If you like traveling or want to plan a trip in the future, I can’t emphasize enough how much you should care about earning points and miles. It’s a great way to travel for less since you can redeem the rewards you earn for flights and hotel stays.
Here at TPG, we’ve used points and miles to reach dream destinations, cover last-minute travel plans and make it easier to visit friends and family.
The holidays are a great time to take your first steps into earning points and miles. Many people spend a lot of their annual budget on holiday travel, gifts, food and decorations. These expenses are a great way to get a jump-start on earning lots of rewards.
If all of that sounds intriguing to you, let’s get into the ways that your holiday expenses can help you unlock great travel opportunities.
Earning a welcome bonus
Rewards credit cards almost always extend a welcome offer to new cardholders. These welcome offers are the best and easiest way to earn a huge stash of points or miles. Most cards require that you meet a certain spend threshold in order to earn the welcome bonus.
Your holiday spending can cover a large portion of a card’s spending requirement or even get you to the finish line. Some great welcome offers that you might be able to earn with the help of end-of-year purchases include:
*Rewards are earned as Chase Ultimate Rewards points, despite being marketed as cash back.
What are these welcome bonuses actually worth?
One of my favorite things about points and miles is that their value fluctuates depending on what you redeem them for. If you want to hunt for extremely high-value redemptions that are impossible to afford with just cash, you can. Or, if you’d rather use your rewards for simple redemptions that get you where you want or need to be, that works, too.
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In order to maximize the value of your points and miles, we recommend transferring them to your card’s airline and hotel transfer partners. Each month, TPG releases valuations for every issuer’s rewards currency. If you’re curious about the value of the rewards you’ll earn with the above welcome bonuses, check out our valuations page.
With the exception of the two Freedom cards, all the welcome offers mentioned will net you at least $1,000 in value, based on our November 2025 valuations.
The right bonus categories can earn you a lot of rewards
When it’s time to head to the grocery store for Christmas dinner or to open your wallet for holiday gifts, you want to have the right card in hand to pay with. Rewards cards generally come with bonus categories that earn multiple points or miles per dollar spent.
If you have a credit card with a bonus category that covers an aspect of your holiday shopping, make sure to use it. Cards with bonus categories for groceries, online shopping or specific merchants are your best bet.
As an example, through Dec. 31, you can earn 5 points per dollar spent at Old Navy and department stores with the Chase Freedom Flex. Starting in December, you can also earn 5 points per dollar spent when paying with PayPal with this card (on up to $1,500 in spending each quarter; activation required).
If you strategically plan your holiday shopping to max out that $1,500 in spending, you’d earn 7,500 bonus Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which is worth about $154, according to our November 2025 valuations. The Freedom Flex is a favorite card of mine because of how powerful its quarterly categories can be.
If you’re shopping with a merchant that isn’t covered by any of your cards’ bonus categories, use a card that earns more than 1 point or mile per dollar spent on general purchases.
A couple of great examples include the Chase Freedom Unlimited and the Capital One Venture Rewards. The Freedom Unlimited earns 1.5 points per dollar spent on all nonbonus spending, while the Venture Rewards earns 2 miles per dollar spent on all purchases.
Shopping portals and issuer offers can earn you even more
Major issuers like American Express, Chase and Capital One extend offers to existing cardholders. These offers generally give cardholders the opportunity to earn bonus cash back, points or miles in exchange for spending with a specific merchant.
During the holiday season, it’s important to check your card often for these opportunities. Offers can vary per card, and some issuers may target a cardholder with a specific offer, so you should always monitor them yourself.
These offers can be combined with deals from shopping portals like Rakuten. Rakuten is a favorite of mine since I can earn American Express Membership Rewards points through it, even if I’m not paying with an Amex card. Of course, you can’t earn Membership Rewards points through Rakuten without a Membership Rewards card, but it’s a great perk for eligible Amex cardmembers.
Last year, I purchased a new LG TV during Black Friday through Rakuten. Thanks to that decision, I earned an additional 30,000 Membership Rewards points. That’s enough points to cover many round-trip economy flights within the U.S.
If you don’t hold an eligible Amex card, you can also now earn Bilt Rewards Points through Rakuten.
Aside from Rakuten, individual card issuers and airlines also offer online shopping portals that can help you earn your preferred rewards. Overall, if you have any holiday purchases to make, you could be leaving a huge chunk of rewards on the table by skipping out on issuer offers and shopping portals.
Bottom line
If you haven’t started earning points and miles yet, now’s the time. By putting your holiday expenses on a rewards card or purchasing gifts via online shopping portals, you can earn enough points and miles to redeem for your 2026 vacation.
Using points and miles, many TPG staffers have been able to take dreamworthy trips to everywhere from underrated wineries in Slovenia to the beaches of Hawaii.
With a little work, you can take these kinds of trips without breaking the bank, too.
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