Credit card travel portals can help you maximize the potential rewards available from credit cards. Chase’s Ultimate Rewards program, for instance, gives more than one penny worth of value per redemption when booked through its portal.
But which portal is the best? We examined factors like user friendliness and redemption value before selecting our winner.
Benefits
Credit card issuers have taken to acting as travel agents by creating portals that let consumers book flights using points, cash or both, plus special hotel deals or price drop protection. Capital One Travel portal stands out as offering advanced flight search capabilities as well as the Premier Collection of luxury hotels; in addition to being among few sites providing a free cancellation for any reason as well as best price guarantees.
Booking travel through a travel portal does have its drawbacks. Points or miles used to book travel with your card issuer’s portal often don’t add up to much more than 1 cent each, even on premium cards like Chase Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred. Furthermore, prices in these portals may be overinflated or availability limited compared to other booking sites; that is why it is wise to shop around and compare prices before redeeming rewards through one.
Convenience
Utilizing a credit card travel portal may offer additional advantages over booking directly with airlines or hotels. For instance, some Chase Ultimate Rewards cards allow users to redeem points for travel through their portal and earn up to 25% bonus value of redemptions made.
Credit card travel portals may be frustrating. Capital One Travel’s portal features an attractive interface and is powered by Hopper; however, booking directly may often provide lower prices. Furthermore, certain hotels don’t appear on Capital One portal such as independent properties that offer unique amenities like COVID-19 cancellation insurance and breakfast-inclusive rates – something Capital One portal is meant to do.
Though booking through a credit card travel portal may present its own set of challenges, booking with one may provide greater value from your points and miles. Just be sure to read all the fine print and compare costs when compared with booking directly with airlines or hotels; and maximize earning and burning opportunities by using all available rewards cards.
Value
Credit card travel portals provide an alternative method of booking flights, hotels and rental cars with points. Sometimes your points can be worth more than what would be earned when booking through the airline or hotel website directly; however, pricing and availability may differ between travel booking websites.
Credit card travel portals can be invaluable tools in the arsenal of any smart rewards traveler who prioritizes maximization of flexible points, availability searches and stretching redemptions. Their effectiveness will depend on your travel needs and specific card(s). But used correctly they can prove immensely helpful for many travelers. Capital One Travel has some special features that set it apart from its competition – such as its partnership with Hopper (an app which uses data to predict when is best time to purchase airfares – Hopper estimates 95% accuracy rate!).
Hit or miss
Credit card travel portals may seem obscure in terms of rewards programs, but they can be invaluable tools for points and miles collectors. By eliminating transfer steps and sometimes offering higher redemption values than booking directly through airlines or hotels themselves, portals offer time savings while saving time by speeding up redemption processes.
Credit card travel portals with top ratings offer intuitive user experiences with unique features like color-coded calendar views displaying when flights are the cheapest. Capital One Travel is one such portal which integrates Hopper into its portal to show users when the lowest fare options are available each day; AmEx does not feature such capabilities on their portal.
AmEx often exhibits long load times and fails to display availability for low-cost airlines such as Spirit and Frontier, plus does not enable users to combine its travel portal with shopping portals or earn hotel loyalty program elite benefits – this can make booking certain types of trips frustratingly challenging.
