5 Little-Known Ways to Get More Travel Points

As many savvy travelers know, you can unlock amazing travel opportunities when you pay with points. I've used points to book business-class airfare, five-star hotel stays, and expensive vacation rentals for as little as $0.

The challenge is getting enough points to pay for the travel you want. If you're only earning points on purchases you make with your travel card, it can be slow going, unless you're a big spender. Here are five little-known ways to speed up the process.

1. Open new travel cards regularly for more bonus opportunities

We'll start with an easy one. Many travel rewards cards have sign-up bonuses for new cardholders. For example, a card may offer 50,000 bonus points or bonus miles if you spend $3,000 on it in the first three months.

Sign-up bonuses are my favorite way to earn more travel points. I regularly earn 200,000 to 300,000 bonus points per year with them.

If you haven't gotten a travel card recently, you're missing out on bonus opportunities like these. Click here to see our list of the best travel rewards cards, including several with sign-up bonuses of 60,000 points or more!

2. Complete special offers with your favorite airlines and hotels

Airlines and hotels often send out special offers to members of their loyalty programs. Completing a quick online or phone survey could net you 2,000 to 3,000 points. Renting a car through a rental partner could be worth 5,000 or 6,000 miles.

Make sure you're signed up with the loyalty programs of any airlines and hotels you like. It's free, and once you're a member, you'll receive special offers like these, normally by email. Complete offers as you can, and you'll have more points for your next vacation.

3. Send travel card referral links to your friends and family

Some credit card companies offer referral programs for their cardholders. You get a referral link you can share with people. If they apply for the card through your referral link and are approved, the card issuer deposits bonus points to your account.

Bonus amounts vary depending on the card. With my own cards, I've seen bonuses ranging from 10,000 to 25,000 points per referral. If you have a large group of friends who want to start earning travel rewards, there could be some points in it for you, too. Just make sure to help them find the best credit card, even if it isn't one that will earn you a referral bonus.

4. Use your card issuer's online shopping portal

Most of us do our fair share of online shopping. Instead of going directly to the retailer's website, see if you can get there through a credit card shopping portal.

If your card issuer has a shopping portal, you should be able to access it from your online account. You'll see a list of its retail partners where you can earn additional travel points on your purchases.

Let's say you're buying a few new pairs of jeans. You could just go to Levi's website, where your card would earn 1 point per $1. But you check your card's shopping portal first and see there's an offer of 3 points per $1. You can still get the same jeans at the same price. The only difference is you visit the Levi's website through your card issuer's shopping portal and earn three times as many points.

5. Consider buying points if you need more for an award booking

It's usually not recommended to buy travel points or miles because of the cost. But there are exceptions, with the most common being when you don't quite have enough points for an award booking. In this case, you could save money by buying points compared to what you'd pay for a cash booking.

I've done this with airfare and hotel stays. To give you a recent example, I spent $1,600 buying Hilton points last year. Since there was a promotion, I got 320,000 Hilton points. I redeemed 300,000 points for a six-night hotel stay that would've cost about $2,440 in cash. Because I bought points, I saved $840, and I still had 20,000 points to spare.

Travel is much more affordable when you're paying in points. With the strategies above, you can accumulate more points so you're able to book the travel you want.