One of the reasons why the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the best all-around rewards credit card is how useful it is for booking travel, including double and triple dipping (and even more).
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card already earns double points on all travel.
This is in addition to the miles you would earn from flying (or the points from a hotel stay, or from renting a car).
Add onto that going through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Mall, where you earn 1 point per dollar for purchases made at Expedia or Orbitz (2 points per dollar for Travelocity).
And add onto that the programs of the online travel agencies themselves which offer you an additional level of points and rebate.
- Expedia Rewards points are credit towards hotels or airfare.
- Orbitz has a brand new rewards program too that gives up to 5% back on hotel bookings and 1% on flights (for your first $5000 in purchases in a year), currently higher for Alaska and LAN purchases and when booking through their mobile app.
The Orbitz program is new, joining gets you $25 off your first hotel booking (and a similar credit for the person who referred you).
For booking hotels, the Hotels.com Welcome Rewards program may be more lucrative than either Orbitz or Expedia (it gets you nothing of course for airfare purchases).
Booking hotels through an online travel agency usually means you forgo hotel points, and only some chains will honor elite status that you may have. But PointsHound has ‘double up’ rates at some properties that earn airline miles for mkaing the booking in addition to still letting you earn hotel points and both accrue elite status credit and have your status honored.
You can make this a quintuple dip by participating in an airline’s small business program.
(Note that links in this post offer credit to me. The opinions, analyses, and evaluations here are mine. The content is not provided or commissioned by American Express, by Chase, by Citibank, US Bank, Bank of America, Barclays or any other company. They have not reviewed, approved or endorsed what I have to say.)
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I’m surprised you actually mentioned Expedia Rewards after, well, you know…
OK I just joined Orbitz Rewards through your link. My Orbucks=$0.00. When do I get the $25 credit? Do I have to wait several months or am I missing something? Thanks.
I think the new Orbitz program primarily created a new opportunity for you to push the Sapphire card.
thanks for sharing
Not sure about Business Extraa, but Skybonus specifically excludes flights booked on Orbitz… is there a workaround?
I use aa’s business extraa but I always book through their website. How can I my business extraa Number on Orbitz or Expedia to earn points?
@ken you have to call to add the number, even after you’ve flown
@ myself From reading through oodles of terms last night, the $25 appears after the first booking and can be applied to the next booking. So it is not $25 off your 1st hotel booking as stated. Now I tried to triple-check this information just a second ago — and all the TERMS on the Orbitz Rewards website have gone blank. Or maybe I can’t find them. Thanks everyone for the info.
You mean call aa after booking with Orbitz?
@ myself again
Just got an email with the promo code and the terms, must spend $100.00 here it is:
Book a qualifying hotel between October 17, 2013 12:01AM (CST) and March 31, 2014 11:59PM (CST)
, for $100 or more for travel between October 17, 2013 and June 30, 2014, via Orbitz and instantly receive $25 off your booking through the use of the promotion code. Limit one discount per hotel room and one promotion code per booking. Discount may not be used toward the booking of a vacation package. Discounts are not redeemable for cash for any reason. Promotion codes are non-transferable, not for resale, and cannot be combined with other offers. Any attempt at fraud will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Void where prohibited, taxed or restricted. Orbitz reserves the right to change or limit the promotion in its sole discretion. Most major chains are excluded, to find participating hotels look for the “PROMO CODE ELIGIBLE” message.