[00:00] Hey everyone, welcome back to the channel. Today I'm sharing the best travel credit cards for 2025 and beyond, so you can travel more, travel with better benefits and even travel for free. Travel has been a huge part of my life recently,
[00:13] and the reason that I can travel with my family of five to places like Europe and Hawaii and more is all thanks to credit cards. But there's literally hundreds of credit cards out there, and only a few really give you the most value possible
[00:26] for travel, so I want to show you those cards in this video. Make sure you watch to the end of the video to consider all of your options so that you're not leaving any money on the table. And if you want to check out any of the cards I mentioned in this video, I will have links
[00:38] in the description below where you can take advantage of the best current signup bonuses. The Sapphire Pferd is the number one travel credit card I would consider for almost everyone, especially for beginners, because it does pretty much
[00:50] everything right with a low annual fee, and it is issued by Chase Bank, which in my opinion has the most valuable credit card points that you can earn. The card has a $95 annual fee, but I think it's well worth it if you take advantage
[01:02] of the perks that come with the card. The card earns $3 points per dollar on dining, online grocery, and select streaming, 2X on travel, and 1X on everything else. The points that you earn with the Sapphire Pferd can be redeemed for its cashback at one cent per point,
[01:17] but you can redeem them for travel through the Chase travel portal at 1.25 cents per point or 25% more value. Another huge feature with this card is that you can transfer the points that you earn
[01:29] to Chase's hotel and airline travel partners like the World of Hyatt for an average of two cents per point. I recently took a trip to Hawaii on points and all of my flights and hotels were completely paid for
[01:41] for my family of five by transferring points to Hyatt and Southwest Airlines. So this can be an extremely valuable benefit, especially when you consider the welcome bonus that comes with this card is 60,000 Chase points
[01:54] after spending $4,000 on the card in the first three months. That welcome bonus is worth at least $600 in cashback or $750 in travel through the travel portal since you can redeem your points for 25% more value
[02:08] or around $1,200 if you transfer these points to valuable partners like Hyatt and get an average of two cents per point. Chase points are extremely valuable and the Sapphire Pferd is the most accessible,
[02:21] easy to use, and valuable Chase card that works for pretty much everyone. The next card on our list is the most compelling premium travel credit card in my opinion since it comes with a ton of easy use premium benefits
[02:33] and essentially has a zero dollar effective annual fee. The card is the Capital One Venture X. The thing that's nice about the Venture X is that it's pretty easy to take advantage of several premium benefits
[02:45] and if you do the card essentially gives you $5 each year, you hold the card. The annual fee is $395, which is definitely a lot for a lot of people, but it comes with a $300 travel credit
[02:58] and 10,000 anniversary miles worth a minimum of $100, which together is at least $400 in value, which adds up to over $400 in credits or $5 over the annual fee. On top of that, you'll also get a $120 global entry
[03:13] or TSA pre-check credit, which is a service that allows you to get through airport security lines faster. Capital One Venture X has it very straightforward earning category of two X miles per dollar spent
[03:25] on any category, except you can earn 10 X miles on hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One travel and five X on flights and vacation rentals through Capital One travel. One other really nice perk and probably the main reason I hold this card
[03:39] is unlimited airport lounge access at Capital One lounges and priority pass lounges for you and up to two guests. This is great for traveling through the airport, especially with a family, since you're going to get free meals,
[03:52] better wifi and a nice place to relax. There were some recent downgrades to this benefit since Capital One removed Plaza premium lounge locations, but this really only included two US airport locations and there's a lot more priority pass
[04:06] and Capital One lounge locations than Plaza premium anyway. Pretty much all of the best travel credit cards give you the option to transfer your points to hotel and airline travel partners and Capital One has its own list of travel partners like Chase Thes.
[04:18] They're definitely not as valuable as Chase's partners on average, but there's plenty of value to be had. And people typically value Capital One miles at 1.85 cents per point. The welcome bonus on the Capital One Venture X
[04:30] is 75,000 Capital One miles after you spend $4,000 on the card in the first three months. That's worth at least $750 on travel or almost $1,400 in value if you choose to transfer them
[04:42] to Capital One's hotel and airline partners at a value of 1.85 cents per point. In general, the welcome bonuses on travel credit cards are super valuable and remember, I will have links to the description where you can find all of the most up-to-date bonuses
[04:55] on these cards. By the way, using those links when you apply for cards is a completely free way to support my channel and thank you so much to all of you who do you use my links. Another Capital One travel credit card that's worth looking at is the Capital One Venture.
[05:08] It comes with a lot of the core benefits of the Venture X without a high annual fee and it's one of the simplest and easier managed travel credit cards with a low annual fee. The Capital One Venture card comes in at a $95 annual fee
[05:22] and it earns a nice, straightforward, two miles per dollar spent on all categories. With that, you're going to get a $120 global entry or TSA pre-check credit just like with the Venture X and the same exact welcome bonus of 75,000 miles
[05:36] after spending $4,000 on the card in the first three months. And you can still transfer points to Capital One travel partners for greater value. I like the venture a lot. The only things that it's really missing are the airport lounge access
[05:48] that usually only comes with premium travel credit cards. But if you don't really need airport lounge access, then this might be a better Capital One credit card to get over the Venture X. Moving on, the next card on our list is pretty much the king of travel credit cards.
[06:01] It's got the most perks and credits, but it does come at a cost and the card is the American Express Platinum card. The Amix Platinum is loaded with benefits and credits and I would definitely consider this card
[06:14] if you can cover the annual fee. But just a word of caution, don't get this card if you can't really take advantage of the credits and perks enough to cover the annual fee. There's a lot of hype around this card and some people end up regretting getting the card
[06:28] because it comes with a very high annual fee of $695. And Amix continues to raise the annual fee over the years pretty consistently. But that can be offset with over $1500 in credits.
[06:41] So just make sure it's actually worth it to you by looking through the credits. The credits include things like a $200 hotel credit, a $240 digital entertainment credit, $155 Walmart plus credit,
[06:54] $200 Uber credit, $200 airline incidental credit and more. But many of these credits are broken apart into monthly credits. So watch out for that since you'd need to use most of these on a very regular basis.
[07:07] As far as earning points on this card, you're going to earn five x points per dollar on flights, five points per dollars on hotels, books through Amix travel, and one x on everything else. One of the big perks with the Platinum card
[07:20] is airport lounge access. And you're going to get free entry into more airport lounges than any other credit card, which is a huge perk. But you will often need to pay for guests. With the Platinum card,
[07:32] you also have access to the American Express hotel and airline travel partners. And you can transfer all the points that you earn on this card to those partners. Amix definitely has one of the best lists of hotel and airline partners,
[07:44] but it does tend to favor airlines over hotel partners. The welcome bonus on this card varies quite a bit, but the minimum you'll usually find is 80,000 points after spending $8,000 on purchases in your first six months.
[07:57] But you could use a tool like card match, which I will link for you below that will allow you to see if Amix can offer you a higher welcome bonus. We'll be going to the next card on the very opposite spectrum from the Amix Platinum.
[08:10] We have a pretty overlooked travel credit card with no annual fee, and that is the US bank altitude connect. What's nice about this card is it has no annual fee, but it comes with a few nice perks that can make it profitable from day one.
[08:23] The only thing I don't like about this card is that the points aren't flexible like every other card on this list and you cannot transfer them to hotel and airline travel partners. But the card has no annual fee, some decent points earning
[08:35] and some nice perks as well. The altitude connect earns five points per dollar on hotels and car rentals, booked through the altitude reward center, four points per dollar on travel, and four points per dollar on gas and EV charging stations
[08:47] up to the first $1,000 spent per quarter. You also earn two points per dollar on dining and streaming services and at grocery stores and one point per dollar on everything else. The perk that I think really makes this card stand out
[08:59] is that you're going to get four complimentary airport lounge visits to priority pass. And as we've seen, this is something that typically only comes with premium travel credit card. Obviously four visits is not going to get you very far,
[09:12] but if that's all you need, the card has no annual fee, and that's a nice way to get into airport lounges for free. It also comes with a $100 global entry RTSA pre-check credit, which is nice again for a card with no annual fee.
[09:25] The welcome bonus is $20,000 points worth $200 after spending $1,000 in eligible purchases in the first 90 days holding the card. So the bonus is pretty modest compared to the other cards on this list, but I like the card a lot if you're looking for a card
[09:39] with no annual fee. For the next card, we have another travel credit card with premium benefits, but this time it's from Chase, and because it earns some of the most valuable credit card points out there, this is a top card to consider.
[09:52] And a card is the Chase Sapphire Reserve. The Sapphire Reserve comes with a bunch of nice perks, which we'll talk about, but it also gives you the ability to redeem your Chase points for greater value through Chase Travel, which is a booking service similar to Expedia,
[10:06] and that turns out to be one of the most valuable features of this card. The annual fee is pretty hefty coming in at $550, but it does come with credits, including a very flexible $300 travel credit,
[10:18] and this is definitely one of the best travel credits out there. You also get a Door-Pass membership, which is typically worth around $120 in value. The main earning categories on this card are 3x on travel and dining,
[10:31] but there are a few others that offer higher earning towards booking with Chase Travel or Chase Dining. You also earn $1.00 on everything else. One of the biggest perks to the Sapphire Preferred is airport lounge access through priority pass,
[10:44] as well as Chase's growing collection of airport lounges. Another benefit that's just like the Sapphire Preferred is that you can transfer the points you earn on this card to hotel and airline travel partners.
[10:56] But the Sapphire Reserve also allows you to redeem points through the Chase Travel Portal for 50% more value, which is a major reason that a lot of people consider this card. The Travel Portal does allow you to book more flexibly
[11:10] if you want to book with an airline that's not one of Chase's partners, and this can save you a lot and allow you to use your Chase Points on a much greater variety of airlines and hotels. The Sapphire Reserve also comes with really, really good
[11:23] travel insurance and purchase protections, and even cards with a higher annual fee don't quite stack up to how good the protections are on this card. The welcome bonus on the Sapphire Reserve is $60,000 points
[11:35] after spending $4,000 on the card in the first three months. The next card is probably the best earner of any card on this list, and for someone who wants a very minimal card set up, this travel card works very well.
[11:48] And the card is the city strata premiere. What's nice about the strata premiere is that you'll earn a lot of points on a bunch of big categories and all of that for a low annual fee. Redeming those points with city is kind of a negative
[12:00] for this card compared to Chase Amix and Capital One cards, but it gets the job done well enough, plus it has a higher than normal welcome bonus happening right now. The annual fee is $95 on this card, and for the main earning categories,
[12:13] you're going to earn three points per dollar on air travel, hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, and EV charging station and one X on everything else. Pretty much no other card compares to the city strata premiere
[12:26] as far as how much it earns, and it's definitely impressive. Another perk on the city strata premiere is the $100 annual hotel benefit. I don't really like how much they market this since basically it's just 20% off
[12:38] one hotel booking a year as long as you spend $500 through the city travel portal. In general, I would like to not book my travel through travel portals, and I would like to book directly with hotels since that often gives you the best rate
[12:52] and you can take advantage of other perks more easily. And canceling and changing can be a little more challenging when you're dealing with a travel portal. Even though about $100 credit will benefit some people,
[13:04] it feels like kind of an edge case that won't really be useful to most people. However, the welcome bonus is very nice right now on the card, and you can earn $75,000 points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of holding the card.
[13:17] Moving on to our next card, we have probably the most unique card on this list that a lot of people love and it's been growing in popularity and that is the built master card. This card allows you to do something which basically no other travel credit card does,
[13:29] and that is that it allows you to earn points on rent, plus the travel partners that built has a mask, rival to even the best programs like Chase and Amix. But the catch is you do need to make at least
[13:42] five transactions per month on the card to earn any points. What the built master card is, it's very impressive since it has no annual fee, but it mirrors cards like the Chase Sapphire referred with its earning categories,
[13:54] which are three X on dining, two X points on travel, and one X on everything else. One of its main perks which I mentioned before is the transfer partners that built has which includes high. That means there's a lot of upside
[14:07] with the points that you earn on the built master card. Unfortunately, there have been some disappointing downgrades to the built master card recently. You used to be able to earn a lot of extra points on built rent day, which is the first day of every month.
[14:20] But unfortunately, they've limited how much you can earn recently. They also lost a big travel partner, which was American Airlines, and they've pulled back on some of the benefits you can get through the app,
[14:32] such as earning free points through trivia games. And another big downside to the built master card is that there's no welcome bonus. But on the flip side, the big draw to the card is that you can earn points on rent, which is something you usually cannot do,
[14:45] at least without paying a fee to your landlord. But built will cover any fees you incur or even mail checks to your landlord so that you don't have to pay any fees. And that opens up some extra earning potential on rent
[14:57] that most other cards can't really offer. So while there are some downsides to the built master cards, at least there's no annual fee, and you can earn points on a category that you wouldn't normally earn on. And if you're a renter, I'd pretty much always consider getting this card
[15:10] even if you already have a good travel credit card. By the way, if you do want to support my channel, I will have links in the description to the built master card and most other cards in this video for you to use when you apply for these cards.
[15:22] And thank you so much to all of you who do use my links. But that's it for this video guys. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you next time.