One thing I wish I had known while I was in college was how much credit cards can benefit me for things like summer travels. I also wished someone had explained the value of airline miles and hotel points.

Why apply for travel credit cards? Because travel credit cards have sign up bonuses that give you free airline miles and hotel points that can be used to pay for your travels. It’s that simple.

Bonus points can be anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000 miles points, which can seriously offset some of your essential travel expenses. Rather than spending your savings on a plane ticket, you can use it on food, travel guides or an extra destination which I think is a much better use of money.

There are so many different types of credit cards and many of them offer sign up bonuses in the form of points or miles that you can use for free travel. A lot of people take it to a whole other level by “travel hacking” their entire way through different destinations with hotels paid for by points and their airfare covered by airline miles.

When you travel on an airplane, you earn miles based on the distance of your trip. While those miles are valuable, you have to fly a lot to earn enough to book a free flight in the future. Travel credit cards can help you earn those miles quicker, a lot quicker. Essentially you can earn tons of miles by not evening stepping foot on a plane and use these miles for free flights and hotels.

When you’re trying to decide which type of credit card to sign up for, here are some things to consider:

The Signup Bonus

The best type of sign up bonuses are the ones that are going to fully pay for a travel expense. Typically co-branded airline credit cards offer 20,000 to 100,000 miles if you apply for the card. That travel expense can be an international or domestic plane ticket or hotel stays. What’s better than free round trip airfare to Europe?

The Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card has had a 50,000 Rapid Rewards bonus around for some time now and depending on where you have plans to travel to, with Southwest Airlines’ Wanna Get Away deals that bonus could be worth 2 or 3 free round trip tickets. If you get the personal version as well as the business version, you’ll be able to earn 100,000 Rapid Rewards meaning you’d be able to fly more miles.

The same goes for hotel branded credit cards. For example the Chase Marriott Premier Rewards is currently offering 70,000 points plus a free night certificate which is 10 free stays in total. Marriott hotels are located all over the world so you have some great options to redeem your points for free hotel stays.

Annual Fees

Not all credit cards have annual fees, but for the ones that do the annual fee is usually waived for the first year and is between $45 to $95 each year after that. Is it worth paying for an annual fee? It depends on the sign up bonus and the cards’ perks. If the sign up bonus is relatively high, then you might decide to overlook the annual fee if it’s not waived the first year. If the card offers you valuable travel perks it also may be worth paying the annual fee after the first year.

Redeeming Credit Card Sign Up Bonuses for Hotel Stays

If you decide to start applying for credit cards to use the bonus points to pay for parts of your trip, you will surely save some money. Last August and September, I went to Turkey, France, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and most of the trip was paid for by bonus points.

Here are the credit card points I used during my trip for hotel stays:

Chase IHG Rewards Club Visa. This card offers 80,000 points that can go a very long way when staying at middle-tier IHG hotels. I stayed three nights at the Holiday Sisli in Istanbul which normally runs around $350 per night. I was upgraded to a suite with the Platinum elite status that comes with the card. I used 45,00 IHG points on this stay.

Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa. I booked two night stays at the Radisson Blu Bosphorus, Radisson Blu Dubrovnik, and Radisson Blu Split. On top of that I received room upgrades at all of these hotels with the free Gold elite status that comes with the card. I spent 138,000 Club Carlson points on these stays.

Marriott Rewards Premier Visa. The card offers 70,000 points and a free night at a Marriott category 1-4 hotel. I only used the free night at the Renaissance Beach Resort Antalya, so I still have the 70,000 points.

Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature Card. Two nights at the Doubletree in Zagreb using Points + Cash, and only used part of the 50,000 bonus points from the sign-up offer. Each night cost 12,000 points + $50.00.

Current Best Credit Card Sign Up Bonus Offers

Frontier Airlines World MasterCard

Earn 40,000 bonus miles after spending $500 in purchases in the first 90 days
Earn up to 10,000 bonus miles on balance transfers (1 mile per $1 transferred) in the first 90 days
Earn double miles on purchases at FlyFrontier.com and 1 mile per $1 on all other purchases
No blackout dates! Book any roundtrip award flight on Frontier starting at 20,000 miles (subject to fees/taxes from $5)
0% Intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for the first 12 months. After that, a variable APR, currently 15.99% or 24.99% based on creditworthiness
$69 Annual Fee. Please see Terms and Conditions for complete details.

Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card

Starpoints® bonus: earn up to 25,000 bonus points: 10,000 after your first purchase and another 15,000 after you spend $5,000 within the first 6 months of card membership
That’s enough for a weekend getaway to a Category 4 Hotel.
Free Hotel Nights: redeem Starpoints at over 1,100 hotels in nearly 100 countries worldwide – with no blackout dates. Some hotels may have mandatory service and resort charges.
Free Flights: redeem Starpoints on over 350 airlines with SPG Flights – with no blackout dates
No limits on the number of Starpoints you can earn
$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $65

Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard

Earn 40,000 bonus miles if you make $3,000 or more in purchases in the first 90 days from account opening. 40,000 bonus miles equates to $400 off your next trip!
Earn 2X miles on all purchases
No mileage caps or foreign transaction fees
Get 10% miles back when you redeem for travel (i.e. redeem 25,000 miles for travel and get 2,500 miles back)
Use miles for a statement credit toward any airline purchase to any destination with no seat restrictions and no blackout dates
Easily redeem your miles for statement credits toward flights, cruises, car rentals, hotels and more
Complimentary subscription to TripIt Pro mobile travel organizer – a $49 annual value!
Complimentary FICO® Scores as a benefit to active cardmembers. Opt-in to have instant and convenient access to FICO® Scores from your Barclaycard online account.

The Miles & More Premier World MasterCard

Earn 20,000 award miles after your first purchase or balance transfer
Earn up to 15,000 award miles with balance transfers (1 mile per $1 transferred) within 30 days of account opening
Cardholders receive a companion ticket annually after each account anniversary
Earn 1 mile per $1 on all other purchases
Annual Complimentary Companion Ticket after first purchase, then annually thereafter
No foreign transaction fees on purchases made outside the U.S.
Redeem miles for flight awards and upgrades on Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, SWISS, Star Alliance airlines and other partners
$79 Annual Fee. Please see Terms and Conditions for complete details

Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® World MasterCard

Earn 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of card membership
Your first eligible checked bag is free
Priority Boarding with Group 1 privileges and 25% savings on eligible in-flight purchases
Earn a $100 American Airlines Flight Discount every card membership year with qualifying purchases and card membership renewal*
Double AAdvantage® miles on eligible American Airlines purchases
Earn 10% of your redeemed AAdvantage® miles back – up to 10,000 AAdvantage® miles each calendar year

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Earn 40,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months
Plus get 5,000 points after adding a second authorized cardholder
Earn 2 points per dollar on all travel and dining purchases
Earn 1 point per dollar everywhere else
You’ll get a 7% annual dividend on all points earned through purchases
Transfer points to some of the best rewards programs (United, Southwest, Korean Air, Hyatt, and Marriott) or redeem for 1.2 cents per point for almost any type of travel
No annual fee the first year, then $95

The Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite MasterCard®

Earn 35,000 bonus miles when you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days
Enjoy a complimentary 1st checked bag for the primary cardmember when you use your card to purchase eligible tickets directly from Hawaiian Airlines
Receive a one-time 50% off a companion discount on round trip coach travel between Hawaii and North America on Hawaiian Airlines
Earn 2X miles on direct purchases from Hawaiian Airlines and 1X miles on all other purchases
No foreign transaction fees on purchases
Get $100 off a companion ticket for roundtrip coach travel between Hawaii and North America on Hawaiian Airlines at each account anniversary
Earn 5,000 annual bonus miles after $10,000 in annual spend

Club CarlsonSM Premier Rewards Visa Signature® Card

Up to 85,000 Bonus Gold Points – receive 50,000 Gold Points after your first purchase plus 35,000 points once you spend $2,500 on your card within the first 90 days
40,000 renewal bonus points each year when you renew your card
10 points per $1 spent in eligible net purchases at participating Carlson Rezidor hotels
5 points per $1 spent in eligible net purchases everywhere else
Bonus Award Nights – When you redeem Gold Points for 2 or more consecutive Award Nights, your last night is free. Exclusively for cardmembers!
Your upgrade is automatic – Your Club Carlson membership will be upgraded to Gold Elite Status after you activate and use your card

Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Reserve Card

Earn 2 weekend night certificates good at select hotels and resorts within the Hilton HHonors portfolio after $2,500 in eligible purchases within 4 months of account opening*
Earn 10 HHonors Bonus Points per $1 spent on hotel stays within the Hilton HHonors portfolio*
Earn 5 HHonors Bonus Points per $1 spent on airline and car rental purchases*
Earn 3 HHonors Bonus Points per $1 spent on all other eligible purchases*
Enjoy the benefits of HHonors Gold status as long as you are a cardmember*
No foreign transaction fees on purchases
$95 Annual Fee

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Why to Apply for Travel Credit Cards