If you’re someone who travels often for work, you can maximize points-earning potential from those associated expenses.  Simply put, it’s an easy way to earn more points towards future personal travel.  Rules for booking corporate travel do vary for individuals and companies, so make sure you are within company protocols when doing so.  As a spouse of a corporate traveler, along with a family of 5, it’s imperative for us to make the most of my husband’s time away from home for work-related travel.

1 – Sign up for loyalty and reward programs.  Regardless of your loyalty to any airlines and/or hotels, sign up for the respective airline and/or hotel loyalty program that you’ll be flying/staying at. Do this as you are booking corporate travel, even if you don’t think you’ll be frequenting the brand much.  You honestly never know.

Back in July, my husband stayed at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.  (Starting next month, it will no longer be part of the World of Hyatt program.)  I booked his 2-night stay under my loyalty account, and informed the hotel that he would be checking in alone.  (I normally do this with stays where he’s able to find a Hyatt property that works).  

After his stay, I assumed any credit earned would show up in my account shortly after.  When it didn’t, I contacted World of Hyatt customer service, and was then told to contact MGM Rewards Member Services.  I didn’t get the credit because I didn’t have an MGM loyalty account.  I had to have a loyalty account for both MGM and Hyatt in order to earn any credit for his two-night stay.

I learned my lesson the hard way.  Because we don’t frequent MGM, it slipped my mind.  I assumed that because it was bookable through Hyatt, I would automatically receive credit (which is generally the case).

2 – Book hotel and/or airline brands you already frequent.

To continue on the above mentioned point, I try to have my husband book flights on Southwest Airlines, and hotel stays at World of Hyatt properties.  Those are our two go-to brands for family travel.  Does it always work out that way? No.

He obviously has to consider factors such as cost, location, and/or availability, but I always have him check those two brands first.  At the very least, he is allowed to book his travel on one of our personal credit cards, and we earn points/miles for the associated expenses.  Loyalty also helps earn status – for years he was A-list status on Southwest Airlines because of how frequently he flew with them.

3 – Use a personal credit card for travel-related expenses.

As stated above, I have my husband use one of our personal credit cards to book his work travel, as he’s currently allowed to do so.  At the very least, we’ll earn points for any expenses, even if he can’t “double dip” by also booking directly with an airline and/or hotel.

In the past, along with personal travel, his corporate travel helped him earn the Southwest Companion Pass fairly easily.  He would charge all travel-associated expenses on his Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, through his Rapid Rewards loyalty account.  Additionally, booking hotels through their portal helped tremendously in earning a lot of points. 

4 – Make sure ride-sharing apps are linked.

There are times where we find ourselves using Uber, Uber Eats, and/or Lyft – even in personal travel.  Make sure those apps are connected to the respective loyalty accounts to earn you even more points and miles.

Uber:  Connect your Uber & Uber Eats account(s), and Marriott Bonvoy account to earn 2-6 points/$1 spent.

There’s a current promotion going on where you can earn up to 21k Marriott Bonvoy points for completing Uber rides, here’s how:
– Make sure your Marriott Bonvoy & Uber accounts are linked by 12/31/2023 (1,000 points)
– Link your email account to Uber Travel by 9/30/2023 (2,000 points)
– Schedule up to 4 rides and complete them by 9/30/2023 (4,000 points/ride)
– Earn additional points for completing 4 rides via Uber Travel by 9/30/2023 (2,000 points)

Lyft: The ride-sharing service has partnerships with Bilt Rewards, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, Delta Air Lines SkyMiles, Hilton Honors, and Chase Ultimate Rewards.  For the last one, you can get 5% cash back when using select Chase cards on the app.  (You can earn 10 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on Lyft when using the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.)

Again, award travel is about working smart, not hard.  When my husband occasionally travels for work, we aim to maximize our points/miles-earning potential as much as possible.  At the end of the day, you want to make the most of expenses you have to commit to, and work travel can play a heavy role in that for many.  Don’t leave points and miles on the table!

 

Picture: Cannon Beach, Oregon Coast – July 2023