How to start travel hacking without credit cards

I’ve been travel hacking for nearly a decade, earning totally and nearly free trips to unforgettable destinations. I’ve taken business class flights to Thailand for less than $60, spent free nights at some of the most incredible Park Hyatt and Waldorf Astoria properties, and traveled over 100 days a year for a mere fraction of what you’d expect. Travel hacking without credit cards is easier than you think.

How? I’m a travel hacker. But what you might be surprised to know is that most of my points are earned without credit cards. That’s right, you can travel hack without opening and managing dozens of credit cards – and I’m gonna teach you how.

Can you travel hack without credit cards?

Yes! You can absolutely start travel hacking without credit cards. The main differences between travel hacking with vs without credit cards are the amount of travel rewards you earn every day and how you earn your travel rewards on your daily spending. 

However, using and maximizing travel rewards credit cards is the best way to earn huge chunks of points with sign-up bonuses. You also can earn more rewards on your everyday expenses, like dining and gas.

I love to use this FREE APP to help keep track of my travel rewards cards!

Let me put it this way, if you are financially responsible and can pay off your credit card in full every month (treating it like a debit card), there’s no reason you shouldn’t be earning rewards points on your everyday spending. Why? Because you’ll earn free trips six times as fast. 

However, if you’re not ready to open a new credit card, or maybe you want to add more ways to earn points and miles without credit cards there are still plenty of ways to earn.

How to start travel hacking

Travel hacking is essentially earning rewards (points and miles) that you use towards free travel (mostly airfare and hotel stays) by redeeming your rewards. You can earn points and miles in a variety of ways, many of which we’ll talk about below. 

If you have any travel rewards (points or miles), you are already travel hacking. Nice! But, I’d bet that you don’t yet know how to maximize your earnings or utilize your points and miles for the best redemptions. 

That’s okay. Travel hacking is a learned skill that takes at least a year of planning to get your first completely free trip. And I’m here to show you exactly how to do it. 

Although we’re talking about ways to earn without travel rewards credit cards, keep in mind that travel rewards cards help you maximize your earnings, which earns you free trips faster. 

Things like new card sign-up bonuses can pay for a trip with just one card. Meanwhile, these cards help you earn more points on your everyday spending, like 3x rewards on dining or 4x rewards on groceries. You know, the stuff you’re buying anyway.

How to earn points (without credit cards)

You’re probably already familiar with some ways to earn points and miles to travel hack without credit cards. 

For example, if you stay at a hotel and book directly with them utilizing your rewards membership you earn points towards future free stays. That’s travel hacking. 

But there are plenty of other ways to start travel hacking without credit cards.

Using Shopping Portals

One of the easiest ways to travel hack without credit cards is to utilize a travel rewards shopping portal. These portals take you to the site you want to shop at but you first go through their browser portal and earn rewards in the process. 

Some of the best to earn with are United, American Airlines, and Southwest. 

This past year I earned over 50,000 American Airlines miles on purchases I was making anyway – that earned me four roundtrip tickets to Mexico! 

Travel Hack! If you have an American Express rewards card you can choose to earn Membership Rewards instead of cash back with Rakuten to double dip on rewards. 

Sign up for travel rewards programs

If you’re flying or staying in hotels, even once a year, you can earn points and miles on those flights and stays. You’re flying and staying anyway, why wouldn’t you want to be rewarded for it?

Hotel and flight reward programs essentially give you points that you can use for a future hotel stay or flight. This is intended to encourage brand loyalty. 

Keep in mind that not all of these programs are created equal, as each brand or business independently determines its currency’s value. Points don’t exchange equally program-to-program. For instance, 10,000 World of Hyatt points could have a different value than 10,000 Marriott points. 

One of my favorite programs to earn with is the World of Hyatt program. Even as a base member without the World of Hyatt credit card, you’ll still earn 5 points per dollar spent, which is about 10% back. That’s free travel you’re missing out on if you’re not earning!

Join a dining rewards program

Most airlines and some hotel programs also offer the ability to join their dining rewards program. 

You can only choose one program (so you can’t double-dip earnings) but many restaurants in your area will then reward you with travel rewards points when you eat there and use your linked debit or credit card. Here are all your possible dining rewards programs:

Delta SkyMiles Dining
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Dining
United MileagePlus Dining
American Airlines AAdvantage Dining
Hilton Honors Dining Rewards
JetBlue TrueBlue Dining
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Dining

Most programs will offer a bonus for joining and spending within 30 days of joining the program. It’s a good idea to earn those bonuses but then stick to one program to earn with to maximize your earnings over time.

Travel Tip! Link the same card to the DOSH app and earn cash back and points and miles when you dine at specific restaurants!

Use Rocketmiles for your hotel reservations

If you want to earn more airline miles you can book your hotel nights with Rocketmiles. 

Rocketmiles allows you to choose an airline program to earn miles on your hotel bookings. What’s great about the program is you can earn up to 10,000 miles per night. That’s enough for a free flight to Aruba on American Airlines!

Share your opinion

This isn’t a very lucrative way to earn points and miles, especially after you earn a bonus for joining a program, but you can earn points and miles by sharing your opinion through online surveys. I’d recommend earning with American Airlines, Southwest, Wyndham, or United for the best return on investment of your time.

Book a rental car

You can choose to earn frequent flyer miles when booking rental cars. However, these tend to include higher rates and additional fees on your bill so make sure you are coming out ahead if you try this strategy. 

It’s worth comparing adding your frequent flyer program to your booking to ensure you’re getting the best rate possible. I like to use AutoSlash to ensure I always get the best rate possible.

Join a timeshare presentation (just don’t buy it)

One of the easiest ways to earn huge chunks of hotel rewards points is through timeshare presentations. 

Not only will you earn a super cheap hotel stay, but you’ll also earn tens of thousands of reward points towards future stays, too. You can find advertised offers for Hilton, Marriott, and IHG. 

Once you join a program you’ll start earning more targeted offers, too. And oftentimes when you call you can get an even better offer than what you see online. 

But, I can’t stress this enough, you must be good at saying no during the timeshare presentation. You will have to say no a lot. This is only a good deal if you walk away from the terrible timeshare offers.

Earn points at Starbucks

You can link your Delta SkyMiles and Starbucks account and start earning 1 mile per dollar spent at Starbucks stores (2 points per dollar on your airport drinks). This won’t earn you a huge amount of points but it’s super quick and easy to link your accounts, so why not?

Download United’s MileagePlus X app

If you shop in person, I recommend downloading and using United’s MileagePlus X app to buy exact-amount gift cards to use on purchases. 

When you make purchases using the gift cards bought through the MileagePlus X app, you earn United Airlines MileagePlus miles. The number of miles earned typically depended on the amount spent on the gift card.

I use this app a lot at TJ Maxx and Barnes and Noble, but there are plenty of great offers included for some easy United miles. 

Take advantage of promotions

Be sure to check those annoying emails from hotel and airline rewards programs before sending them right to spam. You might be surprised to find bonus promotions like double the points or extra points for buying specific items. 

Offers like United’s MilesPlay are a great way to earn points without travel credit cards.

Stay in Airbnbs and earn points

You can choose to earn Delta Skymiles or British Airways Avios on your Airbnb stays just by going through their shopping portals to Airbnb. 

Either program is a great option to earn if you’re already staying in Airbnb, but I prefer to earn British Airways Avios since you earn 3 miles per dollar spent, giving you higher value for your stay. Plus, Avios are a great way to redeem American Airlines flights in the US.

Check out my easy ways to save on Airbnb!

Remember that travel hacking is all about the long-term. Nothing free happens quickly. Instead, work towards those rewards by combining and maximizing your earnings on your everyday purchases to make it easier to eventually get that next free flight or hotel room.