best travel card for my family

[kadsand]

I was wondering if you guys could help me figure out the best travel card for my family. There are 5 of us, we would like to go on at least one trip a year, we don't mind flying coach, and would mostly be staying within the continental us. We have no preference for airlines or hotels. So what cards would work the best for us and how much would we have to put through the card to make it worth it? We're pretty new to credit cards so I really appreciate your help

[kadsand]

Oh, and we wouldn't be applying for atleast 6 months, we need the accounts we have to age before taking the plunge for a travel card

[improvingmycredit]

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@kadsand wrote:
I was wondering if you guys could help me figure out the best travel card for my family. There are 5 of us, we would like to go on at least one trip a year, we don't mind flying coach, and would mostly be staying within the continental us. We have no preference for airlines or hotels. So what cards would work the best for us and how much would we have to put through the card to make it worth it? We're pretty new to credit cards so I really appreciate your help

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Hey kadsand!  Welcome to the forums!  

There are some many cards out there.  If all of your family uses the same rewards card for all their spending, then there are many cards that might fit the bill.  Also.. it might be interesting to note that a travel card might not be the best fit.  Depending on how you plan to use the card.... a great cash back card might be better for you.  

If you wouldn't mind elaborating on what kind of usage you will put through the card annually, there might be some really good recommendations.  Also... we will need a little bit of info on your current cards... FICO score, any baddies on your report and AAoA

[Open123]

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@kadsand wrote:
I was wondering if you guys could help me figure out the best travel card for my family. There are 5 of us, we would like to go on at least one trip a year, we don't mind flying coach, and would mostly be staying within the continental us. We have no preference for airlines or hotels. 

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Hi there!

For airlines, I'd say your best choice would be the Chase SW card with 50K bonus.  If redeemed prudently, this could be approximately 4 or 5 round trip domestic flights.

For hotels, it gets a little more complex.  I'd consider the following:

1.  US Bank's Club Carlson - 85K sign up bonus along with bonus points during your stays.  

2.  Chase Hyatt - 2 free nights anywhere in the world.

Either is fine, but I think the US Bank will offer you a better long term value.

Good luck!

[CreditScholar]

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@Open123 wrote:

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@kadsand wrote:
I was wondering if you guys could help me figure out the best travel card for my family. There are 5 of us, we would like to go on at least one trip a year, we don't mind flying coach, and would mostly be staying within the continental us. We have no preference for airlines or hotels. 

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Hi there!

For airlines, I'd say your best choice would be the Chase SW card with 50K bonus.  If redeemed prudently, this could be approximately 4 or 5 round trip domestic flights.

For hotels, it gets a little more complex.  I'd consider the following:

1.  US Bank's Club Carlson - 85K sign up bonus along with bonus points during your stays.  

2.  Chase Hyatt - 2 free nights anywhere in the world.

Either is fine, but I think the US Bank will offer you a better long term value.

Good luck!

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+1. I really have to second this advice from Open. If you're budget-conscious and travelling with a family, the Southwest and Club Carlson cards offer perhaps the best value out there.

Southwest is fairly simplistic as a program and also includes things like free bags, whereas other airlines will charge you for those.

Club Carlson doesn't have the nicest properties, but the value here with gold status, an annual 40k point retention bonus, and the final night free on an award stay is unsurpassed.

[mauwow0682]

Depending on where you live Alaska Airlines visa signature card could work too. You get a one companion pass each year but if you and your wifey apply for seperate account and you calls end up with two companion passes every year which would help greatly with airline fares.

[RhubarbPie]

I would get a Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase British Airways, and AMEX PRG card (which I would downgrade or cancel before the AF was due). With the sapphire preferred, you can transfer points to a number of airlines and hotels, and likewise with PRG. But if you're going to be taking domestic short haul flights, British Airways is actually  a good choice because their redemptions are distance-based so you'd use less mileage than if you were to book a short haul, domestic award flight on delta (if you could actually find the availability), for example. The BA card would give you 50,000 miles (Avios), the CSP would give you 40,000 points, and I'm not sure what the current signup bonus is for the PRG. It was 50,000 points when I applied. So you'd have 50,000 to be used on british airways redemeptions, and then the rest could be used for british airways or other airlines. CSP will transfer to Hyatt, and Hyatt redemptions begin at 5000 points per night.

As someone else said, you could also pick up a Hyatt card which would give you 2 free nights (if you're spouse could get one, you'd have 4 nights free) at any Hyatt in the world. But to be honest, I wouldnt get that card unless you were planning to book at an expensive, high end property (we're redeeming our 4 nights in Japan - the rooms would've otherwise been over 600/night, so it  was a $2400 signup bonus...If you use them at Park Hyatt Paris, rooms are normally over 700 a night., etc). I'm not sure if its worth the HP to just use them for a few nights at a Hyatt Place or something like that.