 TITLE: Maximize Your Travel Rewards With These Tips CONTENT: 2\\. Pick the Right Program\n--------------------------\nThe next step is deciding which rewards programs will be most useful to you.\n*   *   **Airline miles**: Do you want airline miles you can redeem for free flights? If so, is there a certain airline or group of airline partners you fly the most? Focus your flight activity on one or two airlines that you use most frequently so you can rack up miles with them when traveling.\n    *   **Hotel points**: Would you get use out of hotel points that you can put toward free stays? Do you usually stay at one company's hotel brands more than the others? The major hotel chains include dozens of brands now and have thousands of hotels around the world. For example, Marriott includes 30 brands, such as Sheraton, Westin and Courtyard, while Hilton has nearly 20, including Embassy Suites and DoubleTree. When planning travel, try to concentrate your stays with the brands of one company or another so you can more quickly earn points with a main loyalty program.\n    *   **Transferable points**: Some travel rewards credit cards earn points you can transfer to different airline and hotel partners. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card earns Ultimate Rewards points you can convert into miles with 10 airline partners, including JetBlue, Southwest and United, plus three hotel partners, including Hyatt and Marriott. The Platinum Card® from American Express earns Membership Rewards points that transfer to 19 airline partners, including Delta and Hawaiian Airlines, as well as hotels such as Hilton and Marriott.  \n        Transferable points are a great choice for folks who are not loyal to a single airline or hotel chain. Because you can send your points to the frequent-flier or hotel program you want to use, you don't have to spend years flying or staying with a single company to earn free reward travel.\n    *   **Cash back points**: On the other hand, you might prefer a simple cash back rewards program where your spending gets you a solid rate of return. For instance, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card earns 2 miles per dollar spent on all purchases. Miles are worth 1 cent each when you redeem them for travel or as credits to \"erase\" eligible travel purchases from your statement using Capital One's Purchase Eraser tool within 90 days of the date the they're posted to your account. This effectively allows you to get up to 2% back on all your spending, when redeemed for travel, without having to master an airline mileage or hotel points program to use your points. END