Get barreled for free. It’s a no-brainer.
Hack: Sign up for the right credit card and earn free flights and accommodation at no cost.
Pros: An overwhelming sense of satisfaction because you feel like you just rigged the system (but it’s 100% legitimate).
Cons: If not managed properly, you have the potential to really screw up your credit.
There are a bunch of credit cards out there that have awesome sign up bonuses in the form of points. These points, if used effectively, can be traded for travel and accommodation. How, you ask? Well, the credit card industry is cutthroat, and for each transaction you make with that card, the credit card company gets a small cut. Thus, credit card companies offer flights and hotels in order to get your business. My guess is that there is little cost in giving someone a free slot on an airplane or hotel in return for your business. Therefore, credit card companies will structure deals with hotels and airlines to offer incentives to prospective customers. And as long as you’re responsible and keep track of things, the your next epic surf trip will be on the house.
Just as an example, let’s put together a trip to Bali. First, you will need to sign up for a Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and automatically receive 40,000 Ultimate Rewards Points. Then, sign up for a Chase Business Card and receive 50,000 Ultimate Rewards Points. Ultimate Rewards is simply the fancy name for the point system Chase uses. As you can see below this is enough for a round trip ticket to Bali.
Keep in mind, there are minimum spending requirements on each of these cards to obtain points. This means you just have to go about your normal spending but have to remember to put the expenses on these credit cards. Doing some basic math, it comes out to be $1667 per month for three months ($5000 total) on the Ink Plus and $1333 per month for three months ($4000 total) on the other card. So it does take a bit of maneuvering, but it’s very possible. I’m assuming if you live in the U.S, spending $3,000 per month might be a bit on the high side, but it’s doable for most since there are ways to pay your rent on a credit card.
The grand total of points after you do this will be 60,000 points (at this time you can get into a Chase branch to get the 60,000 offer instead of 50,000) from your Chase Ink Plus and 45,000 (40,000 plus 5,000 bonus for adding an authorized user). Total points will be 105,o00 plus the approximate 10,000+ points you have from your actual spending in those three months. Keep in mind you get 1-5x points for every dollar that you spend, even if it’s toward your minimum spending. So it’s safe to say you will have 120,000 points at the end of a few months.
I did a very quick search on this one, so I’m sure you can find something cheaper with a better route. But let’s assume 42,500 miles is enough each way. Log into Chase and transfer 85,000 points over to Korean Air Skypass (sign up for a free at Korean Air account in order to have an account hold the miles/points). This is a 1:1 transfer, meaning your 85,000 Ultimate Rewards points will convert to 85,000 Skypass miles, which is enough for an economy class round trip ticket to Bali.
When that’s all said and done, you will have 35 to 40,000 points left over to spend on hotels. This should cover a few nights, but you will need to repeat the steps above to make this happen. For example, sign up for a Hyatt account and transfer your Chase points over at 1:1. If you refer to the chart below, you could spend 5,000 points a night and stay for seven nights. Or, you can go a bit more baller and spend 12,000 points per night for three nights at a Grand Hyatt!
And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. With a bit of maneuvering, you just got a free trip (flight and hotel) to one of the best surf destinations in the world. Be responsible about your minimum spends (don’t spend 9,000 on something just to get your free hotel and flights). Also, keep in mind that some cards have yearly fees. Other than that, go travel, have fun, and surf some empty waves!
Have questions? E-mail info@carapacewetsuits.com for more information. And be sure to visit the Carapace website and blog for more useful tips like this.
