As I look back at my year in travel, 2021 turned out awfully similar to 2020. While I did a small bit of traveling, the continuing pandemic severely limited those opportunities. So for another year, all of the actions I took were to set up future travel.

We haven’t taken a family vacation in years so in 2022, we’re traveling! The trip were 100% certain about is traveling over Thanksgiving week. We wanted to do this in 2020 and after two years of waiting, we’re just doing it! We’re still deciding whether to spend it with extended family in Arizona or do a beach vacation somewhere warmer. In addition, I’d like to spend a long weekend somewhere this spring so I can use up some soon-to-expire Hilton free night certificates.

So let’s take a look back at what I accomplished in 2021.

Credit Cards

• Credit cards opened: 3
• Sign-up bonus points earned: 415,000 points
• Referral bonus points earned: 20,000 points
• Retention bonus points earned: 10,000 points
• Everyday spending: 195,233 points

Credit card sign-up bonuses earned were way up, from 40,000 points in 2020 to 415,000 points in 2021. However, I opened up the same number of cards in each of those years. The reason for the huge spike in bonus points earned was due to the type of cards I opened. This year I opened three hotel credit cards, each with big sign-up bonuses.

I opened an IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card, a Hilton Honors Card and a
Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card. In total, I earned 415,000 points in sign-up bonuses, 20,000 points in referral bonuses and 10,000 points in retention bonuses in 2021.

Between the bonuses and everyday spending, I earned a total of 640,233 points this year!

Now let’s take a closer look at each of the new cards I opened in 2021.

IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card

I applied for the IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card in January because it was offering a best ever sign-up bonus. It had also been about 7 months since my last new credit card, and I was itching to earn a new sign-up bonus. I had no plans on staying at any IHG properties, but I liked the idea of earning 140,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months.

Besides the terrific sign up bonus, the card has many great benefits. It comes with automatic Platinum Elite Status, one free reward night each anniversary year, a 4th night free on reward redemptions and a $100 global entry/TSA Precheck credit. Plus, the card was free this year due to the $89 annual fee being waived for the first year.

Hilton Honors Card

I’ve been building up my Hilton points balance since the very beginning of my points and miles journey. The first goal I set was to use Hilton points on a trip to Hawaii to celebrate my anniversary in 2020. Of course, with the pandemic, that trip never happened, but I still have plans for the future. Applying for this card was done without a goal in mind, but the sign-up bonus was so good, I couldn’t resist.

The Hilton Honors Credit Card from American Express has no annual fee, so it’s a card I can keep forever. While sign-up bonuses often change, the typical one I’d seen was 75,000 points after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months. However, when I applied for this card in May of 2021, the sign up bonus was 80,000 points after spending only $1,000 in 3 months and another 50,000 points after spending $4,000 more within 6 months. After meeting the spending requirement and receiving the bonus points, I’ll hardly ever use this card again but I love having the extra 130,000 Hilton points!

Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card

While the Hilton Honors card application was done with no goal in mind, I applied for the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card for a specific reason. Plus, it was offering an unbelievably good sign-up bonus.

As of January 2022, the sign-up bonus on this card is 75,000 points and a $150 statement credit after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months. However, when I applied it was 125,000 points plus 2 free night certificates after spending $5,000 in 3 months.

The goal is to use the sign up bonus and free night certificates to pay for the entire Thanksgiving week trip. If we go to Arizona, we want to stay at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa. Rooms there go for 50,000 points per night, so this one credit card will get us 4 nights for a cost of $0. Plus I already had some Marriott points, so we could add a 5th night for free, if we choose.

Card Downgrades

In other credit card activity, I downgraded my Chase United℠ Explorer Card this past November to avoid paying the annual fee. In past years, I had called Chase to see if they’d offer any annual fee relief, but they never did. So this time around, I downgraded to the United Gateway℠ Card, which has no annual fee. I intend to sign up for the United Explorer card again in 2022 because I’m eligible for another sign-up bonus.

Pro Tip: With most non-Sapphire Chase credit cards, you can get the same card and bonus again 24 months after having received the bonus as long as you no longer have the card open.

Trips: Flights and Hotel Stays

• Flights taken: 4 (0 business + 4 personal)
• Miles flown: 1,634
• Points/miles redeemed: 118,000
• Individual hotel stays: 3
• Total hotel nights: 7

After absolutely no travel in 2020, I did manage to take two trips this past year thanks to my daughter’s club volleyball tournaments. Of course spending long weekends in Kansas City and Omaha don’t exactly scratch the travel itch. While it was a little strange to travel during the pandemic, it did feel nice to get out of the house and experience a little bit of what makes travel so special.

In addition to those two quick trips, I also redeemed/transferred points from both Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards to a few transfer partners.

Points Redeemed

After not traveling at all in 2020 and having no big trips planned for 2021, I decided to redeem some of the Chase points I’d been accumulating. Through Chase’s Pay Yourself Back program, Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders can redeem points at a rate of 1.5 cents per point. I redeemed 96,000 points this year which resulted in $1,440 in credit card statement credits. It’s just as if I had used points to pay for travel through the Chase Travel Portal, where points are also worth 1.5 cents for Sapphire Reserve cardholders. It felt good to use some points to offset credit card charges, plus I still have around 295,000 points for future travel.

Points Transferred

I also transferred a total of 27,000 points to three travel partners via Chase and American Express.

• 10,000 points went to Air Canada as part of a promotion
• 17,000 points went to British Airways as part of a promotion

Air Canada

I transferred American Express Membership Rewards points to Air Canada because they were running a special promotion of 20% more miles. Plus my Air Canada Aeroplan miles were expiring soon and transferring points is an easy way to keep them active for another year. Since Air Canada is part of the Star Alliance, I have the added flexibility of using those miles on United Airlines too.

British Airways

The transfer to British Airways was done prospectively. Both Chase and American Express ran promotions on transfers to British Airways during 2021. Instead of the normal 1:1 transfer ratio, Chase offered 30% more miles while American Express offered 40% more miles.

I typically transfer at least a few thousand points each time these promotions are offered to top off my balance for future use. British Airways Avios don’t expire unless there’s no activity for 36 months, so I’ll certainly be able to use them within the next 3 years. At this point I have enough miles for at least two free round-trip flight within the continental United States.

Points earned off airline flights and hotel stays:

• American Airlines: 370 miles
• United Airlines: 1,345 miles
• Hilton Hotels: 8,190 points
• Marriott: 8,463 points

With only two short weekend trips, I didn’t earn a lot of points and miles this year. However, it’s a step in the right direction after earning a goose egg in 2020!

Promotional Activity

Promotions come in many forms, but the most common is earning bonus points/miles or cash back on certain purchases. Even better, some promotions offer bonuses with no spending requirement at all. Knowing I wouldn’t be traveling much again this year, I was really on the lookout for ways to earn points and miles via promotions.

Points and miles earned via promotional activity in 2021:

• American Airlines: 9,877 miles
• United Airlines: 5,063 miles
• Hilton Hotels: 5,750 points
• Marriott: 10,514 points
• InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG): 26,000 points
• American Express Membership Rewards: 9,997 points
• Citi ThankYou Rewards: 4,950 points

There were a lot of great promotions in 2021! Below you’ll find more detail on how I passively earned American Airlines AAdvantage miles and IHG points and actively earned Marriott Bonvoy points via promotions. I’ll also touch on what I was able to earn and save via Amex Offers.

American Airlines AAdvantage Miles

In 2020 I opened a savings account with Bask Bank. Instead of paying interest each month, they payout in miles. For most of 2021, I kept a small amount of money in this account and earned AAdvantage miles without doing a thing. By year’s end, I earned 8,937 miles.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) Points

As I mentioned above, one of the perks of my new IHG credit card is hotel status. In April, I received an invitation to choose a benefit as a thank you for being an elite member. I chose to receive 25,000 points and it was entirely free with no spending necessary!

Marriott Bonvoy Points

The promotional points earned here are the perfect example of why you should sign up for all free hotel promotions even if you have no intention of staying there. My daughter’s volleyball club booked us at an absolutely disgusting hotel for the tournament in Kansas City. It was so gross and unsafe, that the entire team decided we had to find something else. Luckily we were able to find rooms at a Courtyard by Marriott in downtown Kansas City.

Even though I had no plans to stay at a Marriott during the promotional period, I signed up just in case. Signing up for these hotel promotions take no more than a few seconds and often can be done with just one click from the promotional email. Because I did that, I earned 6,920 bonus points on my stay!

Amex Offers

Amex Offers is a free program that saves money or earns bonus points on shopping, dining and more. Even though some other banks have started similar programs, Amex’s is far and away the best.

The above offer was tied to my Hilton American Express Aspire® Card and given as a monthly statement credit. I was able to to spend at least $20 in 11 out of 12 months in 2021, for a total credit of $220. I also earned just under 10,000 points during the year with various other Amex Offers.

Surveys

The time I had to spend taking surveys dropped dramatically in 2021. I went from earning over 100,000 points/miles through surveys in 2018 and 2019 to 56,000 in 2020. And then this year I earned less than 4,000! While I’ll almost certainly never get back to the earnings levels of a few years ago, surveys are still an easy way to earn points and miles. Whether it’s clicking away while watching bad TV or while waiting in line somewhere, surveys are a simple way to earn some extra points and miles.

I earned points via 4 different survey websites. Points and miles earned via surveys in 2021:

• American Airlines: 2,063 miles
• United Airlines: 50 miles
• Alaska Airlines: 1,655 miles
• Hilton Hotels: 190 points

Shopping and Dining Portals

Shopping and dining portals are another easy way to earn extra points and miles.

When shopping online, instead of going directly to the merchant, start instead at a shopping portal. Since I use multiple shopping portals, I always check Cashback Monitor first, to see which portal is giving the most bonus points at a specific merchant.

With dining portals, any restaurant participating with the Rewards Network will earn bonus points or miles when I dine there. As long as my credit cards are enrolled before dining, I earn points or miles each time I eat a participating restaurant.

The main difference from last year to this year, was my increased use of Rakuten. With Rakuten, the “cash back” I earn on purchases become Amex Membership Rewards points instead of actual cash back. I chose this option because I value the points much more than the cash. With the points, I can book travel worth much more than the value of the cash would’ve been.

In just two steps, you can change your Rakuten account to earn Membership Rewards. First you’ll need to link a card that earns Membership Rewards to your Rakuten account. Then, you’ll need to update your Rakuten account settings to earn Membership Rewards points as your payout.

Points and miles earned via shopping and dining portals in 2021:

• American Airlines: 180 miles
• United Airlines: 4,430 miles
• Hilton: 5,826 points
• Chase Ultimate Rewards: 8,665 points
• American Express Membership Rewards (via Rakuten): 35,423 points

Triple Dipping

Every so often you can find a combination of offers that allows you to earn points or cashback back in multiple ways on the same transaction. I was able to find one of these with the purchase of a Motley Fool membership. At the time, Chase was offering 7,500 points through their shopping portal with the purchase of a $99 membership.

In addition, I had an Amex Offer on my American Express Blue Business® Plus card for a $99 statement credit.

So here’s how this became a “triple dip”:

1. I earned 7,500 Chase Ultimate Rewards points by going through their shopping portal
2. I earned 198 Amex Membership Rewards points by paying with my Amex business card since it earns 2 points per dollar spent
3. I got a free membership by getting a statement credit for the exact purchase price of the membership

Bottom Line

Another year of essentially no travel left me wanting to redeem points as well as earn them. Big sign-up bonuses and regular spending allowed me to accumulate 764,508 points across all my accounts. On the flip side, I also redeemed 118,000 points as I got anxious to finally use some of my points.

Thankfully I’m starting to think about traveling again, although the pandemic will need to cooperate to allow that to happen. I hope this year is one with a few big points/miles redemptions so my family and I can enjoy some much needed rest and relaxation. And as always, I’ll be on the lookout to ensure I don’t miss any points-earning opportunities.

Here’s to 2022!