 TITLE: How to Make the Most of Travel Credit Cards CONTENT: Which Benefits Do Travel Credit Cards Offer?\n--------------------------------------------\nThere are a lot of reasons you might want to apply for one type of credit card over another. Here are the benefits to consider when deciding which one might be best for you.\n**Sign-up bonuses**: Travel credit cards often come with flashy sign-up offers that can be worth a lot of money toward free travel. Airline and hotel co-branded cards offer tens of thousands of points or miles that can put free flights or nights within easy reach. For their part, fixed-rate cards often offer bonuses totaling up to hundreds of dollars in cash back.\n**Day-of-travel perks**: Airline credit cards come with perks like free checked bags and priority boarding that can make a big difference to your airport experience. Hotel credit cards sometimes offer on-property credits for things like restaurant bills and spa treatments during hotel stays that can make a vacation that much more enjoyable. Several high-end products that earn transferable points, like The Platinum Card® from American Express, also lure potential cardholders with benefits like airport lounge access and refunds for airline incidental fees like seating assignments as well as automatic elite status with both Hilton and Marriott.\n**Trip insurance**: Travel rewards cards tend to include top-rate travel protections such as insurance for trip delays or cancellations as well as lost luggage. The Chase Sapphire Reserve® will reimburse you up to $500 for things like meals, toiletries and lodgings on travel delays over six hours and includes primary insurance on rental cars so you can waive the agency's coverage and not worry about dents and dings.\n**Credits and refunds**: More and more travel credit cards are beginning to offer refunds for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fees of between $85 and $100, which is not only a great added value to their perks portfolios, but also a fantastic benefit that makes the airport experience much more bearable.\nWhile many travel rewards credit cards offer similar perks, they can vary quite a lot from card to card, so be sure to read the fine print before applying. END