TravelhackRR

Top 10 Travel Hacking Tips from Rambi

1. Have a goal in mind. Is it First Class flights to Europe? Or maybe a one-week free over the water villa in the Maldives? It helps to have a goal!
2. Avoid cash like the plague! Use your credit card for all expenses. Whenever possible, don’t use cash! They key is being disciplined and paying off all balances before they accrue interest.
3. Not all credit cards are created equally. Take advantage of 3x airfare, 5x dining, 5x groceries points multipliers from credit card companies.
4. Pick an airline alliance and hotel program and stick to it. This will help you consolidate your miles and points so that you can redeem for awards faster.
5. Manufactured Spending (MS). In order to get more points from credit cards, be creative! Offer to take everyone’s cash and pay for dinner using your 3x dining credit card. You can even pay your taxes with your credit cards. The possibilities are endless!
6. Buy miles/points when it makes sense. Aside from collecting miles and points through flying or credit card spending, you can also buy points from airlines and hotels whenever they offer promotions. When redeemed for premium airfare or luxury accommodations, these point promotions can provide great value.
7. Knowledge is Power. Get familiar with airline award charts, airline routings and hotel redemption categories. Like most things, knowledge is power in travel hacking so educate yourself in the game!
8. Use technology to your advantage. Leverage websites and apps to make travel hacking easier. Expertflyer, AwardWallet, FlightMemory, TripIt are just some tools that you can use.
9. Be flexible. Unlike paid fares or hotel stays, you might have to be flexible with your destinations and dates with travel hacking. With proper planning though, you can experience flights, hotels and experiences that otherwise would’ve been too expensive to buy with cash.
10. Earn and Burn. Miles and points continue to devaluate over time as airline and hotels increase award redemptions. Make sure you are always looking for options to spend your hard-earned points. It may be nice looking at your high points balance but it’s even nicer enjoying that free first-class seat or luxury hotel stay.

Any other tips? Please comment below!