Cashing in your credit card travel points for other perks? Avoid these mistakes

Cashing in your credit card travel points for other perks? Avoid these mistakes

Dubai: Qualifying for a travel credit card and redeeming the points you earn can turn financially lucrative when you are gifted value-added freebies. But when chasing rewards, it’s common to lose out on most perks when you do not know how to best cash them out, travel experts have flagged.

“While travel credit cards make it easy to earn all kinds of rewards ranging from airline miles to hotel points and flexible travel credit, you can also redeem your rewards for some pretty worthless items, deeming them wasteful,” said Richa Dev, a Dubai-based travel consultant and blogger.

“It’s not unheard of to receive lesser points in value from airline miles or hotel points for certain, high-value redemptions. That doesn't make these redemptions 'wrong' per se, but it does mean you're effectively leaving money on the table when compared to other options.”

So, if you have a travel credit card that lets you redeem points for airfare, hotels, and more, Dev and Essam Kabeelali, an Abu Dhabi-based credit advisor, together agree that there are a certain number of redemption options you should try and avoid.

Avoid cashing in your points for online merchandise

With some rewards portals, you can redeem travel