Airbnb is one of those spending categories that has been tough to earn bonus miles and points from in the past.
I posted last week on new ways to earn bonus points on in-store, Amazon and Starbucks spending, but now there’s a new way to earn bonus miles on Airbnb spending.
Once again, it’s United’s MileagePlus X app, which just added Airbnb to its list of merchants.
Earning bonus points and miles from online shopping is a pretty heavily discussed topic. I posted about it a few months ago.
What I wish I knew earlier is how to earn bonus miles from in-store, Amazon, and Starbucks spending.
Check your email for this offer from Virgin America:
Yesterday we got offered 500 free Hilton points for opting into an email.
Today United Airlines is offering 500 miles for signing up for a free MyPoints account, and an additional 1,000 miles after your first $25 in MyPoints portal purchases in the first 30 days. Continue reading
I’ll say right from the start: This is only worth a couple bucks at best. But free points are free points, and this is an easy way to refresh the expiration date on your account.
Go to this link, click on the offer, and sign in to your Hilton HHonors account to opt in to their shopping emails. A fun typo is included:
A popular hotel credit card this year has been the Hilton HHonors no-fee card from American Express, due to its 75K-point signup bonus after only $1K in spend.
I signed up for this card before I realized how choosy I should be about picking up credit cards, but for a no-fee card that gets me lifetime Silver status with Hilton and access to Amex offers, I don’t regret it too much.
For those of you that have it, check your email for a little surprise: Continue reading
As I mentioned recently, Marriott points aren’t worth very much considering the many thousands of points required to stay a night at even their low-level properties.
Still, 500 points for one minute of my time is completely worth it. Continue reading
Now that Airbnb is in nearly 200 countries around the world, many people don’t even consider staying at hotels anymore.
Though you can usually get lodging for much cheaper with Airbnb than hotels, it’s not just for budget travelers. Luxury travelers stay in luxury Airbnb houses and apartments. Whatever your budget, Airbnb allows you to live as a local.
A sort of free version of Airbnb is Couchsurfing.com, where you can request to stay with locals who share their couch, air mattress or spare room for free. This really works best if you are willing/able to share your couch as well when visitors come to your town.
Once I realized that credit cards aren’t the evil I thought they were, I dove into the waters of sign-up bonuses pretty eagerly. Maybe too eagerly. I have some regrets. Some things I wish I knew.
Now that it’s possible to do 100% of your shopping without stepping foot in a store, online shopping is pretty popular.
What many people don’t realize is that they could be using shopping portals to earn way more points for cash back and travel than they could by only using their credit card.
