Are Travel Cards Still Useful Even if you Don’t Travel Much?

No, although being a frequent traveler does make it kind of necessary to have a traveling credit card if you want to save some part of your traveling expense or even if you can get reward points, it will be worth it. However, this might not be the case when it comes to not being a traveler and yet having a traveling credit card. The card will not be worth it.

Travel credit cards sure give you an enormous amount of traveling benefits like hotel stays, complimentary lounge stays, paybacks of a certain amount on tickets, redeeming of reward points for air tickets and even getting free tickets. But when it comes to other expenses apart from traveling, these cards might not be able to give you the most of it. If you look at it like this, there are many cards in the market which are suited for both, traveling and shopping. Having one of these cards is the best option.

Travel credit cards have their advantages and disadvantages as well. The advantages can include the benefits, rates, and services provided by the card issuer and disadvantages are the ones that make a negative impact on your life.

Some advantages of having a Travel Credit Card

• Lounge benefits can be availed by particular types of cards although this benefit is not limited to travel cards.
• Many travel companies do provide monetary value upon using travel credit cards to book a flight with them. They pay.
• On every booking you make, you get a percentage of cash back or reward points.
• Upon reaching a milestone, you get more reward points, premium memberships, and many other added benefits from the card issuer.

The disadvantages of having a Travel credit card

• Travel credit cards are bout by limitations like not being able to be used outside the sole purpose of traveling.
• Travel credit cards do not always cover all of the traveling expenses. The companies can exclude some of the expenses that are travel in nature.
• Travelling credit cards can be pricier than the rest of the credit cards. There can be many fees linked to travel cards like loading and unloading pre-paid cards, ATM usage, rate conversion, etc.
• Travel credit cards are used on a bigger and wider scale. These involve international flights, hotels, and other activities related to travel.

Some cards are well suited for not just one particular expense. These types of cards can be used for travel, shopping, and dining as well. There are many cards with two features and some of them even have three features in one. These types of cards are very beneficial. Here are a few examples of these types of credit cards –

Axis Bank Magnus Credit Card

This card is well suited not just for travel but it is also very reliable for movies, dining, and shopping. This card provides a complimentary domestic flight ticket or voucher worth Rs.10000 as a welcome gift. Reward points are numerous on every penny spent. Reward points have no limitations and you get up to 25,000 reward edge points on achieving certain milestones. This credit card gives the user access to domestic and international lounges at the airport and provides 24*7 concierge service at that. Up to 40% discount on dining with co-branded restaurants and even discounted stays at hotels.

Joining Fee – Rs.10,000 + GST

Welcome Benefits – 1 complimentary domestic flight ticket or voucher worth Rs.10,000

Rewards –    Edge points on every Rs.200 spent on retail purchases,

Unlimited domestic lounge access and international lounge access every year with a priority pass.

ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card

This credit card is well-suited for traveling and shopping. The joining benefits for this card are worth more than Rs.9,000. With this card, you get an opportunity of earning extra cashback as a welcome gift and reward points on every Rs.100 spent so be it for domestic purchases or international purchases. Upon reaching milestones you can get 20,000 bonus reward points. Movie offers are there as well with BookMyShow. Complimentary lounge access for domestic and international airports is given.

Joining Fee – Rs.6,500 + applicable taxes

Welcome Benefits – Travel and a shopping gift voucher worth more than Rs.9,000

Extra cashback of Rs.750 upon spending Rs.20,000 within the initial 60 days

Rewards –  Reward points on every Rs.100 spent on international or domestic purchases

A maximum of 20,000 reward points can be earned per year.

These two cards by ICICI and Axis Bank are just examples of cards that can be used for more than one purpose.

Read More: How To Know If a Travel Credit Card is Worth It For Your Lifestyle

Bottom Line

Travel credit cards may not be worth it if you are not a frequent traveler. But these cards can sure be used even if you are traveling once a quarter. Benefits provided by different cards by different issuers have variations. If you are looking for a traveling card but are not a frequent traveler but want to be on the safer side whenever you will be traveling, you can look for cards that are generally made for more than just one purpose.