229: Maximizing Credit Card Points for Luxury Travel
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Welcome back to another episode of The Richer Geek Podcast! Our guest today is Spencer Howard, credit card royalty program and travel rewards expert and founder of Straight To The Points. Spencer shares his expertise on maximizing credit card points to unlock luxury travel experiences, from choosing the right cards to building a sustainable points strategy that won't damage your credit score.
In this episode, we chat about…
Spencer's Journey from Politics to Points Expert - How working at the US Travel Association sparked his obsession with travel rewards and led to building a full-time business around credit card points strategy
The Two-Sided Business Model - Spencer explains his newsletter service for finding business and first-class award space plus his travel advisor services for luxury ground experiences
Transferable Points Strategy - Why starting with flexible points currencies like Chase Ultimate Rewards and Capital One Miles beats airline-specific cards for most travelers
The Three Approaches to Credit Cards - Breaking down the "Keep It Simple" (1-3 cards), "Hub and Supplement" (4-6 cards), and "Maximalist" (continuous new cards) strategies
Credit Score Myths Debunked - How responsible points enthusiasts maintain 750+ credit scores while regularly opening new cards through strategic management
Key Takeaways:
Start with transferable points programs rather than airline or hotel-specific cards to maximize flexibility and redemption options across 15+ different airlines
Focus on bonus categories that align with your spending - Cards like Amex Gold (4x groceries) and Citi Premier (3x travel/gas/groceries) can accelerate point earning
Maintain excellent credit hygiene - Keep oldest cards open, pay balances in full every month, and don't attempt this strategy unless you have a 700+ credit score
Signup bonuses are the fastest way to earn points - New card bonuses typically offer more points than you can earn through regular spending over months
Choose your involvement level - Whether you prefer a simple 1-3 card setup or become a maximalist earning machine, there's a points strategy that fits your lifestyle and effort level
Resources from Spencer
LinkedIn | Instagram | Straight To The Points
Resources from Mike and Nichole
+ Read the transcript
Mike: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Richer Geek Podcast. Today we have Spencer Howard. He's a credit card royalty program and travel rewards expert. So we're gonna switch things up and talk about the accumulation of points. You know, everyone has it. Everyone I know, everyone in the entire world has credit cards, so everyone should be doing points. He's also the founder of Straight To The Points, the go-to resource for individuals looking to demystify credit card points so they can experience traveling in luxury for business or pleasure. How are you doing Spencer? Spencer: Doing well, Mike, thanks so much for having me. Mike: I always like to start the podcast out by having you tell us a little bit about yourself. Now, you know, don't go back to kindergarten like some of them our guests do but a brief on who you are and how you got involved in credit card loyalty. Spencer: Yeah, sure. So I'll give you the quick version. I worked in politics, everybody's favorite. Basically my sophomore year of college for then 10 years and then towards the end of that was working at the US Travel Association, and in a political role, started reading more about travel. And for the first time I was told you should take your vacation days rather than I don't know, being treated like you didn't care about the work, if you took any time off. That was my motivation to kind of learn how to travel better. In doing so, I stumbled into the points world, honestly, and it felt like stumbling into it, becoming obsessed, is a good way to put it. I read about four hours a night for about six months just reading all the different fine print from credit cards, airline routing rules for using points. It's like going back to school. And I kind of came out of that realizing that I knew way more than any normal person needs. But I could help other people with it so I started freelance writing and did that for a while, ended up starting a newsletter of my own, and I've been doing that now full-time since the beginning of 2021. Mike: So you just don't do this as a passive, you're not on this podcast and "Hey, I just like to look at points." What do you help people with? Are you also a travel consultant? Do you just tell people, "Hey, use your points." What do you do for a living? Spencer: Basically have two sides of what I do. The first is my newsletter where I send award space, specifically business and first class space on international routes for two or more people. For those who are unfamiliar with points, the more seats you try to book with points, the harder it is. The other aspect of this is figuring out the best ways to use your points so you're not wasting them. And so I break down all of that in kind of concise newsletters that give you all the tools you need to book yourself. So that's the side of things. And then I'm a travel advisor on the other side for those who like to spend money on nice hotels or cruises or luxury trains. I basically say that if you've put all this, you saved all this money booking your flights with points. You can go do more fun things on the ground, whether it's a hotel, it could be restaurants, whatever you're into. So to me, again, it's just points or a currency that help you get more out of the experience. Mike: Yeah and it's true. My wife and I go on vacations. We use points. I always say that I'll probably never pay for another hotel in my entire life, which is a good thing because I have points and so now she can go shopping, I can eat like I want to, it becomes a lot of fun. So let me ask you this. You look at everybody's flaunting their rewards, credit cards, every airline, every hotel brand. Let's say that I'm a Marriott Rewards member and United or American Airlines. Do I need a credit card for each? It's like, man, I'm never gonna accumulate points because I'm using every flight I'm using in American, every hotel I'm using Marriott for, I'm using another credit card because they have rewards. What is the trick here? Do you just accumulate one? What do you do? Spencer: Yeah. My general approach is to start with what we call transferable points. So basically neither an airline or a hotel card. Those just restrict you to their programs and that can be limiting, depending, and again, it just depends on your travel needs, but I want to have as many options as possible. If you have a card like the Capital One Venture X, you earn Capital One Miles, which could be transferred to, I know, 15+ different airlines. If you have Chase Sapphire Reserve, you earn Chase Ultimate rewards points. Those can also be transferred to airlines. I mean, same thing with Amex City, Wells Fargo. There's even the built card where you can earn money or earn points on rent and transfer those points. I mean, there's just so many options that I don't see the need to focus on airlines for most people. There's niche cases, but that I think keeps your options open. And we can certainly dive into why, but that to me is like the foundation. Those are also the cards where you're gonna find that you'll see bigger signup bonuses to get more points off the bat. You'll also see better bonus categories to earn more points as you go. If you go to the grocery store and spend a lot of money, the Amex Gold earns four x on groceries up to $25,000 a year. So that's an easy option. If you travel a lot, you can earn 3x like the Citi Premier on flights and hotels, and that one is actually 3x on gas and grocery. So it's like there's all these different cards that can help you earn 2, 3, 4, 5x points. Whether it's personal spending or if you have a small business. I think small businesses have a huge advantage because it opens you up to a whole new set of credit cards. Mike: I know it gets overwhelming a little bit and I like the Amex Platinum because you also get lounge access, when you go through it. Spencer: That's another fun layer. The benefits, I know beyond the points. Mike: The benefits, and you always look at, "Okay, do I want that Chase? Do I want that or the American Platinum, you know, but it's like $600 a year. I don't even know what it is now. Spencer: $695. Mike: $695 a year. But then you look at, okay, what do I get? Will I ever use this stuff, and it becomes just like, "My God. I need a spreadsheet or I just need a Spencer Howard." Spencer: Honestly, a lot of us have had spreadsheets over the years. There's now apps out there to help you keep track of things. It's become an industry in and of itself just kind of keeping up with it all. But I think it's one of those things where you can kind of choose your path through points. You can be obsessed. Like, I readily admit, I'm obsessed. It makes it useful when I'm trying to help people, but most people don't need to be like that. And so you can really decide how you're going to approach getting cards, how you're going to approach, I guess really just this time you're gonna spend on this hobby. Because in the end, it's a hobby, it's a nice thing to have. It's not a necessary thing to have but for me it's like I look at three approaches to cards where you have just that, keep it simple. Maybe get one to three cards. They have some benefits like lounge access, maybe you really make sure those cards have bonus categories that align with your spending and you just don't think about it again. I think in the points world, we see more people in the second category that I call the kind of a hub and supplement. Maybe you get four to six cars. You've built this nice hub where you're earning bonus points on basically everything you spend. You've got cards for benefits and then every so often you get a new card because who doesn't like a signup bonus? It's the fastest way to earn points. I really think those two categories were 95% to 98% of people, " Don't quote me on that," but it's the last section is like the maximalist who basically just gets a new card every chance they get. Because they say, "I'm never gonna earn points faster than a signup bonus, so I will just do this on repeat." That is the most point you learn. It is also the most effort you're gonna spend, and that's where you start to find the spreadsheets and the apps to keep track of everything. And like more power to you. I have plenty of friends who do. I used to be like that and it was fun. It's just, it's a lot of work. Mike: Yeah. I have a friend that I think gets a credit card every three or four months. They spend whatever it takes in order to get that bonus. If you spend $5,000 or $10,000, you get this and then they do another one, and they're like, "Hey look, I just got another 60,000 points." Then I'm thinking it's like, isn't that ricking havoc with your credit score? Spencer: So the big thing we always say is like, keep your oldest card open. That's the basis of your average age of accounts. Make sure you're paying things off on time every time. I do think sometimes the points community gets looked at as like, oh my God, they're so reckless. They're spending all this money. I'm like, no, we're the nerds who are like itemizing, like looking at every dollar we spend, making sure we don't spend any more than we have to on things and just aggressively paying things off. We do not carry balances. A lot of our credit scores, mine's like 830. A lot of ours are 750-800 and above. I generally tell people to not even play this game unless you're 700-720+. Because again, if you can't control your spending and make sure you're paying everything off on time or you're just in a bad spot right now, focus on that. I like to use the word game because this is, again, not necessary, which is something silly to say when you work in it, but I'm not really willing to risk people's financial lives to hype this up. It becomes another currency, almost like another investment. Mike: I agree. Now, let's talk about business owners also and that's where I've extremely accelerated my points because I thought it's like, oh, you know what, why aren't my hotels using my rewards membership number? I lost. I don't know how many points for while, and all of a sudden I'm just like, Spencer: Don't you love that light bulb moment? Mike: I have a new credit card for you. And they're like, oh yeah, but that's not even our hotel brand. I'm like, don't worry about it. Use that credit card. Not because it goes right. Important, right into my account. And now I get 60,000-70,000 points a month or something like that, you know? Spencer: Yeah. Mike: It's crazy. I know for me, but talk about that, how you can actually fast track it if you start doing that and taking advantage of the business side also. Spencer: Yeah. You think about it with all the people or companies that run ads these days, like you can earn 3x or 4x on digital ads if you have an Ink Preferred or an AMEX Business Gold. And that really accelerates the points earned. I have clients that I've worked with who just, I think one of 'em has two businesses and they have an AMEX Business Gold for each and an Ink Preferred for each. So they earn 3x and 4x on, I think it's $300,000 in spend between the two. So $150K each each year. That immediately like they're clipping a million points for each business without even trying. Because like a lot of them spend, you know, $30,000 a month on digital ads. Mm-hmm. Like, it's insane. Then they just get another card for the excess when they've already hit the bonus category. So it's little things. If you do a lot of shipping, the Amex Business Golds there. I don't know, if you've got a fleet of cars and you're filling up at the gas station, or you are always going out to eat or paying for dinners or whatever, there's all these opportunities. It's all part of the business expense. It's just running the business. Let it work for you. If you're doing that, you're probably working way too hard. You may as well get some nice travel out of it. Mike: Yeah. And that's why a lot of Marriott and Hilton's are, because you have those business travel warriors. Why do they stick with one brand and they probably have that Hilton card or that one credit card, plus the reward. So they're actually getting Hilton points plus credit card points, so they're double dipping too. Spencer: Yeah, it's a huge thing. I have a lot of friends who still are on the road regularly, and you'll see that they'll use like a Chase Sapphire Reserve to book their flights and hotels and they'll earn 3x points there, but then they're top tier Hilton or Hyatt, or Marriott for hotels, and they're still earning points just by staying. Same thing with flights, whether they're flying American, Alaska, United, whatever they're earning airline miles that way while they're also earning these transferrable points. Whether you have a business where you're spending money or you're on the road and you're able to get reimbursed, like you have a lot of opportunities to kind of amp up all the points that you earn. Mike: You research it, people come to you. What are some of the mistakes that people do that are just like going, wow, why are these people doing this? Yeah. Or some of the things that we just don't know about that you need to talk to us about? Spencer: Yeah. I think there's two sides and they're very different people. There's those who jump in way too quickly and don't take time to kind of just learn some foundational pieces. It's not that hard. I have a quick start guide on my site. It kind of gets you up to speed real fast. You want to have an understanding of where you're going and so once you kind of decide what path, if you wanna be more aggressive with getting cards, then you have to know, okay, there's a lot of different rules for each bank, and how do those play together? You just have to put a little more effort upfront. That's fine. Some people just dive in and then they come back and like, oh man, I can't get this card because I did X, Y, and Z. And I'm like, I know you just, you needed to slow down and that's okay. We all learn sometimes. And then the other side is people who are afraid to move and do something different. Honestly, it's people who travel for work and it's like, oh, I have a Delta card, so I'm just gonna keep using the Delta card and it's kind of that the unknown is out there and they haven't seen that it could be different. And so they just assume it's all the same and why would I do anything differently? And so they just kind of get into a routine that's not actually doing much for them. When they're charging 300,000 miles for a one-way business class ticket to Europe and there's other programs that are charging 34,000-80,000 I'm like, please stop doing what you've always done. It doesn't mean it's the best way for you to do this. I think sometimes people are a bit slow to kind of, I know slow on the uptake is the best way to put it. Just like they don't want to change paths and I get it, inertia and all that. It's easier to keep doing what you're doing. Those are the big ones. The others, I think you start getting into just being reckless with points. Not that it's truly reckless, but missing out on opportunities to get more out of them. Just booking any flight because it's 'free'. It's not, it's still a currency. It's you're paying for something. But I think it's understanding that if you have a certain amount of points and you don't have millions like yourself, you have to consider which trip you're gonna use the points on. If it's a cheap flight, maybe you wanna pay cash for this one. Save the points for when you're like, I don't wanna spend $5,000 on those flights. So again, it's just being thoughtful is really one of the biggest keys to this, I think I can say. Mike: Yeah. And that's good. So we went to some of the mistakes. What are some of the myths out there that people are like going, I'm not doing this because the old wives tales type of a thing. What are some of the myths out there that Yeah. Can you debunk for us? Spencer: We already kind of touched on one thing that it's gonna wreck your credit score. It's not the case as long as you're taking care of business on your end. As long as you're paying things on time, keep that oldest card open. People expect some, like horror stories and there are for people who don't pay things on time, like we've all seen the interest rates on credit cards. It's brutal. Which is why we're all just really aggressive about paying on time. But I think that's the biggest misconception in our space. Mike: Let's say that people have the Marriott credit card or the Hilton credit card and they want to convert over, you know, let's see if I can do a cruise, or let's do, yeah, something different. What are some of the myths? because I immediately think of, it's like going, man, it's gonna end up costing me $10,000 worth of like, if I converted the points, if I thought about what it was, because I only get, it's a thousand points for every $20 or something, or a thousand points for every $100 is the conversion. What are some things we have to really look out for? Because some of these things you think, oh, I can get a free cruise. Yeah, well, it just cost you twice as much as just paying for it. Spencer: Yeah, I think generally speaking with points, I tend to focus on flights and hotels. I think that's where the value is, if you wanna fly business or even first class internationally, put your points there. Yeah. They're gonna cost way more than the hotel stay probably is. And that's just the nature of the game. And so that's where I tend to put my focus. I think when you see those opportunities that when you have transferable points where banks will say like, oh, cash out your points for whatever gift card. Just ignore it. Just think point travel. Mike: Yeah. And specifically I've seen it, it's like, okay, there's cost me a thousand points to get a hundred dollar gift card. Spencer: And it's one of those things where it's just like, I understand why they're doing it. It's cheaper for them, whatever. And some people may not care about travel, so they do it great. If you like travel, think about airlines, that is a huge thing. That's where you start to get the most bang for your buck. Hotels can be great. Specifically Hyatt, that's the one I typically look at. It's a Chase Ultimate Rewards and a Built Rewards partner. One, they have an award chart with set rates, so you kind of know what to expect. Other programs do not, and you can find hotel nights that'll cost 150,000 points a night and yeah, like an equivalent hotel at a high it would be 45,000 points. So one, you know what you're getting, but two, you don't have to transfer as many points. So I think there's a lot of opportunity there with cruises like personally, I say pay cash if you have it. Capital One miles can be cashed out at 1 cent per point. It's not the worst thing ever, but again, it's how many points do you have in your case? Because you have so many, it may be worth cashing some out in a kind of "suboptimal way", because if you don't, you're not gonna notice the impact. But for somebody who's like that, every year they earn points for next year's trip. That's where it starts to be more important to really focus on where you're gonna get the most value. Mike: I think I have this one credit card that 's one of those Chase Cash back and I don't even know what I use it on. And I'll just go in there once every six months or so, I just kind of look at it and I look and I'm just like, oh man, I've got all these points and then I don't need those points because you go in and say, what can I transfer these points to? And it's like restaurants and things like that and whatever. But then all of a sudden it says we could transfer, you know, $3,200 into your checking account right now. Spencer: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I always say that just because banks and airlines give you more options doesn't mean that it, they're more good options. It's one of those things where you have to stay on top of things yourselves, or just rely on somebody who is in this space all the time. There's a lot of us creating content out here who just live, eat, sleep, and breathe really points and travel. Mike: I don't know if you're allowed to do this, you know, to our listeners right now are, what are some of the, either the programs or the credit cards, which ones are that you recommend? If you are wanting to get into this game, like right now, these are the ones that are more bang for their buck. Spencer: So there's a couple layers to this. I would say if you're just keeping it simple, at some point you need to get a Capital One venture, or Venture X. Venture X if you want lounge access at airports, I typically find the Venture X is worth it. It earns two points per dollar on all the things you could buy and at any given day. You're not getting three or four, but you're never getting one. And to me, that's a big thing. You should always be earning two, two or more points per dollar, and that's just an easy way to do it. Bunch of great transfer partners, Capital One Venture X comes with a priority Pass select membership, which provides some lounge access. They've started to roll out Capital One lounges in the US so there's some more lounges there. So I think that's kind of the best bang for your buck. Credit card these days if you're just kind of keeping it simple. If not, I would say you wanna start looking at where you're spending and then it's a matter of like, just honestly, it's a puzzle at that point. Look at the cards that are out there with transferable points and start piecing together what bonus categories are best. These days there's so many overlapping transfer partners between programs that you're like, you can earn Capital One Miles and Amex membership awards points and still both of them will transfer to Air Canada's airplane program, Air France, KLM, Flying Blue, like there's all these overlaps. So it ends up just working out just the same. If you're gonna be super aggressive and just try to get all the cards, we often joke about starting with Chase. Chase Bank has some restrictive rules. So if you wanna get those cards and get their signup bonuses, you kind of wanna start there before moving on to other things. But most people will never get to that. Mike: Yeah, again, everybody, Spencer Howard, Straight To The Points. So let's talk about your website. How do they get there? When they do get there, what are they gonna find? How can they get some more information? Spencer: Yeah. straighttothepoints.co. There's a couple things that I would point out. There's a quick start guide. If this is new to you and you're wondering what the hell I'm talking about, that's the place to go. It is short, but it will get you kind of a quick understanding of all that you need to know to kind of keep learning. I always tell people, it's more complicated than you would like, but less complicated than you think it is. It's just you learn one piece and then that helps you learn the next piece, and that helps you learn the next piece and soon enough it just becomes kind of fluid for you. If you already have points and you wanna fly in, like business or first class internationally, that's where my newsletter comes in. There's a free version and a premium version. The premium version lays out all the exact dates you can book. When I send out alerts, I explain the best ways to use your points based on which transferable points you have. I will explain how to find the award space. We're sending like usually four to five a week at this point. And that's only $99 a year. I say 27 cents a day. It is more than worth your time, I promise. The free version doesn't get first class alerts. It gets the business class ones 72 or so hours later. You don't get the exact dates. You get kinda just a date range. If you're just really good at this and don't care about missing out on opportunities, like you'll get enough out of it. But the paid version is where I kind of, I think my older brother said, I idiot proof the process. I think it's overstating it a bit, but I am trying to make it as easy as humanly possible for you to just see the thing you wanna book, go book the thing. Mike: So is there anything that you'd like to leave us with that maybe I didn't hit upon something that you'd like to tell our listeners? Or did I hit it all? Spencer: I think we've really covered it. I would just say, check out the quickstart guide if you haven't started this yet. Just see what it's about. It doesn't have to be all that you think about, it's just a hobby. But I think a lot of us want to travel and travel better and we often feel like we can't do it. I think a lot of us, we didn't grow up just traveling and doing all these fun things and it's something new and so it kind of feels unapproachable at times and I just want people to know it is approachable and there is the opportunity for you. A little work up front and you can end up doing some really cool things. For context, I've been to 60+ countries in the last, like, I don't know, eight years and I just went to Antarctica. So I've hit my seventh continent now. It's just amazing what you can do, by using some points. Mike: And you know, if you're 63-64 like us and you fly to Europe in coach, you'll learn real quick how to use points to at least get into business class or something. But Spencer, it's been a pleasure having you on The Richer Geek Podcast. How can everyone get a hold of you besides straighttothepoints.co. Are you on Instagram or LinkedIn? Spencer: Yep. Insta. Yeah. Instagram is my most active platform. It's @straightothepoints and I try to reply to all the DMs I get. So if you have any questions, just shoot me a message. Mike: Perfect. Spencer, thank you so much for coming on today. I hope you have a wonderful night. Spencer: Thanks so much for having me.
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ABOUT SPENCER HOWARD
Spencer Howard is a credit card loyalty program and travel rewards expert and founder of Straight To The Points, helping over 21,000 members unlock luxury travel through strategic credit card points optimization. Since launching STTP in 2017, he has specialized in finding business and first-class flight opportunities while providing expert tutorials on maximizing rewards programs. His work has been featured in major outlets including Forbes Advisor, CNBC, Bloomberg, and The Washington Post.
Spencer's mission is making luxury travel accessible to everyone through smart credit card strategies, believing that everyone deserves to fly business class at least once in their lifetime. Based in Washington, D.C., he has visited over 60 countries while traveling three months per year since 2017. He recently became a father, bringing fresh insights to family travel rewards optimization.