge access and priority boarding.
How much rewards you earn and redeem depends on how generous or restrictive card issuers are when it comes to their definition of travel purchases. Here is how it breaks down: Merchant codes: Airline tickets; hotels; car rentals; buses/transit/cruise lines/taxis (limos/rideshare services), campgrounds/tolls
Hotels
Many credit cards allow cardmembers to accumulate rewards on hotel purchases, while some also permit redeeming points for reservations made with specific hotels. Co-branded travel cards from hotel chains offer this perk; you may also find value by using category bonuses or shopping via card issuer shopping portals. Most hotel credit cards can convert points to airline miles at a relatively favorable conversion ratio as well.
Car rentals
Credit card car rental insurance can be an invaluable perk, yet its coverage varies between cards. Some cover only damage while others include theft protection as well.
WalletHub found that most personal credit cards offer comprehensive rental car coverage, with Chase cards offering superior coverage among issuers. Their policies even extend to timeshares, RV rentals and boat ferries as well as campgrounds and ferry rides.
Cruises
Many credit cards offer reward categories for travel-related spending and co-branded cards with airlines or hotels offer points or miles based on those expenses; yet how exactly are credit card issuers defining “travel?”
Merchant codes determine what constitutes travel purchases, such as timeshares, vacation rentals, travel agency fees, buses and railways, taxis/limos/ferries/campgrounds/motor homes etc. Here are some common examples: timeshares/vacation rentals/travel agency fees etc.
Travel agency fees
Travel agents may accept direct credit card payments from clients, but it’s essential that they know how the charges will code. Some payment processors such as Square exclude travel from eligibility, while some limit how often transactions qualify for special perks.
Card issuers use merchant codes to assess which purchases qualify as travel expenses. The following table outlines which merchant codes most card issuers consider travel-related:.
Buses and other forms of transit
Buses provide an economical and more flexible travel option than airplanes, trains or rental cars for short trips and unique journeys.
Most card issuers include travel broadly enough to include airlines, hotels, car rentals, cruise lines, buses and transit, passenger railways, taxicabs/limos/ferries among their definition of travel; however some cards exclude purchases made at real estate agents, educational merchants offering travel arrangements/sightseeing activities/excursions etc.
Trains and railways
Railways and trains are an efficient mode of transportation for many. People may prefer them over airplanes or buses when taking medium distance trips.
Trains are powered by electricity and run on tracks known as rails, transporting people quickly to their destinations. Some individuals unfamiliar with transport may mistake the term rail for train.
Ferries
Ferries are an integral component of transportation in waterside cities and countries, offering direct connections at lower capital costs than bridges or tunnels, carrying vehicles as well as cargo.
Ferry services can attract riders if they offer attractions like magnificent views or holiday ambience, but in order to be profitable long-term they must compete with other services in terms of pricing.
