Where to start
Four good places to begin, and one rule we don't bend: never pay a fee your rewards aren't already covering.
Best Credit Cards
No-fee starters, travel cards, and cashback — ranked by who they're actually for.
Points & Miles 101
The plain-English basics: earning, transfer partners, and redeeming without overpaying.
Travel Guides
How to book flights and stays with points so a trip costs a fraction of retail.
Referral Hub
The exact cards and tools we use, with our referral links in one place.
Trip files, with the receipts
We publish the real numbers from trips we actually took — what it cost, what the points covered, and where the money went instead.
Three all-inclusive nights, and a flight that cost $488 for two
Room on a free-night award, flights cut down with 20,000 Chase points, every figure straight off the confirmations.
The best-kept secret in Hyatt points is the all-inclusive
An adults-only all-inclusive on Hyatt points — the room, the restaurants, and the bar covered the moment you walk in.
Two of Manhattan's priciest hotels, back to back, for no cash
On a busy date the Park Hyatt runs four figures a night before tax. We paid points, and paid nothing for the rooms.
The same flights, three ways to pay
Our real Montego Bay fare — two round-trip tickets, Miami to Montego Bay — and what actually hit the card depending on how you pay.
| How you pay | Points math | Charged to the card |
|---|---|---|
| Cash, on any card | — | $738.24 |
| 20,000 points at face value, 1¢ each | −$200.00 | $538.24 |
| 20,000 points in the Chase portal, 1.25¢ with a Sapphire Preferred | −$250.02 | $488.22 |
Same flights, same seats — the card multiplied the points. Full math in the Jamaica trip file.
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