Gone are the days of only earning points and miles by booking flights or hotel stays. Most loyalty p

With an extra-severe winter hitting many of us this year, talk of travel to warmer climates abounds. Before taking the plunge and booking that special escape, read on for our top ten tips for earning points and miles and saving money while you travel.
When planning your trip, start early and look for double, triple or even quadruple reward offers for hotels and flights, or promotions adventure travel florida like this one from Priority Club Rewards that allows adventure travel florida you to earn up to 1,000 bonus miles. Planning ahead can also pay off when you're adventure travel florida looking to book flights using those hard earned points and miles. Book your award flight well in advance to avoid breaking your loyalty rewards bank.
Gone are the days of only earning points and miles by booking adventure travel florida flights or hotel stays. Most loyalty programs now have exclusive offers to help their members adventure travel florida earn more by doing other things, such as signing up for a Netflix membership or shopping online. adventure travel florida Here are a few examples:
When there are very good offers, sometimes paying for travel makes more sense than redeeming. If you find a fantastic deal, it might save you money in the long run to book at the sale price, earn points/miles, and then save them for a time when the price isn't right.
Not only is paying for travel with a credit card a good idea for security and exchange adventure travel florida rate reasons, adventure travel florida but it can also pay off when it comes to earning more points and miles. You can pay for your travel using a rewards earning credit card to double dip: earn once for booking a flight or hotel stay and then earn again by spending on a credit card that earns rewards. Just be sure to pay off your balance to avoid the sticker shock of a hefty bill.
Treat yourself!  You can redeem points and miles for gift cards with many programs on Points.com and on some loyalty program websites. Try redeeming your points/miles for gift cards for restaurants, adventure travel florida car rentals, or even hotel stays. Most gift cards on Points.com are for use within North America, so if you're adventure travel florida travelling outside of North America (or live outside of North America), consider redeeming for a  gift card that will allow you to purchase travel items before you go (like a book for the plane).
With many airlines introducing fees for second (or even first) bags, packing light can really pay off. Not only will you save money back packing less, you'll also save the hassle of lugging a giant suitcase through the airport and to your destination—let alone the risk of losing your bag. Check out this blog post from Go Green Travel Green: "Ultimate Guide to Packing Light" for 45 tips on how to lighten your load while on the road.
You never know when you'll find an offer for earning points or miles, especially when you are travelling, so be sure to bring all of your loyalty program cards with you. For those of us that belong to 15+ loyalty programs, this may seem to go against our advice adventure travel florida to pack light, but you do have options. Some people adventure travel florida choose to carry a second, small, loyalty card wallet. If you're crafty, you can even make one yourself to save money, or if you're not into crafts, you can purchase one . Another option is to save all of your program information adventure travel florida in your Points.com account so you can log in on the road to view your account numbers in a pinch.
There may be no such thing as a free lunch but there are free breakfasts! Some hotel loyalty programs offer free breakfast to their members, although you may need to have reached a certain tier of membership adventure travel florida to qualify for access to the free eats. For example, Marriott Rewards Gold Elite and Platinum members get free breakfast and lounge access, among other perks . And everyone gets free breakfast and free Internet access at the Holiday adventure travel florida Inn for stays in Asia Pacific.
Moving up into another membership tier in many loyalty programs can give you access to perks that can save you big money. Perks might include: earning faster (more points/miles per $ spent); room and seat upgrades; free stuff like Internet access, adventure travel florida breakfast, window seats and lounge access; and priority check-in. Keep an eye on your favorite programs to see how close you are to the next membership tier – it just may pay off in free extras for your trip!
Fan your favorite loyalty programs on Facebook and follow them on Twitter to make sure you don't miss any opportunities to earn more while on your trip, or before your departure. You can often find travel tips on airline and hotel Facebook pages and Twitter feeds, so it can't hurt to stay in the loop. Of course, be sure to follow Points.com on Twitter and fan us on Facebook for tips and deals related adventure travel florida to your favorite loyalty programs. Or you can log into Points.com to see a continuously updated list of earning opportunities by program.