Great Card If
- You frequently book travel with Booking.com.
- You want complimentary Genius Rewards elite status.
- You don’t want to pay a credit card annual fee.
Don’t Get If
- You seldom or never book travel through Booking.com.
- You prefer a card that earns transferable rewards or has flexible redemptions.
Genius Rewards Visa Card — Is It Worth It?
If you often book travel with Booking.com, adding the Genius Rewards Visa card to your wallet could be beneficial.
Not only will you earn more travel credits that you can redeem for future trips, but the card also offers perks that can help save you money, like a discount on stays and rental cars, and benefits to enhance your stays, like free breakfasts and complimentary upgrades.
Genius Rewards Visa Card Top Benefits and Perks
Here are the benefits you can expect as a Genius Rewards Visa cardholder:
- Genius Level 3 status
- 10% to 20% discount on hotel stays booked with Booking.com
- 10% to 15% off car rentals booked through Booking.com
- Free breakfast on select stays
- Complimentary room upgrades (when available) on select stays
- Priority support
- Trip cancellation insurance: If you cancel or interrupt a trip purchased with your card, you may be reimbursed up to $2,000 for nonrefundable fares on eligible transportation, including flights, cruises, trains, buses, and ferries.
- Rental car insurance: Provides secondary rental car insurance coverage that protects your rental car in the case of accidental theft or damage.
- Purchase security: New items purchased with your card are protected against accidental theft or damage for the first 90 days of purchase, with up to $10,000 per item and $50,000 per calendar year.
- Extended warranty coverage: Adds 1 year of additional warranty coverage to items purchased with warranties of 3 years or less.
- No foreign transaction fees: Use your card when you travel internationally with no foreign transaction fees.
Best Ways To Earn and Redeem Genius Rewards
Your Genius Rewards Visa card will help you earn significantly more Genius Rewards Trip Credits with its bonus categories of:
- 6% in travel credits on stays booked in the Booking.com app
- 5% in travel credits on other travel when using your card on the Booking.com website
- 3% in travel credits on everything you purchase during a stay booked on Booking.com
- 3% in travel credits on dining, gas, and groceries
- 2% in travel credits on everything else
This way, you’re always earning somewhere between 2% and 6% back on your purchases toward a future trip.
Once you’re ready to redeem, your travel credits essentially function like a cash-back balance toward anything that you can book through Booking.com. This means you can use your travel credits toward hotels, flights, rental cars, attractions, and more.
Alternative Cards to the Genius Rewards Visa Card
If you want to earn travel rewards that are significantly more flexible, and you’re willing to pay a small annual fee, then the Chase Sapphire Preferred card could be perfect for you.
It earns 5x points on all travel booked via the Chase Travel portal, 3x points on dining purchases, online grocery purchases, and select streaming services, and 2x points on all other travel worldwide. All of these points can be redeemed through Chase Travel toward virtually any travel expense or transferred to one of the many Chase transfer partners.
Plus, the card comes with perks like a $50 annual Chase Travel hotel credit, no foreign transaction fees, 10% annual bonus points, and excellent travel protections.
For those who want a card that earns transferable rewards without an annual fee, the Wells Fargo Autograph card is an excellent choice.
It earns 3x points on restaurants, travel, gas stations, transit, popular streaming services, and phone plans, and 1x points on all other purchases. The card also offers perks such as cell phone protection, rental car insurance, access to Wells Fargo transfer partners, $0 annual fee, and no foreign transaction fees.
