Travel credit cards

A travel rewards card typically offers points or miles for your qualifying purchases. Generally, you earn more rewards as you spend more. Some of these cards offer a base rewards rate for all your purchases, or they may offer a higher rewards rate for the purchases you make in bonus categories.

You can then redeem your rewards points or miles toward travel expenses like flights and hotel stays, or perhaps for other items like cash back or gift cards. These cards may offer other benefits and perks, too, but the ability to redeem your rewards toward travel is the most consistent trait across all travel rewards cards.

Travel credit cards generally fall into two categories — flexible-use cards and co-branded cards.

Flexible-use cards allow you to redeem your earned rewards for a number of different travel expenses, giving you the ability to hop between participating travel brands for the best or most convenient deal. Some of these cards may require you to redeem your points through an issuer-branded travel rewards program, but others allow you to make any eligible travel purchase you like and then redeem your points via statement credit.

Co-branded cards are issued by specific companies, like an airline or hotel, in partnership with one of the credit card issuers. These cards feature the names of those brands and reward members loyal to them. Rewards can often be redeemed only for travel expenses with the advertised airline or hotel (and sometimes its participating partners). This system is usually less flexible, but it might come with potentially valuable perks, such as preferred treatment at the airport or automatic hotel status.

Neither type of card is inherently better than the other — it all depends on what you value most in your rewards and perks.

The credit scores and histories needed to qualify for a travel credit card differs between issuers (and sometimes between applications), but you may need good or excellent credit to be approved for a rewards credit card.

But good credit scores don’t guarantee approval. Premium cards with high annual fees may be more selective, and less exclusive cards also use their own systems to determine who’s worth approving.

If you’re a Credit Karma member, consider consulting your Approval Odds when shopping on Credit Karma to gauge your likelihood of getting a particular card. While your Approval Odds aren’t a guarantee that you’ll be approved for a card, they might give you a better sense of how likely you are to end up with your preferred choice.

A travel credit card with an annual fee is often worth it, even if that fee runs several hundreds of dollars. It just depends on how you plan to use the card, and how much value you can get out of it.

To figure out whether it’s worth it to pay an annual fee for a travel card, consider how you plan to use the card and what it offers to help offset that cost. For instance, if a card offers travel credits or specific perks, think about how often you’ll actually use those features. Similarly, if the card features bonus points for purchases in particular categories, take a look at your spending habits to see if you’ll be able to earn a lot of points. And if there’s a sign-up bonus, consider if it offers much value and whether you can earn it without stretching beyond your budget.

Plus, remember that value is not the same for everyone. Even if a card feature holds lots of potential value, it might not be worth much to you if you don’t want to navigate a complicated rewards program or if you don’t want to be required to hit numerous spending thresholds.

Not everyone maximizes the value of a travel credit card in the same way, and so we recommend picking a card that best suits your spending habits and lifestyle. Ultimately, you’re likely to get the most value by picking the card that fits your budget and spending habits the best.

For example, you might not like navigating complicated rewards-earning and redemption systems. In that case, we’d recommend you look for a card with several easy-to-use perks and a straightforward rewards program that might include bonus categories that clearly match your spending.

Or maybe you don’t mind spending time to get the best possible value for your rewards, regardless of whether that means digging through travel listings for a great deal or even scheduling a trip around the best available price. You’re likely to get the most value from a flexible-use travel card with several bonus categories and a host of redemption options, although individual users’ mileage may vary.

No matter which path you take, it’s important to be honest with yourself and consider how much effort you’re really willing to put in to get value out of a card. Even the most feature-rich credit card isn’t worth much if you’re not willing or able to fully take advantage of its benefits.