tips and tricks to help you find the best credit cards deals and make you a better traveler and we also share some of our own personal adventures as well through our travel blog today’s topic travel credit cards even though travel might seem like some sort of far-off concept at the beginning of 2021 it is never a bad time to start saving for your future trip when it is safe to travel again and now would be a great time to start looking into travel credit cards if you aren’t familiar with travel credit cards they essentially reward you for purchases that you make on a daily basis so going to the grocery store or buying clothes online that can all add up points for you to use on future trips to pay for things like flights or hotel rooms they can also offer amazing perks like getting your first checked bag free getting access to airline lounges and priority boarding so to help you get started on your search for your next travel credit card here are our picks for the best credit cards of 2021.
number 1 chase Sapphire preferred card
so first pick for the best overall travel credit card of 2021 is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card so this card is sort of meets that real sweet spot of having a low annual cost coupled with some amazing benefits so for example the signup bonus that you get with this card is 100,000 points if you spend four thousand dollars within the first three months using this card so that’s actually an equivalent of 750 dollars for the future trip which could get you a round trip to many places.
I personally use my sign up bonus a few years back to get a round-trip flight to Paris completely free only using points so it’s a really powerful card for that aspect you earn two times points when spending money on restaurants and also spending money on travel so that’s a great way to rack up a lot of points there it’s a great card to take internationally because there are no foreign transaction fees so no need to worry about that as well as the ability to make your points go further.
every time you earn points on this card because points are worth 1.5 times more when you turn them in using the Chase travel center one other benefit that travelers actually really like about this card as well is any points you earned can be really easily transferred to many other travel websites so many popular airlines many hotels which makes it one of the most flexible travel cards out there so any points you earn can be really powerful towards future trips.
APR 15.99%-22.99% variableANNUAL FEE $95
chase freedom unlimited card
there are so my pick for the best cashback card for travelers in 2021 is the now this card is great for everyday purchases because you earn 1.5 back on anything that you purchase, you also get three percent cash back on grocery store purchases and at drug stores and five percent cash back on any travel purchases that you make in chase’s site so this is a really powerful card for racking up a lot of points because again you earn 1.5 back on anything that you make but also the big bonuses at grocery stores and travel purchases on chase’s site can really rack up a lot of points for you know my strategy with this card is to actually use it in conjunction with the chase sapphire preferred card because any points that I earn on this card are able to be transferred over to the chase sapphire preferred card where they’re worth 1.5 percent more towards any travels by purchasing points on this card it also has a good sign up bonus of 200 if you spend 500 using this card within the first three months so a really low threshold there pretty easy bonus to get and it’s just a good overall travel credit card one thing with this card though it’s not very good for taking internationally because it it does have foreign transaction fees attached to it so that’s why you probably should have another card like the chase sapphire preferred card where you could take this internationally um and not have to worry about foreign transaction fees.
APR 0% intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchasesafter intro period a variable APR of 14.99-23.74ANNUAL FEE$0
chase sapphire reserve card
next up my pick for the best deluxe travel card for 2021 is the chase sapphire reserve card now you might get a little sticker shock from the 550 the annual charge however those that dig a little deeper
will see that that’s an absolute bargain for all the benefits that you get for starters, you actually get a 300 travel reimbursement for every anniversary year as long as you spend over 300 in travel purchases which if you’re a frequent traveler easy after that point after spending 300 you get three times the points on any travel or dining expenses that you have with this card so racking up points with travel
can be extremely quick using this card on top of that any points that you earn with this card are worth
50 percent more when you use them on chase’s travel site and like the preferred card this card is very flexible with allowing you to transfer any points that you earn to other loyalty programs like airlines
and hotels this card also has a really nice sign-up bonus uh which is fifty thousand dollars after spending four thousand using the card in the first three months uh which is worth 750 dollars towards a future trip now what really sets this card apart is its other benefits which there are many for starters and the most popular feature with this card is access to 1 000 plus lounges in airports worldwide so if you ever wanted access to those lounges that you pass by in the airport this is a great card to use to get
access to those on top of that, you also get a hundred dollar application credit towards TSA pre-check or global entry so overall the chase sapphire reserve card is really powerful for racking up a ton of points and giving you that luxury travel experience with access to the airport lounges and the application fee for TSA pre-check.
APR16.99%-2399% variable APRANUAL FEE$550 annual fee $75 for each authorized user
Hilton honors American express
finally, my pick for the best hotel credit card is the Hilton honors American express surpass card this particular card benefits from being affiliated with the Hilton hotel’s vast network of hotels throughout the world so if you’re someone who frequently travels internationally and often stays at hotels this is a great option for you because you know that pretty much anywhere you travel should have a Hilton nearby now the Hilton express surpass card specifically has a nice signup bonus of 130000 points after spending 2000 within the first three months so not a huge threshold to surpass for this card and you have a lot of opportunities to earn a lot of points with this card like earning 12 times the amount of
points on Hilton related expenses six times points at grocery stores and three times points on any other
purchase that you make they’ve also thrown in a couple of other benefits as well like complimentary Hilton gold tier status which can lead to things like late checkouts or even the potential for a room upgrade if there’s availability for one you also get the benefit of having a free night stay at participating Hiltons around the world if you spend fifteen thousand dollars using this card and you get that free night stay on an annual basis as long as you hit that fifteen thousand dollar threshold so it’s a card that lets you rack up a lot of points but also offers that is those other benefits to help you feel like a VIP when staying at Hilton hotels so those are our picks for the top travel credit cards of 2021.
APR15.74%-24.74% variable APR on purchasesNp Annual Fee
