Use Co-Branded Promotions to Earn More Miles
Episode #6 of the course Travel hacking: Earn frequent flyer miles without flying by Chris Guillebeau
Greetings, traveler. It’s raining miles and points!
Yesterday, you learned about credit card signup bonuses. Be sure to review that lesson if you’re eligible for them, because they are the #1 way to earn a lot of miles all at once.
In today’s lesson, you’ll learn how co-branded promotions can help you achieve your traveling goals.
A co-branded promotion is a partnership between a specific hotel chain or airline and another company. Some co-branded promotions are credit cards. These cards earn miles and other benefits solely for the hotel or airline for which they are branded. You’ll want to get a co-branded card when you’re working to boost your mileage balance in a specific program and when you can take advantage of the other offered benefits such as lounge access, priority boarding, free checked baggage, etc.
But it’s not just about credit cards. Many companies see the benefits of working with airlines to offer points or miles. Just a couple of examples:
• Starwood and Uber: For every dollar spent with Uber, you can earn 1 Starpoint. You’ll earn even more Starpoints® during your stays with SPG®. Just sign in and link your SPG and Uber accounts—then sit back and watch your earning accelerate.
• Delta & Airbnb: Recently, Delta announced a useful new partnership with Airbnb, where Delta SkyMiles members can earn one mile per dollar spent with Airbnb. While all members who use the online shopping portal can earn one mile per dollar spent with Airbnb, those who are new to Airbnb will receive $25 off their first qualifying Airbnb stay and up to 1,000 bonus miles. If that wasn’t enough, you can also earn up to 25,000 miles when you become an Airbnb host.
• WeWork + TrueBlue: WeWork specializes in providing flexible workspaces for individuals and small businesses without an official workspace. Get 500 JetBlue points when you take a tour of any of the worldwide WeWork co-working spaces (use promo code JETBLUE when setting your appointment at the link). If you rent a desk or an office at the space for three months or more, you’ll also earn up to 20,000 additional points.
Part of the most challenging aspect of travel hacking is that the promotions are changing constantly, so you have to stay up to date with what’s current and available. How can you find different promotions?
Action Items:
• Subscribe to offer pages of your favorite hotels and airlines
• Read travel blogs (View from the Wing & One Mile at a Time are two of my favorites)
• Try out The Travel Hacking Cartel and have all current updates sent directly to you (there’s a 14-day $1 trial available!)
• Check out the FlyerTalk forums for updates from community members
Tomorrow, you’ll learn how to use banking to earn even more miles and points!
Yours in adventure,
Chris Guillebeau
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