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I had a conversation with someone the other day that stated they didn’t travel hack because the time commitment was too large. I’ve also heard that Annual Fees are a hang up for people. So today we look at, how much time will this take? And how much money will this cost me?
Level One
We are going to call level one our entry level travel hacker. This person wants a little bit of money towards vacation a year but isn’t concerned with canceling out their whole trip with points, they just want a little extra on the side. To meet this level one expectation, you need one high value points card signup per year. This signup will usually give you a minimum of $800-$1000 dollars worth of points after meeting your minimum spend. The time it takes you is the length of time for one credit card signup per year. Then, you will transfer those points to your airline/hotel of choice, and be on your way. The cost to you is likely a $95 annual fee, which includes other benefits, and saves you $800 dollars minimum on your vacation.
Time = 30 minutes
Cost= $95 up front – with gain of $800
Level Two
This travel hacker has a single vacation goal. They want to get the family to (insert exceptional destination here). You are going to have to invest a little more time up front. This probably means I want to find the hotel up front and flights up front that I want to fly. These things will tell me which credit cards to shoot for to gain these points.
Example
- Hyatt Place Waikiki – 5 nights @ 15,000 pts per night = 75,000 points
- Southwest Tickets – 5 tickets = 200,000 points
- Then, I would try to grab the credit cards that would get me there.
*These are current signup offers at time of writing – check Travel Freely for current best offers
Example
- Spouse One gets Chase Sapphire Card – 80,000 points
- Refer your Spouse to the card – 20,000 bonus points
- Second Spouse gets Chase Sapphire Card – 80,000 points
- Spouse One gets Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus – 50,000 points
- Spouse One refers Spouse Two – 20,000 bonus points
- Spouse Two gets Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus – 50,000 points
Now we have 180,000 flexible points and 120,000 Southwest Points
We can book our Hyatt by transferring 75,000 chase points to Hyatt and booking that.
Then, we can transfer 80,000 points to Southwest and book our Southwest flights for free.
Time – 5-10 hours
Cost – $240 in annual fees – Saving $2797 in flights and $1175 in hotels
Level Three
This is our obsessive travel hacker. Their goal is to get as many points as possible to use for any vacation they have their eyes set on. This person is planning their vacations years in advance and studying credit card bonus points and rules. You can spot them by their business class toiletry bags, and obsessive need to try every airport lounge. This person is acquiring cards every 90 days (or more) and has a close personal relationship with their Travel Freely app. They have memberships to obscure mileage programs that they utilize to find cheaper business class fares. The annual fees no longer scare them because they have built a travel budget around annual fees as they are no longer paying cash for flights or hotels.
Time – 2hrs/wk
Cost – But look at all I saved!!!
Conclusion
As you can see, the cost/time investment is what you make of it. Most people in the full fledged travel hacking started in Level One and moved their way up. Do what you’re comfortable with, but know that the time commitment and cost is far less than what you will save in the long run.
