Credit Card Signup Bonuses: The Easiest Path to Free Airplane Tickets and Hotel Nights

Unless you travel a lot for business, credit card signup bonuses are the only realistic path to lots of free travel. Instead of waiting years for points to accumulate through paid flights and stays, or day-to-day credit card spending, you can quickly earn multiple credit card bonuses with very little effort. There are dozens of cards that offer signup bonuses worth $500 each or more.

If you want to frequently take advantage of free airplane tickets and hotel nights, the best strategy is to continuously sign up for new credit cards, meet their initial spending requirements, and collect their signup bonuses. Most people are surprised at the number of credit cards that banks are willing to give, and that they can do this without hurting their credit rating.

Typical bonuses for signing up for good travel and reward credit cards are very generous. Collecting the signup bonus for a typical hotel-branded credit card provides enough points for 2-3 nights at a nice downtown hotel in a typical city, 1 night at one of their fanciest hotels, or 8-20 nights at one of their less expensive hotels. The signup bonus on a typical airline credit card gives you enough points for 2 free economy tickets in the US, or a free economy ticket to Europe.

And it isn't very hard to signup for a dozen or more card every year, almost effortlessly earning hundreds of thousands of reward points per year. Probably the most valuable advice we have for most travelers is to start collecting credit card signup bonuses.

Signing Up for Credit Cards Just for the Travel Benefits

Signing up for credit cards, just to collect their signup bonuses (or receive their travel benefits) is a good strategy for most people. Contrary to popular belief, it won't kill your credit rating—it is more likely to improve it. But, it is not for everyone. If getting a bunch of credit cards is going to cause you to spend more money, or you are too disorganized to avoid paying fees and interest, you'll need to avoid this approach, and focus on just getting good deals for airline and hotel reservations. For more detailed information, see our Credit Cards 101 guide.

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Is it crazy to apply for new credit cards, just for the travel benefits?

Decide on which card you want to get next. In general, you are going to start with the best available signup offers and start making your way down the list to less valuable offers. However, there are several other considerations that are discussed in more detail below.
Apply for the card. Especially as you are getting started, sign up for one card at a time.
After you receive the card, set up automatic payments, so you are never late with a payment. And pay off the entire balance every month, so you don't have to pay interest expenses. If you can't pay off the balance each month, you want to focus on reducing your credit card debt and not on getting new cards. If you don't like setting up automatic payments, just make sure you don't miss any of your manual payments.
Until you've met the initial spending requirement, switch ALL of your credit card spending to your new card. You wan to be make sure you meet the initial spending requirement.
If, for some reason, it looks like you won't naturally meet the spending requirement during the allotted time (almost always the first three months), don't worry. There are some "tricks" that you can use to meet the requirement and not miss out on the bonus. Tips to Easily Meet the Initial Spending Requirements of New Credit Cards.
Collect your bonus.
Start the process over again. Ideally, you would apply for your next card a couple of weeks before you finish spending on the previous card, as it can take some time to receive your new card.
After the initial year, cancel the card. To preserve the best possible relationship with the bank, don't cancel as soon as you receive your bonus. But, you don't want to pay the second year's annual fee, unless you really want to keep the card to take advantage of its ongoing benefits. We like to set up a calendar appointment as soon as we get the card, to remind us to cancel at the end of the initial year.

For more details and tips for managing the signup process, see our step by step guides:

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Step-by-Step Guide: After You Receive Your New Card

Step-by-Step Guide: Getting Rid of a Credit Card

Signup bonus tips

Don't focus on the NUMBER of points; focus on the VALUE of the points. Every type of point or mile has its own value. Don't necessarily be swayed by a card that offers a lot of points; you need to calculate the total value of the points you'd earn. For example, Hilton requires a lot of points for each award night. As a result, their points are only worth about .4 - .5 cents each. So, a 100,000 point signup offer is only worth around $400 - 500. Hyatt only requires about a quarter as many points for a similar hotel. As a result their points are worth around 1.7 - 1.8 cents each. A 40,000 point signup bonus on the Hyatt credit seems a lot less valuable. But, is actually worth more (about $700).
Also, the type of points is important. Hotel points are easy to use. Frequent flyer miles can be hard to use, and aren't very valuable, if they are just going to stick around in your account, because you never get a chance to use them. On the other hand, if you highly value premium-cabin award tickets, and have the patience and/or flexibility to find award space, you can get much more value from frequent flyer miles. We provide more information on the different types of points below.
We calculate a "Net Signup Bonus" for each card. First, we calculate the value of the points that you'd receive, and add in full or partial value for any credits that you can get during the first year with some of the cards. Then, we subtract any annual fee that you would need to pay for the initial year. Finally, we subtract the opportunity card of using the card, instead of a card that earns one of the best reward rates, to meet the initial spending requirement. This makes it easy to compare the value you get from signing up for different cards. We also calculate the value you get, per dollar you need to spend.
Each bank has different rules that govern how many credit cards you can get, and how quickly you can get them. These are covered in our advanced signup bonuses and in our guides for each credit card.
Use bill paying services to use your credit cards for more of your spending. If your ability to get new cards is constrained by your ability to meet the initial spending requirements, you can increase your amount of credit card spending by taking advantages of services that pay bills that you normally can’t use your credit card for. You’ll typically have to pay a fee. However, the fees can be a small price to pay , compared to the value of the additional signup bonus. Pay Any Bill with a Credit Card (To Increase Your Credit Card Spending).
If you have any type of business, you can earn a lot more points with small business credit cards. As long as you have any type of side business (like selling stuff on eBay or doing some independent contracting), you are entitled to signup for small business credit cards. You don't need to incorporate and, in most cases, you don't need to have made any money yet. Technically, you aren't supposed to use these cards for your personal spending, so if you business is very small, you may not be able to meet the spending requirements. However, in practice, you can typically use any of your cards for any type of spending, so this isn't a problem. For more information see Unlock Extra Reward Points with Business Credit Cards.

Getting small business cards often allows you to double-up on your signup bonuses. Many cards come in a personal and a small business version. Rather than simply earning the bonus from the personal card, you could earn the bonus from both versions of the cards, and earn twice as many points.
Some of the best cards are only available in small business versions. For example, the Ink Preferred card has the biggest Chase Ultimate Rewards bonus (80,000 points), and the Business Platinum card has the biggest Amex Membership Rewards bonus (75-150,000 points).
Small business credits don't show up on your personal credit report, letting you get a larger number of cards. When you signup for a small business credit card, they will check your personal credit report. But, when you get the card, it won't be added to your report. That means that banks which are sensitive to the number of cards you have, won't see them, and you are more likely to get approved for additional cards.

Each adult in your household can collect their own signup bonuses. Often one person will take on responsibility for managing the process for any less-interested participants. Signing up for multiple copies of the same cards, gives you access to double the signup bonuses, and twice as many free night or companion certificates. Sometimes, banks will give you a "referral bonus" when you get someone else to apply for the card, so you can sometimes earn one of those as well.
Promotional offers are often available, where you can get more points. Before you apply for a card, make sure that you try to find the best available offer. We will try to list them on our best offers page and on our individual credit card pages. But you might want to check a few other sites as well (discussed in more detail in our step-by-step guides).

Advanced Strategies

Earning signup bonuses can be addictive. If you want to maximize the number of points you can earn, make sure to look at our advanced strategies.

Advanced Strategies for Collecting Signup Bonuses

Types of bonuses

While we provide a base "value" for every signup bonus, you may value different types of signup bonuses differently, based on how hard you want to work to maximize the value of your points and how you like to travel.

Cash. Some signup bonuses give you cash back. For example, the Capital One Spark Business card has a signup bonus of $500. Obviously, there is nothing more flexible.
Cash-like points. Other signup bonuses give you points or "miles" that you use like cash. Each point or "mile" has a fixed value, usually 1 cent per point. In many cases, to get full value from the points, you need to use them to purchase travel. For example, the Capital One Venture card has a 50,000 "mile" signup bonus. You can use these points, at 1 cent each, to offset travel purchases you make with card. In some cases, points are worth less than 1 cent each, or more than 1 cent each. So you always need to adjust the signup bonus based on the value of the points. The signup values on our site are always adjusted based on the value you can expect to get from your points. Pay for Any Ticket Using Credit Card Points, Regardless of Award Availability.
Hotel points. Every major hotel loyalty program has one or more credit cards. Each card's signup bonus is a large number of reward points. The value of hotel points varies wildly between different programs, as they require vastly different numbers of points to book similar quality hotels. For example, the same type of hotel room might require 4x more points with Hilton as it would with Hyatt. So, don't focus too much on the number of points you'll receive, focus on the value of the points. How Much are Hotel Points Worth?.

The good news with Hotel points is that they are very easy to use. With almost any hotel program, if a room is available, you can book it with points. You can get solid value from your points on almost every trip. And if room rates are expensive, because of a special event, holiday, or peak season, you can avoid paying sky-high rates, by using your points.

Airline miles. Dozens of airlines issue reward credit cards. You'll receive airline miles that you can use to book frequent flyer tickets. Be aware that unless you get lucky, are willing to spend a lot of time, and/or are very flexible, it can be hard to get good value from airline miles. When flights are expensive, the airlines often don't make any award space available. When flights are inexpensive, you won't get much value from your points. You might expect to get 1 cent or less per mile.

On the other hand, if you are flexible, or can book far ahead of time, you can often get 1.5 to 2 cents in value per mile on economy class tickets. And if you highly value business and first class seats, using frequent flyer miles can provide tremendous value, letting you get airplane tickets that would normally cost thousands of dollars.

Because of airline partnerships, miles from airlines that you may never fly are still valuable. For example, even if you never fly British Airways, you can use their miles for free flights on American Airlines, Japanese Airlines, Qantas, or many other airlines.

Chase's Ultimate Rewards. Several credit cards earn "Ultimate Rewards", Chase bank's own reward currency. These points are "the best of both worlds". You can transfer them to over a dozen frequent flyer programs, and then use them to book frequent flyer tickets on over 100 different airlines. You can transfer them to Hyatt points, which will value at 1.75 cents each. Depending on the credit card you have, you can use them for 1.5 cents each to purchase any hotel, airline ticket, etc. So, you have the option to easily use them at 1.5 cents or more per point, without having to deal with frequent flyer programs; as well as the upside to get even more value by booking frequent flyer tickets (with almost any airline). Ultimate Rewards Guide.
Amex's Membership Rewards (and other transferable points). Membership Rewards Guide. ThankYou Rewards Guide.

Which cards to get first

You might be tempted to just start working your way through our best offers list, starting with the most valuable offer, and working your way down the list. However, you are better off getting certain cards first, before moving onto other cards.

If you can get ongoing value from some cards, you might want to get them first. For example, the Citi Prestige card will refund the cost of the 4th night at almost any hotel, which can be worth hundreds of dollars each year. Some high-end cards provide fee airport lounge access. Most airline cards give you free checked bags for you and your companions. The Alaska Airlines card gives you a 2 for 1 certificate for airfare. Build Up a Core Credit Card Collection for Travel Benefits and Rewards.

Your optimal strategy is to get these valuable cards first, collecting their signup bonuses along the way. Once you've built out your core credit card collection, you can move onto cards, simply to collect their signup bonuses. Of course, if you desperately need a bunch of a certain type of points for an upcoming trip, or you find out about a card that has a particularly nice signup bonus promotion, you might want to take a break to collect it first.

Chase offers some of the best credit cards, but limits you from getting most of these cards, with something called the "5/24 rule". If you've received more than 5 credit cards in the past 24 months, you won't get approved for most Chase credit cards. This counts all the credit card you may have received from any bank, not just the ones you get from chase.

That means, you need to get any affected Chase cards you want first, before you start getting other new cards. Since you are about to signup for several new credit cards, you'll soon be ineligible to get any of the Chase cards that are affected by this rule. If you want to get them for their ongoing benefits, or to get a particularly attractive signup bonus, get them now, or you may have to wait a long time.
You may want to get some other cards, that will be hard to get once you start signing up for more cards. For example, the Alitude Reserve offers a great reward earning rate on anything you can buy with Apple Pay, Android Pay, or Samsung Pay. And the Capital One Venture card offers a great reward rate on hotel reservations. But, you are unlikely to get approved for either of these cards, if you've recently signed up for too many other cards. If you want them, you'll need to get them early.
Since business cards don't show up on your personal credit report, you may want to focus on these first. That way you can earn a bunch of singup bonuses or get access to some valuable travel benefits, without blocking your ability Chase 5/24 or other hard-to-get cards.

See Dealing with the Chase 5/24 Rule for more details of the specific cards to focus on first.

Since you can only receive Amex signup bonuses once per lifetime, it make sense to focus most of your energies on other cards first. With most other banks, you'll eventually be eligible to earn a signup bonus a second time. It is better to get them first, and start the clock for a potential second signup bonus. In addition, Amex is pretty tolerant about approving people who already have a lot of credit cards, and Amex's own Membership Reward points are a bit complicated for beginners to use effectively. Don't let this stop you from signing up earlier for an Amex card that has good ongoing benefits, has a particularly good promotional offer, or you want for another reason. Just generally get other cards first, and Amex cards later.