If you want free travel, and especially luxury free travel…
One thing will stand out above the rest as the most important first step
And that is…
You need to start with the right credit card(s).
Sounds easy enough especially since many bloggers might recommend one or the other.
And sure, you could blindly pick a card and make the right choice.
But you need to understand WHY a credit card is the right card, so you can make good decisions long-term for this noble goal of luxury free travel.
So I’m here to answer that question for you in detail so you never have doubts again.
First off, it has to earn points, not cash back
I know that’s a crazy thing to hear after the whole world tries to push cash-back down your throat
But the thing is, cash back limits your earning potential.
It might sound sexy to get 1.5%, 2%, 2.5% cash back.
But it’s important to realize the true value of the other option.
When you’re earning points and miles instead of cash back, your potential goes up BIG TIME.
On average, I redeem points around 4-5%, and that’s just an average day.
Meaning, I’ll worst case get 2.5x the value that any cash back card will give you.
A no-brainer if you ask me.
The card needs to earn some sort of transferable points (e.g. Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points, CapitalOne Rewards)
In other words, points that can be transferred to travel partners.
You’ll have to be careful here cause some cards act like “fake travel rewards cards.”
Meaning they say you can redeem for travel, but they can’t actually be TRANSFERRED anywhere, they can only be cashed out and they basically book your travel in cash, which is not the same thing.
And the magic comes from being able to transfer your points to travel partners.
Not cash back, not sorta cash back, but transferring to travel partners,
Good examples of this are Chase Sapphire Preferred, Amex Gold, and many others.
Of course, there are other factors – sign up bonuses, category bonuses and multipliers, and things like Chase 5/24 that impact the order in which you should get cards.
But remember the fundamentals: no cash back and transferable currency.
Once you got that down, you’re halfway there to being able to take mind-blowing luxury trips, all without having to spend your hard-earned money to do it.
Hope that helped explain the WHY behind one of the most important decisions you’ll make in this game.
If you want a step-by-step guide on how to travel in first class and stay in 5-star hotels for pennies on the dollar, then make sure to join Lux Travel Hacks today.