How I Strategize My Spending on 4 Travel Credit Cards to Earn Points

June 30, 2021 Katie Gatti Tassin

Last updated Oct. 2021

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To level-set at the start of this post, it pays to know which travel credit cards I have:

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card ($95 annual fee)
The Platinum Card® from American Express ($550 annual fee; Rates & Fees)
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card (from Chase; $95 annual fee)
Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority card (from Chase; $149 annual fee)

(If you’d like to review the breakdown of why I chose these cards, check out my full breakdown. It’s a hefty boi.)

My husband Thomas has all the cards above except for the Southwest card; since we have Companion Pass on my account (and he’s the Companion; only half the reason why he married me), there’s no point in him getting the Southwest card just yet.

For starters, one of the first questions I had about travel rewards (and one of the questions I get the most) is whether or not having a bunch of credit cards hurts your credit score. I go into more detail about this in my exhaustive travel rewards guide, but the short answer is no – applying for a bunch of new credit all at once will raise some red flags, so I’d recommend spacing out your applications by 90 days each.

(The credit bureaus just see you as a black-and-white entity on paper – things that make you look sketchy, like trying to get a whole bunch of credit all at once, lower your score. But having a lot of credit and only using a small amount makes you look like a responsible-ass adult. This is known as “low credit utilization.”)

The best way to earn a lot of points quickly

Aside from the welcome bonuses (Chase Sapphire Preferred is currently at 60,000 points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening; don’t sleep on it), referrals are the best way to earn points quickly – and you don’t have to be a clout-hungry personal finance blogger like me to get referrals.

Before Money with Katie, I still maxed out my referrals for my cards each year by shamelessly shilling them on Boomer hotspot social media like Facebook. I’d post a picture of the dope vacation I went on, free of charge, with my referral link and a blurb that said something to the effect of:

“We got this [insert travel card here] and used the sign-up bonus to book this free trip to an all-inclusive resort.” Done and done. It’s easy to convince 5 people annually that these cards rock – because they do – and now you BOTH get a free vacation.

It’s like an MLM, except it’s actually good for everybody.

Most cards allow you a maximum of 5 referrals per year valued at between 10,000 and 20,000 points each. The Sapphire referrals, if maxed out, will get you 75,000 points per year.

How I structure my ongoing spending across my cards

Because of the four cards I have, my strategy is simple – this becomes more complicated for people that have 10, 15, 20 credit cards (as some of my friends do), but if you’ve got the four listed above, here’s the strategy I use:

Almost all “regular” spending

Think gas, restaurants, grocery trips, etc. – I use my Sapphire Preferred card.

Why use your Sapphire Preferred card for most spending?

The answer is simple: While you only get 2x points on dining and 1x points on everything else, Chase Ultimate Rewards points are the most valuable points you can get. They’re simply worth the most, as they’re flexible enough to be transferred to a lot of other airlines and hotels – and they can be used in the portal for booking literally anything you can get on Expedia.

A dollar that earns you 1 Ultimate Reward point is more valuable than a dollar going toward 1 Membership Reward (the American Express currency) point or 1 Rapid Rewards point (Southwest).

Expensive purchases worth insuring

I use my Platinum for anything expensive, though, because I’ve found that the American Express purchase insurance gives me a little more peace of mind when buying expensive stuff.

A few years ago, I booked a rental car in San Diego for about $140. The final charge on my card was $280 – they had tacked on all sorts of erroneous fees and charges that weren’t disclosed upfront.

At first, I tried fighting it with Dollar Rental Car; they ended up giving me $40 back. Simultaneously, I fought the charge with American Express directly and claimed the charge didn’t match what I was told (lack of transparency) and within a day, they had refunded half of it. I just had to submit a picture of my original receipt vs. the final receipt, and it was a done deal.

That gave me a lot of faith in American Express as a means of fighting back against charges that are semi-fraudulent or, at the least, the result of a merchant trying to scam you (as is common with rental cars, I’ve found).

That’s why I use my Platinum card when I buy expensive stuff. You also get 90 days of “warranty,” so to speak, if something is damaged or stolen. They’ll reimburse you up to $1,000 per claim if something you buy with the card is damaged or stolen within 90 days of purchase.

Travel purchases

I use my Platinum card for travel purchases as well, as the AmEx points bonus for travel purchases is the best: 5x points per dollar spent.

Even when I’m purchasing Marriott hotel rooms or Southwest flights, I still almost always use the Platinum card – because 5x Membership Rewards points are more valuable than 2x Rapid Rewards points (what you’d earn using the Southwest card for flights) or 6x Bonvoy points (what you’d earn using the Marriott card for hotel rooms).

The Sapphire Preferred only gets you 2x points per dollar spent on travel, so the AmEx makes more sense.

You’ve probably noticed I’m not putting much spend on the Marriott or Southwest cards

And you’re right, I don’t.

Every once in a while, one of the cards will offer a crazy bonus: During the pandemic, for example, you could get 12x points on gas stations or groceries. In those instances, I used the card. Normally, though, it’s not really worth it to put ongoing spend on these cards – so why have them?
Glad you asked.

Both of these cards are outstanding for ongoing rewards.

The Bonvoy card gets you one free night certificate every year worth 35,000 points – I used mine this year on a room that would’ve cost about $300 per night. That’s a steal when you consider I only pay $95 for the annual fee – if you stay even just ONE night in a Marriott property per year, this puppy is worthwhile.

The Priority card gets you 7,000 anniversary points, four Upgraded boardings (worth $40 each), and a $75 annual travel credit – well worth the $149 annual fee.

In conclusion

My strategy is really simple, because I don’t spend enough money each year to warrant a really fancy points strategy. I have friends who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year and really double down on the specificity with which they split up their spending – they have credit cards specifically for points rewards on their grocery spend alone, for example.

I probably spend around $25,000 per year on the Sapphire card, which generates between 1x and 2x points per dollar. Even if my spending alone only generated 30,000 points, that’s still worth far more than the annual fee — no referrals needed.

I’m too frugal for spending strategies beyond that to matter.

Instead, I focus on:

Getting cards that have excellent ongoing rewards regardless of how many points I earn (Platinum, Bonvoy Boundless, and Rapid Rewards Priority all give you more in credits and bonuses than you pay in annual fees)
Putting majority of my spending on the Sapphire Preferred card, since those points are the most valuable
Referring friends and family to the cards so they can travel for free, too

Other breakdowns

Curious to learn more about one of these cards? Check out these posts:

My entire breakdown lives here and gets into some of the details about how having more credit cards can actually help your credit score.

New to this? Here’s a post about why you need a credit card.