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Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel
Let us pull back the curtain and show you how you can maximize money you're already spending to earn enough credit card points and miles to travel with your family for nearly free.
We've used credit card points and miles to take our family of 5 on trips to places like Costa Rica, San Diego, Disneyland, Oceanside, NYC, Washington DC, Hawaii, and next year we have already booked Paris, Spain and Japan!
Using credit card points and miles (often called travel hacking) doesn't have to be overwhelming or take a ton of time, and we can show you how.
Can you earn a lot of points and miles without opening up multiple credit cards? Only if you have a really high amount of spend each month. For people with larger families, opening new cards is the easiest and fastest way to earn enough points and miles to take a couple of really low cost (but not low budget) family vacations every year!
If you want to learn ways to help you and your family travel more affordably using credit card points, this show is for you.
Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel
Can You Rent a Car using Points? Our Best Tips for Affordable Car Rentals (& A GIVEAWAY!)
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**GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED**
Details were: Giveaway ENDS 9/7/24! We raffled off ONE $50 gift card of your choosing (must be able to be sent via email). Ideas: Starbucks, Target, Southwest, Walmart, you name it.
FOR A CHANCE TO WIN: Leave us a review on itunes, screenshot your review and email it to us at travelpartyof5@gmail.com. That's it! I feel like your chances are fairly high. Winner will be contacted 9/8/24. Thank you in advance <3
Thanks for finding our podcast! We are a family of 5 who does most of our travel using credit card points and miles and we share how we leverage credit card offers to earn a ton of points/miles so we can afford travel as a larger family.
Click here to apply for the Chase Sapphire Cards we refer to in this episode. And if you've already got one of the Chase Sapphire cards, you'll want to apply for these business cards, linked here.
RideSafer Vest mentioned in this episode
BubbleBum inflatable booster
It seems like the cost of rental cars lately is INSANE. Ever wondered if you can use points to book a rental car and save big? In this episode we're sharing our best ways to maximize your points and credit card benefits, along with our top tips for reducing rental car costs. From selecting the right vehicle size for your family to avoiding unnecessary extras, we share our personal experiences and practical advice. Plus, we’re giving away a $50 gift card for listeners who leave a review on iTunes and send us a screenshot!
Learn about tools like AutoSlash that can help you secure lower rental rates and the perks of elite status with rental car companies, achieved through premium credit cards. We’ll also discuss the benefits of using travel portals and annual travel credits from cards like the Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve. Whether you’re planning your first family trip or you're a seasoned traveler, our tips will ensure you save money while enjoying a safe and convenient journey. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram for more real-time updates and behind-the-scenes fun!
**Some experience links may be affiliate links which means we make a small commission if you choose to book through those links. Thank you for supporting our free content by using these links <3**
Tips for Booking Rental Cars Efficiently
Speaker 1Okay. Can you use points to book a rental car, yes or no? We are answering that question in today's episode, along with all of our best money-saving tips on car rentals, and we're sharing one tip that has saved us hundreds and hundreds of dollars over the past couple of years on rental cars. So tune in and we'll catch you there. Hi, I'm Raya.
Speaker 2And I'm Dwayne.
Speaker 1And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five podcast, where we share how we travel as a family of five around the world.
Speaker 2We will also share how we use points and miles to travel as affordably as possible and sometimes even completely free.
Speaker 1So if you're wanting to travel more with your family but you're not sure how, we'd love for you to listen in.
Speaker 2So welcome to our podcast, where we hope you learn a thing or two to get you closer to your next trip.
Speaker 1Welcome back to Travel Party of Five podcast.
Speaker 2Welcome back.
Speaker 1I like to change up the intro without giving Dwayne any warning and then just look at his face. Okay, so before we get into today's episode, we are really quick, going to share a quick giveaway that we are doing, which is pretty exciting. So here's the deal we need podcast reviews and so we are going to do a $50 gift card of your choice giveaway and I'll tell you how to enter in a second. Basically, I will buy you any gift card of your choosing Starbucks, target, southwest, really anything I can buy and deliver electronically that is legal. I will buy you that gift card if you win, and here is how to win.
Speaker 2Are there illegal?
Speaker 1gift cards. I mean, I don't know. I just feel like sometimes, you know, there's like a lot of gift card scams. This is not that I literally will just buy it and send it to you, Okay. So here's how you can enter to win. So, number one leave us a review on iTunes. Here's how you can enter to win. So, number one leave us a review on iTunes. Number two screenshot that review and email it to us at travelpartyof5 at gmailcom.
Speaker 2So T-R-A-V-E-L-P-A-R-T-Y, the number five at gmailcom, you forgot of oh Crap Okay. Travel party of five at gmail let me start.
Speaker 1Let me spell it again and maybe dwayne can edit that. Okay, travel party of five at gmail. T-r-a-v-e-l.
Speaker 2You spell it I think people can figure it out. Travel party of five.
Speaker 1The number five.
Speaker 1Do not spell it out, okay, send us a screenshot via email. We will enter you to win. I feel like your chances are going to be pretty good. So please, please and thank you. Oh, and, winner will be chosen and notified on September 7th and we will likely announce it on the September 9th podcast episode, for full transparency, because I really hate when people say they're going to do a giveaway and then you just kind of feel like they didn't actually do a giveaway, even though you did what they asked. So that is not what's happening here. Um, also on a fully other side note, tangent, the other day Duane and I were talking to like a neighbor friend about some upcoming trips that we have and we basically realized this is why we have this podcast is because when we talk to people in real life about the amount of trips that we have upcoming, they look at us like we are fully insane and I mean, do you agree with that?
Speaker 2I do agree with that. I also had a co-worker the other day tell me that he canceled his uh travel channel subscription because he just watches our Instagram that's funny.
Speaker 1Um, as a side note not planned, but follow us on instagram at travel party of five. We share lots of behind the scenes, uh, fun back there and it's more up to date than the podcast. Like not up to date, but like have more things happen in real time. Um, yeah, so, anyways. Okay, um, let's get into rental cars.
Speaker 2And duane is laughing at the outline that I made for this episode, because my first item is just the first item on this list is determine how many people are in your family and then go from there when picking out a vehicle. So like I'm one, ray is two. We have three kids, so that makes it two. Three carry the four so five of us, so then then we go from there, so there's five of us in our family and then we. You know, that's how we decide.
Speaker 1I'm crying, I'm literally crying. Okay, that is not what I meant I wrote. What I wrote was decide the kind of vehicle you need. Okay, because the smaller the car, the cheaper it is. And so what I wrote is if you're a family of four, you can easily print yes, you can easily rent a sedan.
Speaker 1Yes, I just did my makeup and now I'm like crying mascara all over the place. Okay, we have five people. We unfortunately cannot rent a sedan. I would love to. They're always cheaper. But here's why this is important is because when you get into the SUV arena of rental cars, a lot of them will say, like, oh yeah, you can fit five people in, like four bags, but what they sometimes don't put is that you can't fit those five people in four bags at the same time, because sometimes, when you have to pop up a third row to get another seat, you lose half the trunk space or all of the trunk space, depending on the car. Yep, so that is the only thing I meant by you need to figure out the size of vehicle you need, okay, um, obviously, logically, people know how to count so, yeah, I mean, if you're having trouble deciding on what size car you need, just reach out to us at travelpartys5 at gmailcom and we can answer your questions for you.
Speaker 1Stop, oh my lord, okay, um, okay, the other. Well, the other thing and here this this is important is you have to consider do you have kids in car seats? Because the car seat takes up more space than just a regular human body. That sounded weird. Mean so, could our kids fit three across in a backseat? Not really. We still have one in a rear facing car seat and another one in a booster, and then our oldest is almost an adult size, like he's the size of a small adult. So, um, okay, now that we've got that out of the way and everyone knows how many people are in their family, um, okay, now that we've got that out of the way and everyone knows how many people are in their family, here's the best places to book car rentals based on our experience. Okay, um, number one we use a website like costco travel to book which a lot of people don't realize costco rents cars yeah, well, so they're like the intermediary, so they don't.
Speaker 1It's not like you're renting from costco you're through costco?
Speaker 1yes, you go go through Costco and then you rent from like Enterprise or National or Avis or Budget or Dollar or whatever Whatever's cheapest. You do need a Costco membership to do that, and then the way that you do that is there is actually. It's different from Costcocom. So you actually will go to CostcoTravelcom, you'll set up a new account, so it'll be different than your regular Costco login, and then you can book that way. Now the reason we like Costco is a couple of things One, they really often have the best rates and then, two, you can add a second driver for free. So a lot of rental car companies will charge like $10 or $20 a day to add a second driver, but Costco it's always free. And so this is great, because, even though Dwayne is the predominant driver on vacation and in life, there have been times where I've needed to drive and it was nice not to have to stress like, oh my God, I'm not on the rental agreement because we're not going to pay an extra one or $200 for that every time.
Speaker 2No, it's not worth it.
Speaker 1And so then, beyond Costco travel, the other website I like, and this is the one that has saved us hundreds of dollars, so this is important. There's a website called auto slash, and the name needs some work because I was actually really opposed to it for a long time because I just thought it sounded kind of sleazy, I don't know, actually really opposed to it for a long time because I just thought it sounded kind of sleazy, I don't know. But then I looked into it and I was like, oh, this actually is really helpful. So it works one of two ways.
Speaker 1Number one you can go on auto slash and you can book a car rental the same way that you would through Costco travel or any like Expedia, travelocity or any direct car rental website, and they do check Costco as one of their options. So like you'll go through a questionnaire and it'll ask you like what memberships do you have? And so you check the Costco box and then it knows to check Costco travel. Or the other way you can use it is you can book your rental through Costco travel or any other website, like any other rental car site, and then you submit basically a request to watch the fare or the rate. So you submit your rental car confirmation, the company you booked with and the cost, and then it will like watch the price for you and send you an email if and when the price drops, and then you can decide if you want to rebook at the lower price yeah, it's very helpful, convenient super convenient and this has literally saved us hundreds of dollars.
Speaker 1Last year when we went to maui, our car rental was originally 800 and it ended up dropping down to 300 using auto slash.
Speaker 1So I mean, yeah, that's a that was a money saver that was a great savings and so I our upcoming trip actually to Kauai right now. When I first booked it, the rental was around $700, which is so high, and I've already gotten one email to rebook it for around $650, which I did. But I'm really hoping that it drops more, because that is still a lot to me for a one week's rental but I mean I'm sure it's supply and demand there there's I know, I'm just really hoping I mean, I hope it goes down to that's it's a lot of money, yeah, yeah yeah, anyways, um, okay and then.
Speaker 1So another way to save money on rental cars is to cut down on all of the extras. So rental cars really love to nickel and dime you with the insurance and the this and the that and the serious xm car and the gps and okay, like we don't need gps, we have phones, um the main satellite either yeah, you don't need satellite radio like, come on yeah especially if you have a playlist like mine okay, but the number one thing I think people buy is the insurance, and so I always, like my dad, always told me growing up that you don't buy the insurance because your primary car insurance will cover you.
Speaker 1I think that there's a lot of misinformation where people think that it doesn't, but here's what we do. So we always decline the insurance and we use a credit card that offers primary rental car insurance. So primary means that the insurance that you get from using that credit card to book and pay for the car rental is going to be used first, before even your own personal car insurance. Now, if it were secondary insurance, obviously, then that means that your personal car insurance would be first and anything else would be secondary through the credit card. So a couple of cards that offer primary travel insurance are going to be and this is not an exhaustive list, but this is just a few of the popular ones the Chase Sapphire Preferred, the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Capital One Venture X.
Speaker 1The other thing to know is there's also a lot of business credit cards that offer this coverage too, but sometimes they specify in their terms that you need to be renting the car for business purposes, and while I'm not sure how they would prove that. It's not something I want to stress about, so we only ever use our Chase Sapphire preferred or reserve, depending on who's running the car. Usually it's Dwayne, so we use his Chase Sapphire preferred card. I think the other thing to note is there are going to be times where you cannot decline all of the insurance, and that is country specific. In the us you can, but for example, in costa rica there are three different types of coverage that are mandatory and the credit card coverage only covers one of them. So when we were in costa rica we still had to pay for the other two insurance, whatever they were, and it was not cheap like the rental car was not cheap so didn't we also have to print out something from the bank?
Speaker 2I had to like request something from the bank, right?
Speaker 1Yeah, that was showing that you had the one piece of insurance through the credit card. Another thing that can cost extra money as a daily fee when you're renting a car is a car seat or a booster seat. So in the past we've brought our own car seats and we've predominantly done this when our kids were little. Number one because it saves money you don't have to pay the daily car seat rental fee but also it keeps them confined on the plane. So I think, like if I had a kid under two, I'm going to try to bring my car seat on the plane to strap them in yeah, it's easier yeah, it's safer for them and it's just.
Speaker 1They're comfortable in the car seat and they're not trying to get out and run around the plane yeah, and there's a car you can buy to make it easier yeah, and wheel it through the airport and you check it right at the what's it called?
Speaker 1the jet bridge jet bridge, yeah now for a slightly older kid like our daughter is four, but she's still in a rear-facing car seat. I am gonna, we're gonna like, when we go to kawaii in a month or two, we're gonna rent the car seat from the rental car company. Sometimes they don't even charge you, like in cost Rica I think it was Costa Rica didn't the guy just tell you to go in the room and pick out what you needed?
Speaker 2no, that was uh Washington DC. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1So Dwayne just went in and picked out a car seat and a booster, and I'm pretty sure we didn't pay for them, but I don't know. Um and then. So for our middle son, who's seven, he's still in a booster seat. He's still pretty small for him. We have an inflatable travel booster seat that we can bring. It's called a Bubble Bum booster, and we've used it for both.
Speaker 1We've had different energy on this podcast today, so we've used this inflatable booster for both of our two older boys and it's been really fantastic. I can put an Amazon link to that in the show notes if you want to get it, but it's really lightweight. Obviously it inflates, so you blow it up and then you just deflate it when you're done. The other thing that I wanted to talk about, while we're on the note of car seats and boosters and all that, one thing that we have not used yet.
Speaker 1I don't know if you've seen these around the internet or not, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to get this for our daughter for our trips next year, and it's so. It's called a ride safer vest, and so she'll be five next year, but she's still really small, and so I don't think the inflatable booster will be enough for her, like it won't be enough support. So the ride safer vest is literally a vest that the kid puts on and it mimics the five point harness harness of a traditional car seat and it works with the vehicle's regular seat belt to strap them in. So you they wear the vest, then you, they get in the car and you put the seat belt of the car like through the vest in a couple spots and the vest has, like a tether that you, you tether to the back of the of in the car.
Speaker 2I mean, I don't think I've ever seen this.
Speaker 1I'll put a link to this in the show notes too the Amazon link. It's not cheap. It's like almost $200, maybe like 190. So it is a little bit of an investment. But I think even if you're just going to travel a couple of times a year over two to three years with a young kid, it would pay for itself because you'll save on car seat fees and then you're not going to have the stress of having to carry the car seat through the airport. Even with the roller it gets a little bulky, so that's just not fun. And the other thing is one of the things that we sometimes get stuck on when we travel is we cannot take a taxi with the kids, right, because we're not going to like. What do you do with a car seat once you get to where you're going? You know what I mean.
Speaker 2I have to look it up because I'm curious to see what it looks like.
Speaker 1Yeah, look it up and tell me what you think. But yeah, so we can never take a taxi. And so next year we're going to Paris, we're going to Spain and we'll be in Japan, and I just think there's going to be times where we need to take a taxi here and there, and our two boys will be fine right, they'll be 8 and 11 at the time, but our daughter will definitely still need something, and so this is my plan for that. Did you look it up?
Speaker 2I did.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's like a little vest yeah, but it's like you know, it's like thick, like straps, and yep, yeah, it's fancy, um whoa.
Speaker 2This one on amazon costs 355 dollars. We're not buying that one, um, it's the.
Speaker 1The other thing to note, this is from their website. So the ride safer travel vest is designed for children ages two and up and meets or exceeds all crash test requirements and federal motor vehicle safety standards. So I mean it's safe, I would say I don't think I've ever seen it I don't know that I would use it for a two-year-old.
Speaker 1I guess I'll add that if I'm being totally honest, but I would. I think four or five is. It's a great option while you're in between. You know those years where they're a little bigger, but they still need a safety seat.
Speaker 2Okay, sorry about that tangent well, this, sorry, this says three and up on Amazon.
Speaker 1Yeah, oh well. From their website it says two. So I don't know, but either way I wouldn't use it for a two-year-old. So you can decide what what's best for your family while you're adding up how many people are in your family again, if you need help with that. Email us at travel party of five.
Speaker 2Okay thanks, help you.
Speaker 1Okay. So there's two other ways that you can book and save some money on car rentals, and one is going to be through travel portals. So this is where you can technically yes, you can use points to book a car rental, so like the Chase portal, the Capital One portal, or even you can book through the American Airlines shopping portal and you can use, like American Airlines, miles if you wanted, or you can use Chase points or Capital One points to book the rental, so you don't pay out of pocket.
Speaker 2As a side note, next week's episode we're going to do a deep dive into shopping portals and how you can leverage those to earn more points.
Speaker 1Yeah, so if you're curious about that, make sure to check out next week's episode.
Speaker 2Where the giveaway is going to be a car.
Speaker 1You get a car and you get a car and you get a car. No one's getting a car, okay. Okay, so using miles or points to book your rental car is generally not going to be the best use of your points. But if your main goal is just to spend as little cash out of pocket as possible, then this is one way for you to do that. And you know, I think there's really no one way fits all redemption or use of your points Like you just have to do what works best for your family. You know, like, if what were you going to say?
Speaker 2I was going to say we've never used points to book a rental no, we never have no.
Speaker 1But again, like if you know, if using points is the only way that you're going to get to take a vacation for a car rental, because you don't have three, four, five, six hundred dollars to spend in cash, then I think you should do it.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, for sure, you know so the other thing is to use portals, I'm sorry. The other thing about portals is this is also a way you can sometimes use your annual travel credits that you get from certain cards. So, for example, the Capital One Venture X has a $395 annual fee, but $300 of that you get back in a travel credit. The only caveat is you have to book through the Capital One portal, so you would have to book your rental car through the portal, they would give you the $300 and you would be on your way. I have found, when I have looked to do this, that often the prices for car rentals in the portal is a little higher than what you'd find if you booked directly with the company or on Costco or auto slash, like we mentioned.
Speaker 1But again, if it's the only way that you can use that credit for the year, I would do it for sure the Chase Sapphire Reserve also has a $300 travel credit, and for this one you don't need to book through a portal, which is amazing. So the only thing that needs to happen is the transaction has to code as travel, which rental cars do, and then the $300 credit is automatically applied to your statement. So that's a really good way to use that credit. Remember, last year we used it when our van was having work done and we had a rental car and we actually just used it to pay for that and we got the credit. It wasn't even on a trip. And then the last tip that we have is having status with a rental car company can also save you some money and or get you like added perks and upgrades.
Speaker 1I think it's generally fairly difficult to earn status with a rental car company unless you're doing a lot of work, travel and like you rent, you know, on a weekly or monthly basis.
Speaker 1But some of the higher end credit cards will give you status just by having the card. So we'll talk about what a couple of those are like, just the popular ones, because you know you can get like with the status. You can get like free upgrades and whatever. So there's okay, the Platinum card from American Express, as well as the business Platinum card from American Express, as well as the business platinum card from American Express. Both give you Avis Preferred Plus, hertz, president's Circle and National Emerald Club Executive Elite Status. Actually, I apologize, the business platinum only gets you Hertz Gold, not President's Club. The other ones are the same. These are things that you have to enroll for, so like you'll get approved for the card and then you have to take the additional step to enroll in, like the Avis or the Hertz or the National. The chase sapphire reserve also gives you avis preferred plus and national excuse me, national emerald club executive elite status.
Speaker 2That is quite the mouthful I mean, I'm gonna be honest, I didn't even know there were all these statuses. I know steady for for running a car yeah, yep, um.
Speaker 1And then the Capital One Venture X is the other one. So, again, these are all premium cards, right? I think the lowest annual fee between the four that I've mentioned is $395, the highest is $695. So maybe not a beginner thing, right, more intermediate level. But the Capital One Venture X gives you again Avis Preferred Plus Hertz President's Circle and the National Emerald Club.
Speaker 1One, the caveat here is the Hertz President's Circle status is going away at the end of this year from the Capital One specifically. So I actually just applied for that this morning, even though it'll only be good for the next four months through the end of the year. But number one, I wanted to see what the process was and number two, I want to see if we'll be able to use it when we rent the car in Kauai. So it was easy. I went into my Capital One thing. I clicked a few buttons, I Googled how to do it and then I did it. It was very simple. You basically just go through your Capital One account and you enroll, and they say it can take up to 72 hours. It took less than an hour before I had an email that said I was enrolled in the Hertz President's Club.
Speaker 2Whatever email that said I was enrolled in the Hertz President's Club, whatever, and like being in these clubs. I'm assuming you just get like a, like a free upgrade or a cheaper yeah, so well. So the Hertz President's Club, specifically you don't even like a minivan, to like a Cadillac Escalade or something.
Speaker 1Well, no, so here's so here's the benefits from the email they sent me. So skip the counter and go straight to your car. Choose from the widest selection of cars, enjoy guaranteed car class upgrades. Add an additional driver for free. Again, that's not a benefit because we already get that when you book through costco anyways. Um, drop the keys and go at rental return and earn 50 more points towards free days and car class upgrades.
Speaker 2So those are the benefits for the president's circle I'm just picturing us not going to the counter and straight to, straight to I know it doesn't really like.
Speaker 1It does say so. There's a little like asterisk that says available, I'm presidential status there's a little asterisk that says that benefit is available at select locations.
Speaker 2So I don't know how it works, but maybe we'll be able to figure it out if we rent through hertz tbd I just see the guy at the counter saying, hey, hey, bob, looks like that family of one, two, three, four, five is stealing a van. Hopefully they have presidential status oh god.
Speaker 1Well, those are all the best tips that we have for saving some money on rental cars, including using points, if you do see that that is a good option for your family, however many people may be in your family and again. If you need help counting the people in your family, email us at travelpartyof5 at gmailcom okay, but on a more serious note, as a reminder, we are doing a giveaway $50 gift card. Please leave. Leave us a review on iTunes. We would be so grateful and we will catch you on the next episode.
Speaker 2Thanks for tuning in. Have a good one.
Speaker 1Bye.