Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways

Best Travel Credit Cards, Southwest Policy Changes, and Disneyland Deals

March 12, 2025 31m Episode 5
Learn which travel credit cards might be best for you, plus news about major policy changes at Southwest. Which travel credit card is the best travel credit card? Hosts Meghan Coyle and Sally French try to answer that question by picking their favorites, fantasy sports draft style. But first, they discuss the latest travel news, including Southwest changing some of its beloved policies, how to get the best deals on cruises this year, and some Disneyland discounts you can cash in on this summer.  Then, Meghan and Sally get into their travel credit card fantasy draft, where they talk about benefits and drawbacks of each card, including annual fees, statement credits, lounge access, and point redemption options. Plus, they answer a listener’s question about where to travel for a quick “babymoon.” Resources discussed in this episode: The 8 Best Ways to Buy Disney Tickets 16 Best Travel Credit Cards of March 2025 Top Airline Credit Cards With Companion Tickets How to Pick the Best Credit Card for You: 4 Easy Steps In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: the best travel credit card, how to pick the best travel credit card, travel credit card perks, travel rewards credit cards, Southwest Rapid Rewards changes, credit card perks, Disneyland ticket discounts, best credit cards for travel points, credit cards with lounge access, Capital One Venture X review, Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Reserve, Amex Platinum travel benefits, Southwest Companion Pass updates, how to maximize travel points, NerdWallet travel credit cards, best credit cards for frequent flyers, how to earn free flights with points, Disney vacation savings tips, best cruise deals wave season, travel credit cards with no annual fee, best airline credit cards for free checked bags, Hyatt vs Hilton rewards program, cash back vs travel rewards credit cards, best co-branded hotel credit cards.

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Full Transcript

I think people don't know how much sports crossover there is with this show. You know, Megan, surprisingly, there is a lot of overlap between travel and NerdWallet's bread and butter, which is credit cards with sports.
Think of every sports arena named after a bank. The Capital One Arena in D.C., the Citi Field in New York.
And there's my favorite in San Francisco, the Chase Center. Didn't you go to dinner there once for an event you could, like, book on points or something? Yes, I did, actually.
They once had this thing where for 30,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you could have dinner

on the court at the Chase Center and it was honestly so good. They had this high-end meal,

open bar, tons of swag. I got a custom Warriors jersey.
Totally amazing. Okay, rub it in.
We've

got all episode to get to other sports references and if I say so myself, I think we tackled it pretty well. Oh, got him.
Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Megan Coyle.
And I'm Sally French. And we're the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip.
Today, we're talking about the thing that NerdWallet's best known for, the best travel credit cards. As such, we'll talk about a few credit card companies that are NerdWallet partners in this episode.
Again, that does not influence how we discuss them. But first, huge news in the travel world this week for Southwest Flyers.
Sally, what is happening to your beloved Southwest Rapid Rewards program? I know it's falling apart. So for starters, the airline announced yesterday that customers will no longer get two free checked bags for all flights booked on or after May 28, 2025, save for a few exceptions like customers who hold a Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card, A-list elite status, or if they buy business select fares.
Now those travelers get either one or two free checked bags depending on their fare class or status. And I have to say, I rarely check bags, but even I'm bummed about this news because I'm just worried it'll slow down boarding as people try to stuff their roller bags that they otherwise would have just checked, but instead they're stuffing them in the overhead bins.
It's really going to slow things down. And everyone, for the most part, used to be treated the same on Southwest, but the free checked bags are now only for a select few.
Southwest is also renaming Want to Get Away to Basic. It's actually Basic Economy now.
Basic fares are not going to allow changes or standby, and they now earn two points per dollar instead of the previous six points per dollar. And that's not the only bummer for Southwest.
So now Southwest flight credits will expire within one year for all fares, except once again, basic just gets that low class status. Their flight credits will expire within six months from the ticketing date.
Again, this is so rough. Southwest has always stood out to me because its flight credits had no expiration date.
So I find this so frustrating. I feel like a lot of people flew Southwest for the flexibility and knowing that they could make changes, but now you can't make changes on basic fares.
Your flight credits you have to use within a certain time period. Let's point out though, there are a lot of things we still don't know, like what impact these changes will have on Southwest's famous companion pass and what the cost of checking a bag will be.
And then Southwest had previously said they would end their free-for-all seating style this year as well. That is one thing we don't have details yet on if this will actually go into effect.
If so, when? I can imagine what it's going to be like. This is really sad to see.
Southwest is becoming like all these other airlines. Southwest is also going to start using dynamic pricing.
They used to consistently offer high value points. It was one that I transferred to semi-often, but it's hard to imagine that these points are going to be worth as much with all of these changes.
So moving right along, we just got news of a summer ticket deal for Disneyland in Anaheim, California, where they're selling a four-day, one-park-per-day ticket for $400. That comes out to $100 per day, and you can use these tickets between May 16th and August 14th.
Usually, a four-day ticket would be close to $500, so $400 for this is a nice deal this summer. Yeah, it's pretty good, especially for a busy summertime, but four days is actually kind of a lot to spend at Disneyland.
You know, I would tend to agree with you for people who are not Disney fans like ourselves, but one thing to note is that Disneyland's 70th anniversary is this summer. There's all sorts of things going on, different shows, different entertainment, so this might actually be a good year to go.
If you don't have time to spend four days at Disneyland, I prefer the three-day ticket package, which is also discounted right now. It's $360 and gets you three days of tickets, and you can purchase those directly on Disneyland.com.
Also a good option. I'll note that we maintain a webpage dedicated entirely to Disney ticket deals.
For example, there's other tickets for members of the U.S. military that are discounted.
Over in Florida, there's an offer for complimentary water park tickets for hotel guests, so go ahead and check that out. We'll link to that page in the show notes because it's a great resource if you're planning a Disney trip this summer.
Now, I know there isn't a ton of time left, but I want to remind people that if you are thinking of a cruise this year, wave season is almost over. Wave season is a period from January to March when cruises offer some of the best deals because they're trying to fill their ships for the coming year.
Some of the best deals to look out for during wave season are the ones that let guests or kids in your stateroom sail for free. They charge by stateroom and it's a little bit complicated, but don't get swayed by onboard credit.
More onboard credit is nice, but sometimes those just make you overspend because you want to use it up. You want to look for the discounts on the people in your stateroom.
Right. Now, I will note, I am eyeing

a virgin. credit is nice, but sometimes those just make you overspend because you want to use it up.
You want to look for the discounts on the people in your stateroom. Right.
Now, I will note, I am eyeing a Virgin Voyages cruise myself. We talked about this a few episodes ago, but I saw this deal on Virgin this month.
It's an 80% discount on the second passenger plus up to $300 in drink credits. Pick me.
I want to go. I'll be the 80% discount.
I love it. I've also been wanting to check out the Expedition Cruises.
Those are also on sale too during wave season. So HX Expeditions, oh, that's a tongue twister, has a sale running through Monday, March 17th, where you can get up to 25% off their voyages to Alaska, Antarctica, Greenland, and Svalbard, which is a collection of inhabited islands close to the North Pole.
But for me, I desperately want to go to Antarctica for some reason. Oh, me too.
I have not done Antarctica yet. Now, National Geographic Lindblad has a sale running through April 15th.
Now, I will warn everyone, these types of cruises that we're talking about can be super expensive. Like minimum $5,000 is generally what we're looking at.
So just keep in mind, even with a discount, it's still a ton of money. If you want to sail into the Arctic Circle or do the Galapagos aboard one of these expedition ships, you should definitely try to book during one of these beginning of the year sales because that's probably the best deal you'll get.
And RIP to when Lindblad and Hyatt had a partnership. Do you remember that, Sally? Oh, that's right.
Yeah, you could totally earn and redeem points with Hyatt points on your Arctic cruise. That partnership ended in 2023.
And that was such a good way to earn Hyatt points because these expeditions were so expensive. So you could earn thousands of points in one cruise.
I hope we'll get to go on one of these one day, even if we don't earn thousands of points. Well, you know, I have actually been to the Arctic Circle myself.
It was very cool. What was it like? Well, you know, a lot of people like, is it beautiful? And it's actually very bleak.
It's the tundra, so it kind of looks like this space wasteland. There's no trees, no nothing, but it's beautiful in a bleak way.
10 out of 10 would recommend. Interesting.
All right. Well, we really are all over the map with our travels and with our credit cards.
No surprise there. Now, we've got a really fun game coming up where you'll find out what our favorite travel credit cards are.
So stay right there. Do not move an inch.
Sally, what's the number one question you get asked when you tell people what you write about at NerdWallet? Oh, easy. It's what's the best travel credit card.
That's the first thing people ask me as well. And I imagine we tell them the same thing.
I hope you're telling them. It depends.
Yes. I don't know what the best travel credit card is for you because I just met you.
I don't know anything about you. There is no one best travel credit card for everyone.
There are so many factors that go into it, like how often you travel. Are you willing to spend money on an annual fee? Do you want lounge access, automatic elite status, a credit towards pre-check, or global entry? And that's just half of what goes into it, which is why I typically recommend you read NerdWallet's articles that break down the best travel credit cards.
Of course, we will link to that in the show notes. Yeah, that's a great resource.
But wait, I have an idea. Stick with me here.
What about we do a draft of the best travel credit cards? Ooh, I love it. Fantasy sports draft wallet style.
Yes. And once you make a pick, that card is off the table.
That way we can't choose the same cards and we can cover a lot of ground. Okay.
So how many picks do we get? Let's cap it at three because you talk too long. And also because I know you're going to try and sneak in more no matter what I say the cap is.
So savage. I feel called out.
Okay. And one thing we should get out of the way is that the best travel credit card for you is the one that you'll use.
And I will say using it doesn't have to mean using it for everyday spending. There are some cards that I use frequently, but they're just like to flash for lounge access.
That's totally fine. But there is no point in having a card with travel rewards or collecting points if you never actually use the benefits, whether that's lounge access or redeeming the points or whatever it is.
So if you're like us, you want to redeem them for travel. Yes, redeem them.
Do not spend them to transfer for like a handbag that you buy in the shopping portal. Of course, there are also many ways to actually redeem your points for travel.
So you have this class of general travel credit cards that earn transferable points. These are something like Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, City Thank You Points, Capital One Miles.
These are all various types of credit card points that you can redeem for travel, either directly through the credit cards portal, which is sort of just like this general booking site, or you can transfer those points to specific airline or hotel partners. So each of those rewards programs that I named have various transfer partners with specific hotels or airlines.
For example, you can transfer Amex points to Delta Airlines. And then don't get those confused with co-branded airline or hotel credit cards.
Like a Hilton credit card will only earn Hilton points. And there's not a lot of worthwhile ways to spend those points except to book a Hilton hotel.
Yeah, even sometimes Hilton might like have an airline transfer partner, but we generally do not recommend going that route. Of course, it is important to understand if you are earning points in a specific co-branded airline or hotel credit card, then they're kind of stuck there.
You don't want to transfer your points earned from Hyatt to a Hyatt airline partner because they're just going to lose a lot of value. Yeah.
So for the purposes of this episode, when we refer to a travel credit card, we're talking about a card that earns some type of transferable currency that you can redeem with multiple airlines or hotels. An airline or hotel cards will be specific to one brand.
And I do want to say it. There are some cash back cards that work well with travel cards in the same family.
So right now I'm thinking about cards like the Chase Freedom. These earn points that you can definitely redeem for cash back.
And that is totally good for a lot of people because you're not messing around with transfer partners. Or if you just need the rewards to pay rent, they are there for you.
But what's cool about these cards is you can redeem them at a higher value for travel if you have, in this case, Chase Sapphire cards where those points can be transferred and become way more valuable. I also want to give a shout out to our boss, Paul.
He loves cash back cards and he's going to be so happy to hear about them in this episode. Okay, yay.
Shout out, Paul. He told me in our last one-on-one that he listens to this podcast at the gym and he finds it so weird to hear us not just at work.
So shout out to you, Paul, running on the treadmill. All right.
So let's get started with the draft. I'll let you go first.
Some rando comes up to you at a party and asks you what the best travel credit card is. Am I just giving them a one name answer? Yes.
No questions allowed. Okay.
If I'm just giving a name, Chase Sapphire Preferred. That's probably what I would have gone with too.
Why is that your first pick in the draft? Well, I think it's no surprise that it is

our first pick. In fact, I made my parents get this card.
Me too. My dad got this one and we

haven't spent any of the points yet, but I'm really excited to get going with him. Okay,

spend those points. I like this card, particularly for people who are new to the travel cards game.

Honestly, that is someone like my parents. A reason I love this is it has an affordable annual fee, especially relative to these cards with many hundreds of dollars of annual fees.
Yeah, this one is pretty manageable at $95 a year, which is lower than a lot of the more premium cards that might cost three or four, six times as much. And you are still earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which are super valuable.
You can transfer these to other travel partners like certain airlines and hotels.

And you don't have to mess with the transfer partners if you don't want to.

Like you mentioned at the top, they do have a portal where it kind of looks like a standard booking site.

You put in your dates and your destinations, and then you can apply your points to any of those types of bookings.

I know a lot of newbies don't want to mess around with transfer partners.

They say, I just want to use my points to book directly.

And what's great about the Choose Sapphire Preferred is that your points are worth more than typically the usual is one cent. With the Chase Sapphire Preferred, your points are worth 1.25 cents when you redeem them for travel in the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal.
So let's say you book a hotel for a few nights and it costs $500 in cash. If you book that with a travel portal or cashback, and those are usually giving you about one cent per point value, you'd have to spend 50,000 points to get that $500 hotel stay.
But with the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you'd only spend 40,000 points. That's 10,000 points you saved and that you can use for your next trip.
Podcast math. Thanks for doing that.
And of course, I mentioned those higher annual fee cards. I do want to give a little shout out to the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
This one has a $550 annual fee, but you do get a $300 annual travel credit. You get a priority pass lounge membership.
You get access to those new airport lounges and points are worth even more at 1.5 cents per point when you redeem those points for travel in the Chase Travel Portal. Now, I will say I don't love this card for infrequent travelers.
I know people like my parents say $550 annual fee for a credit card is bonkers. I'm not going to pay for that.
Totally makes sense, especially if your local airport lounge is not good. My parents live in St.
Louis and their party pass lounge is honestly terrible. So I don't necessarily think you have to pay a high annual fee if you can't use all the benefits on a card like this.
I think the Chase Sapphire Reserve gets a bad rep because there's all these other shiny new cards on the market, but I actually still like the Reserve. Okay, well, is that your draft pick? No, I'm going to go with the Bill World Elite MasterCard.
Ooh, a spicy pick. Yeah.
This one has no annual fee. So if you are dead set on not spending any money on an annual fee for a credit card that you can use for travel, I think this is your best bet.
It earns points on rent payments. They have great rent day promotions on the first of each month.
And again, a lot of transfer partners. So some of my favorites in the BILT program are Hyatt.
According to the last NerdWallet analysis we did, their points are worth 2.2 cents each. Hilton and Marriott are also BILT transfer partners if you want a little hotel variety.
And Alaska Airlines is a sleeper here. Crazy, all that for no annual fee.
Yeah. The only annoying thing is you have to make five purchases per month to be able to earn the points on rent.
And it is a little bit hard to remember for me. I'm still trying to figure out which subscriptions I can just put on there and get the recurring purchases.
Well, I'm going to go the totally opposite direction. You went for no annual fee.
I'm going with the highest annual fee ever. That is the platinum card from American Express.
Tell us why you went all the way to the other side of the spectrum. Annual fee on this card is $695.
So I will say huge caveat. This card is definitely not for everyone.
But I am picking it because if you can make it work for you, it can be hugely valuable. A lot of that comes down to the statement credit.
Some that I feel like a lot of people are able to use are something like the Uber credit. Card members get $15 in Uber Cash each month to use on orders and rides in the US plus a bonus $20 in December.
So that's up to $200 in Uber Cash annually. When you use an Amex card for your transaction, that right there takes a huge amount out of the annual fee.
Another one I find easy to use is streaming subscriptions. You get $20 of statement credits each month when you use the card for eligible purchases.
On subscriptions, those are things like Disney+, the New York Times, a bunch more. There is a list of eligible subscription services on Amex's website.
Again, this can be huge savings of up to $240 per year. As you know, I'm a Baby Yoda fan who needs my Disney Plus.
Oh, yeah. Wait, how did I get stuck with the podcast math job? All right, let's see.
$200 towards Uber Cash, $240 for the statement credits on certain subscriptions. That's $440 of value right there.
That's two-thirds of the annual fee in one fell swoop. And there's lots more too.
Yes. And I will say many of the credits are kind of a hassle to use.
One that I'm thinking of is like the Saks Fifth Avenue credit. I'm not a Saks shopper.
Oh, yeah. I literally only shop at Saks to use that $50 Amex Platinum credit.
I think it's twice a year, one in the first half of the year, one in the second half of the year. That's exactly right.
Basically, I just go in at June and December and filter by items under $50 and it's like a pair of socks. I'm like, thank you for this pair of socks.
That was $50. Be careful.
It's really easy to overspend or spend on things you don't need with some of these credits. And that brings me to my next pick, Capital One Venture X.
Oh, okay. I was low-key hoping you would pick this one.
Yeah, this one is kind of in that same category of premium travel cards. Same as the Amex Platinum because it has a lot of those similar benefits like an annual travel credit, statement credit for TSA pre-check or global entry.
But this card stands out for me because it's literally hundreds of dollars cheaper than the Amex Platinum. It's only $395 annual fee and has really great lounge access to priority pass lounges and Capital One lounges as well.
And I love those Capital One lounges. I just went to one in Dallas and I hate to say it, but I actually thought it was better than the Centurion Lounge.
Oh, I agree. Yeah.
Okay, cool. I've been to the Capital One lounges at Washington Dulles, at Dallas, Las Vegas, and I like them so much that I made my mom and my sister authorized users of the card because they fly out of Washington Dulles a lot.
And so that's a big pro I want to give the Capital One Venture X. There's no fee for authorized users and they get the same lounge access as the primary card holder.
The Amex Platinum, on the other hand, charges $195 for each authorized user. Yeah, I love this, especially if you're traveling with friends.
Where would our families be without us? Not at the lounge, that's for sure. Okay, so I have one more draft pick, I think.
Yeah. Okay, I'm going to go with a hotel credit card then.
So I will say right now I'm debating between the Hyatt credit card or the Hilton Aspire credit card. I actually do hold both.
But you can only pick one. I guess overall, I'm going to pick the Hyatt credit card simply because I think it's easier to justify the annual fee, which is $95.
That's versus $550 on the Hilton Aspire card. I will say what I love about the Hilton Aspire card just to justify the annual fee is one automatic diamond elite status, but even more valuable is that annual free night reward.
You can redeem them for one standard accommodation at properties in the Hilton portfolio. And I think this is now the third show in a row that you've talked about your free night.
Okay. Well, so I was actually talking to a friend this week and she holds this card purely for the free night certificate.
She was actually asking me about going to the Conrad Punto De Mita where I had just stayed using my free night certificate. Room rates can easily top $1,000 per night.
And she was like, I just want to go. So basically, I feel like I'm able to stay here for half the price because you just consider $550 for the annual fee.
She considers that alone to be worth it. It can be.
You do have to keep in mind all of those limits on what type of hotel you can book with those free night awards. Like I think Hyatt's card limits the free night award to hotels that are in category four or below.
I think Hyatt has eight. So that's like, you know, the bottom four tiers of hotels.
Yeah. So with the Hilton card, you can just use it on a standard room reward at pretty much any property in the Hilton portfolio.
There are a few exceptions, like some all-inclusives. The problem with theirs is it has to be a standard room night reward and often standard rooms book up and there's only premium room availability.
So there is a downfall there. I will say with Hyatt, almost just like a bigger of a downfall, you can only use it at category one through four hotels.
So if you're staying at a category five or higher, you cannot use it there. But I feel like I'm traveling so much for like weddings, sports meets, things like that, that there's always a category four or lower hotel that I can use right there.
Yeah. And still, even those category four hotels are still more expensive than the annual fee of that card.
Totally. I'm like the annual fee is $95 and there's no way anyone's finding a hotel room for less than $95 in this economy.
So I almost feel like this benefit alone is enough to justify that credit card. So for my last pick, I think I'm going to do the same thing as you, except on the airline side.
I'm going to pick a $95 card. And I really believe you should stick to that lower price point for the annual fee if you're going to get a co-branded card because you don't want to trap too many of your points in one brand where it's hard to move them.
For airline cars, it's really easy to justify the annual fee if you check a bag. If you have that $95 card and you check a bag three times, you're literally good.
You already made it up. So are you going with American Airlines since you already have elite status? I really like my American Airlines AA Advantage Platinum World Elite Mastercard.
That earns you loyalty points, which is what you need a lot of to earn elite status. We talked about that last episode too.
You know, game time decision, we're going to go with the United Explorer card. Interesting.
That one earns United Premier qualifying points, which is also another type of currency that you need to earn United elite status. And it also comes with two United Club day passes for their airport lounge every year.
And I think for people who fly United regularly, but not like all the time, that's plenty. And then also the checked bags.
So this is good to justify if you are someone who checks bags, though I will say I don't ever check bags. So I'm not totally sure I can justify the annual Fiona card like this.
Yeah, me either. Another really cool benefit I should mention that I think is sort of in line with the reward nights on the hotel cards that you were talking about is companion passes on airline cards.
Well, you know, I love my Southwest companion pass. And you can get it through a credit card in some cases with a signup bonus.
But there are other airline cards that come with a one-time companion pass. So it's not exactly like the Southwest one, but you know, once a year, you can bring a companion for a lower price than the normal fare.
So we have a guide to companion passes that we can link in the show notes. Yeah, I know.
Delta, Alaska have various offers like that. So check Nard Wallet or the show notes to find those.
Okay, Megan, this was a fun idea. I like the draft style.
I'm really happy with my wallet. So I think next year we should have a competition and see who earns more points with our fantasy wallet.
For listeners, you can learn more about the cards we just talked about. The Chase Sapphire Preferred, the Built World Elite MasterCard, Capital One Venture X, the Amex Platinum, World of Hyatt Credit Card, and the United Explorer Card on NerdWallet's roundups where you can compare their annual fees, intro offers, and perks to see what's best for you.
Keep in mind that the

offers may have changed since we recorded this episode, so check the NerdWallet website to get

the most up-to-date information. And Sally, exciting.
I think we have our first listener

question this week. This one comes from a co-worker.
Okay, so she doesn't want to say her

name yet because she hasn't told the rest of her co-workers, but she is expecting. So yay, congrats to you.
She's pregnant and she wants to take a little baby moon. I love the idea of a baby moon.
Same. So here's what she sent me.
I'm expecting in June. I've been trying to take a short trip in mid-March.
I was wondering if you have any fave places to stay in Southern Florida or Scottsdale. I'm mostly trying to get out of the terrible, freezing East Coast weather and lay by a pool.
So I'm open to places, but I'm curious what you think. And this is great because this question is so open-ended.
So we could really send her anywhere. Yeah, I went on the Explore tool on Google Flights to figure out where she should go.
But she did say she wanted to go to Southern Florida or Scottsdale. So I'm guessing that means she most likely wants to fly to Miami or Phoenix.
Yeah. So what's cool about the Explore tool is I punched in her home airport on the East Coast.
And then I punched in June as the recommended month she wants to go. And from there, it populates deals to all sorts of cities.
And what I actually found is there's a $300 roundtrip flight to Miami on American Airlines. Nice.
And what kind of points does she have? Can she cover it? Well, so that's what I asked her. My next follow-up question was, what sorts of points do you already have? Can we get you there for free? She did tell me she has 37,000 chase points, and then she has 126,000 Capital One miles.
The Capital One miles could probably cover the cost of the American flight in the Capital One portal if she wanted to use those. Totally.
So I was like, great. You have your flight booked.
Go to Miami. It's a shorter flight anyway for you on the East Coast.
Then I started looking at hotels. So I found some really great options.
The Hyatt Regency in Miami is 15,000 points. Chase's, one of their best transfer partners is World of Hyatt.
So she could transfer those Chase points to Hyatt, have enough points to cover two nights, and then a little bit of points left over. Great deal.
See, this is why I love Hyatt's because you can actually find a hotel night for 15,000 points. I know.
I really hope she enjoys her baby moon. All right, before we go, Sally, what's your hot takeoff for the week? And make it credit card related.
Okay, well, this is spicy because we've been talking about so many great travel credit cards, but I'm going to say many people only need a cash back credit card. Oh my gosh, Paul.
He would have been so sad if we didn't mention any cash back cards. No, I mean, Paul is totally agreeing with my hot take here.
Yeah, he is. So these cards are just not as sexy to talk about.
They do generally lack those big travel perks like the lounge access. They don't have the Disney Plus credits or the trip insurance or whatnot.
But what I love about these cards is they are way less effort to justify. Many of them don't have an annual fee at all or the annual fee is generally quite low.
The rewards you get are so easy to use. You don't need to stress about these transfer partners.
You could use them to pay your rent if you need to. And you can use that cash back to pay for your hotel stay or flight if you do want to spend your rewards on travel.
Of course, yes. So that's always a good option.
Okay, as a recap, if you take anything away from this episode, there are a few different types of travel cards, including hotel and airline cards. The best travel credit card depends on what type of benefits you want and whether you'll actually redeem your rewards on the regular.
Either way, aim to get more value from your benefits, whether that's from statement credits or point redemptions, than you pay in annual fees. And of course, I know if you're listening to this show, you are at least interested in a travel credit card.
But then again, it is totally okay to not pay the annual fee. Just go for a cashback card if you don't want to be a complete travel maniac like one of us.
That said, tell us what your favorite travel credit card is. Email us at travel at nerdwallet.com or leave a voice memo.
This is cool because I will play your voice back on the show if I like your voice memo. Besides giving us your feedback, come back for more by following the show on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio.
If you do that, it'll automatically download next week's episode and all future episodes to come. This episode was produced by Hilary Georgie and Tess Viglin.
Hilary also helped with fact-checking.

And a big thank you to all of NerdWallet's editors for their help.

A brief disclaimer, we are not financial or investment advisors.

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and may not apply to your specific circumstances.

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We hope you're inspired to keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller.