You need to book a flight for a client meeting, so you pull out your debit card and make a payment. In this scenario, you get your flight, but nothing extra. Another tactic? Pay for your flight with a business travel credit card that rewards you each time you book a flight, hotel, rental car, or client dinner. Every time you make a purchase with your card, you rack up points that you can eventually use to fly for free.
In both scenarios, your business pays for the same trip, but in the second, that spending helps to offset future travel costs. Here’s how to turn your business travel into rewards and free flights when you choose the right business travel card.
Turn routine travel expenses into future rewards
To find the credit card that’s right for you, take inventory of your business spending. Review the last six to 12 months of statements to see where you and your employees spend the most money.
Consider how often you travel, where you travel, and how. Do you always fly the same airline or stay in the same hotel chain? If so, a co-branded credit card might be the right choice. But if you like the flexibility to fly different airlines or book into different hotels, you’ll want a more general travel rewards card.
Earn faster with employee credit cards
If you or your employees travel regularly for work, you’re likely spending money on flights, hotels, rental cars, fuel, and meals. With a business rewards travel credit card, you can use these regular business expenses to earn rewards towards future travel.
To earn rewards points faster, give additional cards to your employees to use each time they travel.
Use your card for all purchases
To accelerate your earnings, use your credit card for everything. While you might earn more on travel-related purchases, many credit cards offer a base earn rate on everyday purchases.
For example, with the CIBC Aventura Visa, you’ll earn 1.5X Aventura Points for every dollar spent on airlines, hotels, car rentals, and more. You’ll also earn 1x Aventura Points for every other purchase.
Meet minimum spend requirements
Many cards offer a welcome bonus that allows you to earn a large number of points once you meet a minimum spend requirement within a set period of time. One way to maximize this opportunity is to time your credit card application around a planned large business expense, such as booking multiple international flights for you and your employees, or purchasing business inventory. This can help you meet the spend requirements without increasing your overall spending.
Book through your credit card travel portal
With many credit cards, you can earn points faster when you book through the credit card travel portal. So if you need to book an international flight for a business conference, you can earn more points by logging into your credit card travel portal rather than going directly to the airline’s website and booking there.
Redeem points strategically
Not all reward redemption offers the same value. While points can be redeemed for gift cards, merchandise, or statement credits, travel redemptions may provide the greatest return for your business. Using your points to book flights or hotels through your rewards program may offer more benefits to your business than redeeming cash back or shopping with points. By saving your rewards for flights or hotel bookings, your company can offset a greater portion of future travel costs. Before you redeem your points, see where you can get the most value.
Pay your balance in full each month
One of the fastest ways to reduce the value of your rewards is by paying interest, so aim to pay your balance in full every month. For example, if you carry a $3,000 balance at 20%, you’ll pay roughly $600 in interest per year. This could end up being more than you earn in rewards over the same period.
Turn everyday business expenses into free flights
If you and your employees regularly travel for work and want to start earning free flights, you don’t need to change your spending; you just need to update your strategy. With the right travel credit card, you can maximize the points you earn for travel and regular purchases.
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