Favorite Flexible Point Earning Cards

Flexible point earning cards are absolutely essential to our travel strategy. There are 4 major banks – Citi, Chase, Capital One, and American Express. The best way to get maximum value for your points is by transferring your flexible points to travel partners. Each bank has their own group of travel partners. Keep reading and I’ll explain the benefits of some of the most flexible point earning cards.

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Citi Strata Premier℠ Card

Citi Strata Premier℠ Card is an underrated travel rewards credit card with great earning potential across a variety of everyday and travel-related spending categories. If this card sounds unfamiliar – the Citi Premier Card relaunched as the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card in May 2024. Sound more familiar? Find some of my favorite cards at the link below!

Rewards and Benefits

With this card, you’ll earn:

• Earn 10 points per $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on CitiTravel.com.
• Earn 3 points per $1 on Air Travel and Other Hotel Purchases, at Restaurants, Supermarkets, Gas and EV Charging Stations.
• Earn 1 Point per $1 spent on all other purchases

There’s a $95 annual fee included to enhance the perks.

Card benefits include the following:

• $100 Annual Hotel Benefit: Once per calendar year, enjoy $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees) when booked through CitiTravel.com. Benefit applied instantly at time of booking.
• No expiration and no limit to the amount of points you can earn with this card
• No Foreign Transaction Fees on purchases

The Citi ThankYou program makes your rewards flexible with numerous airline and hotel partners you can transfer your earned points to.

Travel Partners:

In terms of hotel travel partners, they include: ALL (Accor), Choice Privileges, Leaders Club, and Wyndham Rewards.

If you’re looking for an option to spread out a bit (because, hello…kids) – Wyndham is a great option. To book a Vacasa vacation rental with your Citi ThankYou points, you’ll need to Call Wyndham Rewards (800-441-1034) to book, but this is a great option to book Wyndham properties!

How I’d Use the Points

• Transfer points to Flying Blue (Air France/KLM) to fly to Europe for 20k points each way.
• Transfer points to Wyndham to book a vacation rental
• Transfer points to Turkish Airlines to book a one way business class flight to Istanbul (65,000 ThankYou points)
• Transfer points to Virgin Atlantic to book Delta flights. Book a flight from the US to London for less than 7,000 points

There are lots of possibilities to use these rewards from the Citi Strata!

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Rewards and Benefits

If you’re still using a debit card, I plead with you to STOP. Instead, treat the Sapphire Preferred as a debit card. Pay it off on time and in full each month while earning great rewards! You’ll earn 5x points on Chase Travel℠, 3x points on restaurants, select streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs). Note this also excludes in-store grocery purchases. You’ll receive 2x points on all travel purchased outside of Chase Travel℠ and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases. These points are SO VALUABLE because they are so flexible. 

Travel Partners

When you’re ready to use your points, you have some great options. You can redeem them through Chase Travel℠ at worth 1.25 cents per point. This is a great option, but we can do EVEN BETTER! 

I highly recommend that you transfer your points to travel partners. Chase, hands down, has some of my favorite transfer partners. They include: Southwest, Hyatt, Flying Blue, British Airways, United, Air Canada, Emirates, Iberia, JetBlue, Singapore Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Air Lingus, Hyatt, Marriott, and IHG.

How I’d Use the Points

• Transfer points to Hyatt to book 3 nights at the Andaz Papagayo Costa Rica for 35k points a night
• Transfer points to Southwest to book flights anywhere in the US and Central America
• Transfer points to United Airlines to book a one way business class flight to Europe for 70,000 points
• Transfer points to Flying Blue (KLM) to book Delta flights. Book a flight from the US to London for less than 20,000 points

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Rewards and Benefits

To start off, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card current welcome offer is enough to get you 2 round trip flights when redeemed by transferring miles to other travel partners. It can also be used simply to reimburse yourself for anything that you purchase that codes as travel. This could include train tickets, Airbnb stays, rental cars, hotels, etc. It’s an extremely beginner friendly card.

Earned rates include 2x miles on every purchase. That’s in addition to the 5x miles received on hotel stays booked through Capital One Travel. More benefits include no foreign transaction fees (which is ideal for international travel), travel accident insurance, and rental car coverage for added security. There’s an annual fee of $95 with the Venture Rewards card. But, the reward earning potential is worth it!

Travel Partners

To maximize your Capital One Venture Miles, you’ll want to transfer your points to travel partners. You’ll get much more value than using your points to “cover” your purchase. Some Capital One transfer partners include Aeromexico, Air Canada, Cathay Pacific, Avianca, British Airways, Emirates, Etihad, Finnair, Flying Blue, Qantas, Singapore, TAP Miles, Turkish Airlines, and Virgin Red.

How I’d Use The Points

• Transfer points to Flying Blue to book 5 one way flights to Europe for 85k points
• Transfer points to Virgin Atlantic to book
• Transfer points to United Airlines to book a one way business class flight to Europe for 70,000 points
• Use points to “cover” an Airbnb stay – this can be a great option for family travel in Europe!

As you know, I receive a small commission from the bank when you use my links to apply for a card. I appreciate when you take the time to apply from my links, rather than Google an offer! It’s a no cost way for you to support me, and I appreciate it so much!

xo – Amber