I was deeply skeptical of travel credit cards for a long time. The annual fees felt like a trap, the point systems felt deliberately confusing, and every time I read an article about them I came away less sure than when I started. Then I paid for five round-trip flights to the Dominican Republic mostly with points I’d earned buying groceries and paying utility bills, and my skepticism mostly evaporated.
The cards that actually work aren’t complicated once you understand what you’re looking for. Here are seven worth knowing about, including a couple with no annual fee, for anyone who isn’t ready to commit to paying for a card yet.
1. Chase Sapphire Preferred
This is where most people should start if they’re new to travel cards. The annual fee is $95, which sounds like a lot until you use it. Points transfer to a long list of airline and hotel partners, which is where the real value comes from, transferring 50,000 points to United or Hyatt can be worth significantly more than redeeming the same points for cash back. The sign-up bonus alone, when it appears, is often worth $500-$750 in travel. The card earns 3x on dining, 2x on travel, and 1x on everything else. Solid, not flashy, and it works.
2. Capital One Venture Rewards
This is my personal everyday card and the one I recommend most often to people who want simplicity. Two miles per dollar on everything. No categories to track, no quarterly bonuses to activate, no thinking required. Miles transfer to a good range of airline partners or you can use them to erase travel purchases from your statement. The $95 annual fee is offset by a $100 Global Entry or TSC PreCheck credit every four years, which alone covers the fee. If you want one card that rewards every purchase equally, this is it.
3. Chase Sapphire Reserve
The premium version of the Preferred. The $550 annual fee looks alarming until you realize the card comes with a $300 annual travel credit that applies automatically to any travel purchases, bringing the effective annual fee to $250. Then there’s Priority Pass lounge access, a better earning rate (3x on travel and dining), and the same strong transfer partners as the Preferred. Worth it if you travel frequently. Probably overkill if you take one or two trips a year.
4. American Express Gold Card
The Amex Gold earns 4x points at restaurants and US supermarkets, which is an extraordinary rate if you spend significantly in those categories. The $250 annual fee is partially offset by $120 in dining credits (spread across specific restaurant partners) and $120 in Uber Cash annually. Points transfer to Delta, British Airways, and several other partners. If your household has a big grocery bill, this card earns faster than almost anything else.
5. Citi Strata Premier Card
Underrated and worth knowing about. Earns 3x on hotels, air travel, restaurants, supermarkets, and gas stations, an unusually broad set of bonus categories. The $95 annual fee is reasonable and the transfer partners include Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, which is one of the better-value programs for booking Star Alliance flights. Less well-known than the Chase and Amex options, which sometimes means less competition for award seats on partner airlines.
6. Bank of America Travel Rewards (No Annual Fee)
If you’re not ready to pay an annual fee, this is where to start. Earns 1.5x points on everything, no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees. Points are redeemed as statement credits against travel purchases. Not the most exciting card, but it costs nothing to hold and earns meaningfully on every purchase. Bank of America Preferred Rewards members get a bonus rate that can push it to 2.625x on everything, which suddenly becomes very interesting.
7. Discover it Miles (No Annual Fee)
Another no-annual-fee option worth knowing about: 1.5x miles on all purchases, and Discover matches every mile you earn in the first year, effectively doubling your rewards for the first twelve months. No foreign transaction fees, and the miles can be redeemed against any travel purchase as a statement credit. A good starter card for someone building their credit history who still wants to earn travel rewards.
How to Actually Choose
Start with one card, not three. The advice to “stack multiple cards to maximize every category” is real but it’s step two, not step one. Pick the card that fits how you spend, lots of groceries and restaurants means the Amex Gold. Want something simple with no thinking, go Venture. New to credit cards or not ready to pay fees, start with Bank of America Travel Rewards.
The single biggest mistake people make is not using the sign-up bonus. Most of these cards offer a large bonus after spending a certain amount in the first few months. That bonus is often worth $500-$1,000 in flights. Use the card for regular purchases you’d be making anyway, groceries, gas, utilities, to hit the threshold, then pay it off in full. That’s the whole system.
I’m not going to pretend it isn’t a little bit of a game. It is. But it’s a game where the prizes are flights and hotel rooms, and I’ve found that worth playing.
