Credit card travel portals may seem obscure in the points and miles universe, but they’re invaluable tools for anyone seeking to maximize the value of their rewards, find flexible pricing and availability options, or extend redemptions as far as possible.
Capital One recently unveiled an attractive portal, while Citi also offers excellent offerings. We’ll compare their price, ease-of-use and features before coming to a decision on one or the other.
Redeeming Points for Travel
Credit card travel portals exist within an obscure corner of rewards, and even many points and miles enthusiasts might be unaware that they exist. But their benefits can quickly add up when booking flights.
Travel portals are online shopping websites that enable customers to pay for airfare, hotels and car rentals with credit card points or cash – while simultaneously earning bonus miles. Though they can sometimes be inconsistent and glitchy, most offer a range of options and some unique benefits. Capital One’s travel portal allows users to redeem both miles and cash, includes Cancel for Any Reason coverage on tickets booked through it, and provides airfare price prediction technology from Hopper. AmEx trails behind in these regards but has recently introduced some useful features – like being able to book discount carriers such as Southwest or Norwegian directly through its portal with no booking fees associated with booking them directly through it.
Identifying Price Trends
Many credit cards offer increased rewards when redeeming points through their travel portal, and booking engines such as these can help you find the lowest prices and offer protections like price drop protection for flights and hotel stays.
Capital One recently unveiled its travel portal that simplifies flight, hotel and rental car booking for cardholders of Capital One Bank. This innovative portal boasts numerous tools such as airfare price prediction technology as well as an intuitive user experience.
However, certain travel portals still lack the capability of booking discount airlines and do not clearly distinguish between main cabin and basic economy fares. Some also exclude major carriers altogether, which may present difficulty when searching for specific routes. Therefore, such portals are best used as part of an overall strategy which also includes other travel booking sites and direct booking.
Identifying the Right Time to Book
Credit card travel portals make booking airfare, hotels and rental cars using points earned on one particular credit card easy, yet many also go further by providing other features to help consumers find the best offers.
Tools available to travelers for identifying price trends and alerting them of the optimal time to book are key, as are protections in case prices drop after reservations have been made – for instance Capital One Travel Portal offers an easy calendar view which makes it simple to view which routes offer the lowest fares.
However, not all credit card issuer travel portals are created equal. Some, such as Chase’s Ultimate Rewards portal, feature an attractive, user-friendly design that ranks highly for usability ratings; other cards like Citi’s ThankYou travel portal offer simpler layouts but still rank highly overall. Furthermore, certain card issuers do not allow frequent travelers to use loyalty program status when booking through their portals – which can be frustrating for frequent travelers looking to maximize points and miles accumulation.
Getting Started
Utilizing credit card travel portals is key to successful travel hacking; however, not all travel portals provide equal value on flights, hotels and rental cars.
Chase and Citi are the leaders in this space, with Chase offering competitive prices and fast load times and Citi providing more search options for discount carriers like Southwest, Norwegian and Allegiant airlines. However, both could make improvements to their interfaces to better accommodate discount carriers like Southwest, Norwegian and Allegiant airlines.
Capital One recently unveiled a travel booking portal with unique features. Cardholders will be able to book flights with over 200 airlines, stay at over 2 million hotels and rent cars from more than 200 providers – but only certain cards will have access to it initially – the Venture Rewards, VentureOne Rewards, VentureClub Rewards and Spark Miles Select for Business credit cards currently have access but other Capital One cardholders could gain access in time.
