Ahead of the busy holiday travel season, CardHub rated the best credit cards for travel rewards, from hotel stays to airline flights and road trip perks.
The ratings stem from CardHub’s latest Credit Card Landscape Report, which looked at the value of available credit cards based on interest rates, rewards and fees. The group looked at more than 1,000 credit card offers to identify the most rewarding travel deals and then broke the options out per category, including best initial bonus, best all-around, airline rewards, hotel rewards and road trip rewards.
Below are a selection of the top cards in the best all-around and airline rewards categories. You can see the full list and reward descriptions here.
Best All-Around
- Barclaycard Arrival Plus: CardHub said it was “perhaps the best rewards credit card on the market.” It offers a 40,000-mile rewards bonus worth $400 in travel expenses after spending $3,000 over the first three months. You then get the equivalent of 2% cash back on all purchases and 5% back on miles redeemed for travel, plus no foreign transaction fees.
- Capital One Venture Rewards: Much like the Barclaycard above, you get 40,000 bonus points worth $400 in exchange for spending $3,000 over the first three months. Then, you get two miles for every dollar spent with no limits, and no foreign transaction fees.
Best Airline Rewards
- Frontier Airlines: You get 40,000 bonus miles, equal to two round-trip domestic flights, after spending at least $500 over the initial 90 days. Beyond that, you get two miles per dollar spent on Frontier’s website and one mile per dollar on all other purchases.
- PenFed Premium Travel Rewards American Express: After purchasing $2,500 worth of items in the first three months, you get a $200 bonus. You also get five points for every dollar spent on airfare, plus no annual fee.
For more on the best credit cards, whatever your situation, our friends at Moneyhave compiled their handy annual list.