Credit Card Travel Portals: Which Saves You the Most Money?

Credit card travel portals are online booking platforms that most credit card issuers provide, allowing cardholders to book flights, hotels, car rentals, and travel experiences using cash, points, or a combination of both.

If used correctly, booking through portals can offer significant value in exclusive deals, bonus points, or better redemption rates than booking directly with travel providers.

Nearly every major credit card issuer has a travel portal, but which one is the best? Here’s a look at some popular credit card travel portals, including the one I found to be the best for flight and hotel savings.

Why Book Through Credit Card Travel Portals?

Although it is generally recommended that you book travel directly with airlines and hotels, there are many reasons to consider using a credit card issuer’s travel portal. The most popular credit card portals include the Chase Travel, AmexTravel.com, Capital One Travel, and Citi Travel.

1. Bonus Earnings

Several popular travel credit cards offer significant bonus earnings for bookings made through the issuer’s travel portal using the card. Often, these bonus earnings are much higher than booking travel directly.

For example, the ultra-popular Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card earns an unlimited 10x Capital One miles on hotels and rental cars and 5x miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel. It earns 2x miles on all other eligible purchases, including travel booked elsewhere.

Similarly, the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card earns 10 ThankYou points per dollar on hotel, car rental, and other attractions, excluding air travel booked with Citi Travel, and 3x points on air travel and hotels booked direct.

2. Redeeming Credit Card Points For Travel

Another huge perk of using credit card travel portals is paying with points you’ve earned. This can be one of the most straightforward and valuable ways to book travel, particularly if you have a premium travel rewards card that offers higher value when redeeming points.

Several travel rewards cards offer an increased value per point when using points to book travel through their portal. The Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card and the ultra-premium Chase Sapphire Reserve^® give cardholders access to Points Boost, which gives up to 1.5 cents in redemption value and up to 2 cents in redemption value, respectively, through Chase Travel.

Hot Tip:

We tested Points Boost to see how it worked in real life. We found that it was only available for higher-end hotel properties and just 2.55% of flights on the Chase Travel portal. That means for all other redemptions, you’ll use points at just 1 cent apiece going forward.

3. Redeeming Credit Card Travel Credits

Certain travel rewards cards also offer statement credits that can only be redeemed for travel through a credit card issuer’s travel portal. For example, the Capital One Venture X card comes with an annual $300 travel credit for all bookings made through Capital One Travel.

Downsides of Credit Card Travel Portals

Of course, there are also several cons to using credit card travel portals. While they can be convenient, there is much to consider if you’re looking to maximize value, flexibility, or elite benefits.

1. Lack of Elite Status Benefits

Most reservations you make via your travel rewards card’s travel portal will be treated as a third-party reservation, which affects hotel stays more than anything.

Third-party bookings remove hotel chains’ potential benefits and night credits. Many hotels will not honor elite status with the hotel chain, which can remove valuable benefits like free breakfast, room upgrades, and a late checkout.

Additionally, you usually won’t earn hotel points or elite night credits on stays booked through credit card travel portals.

2. Third-Party Problems

Another major drawback of using a credit card portal is that you will be at risk if something goes wrong on your travels.

This is a huge concern if you have unexpected traveling issues, particularly with a delayed or canceled flight. Instead of dealing directly with the airline, you must contact the credit card travel agency to make any changes or deal with rebookings due to cancellations.

3. Not Always the Cheapest Rates

As you’ll see below, credit card portals will often inflate airfare and hotel rates. However, that’s not always the case, as you can often find deals — if you know where to look.

Hot Tip:

Capital One Travel is the only portal that offers a price match guarantee. If you find a better price for your flight, hotel, or rental car on another website within 24 hours of your purchase, Capital One will match the price and refund the difference in Capital One Travel Credit.

Which Credit Card Travel Portal Is the Best?

Although nearly every major credit card issuer has a travel portal, I wanted to see which one had the best value, factoring in prices and bonus earnings from using specific credit cards.

With 2 upcoming trips requiring flights and hotels, this would be an excellent way to determine which credit card travel portal offered the best return. (For the Chase Travel bookings, I searched with my Chase Sapphire Preferred card).

1. Weeklong Trip From Chicago to Toronto

For an upcoming trip to Toronto, Canada, I selected the same economy flights with the same fare restrictions and the exact hotel room type. Here’s what I found.

Round-Trip Airfare to Toronto

I searched for nonstop, round-trip economy flights from Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Toronto (YYZ).

Winner: Citi Travel (cash), Chase Travel (points)

Hotel Stay in Toronto

For the hotel in Toronto, I opted for the InterContinental Toronto Centre by IHG for 7 nights.

Winner: Citi Travel (cash), Chase Travel (points)

Hot Tip:

The Citi Strata Premier card offers a $100 annual hotel savings benefit. With this perk, cardmembers can get $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more booked with Citi Travel (excluding taxes and fees) when they pay with their Citi Strata Premier card.

Weekend Trip From Chicago to Atlanta

Similarly, for a long weekend trip to Atlanta, I selected the same economy flights and a 3-night hotel stay at the same property.

Round-Trip Airfare to Atlanta

I searched for nonstop, round-trip economy flights from Chicago (ORD) to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL).

All portal options had higher prices than booking direct. American Express, Capital One, and Citi had the same price, albeit slightly higher than Chase Travel.

Winner: Chase Travel

Hotel Stay in Atlanta

I chose the Hyatt Regency Atlanta Downtown for a 3-night stay for 2 adults.

Citi Travel again outperformed the other travel portals for this hotel booking, offering significant savings. For this specific hotel booking, it was more than $50 cheaper than its next closest competitor.

Winner: Citi Travel (cash), Chase Travel (points)

Bottom Line:

After comparing prices for flights and hotels to 2 different destinations across each of the 4 major credit card travel portals, there was a surprising yet clear winner: Citi Travel. However, Chase Travel consistently offered the lowest points rates.

Final Thoughts

Nowadays, nearly every credit issuer has a travel portal, which provides a convenient and straightforward way to book travel. After testing all 4 major credit card transfer portals to book travel for upcoming trips, Citi Travel stood out as continuously offering the most competitive pricing, which was a nice surprise.

It’s also important to consider the earning rates of a travel rewards credit card when booking through a travel portal and to shop across multiple sites to get the best deals possible.