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A vacation credit card can help you enjoy the most rewards while you’re relaxing. The best credit cards for vacations can also be excellent for everyday purchases so you can offset your vacation booking costs as well. The best card depends on your travel preferences and how you plan on using your card benefits.
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The Best Credit Cards For Vacations
Here is a preview of the best credit cards for vacation:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
- Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
- Citi Premier® Card
- American Express® Gold Card
- Citi® Double Cash Card
- Bilt World Elite Mastercard®
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is one of the best overall options as it has flexible, travel-friendly redemption options and valuable travel perks.
Travel benefits include:
- Travel redemption bonus: Points are worth 25% more (1.25 cents) when booking award travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. You can use your points for flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises, and excursions.
- 1:1 point transfers: Over 12+ airline and hotel point transfers including Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, World of Hyatt, and Marriott Bonvoy.
- Hotel statement credit: Up to $50 in annual reimbursements for hotels booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
- Travel protection benefits: Complimentary travel insurance including trip cancellation/interruption coverage (up to $10,000 per person), primary rental car coverage, and up to $500 per ticket in trip delay coverage.
Travel purchases can earn up to 5x Ultimate Rewards. Dining purchases can earn 3x points. Additionally, cardholders receive bonus points each card anniversary equivalent to 10% of the points earned during the previous year.
The annual fee is $95, and there is no foreign transaction fee.
Related: Is The Chase Sapphire Preferred Still Worth It?
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Casual travelers craving flexibility may love the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card which earns 2x Capital One Miles per $1 on all purchases. As an added bonus, hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel earn 5x Venture miles.
You may like this card as you can redeem your credit card points as a travel statement credit for any recent travel purchase at 1 cent each. You can also redeem points for upcoming trips with a similar redemption value or transfer to the Capital One airline partners for international flights.
Additional card benefits include two one-time airport lounge passes to the Capital One Lounge or Plaza Premium networks and free Global Entry or TSA PreCheck.
The annual fee is $95. However, there is no foreign transaction fee.
Related: How Hard Is It To Get The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card?
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is a budget-friendly premium credit card option for frequent flyers and those with a taste for luxury travel.
This card’s keystone benefits are:
- $300 credit annually for Capital One Travel
- Unlimited airport lounge visits to Capital One Lounge, Priority Pass Select, and Plaza Premium
- 10,000 miles ($100 value) on each card anniversary
- Earn up to 10x miles on travel purchases through Capital One Travel
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit
- Special perks at Capital One Premier Collection hotels and resorts
The annual fee is $395, and there is no foreign transaction fee.
Related: Capital One Venture X vs Chase Sapphire Preferred
Citi Premier Card
The information for the Citi Premier® Card has been collected independently by Johnny Jet. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
It’s easy to save money on hotels and earn bonus rewards on many purchases with the Citi Premier® Card.
Focusing on the $100 annual hotel savings benefit, the discount applies on your first hotel booking each year that costs at least $500 on thankyou.com. This is one of the best credit cards for vacation because of that.
You can earn 3x Citi ThankYou points on purchases:
- Hotel and car rental bookings on Citi Travel (10x through 6/30/2024)
- Air travel and other hotels
- Restaurants
- Gas stations
- Supermarkets
It’s possible to redeem Citi ThankYou points for upcoming flights at 1 cent each. Additionally, you can also transfer them to participating international airlines.
The annual fee is $95. However, there is no foreign transaction fee.
If this sounds like a good choice for you, check out the CardMatch™ tool, which is a free resource for finding personalized offers that best serve you. It can help you determine if the Citi Premier is a card you can get. Additionally, you may be offered a higher targeted signup bonus that isn’t available to the general public.
Related: Citi Premier Card Review
American Express Gold Card
Foodies and traveling families can benefit from the American Express® Gold Card which earns 4x Membership Rewards at restaurants worldwide and at U.S. supermarkets (on the first $25,000 per year). Flights booked directly from the airline or through Amex Travel earn 3x points.
This is one of the best credit cards for dining as you receive up to $10 in monthly statement credits to participating restaurants and up to $10 in Uber Cash per month for rides and eats.
A luxury travel benefit of note is a $100 experience credit on qualifying stays with The Hotel Collection with American Express Travel.
You can redeem your points for award flights at 1 cent each or transfer to one of the many American Express airline or hotel transfer partners. Many have a 1:1 transfer ratio.
The annual fee is $250, and there is no foreign transaction fee (See Rates & Fees). You can also pair the Amex Gold with one of the best American Express credit cards for travel to access more vacation perks.
Citi Double Cash Card
The information for the Citi® Double Cash Card has been collected independently by Johnny Jet. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
This best credit cards for vacation option is easy to use. The Citi® Double Cash Card offers lots of flexibility as you earn up to 2% back on all purchases (1 point per $1 at the time of purchase and 1 point per dollar in balance payments). You can redeem your rewards as a cash statement credit or banking deposit with no redemption minimum.
Additionally, this card also lets you transfer your points balance to another Citi credit card that earns ThankYou points for more redemption options.
If earning the most purchase rewards is more important than additional card benefits, a cash back credit card can be better than a travel credit card.
This card doesn’t have an annual fee. However, it charges a 3% foreign transaction fee.
Related: Citi Double Cash Review
Bilt World Elite Mastercard
The Bilt World Elite Mastercard® can be a solid choice for renters as you can earn rewards points on rent payments fee-free and have access to valuable travel redemption options.
Starting with rewards categories, these purchases earn bonus points:
- 3x on dining
- 2x on travel
- 1x on rent payments (on the first $100,000 per calendar year)
- 1x on all remaining purchases
As a caveat, you will need to complete at least 5 transactions per statement cycle to earn credit card points on your purchases.
Regarding redemptions, each point is worth 1.25 cents when booking travel through the Bilt App. Additionally, there are several 1:1 airline and hotel transfer partners including American Airlines which doesn’t partner with any other major credit card issuer.
Additionally, the Bilt App award travel tool compares redemption prices to help you find the lowest trip cost. The feature may recommend booking your itinerary through the app or transferring to the travel loyalty program.
Related: The Bilt Credit Card Review
Summary
In conclusion, vacation is an exciting time to rest and engage in activities that are challenging to squeeze in during the workweek or impossible in your home city. The best travel credit cards provide a variety of ways to save money, maximize your purchases, and unlock complimentary loyalty benefits. We hope these best credit cards for vacation can help you earn more rewards.
Related Articles:
- Is The Chase Sapphire Reserve Worth It?
- Can You Receive A Capital One Venture Bonus Twice?
- Best Visa Credit Card for Travel Lovers
For rates and fees of The American Express® Gold Card, please click here.
