Travel Rewards from an Online Travel Company? Travelocity’s Got Em’

I hate the gnome but I love the points. Travelocity has raised the bar for all online travel services by awarding points with their new Travelocity Rewards MasterCard. For those of us who book our own business travel, this is a huge benefit. I’ve always been reluctant to use sites such as Travelocity or Priceline because I couldn’t collect my miles for the trip. This changes things BIG TIME. When you use your new Travelocity MasterCard to book travel, points are awarded as follows:

• 3 points for every $1 on Flight + Hotel packages.
• 2 points for every $1 spent on air travel, “Good Buy” hotels, Last Minute Packages, and Activities.
• 1 point for every $1 spent everywhere else MasterCard is accepted (which is everywhere, unless you’re in Peru and it’s nowhere).

Points can be redeemed in several ways, including airline tickets, car rentals, statement credits or hotels. Airline tickets, up to $400 in price, start at 20,000 points. With this program, you aren’t restricted to a specific carrier or group of carriers like you are with airline miles programs. There are, of-course, restrictions so check the rules before you make any big plans.

There is a $29 annual fee, which is much less than my Northwest miles card. The variable APR will be either 14.49%, 17.49% or 19.49% depending on your previous credit, so I wouldn’t use this card if you plan on keeping a balance. But if you pay it off in full each month, it’s a pretty good deal.