Staying Organized with a Miles & Points Routine

To be successful in racking up credit card rewards quickly and using them effectively to achieve your travel goals, it takes a concerted effort and consistent attention.

Over the years, I keep adding additional layers to my game, and even the simplest details can sometimes get lost in the complexity of it all. Here, I’ll outline some recurring Miles & Points chores, and some methods I use to make sure they don’t get missed.

Even though the day-to-day duties of growing the website are quite different from what it takes to actually coordinate award travel for ourselves, I’ll try to provide some insight through the lens of someone who does this as a hobby on the side.

Quarterly Tasks

Let’s start with the big picture.

I stay on top of most Miles & Points chores much more frequently, but once in a while it’s good to step back and take stock of my travel goals. There’s often quite a delay between earning and booking, and again between booking and travelling, so a long-term outlook is important to keep my goals and strategies aligned.

Therefore, I like to review whether I’m on track with my current earning strategy to net enough points to book what I want, when I need to. I might realize that I need to be a bit more aggressive for a few months, or focus on a different award program.

In particular, if I’m trying to nab a flight or hotel booking with limited availability, I want to jump on it as soon as seats or rooms are released. As I consider any new trips I’m planning 10-12 months out, I might schedule a specific upcoming day to make a booking for the distant future.

Depending on how antsy I’m feeling, I sometimes review my travel aspirations more frequently than once every few months. Ideally I try to maintain enough points in my preferred loyalty programs so that booking is never an issue, and all I have to worry about is availability timelines.

Monthly Tasks

This is where most of the magic happens to ensure that my quarterly visions come to fruition.

First, I review my credit card portfolio and plan my upcoming applications, cancellations, and product switches. There are often a lot of factors to weigh together:

• upcoming annual fees
• how sensitive each bank is to early card closures and repeat bonuses
• recent and upcoming credit inquiries, and my likelihood of approval for new credit
• redeeming or…