Alex and I just returned from attending the iHeart Podcast Awards. Points Talk with the Travel Mom Squad was one of five podcasts nominated for Best Travel Podcast. What an honor to be nominated for a podcast that is barely a year old—especially considering we have often recorded it from the floors of our closets […]

We just returned from Huntington Beach and Disneyland on points and miles. This time, we took another squad with us—five of the cutest, confident cousins who let us tag along on their adventures and pick up the bill. They range in age from eight to twelve, and all of them remind us that they are […]

One of the things that all three of us at Travel Mom Squad can agree on is that a good airport lounge makes our flight experiences so much more enjoyable. In light of this, I wanted to share some of our favorite airport lounges with you. We gain access to some with certain credit cards, […]

Yes, it’s true—SLH (Small Luxury Hotels) and Hyatt are parting ways. And now we have a date for this split—May 15, 2024. Alas, we’ve enjoyed this partnership, but all is not lost as they will be partnering with Hilton soon (date not yet known). What does this mean for each of us? For instance, I […]

We use points and miles for a lot of luxury trips, family vacations, and more. Another great way to use points is to visit family. In fact, that’s what got Jess into points and miles…being able to visit family for less. In this reader success story,  Amanda shares how she used points and miles to […]

Recently there were some Turkish Airline redemption changes and it wasn’t good news. We used to find some absolutely amazing deals to Europe for as little as 45K miles one way in business class. Jess flew to Greece and Istanbul that way and I have a trip for later this summer to Italy for 45K […]

There isn’t a lot that excites us more than the addition of a brand-new credit card to earn more points and miles on! Welcome to the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card. We always like it when there is a new card to apply for, and here are all the details about it.   Offer on […]

Using credit card points and miles has opened my world to lie-flat business-class seats. Before I started this hobby, I had only flown in business class once. On impulse, I upgraded to business for about $800 to snag a same-day ticket when I was flying home from London. It was AMAZING! Obviously, you will use […]

Today, I’m talking about the most expensive trip I’ll take this year, and it’s because I couldn’t use points/miles to book it. Let me explain. My husband and I have old friends (old as long-time friends and old as in age because we are all grandparents!😜). They go to Arizona yearly with their fifth wheels. […]

Our latest reader success story is close to my heart as Lysandra and her family hotel-hopped in Cancun, Mexico.  Here is her report: I wanted to give a review of our recent points trip to Cancun as a family of 5 for winter break 2023. Our girls are 7 and 10, and our son is […]

Family hotels in Europe are harder to find than in the United States because they have stricter room occupancy limits. This is regularly a thorn in the side for many of our readers who travel with their families on credit card points and miles. Who really wants to split a family up into two or […]

Do changes in the points and miles world discourage you? We’ve been in this game for about 8 years and have seen a lot of changes. Are they discouraging? At times. Do they make us want to quit redeeming points and miles for nearly free travel? NEVER! There will always be changes to award charts, […]

American Express Membership Rewards are one of the flexible currencies we use in the credit card points and miles game all the time. However, AMEX has changed some of the application rules for their cards. Let’s get clear on the American Express family language!   American Express Cards Earning Membership Rewards You used to be […]

Grace is a points and miles beginner, but she was still able to book an amazing vacation to Cabo. We love that you can quickly learn the game and have success with credit card points and miles! Only two cards opened, and she was in Cabo for her babymoon! Here is her story: This is […]

Booking flights and hotels is definitely more complicated than earning credit card points and miles. Luckily, we have so many search engines to help us book award travel for both.  We have talked about some of them in separate posts, but I wanted to put them all down in one post and link to the […]

We keep most of our hotel-branded credit cards year after year. This is because the benefits of the cards typically outweigh their annual fees (especially those hotel cards that come with an annual free night certificate). Some of our favorites are our Marriott annual free night certificates!  Marriott allows you to “top off” free night […]

One of our readers, Christy, just sent this reader success story to Japan to us – talk about an ultimate redemption and trip! Here’s her story: My husband and I just returned from a nearly 3-week trip to visit our son living in Japan, visiting the cities of Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Himeji, and Iwaki. This […]

Japan is on many people’s travel bucket lists! And for good reason. I loved my recent trip to Japan! Since so many people are interested in traveling there, here is the Ultimate Guide to booking flights to Japan. On points and miles, of course! I like to check out nonstop options for the city I […]

Currently, two of the Marriott cards have welcome offers of five free nights (up to 50K points per night) after hitting the minimum spend on each. We have to ask, “Are the Marriott five free nights offers a great deal?” It depends. First, here are the two cards with that welcome offer:       […]

It may seem too good to be true when we show you how to take a nearly free vacation on points and miles. However, we have hundreds of stories of readers who have also used credit card points and miles for nearly free travel. This proves that ANYONE can do this—even YOU! Here is a […]

Alex and I recently took her second son, Cruz, on his 10-year-old birthday trip to San Antonio. This trip became a tradition after we took her son, Eli, to Washington, DC. The ability to start fun traditions like this is made possible by points and miles and something that I always look forward to. The […]