6 Tips To Fly First Class Using Points From Your Business

If you find yourself making regular, large expenditures on your business, you need to listen up. Points and miles, when leveraged properly, are assets you can use to book travel, whether it’s for your own business or your family’s leisure.

Think of credit card rewards as the travel-version of a flexible spending account (FSA).

You amass a large balance of points, which are tax-free (because they’re treated like rebates as opposed to income) and you can then get outsized value from these points.

The difference is that flexible spending accounts can be used for healthcare expenses, while credit card points are used for travel expenses.

So, with your end goal of booking travel in mind, how can you take the most advantage of the lucrative credit card rewards system to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in flights and hotels in the long term?

How can you book the best first class tickets in a post-pandemic world with maximum social distancing using your hard-earned points? First, you have to optimally accrue and manage your points!

Check out our top tips for business owners to maximize their rewards below.

Find out how to maximize your points!

Don’t Earn Just 1 Type of Points

Diversifying your points is the key to booking lavish, exotic vacations for free! 

The biggest misconception perpetuated by mainstream blogs and media companies is to stick with 1 type of points, amass a gigantic pot of points, and redeem them accordingly.

Unfortunately, this is not the best approach, especially if you see yourself making lots of business expenses monthly, generally over $25,000 per month. 

Think of your points as a type of asset with tangible value. If, for example, you focused on Chase points but you find that the only way to book your vacation is using Amex points, then you’ve put yourself in a disadvantaged situation. 

You’d rather be consistently earning a nice pile of all types of points instead of a gigantic pile of 1 type of points.

For example, it’s generally preferable to be accruing 50,000 points per month across American Express, Citi, and Chase than to accrue 150,000 Citi points per month. 

Pay Special Attention to Bonus Categories

Bonus categories are one of the easiest and effortless ways to earn more points for the exact same spending habits. Here’s how it works.

Let’s say you have an American Express Business Platinum card and you’re putting all of your business’s dining expenditures on that card.

Did you know that you can earn 3 to 5 times as many points by putting your spending on a different card such as the American Express Business Gold card? 

Different cards earn more points for different categories.

For example, the best cards for dining are the Citi Prestige® Card, the American Express® Gold Card, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card.

The best cards for cellular, internet, and cable bills is the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card.

The best cards for advertising are the American Express® Business Gold Card and the Ink Business Preferred card.

If you book a lot of work travel for your employees, you can leverage cards such as The Business Platinum Card® from American Express for paid hotels and airfare booked through AmexTravel and the Ink Business Preferred card for other travel expenses.

Lastly, the best cards for gas are the Citi Premier® card, The Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card, and the Ink Business Cash card.

Earning at least twice as many points as you currently are should be a top goal. Once you’ve amassed the points, you’ll want to reward you and your significant other with a luxe vacation. Check out our pick of the 5 best vacation spots for couples!

Find out how to maximize your points!

Make Business Accounting Easy with Amex and Chase

When you sign up for a business credit card, you’ll typically also have access to expense and accounting management tools as a value-added benefit.

For example, American Express provides a separate app cardholders who need to manage receipts, view account information, and manage employee cards.

At the same time, JPMorgan Chase is quickly catching up, with the newly inked partnership with Sensibill. 

It’s extremely easy to set up the Amex Business app; all you need to do is download the app from the app store to get started. 

Use Your Business Credit Card’s Annual Fee As a Tax Deduction

As a general rule, reasonable business expenses can be deducted from your business income.

Credit card annual fees, interest payments, and late fees usually count as valid business expenses. So, that annual fee of $95? It’s less now that you can deduct it. 

This is not legal or tax advice. Consult your tax and legal professional. 

Find out how to maximize your points!

Add Employee Cards to Earn Rewards Even Quicker

It’s no secret that as your company grows, you can’t be the sole person making transactions, purchasing inventory, booking flights, etc. So, if you’re interested in earning rewards even faster, you can leverage your employees to receive employee cards.

This is the equivalent of having an authorized user, except for business credit cards.

Another neat trick is you can add an employee card that isn’t the same “tier” of card.

For example, you might know that an Employee Amex Business Platinum card is $300 per year. But, did you know that you can add an employee card for your Amex Business Platinum account but choose a different card tier to avoid annual fees? 

For example, if you are an Amex Business Platinum cardholder and you add an additional Amex Business Gold card, you’ll pay $45 per card. Alternatively, you won’t pay any annual fees for the extra cardholder if you add an additional Amex Business Green card. 

Granted, the employee card won’t receive all the travel perks, but it’s important to be aware that you can add different “tiers” of employee cards; you don’t need to add the exact same type of card.

Leveraging employee cards is crucial to scaling your rewards further, and doing so means you’ll have plenty of points to take advantage of the best first class deals you can book in a post-pandemic world.

Find out how to maximize your points!

Consider Credit Cards With 0% Introductory and Balance Transfer APR

When you’re running a business, there’s nothing better than getting free money, at least temporarily!

Business credit cards often offer introductory promotions that aren’t necessarily related to rewards but are more focused on generous lending terms. 

For example, if you’re a business, and you need access to credit and won’t be able to pay back the balance in full for a few months, then you should consider getting a credit card with favorable APR terms.

This can come in the form of an introductory APR on purchases of 0% or an introductory APR on balance transfers of 0%. 

With this, you can carry a balance for a specified period of time (refer to the terms in the credit card application) and not worry about having to pay back your bills immediately.

Also, if you have existing business credit card purchases that are coming due, the balance transfer benefit will be incredibly useful to shift the burden to 0% terms, effectively “resetting” the interest clock and delaying interest from accruing.

Final Thoughts

You’ll find the business credit cards offer unique perks that aren’t replicated by consumer credit cards.

Also, business owners often spend many times more than consumers, which is why it’s so much more important as a business owner to maximize your credit card rewards as much as possible. 

Whether it’s earning as many points as possible, diversifying your points portfolio, or just tipping the system in your favor, it’s always going to be in your best interest to invest some time into travel hacking.

Once you invest the time, you’ll reap the rewards when you’re booking $10,000 plane tickets and $50,000 vacations for yourself and your family! 

Find out how to maximize your points!