Check out this easy strategy to earn free hotel nights!

Have you ever found a $20 bill just lying on the ground? Pretty exciting, huh! And who doesn’t long for a little down time away from familiar surroundings every once in a while? Maybe you’d really like to take a cross-country road trip with the kids. Vacations are expensive and, if you’re like me, you’re looking for ways to reduce costs wherever possible. Using a budget is a way to analyze your expenditures to identify possible savings opportunities. We’ve also found using credit card rewards to be an easy strategy to earn free hotel nights for most of our recent stays.

Maybe you just wish you had a little extra cash hidden somewhere to offset next month’s grocery purchases. Inflation is pinching even the best of us right now, making it that much more important to save wherever possible. Credit cards can be a way, provided you are disciplined in terms of keeping them paid off, to basically find free money.

Update 12.31.23: I just now calculated my numbers for the full year 2023. Between points and cash back on the four cards I use, I earned approximately $1,500! It’s work but definitely worth it for me.

Please, PLEASE pay attention to the caveat below, though.

One important caveat: You must be disciplined enough to pay your credit card balances in full each month. If you’re not – please don’t use this method! Proverbs 22:7 reminds us that “…the borrower is the slave of the lender.” Don’t be a slave to credit card companies! Maxing out credit limits and paying exorbitant finance charges negates all benefits earned here and lands you in a world of hurt. I’ve set all my accounts to auto-pay the statement balance each month so that I don’t miss a payment. In this way I don’t consider it debt because the cash is there to pay it. It’s cash flow management with the added perk of free travel points.

Another important reminder: – today’s charges won’t need paid for a month due to the delay in purchase vs. payment due date on your credit cards. Don’t look at your current checking account balance and be all like, “Look at me! I have $2,000 in my account. I need a new TV!”. Sign up for online access on all your credit cards and keep an eye on those balances. You don’t want an unpleasant surprise when the payment comes due. I’m an Excel junkie who is responsible for the family finances so I have created something way too complicated for this purpose, but do whatever works for you. Just don’t get caught off guard!

How do I earn free hotel nights?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably seen advertisements or read articles about earning cash back or points by using credit cards. There are numerous options and their benefits vary. It takes time to weed through the details and it’s easy to just give up. Let me share a few examples that have worked for me to get you started.

(I am receiving no affiliate income from any of the links I share below. They are simply there to make it easier for you to do your own research.)

Airline Specific Miles Reward Cards

First on my list (not that they are better; just that a list has to start somewhere) are cards tied to frequent flyer miles with specific airlines or travel partners. Keep in mind these cards normally come with an annual fee after the first year. You might consider closing the account once you use your miles unless you travel frequently and charge enough on the card to make it worth your while. Otherwise, that $95/year will erode any benefits you are receiving.

• Chase’s United Explorer Credit Card is one we’ve used. Miles earned on this card can be used toward airline tickets (seems to me this get you the best bang for your buck), hotels, car rentals and other travel-related expenses. They are more restrictive (tied to just one or a few partner airlines); however, there is often a generous promotion for signing up. The current one is 50,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 in the first three months as of the time of this writing, but it may change. It can be difficult to hit that initial spend requirement. We’ve signed up for these when we’ve had a major purchase coming up. For example, we needed to re-carpet our home. The cash was in savings but by using the card we were able to quickly hit the spend requirement. We then turned around and immediately paid off the card with our savings. Our gift to ourselves – enough frequent flyer miles to pay for airline tickets to Florida.

• The American Airlines AAdvantage Aviator Card is another example we’ve used. It offers similar benefits and fees to United’s card. We had miles sitting on this card when the pandemic hit and we’ve chosen not to fly since that time. We were able to use miles to pay for hotel nights on our cross-country trip to the Southwest last spring.

Other Travel Miles/Points Cards

Second are cards that award travel points/credits but are not tied to any specific airline. Many also come with an annual fee, but since they have much more flexibility in what they can be used for, I find them preferable to the airline-specific credit cards.

• Capital One’s Venture Card is the one we use. Similar to those above, this card also has a high initial spend requirement in order to qualify for the bonus. That bonus is currently 75,000 travel miles which is even more than when we signed up. Again, we had some large expense and were able to use the card for for them which qualified us for the promo. Your mileage may vary (ha! pun intended!). The annual fee is currently $95 as of September 2022. We use the card to pay our cell phone bill, our internet, and our streaming TV in addition to using it for anything else that won’t earn us a better deal on another card. We earn enough points to more than offset the annual fee. The miles-to-dollars conversion for hotel stays is favorable with this card. While you can’t use points to book Airbnb’s or VRBO’s, you can use them to pay for the stay once the charge hits your account statement. And remember, you’re earning 2x miles for every dollar you spend so you’re earning new miles on that Airbnb charge. There are versions of this card available (i.e., the Venture One) that don’t have an annual fee or the high initial spend limit; however, they also don’t come with the large sign-on promo nor do they earn as quickly. With our current spend amounts I’m estimating we earn enough for 2-3 nights in a decent but inexpensive hotel each year by using the Venture card.

• Another in this category that rates well but that we’ve not used personally is the Bank of America Travel Rewards Card. The initial bonus points are lower than what the Venture card offers, but the qualifying spend amount is also lower AND it has no annual fee. Seems a win-win and one we might try in the future.

Cash Back Rewards Cards

Third are the cash back rewards cards. That’s correct – cash. No travel strings attached in order to use it. You can redeem this cash in different ways depending on the card. Available options range from from statement credits to online shopping and gift cards. Some allow conversion to travel points on a related credit card (that’s our plan with one of ours – see below). There’s also the option for a check or deposit into your bank account. Just be aware, many cards have a conversion rate for cash payout meaning $100 in cash rewards may not equate to a full $100 in your bank account. Be sure you understand all the ways you can use your rewards with whatever card you choose.

There are many cards in this category. We currently use two of them – the Capital One Savor One Mastercard and the Costco Anywhere Visa by Citi.

• The Capital One Savor One Mastercard was the first cashback card we opened. There are several levels of this Mastercard depending on whether you want a higher earn rate along with an annual fee, or whether like us, you decided the no-annual-fee card was just fine. Your rewards accrue at different rates depending on the purchase category. For example, we currently earn 3% on groceries, dining out and some entertainment purchases. The card pays 1% cash back on everything else. Because groceries are a significant part of our budget (thank you, inflation), this is a smart card choice for us. There is also often a small sign-on promo as well – we were able to grab $200 fairly easily. We’ve had our Savor One card for six months and have already accrued over $300 in cash back benefits. I plan to transfer them to our Venture card (one of the redemption options) and use for future hotel stays.

• Because we are Costco club members, we signed up for the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi. It, too, boasts no annual fee and earning rates are based on the purchase category. For example, we earn 4% cash back on all gas purchases. While this 4% is for ANY gas purchase, it works extra well paired with the discount we already receive at Costco Gas locations with our club membership. The card pays 3% on dining out, though we don’t use it for that since we’re using the Savor One card. Shopping at Costco warehouse gets us 2% cash back, and anyone who shops there knows those purchases can add up! Cash back is provided automatically after the February statement close each year and can be redeemed for cash or used toward future Costco purchases. We’ve used this card for five months now and have earned just under $100 in cash back rewards which equates to over $200 per year. We’ll take the rewards in cash on this one and drop them into savings to offset future vacation costs. For you Sam’s Club members, it does appear Sam’s offers a rewards credit card as well.

• The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa by Chase is a great option for anyone who is already an Amazon Prime member. You earn 5% cash back on all Amazon and Whole Foods purchases. I’ve had this card for several years now, there’s no annual fee, and since I purchase frequently from Amazon I apply the monthly cash back I earn toward future Amazon purchases. I earned $126 cash back dollars over the past 12 months on this credit card.

• I do also have a Disney Visa Card from Chase though I rarely use it. When we signed up there was an offer for a $200 gift card by meeting a specific spend requirement. Being the Disney lover I am, I jumped on it. That offer doesn’t currently exist, and the card only earns points for Disney-related purchases. Still, I make a couple purchases per year just to keep it active because there’s no annual fee. Disney sometimes offers special perks at their theme parks for account holders.

Store Specific Loyalty Programs

Finally, there are the store-specific loyalty program cards for many, many stores (i.e., Home Depot, Lowes, Gap, Walmart, etc…)

Personally, I use Target’s Red Card. Target offers both a credit card and a debit card with nearly the same features – most notably a 5% discount on all Target purchases. Who doesn’t love that? I have no idea how much I’ve saved with this card over the year but it’s a lot! Totally worth it and costs nothing. And if you get the debit version like me, you never need to worry about pesky credit card finance charges or late fees.

Credit Card Churning (a hard “nope” for us!)

If you have extra time on your hands, there is much information on Google about what’s known as credit card churning. Essentially, it’s repeatedly opening and closing new credit cards so as to pull in the maximum amount of rewards. If you are SUPER-diligent with your finances this might be an option for you. I can’t see how this is good for one’s credit score since each time you open a card your credit report shows an inquiry. It seems risky to me and I’m not comfortable with it. Also, it seems like a ton of work! I spend enough energy accounting for the purchases on the cards I currently have and making sure my bank account, which runs close to the line at times, contains sufficient funds to make all upcoming credit card payments. Nonetheless, I’m throwing it out there for you to noodle on if you’re interested.

Here’s an article from Nerd Wallet that explains more about it.

In summary, credit cards can be an easy strategy to earn free hotel nights to supplement your vacation budget (I’m hoping we can score 4-5 inexpensive hotel nights per year in total) or to earn money toward future purchases you were going to make anyway. They can also be your worst enemy if you aren’t diligent about keeping balances paid off.