Luxury travel is one of the oldest status symbols, and in today’s age, it’s an achievable lifestyle for more people than ever!
Booking opulent first and business class travel is accessible to you if you have a good credit score of 700 or more, a willingness to commit to a lifestyle of comfortable travel, and the ability to transform the way you think about credit cards and points.
If you love luxury travel and don’t have the time to commit to learning everything about points, award travel, and credit cards, then you can leverage a points consultant.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through what a points consultant is and why you absolutely need one if you’re too busy to keep up with points and credit cards but want to enjoy luxury travel for pennies on the dollar using points!
- What is a Points Consultant?
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The 18 Reasons Why You Need a Points Consultant
- 1. You'll Discover Which Types of Points Make Sense to Earn Tailored to Your Personal Situation
- 2. You'll Receive an Optimized Credit Card Plan to Help You Earn Points Efficiently
- 3. You'll Save Tons of Time with a White Glove Service When Booking Travel
- 4. You'll Spend a Fraction of the Points When Booking Business/First Class Over DIY'ing It
- 5. You Could Book the World's Most Luxurious and Rarest First Class Flights
- 6. It's Way Better Than an Award Booking Service
- 7. You Can Get Hotel VIP Benefits Without Having Elite Status
- 8. You'll Have Someone Helping You Track Your Credit Cards, Bonuses, Cancellations, and More
- 9. You Can Brainstorm Vacation Destinations With an Expert
- 10. You'll Have Someone Who Can Book Last-Minute Award Travel
- 11. You'll Be Walked Through Which Airlines Have the Best First or Business Class For Your Travel Plans
- 12. You'll Get the Best Seats Selected for You On a Specific Flight
- 13. You'll Save Big on Travel Costs
- 14. You'll Enjoy Ongoing Changes and Cancellations With Your Award Travel
- 15. You'll Learn How to Accumulate Points As Quickly As Possible
- 16. You Can Access the Highest Credit Card Bonuses Possible Through Exclusive Partnerships
- 17. You'll Avoid Constant Rejection From the Best Credit Card Issuers
- 18. You'll Be Shown How to Avoid Bank Shutdowns
- 5 Reasons Not to Work With a Points Consultant
- Final Thoughts
- FAQs
What is a Points Consultant?
Image Credit: Friends Stock via Shutterstock
Have you ever read those articles about the people who book crazy-expensive first class tickets for less than a cup of coffee and thought, “why can’t I do that”?
And if you are a fan of luxury travel, want to avoid paying tens of thousands of dollars for business/first class flights every time, and most importantly, if you want to dramatically reduce the number of points you’re spending on business class or first class flights, then you’re in the right place.
A points consultant is an advisor who will help you earn and redeem credit card points, airline miles, and hotel points for free travel.
Also known as travel rewards consultants, miles consultants, points travel agents, or frequent flyer points consultants, these professionals are focused on developing relationships with travelers and getting to know their preferences, spending habits, travel goals, and more.
Great points consultants can book rare award travel like Emirates first class for the lowest points cost possible using the points and miles they helped their clients accumulate. Finding these flight deals with points has become more and more challenging – our points consultants help you stretch the value of your points by as much as 5 times further.
Instead of booking 1 flight to Europe for a million points, wouldn’t you prefer to book 5 flights to Europe?
A points consultant will walk clients through the journey of amassing points wealth and using them efficiently for luxury travel.
Learn about our points consulting services!
The 18 Reasons Why You Need a Points Consultant
At a high level, we’ve just described what a points consultant is and does. Points consultants are akin to a sort of travel fiduciary.
A points consultant must always have the client’s best interests at heart, whether it’s recommending the best no-BS credit cards for their travel goals or booking the best possible travel using the fewest points!
So in this next section, we’ll walk you through some of the top reasons why you need a points consultant to take the headache of planning points and travel out of your life.
1. You’ll Discover Which Types of Points Make Sense to Earn Tailored to Your Personal Situation
Without getting to know your situation including your monthly spending, the breakdown of your monthly spending, the places you want to travel to, your existing credit cards, and when you opened your current credit cards, it’s impossible to make an informed decision about what types of points and cards are a perfect fit.
Don’t listen to your friend’s or coworker’s recommendations, especially since it’s your own finances.
A points consultant should be sitting down and analyzing your personal situation in detail before recommending what points and cards you should be focused on.
2. You’ll Receive an Optimized Credit Card Plan to Help You Earn Points Efficiently
A points consultant will spend a lot of time tailoring the best long-term strategy for your points wealth.
Shortly after becoming a member, our points consultants will create Your Credit Card Plan, which is a roadmap of the best cards to apply for and the exact timing, down to the exact date.
Your Credit Card Plan is refreshed regularly to make sure you’re getting the most accurate recommendations all the time.
This actionable plan is exactly what you need to sustainably make your luxury travel plans happen with points given the specific places you want to travel to, your spending habits, and where you’re located geographically.
3. You’ll Save Tons of Time with a White Glove Service When Booking Travel
Points is a complicated journey.
You first have to earn the points through normal credit card spending, signing up for cards, or business travel. But before you do that, you need to figure out what points are best for you (hint: it’s probably not United or Delta miles).
After that, you need to pool all your points together and figure out the airlines you can book on your upcoming trip.
Then, you need to figure out which airline partners are available to help you book travel on that airline.
And the list goes on…
Your points consultant, with a short turnaround, will then offer you several options you can book, without all the headache of having to find routes, search for award space, and more.
Our team is the best in the world at what we do — we book 7-10 long-haul business class flights for our clients daily, resulting in approximately $10-12 million in flights booked every year with points.
Your points consultant will effortlessly hold your hand through the process. Plus, if you have any questions or concerns, just send an email and you’ll get the best advice!
And if you’ve ever planned travel by yourself, you can already appreciate how overwhelming it all can be.
And when you also layer on the fact that you’re planning travel using points, are trying to find business/first class award availability, and are also juggling your own business, you can probably imagine how much of a headache it all can be.
With a points consultant, you’ll just send a text, an email, or fill out an easy online form with your travel plans.
If you value your time, a points consultant will eliminate all of the complexity by helping you manage your points and travel.
Looking for a one-stop-shop DIY solution for travel hacking? Check out the world’s best travel hacking course spanning 16 weeks, The Points University!
4. You’ll Spend a Fraction of the Points When Booking Business/First Class Over DIY’ing It
Everybody knows how to use Amex Travel. Do you really want to spend a million or more points for a single business class flight?
Your points consultant is obsessed with getting the best value for you. Instead of spending a million points for a round-trip business class flight to Europe, your points consultant can get the same flight for as little as 100,000 points! That means you can sometimes get up to 10 flights for the price of 1!
You could reduce the number of points you use by 90% or more with a points consultant! Don’t believe us? Check out our best ways to use Amex points and Chase points!
5. You Could Book the World’s Most Luxurious and Rarest First Class Flights
Emirates First Class. Image Credit: AuPACS
Traditionally, booking these first class tickets on airlines like Emirates, Lufthansa, Etihad, and Japan Airlines using points has been reserved for those who either a) had a ton of time or b) knew all the secret tricks.
But with a points consultant, you get the opportunity to book incredible flights without wasting your time with these searches!
Even if you somehow had all the time in the world to look for award space, you’re facing an uphill battle.
For the world’s most coveted, you’ll be hard-pressed to find availability by yourself — success rates are in the single digits, which means you’d be searching for a needle in a haystack.
Image Credit: AuPACS
Do you really have time to do that?
Learn about our points consulting services!
6. It’s Way Better Than an Award Booking Service
If you’ve ever heard of an award booking service, you’ll know what we’re talking about.
But if you haven’t, we’ll introduce you to the concept. An award booking service is a transactional service whereby you pay someone a fee to search and book an award ticket for yourself and your companions.
An award booking service is inherently at odds with delivering the best results for the client, simply because these services charge you whenever they find an itinerary for you, even if it’s egregiously expensive with points (think 300,000 versus 75,000 points).
A points consultant will also help you change and cancel your award bookings, which is in stark contrast with an award booking service where any interaction ends as soon as your ticket is booked.
By building relationships with clients, points consultants consistently deliver better outcomes.
7. You Can Get Hotel VIP Benefits Without Having Elite Status
At AuPACS, we’re well-versed not just in points, but also in making sure our customers get the treatment they deserve.
Even if you don’t have top-tier elite status at hotel chains, our travel agents can help you access VIP programs for your paid stays and get you perks, like:
- Free breakfast
- Top priority for room and suite upgrades
- Hotel property credits
- VIP recognition from hotel management
- Complimentary airport transfers
- Early check-in and late check-out
- And more!
And most of the time, all of these perks would come at the same price as the best available rate, so you’d be leaving money on the table if you didn’t take advantage of this!
8. You’ll Have Someone Helping You Track Your Credit Cards, Bonuses, Cancellations, and More
Your points consultant will help you track all the data related to your points and credit cards.
Here is just a small portion of the information a points consultant will help you keep track of:
- What cards were opened and when
- When to close your cards (card anniversary dates)
- The spending required to get a bonus
- How many points you will get from a bonus
- What the credit limit for each credit card is
- The annual fees for every card
Your points consultant will basically help you outsource your admin tasks pertaining to points and credit cards!
9. You Can Brainstorm Vacation Destinations With an Expert
Not sure where to go on vacation? A great points consultant has likely been to all corners of the world, and we can use our world-class expertise as luxury travel agents to help plan out an unforgettable vacation that allows you to maximize the value of your points, whether it’s a safari in Africa or a tropical getaway in the Maldives.
10. You’ll Have Someone Who Can Book Last-Minute Award Travel
Do you tend to book last-minute travel? Your points consultant can help you book and manage last-minute travel if you’re a busy jet setter.
With an email, phone call, or online form, you can immediately get your travel plans moving, and you’ll be sitting in a spacious business class pod or first class suite in no time!
11. You’ll Be Walked Through Which Airlines Have the Best First or Business Class For Your Travel Plans
Let’s say you’re flying to an exotic destination, and there are lots of different airlines you can fly on.
When your points consultant provides the list of available airline options, you’ll be briefed on which airlines have a better business or first class product.
Whether you’re looking for the largest seat, the most privacy, the tastiest food, the best service, the quickest itinerary, or the cheapest points cost, the best airport lounges, your points consultant will recommend the optimal choices for your plans.
Your points consultant can even show you what’s the difference between first and business class on the same airline!
12. You’ll Get the Best Seats Selected for You On a Specific Flight
Did you know that, even in business class, some seats are better than others?
Some seats have missing windows. Some seats are too noisy from being close to the lavatories and galleys. Some seats don’t have dedicated overhead space.
Some seats have much more legroom to put your feet in while you’re laying down. Some seats are totally isolated in a “mini-cabin” away from the other passengers. Some seats have 4 windows, instead of 3.
You don’t want to get stuck with bad business class seats, so we’ll take care of the seat selection for you.
13. You’ll Save Big on Travel Costs
Airfare and hotels are the most expensive parts of travel.
Instead of paying $10,000+ for business/first class seats or paying $1,000 for economy seats, you’ll use points to save a bundle of money on your travel costs.
You can use that extra money to splurge a bit more on your vacation or just tuck away the extra money for another day.
On average, our points consultants will help you save 92% on your travel costs. That means that for every $10,000 you spent on travel in the past, you’d now spend $800!
14. You’ll Enjoy Ongoing Changes and Cancellations With Your Award Travel
Your plans can change. We get it.
Did you know that tickets booked with points don’t have the same change fees as tickets paid for with cash?
Usually, if you have to cancel your business/first class ticket booked with miles, all you have to do is pay a small fee of $50 (sometimes it’s free!) and you’ll get your miles back in your account.
If you tried to do this with cash tickets, the airlines would probably just laugh at you.
Our points consultants will help you manage your award travel, whether it’s refining your itinerary or canceling your tickets.
15. You’ll Learn How to Accumulate Points As Quickly As Possible
What’s the point in talking about booking first or business class flights if you’re only accumulating 1 mile per dollar you spend?
Big spenders are going to have a tough time booking luxury travel, even if we can help you book these flights for a tiny fraction of the price.
After all, if a $15,000 flight costs 100,000 miles and you’re only getting 1 mile per dollar, you’ll have to spend $100,000 to get a single flight!
Whether it be through credit card welcome bonuses or identifying the best cards for ongoing spending on your biggest expenses, a points consultant should help you multiply the number of points you earn.
16. You Can Access the Highest Credit Card Bonuses Possible Through Exclusive Partnerships
Did you know that credit card sign-up bonuses change all the time?
On average, the welcome bonuses for the major rewards credit cards change 3 times per year!
And what you see on a credit card’s website isn’t always the best offer available.
The big blogs often promote a credit card with a lower sign-up bonus than what’s available. And since these big blogs are the most popular source of information, you could be tricked into signing up for a card with a lower bonus than what a points consultant might be able to get you.
Again, since a points consultant would be most interested in helping you get the highest bonus possible, he/she should show you how to get the highest possible bonus on any credit card, and this includes ways that are not publicly available.
AuPACS offers exclusive relationships with decision makers at major banks, including Chase, Capital One, and U.S. Bank. These relationships can make it easier to get approved for credit cards and access higher credit limits.
17. You’ll Avoid Constant Rejection From the Best Credit Card Issuers
Setting up your credit card portfolio is time-consuming, and the consequences of messing up your planning could be severe.
You might have already opened a few credit cards. All is fine and dandy, until you get hit with your first rejection. And then another. And then another after that.
What’s going on?
You’re inadvertently breaking the rules of the banks. You’re applying for credit cards in the total wrong order to maximize your longevity in amassing points. You’re filling out the applications incorrectly.
Or it could be all of the above.
While a points consultant isn’t a credit repair expert, a points consultant will help you get out of “points purgatory” by helping you avoid rejections, as long as you have good credit (700+).
18. You’ll Be Shown How to Avoid Bank Shutdowns
There’s a dark side of points optimization.
When done incorrectly, you can get shut down by major banks and blacklisted for the 7-10 years. That means no more credit cards, loans, and even checking accounts at that bank for a long time. Oh, and you’ll also lose all your points.
And if you apply for cards too quickly in the wrong order, or if you close your cards less than a year after opening them and getting the bonus, you could get shut down by the banks.
A points consultant will help steer you clear of this and help you craft a plan that’ll help you earn points and open credit cards at the exact right pace.
Learn about our points consulting services!
5 Reasons Not to Work With a Points Consultant
Points consultants can help you optimize your credit cards, redeem your rewards for maximum value, and some are even officially licensed travel agencies. These professionals will help you save money, earn more in rewards, and upgrade your travels using points.
But they’re not for everybody. Here are a handful of reasons not to work with a points consultant.
1. You Don’t Value Your Time
The best candidates to work with a points consultant value their time, which is why they choose to work with the foremost experts in the field.
If you don’t value your time, you may be better off learning about credit cards, points, and travel on your own instead of paying a fee to work with a points consultant.
2. You Don’t Have Good Financial Footing
Although points consultants are also well-versed in helping you consolidate credit card debt into low- or no-interest payments, you should not work with a points consultant if you do not have any discretionary spending.
Points consultants specialize in booking luxury travel with points — if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, it may make more sense to remedy your financial situation before planning travel.
3. You’re Not Good at Communication
Any time you’re building a relationship with someone, whether it be a friend, significant other, or colleague, one of the biggest keys to success is communication.
The same holds true if you work with a points consultant — communication is key in executing seamless business travel or the perfect vacation.
If you’re not able to review flight proposals or hotel recommendations in a timely manner, all of the best deals may have already evaporated, resulting in time wasted for both parties involved.
4. You Don’t Trust Anyone
When you work with a points consultant, you are trusting them in many respects.
You have confidence that they are providing you the best advice, flight options, and travel recommendations.
If you’re unable to trust a provider of professional services, you’re probably better off doing it yourself.
5. You Have Little-to-No Credit Card Spending
Lastly, if your credit card spending is nonexistent, you won’t have a practical means of accumulating points through credit card spending.
We recommend having at least $10,000 per month in credit card spending to start working with us.
Final Thoughts
With the right points consultant, you can finally take your travel and personal finances to the next level.
Points consultants should only be concerned with serving the client. At the end of the day, points consultants are there to make sure that:
- You are earning as many of the best points as quickly as possible
- You are redeeming as few points as possible for the best travel experiences available
However, there’s a lot more entailed in trying to optimize this piece of your personal finance.
With a points consultant, you essentially get access to first class travel without having to spend all the time learning about points and award availability! Happy optimizing!
I am interested in learning more about your service.
Hey Chris!
If you’re interested in optimizing your credit card spending for luxury travel, we may be a good fit together. We typically work with high-spending business owners who don’t have enough time to plan and manage travel with points.
Review our membership tiers and schedule a call with me if you’re interested.
I am a completely points idiot and have never booked a single thing with points. I spend about $70,000/month in business bills. Help me!
Hey Stacy!
We specialize in helping high-spending business owners like yourself to optimize your credit card spending and book luxury travel with points.
Please review our pricing tiers and schedule a call with me!
Your service seems more focused on US markets. Do you offer similar for Australian customers as a number of the credit cards referenced are not available in Australia
Unfortunately, the credit card points systems in Australia function differently than in the U.S. It is most lucrative in the U.S. It’s still possible to maximize points in Australia, but we are currently only working with Australian clients spending at least $50,000 per month on credit cards.