Last Modified: 08/15/26
Getting started with Points & Miles can seem overwhelming. Believe me, I did not get my first points & miles credit card until 2022! A goals-first approach and starting slow can make it so much easier.
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My Points & Miles Origin Story
All the way back in 2022, Ms. Taylor Allison Swift decided to upend our lives and announced the most epic, global tour in history. My daughters were begging to go, and in my desperate search for a way to get presale tickets, I came across a Capital One promotion. The Eras Tour had partnered with Capital One to offer cardholders presale options before the regular sale. I opted for the Quicksilver Card, a cash back card, that had a $200 bonus with $1000 spend. The math was easy for me and made the ticket prices more digestible.
Between opening this card and experiencing the Eras Tour in Nashville N3 (the thunderstorm one), it was game over for me. All it took was the announcement of the European leg of the Eras Tour for me to really dive feet first into how to fly and get hotels with points and miles.
Since then, I have booked trips for myself and loved ones to the UK three times, France twice, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, NYC, Boston, Austin for a USMNT game, and LA for the World Cup.
Is Points & Miles For Me?
If I was starting from scratch with points and miles, I’d ask myself a few questions:
Can I pay off my balance(s) in full every month?
Carrying a balance leads to interest charges and dilutes the value of the points.
Hello compound interest! It’s very real; it’s how credit cards make money, and it can snowball into debt fast!
Is my credit score high enough to be approved for the card?
Most banks require at least a 700 credit score. If not, there are some credit card options to “build” credit (and trust) with banks.
Do I spend enough to make the minimum spend for the bonus?
Credit cards typically have a minimum spend of $5K to 8K over 3 months to earn the bonus.
Business and higher-fee credit cards can have much higher minimum spend ($8K to 20K).
It doesn’t make sense to spend money I don’t have, for stuff I don’t need, just for a points sign-up bonus.
Transferable vs. Non-Transferable Points vs. Cash-back Credit Cards
Cash Back credit cards
As their name implies, for certain categories of spending, a cash back credit card gives a percentage of cash back. The cash back can be used to offset the balance, so it acts as a discount on those category purchases. This can be a great way to reduce costs.
For example, the Capital One Savor has a spending bonus of $200 at the time of this post and 3% cash back on dining, groceries, and entertainment.
Non-transferable Points & Brand-specific credit cards
These cards are tied to a specific brand such as American Airlines or Hyatt Hotels. For every dollar spent, you earn a certain number of points for that brand. The points go directly to that loyalty account and, for the most part, cannot be transferred to another program.
For example, the Hyatt Business credit card currently offers a bonus of 70K points and up to 9X points for spending at Hyatt Hotels, plus 2X points in the top three spending categories.
70K points is enough for several nights at pretty high-end Hyatt hotels in the US and Europe like Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile and Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars.
Transferable Points credit cards
Transferable points credit cards include the big names: Chase, Amex, Capital One, Bilt, etc. Every bonus and multiplier is different between banks and cards within those banks. So, choosing cards requires understanding your spending habits and travel goals.
For example, Chase Sapphire cards transfer to Hyatt (and many other partners) and have different multipliers depending on whether you have the Preferred or Reserve. I have the Preferred, and this card has 3X points on online groceries. Whereas Amex Gold transfers to Marriott and Hilton but has 4X points on in-person and online groceries.
For me, we shop mostly online for groceries and stay mostly at Hyatt, so the Chase Sapphire is the best option for us. But I also have the Amex Gold because of Amex’s airline transfer partners.
Shopping Portals (no new card required)
Shopping portals can be a great way to test the waters of points and miles without opening a new card. Rakuten is my go-to, but there are several out there, with Rove being a close second for me.
You can sign up with Rakuten through my referral. We both get $50 cash back or 5000 Amex Or Bilt points! Thanks for supporting the blog!
How I Actually Decide What’s “Worth It”
Deciding whether points and miles are worth it is a very personal question that depends on your travel budget, travel goals, bandwidth to learn and navigate a complex system, and spending habits.
For me, while we have what I consider a decent travel budget, having three kids puts us in a position where our spending allows us to accumulate lots of points over the course of a year. My brain works best when I am planning and tracking something. And I’m at a stage in my career and child-raising where I have the energy and time for this hobby. I also have been tracking and budgeting our spending for over 20 years. It wasn’t hard to manage our spending and avoid spiraling into overspending just to accumulate points.
Finally, we have a good balance of using points to save money and increase the bougie factor of travel. We aren’t flying lie-flat seats, but we are staying in much nicer hotels than we’d be willing to pay for out of pocket. Plus, we are saving so much money on flights and hotels that we can travel without having to constrain our food and activity budget as much.
Some people calculate Cents per Point (CPP), which can help estimate the “value” of points. I personally don’t calculate CPP because it doesn’t align with our travel goals.
Where to go from here?
If you want to dive deeper into Points and Miles, check out my post on Multipliers & Points Potential or take a deep dive into the Hyatt Hotels.
If you are considering opening a new card and want to support the blog, my Favorite Cards page has lots of options that I personally use to book my trips.
What trips are you planning? Shoot me a question on my Instagram!
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